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See  Page  67 


COMPENDIUM 


OF 


HISTORY  AND  BIOGRAPHY 


OF 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICH. 


ILLUSTRATED 


DAVID  FISHER  and  FRANK  LITTLE,  Editors 


rv 


'A  people  that  take  no  pride  in  the  noble  achievements  of  remote  ancestors  will  never  achieve  anything 
worthy  to  be  remembered  with  pride  by  remote  generations." — MACAULAY. 


CHICAGO 
A.    W.    BOWEN    «fc    CO. 

Publishers,  Engravers  and  Book  Manufacturers 


Tell  me  a  tale  of  the  timber  lands — 

Of  the  old-time  pioneers  ; 
Somepin'  a  pore  man  understands 

With  his  feelin's  well  as  ears. 
Tell  of  the  old  log*  house, — about 

The  loft,  and  the  puncheon  flore — 
The  old  fi-er  place,  with  the  crane  swung  out, 

And  the  latch-string-  thugh  the  door. 

—James  Whitcomb  Riley. 


FOREWORD 


From  innumerable  sources  of  information — many  of  them  broken, 
fragmentary,  and  imperfect — from  books,  records,  manuscripts,  pri- 
vate documents  and  personal  information  and  knowledge,  the  very 
capable  editors  have  gathered  much  of  value  respecting  this  favored 
county  of  Kalamazoo  and  its  savage  and  civilized  occupancy.  The 
historian  and  his  corps  of  efficient  assistants  have  zealously  endeav- 
ored to  separate  truth  from  error,  fact  from  fiction,  as  these  have  come 
down  to  them  from  the  already  half-forgotten  days  in  legend,  tradition 
and  the  annals  of  the  past.  The  people  of  the  county  can  well  con- 
gratulate themselves  that  so  learned  men  and  so  able  and  conscien- 
tious editors  as  Mr.  David  Fisher  and  Mr.  Frank  Little  could  be  ob- 
tained. 

The  publishers  herewith  desire  to  express  their  thanks  to  those 
of  the  citizens  whose  patriotic  and  loyal  interest  in  the  county  of 
their  birth  or  residence  have  caused  them  to  give  a  generous  and  loyal 
assistance  to  this  enterprise,  by  their  financial  support  rendering  its 
publication  possible ;  to  those  who  have  contributed  the  excellent  por- 
traits, scattered  as  fitting  illustrations  throughout  its  pages,  thereby 
greatly  enhancing  the  value  of  the  volume ;  to  all  whose  willing  serv- 
ice and  unfailing  courtesy  have  ever  fully  responded  to  aid  in  the 
efforts  to  make  this  memorial  history  a  valuable  and  thoroughly  com- 
prehensive exhibit  of  the  events  and  the  people  of  old  Kalamazoo 
county.  The  publishers  feel  a  satisfaction  in  being  able  to  so  credit- 
ably place  these  writings  in  an  attractive  and  enduring  form,  and 
trust  that  their  faithful  efforts  will  be  suitably  appreciated. 

A.  W.  Bowen  &  Co. 


History  may  be  formed  from  permanent  monuments 
and  records,  but  lives  can  only  be  written  from  personal 
knowledge,  which  is  growing  every  day  less  and  less, 
and,   in   a  short  time,   is  lost  forever. 

—Samuel  Johnson. 


CONTENTS   OF   HISTORY. 


CHAPTER  I — Early    Occupancy 19 

First  inhabitants — High  degree  of  civilization — Evidences  of  abo- 
riginal life  in  Kalamazoo  County — Three  pre-historic  races  prior 
to  the  white  man — Progenitors  of  the  Esquimaux —  The  Mound 
Builders — The  American  Indians — Indications  of  early  labors  and 
public  works — The  Cahokia  m  ounds — "Monk's  Mound" — The  Ca- 
hokia  tribe — Mounds  in  Kalamazoo  County — Mounds  on  Gull 
Prairie  and  in  Cooper,  Comstock  and  Pavilion  Townships — "Old 
Fort" — The  "garden  beds" — The  era  of  civilized  possession — Lux- 
uriant vegetation — Wild  game. 

CHAPTER  II — Indians,  Their  Life  and  Character 25 

Original  title  to  Kalamazoo  land  held  by  the  Pottawattamie 
Indians — Treaty  of  1795 — Chicago  treaty,  1821 — Important  ces- 
sions— This  treaty  the  basis  of  all  land  titles  in  Kalamazoo  County 
— The  Match-e-be-nash-e-wish  reserve — The  Nottawasepee — First 
survey  of  town  site  of  Kalamazoo — Location  of  early  villages — 
Indian  manners  and  customs  as  described  by  an  early  writer — 
Final  removal  of  the  Indians — Some  resistance — Indian  trails — 
Villages  and  early  trading  posts — Early  traders. 

CHAPTER  III— Indian  Sugar  Making 31 

The  "sugar  bush"  near  Galesburg — Squaw  bees  and  male  drones 
— Method  of  "boiling  down"  and  "sugaring  off." 

CHAPTER  IV— Topography  and  Physical  Geography 31 

Nature  prodigal  in  her  gifts — Geographical  location  and  boundary 
of  Kalamazoo  County — The  name  Kalamazoo  of  Indian  origin — 
Geological  features — Exquisite  primitive  scenery — Land  mainly 
covered  with  timber  of  many  varieties — Prairies  — Origin  of  Kal- 
amazoo river — Drainage  of  the  county — Gull  lake — Long  lake — 
Gun  lake — White's  lake. 

CHAPTER  V— Pioneer  Life 37 

Life  and  customs  of  the  early  days  as  described  by  an  early 
writer — Early  means  of  subsistence  scarce — "Johnny-cake"  pop- 
ular— Conditions  favorable  for  the  development  of  character — 
Early  settlers  characterized  by  attainment  and  culture — Every 
settler  an  aristocrat — Conditions  in  eastern  states  encouraged 
emigration — Evolution  in  living  arrangements — Orchard  plant- 
ing— Pioneer  bill  of  fare — Logging  bees — Furnishing  of  the  cabin 
— Spinning  and  weaving — Early  accounts  of  Kalamazoo  County — 
Sale  of  government  land — Land  speculation—  Building  of  roads, 
canals  and  railroads. 

CHAPTER  VI— Deforesting     ' 48 

Primal  necessity  for  destruction  of  timber — Lack  of  legal  protec- 
tion of  forests — New  England  back-logs  and  their  inspiration — 
First  frame  building — Wonderful  display  of  Aurora  Borealis  in 
183G —  Present  necessity  for  restoration  of  the  forests. 


CONTENTS    OF    HISTORY, 

CHAPTER  VII — Condensed  History 51 

Early  schools — Mrs.  Charlotte  Hubbard  Daniels — Early  pupils — 
Effective  work  during  Civil  war — Thanksgiving  dinner  for  the 
soldiers — Early  privations  and  lack  of  facilities — Few  books  or 
papers — Old  Indian  trading  post — Early  settlers — Description  of 
William  Harris's  cabin — Early  stores — First  preachers  of  the 
Gospel  in  Kalamazoo  County — Railroads — Kalamazoo  &  Lake 
Michigan  Railroad — Kalamazoo  &  White  Pigeon  Railroad — Kala- 
mazoo, Allegan  &  Grand  Rapids  Railroad — Grand  Rapids  &  In- 
diana Railroad — Kalamazoo  &  South  Haven  Railroad — Railroads 
harbingers  of  prosperity — Many  substantial  improvements — Rail- 
road mileage  in  Kalamazoo — State  Asylum  for  Insane — Kala- 
mazoo Board  of  Trade — Government  lands — Population  of  county 
at  different  periods — Agricultural  and  commerical  statistics — Kal- 
amazoo County  pioneer  meeting — Kalamazoo  village — Kalamazoo 
in  1891 — Titus  Bronson — Abolitionism — Underground  railroad — 
Children's  Home — Fire  and  water  works — Fire  companies — Man- 
ufacturing industries — Celery  culture — Banks — Lilies  Cigar  Com- 
pany— Michigan  Traction  Company — Phelps  &  Bigelow  Wind- 
mill Company — Kalamazoo  Telegraph — Noteworthy  Events — Vil- 
lage and  city  officers — Fraternal  organizations — Colored  societies. 

CHAPTER  VIII— The  Holland  Settlement 89 

Advent  of  the  first  Hollanders  in  1847 — Paulus  den  Bleyker  and 
his  extensive  purchase  of  land — Known  as  the  "Dutch  Governor" 
— A  prosperous  colony. 

CHAPTER  IX— History  of  Galesburg  Since  1880 .     91 

Gradual  and  substantial  growth  of  the  place — New  buildings — 
Neat  and  elegant  residences — Michigan  Traction  Company — Edu- 
cation— Libraries — Ladies'  Library  Association — Mutual  Improve- 
ment Club — Fraternal  societies — Religious  bodies — Newspapers — 
Industries. 

CHAPTER  X — The  Banking  Business  of  Schoolcraft 95 

Thomas  Griffiths  &  Company — M.  R.  Cobb  &  Company — First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Schoolcraft — E.  B.  Dyckman  &  Company — Nesbitt 
&  Miller — Kalamazoo  County  Bank. 

CHAPTER  XI — The  Churches  at  Alamo 96 

The  Methodist  church  here  first — Members  of  the  first  class — 
Methodists  and  Presbyterians  unite  in  building  the  first  church — 
Ministers  who  have  officiated — Organization  of  the  Presbyterian 
church — The  Congregational  church  and  its  ministers. 

CHAPTER  XII — State  Asylum  for  the  Insane 99 

Early  legislative  provisions  for  its  establisment — Construction  of 
the  buildings — Destruction  by  Fire — Boards  of  trustees — Descrip- 
tion of  the  buildings  and  the  system  of  operation — Superintend- 
ents and  roster  of  present  officers. 

CHAPTER  XIII — Kalamazoo  Educational  Institutions 102 

Numerous  educational  advantages — Kalamazoo  College — Michi- 
gan Seminary — Western  State  Normal  School — Nazareth  Acad- 
emy— LeFevre  Institute — St.  Joseph's  Institute — Parson's  Busi- 
ness College — Public  schools. 


CONTENTS    OF    HISTORY. 

CHAPTER  XIV— Michigan  Female  Seminary 105 

Organized  under  auspices  of  Presbyterian  church — Erection  of 
Buildings — Early  principals — Rev.  John  Gray,  D.  D. 

CHAPTER  XV — Ladies'  Library  Association  of  Kalamazoo 106 

Formation  of  society  in  1852 — First  officers — Erection  of  library 
building — Early  meetings  and  entertainments — Description  of 
building — Contributors. 

CHAPTER  XVI — Ladies'  Library  Association  of  Schoolcraft 110 

Organized  in  1879 — Incorporated  in  1886 — Erection  of  Library 
building  in  1896 — Generous  donations — Present  officers. 

CHAPTER  XVII — Religious  Organizations Ill 

Large  church-seating  capacity — St.  Luke's  Episcopal  church — Ro- 
man Catholic  church — First  Presbyterian  church —North  Presby- 
terian church — First  Congregational  church — First  Methodist 
Episcopal  church — Simpson  Methodist  Episcopal  church — Damon 
Methodist  Episcopal  church — East  Avenue  Methodist  church — 
Grant  Chapel — Free  Methodist  church — First  Baptist  church — 
Bethel  Baptist  church — Portage  Baptist  church — Second  Baptist 
church — People's  church — Christian  Science  church — Jewish  Syn- 
agogue— First,  Second,  Third  and  Fourth  Dutch  Reformed 
churches — Salvation  Army — Church  of  God — Bethany  Mission — 
Douglas  Avenue  Mission. 


INDEX  TO  SKETCHES,   ETC. 


A 


Abbey,   Perley   L 298 

Adams,  H.  Dale 427 

Adams,   John   W 303 

Adams,    Samuel 303 

Alexander,   Miss  Lydia 195 

Alexander,    Peter   F 195 

Allen,  Oscar  M.,  Sr 182 

American    Carriage   Co 269 

Anderson,    Edward 534 

Anderton,    Thomas 363 

Angle   Steel   Sled   Co 455 

Armstrong,  Mrs.  Huldah  M.  420 

Arnold,    Delevan 304 

Arnold,   Hiram 304 

B 

Bacon,    George   W 544 

Bacon,    Martin 251 

Bailey,    John    C 380 

Baker,   Robert 120 

Balch,  J.   B 267 

Balch,    Nathaniel    A 563 

Balch,  R.   Curtis 455 

Baldwin,   C.    E 547 

Baldwin,  Levi 400 

Baldwin,  Wallace  W 400 

Barber,   George  A 325 

Barbour,    Searles    D 460 

Barnard,  Thomas  W 379 

Barnea,   Reuben 438 

Barnes,   Alvin   B 202 

Barnes,    Tillotson 202 

Bartshe,    Daniel    F 130 

Beckwith,  Henry 333 

Beckwith,    Warren 333 

Beebe,   Orlena 142 

Bell,    Charles 247 

Bennett,  Robert 259 

Bennett,    William    H 259 

Best,    Lewis    C.  , 479 

Big  Four  Mercantile  Co....   180 

Bigelow,  M.  J 273 

Bishop,    Henry 529 

Bishop,  Henry  L 529 

Bissell,  Edward  A 256 

Bissell,  Elijah  N 257 

Blumenberg,  A.  L 535 

Bond,   Amos 417 

Bond,    George    G 417 

Borden,  Mace  S 414 

Bragg,  Leonard  G 284 

Briggs,   Henry  C 206 

Brooks,   Henry   E 136 

Brown,    Charles 470 


Brown,  Charles,  Sr 470 

Brown,   Condon   J 265 

Brown,   Ebenezer    L 513 

Brown,  Frank  L 449 

Brown,   Jeremiah  N 457 

Brown,   Lorenzo    F 373 

Brown,  Nelson  C 442 

Brown,    Stephen   F 510 

Browne,  Samuel  A 177 

Browne,  William  H 177 

Brownell,  W.  L 190 

Bryant,   Damon 140 

Bryant,   Mc.   M 140 

Bryant,    Noah 212 

Buckham,    George 450 

Buckhout,    Romine    H 544 

Burdick,   Lewis   S 409 

Burdick,  Victor  G 366 

Burdick,   Willis   J 287 

Burke,   Lawrence  N 256 

Burnham,  Giles  C 279 

Burroughs,    Luther 426 

Burrows,   Julius    C 527 

Burson,  James  W 512 

Burtt,  William  M 310 

Bush  &  Paterson 242 

Bush,    Fred 242 

Butler,    Hiram 548 

Butler,  Paul  T 548 

C 

Campbell,   Albert   L 285 

Campbell,  John  P 315 

Cannon,  Leander 424 

Carder,    Edwin    A 219 

Carney,   Claude   S 229 

Carney  &  Yaple 229 

Carpenter,    Albert 405 

Carpenter,    Ira 405 

Carson,  Oliver  D 433 

Chamberlin,    Milton 509 

Chandler,   David  R 253 

Chapin,  John  F. 456 

Chase,    Nehemiah 320 

Chenery,   Henry 316 

Citizens  Mutual  Fire  Ins.  Co.  247 

Clapp,    Ashley 307 

Clapp,  Thaddeus  S 432 

Clarage,    Thomas 565 

Clark,    George 317 

Cobb,  Jerome  T 339 

Cobb,  Moses  R 518 

Cobb,   Stephen   S 528 

Cobb,  William  B 340 

Coe,  Walter  M 568 

Coleman,    Frank 452 

Coleman,   William   H 452 


Coller,  Frank  S 121 

Coller,   Eli   H 121 

Collins,    Ferdinand    V 422 

Collins,  Nahum  C 476 

Collins,   Stephen  P 476 

Collins,  William   G 422 

Comings,   James  R 201 

Comings,    Sherman 202 

Cook,  Edson  W 417 

Cook,   Omar   G 505 

Cooley,   Calvin  W 125 

Cooley,  Charles   S 125 

Cooley,   Edwin   J 387 

Coon,  Lemuel  W 499 

Corbin,    Edwin 169 

Corbin,    Palmer 170 

Cornell,   Albert   B 249 

Cornell,  Joseph  B 335 

Crane,  James  A 186 

Crane,   Jay  D 160 

Crooks,  Charles  G 314 

Crooks,  George  W 296 

Cropsey,    Alexander 428 

Cropsey,    Jesse    R 428 

Crouch,    Albert 490 

Curtenius,    Edward    F 376 

Curtenius,   Frederick  W.  .  .  .   525 


D 


Daniels,    Henry    J 518 

Dardinger,  Roe  . 461 

Davis,   George   B 211 

Davis,  James  M 336 

Davis,   William   L 396 

Delano,  Ephraim 162 

Delano,  Nelson  H 162 

Deming,    David   E 159 

Deming,    George 160 

Den  Bleyker,  John 565 

Desenberg,   Meyer,    Sr 284 

Dewing,  Charles  A 192 

Dewing,    William    G 191 

Dewing,  William  S 191 

Dewing  &   Sons 191 

DeYoe,  Edwin  W 219 

DeYoe,    William 220 

Dir,   William   H 497 

Doolittle,   William   F 569 

Doubleday,  Abner  D 288 

Doubleday  Bros.  &  Co 288 

Doyle,    Charles    E 367 

Doyle,  James  E 269 

Drake,   Benjamin,   Jr 308 

Drake,    Francis 308 

Drake,  George  N 377 

Dudgeon,  John 563 


INDEX    TO    SKETCHES,    ETC. 


Duncan,  Charles  C 533 

Duncan,  Delamore,  Jr 467 

Duncan,  Delamore,  Sr 467 

Dunkley,    George 208 

Dunkley,    Joseph 207 

Dunn  &   Clapp 431 

Dunn,  Robert  G 462 

Dunn,    Sidney 462 

Dyekman,   Evert  B 517 

E 

Eames,  Gardner  T 278 

Eames,    Lovett 278 

Eclipse   Governor   Co 118 

Edmunds,  Judson  A 463 

Edmunds,    Obadiah 463 

Edwards,  John  M 440 

Eldred,  Louis  S 532 

Eldred,  Thomas  B 532 

Elwell,  H.  N 217 

Evers,  George  M 258 

F 

Fellows,    Henry   W 559 

Fidelity    Building     &    Loan 

Ass'n    28  7 

Finlay,    Archibald 554 

Finlay,  Thomas  B 350 

Finley,   David 534 

Fisher,   David 122 

Fisher,  Levi  B 413 

Fisher,   Reuben 414 

Fleisher,    Benjamin .    506 

Fleisher,   Simeon 506 

Fletcher,  Benjamin 511 

Fletcher,  C.  A 378 

Fletcher,    Zechariah 511 

Folz,    Samuel 231 

Foote,  Charles  E 264 

Forbes,    Calvin 298 

Forbes,   James  P 298 

Ford,  Charles  B 283 

Ford  Manufacturing   Co....   283 

Frakes,  Joseph 416 

Frakes,   Wallace  F 416 

French,   Dorr   0 269 

Fuller,    George 270 

Fuller,  H.  J 215 

G 

Gates,  Lyman  N 390 

Gates,   Orvin   M 503 

George,  Michael 492 

George,    Nicholas 492 

Gibbs,    John 136 

Gibbs,  William   A 137 

Gibson,    Samuel  A 218,  527 

Gilchrist,  Clark  D 396 

Gilchrist,   George 396 

Gilchrist,  John 337 

Gilkey,    John   F 240 

Gilkey,  Patrick  H 241 

Gleason,    Isaac 384 

Gleason,  T.  P 497 

Gleason,  William   A 384 


Glen,  Alexander 148 

Glen,    E.    H 148 

Globe  Casket  Co 254 

Goodale,  John  C 349 

Graves,  B.  F 522 

Gray,  Emmett  M 536 

Gray,    John 328 

Guthrie,  John 489 

Guthrie,    Thomas' E 131 

Guthrie,    William    J 489 

H 

Haines,   Charles   H 496 

Haines,    David 496 

Haines,  David  H 176 

Hale,  Ezekiel  N 425 

Hale,    Henry    A 259 

Hale,   Ozro   M 425 

Hall,   Henry  A 367 

Hamilton,    John 474 

Harding,  Albert  J 180 

Harper,   Alfred 491 

Harper,  George  M 491 

Harrigan,    Daniel 189 

Harrington,  George  W 305 

Harrington,    Samuel 305 

Harrison,    Bazel 406 

Harrison,    George   F 530 

Harrison,    John   S 406 

Harrison,  Owen  W 408 

Harrison,  William 546 

Haskins,    Ezra 263 

Haskins,  John  G 263 

Hatfield,    James    H 508 

Hawley,    Edward 293 

Hays,   Charles   B 439 

Hazard,    James 227 

Hazard,  Jesse  W 226 

Hill,   Manfred 477 

Hill,  Norman  A 477 

Hill,  Warren  W 410 

Henderson-Ames    Co 356 

Henderson,    Frank 355 

Henika,   Emanuel   C 200 

Henika,  Emanuel  E 140 

Henika,    Hosea 334 

Hobden,   John   H 453 

Hoch,    Daniel 495 

Hodge,   Fred   M 218 

Hodges,  W.   S 267 

Hodgman,    Francis 178 

Ploek,    Walter 250 

Holcomb,  A.  A 130 

Holmes,  Andrew  J 337 

Holmes,    George    A 141 

Holmes,  John  H 141 

Home  Savings  Bank 329 

Honselman   Candy  Co 273 

Honselman,  George 273 

Hopkins,  Henry 260 

Hopkins,   James   H 260 

Howard,   H.   G.   M 456 

Howard,   John   E 136 

Howard,  John  W 443 

Howard,    Stephen 135 

Howard,   William   G 22  7 

Howland,    Simpson 364 


Hoyt,  Henry  E 440 

Hoyt,  Jonathan  C 464 

Hoyt,  Ransford  C 463 

Hoyt,    Stephen 464 

Hubbard,  Silas 326 

Hudson,   Grant  M 536 

Hudson,   Richard 536 

Huggett,    Benjamin 436 

Hull,    Latham 553 

Hunt,  Washington  R 409 

Huntley,  Anson  W 148 

Huntley,  Asher  G 149 

Huntley,  Ezekiel  W 149 

J 

Jackson,   H.   Clair 255 

James,   John   W 458 

Jenkinson,   Robert  D 419 

Jenkinson,   William 479,  494 

Jenkinson,    William,    Sr 494 

Jewett,  Norman  C 239 

Jickling,  Robert 187 

Jones,   Charles   W 345 

Joy,  S.   D 543 


K 


Kalamazoo  Cold  Storage  Co.  266 

Kalamazoo    College 561 

Kalamazoo    Corset    Co 508 

Kalamazoo   Gas  Co 176 

Kalamazoo   Gazette 294 

Kalamazoo  Hack  &  Bus  Co.   215 
Kalamazoo     Interior    Finish 

£0 439 

Kalamazoo  Paper  Co 218 

Kalamazoo    Publishing   Co.  .   497 
Kalamazoo    Railway    Supply 

Co 438 

Kalamazoo    Sanitarium 378 

Kalamazoo    Sled    Co 528 

Kalamazoo  Spring  &  Axle  Co.  286 
Kalamazoo  Stove  Works.  .  . .   423 

Kauffer,  Hale  P 329 

Kent,  C.   S 550 

Kent,    James    A 293 

Kent,    Simeon 293 

Kester,   William   H 252 

Kilgore,    George    E 166 

Kilgore,  Hiram  A 275 

Kilgore,    William 166 

Kimble,  Charles 481 

Kimble,    Emory 119 

Kimble,  Lewis  C 481 

Kimble,  Ransom  E 482 

King  Paper  Co 245 

Kinney,    Nathan    S 454 

Kinney,  Niles  H 454 

Kirby,  William    S 539 

Kleinstueck,   Carl  G 327 

Kline,   Joseph 469 

Kline,   William   A 469 

Knappen,  Eugene  F 239 

Knappen,  Frank  E 222 

Knappen,    Henry 238 

Knickerbocker,  John  S 570 

Knight,  William  G 498 


INDEX    TO    SKETCHES,    ETC. 


Kuhn,  Daniel  E 492 

Kuhn,    Frederick. 493 

Kuhn,   Philip  E 493 

L 

Lamb,  John  A 357 

Lane,  M.  Henry. 277 

Larsen,    Louis 439 

Latta,    Albert 446 

Lawler,    James 327 

Lawler,   John   J. . . 327 

Lawrence,    Daniel 444 

Lawrence,  Thomas  S 444 

Lay,    Frank   B 276 

Lee,   John   0 399 

Lee  Paper  Co 507 

Little,    Frank 145 

Little,    Henry 142 

Little,  William  H 146 

Longman,    Arthur 485 

Longman,    John 485 

Luce,   Frederick 139 

Luce,  Levi 139 

Luce,  Newton 408 

Luttenton,   Henry   J 385 

Lyon,   Ira 128 

Lyon,  Lucius  V 128 

Mc 

McBeth,   William    L 435 

McCreary,    George 471 

McCreary,   Preston  J 471 

McCreary,  Samuel  S 472 

McElvain,   Joseph  W 126 

McKain,    Allen 475 

McKain,  Charles  H 475 

McKeown,  Samuel 559 

McKinney,   R.    D 254 

McLaughlin,  James  H 454 

M 

Marvin,  Henry  M 364 

Marvin,  Huntington   M 280 

Mason,    Edwin 360 

Master,   Sheridan   F 228 

Maxson,  Charles  A 356 

May,   Charles    S 522 

May,    Dwight 526 

Meredith,    Evans 515 

Meredith,   Warren 387 

Merrill,  David  B 205 

Michigan    Nursery    and    Or- 
chard   Co 356 

Middleton,  John  W 570 

Milham,  Frank  H 209 

Milham,  John 152 

Milham,   John  A 388 

Milham,  Robert  E 152 

Milham,  William 162 

Miller,    Conrad 252 

Miller,  H.   Brooks 230 

Miller,    Joseph 523 

Mills,  Alfred  J 299 

Mills,  John  E 157 

Minnis,    Albert    C 488 


Monroe,  Ebenezer  W 399 

Monroe,   Joshua 509 

Montague,    Henry 197 

Montague,   Stephen 197 

Montague,    Stephen   F 377 

Montague,  William  F 376 

Morrison,  Charles  E 420 

Morrison,    James 420 

Morrison,  Willis  W 419 

Morse,    Charles   A 480 

Mottram,  Charles  V 181 

Munger,  Isaac  G 397 

-     N 

Neasmith,  Freii  W 546 

Neasmith,   James  M' 547 

Neumaier,    George 268 

Nichols,    Leroy 338 

Nichols,  Loyd 235 

North,  Wallace  B 276 

Notley,    Francis 482 

Notley,   William   F 473 

O 

Oakley,    Peter 567 

Oakley,   Walter   E 567 

Odell,  Josiah 540 

Odell,  Lewis  H 540 

Oliver,  Willard  W 283 

Osborn,   Harris   B 248 

Osborn,  Piatt  S 248 

Osterhut,    Cornelius 500 

P 

Parker,  B.  F 274 

Parker,  George  W 225 

Parker,    Isaac   M 225 

Parker,    James 309 

Parsons,   Frank  J 413 

Parsons,    Jonathan 353 

Paterson,    Thomas 245 

Pattison,   James 450 

Peake,    Ira 319 

Peake,   Ira  M 319 

Peck,  Charles  A 198 

Peck,  Horace  B 200 

Peck,  Horace  M 199 

Pierce,    Horace   H 531 

Pierce,   Isaac 531 

Pierson,  David  J 545 

P.  L.  Abbey  Company 298 

Pomeroy,    Jabez 167 

Pomeroy,  Norton 167 

Pool,   Abijah 368 

Pool,  Nathan   F 368 

Porter,    Wade 490 

Potter,    Allen 172 

Pratt,    Arthur 245 

Prindle,    George 394 

Puritan   Corset   Co 190 

Ramson,    Ira   A 505 

Randall,    Bradley 451 


Randall,    Jerome 451 

Rankin,  John  M 323 

Ransom,    Fletcher.. 175 

Ransom,  John  N. 175 

Read,  George  F 323 

Reed,    Heber    C 354,388 

Reed   Manufacturing  Co. . . .   354 

Reese,    Hiram 459 

Reese,    John 459 

Resh,   Benjamin 560 

Richardson,    Gould 421 

Richardson,  John  H 421 

Riley,    Augustus    J 441 

Rishel,  David  E 495 

Rishel,   E.   C 119 

Rishel,    John 119 

Roof,    George 542 

Roof,   Morris 449 

Rorabeck,  Charles 359 

Rowe,   F.  F 294 

Russell,  Darwin  J 345 

Russell,  Wilson  A 344 

Ryder,   J.   W 229 

S 

Sager,  Albert  J 445 

Sales,  John  J 441 

Sanford,    Tilly 170 

Sanford,    Zardis 170 

Schau,  Jacob 232 

Schau,    John 530 

Schau,    Philip 232 

Scheid,    Jacob 226 

Schroeder,   Jacob 433 

Schroeder,    William 433 

Scramlin,  Jonas 540 

Scramlin,    Melvin 541 

Searle,    Charles 171 

Selkrig,    John   M 169 

Shafter,    William   R 529 

Shakespeare,    William 335 

Shay,    Frederick 246 

Sherman,  Henry  P 549 

Sherman,   Perry: 549 

Sherwood,    Hulbert 313 

Sherwood,   Kirk   N 313 

Shields,  James 395 

Shoudy,   John   M 437 

Shutt,  Henry  P 393 

Shutt,    John 393 

Skinner,  Henry  V 160 

Skinner,    Joseph 160 

Skinner,    Jarvis    H 330 

Slater,   Leonard 370 

Slocum,  Arthur  G 561 

Smith,    Albert 543 

Smith,  Albert  W 423 

Smith,    William... 543 

Smith,  Walter  C 180 

Snow,    Ansel 343 

Snow,    Orrin 340 

Snyder,  Andrew 314 

Southard,    Henry 403 

Southard,  Samuel  L 403 

Southard,  William  B 403 

Southerland,    Lot 300 

Southerland,    Smith 300 


INDEX    TO    SKETCHES,    ETC. 


Steers,    George 220 

Stevens,  Andrew  J 138 

Stevens,    Isaac 138 

Stevens,    Pelick 192 

Stewart,   Nathaniel  H 188 

Stock,    James 499 

Stockbridge,  Francis  B 533 

Stoddard,   A.   H 150 

Stoddard,    Lucien 151 

Stoddard,   William   S 151 

Stratton,    Lucas 386 

Strong,    Arthur 451 

Strong,  Edward 375 

Strong,    E.    A 127 

Strong,    Solomon 127 

Strong,    William 374 

Strough,   Baltis 128 

Strough,   Daniel 127 

Stuart,   Charles  E 208 

Superior  Paper  Co 267 

Sweet,    Peter 165 


Taft,  Miner  C 357 

Tallman,   James 358 

Taylor,   James  A 266 

Taylor,  Walter  R 216 

Telfer,  Robert  R 324 

Thayer,    Cyrus 550 

Thomas,    Joseph    S 344 

Thomas,  Nathan  M 515 

Thompson,    William 424 

Tiffany,    Arthur 349 

Titus,  Edward  P 221 

Titus,    Ezekiel 221 

Tobey,    Samuel   H .  443 


Townsend,   George  V 552 

Trask,  Luther  H 290 

Travis,   Cyrus   E 158 

Travis,  James  H. 156 

Travis,  Jonathan 158 

Tripp,  Allen  C 318 

Tripp,  William 319 

Tyler,  Frank  H 348 


U 

Upjohn,  Sibley  W. 
Upjohn,    Uriah.... 


210 
210 


Van   Antwerp,  John 478 

Van  Antwerp,  Samuel  C. . . .   478 

Van  Bochone  &  Sons 524 

Van  Bochone,  Benjamin....   524 

Van  Bochone,  Garrett 347 

Van  Bochone,  John  R 347 

Van  Bochone,  Richard 524 

Van   Bochone,   Sanborn 524 

Vanderbilt,  Clarence  J 156 

Van  Deusen,  Edwin  H 117 

Vandewalker,    John 196 

Vandewalker,  William 196 

Van  Duzer,  Jesse  M 394 

Van  Halst,  Cornelius 295 

Vickery,    Wallace 415 

Vosburg,   Barnard 434 

Vosburg,    Edwin    W 306 

Vosburg,  John   W 435 

Vosburg,  William  B 318 


W 

Wagner,   Jacob 132 

Wagner,   Jacob   K 132 

Wagner,  William 186 

Walker,  Cyrus  A 155 

Walker,    John 155 

Wallace,   William 149 

Waterbury,    Joel 297 

Weed,  Charles  G 557 

Weeks,   George 373 

Wenham,    James 147 

Wheeler,    John 346 

Wheeler,  John  B 551 

Wheeler,  Jonathan  A 551 

White,   Albert   R 379 

White,  William  R.  B 383 

Whitney,  Norman  K 237 

Whitlock,.  Orson  K 237 

Whitney,  Norman  S 236 

Wicks,  Fred  V 287 

Wing,   Spencer  J 474 

Winslow,  A.   D 534 

Winslow,  George  C 558 

Winslow,  George  W 558 

Williams,  Chester  A 168 

Williams,    Richard 155 

Williams,    Tom 155 

Worden,    Russell 487 

Worden,   Silas  F 486 

Wood,  T.   C 369 

Woodbury,   Jeremiah  P 289 

Z 

Yetter,    Henry 397 

Young,    Andrew 562 

Young,  J.  L.  W 255 


INDEX  TO  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Titus    Bronson Frontispiece 

Allen,  Oscar  M Facing  182 

Bailey,    John    C "  380 

Baldwin,   Wallace   W "  400 

Barnes,    Alvin    B "  202 

Bronson    Park "  72 

Bryant,    Noah "  212 

Burdick   Street,   looking   North "  72 

Burtt,   William    M "  310 

Bush,    Fred "  242 

Chase,   Nehemiah "  320 

Court    House "  82 

Cropsey,  Jesse  R "  428 

Daniels,    Henry   J "  518 

Finlay,    Archibald "  554 

Finlay,  Thomas  B "  350 

Finlay,  Mrs.  Thomas  B . "  350 

Finlay,    William "  554 

First    County    Court "  52 

Fisher,    David . "  122 

Fuller,    George "  270 

Gates,    Lyman   M "  390 

Hays,  C.  B "  438 

Hill,  Warren  W "  410 

Hopkins,    James    H "  260 

Hoyt,   Jonathan  C "  464 

Hudson,    Grant   M "  536 

Kalamazoo    College "  34 


Kalamazoo    in    1832 Facing  62 

Kalamazoo  River. "  34 

Kalamazoo  Public  Library "  102 

Knappen,  Frank  E "  222 

Latta,    Albert "  446 

Latta,    Mrs.    Albert "  446 

Little,    Hemy-.  ?>1L*iA?. "  142 

Main  Street,  looking  West "  72 

Marvin,   Huntington  M "  280 

Mason,    Edwin "  370 

Milham,    John "  152 

Milham,    William "  162 

Notley,    Francis "  482 

Osterhut,    Cornelius "  500 

Potter,   Allen 1 "  172 

Public    Institutions "  92 

Schau,    Philip "  232 

Skinner,  Jarvis  H "  330 

Slater,    Leonard "  370 

Snow,    Orrin "  340 

Southerland,    Smith "  300 

Southerland,  Mrs.  Smith "  300 

Stevens,    Pelick "  192 

Stevens,    Mrs.    Pelick "  192 

Titus    Bronson's    Cabin "  62 

Trask,   Luther  H "  290 

VanDeusen,    Edwin   H "  117 

Wagner,   J.   K "  132 


PART   FIRST 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY 
MICHIGAN 


FULLY   HISTORICAL 


Out  of  monuments,  names,  words,  proverbs,  tra- 
ditions, records,  fragments  of  stone,  passages  of 
books,  and  the  like,  we  doe  save  and  recover 
somewhat  from  the  deluge  of  time. — LORD  BACON. 


CHICAGO: 
a.  w.  bowen   &    CO. 

1906 


We  tell  to-day  the  deeds  of  story, 
And  legends  of  the  olden  time; 
While  voices,  like  an  unseen  glory, 
Still  charm  us  as  a  silver  chime. 

The  old  and  new  join  loving  hands, 
The  Past  before  the  Present  stands; 
The  ages  give  each  other  greeting, 
And  years  recall  their  old  renown; 
Their  acts  of  fortitude  repeating 
That  won  for  them  historic  crown. 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY 


OF 


KALAMAZOO  CO.,  MICHIGAN* 


EARLY  OCCUPANCY. 

How  many  races  of  people  have  made  their 
homes  on  the  American  continent  no  records 
have  come  down  to  us  to  tell.  Evidences  of  at 
least  one  nation  of  a  high  degree  of  civilization 
having  occupied  this  soil  prior  to  the  Indians  are 
plentifully  scattered  all  over  the  land.  It  may 
be  that  the  mines  of  the  Upper  Peninsula  of  this 
state  and  the  mounds  of  peculiar  construction 
of  Ohio  and  other  states  belong  to  still  another 
pre-existing  people  than  those  now  classed  as 
mound  builders.  We  do  not  know,  nor  is  it  per- 
tinent to  the  object  of  this  work  to  know,  whether 
civilizations  after  civilizations  have  been  de- 
veloped on  this  soil  from  childlike  conditions, 
and  after  attaining  magnificence  and  power,  have 
passed  into  oblivion.  Some  writers  assert  that 
at  least  three  distinct  peoples  have  here  made 
their  permanent  homes.  There  are  abundant 
evidences  in  Kalamazoo  county  of  its  occupancy 
by  at  least  one  higher  race  of  people  than  those 
we  call  the  aborigines.  This  race  lived  here  long 
years.  They  loved  and  were  married.  They 
reared  families  and  performed  the  functions  of 
life  in  their  way  as  we  perform  them  today,  and 

2 


who  shall  say  that  they  may  not  in  some  way 
have  possessed  a  higher  culture  and  a  deeper 
acquaintance  with  arts  and  science,  with  the  mys- 
teries of  life  and  of  creation,  than  do  we. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  if  they  did  exist  they  long 
since  passed  from  the  earth.  Their  earthly  sor- 
rows and  joys  long  since  ceased  to  be  and  where 
they  trod  the  hills,  valleys  and  prairies  of  this 
fair  county  they  were  succeeded  in  an  equally 
as  transitory  an  occupation  by  the  Indians,  who, 
in  turn,  after  years  of  hunting  and  warring,  ram- 
bling over  the  pleasant  dales  and  hills,  bathing 
and  fishing  in  the  limpid  waters  of  the  lakes,  de- 
parted hence,  the  silent  footfalls  of  their  moc- 
casined  feet  becoming  less  and  less  frequent  un- 
til they  were  heard  no  more  and  left  the  land  in 
loneliness  to  await  the  coming  of  the  whites. 

These  pre-histcric  peoples  have  been  named 
in  this  order :  First,  that  race,  who  were  the 
progenitors  of  the  present  Esquimaux;  second, 
the  Mound  Builders,  who  have  been  variously 
credited  to  different  epochs  and  to  different  races, 
one  of  them  accredited  as  being  the  one  who  built 
the  wonderful  cliff  dwellings  in  the  arid  regions 
of  the  southwestern  North  America,  and  of 
whom    remains    a  feeble  remnant  in    the    Zuni 


20 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


tribes  or  Pueblo  Indians ;  and  the  third,  the 
American  Indians. 

S.  W.  Durant,  in  his  valuable  "History  of 
Kalamazoo  County,"  says:  "Remains  of  gigantic 
labors  are  found  among  the  copper  regions  of 
Lake  Superior  and  the  unknown  races  that 
worked  the  mines  must  have  had  a  knowledge 
of  naval  architecture  and  navigation  beyond  any- 
thing which  the  subsequent  Indian  possessed,  for 
we  find  that  the  copper  deposits  of  Isle  Royale 
were  visited.  This  compelled  a  sea  voyage  of 
from  fifteen  to  forty-five  miles,  the  nearest  part 
of  Keweenaw  Point  being  nearly  fifty  miles 
away.  The  native  copper  was  no  doubt  trans- 
ported to  a  more  southern  region  to  be  trans- 
formed into  the  various  implements  which  are  to 
be  found  entombed  with  the  human  bones  in  the 
mounds  of  the  vanished  race." 

In  this  connection  we  give  an  account  of  what 
may  be  the  place  where  this  material  was  manu- 
factured, the  pre-historic  occupation  here  de- 
scribed through  a  section  of  the  Mississippi  river 
valley  in  Missouri  and  extending  further  north 
and  covering  the  sites  of  Rock  Island  and  Mo- 
line.  All  of  this  extensive  section  of  the  Missis- 
sipi  valley  bears  evidences  of  being  an  enor- 
mous manufactory,  and  when  our  civilization 
first  dawned  upon  the  land,  remains  of  enormous 
canals,  connecting  the  Mississippi  river  with  va- 
rious of  its  tributaries,  could  be  traced  beneath 
a  deep  accumulation  of  the  sedimentary  soil 
brought  down  by  the  Mississippi  during  the 
enormous  continuance  of  ages  from  the  coun- 
tries of  the  north. 

Below  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri  river,  for 
some  fifty  or  sixty  miles,  the  Mississippi  is  bor- 
dered on  the  east  by  a  rich  alluvial  plain,  once 
the  center,  according  to  modern  archeologists, 
of  a  large  population  of  pre-historic  inhabitants. 
These  early  inhabitants  built  in  this  region,  gen- 
erally known  as  the  American  bottom,  a  series  of 
mounds  that  are  still  visible  among  the  Caho- 
kia,  the  largest  native  earthwork  in  America,  sit- 
uated not  far  from  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  and 
named  in  honor  of  the  Cahokias,  an  extinct  tribe 
of  Indians.  Although  comparatively  little  can 
now  be  known  about  the  history  of  this  interest- 


ing section,  where  the  farmer's  plow  has  already 
lowered  and  altered  the  shape  of  many  of  the 
mounds,  the  region  is  considered  the  richest  in 
the  country  in  possible  future  discoveries  of  arch- 
eological  importance,  and,  in  a  recent  publication 
of  the  Peabody  Museum  of  American  Archeol- 
ogy and  Ethnology,  D.  I.  Bushnell,  Jr.,  has  de- 
scribed the  appearance  of  the  group  "as  the 
mounds  looked  when  first  seen  by  European  eyes  ; 
their  history,  so  far  as  it  can  be  at  present  sur' 
mised,  and  the  various  objects  that  have  already 
been  unearthed  in  their  vicinity.  The  large  num- 
ber of  unusually  large  mounds  that  stood  on 
either  side  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  great  quan- 
tity of  pre-historic  implements  and  utensils  that 
have  been  discovered  mark  that  region  as  an  im- 
portant center  of  population  of  the  prehistoric 
tribes  of  North  America." 

The  Cahokia  group  of  mounds  stands  near 
the  center  of  the  American  Bottoms,  about  six 
miles  distant  from  the  Mississippi  river,  and  just 
south  of  the  Cahokia  creek,  a  small  waterway 
that  may  have  easily  served  the  original  rnound 
builders  as  a  connecting  link  with  the  Mississippi, 
and  with  the  far-spreading  area  of  prehistoric 
North  America.  The  main  group,  which  sur- 
rounds the  truncated  rectangular  pyramid  of 
that  giant  Cahokia,  which  still  rises  several  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  original  surface,  includes 
some  seventy-six  mounds.  Extending  from  this 
group,  in  a  south  of  west  direction,  a  chain  of 
large  mounds  ends  in  a  group  of  smaller  ones 
near  the  Mississippi,  and  before  St.  Louis  oc- 
cupied the  site,  some  twenty  or  more  mounds 
stood  on  the  opposite  bank. 

Seven  miles  north  of  Cahokia  stands  a  group 
of  eleven  mounds  with  several  isolated  earth- 
works not  very  far  distant.  Other  smaller  ele- 
vations have  entirely  disappeared  under  ages  of 
cultivation.  -  The  great  mound  of  Cahokia  itself 
has  been  partly  cultivated  and  is  often  spoken  of 
as  "Monk's  Mound,"  in  memory  of  the  Trap- 
pist  monks  who  planted  their  wheat  on  its  sum- 
mit nearly  a  century  ago.  These  monks,  when 
the  explorer  Brakenbridge  visited  them  in  1811, 
were  living  in  several  cabins  located  on  one  of 
these   smaller   elevations,   probably   the   one  im~ 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


21 


mediately  southwest  of  Cahokia.  In  referring  to 
Cahokia  itself,  he  says :  "The  step  or  apron  has 
been  used  as  a  kitchen  garden,  and  the  top  is 
sowed  with  wheat." 

Taken  as  a  whole,  these  remarkable  artificial 
elevations  are  rectangular  on  conical  in  shape. 
Cahokia  itself  apparently  consists  of  a  series  of 
high  terraces,  the  area  of  the  base  being  about 
sixteen  acres.  Regarding  the  name  Cahokia,  Prof. 
Putman,  of  the  Harvard  Peabody  Museum,  has 
said:  "While  there  is  not  the  slightest  evidence 
that  the  Cahokias  of  the  time  of  LaSalle  were  the 
builders  of  this  and  of  the  other  mounds  in  the 
vicinity  it  is  a  gratification  to  be  able  to  thus 
perpetuate  the  name  of  an  extinct  tribe  of 
American  Indians  in  connection  with  this  monu- 
ment of  an  unknown  American  nation,  rather  than 
that  of  a  religious  order  of  foreign  origin/' 
These  Cahokias  were  one  of  the  two  Illinois 
tribes  (the  other  was  the  Tamaoas,  who  have  left, 
so  far  as  is  yet  known,  no  memorial  whatever) 
frequently  mentioned  by  early  explorers  of  the 
Mississippi  valley.  They  are  now  very  much  a 
part  of  the  ancient  history  of  North  America. 
The  site  of  an  ancient  village  of  Cahokias  and 
Tamaoas,  visited  by  Charlevoix  in  1721  after 
the  two  tribes  had  been  amalgamated,  was  prob- 
ably not  very  far  from  the  present  settlement  which 
perpetuates  the  name  of  the  former  tribe ;  and  it  is 
here  that  the  party  of  Tamaoas  taken  to  France 
in  1720  may  have  returned  after  their  visit  to 
the  gay  French  capital  and  their  presentation  to 
royalty.  In  1769  Pontiac  was  murdered  near  the 
same  villiage. 

Just  why  the  mounds  were  built  is  an  unan- 
swered and  apparently  unanswerable  question, 
hardly  more  likely  to  be  definitely  settled  than 
the  identity  of  the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask 
of  European  history.  The  mounds  were 
built,  and  the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask  did 
inhabit  the  Bastile,  and  that  is  all  that  re- 
search, archeological  or  historical,  has  been  able 
to  find  out  about  either.  One  theory  concerning 
the  mounds,  says  Mr.  Bushnell,  can  be  readily 
disposed  of — they  were  not  burial  mounds.  In 
seven  mounds  that  have  been  opened  on  elevated 
ground,  the  finding  of  potheads,  bits  of  chipped 


chert,  and  the  indication  of  fire,  all  on  what  ap- 
peared to  have  been  the  original  surface,  would 
point  strongly  to  their  having  been  remains  of 
ruins  of  earth-covered  lodges.  Early  explorers 
mention  seeing  such  Indian  lodges  in  different 
parts  of  the  valley. 

Mounds,  however,  that  can  be  partly  account- 
ed for  on  the  theory  that  they  are  actually  the  re- 
mains of  ruined  dwellings — such  dwellings  as  the 
traveler  Tonti  had  in  mind  when  he  wrote  in 
1698:  "I  was  surprised  to  see  the  grandeur  of 
the  village  and  the  order  of  the  cottages ;  they 
were  placed  in  divers  rows,  being  all  made  of 
earth," — are  comparatively  few  in  number.  Many 
of  the  mounds  were  clearly  erected  as  they  now 
exist,  possibly  as  elevated  sites  on  which  the  build- 
ers erected  their  homes  in  the  same  manner  as 
later  the  Trappist  Monks  utilized  them  as  an  ele- 
vated foundation  for  their  cabins.  Mounds  of 
this  class  are  found  in  vast  numbers  in  certain 
sections  of  Missouri,  more  than  eight  hundred 
having  been  counted  within  an  area  of  less  than 
ten  miles  in  one  county.  In  another  place  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  state  more  than  five  hundred 
occur  within  a  three-mile  radius.  If  each  of 
these  mounds  was  once  occupied  by  a  separate 
habitation,  they  indicate  therefore  the  presence 
of  a  very  large  prehistoric  population  centered 
in  this  part  of  North  America. 

In  some  of  the  smaller  mounds,  however, 
skeletons  have  been  discovered,  but  not  in  such 
condition  as  to  suggest  that  the  mound  was  neces- 
sarily the  original  place  of  sepulchre.  The  bones 
had  evidently  been  disturbed  after  their  interment 
and  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  fragments  of 
pottery  and  indications  of  fire  suggest  rather  the 
floor  of  a  prehistoric  home  than  the  bottom  of  a 
tomb.  Very  few  of  the  mounds  have  been  care- 
fully investigated.  What  may  be  concealed  under 
the  surface  of  such  a  monumental  pile  of  earth 
as  Cahokia  is  therefore  a  tempting  question  for 
archeologists. 

Kalamazoo  county  has  several  well  defined 
mounds.  The  one  that  is  in  the  most  public  place 
is  that  in  Bronson  Park  at  Kalamazoo  city.  It 
is  a  perfect  circle,  in  solid  contents,  according  to 
measurements    made   by   the    late    Henry    Little, 


22 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


containing  ;three  thousand  nine  hundred'  and  nine 
ty-four  feet  with  diameter  at  base  of  fifty-eight 
feet. and, a  height  of  fifty-seven  inches.  Several 
excavations  at  different  times  in  the  last  fifty  years 
have  revealed  nothing  concealed  in  its  interior  save 
a  small  amount  of  charcoal  but,  as  in  the  early 
settlement  a  cellar  was  dug  in  the  mound,  what- 
ever was  contained  therein  of  the  nature  of  relics 
was  then  probably  taken  out  and  destroyed.  The 
mound  was  left  in.  a  much  dilapidated  condition 
until  about  1850,  when  some  of  the  appreciative 
citizens  restored  its  form  and  it  has  since  re- 
mained as  we  see  it  today.  . 

Two  mounds  on  section  15  on  Gull  Prairie 
were  early  in  evidence,  but  like  many  others,  the 
ravages  of  civilization  have  taken  them  out  of 
existence.  On  section  14  of  the  same  town- 
ship were  four  mounds.  Three  of  these  were 
double  the  size  of  the  first  two,  being  fully  forty 
feet  in  diameter.  The  fourth  resembled  the  small- 
er ones,  having  a  width  of  twenty  feet.  Exam- 
inations made  in  one  of  the  larger  mounds  shows 
nothing  but  earth  in  its  composition.  In  Cooper 
township  human  bones  were  found  in  a  small 
mound  on  section  30.  On  section  16  in  Cooper 
township  the  remains  of  three  earthworks  or  sup- 
posed fortifications  existed,  from  which  many 
human  bones  were  taken  by  the  early  settlers. 
Another  mound  was  situated  on  the  east  side  of 
the  river. 

In  Comstock  township,  in  section  22,  on  an 
island  in  the  Kalamazoo  river,  was  a  large  mound, 
diamond  shaped,  twenty  feet  high  and  covering 
over  an  acre.  In  1831  a  maple  tree,  thirty  inches 
in  diameter,  was  growing  thereon.  On  section  13 
in  Comstock  township  was  a  circular  mound, 
twenty-five  feet  in  diameter,  only  raised  from 
the  surrounding  ground  by  about  thirty  inches. 

A  small  mound  on  section  30,  in  Pavilion,  on 
the  shore  of  Long  lake,  was  opened  in  1876,  in 
which  were  found  two  human  skeletons.  The 
mound  seemed  to  have  been  built  over  and  around 
the  bodies,  and  to  have  been  once  surrounded  by 
a  ditch.  An  oak  tree,  eighteen  inches  in  diameter, 
was  growing  on  this  mound  when  it  was  first 
seen  by  the  settlers. 


Mr.  Little  is  authority  for  the  statement  that 
when  the  first  white  people  came  to  the  town  of 
Climax  a  mound,  to  which  the  appellation  of 
"Old  Fort"  was  given,  was  to  be  seen  on  Climax 
prairie,  its  size  being  about  two-thirds  that  of  the 
Kalamazoo  mound.  North  of  this  mound,  in  the 
edge  of  the  timber  land  and  on  top  of  an  elevation, 
was  a  circular  work  including  somewhat  less  than 
two  acres  of  land.  This  contained  both  a  parapet 
and  a  ditch,  the  latter  having  a  width  of  from 
sixteen  to  twenty  feet  and  a  depth  of  from  two  to 
three  feet.  This  enclosure  when  first  seen  by  the 
pioneers  was  covered  by  large  trees.  Other 
mounds  existed  in  Climax  and  a  similar  "fort," 
but  smaller,  stood  on  section  1 .  This  looked  much 
like  a  circus  ring. 

About  a  mile  west  of  the  "old  fort"  were  a 
number  of  these  strange  "garden  beds,"  cover- 
ing several  acres.  These  beds  were  from  six  to 
eight  feet  wide  and  from  two  to  ten  rods  long. 
The  paths  between  them  were  from  six  to  eight 
inches  deep  and  from  one  to  three  feet  wide.  The 
beds  were  irregular  in  shape  and  size.  A  still 
larger  number  of  these  beds  were  found  less  than 
a  mile  east  of  the  "old  fort."  These  lay  in  dif- 
ferent angles  with  each  other,  as  if  cultivated  by 
these  people.  The  antiquity  of  these  "beds"  is  a 
mooted  question.  They  are  found  in  many  parts 
of  not  only  this  county,  but  this  state,  and  in 
some  instances  covered  the  ancient  mounds,  sug- 
gesting that  they  were  made  by  a  later  race  than 
the  Mound  Builders. 

Henry  Little  says  that  in  the  early  days  of  set- 
tlement they  covered  fully  ten  acres  south  of  the 
Kalamazoo  mound.  Among  these  were  some  of 
wheel  form.  In  Schoolcraft,  especially  on  section 
7,  were  many  acres  of  these  "gardens."  Fully 
one  hundred  were  seen  counted  on  a  mile  square. 
They  were  also  seen  on  Prairie  Ronde,  on  To- 
land's  prairie  and  in  various  places  not  hereto- 
fore enumerated.  The  size  greatly  varied,  some 
including  three  hundred  acres,  others  being  only 
four  or  five  acres  in  extent.  An  exhaustive  article 
on  these  beds,  with  numerous  illustrations,  con- 
tributed by  Bela  Hubbard,  Esq.,  appeared  in  the 
American    Antiquarian    of    April,   1878.     These 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


23 


beds  were  of  various  forms,  rectangular,  triangu- 
lar, elliptical,  circular  or  wheel-shaped,  and  com- 
plex, evincing,  in  many  instances,  mechanical  skill 
and  cultivated  taste.  Many  of  those  found  in  this 
county  were  laid  out  as  regular  parallelograms. 

Indian  occupancy  was  succeeded  by  the  new 
era,  that  of  civilized  possession.  When  the  few 
first  pioneers  looked  on  this  land  it  was  not  the 
landscape  of  today  that  they  beheld.  Although  in 
its  peculiar  wild  and  virgin  aspect  it  was  wonder- 
fully attractive,  still  a  dense  and  tangled  jungle 
of  heavy  cedars,  tamaracks  and  cypress,  mingled 
with  maples,  elms,  oaks,  walnuts  and  other  ever- 
green and  deciduous  trees,  covered  much  of  the 
ground,  which,  water-soaked  and  fungus-bearing, 
was  much  like  a  marsh,  even  where  extensive 
swamps  did  not  exist.  The  rivers  and  creeks, 
choked  by  fallen  and  rotting  logs  and  the  debris 
of  ages,  moved  languidly  in  their  beds,  while 
smalled  streams,  dry  or  scarcely  discernible,  kept 
sinuous  courses  through  the  extended  marshes 
and  forests*,  and  .  furnished'  homes  for  thousands 
of  finny  inhabitants,  the  watery  surface  being 
made  much  more  extensive  by  the  numerous  dams 
made  by  the  plentiful  beaver. 

The  oak  openings  and  ridge  lands  presented 
another  aspect.  John  T.  Blois  writes  of  it  in  his 
very  admirable  "Gazetteer  of  Michigan/'  pub- 
lished in  1838:  "To  the  traveler  the  country  pre- 
sents an  appearance  eminently  picturesque  and  de- 
lightful. In  a  considerable  portion  the  surface 
of  the  ground  is  so  even  and  free  from  under- 
brush as  to  admit  of  carriages  being  driven 
through  the  uncultivated  woodlands  and  plains 
with  the  same  facility  as  over  the  prairie  or  the 
common  road.  The  towering  forest  and  grove, 
the  luxuriant  prairie,  the  crystal  lake  and  limpid 
rivulet  are  so  frequently  and  happily  blended  as 
to  confer  additional  charms  to  the  high  finishing 
of  a  landscape  whose  beauty  is  probably  unriv- 
aled by  any  section  of  country. " 

The  occupation  of  Kalamazoo  county  before 
the  coming  of  the  whites  has  left  little  signs  of  its 
existence.  Whatever  prehistoric  peoples  may  have 
rambled  along  its  pleasant  hillsides  or  bathed  in 
the  limpid  waters  of  its  lakes,  they  departed  hence 
and  left  no  traces  except  the  mounds  and  gardens 


heretofore  mentioned.  The  thrilling  events  of 
border  Warfare  and  of  Indian  atrocities  recorded 
no  deed  of  bloodshed  on  this  fair  land.  Teeum- 
seh,  Pontiac  and  other  valiant  and  historic  Indian 
chiefs  concocted  their  dark  designs  against  the 
whites  in  other  places,  by  other  streams,  and  the 
Indian  history  of  this  section  is  largely  one  great 
blank.  Bands  of  warrior's  going  to  slaughter  and 
destroy,  or  returning  home  from  savage  forays, 
no  doubt  traversed  the  great  trail  crossing  the 
county.  Perhaps  disconsolate  captives  were  also 
hurried  along  its  winding  way,  but  no  record  has 
been  made  and  the  tongues  that  might  tell  were 
generations  ago  palsied  by  death. 

In  the  construction  of  this  great  Indian  trail 
that  led  across  the  state  from  one  great  lake  to 
another,  and  also  in  its  branches,  the  red  men 
avoided  the  larger  marshes,  kept  on  the  highest 
attainable  ground  and  crossed  the  streams  at  the 
best  natural  fording  places.  The  wild  grasses 
grew  with  great  luxuriance  on  every  kind  of 
ground.  The  blue  joint  of  the  prairies  attained  a 
height  of  five  or  six  feet,  and  the  luxuriant  wire- 
grass  and  redtop  grew  in  great  abundance  on  both 
openings  and  prairies,  while  immense  expanses  of 
wild  rye,  standing  from  six  to  eight  feet  in  height, 
afforded  a  pleasant  sight  to  the  new  comer.  All 
of  these  were  nutritious,  and  the  cattle  brought 
from  the  East  had  ample  provision  supplied  by  na- 
ture in  great  abundance.  The  ground,  especially 
that  of  the  prairies,  was  literally  covered  with  a 
profusion  of  wild  flowers  of  every  conceivable 
hue — crimson,  purple,  violet,  orange,  yellow, 
white,   etc. 

Another  attraction  to  the  pioneer  was  the  pure, 
clear  water,  plentifully  found  in  all  parts  of  the 
county.  The  lands  being  equally  well  adapted  to 
tillage  and  grazing,  would  please  all  classes  of 
agriculturists.  Deer  were  here  in  abundance,  and 
other  wild  animals  gave  zest  to  the  pioneer's  quest 
for  hunting.  The  streams,  lakes  and  marshes 
were  inhabited  in  great  numbers  by  beavers,  otter, 
mink  and  other  fur-bearing  animals,  whose  soft 
coats  were  readily  exchangeable  for  "store-goods" 
needed  in  the  pioneer  home. 

Squirrels,  black  and  gray,  and  of  other  varie- 
ties, were  everywhere.     Enormous  flocks  of  wild 


24 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


geese,  ducks  and  swans  ruffled  the  waters  of  the 
lakes  and  ponds,  while  the  wild  turkey,  the  crane, 
the  partridge,  the  quail,  woodcock,  snipe,  prairie 
hen  and  wild  pigeon  furnished  not  only  sport  to 
the  hunter,  but  most  delicious  additions  to  the 
primitive  larders.  It  is  probable  that  at  this  time 
no  other  portion  of  the  Union  possessed  so  many 
waterfowls  or  could  furnish  so  many  or  varied 
attractions  to  sportsmen. 

"Every  kind  of  wild  fruit  which  is,  and  some 
kinds  that  are  not  only  lavished  in  superior  abun- 
dance, but  sometimes  in  superior  quality,"  is  the 
way  an  early  settler  wrote  of  the  attractions  to  the 
pioneer  in  that  direction.  Cranberries  were  so 
plentiful  in  the  open,  water-covered  marshes  as 
often  to  make  them  appear  in  the  fall  like  great 
red  fields. 

When  these  advantages  were  known  to  the 
people  in  the  Eastern  states,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
a  great  tide  of  immigration  set  in.  For  at  least 
the  third  time  a  new  race  was  taking  "seizin"  of 
the  soil.  The  Indians  roamed  here  and  traveled 
to  and  fro  on  their  mysterious  way  for  many 
successive  generations.  The  demoralized  rem- 
nants of  a  once  powerful  tribe  had  been  sent  to  the 
West,  leaving  a  few,  faint,  fast-disappearing 
tokens  of  their  nomadic  life.  In  this  particular 
portion  of  the  state  the  preceding  races  left  few 
signs  and  slight  evidences  of  occupancy,  but  they 
were  here.  They  lived,  loved,  warred,  fulfilled 
their  destiny  and  passed  away. 

The  Indian  here  next  existed,  fulfilled  his  des- 
tiny, and  he,  too,  has  gone.  Will  the  record  of 
the  third,  the  Caucasian  race,  in  the  time  to  come, 
be  that  of  the  others?  In  the  early  swarming 
hither  of  the  pioneers  there  seems  no  possibility  of 
such  an  accomplishment.  As  we  look  today  in  the 
opening  years  of  the  twentieth  century,  at  Kala- 
mazoo county  in  its  magnificent  state  of  com- 
pleted civilization  and  high  intellectual  standing, 
the  thought  of  such  a  passing  away  seems  the  airy 
nothing  of  an  airy  dream,  nevertheless,  two  races 
at  least  have  thus  passed  away.  What  will  be 
the  destiny  of  the  third? 

Every  fable  has  a  moral,  and  all  history 
should  have.  There  are  many  lessons  to  be 
learned,  even  in  the  changes  of  events  in  Kala- 


mazoo county  during  the  years  that  have  passed 
since  hither  came  the  forerunner  of  the  long  con- 
course of  westward  emigration  which  here  found 
abiding  homes.  They  are  not  lessons  peculiar 
to  this  soil,  but  such  lessons  as  our  common  hu- 
manity everywhere  teaches  us.  It  is  the  solemn 
one  that  men  do  not  bear  prosperity ;  that  power 
and  capacity  for  achievement  come  only  from  the 
toil  and  discipline  of  sorrow ;  that  men  of  one 
generation  become  strong,  and  make  life  too 
easy  for  the  next. 

In  many  cases  in  this  county  we  have  seen  the 
sturdy  pioneer  come  to  the  annual  fairs  with  his 
cereals,  his  flocks  and  his  herds.  His  children 
appear  in  their  day  with  fast  horses  and  costly 
equipage,  while  the  third  generation  is  seen  com- 
ing on  foot,  empty-handed  and  hopeless,  the  fam- 
ily name  being  no  longer  upon  the  tongues  of 
men.  While  this  has  been  going  on,  toiling  boys, 
denied  opportunities,  have  been  working  their 
way  frugally  and  with  untiring  industry  to  opu- 
lence and  place,  to  curse  their  posterity  with  too 
much  unearned  wealth. 

In  physical  progress  since  the  surveyor's 
chain  first  gave  the  settlers  freedom  to  here  ac- 
quire a  home,  the  dreams  of  the  poet  have  been 
surpassed.  The  achievements  of  six  hundred 
years  have  been  cumulative  and  multiplied,  or 
the  tree  taking  root  in  all  the  centuries,  fed  by  the 
toil,  endurance  and  suffering  of  all,  has  at  last 
suddenly  blossomed  and  borne  fruit. 

How  hopeless  was  the  pioneer  in  the  flower- 
covered  wilderness,  but  his  descendants  are  now 
citizens  of  the  world,  sharers  in  all  of  its  lux- 
ury and  glory.  All  continents  and  all  seas  min- 
ister unto  them.  It  took  long  months  for  the  pio- 
neers to  hear  from  across  the  sea,  yes,  even  from 
their  old  homes  in  the  East ;  now  the  world's  his- 
tory of  each  day  is  read  at  every  fireside  of  the 
continent  on  the  day  of  its  occurrence.  For  years 
a  few  horseback  carriers  conveyed  all  the  mail 
coming  to  this  county  and  going  past  into  the 
further  West.  Now  the  almost  hourly  railroad 
trains  transport  tons  of  mail  daily. 

If  the. great  object  of  life  was  splendid  struc- 
tures, the  multiplication  and  diffusion  of  lux- 
uries,  well   might   men   rejoice,   but   the   solemn 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


25 


question,  here  and  elsewhere,  is  whether  these 
things,  representing  temporal  riches,  are  making 
men  better  or  happier.  Every  continent  is  strewn 
with  the  voiceless  wreck  of  the  works  of  men's 
hands  and  with  graves.  Nationalities  and  lan- 
guages have  disappeared.  This  has  not  come 
from. convulsions  of  nature,  but  from  the  degen- 
eracy engendered  by  prosperity. 

In  this  very  territory,  as  told  before,  are  relics 
of  the  Mound  Builders.  The  pioneer  planted 
with  hope  above  their  warning  graves,  while  ad- 
dresses and  political  speeches  have  often  been 
pronounced  from  platforms  erected  on  the  mound 
in  Bronson  Park.  The  same  natural,  moral  and 
social  laws  that  gave  them  life  and  wrought 
destruction  of  these  ancient  residents  should  re- 
mind us  that  there  is  no  exemption  from  social 
corruption.  The  greatest  trouble  of  the  civili- 
zation of  today  is  the  power  of  monopolies,  the 
restlessness  of  labor,  the  wildness  of  the  scramble 
for  gold,  the  violence  and  blindness  of  party 
spirit,  the  passivity  of  the  average  citizen  and 
the  character  of  the  politicians,  who  look  to  their 
own  interests  and  forget  their  country. 

The  safety  of  the  land  lies  in  our  intelligent 
agricultural  population  cherishing  with  wise  con- 
servatism the  good  of  the  past  and  valuing  their 
homes  as  to  make  them  ever  loyal  patriots  in  the 
lines  of  national  honor.  The  republic  founded 
in  this  new  land  of  freedom  by  the  Revolutionary 
patriots  can  not  last  long  without  the  stability  of 
an  agricultural  interest,  which  can  and  will  hold 
the  balance  of  power  and  cry  "Halt !"  whenever 
the  hosts  of  corruption  seem  marching  the  land 
to  political  ruin. 

One  successful  demagogue,  reeking  with  cor- 
ruption, yet  elevated  to  place,  followed  by  popular 
applause  and  worshiped  for  successful  stealing, 
while  virtue  is  ridiculed  and  a  drug  upon  the 
market,  will  do  more  to  demoralize  young  men 
than  the  example  of  a  thousand  saintly  lives  can 
do  to  lead  them  to  a  better  life.  All  history 
warns  us  that  Nature  has  not  among  its  possi- 
bilities greater  woe  than  yet  may  come  to  Kala- 
mazoo county,  if  its  citizens  forget  God  and  his 
laws.  No  matter  what  fields  may  be  reclaimed, 
what   temples  may   be   reared,   what   magnificent 


edifices  and  structures  erected,  if  men  and  women 
are  not  growing  better,  the  pomp  and  splendor  of 
civilization  is  as  sad  as  the  flowers  that  embellish 
graves  and  the  human  race  will  remain  powerless 
in  the  clutch  of  an  evil  destiny,  ever  to  drop  lower 
and  lower  into  a  degeneracy  from  which  a  steadily 
increasing  inharmony  and  weakness  could  only 
spring. 

CHAPTER  II. 

INDIANS,    THEIR    LIFE    AND    CHARACTER. 

The  Pottawattomie  Indians  held  title  to  the 
lands  of  Kalamazoo  county  until  the  Chicago 
treaty  of  1821.  Before  this,  at  Greenville,  Ohio, 
on  July  30,  1795,  a  treaty  of  peace  between  the 
United  States,  represented  by  General  Anthony 
Wayne,  and  various  Indian  tribes  brought  into 
the  ownership  of  the  whites  nearly  two-thirds  of 
the  state  of  Ohio,  a  considerable  portion  of  In- 
diana, and  a  large  number  of  small  reservations 
within  their  remaining  territory,  among  the  latter 
being  a  strip  six  miles  wide  along  Lake  Erie  and 
the  Detroit  river,  the  post  of  Mackinac,  the  island 
on  which  it  stood ;  the  island  of  Bois  Blanc,  and 
a  piece  of  land  to  the  north  of  the  straits,  six  by 
three  miles  in  'extent,  a  piece  six  miles  square  at 
Chicago ;  another  of  the  same  extent  at  Fort 
Wayne ;  one  twelve  miles  square  at  the  Mau- 
mee  rapids,  and  various  others.  The  Indians  were 
to  be  allowed  the  privilege  of  hunting  upon  the 
ceded  lands,  and  the  government  and  people  of  the 
United  States  were  to  freely  navigate  the  lakes 
and  streams  within  the  Indian  territory.  The 
consideration  which  the  tribe  received  from  the 
United  States  was  twenty  thousand  dollars  in 
goods,  distributed  at  the  treaty  equally  among 
them,  and  an  annuity  of  nine  thousand  five  hun- 
dred dollars  ,in  goods  thereafter  forever.  The 
annual  payments  were  to  be  divided  among  the 
contracting  nations  as  follows:  to  the  Wyan- 
dots,  the  value  of  one  thousand  dollars ;  to  the 
Delawares,  one  thousand  dollars;  to  the  Shaw- 
nees,  one  thousand  dollars;  to  the  Miamis,  one 
thousand  dollars ;  to  the  Ottawas,  one  thousand 
dollars ;  to  the  Chippewas,  one  thousand  dollars ; 
to  the  Pottawattomies,  one  thousand  dollars,  and 


26 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


to  the  Kickapoos,  Weas,  Eel  Rivers,  Piankeshaws, 
and  to  the  Kaskaskias,  the  sum  of  five  hundred 
dollars   each. 

At  the  Chicago  treaty  of  August,  1821;  the 
Pottawattomies  ceded  to  the  United  States  all  of 
their  lands  lying  south  of  Grand  river  with  the  ex- 
ceptions of  five  small  reservations,  one  of  them 
being  in  Kalamazoo  county  and  covering  the  site 
of  Kalamazoo  city.  The  Chippewas,  Ottawas  and 
Pottawattomies  were  represented  in  force  and  the 
latter  tribe,  as  occupants  of  the  land,  having  the 
consent  of  the  other  tribes,  their  allies  in  peace 
and  war,  took  the  leading  part  in  the  cession.  The 
official  description  of  the  ceded  lands  describes 
it  as  "a  tract  of  land  extending  nearly  across 
the  state''  and  "Beginning  on  the  south  bank  of 
the  St.  Joseph  river  of  Michigan  near  Pare  aux 
Vaches  (a  short  distance  above  its  mouth)  ;  thence 
in  a  line  running  due  west  from  the  southern 
extremity  of  Lake  Michigan ;  thence  along  the 
line  to  the  tract  ceded  by  the  treaty  of  Fort 
Meigs  in  181 7  (which  was  far  to  the  east  of 
Kalamazoo  county),  or,  if  that  tract  should  be 
found  to  lie  entirely  south  of  the  line,  then  to  the 
tract  ceded  by  the  treaty  of  Detroit  in  1807  (the 
western  boundary  of  which  was  twenty  miles 
west  of  Lake  Erie  and  the  Detroit  river)  ;  thence 
northward  along  the  tract  to  a  point  due  east  to 
the  source  of  the 'Grand  river;  thence  west  to  the 
source  of  that  river;  thence  down  the  river  on 
the  north  bank  to  its  junction  with  Lake  Mich- 
igan ;  thence  southward  along  the  east  bank  of  the 
lake  to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph  river;  thence 
up  the  river  to  the  place  of  beginning." 

In  consideration  of  this  cession,  the  United 
States  agreed  to  pay  to  the  Ottawa  Indians  one 
thousand  dollars  a  year  forever,  in  addition  to 
one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  annually  for 
fifteen  years  to  support  a  teacher,  a  farmer  and  a 
blacksmith.  The  Pottawattomies  were  to  be  paid 
five  thousand  dollars  annually  for  twenty  years, 
besides  one  thousand  dollars  a  year  to  support  a 
teacher  and  a  blacksmith.  This  treaty  is  of 
peculiar  interest,  as  these  provisions  were  among 
the  first  attempts  made  by  the  United  States 
government  to  civilize  the  savages. 

This  treaty  is  the  basis  of  all  of  the  land 
titles  of  Kalamazoo  county.    The  Kalamazoo  res- 


ervation was  called  in  the  treaty  'the  Match-e-be- 
nash-e-wish  reserve.  In  September,  1827,  all 
of  the  Pottawattomie  reservations  mentioned  in 
the  Chicago  treaty  were  exchanged  for  a  con- 
solidated reservation  called  Nottawasepee,  a  por- 
tion lying  in  St.  Joseph  county  and  the  rest  in 
Kalamazoo.  The  Match-e-be-nash-e-wish  land 
was  by  this  exchange  brought  into  white  pos- 
session. .The  Nottawasepee  Reservation  included 
one  hundred  and  fifteen  sections,  sixty  sections  of 
it  lying  in  Kalamazoo  county  and  including  all 
of  the  township  of  Brady  and  a  short  strip  two 
miles  wide  on  the  west  side  of  Wakeshma,  be- 
sides a  strip  two  miles  wide  on  the  east  side  of 
Schoolcraft  township. 

The  township  covering  the  site  of  Kalamazoo 
city  was  surveyed  in  1827  by  John  Mullett  and 
became  township  2  in  range  11  west.  The  reser- 
vation remaining  was  surveyed  in  June,  1829,  by 
Orange  Risdon.  By  a  treaty  made  at  a  council 
held  at  the  Indian  reservation  in  St.  Joseph 
county  in  September,  1833,  the  Pottawattomies, 
through  the  kindly  influence  of  gifts  from  the 
whites  of  military  trappings,  baubles  and  inex- 
pensive trinkets  of  the  value  of  ten  thousand 
dollars,  ceded  all  of  the  lands  still  held  by  them  in 
the  state  to  the  United  States.  They  were  to 
retain  peacable  possession  of  these  lands  for  two 
years  when  they  were  to  remove  to  a  new  reser- 
vation selected  for  them  west  of  the  Mississippi 
river.  They,  however,  manifested  such  reluct- 
ance at  leaving  the  state  at  the  end  of  the  two 
years  that  they  were  allowed  to  remain  for  five 
years  longer,  when  the  strong  arm  of  the  United 
States  government  forced  them  from  their  Mich- 
igan home  and  escorted  them  to  their  new  land 
of  freedom  in  the  unknown  West. 

Their  villages  in  this  county  were  located 
on  Gull  prairie,  on  the  site  of  Galesburg,  on 
Prairie  Ronde,  in  the  town  of  Portage,  at  Kala- 
mazoo and  at  other  places.  The  settlement  at 
Kalamazoo  was  doubtless  the  largest  and  most 
prominent.  Here  the  chief,  who  is  variously 
spoken  of  as  Saginaw  and  Noonday,  held  his 
residence,  and  at  the  advent  of  the  whites 
sixteen  diverging  trails  centered.  Evidences  of 
a  large  Indian  population  at  this  locality  are 
plentifully  supplied  by  the  three  burial  grounds 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


which  were  found  within  the  present  city  limits. 
Here  was  probably  the  best  fishing  grounds  of  the 
entire  western  portion  of  the  Lower  Peninsula, 
for  the  largest  fish  of  Lake  Michigan  could  come 
up  from  Kalamazoo  river  and  here,  during  the 
springs  and  early  summers  of  many  successive 
vears,  a  year's  supply  of  fish  was  caught  in  a 
short  time  by  a  great  number  of  people. 

The  Pott  aw  attorn  ies  were  by  nature  Indians  of 
peace  with  agricultural  tastes.  They  cultivated 
extensive  tracts  of  land  and  the  "Indian-  fields" 
are  said  to  have  occupied  hundreds  of  acres. 
Whether  these  fields  were  identical  with  the  pre- 
historic gardens  alluded  to  elsewhere  we  can  not 
assert  with  any  certainty.  The  menial  work  of 
the  aborigines  was  done  by  the  squaws.  These 
Indians  loved  to  cover  themselves  with  gaudy 
blankets  and  to  display  gewgaws,  medals  and  any 
thing  of  a  brilliant  or  a  showy  character.  Their 
ponies  they  decorated  in  the  same  manner  and 
these  were  highly  valued  and  well  cared  for. 
Good  at  hunting  and  in  the  trailing  game,  the 
warriors  were  as  brave  on  the  warpath  as  they 
were  peaceful  at  other  times.  James  Fenimore 
Cooper  laid  the  scene  of  his  novel  "Oak  Open- 
ings" in  the  Kalamazoo  valley.  This  indicates 
that  he  possessed  a  fine  appreciation  of  the  Indian 
character. 

Indian  manners  and  customs  are  graphically 
described  in  a  letter  received  by  Henry  Bishop,  of 
Kalamazoo,  in  1880.  A.  H.  Scott,  the  writer,  was 
then  a  resident  of  St.  Joseph  and  was  probably 
as  conversant  with  Indian  life  as  any  man  in  the 
county.  It  was  published  in  the  Kalamazoo  Tele- 
graph of  January  14,  1880,  as  follows:  "I  came 
to  Kalamazoo  county  early  in  June,  1833,  as  a 
member  of  the  family  of  James  Smith,  in  company 
with  his  brother  Addison.  Hosea  B.  Huston  and 
E.  Lakin  Brown  carried  on  the  merchandising 
business  under  the  name  of  Smith,  Huston  & 
Company,  and  had  two  stores,  one  at  Schoolcraft 
and  the  other  at  Kalamazoo  (or  rather  at  Bron- 
son,  as  it  was  then  called).  I  soon  picked  up 
enough  of  the  Indian  language  to  enable  me  to 
trade. with  them.  They  then  owned  a  reservation 
of  land  ten  miles  square,  which  took  in  the  eastern 
part  of  Gourdrieck  prairie,  and  had  a  small  village 


or  collection  of  wigwams  in  the  grove  just  east  of 
the  prairie,  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  James  N. 
Neasmith,  Esq.  The  wigwams  were  all  built  with 
a  frame  of  poles,  covered  with  elmbark,  with  the 
exception  of  the  wigwam  of  the  chief,  Saginaw, 
which  was  built  for  him  by  his  friends  among  the 
early  white  settlers,  of  logs  and  covered  with  oak 
shakes.  You  wish  me  to  inform  you  how  they 
received  the  first  settler,  how  they  lived  and  how 
much  they  mingled  with  and  how  they  traded  with 
the  white  men.  First,  I  think,  as  a  class,  they  re- 
ceived the  early  settlers  very  kindly,  and  were  in- 
clined to  live  peacefully  with  them.  Second  ques- 
tion, How  they  lived.  Deer  were  plenty  in  those 
days,  and,  as  they  were  good  hunters,  they  had  no 
difficulty  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year  in 
supplying  themselves  with  meat.  They  also  used 
the  flesh  of  the  raccoon,  muskrats,  etc.,  for  food. 
Fish  were  plenty  in  the  rivers  and  lakes.  They 
understood  how  to  catch  them  both  with  spear 
and  hook.  They  raised  corn  on  land  that  some 
of  the  early  settlers  plowed  and  fenced  for  them. 
In  their  season  wild  fruits,  such  as  blueberries, 
blackberries,  etc.,  were  obtained  by  them  for  feed, 
and  also  to  'swap'  with  the  white  man  for  flour, 
salt,  sugar,  etc.  Third  question.  How  much  they 
mingle  with  the  white  man?  In  our  stores  and 
the  dwellings  and  cabins  of  their  acquaintances 
they  make  themselves  very  much  at  home.  The 
squaws  and  pappooses  would  come  in  crowds  and 
sit  down  on  the  floor  (never  taking  a  chair)  till 
they  were  so  thick  that  you  could  hardly  find  a 
place  to  put  your  foot.  They  turned  out  en 
masse  on  all  public  days,  and  at  horseraces  and 
shows.  They  were  greatly  delighted  with  cir- 
cuses. Shooting  matches  and  foot  races  they  took 
great  delight  in.  In  answering  the  fourth  ques- 
tion, How  they  traded  with  the  white  man,  I  an- 
swer that  the  trade  with  the  Indian  at  that  early 
day  was  mainly  an  exchange  (or  as  they  call  it, 
'swap')  of  their  furs,  venison,  dressed  deerskins, 
moccasins,  blueberries,  blackberries,  cranberries, 
etc.,  for  flour,  salt,  tobacco,  powder,  lead,  sugar 
and  all  the  articles  that  the  Indian  used  to  clothe 
themselves.  I  never  knew  an  Indian  to  offer  to 
sell  to  white  people  any  part  of  the  carcass  of  a 
deer  except  the  ham.     The  price  for  a  ham  of 


28 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


venison  was  always  two  shillings,  no  matter  how 
great  or  small  it  was.  Whenever  we  sold  a  squaw 
any  goods  that  had  to  be  made  up  into  any  of 
their  garments,  a  needle  and  thread  for  each  gar- 
ment must  be  given.  Only  the  goods  for  one  gar- 
ment would  be  bought  or  swapped  for  at  a  time. 
It  required  a  good  knowledge  of  their  ways  and 
much  patience  to  be  a  successful  dealer  with  the 
Indians.  We  frequently  sold  them  goods  on 
credit,  and  found  them  about  the  same  kind  of 
paymasters  as  the  ordinary  white  man ;  some  paid 
promptly,  some  after  a  long  time,  and  some  never 
paid.  They  would  have  been  splendid  customers 
if  they  had  been  blessed  with  plenty  of  money ; 
but  they  were  poor  and  shiftless,  and  I  may  say 
with  truth,  a  vagabond  race,  and  consequently 
their  trade  was  of  no  great  value.  They  received 
an  annual  payment  from  the  government,  which 
was  mainly  in  necessary  goods  for  their  use  and 
comfort,  and  a  small  amount  of  silver  money. 
The  money  was  soon  gone,  and  in  most  cases  did 
them  no  good,  but  the  goods  furnished  by  the 
government  was  just  what  they  needed,  and  added 
greatly  to  their  comfort. 

"In  regard  to  the  personal  characteristics  of 
any  noted  Indian,  etc.,  I  would  say  that  the  best 
specimen  of  an  Indian  that  I  ever  saw  in  those 
early  days  was  Sagamaw,  the  chief  of  all  the 
Pottawattomies  in  and  about  Kalamazoo  county. 
The  name  'Noonday'  was  probably  his  popular 
appellation.  He  was  a  man  of  great  good  sense, 
of  noble  bearing,  of  great  integrity,  and  in  every 
way  a  dignified  gentleman.  He  was  called  a 
great  orator  by  his  people.  He  was  a  true  friend 
to  the  whites.  I  have  heard  him  make  speeches 
to  his  people,  and,  although  I  could  not  under- 
stand him,  his  manner  and  voice  were  very  in- 
teresting, and  the  effect  of  his  speech  on  his 
people  was  very  great. 

"Sagamaw  was  the  only  Indian  that  I  ever  saw 
who  was  polite  and  attentive  to  his  squaw.  When 
they  came  to  the  store  at  Schoolcraft  to  do  their 
trading,  he  would  help  her  off  her  pony,  and  when 
they  were  ready  to  return  he  would  place  his  hand 
on  the  ground  by  the  side  of  her  pony,  and  she 
would  place  her  foot  in  it,  and  he  would  lift  her 
with  apparently  great  ease  into  her  saddle,  and  no 


white  man  could  have  shown  more  respect  and  po- 
liteness. If  he  wished  for  any  credit  at  the  store, 
he  had  it,  and  paid  it  promptly.  Any  Indian  that 
he  told  us  it  was  safe  to  trust  was  sure  to  pay 
us.  He  always  told  us  never  to  trust  his  son,  Cha- 
na-ba,  who  was  a  very  worthless  fellow. 

"In  regard  to  the  number  of  Indians  that  lived 
in  Kalamazoo  county  and  vicinity  at  that  early 
date,  I  can  not  make  any  estimate  that  would  be 
of  value.  They  were  continually  coming  and  go- 
ing and  scattered  about  in  little  squads.  In  re- 
gard to  the  effect  it  had  on  the  character  of  the  In- 
dian to  closely  associate  with  the  white  race,  I 
have  no  doubt  the  effect  was  bad.  He  seems  (as 
many  writers  have  said)  to  take  in  all  the  vices 
of  the  white  man  and  reject  all  his  virtues.  Whis- 
key, the  great  demoralizer  of  the  white  man,  was 
and  is  the  principal  factor  in  the  destruction  of  all 
that  is  good  in  the  Indian  character,  when  he 
comes  in  contact  with  the  white  race. 

"The  longer  the  Indians  remained  here  among 
the  whites  the  more  worthless  they  became.  Game 
became  scarce,  they  were  too  indolent  to  work, 
and  they  became  drunkards  and  beggars.  The 
great  end  and  aim  of  most  of  them  was  to  get 
whiskey  to  get  drunk  with,  and  as  it  cost  onlv 
twenty-five  cents  per  gallon,  they  generally  got  all 
they  wanted.  When  they  purchased  whiskey 
they  usually  announced  that  they  were  going  to 
get  'squabby'  (drunk).  The  quality  of  the 
whiskey  sold  to  the  Indians  was  very  bad,  hav- 
ing been  watered  and  drugged  for  their  especial 
use.  I  recollect,  in  1833,  that  some  Indians  came 
to  Schoolcraft  from  Kalamazoo  and  made  bitter 
complaint  to  Addison  Smith  about  H.  B.  Huston. 
They  said  that  he  put  so  much  T>ish'  (water)  in 
his  whiskey  that  it  made  them  sick  before  they 
could  get  'squibby'  (drunk).  As  to  myself,  I  sold 
no  whiskey  whatever  to  the  Indians,  except  dur- 
ing the  first  two  or  three  years  after  my  arrival 
in  Schoolcraft.  What  I  have  said  about  the  In- 
dians has  been  mainly  about  those  whose  head- 
quarters were  near  Schoolcraft." 

In  November,  1840,  the  federal  government 
took  stern  measures  in  the  removal  of  the  Potta- 
wattomies to  the  west  of  the  Great  Father  of 
Waters.     It  sent  soldiers  to  aid  the  Indian  com- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


29 


missioner,  Hon.  H.  M.  Rice,  who  was  later  promi- 
nent in  Minnesota.  At  the  various  Indian  vil- 
lages camps  were  established  and  at  each  the 
troops  conducted  the  regular  western  cowboy 
"round-up"  operations  to  capture  the  Indians. 
The  fated  children  of  the  forests  and  plains  were 
dragged  like  the  western  steers  into  an  enforced 
temporary  captivity,  all  of  their  home  ties  being 
relentlessly  severed.  One  writer  states  that  Mr. 
Rice  "performed  his  duties  with  fidelity  and  with 
utmost  kindness." 

The  Indians  did  not  resist,  but  the  young  men 
would  break  away  from  control  whenever  they 
could  do  so,  and  the  squaws  concealed  themselves 
so  adroitly  that  it  required  great  skill  and  much 
time  on  the  part  of  the  soldiers  to  gather  them  in. 
Guarded  by  an  armed  escort,  each  company  was 
brought  to  Kalamazoo,  some  Indians  coming 
from  St.  Joseph  and  Hillsdale  counties,  and  here 
they  were  joined  by  other  parties  brought  from 
the  North  and  West.  Not  alone  the  Pottawatto- 
mies,  but  the  Ottawas  felt  in  this  manner  the  re- 
lentless hand  of  destiny  in  their  complete  sever- 
ance from  the  only  home  they  ever  possessed  and 
held  dear  and  the  complete  breaking  of  all  of  the 
tender  ties  of  association,  which  the  Indians  in 
their  silent,  taciturn  manner  conceal  so  warmly 
under  an  exterior  of  stolidity. 

Of  the  many  Indian  trails  leading  to  and 
through  Kalamazoo,  the  principal  one  was  that 
which  came  to  be  known  as  the  Washtenaw  trail, 
which  crossed  the  state  from  east  to  west  nearly 
on  the  line  of  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad. 
Along  this  trail  were  Indian  villages  at  Ypsilanti, 
Ann  Arbor,  Battle  Creek,  Gull  Prairie,  Kalama- 
zoo, Schoolcraft,  South  Haven  and  St.  Joseph. 
At  these  places  were  important  centers  of  savage 
population  and  the  most  of  the  inhabitants  were 
Pottawattomies.  These  trails  became  the  routes 
followed  by  the  pioneer  visitors  and  the  first  sur- 
veyors of  roads  found  the  routes  of  the  trails,  al- 
though winding  and  devious,  the  best  adapted  to 
the  condition  of  the  country,  for  they  had  been 
selected  by  the  Indians,  the  acknowledged  great- 
est masters  of  woodcraft. 

Concerning  the  villages  and  early  trading 
posts,  Louis  Campau,  one  of  the  most  prominent 


fur  traders  of  the  early  days,  wrote,  "Before  and 
at  a  short  time  after  the  war  of  181 2  there  was  a 
line  of  Indian  villages  from  Ypsilanti  to  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph  river,  located  as  follows : 
At  places  where  are  now  Ypsilanti,  Ann  Arbor, 
Jackson,  Battle  Creek,  Gull  Prairie,  Kalamazoo, 
Prairie  Ronde,  South  Bend  and  St.  Joseph,  all  of 
the  Pottawattomie  tribe.  There  were  trading 
posts  at  some  of  these  places.  At  Ypsilanti,  Mr. 
Schamber  had  a  post ;  at  Jackson,  Mr.  Bacrotiea ; 
at  Kalamazoo,  Mr.  Numaiville ;  at  Elkhart,  Mr. 
Mordaunt;  at  South  Bend,  Mr.  Bertrand;  Ben- 
nett &  Brother  were  traders  at  Michigan  City. 
When  I  passed  through  Kalamazoo,  in  1827, 
there  were  but  two  log  houses  there  (traders' 
cabins)."  Following  Numaiville  at  Kalamazoo, 
Rix  Robinson  was  stationed  in  the  employ  of  the 
American  Fur  Company.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Gurdon  S.  Hubbard  who  wrote  to  the  State  Pi- 
oneer Society  in  1875 :  "I  was  then  eighteen 
years  old.  This  was  my  second  charge  of  a  post, 
following  Rix  Robinson,  who  was  transferred  to 
Grand  River.  Under  me  were  five  good  men, 
one  being  Cosa,  a  pure-blooded  Indian.  We  had 
strong  opposition  from  traders  at  Bertrand  and 
Coldwater.  My  trade  was  with  the  Pottawatto- 
mies and  the  Ottawas,  and  we  were  kept  on  the 
go  all  winter  carrying  our  goods  on  our  backs  to 
the  Indian  hunting  camps,  returning  laden  with 
furs  and  peltries.  The  season  was  a  success.  I 
sold  all  my  goods  and  got  pay  for  say  nineteen- 
twentieths.  I  left  early  in  the  spring,  my  boat 
heavily  laden,  entering  Lake  Michigan  and  reach- 
ing Mackinac  early  in  May.  In  the  fall  I  had 
buried  in  the  sand  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kalamazoo 
river  some  very  heavy  articles  because  of  the  rap- 
ids. In  March  I  took  a  large  canoe  and  with 
one  man  went  after  them.  We  camped  at  the 
foot  of  the  rapids  in  a  snowstorm.  In  the  morn- 
ing (still  snowing)  we  with  great  effort  poled 
up  the  rapids.  We  had  reached  the  upper  end,  I 
being  in  the  bow  poling,  my  man  seated  using  the 
paddle.  A  tree  had  fallen  into  the  river.  Pushing^ 
out  to  round  it,  the  current  being  still  strong,  the 
bow  struck  it  and  my  man  being  careless,  the 
canoe  would  have  upset  if  I  had  not  jumped  into 
the  water.     Telling  my  man  to  follow  me  down 


3° 


COMPENDIUM  GF  HISTORY  OF 


the  rapids,  I  swam  and  reached  my  camping  place 
in  safety,  though  much  exhausted."-  This  was 
Mr.  Hubbard's  third  year  of  service  with  the 
American  Fur  Company,  of  which  the  noted  John 
Jacob  Astor,  of  New  York  city,  was  the  founder. 

Mr.  Robinson  stated  that  the  first  trading-hut 
at  Kalamazoo  was  on  the  north  side  of  the  river, 
and  was  erected  in  the  fall  of  1823,  by  an  old 
Frenchman  by  the  name  of  Numaiville,  who 
traded  there  that  fall  and  during  the  winter  of 
1824,  and  in  the  spring  returned  to  Mackinac.  "In 
the  fall  of  1824  I  caused  more  substantial  build- 
ings to  be  erected,  and  employed  the  same  old 
man  as  clerk  to  trade  for  me  for  a  number  of 
years,  my  own  trading-post  being  on  the  Grand 
river. 

"This  old  Frenchman  could  not  read  or  write 
a  single  word,  but  would  keep  the  accounts  by 
hieroglyphics  or  imitation-pictures,  and  rehearse 
them  to  me  in  the  spring  with  almost  exact  ac- 
curacy in  the  name  of  the  article  or  the  price.  I 
continued  to  occupy  the  place  by  different  clerks 
until  1837,  when  I  closed  up  my  Indian  trade.  I 
generally  visited  the  post  once,  and  sometimes 
twice,  during  the  winter,  but  never  remained 
there  more  than  a  day  or  two  at  a  time.  I  some- 
times kept  men  there  to  trade  the  whole  year 
round,  but  generally  only  during  the  fall,  winter 
and  early  part  of  the  spring.  In  the  month  of 
May  we  generally  left  in  our  Montreal  barges  for 
Mackinac,  returning  again  in  October." 

This  little  trading  post,  built  partly  of  logs 
and  partly  of  bark,  stood  not  far  from  the  ferry 
within  the  enclosure  and  near  the  southwest  cor- 
ner of  Riverside  cemetery.  Mr.  Robinson,  after 
1837,  settled  permanently  in  Ada,  Kent  county, 
where  the  principal  one  of  his  numerous  trading 
posts  was  located,  and  became  extremely  promi- 
nent, serving  very  creditably  as  a  member  of  the 
state  legislature  and  as  a  useful  member  of  the 
state  senate  in  1846,  1847,  l848  and  1849.  His 
intelligence,  the  purity  of  his  private  life,  which 
distinguished  him  above  the  ordinary  class  of 
"traders,"  gave  him  prominence  when  civiliza- 
tion became  dominant  in  the  West.  With  in- 
flexible integrity  and  untiring  assiduity  he  nobly 
fulfilled  every  trust  reposed  in  him,  and  died*,  as 


he    had-  lived,    "without    fear    and    without    re- 
proach." 

Beside  Robinson  and  Hubbard  there  were 
other  traders  stationed  at  Kalamazoo,  either  as 
employes  of  these,  or  traders  on  their  own  ac- 
count. Among  them  were  Recollet,  Peter  Co- 
teau,  and  one  Leiphart.  "Recollet  had  two  daugh- 
ters who  were  the  pride  and  idols  of  his  heart. 
Year  after  year  they  unfolded  new  graces  and 
new  beauty,  and  made  the  wilderness  a  merry 
place  with  their  ringing  voices  and  laughter. 
Like  the  waters  of  the  Ke-Kalamazoo  they  loved 
so  much,  the  current  of  their  lives  flowed  sweetly 
and  smoothly  on.  Fearless  as  Indian  braves, 
lithe  and  sinewy  as  the  wild  deer,  tireless  as 
eagles,  and  sure-footed  as  the  scout,  there  was 
not  a  nook,  hillside  or  streamlet  for  miles  around 
which  they  did  not  explore ;  not  a  spring,  lake  or 
meadow  brook  but  returned  their  fresh  mocking 
glances,  laved  their  Camillan  feet,  or  bubbled  up 
fresh  breakers  to  kiss  their  thirsty  lips.  But  at 
last  the  time  came  when  the  father,  who  had  long 
wrestled  with  the  thought  of  separation,  yielded 
to  what  he  believed  to  be  his  duty,  and  determined 
that  they  should  be  educated  and  fitted  for  a  bet- 
ter life— for  he  held  'the  gray  barbarian  lower 
than  the  Christian  child.'  He  went  with  them  to 
Montreal  and  placed  them  in  a  convent.  They 
were  permitted  twice  to  revisit  their  old  home,  and 
finally,  their  education  completed,  they  started 
once  more  homeward.  But  they  were  destined 
never  to  tread  the  old  familiar  hills.  While  on  a 
brief  visit  to  Mackinac  they  were  both  drowned, 
the  boat  in  which  they  were  enjoying  an  excur- 
sion being  .overturned  by  a  sudden  storm. 

"When  the  sad  tidings  reached  the  aged  father, 
he  became  like  one  who,  by  a  sudden  stroke,  is 
deprived  of  all  hope  and  comfort.  He  remained 
here  but  a  little  time  afterward,  and  disappeared, 
none  knew  whither. 

"The  stock  in  trade  of  these  frontier  posts, 
brought  from  Detroit  on  packhorses  through  the 
wilderness  which  then  covered  the  lower  penin- 
sula, or  in  batteaux  from  Detroit  and  Mackinac, 
consisted  of  ammunition,  tobacco,  blankets,  cloth- 
ing, beads,  hats  and  caps,  steel  traps,  spears, 
hooks,  a  small  assortment  of  boots  and  shoes,  and 
a  generous  supply  of  white  men's  fire-water." 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN 


3i 


CHAPTER  III. 


INDIAN  SUGAR  MAKING. 


Roswell  Ransom,  Cyrus  Lovell  and  Ralph 
Tuttle,  of  Toland  prairie,  in  the  spring  of  1832, 
visited  the  Indian  "sugar-bush,"  some  three  miles 
southwest  of  Galesburg.  Reaching  the  locality, 
they  beheld  an  interesting  scene.  Here  was  a 
hive  of  busy  workers,  "Nitch-e-naw-bees,"  gath- 
ering sap  from  the  trees  and  "toting"  it  to  the 
camp.  And  they  found  the  workers  in  this  hive, 
like  those  of  another,  composed  of  the  squaw- 
bees,  while  the  males  played  the  drones'  part  by 
idly  looking  on,  which  they  seemed  to  enjoy 
hugely.  Long  poles,  supported  by  stakes  driven 
into  the  ground,  held  a  number  of  iron  kettles 
filled  with  sap,  while  a  small  fire  was  blazing  un- 
der each  kettle.  From  the  boiling  liquid  columns 
of  smoke  arose  in  wreaths  and  ringlets  that  float- 
ed away  among  the  treetops.  The  fresh  sap, 
brought  from  the  troughs  under  the  trees,  was 
poured  into  the  first  kettle,  while  the  one  next 
to  it  was  filled  up  from  the  first  and  the  third 
from  the  second,  and  so  on  to  the  last,  which 
was  used  for  "sugaring  off."  In  the  second 
kettle  our  visitors  noticed  some  strange  objects 
bobbing  up  and  down  with  the  boiling  sap.  These 
they,  on  closer  scrutiny,  found  to  be  chipmunks, 
squirrels  and  an  occasional  woodchuck.  The 
squaws  were  cooking  them  for  those  lazy  drones 
lounging  about  the  camp,  who  were  called  their 
husbands.  The  dusky  matrons,  taking  the  cold 
sap  in  their  mouths,  would  spurt  it  over  ladies 
filled  with  hot  sugar  to  cool  it  off,  and  then  pre- 
sent it  to  their  white  visitors  to  eat.  But  they 
were  ungallant  enough  to  decline  eating  any  of  it. 

The  Indians  did  not  make  their  sugar  in  cakes 
as  much  as  we  do.  Their  usual  process  was  to 
stir  it  with  a  stick  while  it  was  cooling,  thus 
graining  it.  They  put  this,  in  quantities  of  one- 
half  bushels  or  less,  into  mococks,  which  were 
made  of  birch  bark  sewed  together  with  thongs 
from  slippery  elm  bark.  These  mococks,  filled 
with  sugar,  were  strung  in  pairs  over  the  pony's 
back,  making  him  look  like  an  eastern  donkey 
loaded  with  paniers  of  oranges.     Thus  loading 


the  ponies,  they  would  bestride  them  and  go  to 
the  "she-mo-ka-man's"  cabin  to  "swap"  for  quas- 
gun  (bread),  sammock  (tobacco),  or  any  other 
article  they  wanted. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

TOPOGRAPPIY  AND   PHYSICAL   GEOGRAPHY. 

Nature  was  prodigal  of  her  gifts  when  she 
created  this  section  of  the  American  Union.  Kal- 
amazoo county  is  a  typical  county  of  the  rich 
southern  portion  of  the  state.  It  is  in  the  south- 
western part  of  the  Lower  Peninsula  in  the  sec- 
ond tier  of  counties  from  the  southern  boundary 
of  the  state.  Distant  from  Lansing  sixty  miles, 
lying  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  nearly  due" 
west  from  Detroit,  thirty-three  miles  north  of  In- 
diana and  due  east  from  Lake  Michigan  forty-four 
miles,  it  is  very  conveniently  located,  having  fine 
communication  with  commercial  centers  and  ex- 
cellent shipping  facilities  by  the  various  railroads 
traversing  it.  It  is  in  the  forty-second  degree  of 
north  latitude  and  the  eighth  degree  of  longitude 
west  of  the  Washington  meridian,  containing  the 
congressional  townships  Nos.  1,  2,  3  and  4  south 
of  the  base  line  and  ranges  Nos.  9,  10,  11,  12  west 
of  the  principal  meridian.  It  comprises  368,640 
acres  of  land  according  to  the  survey,  but,  by  rea- 
son of  the  convergence  of  the  range  lines  and 
errors  of  the  first  surveyors,  its  actual  area  is  a 
few  hundred  acres  less. 

Kalamazoo  county  is  surrounded  as  follows: 
Allegan  and  Barry  counties  on  the  north,  Cal- 
houn county  on  the  east,  St.  Joseph  county  on  the 
south  and  Van  Buren  county  on  the  west.  There 
are  sixteen  townships  within  its  boundaries,  Al- 
amo, Cooper,  Richland,  Rose,  Oshtemo,  Kalama- 
zoo, Comstock,  Charleston,  Texas,  Portage,  Pa- 
vilion, Climax,  Prairie  Ronde,  Schoolcraft, 
Brady  and  Wakeshma. 

The  name  of  Kalamazoo  is  of  Indian  origin. 
George  Torrey  in  1867  writes  thus  of  the  name: 
"On  Toland's  Prairie  there  had  once  been  an  In- 
dian village,  and  it  was  here,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, that  the  name  Kalamazoo  had  its  origin.  A 
friend,  Mr.  A.  J.  Sheldon,  to  whom  the  writer  is 


32 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


indebted  for  many  incidents  and  historical  notes 
regarding  the  Indians,  says  in  a  recent  letter, 
'There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  truth  of  this 
story,  as  I  took  great  pains  to*  ascertain  the  true 
meaning  of  the  word  while  among  the  Indians. 
Schoolcraft  and  the  other  authorities  say  its 
etymology  is  Kee-Kalamazoo,  it  boils  like  a  pot. 
or  the  boiling  pot,  receiving  this  appellation  from 
the  numerous  small  boiling-like  eddies  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  river  now  bearing  the  name. 

"The  Indian  tradition  is  that  many  moons  ago 
Toland  Prairie  was  the  site  of  an  Indian  village, 
where  one  day  a  wager  \vas  made  that  a  certain 
Indian  could  not  run  to  a  specified  point  on  the 
bank  of  the  river  and  return  to  the  starting  place 
before  the  water,  then  boiling  in  a  little  pot  over 
the  campfire,  should  have  fully  boiled  away.  The 
race  was  made;  the  result  has  not  been  handed 
down  to  us,  but  the  beautiful  river  was  ultimately 
given  the  name  it  now  bears,  Kalamazoo,  where 
the  river  boils  in  the  pot,  although  at  first  but  a 
small  part  of  the  stream  was  so  called." 

Geologists  have  placed  Kalamazoo  county  in 
the  "Waverly  group"  of  geologic  strata,  assigned 
by  Dana  and  Winchell  to  the  carboniferous 
period,  but  by  others  to  the  upper  half  of  the 
Devonian.  This  group  extended  in  a  circular  belt 
around  the  center  of  the  Lower  Peninsula  of 
Michigan,  having  a  width  of  from  twenty  to 
eighty  miles  and  covering  fully  one-half  of  this 
peninsula,  or  about  twenty  thousand  square 
miles.  This  group  is  the  reservoir  of  the  vast 
accumulation  of  salt  brine,  which  is  the  source 
of  the  great  wealthy  of  the  salt  factories.  It  also 
furnishes  nearly  all  of  the  good  building  stone  of 
the  peninsula,  being  the  source  of  the  supply  also 
of  the  "Huron  grindstones"  so  familiarly  known. 
This  formation  is  thought  to  be  the  thickest, 
about  one  thousand  two  hundred  feet,  in  the 
northern  and  central  portions  of  the  group. 

The  upper  division  is  mostly  a  sand  rock, 
having  inferior  beds  of  shales,  to  the  depth  of 
three  hundred  to  three  hundred  fifty  feet.  The 
lower  strata  are  mostly  shales,  more  abundant  in 
fossils  than  those  of  the  upper  division.  The 
whole  formation  is  filled  with  salt  brine.  This 
is  generally  stronger  in  the  lower  beds,  although 


in  some  places  the  order  is  reversed,  as  at  Sagi- 
naw. The  Waverly  rocks  must  be  reached  by 
boring  in  this  county.  The  depth  of  the  super- 
imposed drift  can  only  be  obtained  by  this  pro- 
cess. Two  hundred  feet  or  more  of  the  drift  rest 
upon  the  rock,  for  the  Kalamazoo  river  has  no- 
where cut  through  the  alluvium  to  this  group. 
The'  thickness  of  the  Silurian  and  Devonian 
formations  in  this  county  are  probably  from  four 
thousand  to  five  thousand  feet.  These  forma- 
tions carry  coal  measures  in  many  sections,  but 
not  here.  Brine  from  which  salt  can  be  obtained 
can  probably  be  found  by  boring  from  one  thou- 
sand tv/o  hundred  to  one  thousand  five  hundred 
feet  in  any  part  of  this  section. 

At  the  time  of  its  first  occupancy  by  the 
whites  the  county  was  a  marvel  of  wild,  untrained 
beauty.  Its  exquisite  scenery  rivalled  the  effects 
produced  on  many  of  the  old  estates  of  Kent  and 
Somersetshire  in  England,  where  landscape  gar- 
deners for  centuries  have  exhibited  their  skilled 
artistic  talent.  At  this  early  period  a  luxuriant 
growth  of  forest  trees  of  primeval  date  covered 
the  greater  portion  of  the  land,  and  these  were  di- 
versified by  stretches  of  prairie  oak-openings, 
marshes,  bluffs  and  ravines,  that  alternated  in  a 
wild  yet  pleasing  disorder. 

Three-fourths  of  the  county  was  classed  as 
"timbered  lands."  Numerous  varieties  of  oak 
grew  in  these  dark  forests  in  massiveness,  many 
of  giant  size.  Several  varieties  of  hickory,  wal- 
nut, elm,  beech  and  maple  here  cast  their  shadow 
of  their  variegated  leaves  in  the  long,  dreamy 
days  of  the  Indian  summertime.  Basswood,  black 
cherry,  tulip,  sycamore,  ash,  pepperage,  birch, 
beech  and  cedar  gave  great  variety  to  the  land- 
scape, and,  here  and  there,  a  few  pines  brought 
their  solemnity  to  heighten  the  effect. 

The  frequent  oak  openings  appeared  like  a 
succession  of  cultivated  orchards,  as  they  were 
scattered  amid  the  expanses  of  the  giant  speci- 
mens of  the  heavy  forests.  One  of  the  finest  of 
these  oak  openings  occupied  the  site  of  the  pres- 
ent beautiful  capital  city  of  the  county,  and  a 
rare  wisdom  has  preserved  many  of  the  original 
trees  to  beautify  the  City  of  Homes  in  this  open- 
ing decade  of  the  twentieth  century. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


33 


The  whole  of  the  southern  part  of  the  state 
is  picturesque  and  beautiful,  this  county  well 
maintaining  pre-eminence  in  this  regard.  The 
drives  are  interesting,  presenting  fine  expanses  of 
river  and  valley  lands,  hills,  prairies,  lakes  and 
streams.  Modern  residences  of  artistic  archi- 
tecture, quaint  old  residences  dating  back  to  early 
days,  dales  of  exquisite  beauty,  hills  of  emerald 
verdure,  orchard  trees,  and  fields  of  waving  grain 
flit  past  the  carriages  or  the  automobiles  of  the 
traveler  or  those  on  pleasure  bent,  each  mile  giv- 
ing new  charms  and  the  whole  showing  a  rural 
presentation  of  country  life  in  manifold  forms  of 
beauty,  utility  and  grace. 

The  pure  air  of  this  section  in  combination 
with  its  attractions  of  health  and  enjoyment  have 
for  years  attracted  thither  during  the  enjoyable 
summers  large  numbers  of  people  from  the  great 
cities  and  manufacturing  towns  of  this  and  other 
states,  and  in  many  places  the  summer  cottages 
form  lively  little  centers  of  life,  while  in  still  more 
retired  locations  white  tents  are  pitched  in  num- 
bers along  the  shores  of  the  lakes  and  ponds,  by 
the  sides  of  the  streams  or  under  the  trees,  where 
the  summer  breezes  sing  sweet  songs  of  rest  to 
the  tired  children  of  the  cities. 

Compared  with  the  vast  stretches  of  prairie 
land  in  Indiana  and  Illinois,  the  prairies  of  this 
state  are  small  in  size  and  few  in  number.  Their 
richness  equals  those  larger  ones,  however,  the 
black  soil  producing  heavy  and  valuable  crops. 
In  this  county  the  prairies  worthy  of  especial 
mention  are  Prairie  Ronde,  Gourdneck,  Gull 
prairie,  Climax,  Grand,  Toland's,  Dry  and  Gen- 
esee. 

Prairie  Ronde  stands  fully  at  the  front  of  this 
number  and  is  one  of  the  largest,  if  not  the  very 
largest  of  the  state.  This  level  stretch  of  from 
fifteen  thousand  to  twenty  thousand  acres  ex- 
tends some  distance  into  St.  Joseph  county,  at 
least  thirteen  thousand  acres  of  it  belonging  to 
Kalamazoo.  This  has  been  preserved  in  Ameri- 
can literature  by  James  Fenimore  Cooper,  in  his 
exciting  pioneer  story,  "The  Oak  Openings/' 
Today  thousands  of  pleasant  homes  are  located 
on  its  productive  soil,  making  a  rural  scene  of 
rare  beauty. 


Gull  prairie  has  nearly  three  thousands  acres 
of  fertile  lands,  where  other  homes  nestle  under 
groves  and  orchards  of  charming  appearance. 
Gourdneck  prairie,  of  twenty-five  hundred  acres ; 
Climax,  of  eight  hundred  acres ;  Grand,  of  eight 
hundred  acres  ;  Toland's,  with  five  hundred  ;  Gen- 
esee, of  four  hundred,  and  Dry  prairie,  of  three 
hundred,  conclude  the  list  of  these  rich  plains, 
which,  in  all,  comprise  over  twenty-one  thousand 
acres  of  as  fine  land  as  the  state  can  show. 

The  more  or  less  precipitous  escarpments 
along  the  margins  of  the  river  valleys  are  called 
"bluffs."  They  vary  but  slightly  in  height  in 
this  county,  but  do  increase  in  size  as  they  pass 
westward  toward  Lake  Michigan.  The  .township 
of  Oshtemo  claims  the  highest  elevation  of  the 
county,  the  top  of  the  bluff  there  being  fully  two 
hundred  feet  above  the  river  and  three  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  above  Lake  Michigan.  The  high- 
est point  on  Prairie  Ronde  is  two  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  feet  above  the  lake  and  seven  hun- 
dred and  thirty  above  the  sea.  The  general  height 
of  the  county  is  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  above  the  bed  of  the  Kalamazoo  river. 

Kalamazoo  river  in  an  early  geological  period 
was  of  enormous  volume,  filling  the  valley  to  the 
height  of  the  upper  terrace  from  bluff  to  bluff. 
The  valley,  like  that  of  the  other  streams,  was 
eroded  from  the  original  level  of  the  Southern 
Peninsula,  this  erosion  dating  from  the  Cham- 
plain  geological  era,  that  closely  followed  the  sub- 
sidence of  the  immense  continental  glacier,  whose 
irresistible  onward  movement  toward  the  south 
and  southwest  covered  the  entire  region  between 
Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan  with  the  worn  and 
shattered  debris  of  the  crystalline  and  sediment- 
ary rocks  of  the  Upper  Peninsula  and  Canada. 

Powerful  currents  of  fresh  water  followed  the 
melting  of  the  great  glittering  masses  of  ice. 
These,  in  their  rapid  movements  toward  the  lower 
level  of  the  lakes,  excavated  the  various  river 
beds  of  the  Lower  Peninsula.  As  the  frozen 
masses  of  ice  slowly  disappeared  under  the  high- 
er temperature  of  the  lower  altitude  the  supply 
of  water  furnished  to  the  streams  diminished, 
with  the  result  that  they  became  slowly  and  stead- 
ily smaller  in  volume,  until,  when  the  glacial  ice 


34 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


had  all  melted  they  shrank  to  their  present  size, 
leaving  the  sharply'  defined  terraces  to  mark  the 
various  periods  of  their  intenser  activity. 

The  river  has  its  sources  in  Hillsdale  and 
Jackson  counties  and  pursues  its  way  with  many 
windings  northwesterly  to  Lake  Michigan.  The 
current  is  gentle,  except  where  "rifts,"  as  the 
small  rapids  of  the  stream  are  called,  interrupt  its 
placidity.  "Estimating  its  winding  course  to  be 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  its  total  fall  approx- 
imates three  hundred  feet.  Its  volume  is  quite 
uniform  when  heavy  rains  or  floods  do  not  in- 
crease its  size.  This  regular  flow  is  caused,  first, 
by  the  numerous  unfailing  springs  pourmg  their 
limped  waters  into  its  channels;  second,  by  its 
receipts  from  the  large  number  of  lakes  and 
marshes  that  hold  back  much  of  the  accumulated 
water  supplies  of  early  spring  and  by  the  level 
character  of  the  country  through  which  it  flows. 

From  the  days  of  the  first  settlement  of  the 
county  the  lower  fifty  miles  of  this  river  was 
used  as  a  waterway,  many  crafts  traversing  it 
until  the  construction  of  the  railroads  rendered 
them  useless. 

Canoes,  barges  and  flatboats,  and  even  steam- 
boats, have  sailed  for  pleasure  and  for  profit  upon 
its  tranquil  current.  The  principal  branches  of 
this  river  within  the  county  are  Augusta  creek, 
Gull  lake  outlet,  Portage  creek  and  Spring  brook. 
At  Augusta,  Galesburg  and  at  Kalamazoo  the 
stream  has  been  diverted  to  great  service  in  man- 
ufacturing. The  townships  of  Ross,  Charleston, 
Comstock,  Cooper  and  Kalamazoo  are  traversed 
by  the  river  and  much  of  the  consequence  and 
importance  of  the  county  seat  in  the  pioneer  days 
and  later  periods  came  from  its  location  on  this 
beautiful  river. 

Over  half  of  the  county  is  drained  by  the  Kal- 
amazoo river,  the  remainder  coming  into  the  wa- 
tershed of  St.  Joseph  river  of  Lake  Michigan. 
Ross,  Richland,  Cooper,  Alamo,  Kalamazoo, 
Comstock  west  of  Charleston  and  Portage  and 
portions  of*  Oshtemo,  Texas  and  Pavilion  are  in 
the  Kalamazoo  valley,  Climax,  Wakeshma, 
Brady,  Schoolcraft  and  Prairie  Ronde,  with  parts 
of  Charleston,  Portage,  Texas  and  Pavilion,  are 
in  that  of  St.  Joseph  river. 


Other  streams  worthy  of  mention  are  the  Big 
and  Little  Portage  creeks  and  Bear  creek,  drain- 
ing the  southern  portion  of  the  county,  and  the 
one  that,  having  its  source  in  the  township  of 
Alamo,  flows  into  the  Paw  Paw  river  in  Van 
Buren  county.  The  other  streams  of  fair  pro- 
portions flow  southerly  from  Schoolcraft  and 
prairie  Ronde.  The  lakes  abound  with  fish  of 
various  kinds,  which  afford  fine  sport  to  fisher- 
men, while  the  streams  are  stocked  with  trout 
"and  here  and  there  a  grayling." 

The  springs  of  the  county  are  mostly  crystal- 
line in  their  purity  and  softness.  Some  of  them 
however,  possess  mineral  properties,  and  one  on 
section  27,  in  Cooper  township,  has  deposited  a 
large  quantity  of  calcareous  tufa.  About  ten 
thousand  acres  of  Kalamazoo  county  are  cov- 
ered with  water  in  the  form  of  lakes  and  ponds. 
There  are  about  forty  of  these,  ranging  in  size 
from  fifteen  miles  in  circumference  to  much 
smaller  dimensions.  Those  large  enough  to  be 
designated  as  lakes  are  Gull,  having  2,000  acres 
of  surface;  Austin,  with  1,200;  Indian,  700; 
Long,  610;  Rawson,  400;  Gourdneck,  370; 
Eagle,  350;  West,  300;  Paw  Paw,  170;  Crooked, 
150;  Howard,  150. 

Gull  Lake  lies  twelve  miles  northwest  of 
Kalamazoo  city.  Its  greatest  length  is  six  miles. 
Formerly  reached  only  by  a  wagon  road,  in  1887 
the  Chicago,  Kalamazoo  &  Saginaw  Railroad 
brought  it  into  direct  touch  with  the  outside 
world.  From  Hawkes  Landing  carriages  run 
to  the  railroad  at  Yorkville.  The  waters  of  this 
lake  are  clear  and  full  of  fish  and  they  afford  ex- 
cellent bathing  facilities.  The  irregular  shore 
line  with  its  grassy  beaches  romantically  touches 
meadows  and  hillsides,  forests  and  clearings, 
cultivated  lands  and  unbroken  wildwood.  A  de- 
lightful steamer  trip  of  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
miles  is  not  the  least  of  the  attractions  of  this 
favored  spot.  A  grove  of  several  acres  in  extent 
stretches  for  some  distance  along  the  shore  where 
ample  hotel  accommodations  and  facilities  for 
camping  parties  are  afforded. 

Long  Lake,  eight  miles  south  of  this  city,  is 
touched  by  a  spur  of  the  Grand  Rapids  &  In- 
diana Railroad  and  quite  a  popular  summer  re- 


-i    N 

a  o 

s  r 

w 
o 
w 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


37 


sort  of  village  proportions  has  been  here  devel- 
oped. The  lake  is  from  four  to  five  miles  long 
in  its  extreme  length  and  on  its  surface  several 
steam  and  gasoline  launches  glide  on  frequent 
pleasure  trips.  The  surroundings  on  this  gem  of 
lakes  are  very  handsome.  One  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful of  the  slopes  of  land  stretching  gracefully 
down  from  the  uplands  to  the  water's  edge  has 
been  thickly  covered  with  summer  cottages.  Many 
of  them  are  truly  artistic  and  of  generous  propor- 
tions. 

Gun  Lake,  twenty  miles  from  Kalamazoo  city, 
has  been  made  the  permanent  summer  camping 
place  of  several  of  the  city  clubs,  who  wisely 
chose  one  of  the  finest  of  nature's  creations  to 
occupy  and  show  their  earnest  appreciation  of  out- 
door life  in  such  surroundings. 

White's  Lake,  in  close  proximity  to  this  city, 
is  noted  as  a  popular  picnicking  resort.  A  vaude- 
ville theater  and  other  attractions  draws  thither 
many  whose  tastes  or  means  prevent  them  from 
going   to   more   distant   locations    for    recreation. 

CHAPTER  V. 

PIONEER   LIFE. 

A.  D.  P.  Van  Buren,  an  early  settler,  gave  a 
number  of  interesting  and  gossipy  articles  on  life 
and  customs  of  the  early  days  in  a  local  news- 
paper, which  space  forbids  us  to  give  in  full, 
but  from  which  we  extract  sufficient  to  indicate 
something  of  the  wild,  free  and  independent  life 
of  the  man  who  lived  in  close  touch  with  nature 
as  a  pioneer.  He  says  :  "My  parents,  a  sister  and 
myself,  on  the  first  of  October,  1836,  left  our 
home  at  New  York  Mills,  Oneida  county,  N.  Y., 
and  took  passage  at  Yorkville,  one-half  mile  dis- 
tant, in  the  line  boat  'Magnet/  on  the  Erie  Canal, 
for  Buffalo.  As  we  left,  we  heard  the  whistle 
of  the  locomotive  at  Utica,  two  miles  east.  Rail- 
way travel  in  New  York  was  completed  to  that 
city  at  the  time.  The  next  time  we  heard  the 
'whistle'  it  was  in  1845,  m  the  young  and  pictur- 
esque village  of  'Kalamazoo.  One  week's  travel 
on  the  Erie  Canal  brought  us  to  Buffalo.  Here, 
taking  a  new  steamer,  the  'United  States,'  we 
3 


made  a  speedy  trip  up  the  lake  to  Detroit.  The 
boat  was  crowded  with  people,  mostly  emigrants 
from  various  parts  of  the  East,  bound  for  the 
West.  Each  family  had  with  them  all  the  par- 
aphernalia for  starting  new  homes.  My  father 
and  son-in-law,  Edwin  Dickinson,  had  the  year 
before  visited  Michigan,  and,  after  making  a  pur- 
chase of  land,  returned.  Two  of  my  brothers, 
Martin  and  Ephraim,  had  preceded  us,  going  in 
the  spring  of  1836  to  erect  a  log  house  for  the 
family,  who  were  to  come  in  the  fall.  As  we 
stopped  off  the  steamer  at  Detroit,  we  found 
Ephraim,  who  had  come  from  Milton,  Calhoun 
county,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  dis- 
tant, with  two  yokes  of  oxen  before  a  lumber 
wagon,  to  take  the  family  and  their  goods  to  the 
new  home. 

"Detroit  at  that  time  was  the  rendezvous  for 
all  emigrants  who  came  west  by  the  lake.  Here 
they  stopped  to  get  their  outfit,  if  they  had  come 
without  it.  Here  they  made  preparations,  got 
needed  supplies  and  started  out  to  begin  a  new- 
life  in  the  woods.  There  were  some  half-dozen 
not  very  imposing  brick  blocks,  and  no  very  grand 
buildings  of  any  kind  at  that  time  in  Detroit. 
There  was  not  much  prepossessing  about  the 
place,  the  muddy  streets  discounted  largely  on 
the  whole  town.  They,  although  apparently  im- 
passable from  this  mud,  were  yet  full  of  the  stir 
and  turmoil  of  business,  mostly  of  the  teams  pass- 
ing and  repassing.  Conspicuous  among  these 
were  the  emigrant  wagons,  of  various  and  non- 
descript kinds,  sizes  and  construction, — some  with 
the  rude  canvas  cover  and  some  open,  some  drawn 
by  one  yoke  of  oxen,  some  by  two,  and  some  by 
three.  Occasionally  horses  were  used.  These 
wagons  were  loaded  with  boxes  filled  with  house- 
hold goods,  the  largest  ones  being  placed  at  the 
bottom,  the  next  smaller  on  these,  and  so  on  to 
the  top.  Then  the  various  articles  of  the  house- 
hold paraphernalia  were  'stuck  on'  or  fastened 
here  and  there  upon  or  between  the  boxes,  look- 
ing as  if  they  had  budded,  blossomed  and  branched 
out  from  the  load.  The  sturdy  emigrant  and 
his  resolute  wife  were  seated  in  front  on  the  load, 
and  cropping  out  here  and  there  on  the  boxes 
behind  there  were  bonnets  and  little  hoods,  caps 


38 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


and  curly  -heads,  and  occasionally,  following  be- 
hind, hitched  with  a  rope  to  the  wagon,  was  'old 
crumple-horn/  while  various  other  cattle,  of 
diverse  and  sundry  ages  and  sizes,  were  driven 
by  some  of  the  older  boys,  attended  by  'old  Bose/ 
the  dog.  We  followed,  on  leaving  Detroit,  a 
wagon  track,  which  for  the  first  thirty-six  miles 
wound  through  heavy  timber  lands.  It  seemed  to 
us  as  the  worst  road  that  mortal  ever  traveled. 
Some  idea  may  be  had  of  its  condition  from  the 
phrases  and  stories  then  in  vogue  about  it.  It 
was  called  a  hard  road  to  travel/  'one  continuous 
mud  hole/  'a  road  without  a  bottom/ 

"The  first  interior  county  of  the  state  was  set- 
tled in  1817.  This  was  Oakland,  on  the  great  In- 
dian trail  connecting  Detroit  with  the  Saginaw 
valley.  The  counties  further  west  were  visited 
by  the  first  pioneer  settlers  about  1827  and  the  tide 
of  immigration  increased  rapidly  for  ten  years, 
when  the  conditions  were  such  as  to  preclude  the 
occupancy  of  more  public  lands.  A  well  beaten 
Indian  trail  traversed  the  state  from  east  to  west, 
which  divided  the  center  of  the  state,  one  leading 
southwesterly  across  along  the  route  later  used 
by  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad,  the  other 
taking  a  more  southerly  course. 

"When  we  were  established  in  the  new  home, 
we  began  to  cast  about  us   for  means   of  sub- 
sistence.    As  was  most  usual,  when  the  pioneer 
reached  his  lands  here  and  erected  his  cabin,  his 
money  was  all  gone.     We  were  left  to  our  own 
resourse—  labor.    This  was  all  the  capital  we  had. 
My  brothers  had  cut  hay  for  the  cattle  from  the 
marsh  near  by.     But  we  must  have  winter  stores 
for  the  family  and  corn  for  the  cattle,  the  pigs, 
and  the  hens.    The  latter  two  were  yet  to  be  pro- 
cured   and    paid    for    somehow    or    other.      The 
settlement  on  Goguac  was  about  five  years  old. 
This  was  our  Egypt  for  wheat,  corn,  potatoes,  and 
other   necessary    supplies.      There   we    found    a 
chance  to  husk  corn  and  dig  potatoes  on  shares, 
and  by  dint  of  various  kinds  of  labor  we  secured 
some  wheat  and  pork.    Many  things  were  not  to 
be  had  for  money  or  labor.     Here  the  rich  and 
poor  were  on  a  level.    Wheat  and  corn  suggested 
a  gristmill.     The  nearest  one  was  at  Comstock 
on  the  west  or  Marshall  on  the  east,— some  seven- 
teen miles  to  either  of  them. 


"At  the  new  home  all  was  virginal.     Out-of- 
doors  was  beautiful,  wild  Michigan.     Our  cattle 
had  a  boundless  range  to  feed  and  roam  over  in 
the  oak  paths  and  Indian  trails  that  meandered 
through  them.     From  the  door  of  our  log  house 
we  could  often  see  long  files  of  Indians,  on  foot 
and  on  ponies,  wending  their  way  along  on  these 
trails  that  were  in  places  worn  down  to  a  depth 
of  two  feet.     There  always  appeared  to  us  to  be 
strange,  romantic  history  connected  with  the  lives 
of  these  wandering  children  of  the  forest.     Deer 
also  could  be  seen  feeding  at  leisure,  or  trooping 
by  the  door  in  droves.     Occasionally  in  the  night 
we  would  hear  the  lone  cry  of  the  wolf.    The  deer 
went  foraging  through  the  corn  fields,  or  snuf- 
fling round  the  'betterments'  for  a  pig,  while  the 
fox  paid  nightly  devoirs  to  our  henroost.     The 
weather   remained   remarkably   fine   through   the 
fall.    Such  Indian  summer  days  used  once  in  a 
while  to  visit  us  in  New  York,  but  here  they 
seemed  to  be  'to  the  manor  born/  and  we  had 
them  by  the  week  full. 

"As   there   was   never  any   wheat  raised  the 
first  year,  this  was  the  discouraging  time  with  the 
settler.     Corn  was  sooner  raised,   and   'Johnny- 
cake'  for  a  while  was  the  staff  of  life.    Pork  was 
scarce  because  hogs  were  scarce.    Every  thing  of 
the  cattle  kind  was  used,  the  cow  for  milk  and 
butter,  and  the  ox  for  labor.  A  cow  or  stout  heifer 
was  sometimes  worked  by  the  side  of  an  ox.     In 
the    spring    of    1837    provisions    of    every    kind 
were  very  scarce  and  dear.    Wheat  was  over  two 
dollars  a  bushel,  corn  and  oats  very  high  where 
they  could  be  bought  at  all,  potatoes  were  ten 
shillings  a  bushel,  and  it  was  necessary  to  go  to 
Prairie  Ronde,  a  round  trip  of  about  sixty  miles, 
to  get  them  at  that  price.    There  was  a  primitive 
gristmill  one-quarter  of  a  mile  from  our  home,  in 
a  small  Indian  hamlet  on  the  banks  of  a  rush 
bordered  lake.     On  several  occasions  we  had  no- 
ticed the  squaws  grinding  corn  at  this  mill.     It 
was  constructed  in  this  manner— a  long  pole  or 
sapling  was  pinned  to  a  tree  like  a  wellsweep, 
the  lower  part  of  which  was  pestle  shaped;  the 
top  of  the  stump  was  hollowed  out  to  hold  the 
corn.    The  sweep  was  then  worked  up  and  down 
by  one  of  the  squaws,  while  another  steadied  and 
directed   the   pestle,    which,   as    it   came    down, 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


39 


mashed  the  corn  in  this  crude  mortar.  We  con- 
cluded not  to  take  our  grist  to  this  mill,  and  as 
the  Battle  Creek  mill  was  not  running,  we  went 
to  the  one  at  Marshall.  This  with  an  ox  team 
was  a  two  or  three  days'  trip. 

"We  would  occasionally  kill  a  deer,  and  then 
venison  would  supply  our  tables  with  meat.  My 
father  had  brought  fiye  hundred  pounds  of  cod- 
fish from  New  York  and  this  was  exchanged  for 
pork  with  our  neighbors.  This  exchanging  was 
called  paying  the  'dicker/  This  'dicker'  was  all' 
the  money  we  had  and  was  of  denominations  so 
various  that  we  can  not  name  them.  Each  settler 
was  a  banker,  and  all  his  movable  property  (large 
and  small)  was  his  bank  stock.  He  paid  for  an 
oxyoke  by  giving  its  equivalent  in  so  many 
pounds  of  pork.  This  was  the  first  original  start 
or  trade,  giving  the  products  of  one  kind  of  labor 
for  those  of  another.  'Dicker'  was  all  the  money 
the  settlers  had  until  real  money  found  its  way 
into  the  settlement.  The  pioneer  did  not  take 
the  poet's  advice,  'neither  a  borrower  nor  a  lender 
be.'  During  the  first  decade  of  his  life  here  he 
'spelled  his  way  along'  with  the  axe  and  the  plow ; 
borrowing  sometimes  was  the  very  means  to  help 
him  out  of  difficulty  and  set  his  enterprise  going 
again." 

"Everybody  borrowed  and  everybody  lent,  and 
by  it  business  was  kept  prosperous  and  suffering 
often  avoided.  If  the  thing  needed  could  not  be 
borrowed  or  paid  for  'dicker/  necessity  then  took 
the  settler  into  pupilage  and  taught  him  how  to 
make  what  he  wanted,  from  an  axhelve  or  plow 
to  a  house  and  barn.  All  undergoing  common 
hardships  made  all  equal  and  all  friends.  For 
developing  neighborly  traits,  for  leveling  distinc- 
tions, and  for  carrying  out  the  letter  of  the  Scrip- 
tural rule,  'Do  as  you  would  wish  to  be  done  by,' 
the  settling  of  a  new  country  is  unsurpassed.  It 
was  here  that  a  man  went  for  what  he  was  worth, 
not  for  station  or  his  wealth ;  whether  American, 
Scotch,  Irish,  or  other  nationality,  the  Man  was 
taken  into  account,  not  the  Mantle.  If  a  settler 
went  to  the  mill  he  lent  his  grist  to  every  one  who 
wished  to  borrow  at  the  log  cabins  he  passed  on 
his  way  home.  Sometimes,  on  reaching  his  house, 
of  a  large  grist  he  would  have  but  little  left. 


"A  shed,  constructed  of  logs,  covered  with 
marsh  hay,  answered  for  shed  and  barn.  The  first 
crop  of  wheat,  cut  with  the  old  hand-cradle,  was 
bound,  drawn  and  stacked  near  the  shed.  Near 
the  stack  a  spot  of  earth  was  cleared  and  made 
smooth  and  hard  for  a  'thrashing-floor.'  On  this 
the  wheat  was  threshed  with  the  old  flail.  It  was 
then  cleaned  of  the  chaff  by  the  old  handfan.  In 
process  of  time,  Dickey,  of  Marshall,  made  fan- 
ning-mills  and  the  threshing  machine  made  its 
appearance.  Much  labor  was  saved  by  its  use. 
During  the  winter  and  spring,  when  fodder  be- 
came scarce,  trees  were  cut  down  and  cattle 
driven  to  the  forests  to  browse  on  the  buds  and 
tender  part  of  the  limbs.  By  this  means,  and 
sometimes  only  by  this,  the  cattle  were  carried 
through  the  winter  and  early  spring. 

"In  a  little  sunny  glade,  hard  by  the  stream 
that  ran  through  the  farm,  was  an  Indian  corn- 
field. Their  cornhills,  with  the  stubble  yet  stand- 
ing in  them,  marked  the  spot  where  the  previous 
year  Mr.  'Lo'  had  engaged  in  corn-planting.  •  The 
little  mounds  of  earth  showed  where  they  had 
buried  their  corn.  Their  favorite  camping  ground 
was  the  banks  of  the  little  lake.  This  lake  was 
made  by  the  beavers.  The  dam  was  at  its  foot, 
but  the  Indians,  years  gone  by,  had  captured  all 
the  beavers  and  sold  their  skins  to  the  Eastern 
fur  traders.  The  beavers  were  succeeded  by  those 
other  builders,  the  muskrats,  who  took  possession 
of  this  lake,  and,  erecting  their  houses,  increased 
in  numbers  and  flourished  for  many  years. 

"The  pioneer  from  Detroit  followed  the  blazed 
Chicago  trail  or  road  until  he  struck  off  north  or 
west  or  reached  his  lands  on  the  line  of  this  road. 
When  he  reached  his  wilderness  possessions  he 
pitched  his  tent  and  went  to  work  in  the  wilder- 
ness to  erect  a  home.  He  had  his  rifle,  axe  and 
plow,  energy  and  courage,  and,  sometimes,  a 
plucky  wife  to  aid  him.  He  brought  a  meagre 
outfit  of  household  goods,  perhaps,  but  his  money 
was  all  gone.  With  these  small  means  the  work 
began.  This  was  an  embryo  settlement,  a,nd 
meant  not  only  a  log  house  in  the  woods,  but  a 
clearing.  It  meant  school  houses  and  churches, 
machine  shops  and  stores,  township  and  county 
organizations,  villages  and  cities.     It  meant  the 


40 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


reproduction  of  Eastern  life  in  this  wooded  terri- 
tory. It  meant  a  great  and  glorious  state  in  the 
future. 

"Some  of  these  pioneers  were  unlettered,  par- 
ticularly those  of  the  earliest  era,  yet  even  among 
their  number  were  men  of  marked  ability,  whose 
talents  would  dignify  and  honor  any  station  of 
life.  Among  them  were  women  whose  attain- 
ments and  culture  fitted  them  to  adorn  any  social 
circle  in  the  most  refined  cities  of  the  continent. 
Even  those  settlers  who  were  uneducated  were  not 
ignorant  or  uninformed.  They  possessed  strong 
practical  sense  and  native  ability  of  a  high  order, 
fully  equal  to  those  who  came  after  them.  They 
were  educated  in  a  school  that  perhaps  best  fitted 
them  for  a  life  of  usefulness  in  the  conditions  in 
which  they  were  to  exist.  They  were  accom- 
plished masters  in  woodcraft.  They  could  handle 
an  axe  as  deftly  as  a  fencing  master  his  foil.  They 
could  construct  a  cabin  as  quickly  and  in  accord- 
ance with  the  same  natural  idea  of  harmony  that 
a  beaver  or  a  muskrat  develops  in  the  formation 
of  its  residence.  Game  was  abundant  everywhere 
and  delicious  fish  were  abundant  in  the  numerous 
lakes  and  streams.  Hunting  was  not  an  accom- 
plishment, but  an  every-day  pursuit.  The  rifle 
was  found  in  every  cabin.  Its  use  was  familiar 
to  all  from  early  childhood  and  the  owners  had 
steady  nerve  and  quick  sight.  There  were  no 
'purse-proud'  families.  All  lived  in  log  houses, 
and  were  bound  to  each  other  by  neighborly  acts 
of  kindness.  Pride  of  dress  was  in  its  healthy, 
normal  state.  Ten-dollar  boots  and  hundred-dol- 
lar bonnets  had  not  got  into* the  new  settlement; 
neither  had  Mrs.  Lofty  and  her  carriage,  and  dap- 
ple grays  to  draw  it,  nor  had  Mrs.  Grundy  pulled 
the  latch-string  at  the  door  of  a  single  log  cabin 
in  the  settlement.  She  and  all  her  kith  and  kin 
were  East.  It  was  fashionable  to  live  within  your 
means  and  the  best  suit  of  clothes  you  could  af- 
ford to  wear  was  the  fashionable  one.  All  classes 
worked  together  for  a  living  and  thrived.  Wealth 
and  leisure  were  not  here  to  create  distinctions. 
Aristocracy  was  not  in  these  regions.  Yet  every 
settler  was  an  aristocrat — one  of  true  nobility,  who 
had  earned  his  title  by  useful  toil  in  the  high 
school  of  labor.' ' 


The  "latch-strings"  ever  "hung  out."  Isolated 
in  the  wilderness,  subject  to  common  hardships, 
participating  in  the  same  simple  enjoyments,  the 
living  of  the  settlers  in  complete  social  equality 
caused  true  friendship  and  genuine  benevolence  to 
be  cultivated  and  universal.  Wealth  was  not 
necessarily  a  passport  to  respectability.  Their 
character  was  the  unaffected  and  genuine  charity 
taught  in  the  Scriptures,  They  would  repair  to 
the  cabin  of  their  destitute  neighbor  "down  with 
the  chills"  while  his  family  was  "suffering  from 
the  ager,"  and  with  the  gentlest  kindness  minister 
to  his  ailments,  relieve  his  distress  and  provide  for 
all  their  needs.  If  the  afflictions  they  sought  to 
relieve  were  the  result  of  "shiftlessness,"  intem- 
perance or  other  faults,  they  would  administer  a 
just  rebuke  or  endeavor  to  correct  the  fault  by  a 
wholesome  and  sometimes  a  rough  reprimand. 

Humanity  was  their  distinguishing  trait,  but 
exhibited  in  the  rough  manner  peculiar  to  the 
pioneer.  Many  and  many  a  benefaction  was  con- 
ferred in  the  form  of  a  huge  jest.  They  throve  on 
practical  jests,  which  were  as  plentiful  as  the 
occasions  on  which  they  could  be  carried  out. 
Even  the  judge  upon  the  bench  was  not  exempt, 
his  judicial  ermine  being  no  protection  against 
the  banter  of  his  friends. 

Whence  came  the  settlers  that  laid  broad  and 
deep  the  foundation  of  freedom  in  this  land  of 
great  possibilities?  Most  of  them  were  of  New 
England  birth  or  parentage  and  had  passed  years 
in  the  settlement  period  of  western  and  central 
New  York,  with  perhaps  a  later  settlement  in 
Ohio.  A  strange  condition  existed  in  New  York 
that  forced  a  large  number  of  its  worthy,  intelli- 
gent farmers  to  seek  new  homes  in  a  state  where 
land  in  its  virginal  beauty  and  wildness  could  be 
purchased  at  a  price  that  the  poorest  might  be  able 
to  pay. 

Western  and  central  New  York  at  that  time 
lay  in  the  paralyzing  grasp  of  great  land  monopo- 
lies like  that  of  the  few  Dutch  merchants  of  Am- 
sterdam, popularly  known  as  the  Holland  Land 
Company  (that  controlled  that  great  area  called 
the  Holland  purchase),  the  Morris  grant,  the  Pul- 
teney  estate  and  others.  The  New  England 
states  and  the  Hudson  River  valley  had  sent  an 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


4i 


intelligent  and  valuable  population  thither,  who 
purchased  lands  from  these  companies  on  contract, 
placing  their  ready  money,  if  such  they  had,  into 
clearing  and  improvements  of  their  farms.  Here 
they  gave  their  labor  for  years,  and  after  the  inev- 
itable hardships,  self-denials,  and  privations  of 
the  first  few  seasons  in  the  wilderness,  most  of  the 
settlers  had  an  abundance,  much  more  than 
enough  for  their  own  use.  But  there  was  no  mar- 
ket. It  was  only  by  converting  ashes  into  "black 
salts"  that  they  could  get  money  to  pay  their  taxes. 
The  interest  upon  their  debt  at  the  land  office  was 
accumulating  from  year  to  year.  The  company 
was  indulgent,  but  compound  interest  quickh 
magnified  the  amount  of  indebtedness,  and  the  full 
sum  sooner  or  later  must  be  paid. 

The  shadow  rested  on  every  home.  Many  sold 
their  contracts  for  a  trifling  pittance.  These  were 
the  people  who  in  a  great  measure  sought  new 
homes  in  the  fertile  west,  numbers  coming  to 
Michigan.  To  these  unfortunate,  enterprising 
sons  of  toil,  who  had  left  behind  them  all  the  re- 
sults of  years  of  earnest,  industrious  labor,  this 
became  the  land  of  promise.  They  hastened  to  it 
with  strong  arms,  iron  wills  and  resistless  energy 
to  lay  the  foundations  of  new  communities.  The 
journey  now  performed  almost  by  the  light  of  a 
summer's  day,  then  required  weeks  of  travel 
through  wilderness  paths  and  unbridged  streams. 
These  settlers  represented  the  best  New  England 
ideas  of  life,  duty  and  religion.  They  were  the 
finest  productions  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  stock.  Each 
pioneer  as  he  came  into  the  wilderness  was  the 
most  perfect  embodiment  that  six  thousand  years 
of  progress  could  furnish  of  all  the  elements  to 
lay  rightly  the  foundations  of  new  communities. 
They  were  a  superior  race.  They  built  up,  trans- 
formed and  developed  the  conditions  they  here 
found,  until,  as  the  ultimate  result  of  their  per- 
sistent efforts,  we  find  the  Michigan  of  today  an 
aggregate  of  communities,  in  which  comfort, 
wealth,  intelligence  and  culture  are  preponderat- 
ing factors,  and  Kalamazoo  county  is  an  educa- 
tional center  attracting  students  from  near  and 
far  away  sections  of  the  state  and  county. 

Such  communities  have  not  appeared  as  an 
exhaltation.     The  germ  of  this  superior  civiliza- 


tion is  in  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  asserting  the 
divinity,  the  brotherhood,  the  equality,  the  immor- 
tality, the  infinite  worth  of  man.  It  was  reserved 
for  this  county  to  take  a  marked  advance  in  the 
cause  of  human  freedom.  This  is  quite  fully 
shown  in  the  history  of  abolitionism  appearing 
elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

The  period  of  bark-covered  cabins  was  of  short 
duration.  These  were  made  of  light  material  or 
poles  that  could  be  placed  in  position  by  help  at 
hand.  As  soon  as  the  country  began  to  be  settled 
and  sawmills  were  built  where  boards  could  be 
obtained,  the  more  substantial  log  houses  were 
built.  They  were  quite  uniform  in  size,  usually 
about  eighteen  by  twenty-two  feet  in  size,  some- 
times with  a  projection  in  front  of  ten  feet,  and 
the  roof  resting  on  the  beams  that  supported  the 
chamber  floor.  This  projection  was  called  a 
"stoop,"  a  word  of  good  Dutch  origin,  and  under 
this  were  placed  the  pots  and  kettles,  the  wash- 
tub,  the  wooden  washbowl,  splint  broom,  and 
other  necessary  utensils  of  the  household.  In  the 
construction  of  this  house  straight  trees  of  uni- 
form size  were  drawn  to  the  site  chosen  for  the 
home,  the  neighbors  within  a  radius  of  a  dozen 
miles  were  invited  to  the  "raising,"  and  all  made 
it  a  religious  duty  to  attend  unselfishly  forgetting 
the  duties  of  home. 

In  the  erection  of  these  houses  no  foundation 
was  required  except  the  four  logs  marking  the 
size  of  the  building,  that  were  laid  up  on  the  level 
ground.  Then  four  of  the  best  axemen  each  took 
a  corner  and  cut  a  saddle  and  notch  to  hold  the 
logs  in  position  as  they  were  rolled  on  skids  to  the 
proper  place.  They  were  usually  made  a  "story- 
and-a-half"  high,  the  upper  portion  being  the 
sleeping  room  of  the  family,  access  thither 
being  gained  by  a  ladder  or  by  pins 
driven  into  the  logs  on  one  side  of  the 
house,  and,  occasionally,  rough  board  stairs. 
Three  or  four  hours  in  the  afternoon  generally 
sufficed  for  the  "raising,"  and  then  occurred  a 
bountiful  repast  of  all  the  luxuries  of  the  place 
and  period.  When  the  body  of  the  house  was 
"up"  the  logs  were  cut  away  for  the  door  and 
windows  (which  were  usually  made  of  single 
sashes  of  four,  six  or  nine  7x9  panes  of  glass), 


42 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


the  floor  laid  with  -'puncheons"  (split  logs  with 
the  inside  dressed  off  with  an  ax  or  an  adz  and 
laid  smoothly  up  for  a  solid  floor)  or  unplaned 
boards,  the  spaces  between  the  logs  filled  with 
split  pieces  of  wood  and  plastered  with  mud,  the 
gables  boarded,  the  roof  made  of  "shooks"  or 
shingles,  and  a  log  or  stone  chimney  built  with 
jambs,  having  an  iron  crane  for  the  pot9  and  ket- 
tles. Here  was  a  home  where  happiness  would 
enter  as  freely  as  into  the  marble  palaces  of  roy- 
alty. The  generous  Indians  were  of  valuable  as- 
sistance in  the  "raisings"  of  the  primitive  pioneers. 
As  the  settlers  were  so  far  distant  from  each  other 
it  was  often  impossible  to  gather  enough  of  them 
to  quickly  perform  the  lequisite  labor,  and  the  In- 
dians were  the  "main  help"  on  these  occasions. 
Mr.  Van  Buren  says,  "I  know  of  an  instance 
where  but  two  white  men  were  present  at  the 
"raising,"  the  rest  being  Indians,  who  lifted  cheer- 
fully and  lustily  in  rolling  up  the  logs."  They  also 
assisted  much  at  raising  in  after  years.  Only  let 
them  know  that  "Che-mo-ko-man  raise  wigwam, 
like  Indian  come  help  him,"  and  you  could  count 
on  their  aid. 

The  early  settlers  liberally  planted  apple  and 
other  fruit  trees,  and  in  a  very  few  years'  time 
the  fine  orchards  were  so  plentiful  that  in  the  fall 
fruit  could  readily  be  obtained  without  cost  by 
taking  the  time  and  trouble  to  gather  it.  Henry 
Little  says :  "Among  the  pioneers  of  Gull  Prairie 
there  were  several  from  New  England,  where  it 
was  supposed  by  many  that  stony  or  rocky  land 
was  as  good  as,  if  not  preferable  to,  any  other  for 
apple-trees;  even  the  steep  side-hills  and  their 
summits  were  graced  by  the  apple-trees,  provided 
they  had  the  everlasting  rocks.  About  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century,  one  of  my  neighbors 
being  about  to  set  out  an  apple-orchard,  and  hav- 
ing none  but  sandy  land  to  put  it  on,  in  his  great 
wisdom,  conceived  of  the  brilliant  idea  of  carting 
from  abroad  large  flat  stones,  and  placing  one  at 
the. bottom  of  each  hole  for  the  roots  of  the  tree 
to  rest  on.  It  so  happened  that  there  were  not 
stones  enough,  and  the  last,  tree  was  set  without 
any.  The  fate  of  that  tree  was  commented  upon 
and  watched  by  all  the  neighbors  with  profound 
interest.     Notwithstanding  all  the  adverse  predic- 


tions put  forth,  that  tree  flourished  as  well  as  the 
others. 

"In  the  autumn  of  1835  J.  F.  Gilkey  brought 
from  Indiana  or  Ohio  about  one  hundred  apple- 
trees,  one-half  of  which  he  set  out  south  of  his 
house;  but  the  cattle  had  access  to  them  and  a 
few  years  thereafter  not  a  vestige  of  the  trees  re- 
mained. The  other  half  of  the  trees  Judge  Hins- 
dell  set  out  west  of  his  barn  among  the  standing 
girdled  forest  trees.  These  girdled  trees  were 
afterward  felled  and  burned  without  injury  to 
the  apple-trees.  Those  good  old  trees  have  faith- 
fully served  their  day  and  generation,  and  now, 
after  a  lapse  of  thirty-eight  years,  still  remain  as 
enduring  monuments  of  the  genius,  thrift  and  re- 
markable enterprise  of  that  wonderful,  active  and 
successful  man.  In  1835  John  Barnes  and  Loyal 
Jones  each  set  out  eight  or  ten  peach-trees,  which 
were  two  years  old  at  the  time  of  setting,  and 
were  I  believe  the  first  peach-trees  set  upon  Gull 
Prairie.  At  an  early  period  of  the  settlement  of 
the  prairie  Augustus  Mills  set  out  a  goodly  num- 
ber of  the  common  red,  sour  cherry-trees.  In 
1844  they  were  great  trees  and  had  borne  fruit 
several  years.  At  that  time  there  were  many 
young  sprouts  or  offshoots,  one  or  two  feet  high, 
that  had  sprung  from  the  roots  of  the  large  trees, 
a  few  feet  from  the  trunks." 

We  will  still  further  quote  from  Mr.  Van 
Buren :  "Tea,  coffee,  sugar  and  butter  were  rarely 
seen  on  the  settlers'  tables.  An  herb  called  'tea- 
weed/  a  kind  of  wild  Bohea,  that  grew  in  the 
woods,  was  used  by  some  of  the  settlers.  The 
leaves  were  steeped  like  our  imported  teas,  and  the 
decoction  was  drunk.  But  it  was  soon  abandoned 
when  the  green  or  black  teas  could  be  had  again*. 
Crust  coffee  or  a  coffee  made  from  wheat  or  other 
grains  browned,  was  in  common  use  for  drink  at 
table.  Our  pioneer  mothers  and  their  daughters 
found  many  occasions  when  they  could  not  enjoy 
the  accustomed  tete-a-tete  with  their  lady  visitors, 
over  cups  of  fragrant  Young  Hyson  or  Bohea; 
but  their  tea-table  chats  were  had  over  their  flow- 
ing cups  of  crust  coffee,  and  there  was  many  a 
wish  from  the  young  ladies  for  the  good  time 
coming,  when  they  could  once  more  'turn  up  their 
tqacups'  and  have  their  'fortunes  told/     Teapots 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


43 


were  ransacked  and  old  tea-grounds  were  saved 
by  the  girls  for  the  purpose  of  having  their  for- 
tunes told  by  some  of  the  older  matrons,  who  knew 
something  of  the  gypsy  art  of  divination." 

The  usual  meal  consisted  of  a  platter  of  boiled 
potatoes,  piled  up  steaming  hot,  and  placed  on  the 
center  of  the  table,  bread  or  "Johnnycake,"  per- 
haps some  meat  boiled  or  fried,  and  an  article 
largely  partaken  of  was  a  bowl  of  flour-gravy, 
looking  like  starch,  made  something  like  it,  of 
flour  and  water,  with  a  little  salt,  and  sometimes 
it  was  enriched  by  a  little  gravy  from  a  piece  of 
fried  meat.  This  was  the  usual  meal,  and  it  was 
eaten  and  relished  more  than  the  sumptuous  meals 
on  many  tables  now-a-days.  The  table  was  always 
swept  of  all  the  edibles  on  it.  Nothing  but  the 
dishes  remained  after  the  meal.  The  dog,  the  pigs 
and  the  chickens  fared  slim.  "Tell  me  what  a 
people  eat  and  I  will  tell  you  their  morals. " 

The  old.  pioneer  bill  of  fare  was  simple  and 
wholesome.  Its  morals  can  easily  be  deduced. 
The  old  iron  crane,  tricked  off  with  its  various 
sized  pot-hooks  and  links  of  chain,  swung  from 
the  jambs  at  the  will  of  the  housewife,  who  hung 
on  it  the  kettles  containing  the  meal  to  be  cooked 
for  the  family,  and  pushed  it  back  over  the  fire, 
where  it  hung  till  the  meal  was  prepared  for  the 
table.  Pigs,  chickens  and  spareribs  were  roasted 
splendidly  by  suspending  them  by  a  wire  before 
the  fire.  The  baking  was  mostly  done  in  the  old 
brick  oven,  that  was  built  in  one  side  of  the  chim- 
ney, with  a  door  opening  into  the  room.  The  old 
iron-covered  bake-kettle  sat  in  the  corner  under 
the  cupboard,  and  was  used  for  various  baking 
purposes.  Many  will  remember  the  much-used 
"tin  reflector"  that  was  placed  before  the  fire  to 
bake  bread  and  cakes,  and  how  finally  it  baked 
the  Pinkeye  and  Neshannock  potatoes. 

A  few  years'  time  after  the  settlers  had  es- 
tablished their  homes,  improvements  had  so  pro- 
gressed that  the  bountiful  crops  could  find  no 
market,  wheat  selling  as  low  as  thirty-five  cents 
per  bushel ;  pork  and  beef,  two  dollars  and  two 
dollars  and  fifty  cents  per  hundred  in  goods  or 
store  pay — they  could  not  get  salt  for  it;  oats, 
ten  cents,  and  corn,  twenty  cents  per  bushel; 
butter,  if  very  good,  brought  five  cents  in  1843. 


In  the  spring  of  1837  flour  sold  at  nine  dollars 
per  hundred  pounds;  oats  as  high  as  two  dollars 
and  fifty  cents;  corn  was  scarce,  a  frost  the  pre- 
vious summer,  on  August  27th,  killing  most  of 
it.  Flour,  pork,  butter,  cheese,  dried  apples,  in 
fact,  most  of  the  necessities  of  life  were  imported 
from  Ohio. 

In  the  timber  lands  logging-bees  were  com- 
mon. The  neighbors  for  miles  around  were  in- 
vited to  come  with  their  ox  teams  to  such  a  place 
on  a  specified  day,  and  punctually  at  the  appoint- 
ed time  would  be  there  assembled,  sometimes 
fifty  or  more  men  and  sometimes  their  wives  and 
children.  Operations  were  always  begun  at  the 
lowest  edge  of  the  field,  the  logs  being  drawn 
and  rolled  into  a  heap  on  a  down  grade  more 
easily.  When  the  men  got  to  work,  there  was 
always  a  strife  to  see  who  would  first  reach  the 
opposite  side  of  the  field  and  the  encouraging 
shouts  of  the  teamsters  to  the  animals  could-  be 
heard  for  miles.  The  oxen  seemed  to  partake  of 
the  excitement  and  it  was  marvelous  to  see  the 
speed  with  which  the  logs  were  moved.  After 
the  logging  was  completed  sport  commenced.  The 
strength  and  activity  of  the  various  teams  were 
tried  by  turning  them  "tail  to/'  with  several  feet 
of  slack  log  chain,  and  dropping  the  hooks  to- 
gether, and  starting  at  the  word  "Go."  The  best 
in  the  three  trials  was  declared  the  winner  and  the 
victors  were  usually  the  team  that  made  the  first 
start.  This  finale  of  the  bee  created  much  merri- 
ment. The  whisky  jug  was  an  important  factor 
at  all  of  these  gatherings.  It  gave  strength  and 
activity  to  the  men,  it  was  believed,  and  increased 
the  hilarity.  In  no  case  must  the  supply  be  ex- 
hausted. The  last  act  in  a  logging  bee  drama 
was  a  substantial  supper  of  meats,  pies,  cakes, 
sauces  and  all  good  things  of  the  housewife's 
larder  given  in  a  bountiful  profusion.  Then  the 
men  would  go  to  their  homes  happy  with  the 
thought  that  each  had  bestowed  his  best  efforts 
to  foster  good  will  and  encourage  his  neighbor 
in  the  battle  of  life.  Spinning  bees  were  com- 
mon, especially  when  one  of  the  matrons  fell  vic- 
tim to  malarial  fever  or  other  diseases,  and  was 
unable  to  prepare  her  web  of  tow  and  linen  cloth 
for  summer  use.     In  such  a  case  someone  of  the 


44 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


family,  with  a  team  loaded  with  flax  and  tow, 
would  visit  every  house  within  some  miles'  dis- 
tance, leaving  enough  of  his  load  at  each  house 
for  a  day's  work  of  the  inmates,  with  an  invita- 
tion to  supper  at  their  house  some  days  later. 
No  woman  of  Kalamazoo  county  was  ever  known 
to  refuse  her  share  in  the  work  of  this  kind,  and 
on  the  appointed  day  each  one  with  her  skein  of 
yarn  under  her  arm,  the  roses  of  health  upon  her 
cheeks  and  with  the  pulsations  of  generous  kind- 
ness throbbing  in  her  heart,  would  enter  the  sick 
neighbor's  home,  where  she  and  all  her  fellow 
workers  were  received  with  the  strongest  evi- 
dences of  friendship  and  love. 

During  the  log-cabin  era  feather  beds  were 
considered  indispensable.  The  rough  boarding 
of  the  gables  of  the  house  would  warp  and  it  was 
frequently  the  case  in  winter  that  the  snow  would 
be  several  inches  deep  on  the  floor  and  bed  cover- 
ings. Hence  every  well  ordered  family  had  its 
flock  of  geese.  Each  young  lady  expected  to 
receive  upon  her  marriage  at  least  one  or  two 
feather  beds  to  complete  her  housekeeping  outfit 
of  linens  and  flannels  which  she  had  long  been 
preparing.  Geese  feathers  were  a  ready  medium 
of  exchange  for  goods  at  the  pioneer  store  or  at 
the  occasional  wagon  of  the  peddler. 

The  furniture  of  the  house  was  extremely 
plain  and  inexpensive;  square-legged  bedsteads, 
with  rope  or  dark  cordage,  around  which  were 
not  infrequently  depended  a  drooping  fringe  of 
network  or  calico,  tipped  with  tasty  little  tassels, 
and  called  a  "valance."  Sometimes,  near  the  win- 
dow stood  a  chest  of  drawers,  near  it  a  square- 
legged  stand,  over  which  hung  a  looking-glass 
brought  out  by  "mother"  from  her  eastern  home 
in  a  feather  bed.  In  close  proximity  stood  the 
unvarnished,  often  unpainted,  table  of  natural 
wood  and  domestic  manufacture,  while  several 
splint-bottomed  chairs  stood  in  the  nooks  and 
corners.  On  shelves  against  the  walls,  or  in  the 
tall  cupboard,  in  some  of  the  wealthier  homes 
were  displayed  rows  of  bright  pewter  plates 
standing  on  edge,  most  prominent  among  them 
being  the  great  pewter  platter  always  in  use  on 
Thanksgiving  and  Christmas  occasions.  Nearly 
all  of  the  clothing  and  linen  of  the  family  was 


made  at  home.  Most  of  the  little  clearings  had  a 
patch  of  flax,  which  it  was  the  business  of  the 
farmer  to  prepare  for  the.  spinning  wheels  of  the 
women.  In  doing  this  he  used  a  simple  machine 
called  a  brake,  following  this  by  the  hetchel  and 
swingle,  by  these  producing  a  soft  and  pliable 
mass,  twisted  into  a  head  of  flax,  ready  to  be  spun 
and  woven. 

In  most  of  the  little  log  cabins,  the  big  and  lit- 
tle wheels  were  actively  operated  by  "mother" 
and  daughters.  The  mother  would  sit  at  the  little 
wheel,  distaff  in  hand,  one  foot  upon  the  treadle, 
while  perhaps  the  other  was  jogging  a  cradle  con- 
taining a  tiny  rosebud  of  humanity ;  a  low,  sooth- 
ing lullaby,  more  charming  than  the  soft  coo  of 
the  dove,  meanwhile  filling  the  air.  One  of  the 
girls  would  be  seated  beside  a  basket  of  tow, 
carding  it,  with  a  pair  of  hand  cards,  into  bolts 
one  foot  long  and  two  inches  wide,  while  a  sister 
would  be  moving  backward  and  forward  with  a 
nimble  step  beside  the  big  spinning  wheel  of  fully 
twelve  feet  circumference  spinning  the  bolts  into 
varn.  Thirty  "knots"  were  an  ordinary  day's 
work,  some,  however,  producing  forty  "knots." 
Each  knot  contained  forty  threads  of  six  feet, 
two  inches  in  length,  or  about  two  hundred  fifty 
feet.  Occasionally  a  damsel  might  be  seen  who 
could  who  could  "spin  her  forty  knots  a  day," 
and  then  pass  the  evening  knitting  by  the  light  of 
the  ruddy  fire. 

During  the  winter  and  early  spring  the 
women  had  "spun  and  wove"  enough  tow  and 
linen  cloth  for  the  summer  clothing  of  the  family. 
The  men  and  boys  had  their  clothes  made  from 
cloth  made  of  linen  warp  and  tow  filling',  which 
was  full  of  "shives,"  that  rasped  and  scratched 
the  body  for  weeks  like  a  thousand  needles.  The 
mothers  and  daughters  had  pure  linen  cloth  for 
their  clothing,  for  dresses,  striping  or  checking 
a  piece  with  copperas,  and,  in  this  primitive  ap- 
parel, their  eyes  shone  as  brightly  and  their  smile 
was  as  bewitching  and  attractive  as  can  be  seen 
today.  During  the  summer  months  the  women, 
as  well  as  the  men  and  boys,  went  about  their 
home  duties  with  bare  feet. 

The  weaving  was  done  by  women,  one  or  two 
skilled  in  the  art  dwelling  in  each  neighborhood. 


w 


o 

> 
r 

§  > 

*    N 

$     O 

o      ^ 

£  o 


o 

en 
n 


r 

r 


^ 

./ 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


45 


The  price  for  weaving  plain  tow,  linen  or  flannel 
cloth  wras  about  six  cents  a  yard,  from  six  to  ten 
yards  being  a  good  day's  work.  The  tow-and- 
linen  cloth  was  made  up  into  clothing  for  the 
"men  folks/'  dress  for  the  "females"  and  into 
sheets,  pillow-cases  and  towels,  and  then  came 
on  the  making  of  flannel  and  winter  garments. 
Nearly  all  of  the  farmers  owned  a  flock  of  sheep, 
which  were  carefully  yarded  nightly  to  protect 
them  from  the  wolves,  which  were  so  numerous 
and  destructive  that,  at  nearly  every  town  meet- 
ing, the  question  of  bounty  on  wolves  occupied  a 
large  share  of  the  proceedings.  The  wool  taken 
from  the  sheep  was  hurried  to  the  carding  mill, 
there  to  be  made  into  rolls,  and  soon  the  girls 
were  again  busy  at  the  spinning  wheel,  their  work 
being  valued  at  seventy-five  cents  a  week.  A  day's 
work  was  thirty  knots  of  warp  and  forty  knots 
of  filling,  but  some  of  the  more  active  would  spin 
twice  that  amount.  From  this  spinning  and  sub- 
sequent weaving  resulted  the  chief  part  of  the 
family's  winter  clothing,  although  most  of  the 
young  women  owned  a  calico  dress,  the  most  pop- 
ular color  being  blue.  Those  "boughten  dresses" 
cost  twenty-seven  cents  a  yard,  and  were  rarely 
worn,  only  being  bought  to  light  on  Independence 
Day  or  at  New  Year's  dances  and  were  expected 
to  last  for  years.  No  carpets  were  seen  on  the 
floors,  and,  as  long  as  this  simple  life  continued, 
and  money  was  not  invoked  to  bring  in  luxurious 
furnishings  and  surroundings,  universal  content- 
ment reigned  and  merriment  and  cheerful  songs 
and  jollity  were  the  life,  not  only  of  each  home, 
but  of  the  community  as  well. 

In  1838  the  pioneer  days  were  in  their  prime 
and  the  sturdy  Easterners  had  made  their  full  ex- 
tent and  imprint  on  the  soil  of  this  country, 
where,  like  William  the  Conqueror,  in  his 
conquest  of  England,  they  took  fast  "seizen" 
of  the  land,  as  is  shown  by  that  very  ac- 
curate and  painstaking  work,  the  "Gazetteer 
of  Michigan,"  published  by  John  T.  Blois  in  1838. 
This  historian  says:  "Kalamazoo  county  is 
bounded  on  the  north  by  Allegan  and  Barry,  east 
by  Calhoun,  south  by  St.  Joseph,  west  by  Van 
Buren.  It  was  organized  in  1830  and  contains 
five  hundred  and  seventy-six  miles;  the  seat  of 


justice,  Kalamazoo.  The  water  courses  are  the 
Kalamazoo,  the  Portage,  Four-Mile  creek,  Gull 
creek  and  Bear  creek.  The  organized  townships 
are  Alamo,  Brady,  Charleston,  Climax,  Corn- 
stock,  Cooper,  Kalamazoo,  Pavilion,  Portage, 
Prairie  Ronde,  Richland  and  Texas.  The  villages 
are  Kalamazoo,  Schoolcraft  and  Comstock.  Kal- 
amazoo county  is  generally  level,  though  suffi- 
ciently undulating  to  conduct  off  the  waters  in 
healthy  streams.  It  is  divided  into  prairie,  open 
and  heavily  timbered  lands.  About  one-third  of 
the  county  is  heavy  timber,  beech,  maple,  ash, 
bass  wood,  white  wood,  butternut  and  black  wal- 
nut. There  are  eight  prairies,  viz. :  Prairie 
Ronde,  Gourdneck  prairie,  Dry  prairie,  Genesee 
prairie,  Grand  prairie,  Toland's  prairie,  Gull  prai- 
rie and  Climax  prairie.  These  contain  about  one- 
eighth  of  the  county.  Every  portion  of  the  county 
is  susceptible  of  and  admirably  adapted  to  agricul- 
ture. The  soil  is  a  black  loam,  rich  and  fertile 
in  the  extreme.  There  are  numerous  mill  sites  in 
the  different  parts  of  the  county,  with  hydraulic 
power  sufficient  to  support  the  most  extensive 
manufactures.  The  principal  mill  streams  are 
the  Portage  river,  of  St.  Joseph,  and  the  Portage 
river,  of  Kalamazoo  and  Gull  creek.  The  Kala- 
mazoo river  runs  through  the  county,  near  its 
geographical  center,  and  is  skirted  with  heavily 
#  timbered  and  open  lands  of  the  first  quality.  The 
settling  of  this  county  commenced  in  1829.  In 
1830  two  or  three  townships  of  land  were  offered 
for  sale  by  the  general  government.  In  183 1  the 
balance  of  the  land  of  the  county,  save  a  reserva- 
tion of  one  township,  was  brought  into  the 
market.  The  public  lands  in  this  county  were 
mostly  taken  up  by  actual  settlers  though  some 
of  a  good  quality  yet  remain  unsold.  It  belongs 
to  the  Kalamazoo  district.  Kalamazoo  county 
elects  two  representatives  and  belongs  to  the  sixth 
senatorial  district,  which  returns  two  senators  to 
the  legislature.     The  population  is  6,367." 

From  Clark's  "Michigan  State  Gazetteer," 
published  in  1863,  the  following  excerpts  may  in- 
dicate not  only  the  condition  of  the  county  at  that 
time,  but  its  solid  and  gratifying  progress  along 
the  lines  of  the  highest  citizenship.  In  the  county 
at  the  time  were  4,787  dwellings,  4,668  families ; 


46 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


the  population  being  in  i860,  24,663.  Every  por- 
tion of  the  county  is  susceptible  of  cultivation 
and  will  produce  in  the  greatest  profusion  all 
kinds  of  cereals  and  root  crops,  also  all  kinds  of 
fruit  adapted  to  this  latitude.  The  soil  in  most 
parts  is  a  rich,  black  loam,  with  occasional  patches 
of  warm  and  light  sandy  soil,  the  latter  producing 
sweet  potatoes  and  Indian  corn  in  astonishing 
perfection. 

"Kalamazoo  village,  the  county  seat,  is  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  towns  in*  the  western  states, 
and  is  noted  as  a  center  of  wealth  and  refinement. 
In  i860  it  contained  1,940  occupied  farms,  with 
137,663  acres  of  improved  land  and  129,276  acres 
of  unimproved  land.  There  was  owned  in  the 
county  54,576  sheep  and  13,697  swine.  The  crops 
included  585,235  bushels  of  wheat,  548,691  bush- 
els of  corn,  147,529  bushels  of  oats,  128,033  bush- 
els of  potatoes,  141,490  pounds  of  maple  sugar, 
187,160  pounds  of  wool,  496,158  pounds  of  but- 
ter and  68,237  pounds  of  cheese.  There  were  nine 
flouring  mills,  manufacturing  157,250  barrels  of 
flour  annually.  The  thirty  sawmills,  twenty-two 
water  and  eight  steam  mills,  manufactured  7,590,- 
325  feet  of  sawed  lumber  annually.  The  number 
of  children  attending  public  school  was  7,oy8,  and 
the  total  amount  of  district  taxes  was  $14,338.17. 

"The  sale  of  government  land  at  the  'Kalama- 
zoo land  office  from  its  establishment  up  to  1838 
was  as  follows  :  1831,  93,179.36  acres;  1832,  74,- 
696.17;  1833,95,980.25;  1834,  128,244.47;  1835, 
745,661.34;  1836,  634,511.82;  1837,  3I3355-I5- 
The  total  amount  entered  was  3,086,138.56  acres, 
the  price  being  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents 
per  acre.  The  vacant  public  lands  in  the  district 
in  1838  still  subject  to  entry,  amounted  to  449,- 
056.15  acres;  83,001.69  acres  were  occupied  by 
Indian  reservations ;  95,663.60  acres  were  school 
lands,  while  the  lands  appropriated  to  universities 
amounted  to  35,014.84  acres.  The  land  office 
was  established  first  at  White  Pigeon  in  1 83 1, 
with  Abraham  Edwards  as  register  and  Thomas 
C.  Sheldon  as  receiver.  In  the  spring  of  1834 
the  office  was  removed  to  -  Kalamazoo,  where  it 
should  have  been  located  at  first.  The  description 
of  the  Kalamazoo  land  district  •  has  been,  given 
on  another  page  t)f  this  work,  to  which  we  refer 
the  reader  for  more  detailed  information. 


"To  give  an  idea  of  pioneer  conditions  before 
1838  we  will  say  that  the  recognized  villages  of 
the  state  in  1825  were  Port  Lawrence,  on  the 
Maumee,  Monroe,  Frenchtown,  Brownstown, 
Truax's,  near  Detroit,  Mt.  Clemens,  Palmer,  on 
the  St.  Clair,  Tecumseh,  Pontiac,  and  Saginaw* 
Orange  Risdon,  of  Ypsilanti,  made  the  first  map 
of  the  surveyed  part  of  Michigan  in  1825.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  old,  six  new  counties  were  added  to 
this  map.  These  were  Washtenaw  and  Lenawee,  * 
both  organized  in  1825 ;  Saginaw  and  Lapeer,  in 
1835;  Shiawassee,  in  1837;  and  Sanilac,  in  1838. 
On  this  map  the  average  village  is  indicated  by 
four  black  dots.  Detroit  had  twenty  dots;  Ann 
Arbor,  ten;  Woodruff's  Grove,  eight;  Ypsilanti, 
three;  Dexter,  two;  while  Dixborough,  with  the 
name  as  black  and  much  larger  than  any  of  them, 
had  not  even  a  speck.  At  the  same  time  the  pos- 
sessions of  Benjamin  Sutton,  the  pioneer  of  1825, 
covered  two  sections  of  land  in  Washtenaw 
county."  The  roads  in  1824  were  the  Chicago 
road,  starting  from  Detroit,  with  a  fork  at  Ypsi- 
lanti to  Tecumseh,  and  one  to  Ann  Arbor,  and  a 
road  from  Detroit  to  Pontiac  and  Saginaw.  The 
most  noted  of  these  was  the  old  Chicago  road, 
which  was  cut  through  from  Detroit  to  Ypsilanti 
in  1823.  That  old  pioneer,  John  Bryan,  was  the 
first  white  emigrant  that  passed  over  this  road. 
Soon  after  it  was  cut  through,  he  drove  an  ox- 
team  before  a  wagon  carrying  family  and  house- 
hold effects  from  Detroit  to  Woodruff's  Grove, 
which  place  he  reached  on  the  night  of  October 
23,  1823. 

In  1835,  John  Farmer  mapped  out  Michigan 
with  its  improvements  at  that  date.  I  find  that 
old  map  the  most  valuable  and  interesting  of  his- 
tories. Just  one  decade  had  elapsed  in  the  new 
pilgrim's  progress,  between  Orange  Risdon's  map 
of  1825  and  John  Farmer's  of  1835.  During  this 
time  civilization  had  taken  up  its  line  of  march 
with  its  emigrant  wagons,  or  with  knapsacks  or 
staff,  on  the  old  Chicago  road  westward  from 
Ypsilanti,  and  all  along  its  route  the  sound  of  the 
axe  was  heard  breaking  "the  sleep  of  the  wilder- 
ness";'while  clearings  were  made  and  hamlets 
sprung-  up  at  -Saline,  Clinton,  Jonesville,  Cold- 
water,  Sturgis,  Mottville*  and  at  other  places  on 
toward  Chicago. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


47 


The  same  busy  work  of  progress  was  going 
on  from  Ann  Arbor  westward,  along  the  old  Ter- 
ritorial road,  where  log  cabins  arose  and  villages 
appeared  as  if  evoked  by  magic.  For  on  the  map 
of  1835  we  find  located  west  of  Ann  Arbor,  Lima, 
Grass  Lake,  Jacksonburg,  Sandstone,  Marshall, 
Battle  Creek,  Comstock,  Kalamazoo  and  St.  Jo- 
seph, on  the  lake.  Emigration  had  pushed  out 
from  Detroit,  on  the  Grand  River  road  to  Sara- 
nac  and  on  to  Grandville.  There  were  other  roads 
branching  out  north  and  south  from  these  main 
roads,  leading  to  the  various  improvements  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  peninsula,  and  dotting  the  map, 
here  and  there,  were  heralds  of  progress — post- 
offices,  sawmills  and  gristmills. 

In  1840  the  pioneer  era  practically  ended,  al- 
though there  was  much  pioneering  still  to  be 
done,  for,  with  the  passing  away  of  hard  times 
and  the  incoming  of  numerous  settlers,  the  early 
difficulties  and  deprivations  ceased  to  exist,  and  a 
course  of  rapid  and  prosperous  development  en- 
sued. The  era  of  speculation  in  enhanced  and 
fictitious  prices  of  lands  offered  for  sale  at  ex- 
horbitant  prices  to  guileless  and  unsuspecting 
purchasers  in  the  east  had  a  short  and  not  bene- 
ficial effect  on  the  prosperity  of  the  state  and  Kal- 
amazoo was  in  a  measure  unfavorably  affected  by 
there  operations  as  well  as  by  the  "wildcat"  bank- 
ing methods  that  for  a  number  of  years  made  the 
state  an  actual  stench  in  the  nostrils  of  honest 
financial  institutions  of  the  conservative  East. 

Roads  occupied  much  attention.  In  the  terri- 
torial days  great  labors  were  expended  in  con- 
structing turnpike  roads  under  the  authority  of  the 
federal  government.  These  were  six  rods  wide 
and  well  made,  following  nearly  the  courses  of 
the  rough  primitive  roads,  which  the  settlers  were 
compelled  to  use,  but  not  so  winding  or  devious  in 
their  ways.  These  drained  in  some  degree  the 
swamps,  the  others  either  wound  around  or  caused 
the  settlers  to  wallow  through  and  smooth  the 
inequalities  of  the  higher  lands.  There  were  five 
of  these  territorial  and  early  state  roads,  all  com- 
mencing at  Detroit  and  sending  branches  into  all 
the  southern  portion  of  the  state.  The  principal 
one  of  these  was  the  Chicago  road,  leading  from 


Detroit  to  Chicago.  This  road  forked  into  two 
branches  in  the  central  part  of  the  state  and  had 
between  1830  and  1840  probably  more  travel  than 
any  other  road  in  the  United  States. 

Following  the  state  roads  were  the  primitive 
railroads  and  canals.  These  deserve  to  be  men- 
tioned. During  the  decade  alluded  to,  were  in- 
corporated in  Michigan  the  Romeo  &  Mt.  Clem- 
ens Railroad  in  1833,  the  Detroit  &  Maumee  Rail- 
road in  1835,  the  Allegan  &  Marshall  Railroad  in 
1836  (this  had  a  capital  of  four  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  and  was  designed  to  connect  Mar- 
shall and  Allegan,  passing  through  Battle  Creek, 
Comstock  and  Bronson  The  charter  demanded 
the  completion  of  twenty-five  miles  in  four  years, 
its  length  to  be  fifty  miles.  The  state  loaned  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  to  this  company).  The 
Monroe  &  Ypsilanti  Railroad  was  incorporated  in 
1836.  The  Kalamazoo  &  Lake  Michigan  Rail- 
road was  incorporated  in  1836,  with  four  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  capital,  to  run  from  Kala- 
mazoo village  to  the  mouth  of  South  Black  river 
in  Van  Buren  county.  The  charter  required  a 
commencement  of  work  within  three  years,  the 
construction  of  twenty-five  miles  in  six  years  and 
the  completion  of  the  forty  miles  in  eight  years. 
The  Monroe  &  Ann  Arbor  Railroad  was  also  in- 
corporated in  1836.  The  Constantine  &  Niles 
Canal  or  Railroad  Company  was  incorporated  in 
1836,  with  a  quarter  of  million  dollars  as  capital, 
to  connect  the  St.  Joseph  river  by  either  railroad 
or  canal  with  the  places  named. 

In  1837  Michigan  was  admitted  as  a  state  of 
the  federal  republic  and  its  youthful  pride 
launches  out  into  great  schemes  of  internal  im- 
provements. Loans  of  funds  from  the  state  for 
the  improvement  of  navigable  rivers,  the  build- 
ing of  canals  and  for  the  construction  and  opera- 
tion of  three  grand  trunk  lines  of  railways,  to  the 
amount  in  all  of  five  million  dollars  were  provided 
for  by  the  legislature  and  active  work  wras  com- 
menced in  all  parts  of  the  Lower  Peninsula,  par- 
ticular attention  being  given  to  the  three  lines  of 
railroads,  the  Southern,  the  Central  and  the 
Northern.  The  Detroit  &  Shiawassee  Railroad 
was  started  under  a  charter  granted  in  1837.  The 


48 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


Saginaw  &  Genesee  Railroad,  the  Gibraltar  & 
Clinton  Railroad,  the  Pontiac  &  Huron  River 
Canal  Company,  the  Owasso  &  Saginaw  Navi- 
gation Company,  the  River  Raisin  &  Grand  River 
Railroad  Company,  the  Macomb  &  Saginaw  Rail- 
road Company,  the  St.  Clair  &  Romeo  Railroad, 
the  Shelby  &  Belle  River  Railroad,  the  Clinton  & 
Adrian  Railroad,  the  Erie  &  Kalamazoo  Railroad, 
incorporated  in  1833,  the  Detroit  &  Pontiac  Rail- 
road, incorporated  in  1834,  the  Shelby  &  Detroit 
Railroad,  the  Palmyra  &  Jacksonburg  Railroad, 
the  River  Raisin  &  Lake  Erie  Railroad,  the  Au- 
burn &  Lapeer  Railroad,  the  Ypsilanti  &  Tecum- 
seh  Railroad,  the  Mottville  &  White  Pigeon  Rail- 
road and  the  Medina  &  Canandaigua  Railroad 
were  all  chartered  before  1838,  and  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  question  of  transportation  was  the  chief 
one  then  in  the  minds  of  the  people. 

Some  of  these  roads  amounted  to  nothing, 
charters  lapsing  and  the  state  aid  given  freely  to 
the  earlier  roads,  being  withdrawn.  The  earliest 
roads  leading  toward  the  relief  of  the  Kalamazoo 
valley  was  the  Erie  &  Kalamazoo,  chartered  by 
the  territorial  legislature  on  April  22,  1833,  t°  con- 
nect the  Maumee  valley  of  Ohio  with  that  of  Kal- 
amazoo. Commencing  at  Port  Lawrence,  Ohio, 
now  Toledo,  it  passed  through  the  important 
towns  of  Sylvania,  Blissfield,  Palmyra  and' Adrian 
onto  the  headwaters  of  the  Kalamazoo  river.  The 
road  was  completed  to  Adrian,  thirty-three  miles, 
and  opened  for  business  on  October  1,  1836.  The 
cars  were  first  drawn  by  horses,  but  the  Toledo 
Blade  of  January  20,  1837,  announced  the  arrival 
of  the  road's  first  locomotive.  The  Palmyra  & 
Jacksonburg  Railroad,  now  the  Jackson  branch 
of  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern,  was 
built  in  1838  to  Tecumseh  by  the  same  company. 
This  road  made  Tecumseh  its  western  terminal 
point  for  twenty  years.  In  1844  the  Erie  &  Kal- 
amazoo Company  became  involved  financially  and 
the  road  was  purchased  by  the  state  of  Michigan, 
which  united  it  with  the  great  Southern  line  it 
had  built  from  Monroe  to  Hillsdale  in  1843.  *n 
1846  the  state  sold  both  roads  to  the  Michigan 
Central  Railroad,  which  was  completed  to  Kala- 
mazoo on  February  2,  1846.  It  was  not  finished 
to  Chicago  until  May,  1852. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


DEFORESTING. 


The  work  of  deforesting  the  country  which 
has  been  going  on  to  stem  the  cold  of  the  intense 
winters  for  the  long  years  during  which  Euro- 
pean civilization  has  been  present  on  this  conti- 
nent, nearly  three  centuries,  can  be  best  appre- 
ciated by  the  present  struggle  to  keep  up  a  fuel 
supply  from  the  woods.  The  primal  necessity 
for  clearing  away  land  incumbrances  of  heavy 
timber  that  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  might  take 
place  needs  no  explanation,  but  the  deprivation 
of  later  generations  of  a  necessary  supply 
of  wood  and  timber  was  not  presented  to  the  pio- 
neers, and  the  thing  that  should  have  been  done, 
the  replanting  of  sufficient  land  to  keep  up  a  good 
supply  was  never  thought  of  nor  done.  These 
replanted  forests  would  have  provided  full  sup- 
plies for  the  building,  fire  and  other  purposes 
for  which  our  forest  timber  is  available.  Germany 
has  fully  demonstrated  what  magnificent  results 
can  be  obtained  from  a  wise  and  systematic  cul- 
tivation and  fostering  of  forests.  Under  this  cul- 
ture the  trees  have  reached  a  ripeness  for  decay, 
and  have  been  and  are  replaced  to  meet  the  loss 
and  no  deforesting  is  possible.  The  trimmings 
and  refuse  of  forest  preserves  now  provide  a 
handsome  store  for  fuel  annually. 

The  United  States  have  been  behind  hand 
as  separate  nationalities  in  considering  the  pro- 
tection of  the  forest  supply,  never  apparently 
thinking  anything  about  this  important  subject. 
Corporations  and  private  owners  of  real  estate 
have  mercilessly  cut  off  the  timber  for  its  sale 
for  immediate  profits.  Therefore  the  dense  masses 
of  forest  growth  which  should  have  been  kept 
in  full  existence  to  hold  back  the  water  supply 
for  streams  like  the  Hudson,  Connecticut,  Mis- 
sissippi, Missouri,  Platte,  Saginaw,  Kalamazoo 
and  other  rivers  have  passed  away. 

All  states  have  barely  escaped  the  deprivation 
of  a  water  supply.  The  United  States  are  just 
in  time  to  protect  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi 
from  degenerating  into  a  barren  watercourse  and 
the    Yellowstone    Park   will    save    the    Missouri 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


49 


from  a  barren  drainage.  And  since  irrigation 
has  made  the  western  portions  of  the  country 
fruitful,  a  double  obligation  is  laid  upon  our 
people  to  increase  water  sources  by  the  regenera- 
tion of  forests  and  the  protection  of  trees  from 
vandalism. 

Yet  there  were  periods  when  to  obtain  ground 
for  tillage,  the  forests  of  civilization  had  to  be 
shorn.  Tree  trunks,  branches,  stumps  had  to  be 
made  way  with  by  an  indiscriminate  conflagration. 
The  pyres  of  log  heaps  were  piled  up,  generation 
after  generation,  until  the  general  devastation 
cried  from  the  ground  to  high  heaven.  And  this 
holocaust  was  apart  from  the  timber,  boards  and 
shingles  needed  for  the  homes  of  the  country  or 
industrial  uses  of  growing  population.  Nor  in 
the  enumeration  of  forest  depredations  was  the 
discount  of  the  backlogs  and  foresticks  of  the 
fireplaces  of  New  England  fully  reckoned.  It  is 
amazing  that  the  assaults  of  two  hundred  years 
have  left  a  tree  standing. 

But  let  no  iconaclast  belittle  the  backlogs  of 
New  England,  which  evolved  warmth  and  pro- 
vided the  cooked  food  for  the  living  of  the  house- 
hold, yet  from  whose  smoke  wreathed  fireplaces 
were  sent  forth  cogitations  which  changed  the 
conditions  of  the  world.  The  backlog  students 
caught  the  inspirations  of  patriotism,  stateman- 
ship,  politics,  morality,  divinity,  romance,  and 
poetry  from  the  genial  and  diffusive  warmth  of 
glowing  embers.  The  Winthrops,  Miles  Standish, 
Jonathan  Edwards,  Aaron  Burr,  the  Beechers, 
Longfellows,  Whittiers  and  Emersons  were  back- 
log students  and  a  long  catalog  of  their  contem- 
poraries. Going  further  back  the  list  might  in- 
clude the  patriotic  band,  calling  themselves '  in 
their  Indian  disguise,  "Mohawks,"  who  destroyed 
the  tea  in  Boston  Harbor,  and  the  other  incipient 
patriots  of  the  Revolution.  Who  will  assume  to 
estimate  the  warmth,  the  glow  of  patriotism  im- 
parted by  the  consuming  of  the  backlog,  in  spur- 
ring the  uprisings,  the  expressions  of  human  na- 
ture in  every  direction? 

The  Indian  trails  ran  like  a  network  in  every 

direction    and    occasionally    the    dusky    red    men 

would  be  seen  in  solemn  file  as  they  rode  along 

'the  forest  glades.     A  large  portion  was  annually 


cleared  by  the  fires,  which  kept  down  all  kinds 
of  undergrowth.  *  The  great  trees  of  the  forest 
and  the  scattering  oaks  of  the  openings  made  the 
whole  country  appear  like  one  vast  park,  which 
indeed  it  was,  nature's  own.  When  the  fresh 
grass  was  making  its  first  appearance  in  the 
spring  it  looked  like  a  broad  wheat  field,  and  later 
on  it  was  all  carpeted  with  the  sweetest  wild 
flowers.  Game  of  all  kinds  was  plenty,  and  so 
were  wolves  and  other  beasts  of  prey.  The  set- 
tlers gathered  much  of  their  winter's  hay  from 
the  adjacent  marshes.  The  miasma  from  these 
marshes  and  the  newly-plowed  soil  brought  with 
it  a  great  amount  of  malarial  sickness,  which  the 
settlers  had  to  combat  as  best  they  could  as  phy- 
sicians were  scarce. 

Without  the  glowing  fires  and  warm  hostel- 
ries  where  would  have  been  the  satisfaction  of 
winter  sleigh  rides  and  country  balls?  Or,  giving 
revery  the  rein,  how  could  the  Pilgrims  and  Puri- 
tans have  buffeted  the  blasts  around  Cape  Cod  or 
the  grim  winters  of  New  England  without  the 
the  primeval  wood  fires?  Whence  the  fiery  coals 
for  the  footstoves  of  church  pews,  or  the  cords 
of  wood  for  the  huge  church  boxstove.  Or  the 
warming  pans  of  glowing  embers  to  temper  beds 
in  frosted  chambers.  The  forests  conquered  the 
cold    and    frost   and    made    civilization    possible. 

With  communication  instantaneous  around  the 
world  it  would  be  available  to  test  the  old  adage 
that  weather  conditions  move  in  fifty  year  cycles. 
Recollections  are  vivid  of  seasons  of  snow  tem- 
pests sweeping  over  the  land  and  piling  up  the 
huge  drifts  and  three  feet  falls  on  a  level,  filling 
sunken  ravines  to  the  depth  of  fifty  feet. 

One  severe  winter,  in  the  early  settlement  of 
Michigan,  was  remarkable  for  its  destitution,  both 
in  fodder  and  grain  stuffs.  Forest  browsing  and 
food  makeshifts  did  not  save  stock,  two-thirds 
or  half  of  the  farm  cattle  dying  by  starvation, 
survivors  showing  a  spring  array  of  skin  and 
bones. 

There  were  no  ready  communications  whereby 
the  abundance  of  portions  of  the  country  could 
supply    the    necessities    of   the    famine    stricken. 

Yet  the  long  and  waiting  winters  had  their 
reliefs  in  social  neighborhood  gatherings,  in  farm- 


50 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


house  visits,  balls,  dancing  parties,  dinners,  sup- 
pers, by  family  invitations.  District  spelling 
schools,  writing  schools,  singing  schools  gave 
young  people  satisfactory  recreations. 

Winter  was  especially  set  apart  for  the  down- 
fall of  primitive  forests.  Maples,  sugar,  curled, 
grained,  hard — all  of  the  large  timber  was 
doomed  to  cordwood  for  remorseless  domestic 
fires.  The  clearings  for  summer  fallows  furnished 
the  great  log  heaps  to  be  consumed  for  the  fall 
sowing  of  grain. 

Many  trees  were  cut  down  and  made  into 
logs  for  sawmills,  six  of  which  were  in  operation 
at  a  time  on  one  flooded  stream  within  the  dis- 
tance of  a  mile.  During  the  season  of  fallow  burn- 
ing it  was  no  uncommon  episode,  the  alarm  spread 
along  the  country  road  by  some  farmer's  wife 
on  a  bareback  horse,  calling  for  help  to  fight  the 
spread  of  fire  into  adjacent  woodlands  by  digging 
trenches  or  back  firing. 

Neighborhood  bees  were  got  together  not  in- 
frequently to  cut  the  timber  and  clear  lands.  With 
the  ruthless  consumption  of  wood  there  was  a 
singular  immunity  from  house  conflagrations. 
Slaughtering  of  hogs  for  pork  packing,  beeves 
and  sheep  for  home  consumption  called  for  out- 
door fires  and  steaming  caldrons  of  hot  water. 
Within  doors,  the  perambulating  shoemaker,  the 
tailoress  tarried  until  the  wants  of  each  household 
were  met.  Spinning,  weaving,  knitting  around 
the  heaped-up,  warm  fireplace  went  on  without 
interruption.  Making  buckskin  mitts  became 
quite  an  industry,  the  sewing  by  the  pair  being 
entrusted  to  the  wives  and  daughters  of  neighbor- 
ing farmer  families.  Patent  medicine  concoction 
and  pill  making  were  occasional  industries.  Do- 
nation parties  were  an  annual  occurrence,  the  so- 
cial features,  acquaintance,  and  plenteous  good  will 
swelling  the  charitable  features  to  provide  one- 
half  of  the  minister's  salary. 

The  first  frame  building  was  put  up  by  Judge 
Eldred  in  1833.  It  was  a  large  barn,  forty  by 
eighty  feet,  with  twenty-foot  posts  and  a  massive 
frame.  Assistance  to  raise  it  was  gathered  from 
a  wide  circuit,  including  Battle  Creek,  Gull, 
Gourdneck  and  Toland  prairies.     A  considerable 


number  of  Indians  also  helped  to  raise  it.  Asa 
Jones,  of  Gull  prairie,  was  the  boss  carpenter 
who  framed  and  superintended  it.  Everything 
was  in  perfect  order,  help  was  plenty,  and  the 
great  frame  went  up  without  a  hitch  or  delay  of 
any  kind.  When  it  was  done,  the  Indians  gazed 
at  it  in  wonder,  and  exclaimed,  "Majash  wig- 
wam!" in  utmost  astonishment.  This  was  the 
pioneer  raising  in  town,  and  was  enjoyed  as  all 
such  meetings  are.  A  two-year-old  heifer  was 
killed  and  cooked  for  the  company,  and,  in  the 
words  of  one  of  those  present,  "they  had  a  big 
time."  The  old  barn  has  been  cut  in  two.  One 
part  still  stands  where  it  was  built,  and  the  other 
was  moved  away  and  is  doing  duty  on  another 
part  of  the  farm  on  which  it  was  first  located. 
Large  as  the  barn  was,  it  was  filled  to  overflowing 
with  wheat  the  first  year. 

The  winter  of  1836  was  marked  by  wonderful 
displays  of  Aurora  Borealis.  On  one  occasion 
the  snow-covered  ground  presented  a  bright  crim- 
son, as  if  tinged  with  blood.  The  night  was  bright 
moonlight.  People  were  frightened,  not  compre- 
hending the  character  of  the  phenomenon.  Weeks 
went  by,  on  account  of  the  slow  circulation  of 
news,  before  complete  scientific  authority  pub- 
lished the  true  character  of  the  strange  and  alarm- 
ing electric  disturbance. 

The  devastating  necessity  of  making  use  of 
forest  growth  for  land  cultivation,  for  warmth, 
utility,  for  the  promotion  of  genial  social  con- 
ditions, for  the  backlog  studies,  the  romances  and 
idealism  of  the  household,  the  student  or  philos- 
opher, no  longer  exist.  The  new  era  demands 
that  for  one  tree  cut  down  six  new  ones  shall 
be  planted.  The  pristine  beauty  and  grandeur 
of  country  can  be  restored  as  the  latest  mark 
of  true  civilization.  The  hearths  of  the  land  can 
be  preserved  secure  and  honored  by  changing  the 
backlog  for  the  handsome  illuminated  fireplace. 
Wood  pulp  has  had  its  day.  Let  other  wastes 
furnish  paper  materials.  The  age  of  wood  calls 
for  a  rest  and  a  chance  for  growth.  Winter's  cold 
even  can  be  abated  by  substitutes  of  gas,  coal  and 
electricity.  Give  the  trees  time  to  reoccupy  the 
land. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


51 


CHAPTER  VII. 


CONDENSED  HISTORY. 


A  writer  in  a  Kalamazoo  paper  contributed 
in  February,  1904,  an  obituary  of  Mrs.  Charlotte 
Hubbard  Daniels,  which  contained  so  much  of 
interesting  and  valuable  historical  matter  that  we 
transcribe  it.  Mrs.  Daniels  was  born  two  miles 
from  Middletown,  Vt.,  on  February  19,  1824,  and 
died  in  February,  1904.  Like  many  of  the  little 
girls  of  her  day,  she  went  to  district  school. 
When  about  ten  years  of  age  she  came  to  Kala- 
mazoo and  attended  a  school  situated  where  the 
Jewish  synagogue  now  stands  on  South  street, 
east.  The  late  Honorable  Nathaniel  A.  Balch, 
father  of  Mrs.  John  den  Bleyker,  and  the  late 
Silas  Hubbard,  father  of  Mrs.  C.  G.  Klienstueck, 
were  among  the  schoolmasters.  Charlotte  was 
later  a  pupil  for  three  years  at  the  school  known 
as  the  Old  Branch  (of  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan), then  located  at  the  corner  of  Park  and 
Walnut  streets  and  later  moved  to  the  northwest 
corner  of  Bronson  Park. 

At  this  school  the  late  Volney  Hascall,  who 
at  one  time  owned  and  edited  the  Kalamazoo 
Gazette,  received  his  education.  Another  pupil 
was  David  Hubbard,  who  afterward  studied  law 
with  Stewart  Miller  and  practiced  in  Schoolcraft. 
The  names  of  these  men  will  recall  to  the  pioneers 
of  Kalamazoo  county  Paul  Rawls,  who  studied 
law  with  the  late  Charles  E.  Stewart,  father  of 
Mrs.  W.  G.  Austin,  of  Kalamazoo.  Another 
name  known  to  the  early  settlers  was  that  of 
Samuel  Rice,  who  studied  law  with  Stewart  & 
Miller.  He  became  a  soldier  in  the  Mexican  war 
and  died  in  that  conflict.  Another  of  this  earlv 
day  was  William  G.  Austin,  uncle  of  Alderman 
Austin,  of  Kalamazoo,  his  namesake.  These  men, 
with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Hascall  and  Mr.  Aus- 
tin, were  participants  in  the  Mexican  war.  An- 
other pupil  at  this  school  was  the  late  O.  L. 
Trask,  who  was  much  younger  than  Mrs.  Dan- 
iels.   He  was  a  brother  of  Mrs.  H.  L.  Cornell. 

It  is  because  Mrs.  Daniels  was  so  closely  iden- 
tified with  the  early  history  of  Kalamazoo  that 
these   reminiscences    appear   in   connection   with 


her  life  and  death.  The  story  was  published  just 
as  Mrs.  Danields  told  it  to  the  writer  one  August 
morning  in  1901.  The  Old  Branch  school  had 
much  to  do  with  the  education  of  Kalamazoo 
people  who  were  young  in  its  day.  Among  oth- 
er pupils  later,  as  the  old  days  went  by,  were  Mrs. 
H.  L.  Cornell  and  Mrs.  W.  H.  Stewart,  the  lat- 
ter of  whom  now  resides  at  the  corner  of  Lovell 
and  Henrietta  streets  in  this  city.  Among  the 
teachers  at  this  institution  were  the  late  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  J.  A.  B.  Stone. 

Mrs.  Daniels  was  married  January  19,  1841. 
Of  her  children,  Mrs.  G.  T.  Bruen  and  Joseph 
A.  Daniels,  both  of  Kalamazoo,  survive.  Three 
sons  are  dead — George  Daniels,  James  G.  Dan- 
iels, late  of  Salina,  Kans.,  and  Albert  A.  Daniels, 
at  one  time  the  city  treasurer  of  Kalamazoo. 
Mrs.  Daniels  was  associated  with  the  Episcopal 
church  from  its  establishment  in  this  city.  She 
was  confirmed  by  the  late  Rt.  Reverend  Bishop 
McClosky  as  a  member  of  one  of  the  earliest 
classes  to  which  he  administered  this  rite  in  Kal- 
amazoo. She  attended  the  first  church  services 
ever  read  from  an  Episcopal  prayerbook  in  what 
is  now  the  city  of  Kalamazoo.  This  service  was 
held  in  the  fall  of  1834  in  the  school  house  stand- 
ing on  the  present  site  of  the  Jewish  synagogue. 
In  the  early  days,  of  which  this  bit  of  biography 
and  local  history  tells,  there  was  not  a  profes- 
sional nurse  in  Kalamazoo.  The  usual  amount 
of  illness  occurred  in  the  young  country  and  Mrs. 
Daniels  often  stood  at  the  bedside  of  the  sick 
and  dying,  ready  and  willing  to  alleviate  suffer- 
ing. Many  are  the  men  and  women  into  whose 
eyes  she  looked  as  a  sympathizing  and  relieving 
nurse  when  they  were  young. 

At  no  time  was  Mrs.  Daniels  more  prominent 
in  good  work  than  during  the  Civil  war.  At  that 
time  there  were  one  hundred  and  eight  sick  sol- 
diers in  the  upper  story  of  the  Humphrey  block. 
The  United  States  government  made  no  provi- 
sion for  delicacies  in  this  improvised  hospital,  but 
the  steward  would  be  given  dainties  for  a  dozen 
sick  soldiers  at  a  time  by  Mrs.  Daniels.  It  will 
be  recalled  by  the  old  residents  that  at  one  time  sev- 
eral regiments  were  camping  at  the  national  fair 
grounds  located  near  the  present  site  of  the  Mich- 


52 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


igan  Buggy  Company's  plant.     A  Thanksgiving 
dinner  was  given  to  the  soldiers  by  the  Ladies' 
Relief  Corps,  of  which  Mrs.  T.  P.  Shelden,  of 
St.  Luke's  church,  was  president.     Thoroughly 
imbued  with  this  good  work,  Mrs.  Daniels  got 
six  of  her  neighbors  to  join  with  her  in  providing 
a  dinner  for  these  men  who  became  ill  in  the 
service  of  their  country.    These  ladies  were  Mrs. 
Israel  Kellogg,  Mrs.  James  Taylor,  Mrs.  J.  W. 
Winslow,  Mrs.  Edwin  Burdick  and  Mrs.  Tobias 
Johnson.    The  dinner  was  a  great  success.  There 
were  five  or  six  turkeys,.     The  tempting  tables 
were  the  talk  of  the  town,  many  of  the  promi- 
nent men  and  women  of  the  day  viewing  them 
after  the  feast  was  ready.     Such  events  were  not 
every  day  or  even  yearly  occurrences  when  Kal- 
amazoo was  young,  and  there  was  much  praise 
and    many   exclamations   of   admiration    for   the 
work  and  generosity  of  the  ladies.     It  was  no  less 
an  honor  then  than  now  to  be  invited  to  carve, 
and  this  honor  was  enjoyed  by  G.  H.  Gale,  now 
of  Detroit;  the  late  John  Bates,  of  Minneapolis; 
Guy  Penfield,  Capt.  H.  C.  Dennison  and  the  late 
J.  B.  Daniels.     Miss  Harriet  Kellogg,  Miss  Lib- 
bie  Taylor,  later  Mrs.  C.  R.  Bates;  Miss  Kate 
Winslow,  now  Mrs.  W.  L.  Hunter,  Miss  Mary 
Daniels,  now  Mrs.  G.  T.  Bruen ;  G.  C.  Winslow 
and  George  Daniels,  now  deceased,  all  waited  on 
the  table  at  this  famous  dinner.     It  was  said  that 
up  to  that  time  there  had  never  been  spread  such 
a  table  in  Kalamazoo.     "The  gratitude  of  those 
soldiers  was  something  delightful  to  be  told  to 
children  and  to  children's  children  during  long 
years  as  the  history  of  Kalamazoo  becomes  old- 
er."    Some  Kalamazoo  county  soldiers  were  of 
the  hundred   invalids.      Lieutenant   Bedford,    an 
officer,  told  Mrs.  Daniels  that  each  lady  should 
have  six  men  detailed  to  carry  dishes. 

There  were  no  flags,  no  evergreens  and  no 
grace,  as  the  Reverend  Mr.  Hurd,  the  Episcopal 
minister,  who  had  been  selected,  was  ill.  "One 
soldier  who  was  accustomed  to  the  hard  tack  of 
the  army  was  so  impressed  with  a  certain  kind 
of  the  food  that  he  took  a  breastpin  he  had  worn 
for  years  and  said  it  was  to  be  given  to  the  lady 
who  had  done  that  portion  of  the  cooking.  The 
lady  proved  to  be  Mrs.  Daniels.     She  accepted 


the  gratitude,  but  required  the  soldier  to  take 
back  his  gift.  Such  was  the  lack  of  convenience 
at  the  time  for  serving  large  public  dinners  that 
the  dishes  were  taken  home  to  be  washed.  Noth- 
ing of  the  best  linen,  china  or  silver  was  lost, 
however,  and  nothing  was  broken.  It  was  in- 
deed a  great  philanthropic  and  social  event,  and 
Mrs.  Daniels  was  at  the  head  of  it  all. 

Some  of  the  people  residing  in  the  more  mod- 
ern days  of  the  twentieth  century  do  not  know 
of  the  hardships,  the  privations  and  the  lack  of 
facilities  of  those  who  came  before  the  days  when 
civilization  was  established  in  this  old  town,  many 
of  whom  now  sleep  in  Riverside  or  in  Mountain 
Home.  Suppose  they  had  not  accomplished  re- 
sults produced  by  willing  sacrifices  and  had  not 
started  good  work  along  various  lines,  where 
would  we  have  been  today,  and  what  would  we 
have  enjoyed  in  these  later  times  in  Kalamazoo? 
If  these  noble  pioneer  men  and  women  had 
put  their  hands  to  the  religious,  philanthropic, 
intellectual  and  social  plows  merely  in  a  half- 
hearted way  and  only  to  look  backwards  and 
give  up,  to  what  end  would  it  have  all  been  done  ? 
So  are  we  today  grateful  to  those  pioneer  men 
and  women  who  gave  the  town  its  start  and  con- 
tinued their  interest  day  by  day  and  year  by  year. 
Are  we  telling  the  old  stories  and  traditions  to 
each  succeeding  generation,  thus  preserving  the 
spirit  of  the  free  life  of  the  early  days  ? 

During  the  early  life  of  Mrs.  Daniels  there 
were  no  such  mail  facilities  as  at  present.  The 
mail  was  brought  at  short  intervals  by  pony  ex- 
press from  Detroit.  There  were  no  such  oppor- 
tunities for  reading  then  as  now.  Dickens'  "Pick- 
wick Papers"  were  being  printed  by  installments 
in  an  eastern  newspaper  and  the  days  were  count- 
ed red-letter  days  when  the  weekly  paper  came 
and  Mrs.  Daniels  read  the  story  aloud  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Caleb  Sherman,  G.  W.  Winslow  and  others. 
There  were  not  many  books  in  the  place  eith- 
er, but  Mrs.  Daniels  read  such  authors  as  Robert 
Burns,  Thackeray  and  J.  Fenimore  Cooper. 
There  were  the  "Leather  Stocking"  tales,  "The 
Deerslayer,"  "The  Pathfinder,"  "The  Last  of  the 
Mohicans"  and  histories  of  local  coloring — "The 
Oak  Openings"  or  "The  Bee  Hunter." 


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KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


55 


Mrs.  Horace  H.  Comstock  lived  in  Kalama- 
zoo, and  for  a  time  in  Comstock  Hall,  and  Mrs. 
Daniels  was  her  guest  while  Mrs.  Comstock  was 
entertaining  her  distinguished  uncle.  Mrs.  Com- 
stock was  lovely  in  person  and  in  manner  and 
entertained  very  handsomely.  She  and  her  hus- 
band acted  often  as  host  and  hostess  to  the  men 
who  were  the  leaders  in  public  affairs.  For  while 
the  place  was  yet  young  it  did  have  part  in  af- 
fairs of  public  importance.  Among  these  affairs 
was  the  location  of  the  county  seat  of  Kalamazoo 
county.  Comstock,  Galesburg,  Schoolcraft  and 
Kalamazoo  all  aspired  for  that  honor.  The  con- 
test was  very  spirited,  but  Kalamazoo  "won  out." 
The  men  to  whom  Kalamazoo  is  indebted  for  the 
county  seat  are  General  Burdick,  T.  C.  Shelden, 
Epaphroditus  Ransom,  later  governor  of  Michi- 
gan ;  Lucius   Lyon  and   others. 

It  is  stated  in  a  pioneer  history  in  the  public 
library  that  the  late  Judge  H.  G.  Wells  and  Mrs. 
J.  B.  Daniels  were  the  referees  to  decide  whether 
Judge  Basil  Harrison  was  the  original  character 
of  the  "bee  hunter"  in  Cooper's  novel  of  that 
name.  The  claim  had  been  made  that  a  Mr. 
Walker,  a  hunter,  who  brought  game  to  sell  to 
the  pioneers,  was  the  original.  Mrs.  Daniels  gave 
Mr.  Cooper  much  information  which  appeared  in 
this  book.  At  the  time  there  was  no  market  in 
Kalamazoo,  neither  were  there  any  cattle  to  kill. 

Another  old  landmark  was  the  old  Indian 
trading-post  which  was  located  about  where  is 
now  the  gate  of  Riverside  cemetery.  At  this  spot 
was  the  only  ford  in  the  river.  Many  are  the 
old  Indian  traditions,  legends  and  blood-curdling 
stcries  that  were  related  in  the  early  days  of  this 
fair  city. 

Mrs.  Daniels  told  us  of  a  deed  done  by  the 
Indians — the  burial  of  a  dead  chief  in  something 
that  resembled  an  open  corncrib,  so  constructed 
that  die  logs  almost  came  together.  The  aper- 
tures were,  however,  sufficiently  large  to  admit 
the  air.  About  a  year  after  arriving  in  Kalama- 
zoo she  herself  saw  a  chief  so  disposed  of.  She 
saw  the  skull,  the  bones  of  the  face  and  legs,  the 
teeth  and  one  arm.  This  dead  chief  was  thus 
placed  to  rest  near  the  old  trading  house  where 
a  Frenchman  bargained  for  furs.  Let  us  hope 
4 


the    Indian   still    dreams    of   his   happy   hunting 
grounds. 

The  primitive  and  painted  warrior  who  stood 
upon  the  bank  of  what  is  now  Kalamazoo  river, 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  could  not  have  imag- 
ined in  his  wildest  dreams  that  if  a  child  of  his 
could  live  to  see  a  stately  city  rise  from  the  prairie 
and  point  its  hundreds  of  factory  chimneys  to- 
ward the  azure  sky.  But  such  a  vision  became 
palpable — and  he  himself  bote  reluctant  evidence 
of  this  first  step  toward  this  wondrous  trans- 
formation. The  white  man  came,  and  the  red 
brother  abandoned  his  tepee  and  disappeared  be- 
fore the   wave   of  civilization. 

Kalamazoo  is  now  a  progressive  city  of  thou- 
sands of  progressive  people  full  of  business  and 
bustle  and  toiling  tirelessly.  Her  citizens  are 
pleased  with  her  past,  proud  of  her  present  and 
confident  of  her  future.  The  fleeting  years  have 
made  much  of  her  and  she  stands  today  a  queen 
amid  queens  and  destined  for  great  ends.  Men 
come  and  go;  clouds  form  and  burst;  stars  rise 
and  fade ;  but  fair  Kalamazoo  came  to  stay. 
Her  pulse  beats  with  enduring  vigor  and  the  chill 
of  decrepitude  can  never  reach  her  heart.  Kala- 
mazoo was  settled  by  sturdy  men  from  New  Eng- 
land and  their  descendants  are  here  today.  They 
are  not  rainbow  chasers,  but  citizens  with  a  world 
of  faith  in  their  own  right  arms.  Unaided,  they 
have  established  a  wonderful  manufacturing  mu- 
nicipality. Without  soliciting  outside  capital,  they 
have  built  hundreds  of  industries  whose  product 
foots  many  millions  every  year,  and  constantly 
growing.  They  have  created  a  city  with  broad 
paved  streets,  luxurious  homes,  unequalled  water 
and  sewer  systems  and  perfect  fire  and  police 
protection;  a  city  where  good  government  and 
enterprise  march  hand  in  hand.  The  early  settler, 
Titus  Bronson,  who  located  here  in  1829,  is 
spoken  of  elsewhere.  Following  him  as  a  resi- 
dent, William  Harris  built  his  cabin  in  the  spring 
of  1830,  on  a  trail  leading  from  Kalamazoo  to 
Grand  Prairie,  in  the  valley,  very  near  what  is 
now  the  corner  of  West  and  Water  streets.  Here 
he  was  visited  late  in  the  season  by  Rodney  Sey- 
mour. Lot  M.  and  Noah  North,  who  had  been 
at  work  at  Ypsilanti  during  the  summer.     Mrs. 


56 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


D.  S.  Dillie,  then  living  on  Gull  prairie,  was  a 
sister  of  Mr.  Seymour.  He  and  his  companions 
made  a  short  stop  on  Gull  Prairie,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  the  crossing  of  the  Kalamazoo,  near  the 
site  of  the  future  village.  They  crossed  the  river, 
possibly  by  Harrison's  ferry,  and  following  up 
the  stream,  now  dignified  by  the  name  of  Arcadia 
creek,  finally  found  their  friend  Harris  and  his 
rude  domicile.  It  would  be  deemed  a  sorry  affair 
in  these  days  of  invention  and  luxury,  but,  as  it 
was  (with  the  exception  of  Bronson's  •  claim 
shanty,  unoccupied,  and  the  trading-house  across 
the  river)  the  only  building  in  all  the  broad  val- 
ley, it  might  well  put  on  airs. 

It  was  built  in  true  pioneer  style,  and  was  as 
primitive  a  structure  as  has  been  seen  since  the 
days  when  "prehistoric  man"  disputed  his  rights 
with  the  cave  bear  and  the  gigantic  hyena  of 
"ancient  days."  It  was  built  of  logs,  laid  flat 
upon  the  ground,  and  carried  high  enough  to 
allow  the  dwellers  to  stand  upright  under  its 
"shed  roof,"  which  all  slanted  one  way,  and  was 
composed  of  poles  covered  with  marsh  grass,  mak- 
ing a  very  humid  shelter  in  "falling"  weather. 
Its  floor  was  of  earth,  leveled  and  packed  down 
solid  and  smooth,  and  it  had  only  openings  for 
door  and  windows,  against  which  were  hung 
blankets  and  shawls  in  cold  or  damp  weather.  A 
fire  was  kindled  outside  in  pleasant  weather,  and 
in  stormy  days  in  the  center  of  the  wigwam, 
from  which  the  smoke  escaped  through  a  square 
hole  in  the  roof.  The  furniture  consisted  of  a 
campkettle,  a  frying  pan,  a  few  knives  and  forks 
and  iron  spoons,  a  couple  of  three-legged  stools, 
a  few  tin  plates,  a  table,  made  by  splitting  a  bass- 
wood  log,  hewing  it  down  with  a  common  axe, 
and  putting  three  legs  on  it,  and  a  bedstead,  made 
by  inserting  the  ends  of  two  poles  into  the  wall 
of  the  cabin,  and  supporting  the  other  ends  by 
crotched  sticks  driven  into  the  ground;  over  this 
frame  were  laid  small  poles,  or  stretched  strips 
of  elm  or  basswood-bark,  and  these  were  covered 
with  the  scanty  bedding  of  the  family.  A  few 
wooden  pegs  driven  in  the  logs  served  for  a  ward- 
robe and  a  shelf  made  of  a  split  pole  laid  upon 
other  wooden  pins  answered  the  purpose  of  a 
cupboard   and   pantry. 


In  1830  Colonel  Huston,  who  already  had  a 
store  in  Prairie  Ronde,  built  a  store  on  what  is 
now  the  corner  of  Main  and  Rose  streets,  and 
filled  it  with  goods  for  the  settlers'  accommoda- 
tion ;  no  doubt,  "taking  the  wind  out  of  the  sails," 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  of  the  French  trader 
across  the  river.  In  1869  Nathan  Harrison  erect- 
ed a  cabin  on  the  site  of  the  old  River  House,  on 
"Harrison's  half-acre,"  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Portage  creek  and  the  river,  which  was  then  only 
a  few  rods  above  the  site  of  the  present  bridge 
on  Main  street.  Mead  took  up  his  abode  with 
Harris,  his  brother-in-law,  and  Hall  erected  a 
dwelling  on  Arcadia  creek,  near  the  river,  below 
the  railroad  bridge. 

A  daughter  of  Rev.  Henry  J.  Hall  said  in 
a  published  article  that  "Thomas  Merrill  and 
Henry  J.  Hall  were  among  the  first  who  blabbed 
the  gospel  way  through  the  timber  to  the  wigwam 
of  the  Indian  and  the  cabin  of  the  first  settler,  the 
man  whose  gun  and  axe  were  his  trusty  and 
yet  always  silent  comrades.  The  first  picture  of 
Bronson  (Kalamazoo),  two  or  three  traders'  huts 
with  'Uncle  Tommy'  Merrill  (as  he  was  called) 
on  his  little  Indian  pony  and  my  father  standing 
a  few  steps  away.  They  were  sent  off  as  home 
missionaries  from  Boston,  Mass.,  and  made  this 
city  their  first  halting  place.  I  believe  the  first 
sermon  ever  preached  in  this  locality  was  under 
a  big  oak  by  one  of  these  two  co-laborers  in  those 
pioneer  days.  Later  on,  'Uncle  Tommy'  Merrill 
built  himself  a  little  cabin  on  the  farther  hilltop 
from  the  old  college  building,  and  I  have  often 
been  there  in  former  years.  In  passing,  may 
mention  that  Prof.  Olney  had  a  cottage  in  the 
early  '60s  on  the  left  as  you  went  up  through  the 
woods,  and  Prof.  Anderson  a  more  pretentious 
house  on  the  right-hand  side;  this  all  before  the 
war  of  the  Rebellion.  For  many  years  my  father 
kept  up  his  circuit  riding  from  Fort  Wayne  up 
to  Bronson,  as  it  was  then. 

"It  took  him  between  two  and  three  months 
to  make  the  trip.  At  different  places  we  set  up 
the  household  altar,  at  the  fort  on  the  Maumee, 
Ontario,  Ind.,  and  later  in  Lagrange  county,  and 
finally  back  to  Kalamazoo,  in  the  last  years  of  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Stone's  residence  on  the  hill.    Here,  at 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


57 


a  ripe  old  age,  full  of  love  to  his  fellow  men, 
Elder  Hall  rounded  out  an  almost  perfect  life  and 
was  not,  for  God  took  him.  Father  Lebel  and  the 
elders  and  the  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  and 
all  the  other  churches  sat  side  by  side  to  hear  the 
last  words  said  over  the  coffin  lid,  so  did  they 
honor  his  life  among  them  all.  'Uncle  Tommy' 
Merrill  was  followed  by  Rev.  T.  Z.  R.  Jomes, 
who  worked  many  years  for  the  Baptist  college. 
Luther  Robe  and  others  were  of  his  day  and 
generation." 

Following  Harris  came  Nathan  Harrison,  Wil- 
liam Mead  and  Elisha  Hall,  who,  with  Titus 
Bronson,  surveyed  and  laid  out  the  nucleus  of 
what  was  afterwards  called  Bronson  village.  From 
this  time  on  the  village  saw  many  of  the  usual 
changes  natural  to  the  growth  of  any  locality  and 
nothing  of  importance  transpired  until  1832,  when 
a  town  election  was  held  at  Titus  Bronson's  cabin, 
at  which  time  there  were  elected  one  supervisor, 
four  highway  commissioners  and  three  assessors, 
one  collector,  two  constables,  two  overseers  of  the 
poor,  two  pound  masters,  seven  overseers  of  high- 
way,, and  five  school  commissioners.  In  the  year 
1832  Dr.  Abbott  was  appointed  postmaster  and 
the  mail  was  carried  weekly  by  Mr.  Lucius 
Barnes  in  a  covered  wagon,  his  being  the  first 
stage  line.  The  first  marriage  to  be  performed 
here  was  contracted  in  1833,  between  Ethan 
French  and  Matilda  Houndson,  and  later,  in  Feb- 
ruary of  the  same  year,  James  M.  Parker  and 
Tamar  Walter,  and  on  February  17th,  John  Smith 
and  Jemima  Edginton,  Squire  Lovell  performing 
the  ceremony  in  each  instance..  The  first  term 
of  the  Kalamazoo  circuit  court  was  held  in  the 
school  house  on  South  street,  the  grand  jury  hold- 
ing their  deliberations  under  the  trees  contiguous. 
The  "bar"  of  Kalamazoo  county,  if  not  equal  in 
all  respects  to  that  of  the  Queen's  bench,  was 
nevertheless  as  wise  in  its  own  conceit  and  regard- 
ed as  equal  to  any  emergency  by  their  numerous 
clients.  The  Hon.  Charles  F.  Stewart  occupied 
a  prominent  position  as  an  attorney,  sharing  hon- 
ors very  closely  with  Elisha  Belcher,  who  was 
also  considered  a  formidable  pleader  at  the  bar. 
Perhaps  the  leading  event  in  the  year  1836  was 
the  establishment  of  the  first  newspaper  here.     In 


October  the  Michigan  Statesman,  published  at 
White  Pigeon,  was  removed  and  its  publication 
begun  at  this  place  by  Messrs.  Gilbert  and 
Chandler,  and  from  that  day  to  the  present  time 
Kalamazoo  has  not  been  wanting  in  an  intelligent 
and  faithful  press  to  champion  her  cause,  to  defend 
and  improve  her  interests  and  to  advocate  her 
claims. 

Mrs.  Jack  Hudson,  a  daughter  of  that  sterling 
pioneer,  Frederick  Booher,  writes  very  interest- 
ingly of  her  recollections  of  Kalamazoo  since 
1834  in  the  Gazette  of  1880.  We  make  generous 
clippings  from  her  recollections :  "In  June,  1834, 
my  father,  mother  and  brothers  George  and  John 
and  myself  arrived  at  the  ferry  near  the  site  of 
Riverside,  seated  in  a  one-horse  wagon.  Four  other 
teams  were  ahead  of  us  and  we  waited  until  dark 
before  we  could  cross.  We  began  pioneer  life  in 
the  Kalamazoo  House,  kept  by  Ira  and  Cyren 
Burdick.  The  next  morning  both  landladies  were 
shaking  with  the  ague.  Our  goods  soon  arrived 
and  we  rented  and  commenced  keeping  the  hotel. 

"Then  the  hamlet  of  Bronson  contained  seven 
frame  houses,  six  log  houses  with  shingle  roofs, 
two  block  houses  and  a  number  of  board  shanties. 
Main  street  was  at  that  time  grassgrown  on 
either  side  and  famous  for  its  clusters  of  wild 
strawberries.  Several  times  that  summer  I  gath- 
ered a  quart  of  those  delicious  berries  on  Main 
street  between  the  Kalamazoo  House  and  the 
present  site  of  the  court  house. 

"Such  was  the  rush  of  people  buying  land  that 
all  the  floors  were  nightly  covered  with  weary 
travelers.  We  would  give  up  our  own  beds  and 
many  times  I  would  be  sent  to  pass  the  night  at 
the  residence  of  Mrs.  John  Parker's  mother  on 
the  corner  of  Main  and  Rose  streets,  where  Mr. 
Parker  had  a  store  fronting  on  Main  street.  His 
mother,  his  sister  Ann  and  himself  lived  in  the 
rear  of  the  building. 

"The  mud  was  so  deep  that  I  was  carried  in 
the  arms  of  our  cook,  Jim  Donelson,  to  hear  Rev. 
Mr.  Robe,  the  first  minister,  preach. 

"Other  early  preachers  were  Rev.  Jeremiah 
Hall,  Baptist;  Rev.  Mr.  Woodbury,  Presby- 
terian; O.  F.  Hoyt,  Fenton,  Stout,  Foote,  Kelly 
and  George  Cole,  early  Episcopalians.    The  early 


58 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


physicians  were  Drs.  Abbott,  Barrett,  Stark- 
weather and  Starkey.  Dr.  Starkey  lived  in  a 
building  on  East  Main  street,  near  where  Mr. 
Jannesch's  gunshop  stood  at  a  later  date.  He 
was  an  excellent  chemist  and  kept  a  drug  store  in 
the  front  part  of  his  house. 

"Dr.  Starkweather  boarded  with  my  parents  in 
the  Kalamazoo  House.  He  later  resided  on  Main 
street  near  the  location  of  the  Burdick  House. 
Dr.  Stuart  and  Dr.  Axtell  were  of  the  later  date. 
Dr.  Stuart  resided  for  many  years  at  the  present 
residence  of  Emil  Friedman,  on  Main  street,  and 
he  cultivated  rare  medical  plants.  Dr.  J.  B.  Cor- 
nell and  Dr.  Edwin  Altee  were  other  physicians." 

The  United  States  land  office  stood  on  the 
main  street  and  after  the  lands  were  all  sold  it 
was  used  by  Sweetland  &  Company  as  a  lumber 
office.  The  land  officers  in  1834  were  Thomas 
C.  Shelden,  receiver ;  Thomas  P.  Shelden,  deputy 
receiver;  Major  Abram  Edwards,  register;  Al- 
exander Edwards,  deputy  collector. 

Railroads. — The  first  railroad  proposition  to 
which  the  prominent  people  of  this  county  gave 
their  support  was  the  Kalamazoo  &  Lake 
Michigan  Railroad.  Corporators  of  this  road 
were  Hon.  Epaphroditus  Ransom,  Charles 
E.  Stuart,  Edwin  H.  Lothrop,  Horace  H. 
Comstock  and  Isaac  W.  Willard.  The  road 
was  incorporated  by  legislative  action  on 
March  28,  1836,  the  route  of  the  road 
being  specified  as  "from  the  mouth  of  the  South 
Black  river  in  the  county  of  Van  Buren  to  the 
county  of  Kalamazoo/'  The  country  was  much 
too  new  to  render  the  building  of  such  a  road  pos- 
sible by  the  people  and  foreign  capitalists  wisely 
refused  to  advance  funds  to  build  it.  The  Kala- 
mazoo &  White  Pigeon  Railroad  was  constructed 
from  White  Pigeon  to  Constantine  in  1852,  on  to 
Three  Rivers  in  1855  and  completed  to  Kala- 
mazoo in  May,  1867.  This  road  of  thirty-eight 
miles  was  an  important  aid  to  the  settlers  along 
its  route,  having  stations  at  Schoolcraft,  Portage 
and  Kalamazoo.  It  was  later  consolidated  with 
the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  Railroad, 
of  which  it  now  forms  one  of  its  important 
branches.  The  Kalamazoo  division  of  the  Lake 
Shore  road  also  includes  the  road  originally  char- 
tered and  built   as  the   Kalamazoo,   Allegan   & 


Grand  Rapids  Railroad,  which  was  opened  for 
traffic  from  Kalamazoo  to  Allegan  on  November 
2^,  1868,  and  to  Grand  Rapids  on  March  1,  1869, 
and  had  a  length  of  fifty-eight  miles.  Kalamazoo 
and  Cooper  are  its  stations  in  this  county.  Both 
of  these  roads  were  built  by  Ransom  Gardner. 
The  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad  is  an  im- 
portant one,  running  north  from  Fort  Wayne, 
Ind.,  to  Petosky,  Mich.  This  road  reaches  with- 
in twenty-five  miles  of  Mackinaw  Straits  and  was 
completed  to  Kalamazoo  in  1870.  Its  stations  in 
this  county  are  Kalamazoo,  a  division  point; 
Vicksburg,  Austin  and  Cooper.  The  Kalamazoo 
&  South  Haven  Railroad,  incorporated  on  April 
14,  i860,  "to  construct  a  standard  gauge  road  be- 
tween the  two  cities  mentioned  in  the  charter,"" 
came  into  being  through  the  active  co-operation 
of  the  citizens  of  the  territory  adjacent  to  the 
line  of  the  road.  Citizens  of  the  city  of  Kala- 
mazoo took  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  of  the 
stock,  the  town  of  Kalamazoo  raising  twenty-six 
thousand  dollars  by  taxation.  Alamo  voted  ten 
thousand  dollars  as  a  township,  residents  of  that 
township  subscribing  five  thousand  dollars.  The 
second  of  the  state  roads,  the  Chicago  road  al- 
luded to  elsewhere  in  these  pages,  aided  much  in 
the  early  development  of  the  country.  It  ran 
from  Detroit  to  Chicago,  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
tour  miles,  and  the  travel  for  years  was  almost 
one  untnding  procession.  But,  as  the  population 
of  the  state  increased,  this  road  nor  wagon  roads 
could  satisfy  the  people.  By  1840  the  construc- 
tion of  railroads  had  become  quite  general.  The 
state  legislature  from  the  first  held  to  the  theory 
that  the  state  "could  legitimately  and  profitably 
build  and  manage  any  kind  of  public  works  that 
the  people  demanded.  Accordingly  laws  were 
freely  passed  to  grant  monetary  aid  to  contem- 
plated roads,  many  of  which  became  failures.  As 
one  example,  a  law  was  passed  in  February,  1842, 
authorizing  the  commissioners  of  internal  im- 
provement to  pledge  the  net  proceeds  of  the 
Southern  Railroad  for  five  years  in  order  to  build 
the  road  from  Adrian  to  Hillsdale  and  to  fully 
iron  the  road. 

The  people  were  not  mistaken  in  thinking 
that  these  wonderfully  increased  means  of  trans- 
portation woud  be  harbingers  of  prosperity.    The 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


59 


railroads,  acting  harmoniously  with  the  great  de- 
velopment of  the  state,  gave  rapid  movement  of 
crops  and  merchandise.  The  products  of  the 
farms,  that  had  been  so  long  valueless  by  reason 
of  the  almost  impassable  and  nearly  unfathom- 
able roads  leading  to  the  Eastern  markets  on  Lake 
Erie,  now  had  easy  and  rapid  transportation. 
The  money  received  from  their  sale  came  back 
in  amounts  which  in  comparison  with  those  of 
previous  years  were  greatly  to  the  benefit  of  the 
settlers.  The  railroads  also  furnished  abundant 
facilities  for  incoming  emigrants,  and  during  the 
spring  and  summer  of  several  of  the  closely  fol- 
lowing years  not  a  week,  not  a  day  even  passed 
without  some  newcomer  from  the  east  arriving 
to  make  his  home  amid  the  forest  trees  of  the 
somber  woods,  on  the  rich  prairies  or  in  the  pleas- 
ant scenery  of  the  fertile  "openings." 

From  1840  great  improvement  took  place  in 
the  condition  of  the  farms  and  in  the  character 
of  their  buildings.  The  massive  stumps  left  from 
the  primitive  methods  of  clearing  now  began 
to  rapidly  disappear  through  the  destructive  in- 
fluence of  time.  Although  log  houses  remained 
the  rule,  even  outside  of  the  village,  here  and 
there  modest  frame  houses  were  to  be  seen. 

Four  great  railroads  afford  transportation  fa- 
cilities for  Kalamazoo.  Their  numerous  branches, 
if  counted  separately,  would  almost  double  the 
number.  The  Michigan  Central's  Niagara  Falls 
Route  connections  with  Lake  Michigan,  the  Chi- 
cago, Kalamazoo  &  Saginaw  connections  with  the 
Pere  Marquette  &  Grand  Trunk,  together  with 
the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  Railway, 
and  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  practically  control 
the  rate,  situation  and  competition  does  the  rest. 
Fifty  passenger  trains  arrive  and  depart  daily, 
bearing  their  thousands  of  travelers  to  all  parts 
of  the  county  and  the  aggregate  of  freight  ton- 
nage in  and  out  of  Kalamazoo  is  the  second  in 
the  state  of  Michigan.  Much  credit  is  due  these 
railroads  for  the  many  advantages  placed  before 
the  shippers  of  this  city  in  the  way  of  side  tracks, 
spurs,  etc.,  for  the  speedy  and  advantageous  han- 
dling of  the  enormous  amount  of  freight  in  and 
out  of  Kalamazoo.  The  Michigan  Central  Rail- 
way, the  pioneer  railway  of  the  state,  has  at  all 


times  maintained  a  close  relationship  with  the 
interests  of  its  patrons,  both  freight  and  passen- 
ger, and  stands  willing  and  ready  at  any  time  to 
co-operate  with  any  movement  which  has  for  its 
purpose  the  advancement  of  Kalamazoo. 

To  the  ordinary  observer  it  is  a  difficult  and 
by  no  means  satisfactory  task  to  place  even  a  fairly 
accurate  estimate  upon  the  number  of  miles  of 
track  owned  by  the  various  transportation  com- 
panies within  the  confines  of  the  city  limits.  Much 
interest,  however,  is  attached  to  the  correct  mile- 
age, inasmuch  as  the  passenger  traffic  and  freight 
business  form  an  important  item  in  the  city's  com- 
mercial life. 

There  are  five  transportation  companies,  with 
lines  entering  and  crossing  the  city,  and,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  side  tracks  and  switching  facil- 
ities must  be  provided,  which  increase  to  a  great 
extent  the  trackage  within  the  city  limits.  All  of 
the  steam  roads  have  switching  yards  of  greater 
or  less  magnitude  and  numerous  switches  and  in 
some  parts  a  double-track  system  adds  to  the 
length  of  track  of  the  Michigan  Traction  Com- 
pany. The  total  number  of  miles  owned  by  the 
Chicago,  Kalamazoo  &  Saginaw  Railway,  includ- 
ing the  various  spurs,  switches  and  side  tracks, 
amount  to  a  little  over  eight  miles.  Only  a  single- 
track  passenger  service  is  maintained  by  this 
road,  the  bulk  of  its  trackage  being  confined  to 
switch  yards  and  other  adjuncts  of  freight  service, 
such  as  sidings  connecting  the  main  line  with 
various  manufactories.  The  Lake  Shore  &  Mich- 
igan Southern  Railway  has  in  the  city  eight  miles 
of  switching  tracks,  sidings  and  spurs,  besides 
the  three  miles  of  track  used  for  through  traffic. 
The  bulk  of  the  company's  mileage  is  located  in 
the  north  yards  and  a  portion  is  also  devoted  to 
sidings  connecting  spurs  running  to  many  of  the 
large  factories,  whose  freight  business  is  suffi- 
ciently important  to  warrant  the  outlay  necessary 
to  put  down  the  sidings. 

The  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad  track- 
age is  made  more  formidable  by  the  extensiveness 
of  the  switching  facilities  of  the  south  and  north 
yards.  The  total  number  of  miles  of  track  owned 
by  this  company  within  the  limits  of  the  munici- 
pality aggregates  approximately  fifteen  miles. 


6o 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


The  largest  number  of  miles  of  track  possessed 
by  any  of  the  companies  within  the  city  limits 
is  owned  by  the  Michigan  Central.  This  com- 
pany maintains  in  many  places  a  double- track 
service  which  swells  the  trackage  total  to  a  notice- 
able extent.  At  present  eighteen  miles  of  track 
are  operated  by  the  Michigan  Central  in  this  city, 
distributed  in  the  switch  yards  and  the  double- 
track  through-service.  With  the  completion  of 
the  new  yards  near  the  paper  mill,  these  figures 
will  be  materially  increased. 

The  Michigan  Traction  Company  operates  in 
its  various  local  service  lines  over  twelve  miles 
of  track,  distributed  on  the  street  lines  and  in 
the  switches.  Double-track  service  in  many  of 
the  streets,  which  was  recently  installed,  has  in- 
creased the  trackage  of  this  company  to  a  notice- 
able extent.  In  spite  of  the  excellent  switching 
facilities  furnished  by  the  transportation  com- 
panies in  this  city,  the  enormous  freight  traffic 
is  often  productive  of  blockades,  which,  during 
the  "rush  season,"  frequently,  to  some  extent,  tie 
up  the  shipping  of  local  firms.  Almost  every 
year  a  stagnation  of  traffic,  caused  by  insufficient 
switch  track  is  experienced  by  the  various  roads. 

State  Asylum  for  Insane. — This  institution  is 
situated  on  what  is  known  as  the  Lake  View 
drive,  within  five  minutes  ride  by  electric  car  of 
the  center  of  the  city  and,  with  its  grounds,  is  one 
of  the  beauty-spots  of  Kalamazoo.  Situated  on 
the  top  of  Asylum  Hill  and  commanding  a  view 
of  the  city,  it  certainly  is  a  delight  to  the  sense 
of  sight.  As  can  be  seen,  the  buildings  are  large 
and  commodious,  library  and  museum  facilities 
are  afforded  to  the  inmates,  the  best  of  food  and 
treatment  is  accorded  them,  and  light  labor,  when 
deemed  expedient  by  the  superintendent,  is  pro- 
vided. Every  known  method  of  medical  and 
curative  treatment  is  resorted  to  to  restore  these 
unfortunates,  when  possible,  to  their  right  minds. 
The  superintendent  of  the  institution  is  Dr.  Al- 
fred I.  Noble. 

Kalamazoo  Board  of  Trade. — With  a  roster 
showing  two  hundred  and  fifty  members, — repre- 
sentative citizens,  and  energetic,  public-spirited 
men  who  have  supreme  faith  in  and  are  entirely 
loyal  to  the  best  interests  of  -Kalamazoo  as  an 


entity, —  the  newly  organized.  Board  of  Trade  of 
Kalamazoo  began  business  at  143  South  Burdick 
street,  second  .floor.  The  first  officers  were  H.  B. 
Colman,  president;  Samuel  Folz  and  A.  K.  Ed- 
wards, vice-presidents;  F.  G.  Dewey,  treasurer; 
Charles  Hathaway,  secretary.  The  scope  of  the  Kal- 
amazoo Board  of  Trade  is  as  broad,  primarily,  as 
the  limits  of  the  city  and  county.  Any  tangible 
business  proposition  that  will  add  to  the  business 
value  of  our  city  or  county  will  receive  sincere 
consideration  at  the  hands  of  the  Board  of  Trade. 
Any  enterprise  of  a  public  character  which  will 
make  for  the  advancement  of  the  general  welfare 
will  receive  the  attention  and  hearty  co-operation 
of  the  board.  It  is  the  policy  of  the  organization  to 
work  in  harmony  with  all  similar  bodies  in  Mich- 
igan for  the  industrial,  commercial,  agricultural, 
financial  and  educational  development  of  the  com- 
monwealth, always,  however,  with  local  interests 
dominating.  Kalamazoo  has  resources  of  facil- 
ities second  to  those  of  no  other  city  in  Michigan 
and  is  seeking  new  enterprises.  The  Board  of 
Trade  does  not  deal  in  "bonus"  attractions.  Every 
help  that  can  be  given  will  be  extended  to  genuine 
business  propositions,  in  the  way  of  securing  sites 
for  factories,  buildings  and  power  for  manufac- 
turers, help,  both  men  and  women  and  wherever 
possible,  concessions  in  rents,  purchase  price  and 
the  like.  Located  at  the  intersection  of  one  of  the 
most  important  trunk  line  systems  of  railways  in 
Michigan,  and  in  the  very  center  of  the  finest  agri- 
cultural section  of  the  state,  Kalamazoo  is  already 
one  of  the  leading  industrial  centers  of  Michigan, 
and  seeks  to  add  to  her  good  fame  in  this  direction, 
and  the  Board  of  Trade,  harmonious,  young  and 
strong,  is  prepared  and  willing  to  exert  its  influ- 
ence to  secure  the  full  realization  of  this  ambition. 
Government  Lands. — The  United  States 
government  established  in  the  early  territo- 
rial days  five  land  districts  in  Michigan 
for  the  convenient  sale  of  its  lands — De- 
troit, Monroe,  Kalamazoo,  Saginaw  and  Grand 
River.  The  "principal  meridian"  from  which  all 
government  surveys  were  made  was  a  line  run- 
ning due  north  from  the  mouth  of  the  Auglaize 
river,  a  subsidiary  stream  of  the  Maumee  which 
empties  into  the  Maumee  at  Defiance,  Ohio.    The 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,    MICHIGAN. 


61 


base  line  of  this  meridian  crosses  the  Auglaize 
fifty-four  miles  north  of  the  south  boundary  line 
of  Michigan  and  forms  the  northern  boundary 
of  Wayne,  Washtenaw,  Jackson,  Calhoun,  Kal- 
amazoo and  Van  Buren  counties.  The  Kalama- 
zoo land  district  was  bounded  on  the  east  by  a 
line  commencing  at  the  northeast  corner  of  town- 
ship 3  north,  range  7  west,  and  running  south 
to  the  base  line  and  by  the  line  dividing  the  third 
and  fourth  ranges  of  townships,  west,  commenc- 
ing at  the  base  line  and  running  south  to  the 
southeast  corner  of  township  4  south,  range  4 
west,  also  by  the  line  dividing  the  fourth  and 
fifth  ranges  of  townships  west,  commencing  at 
the  northwest  corner  of  township  5  south,  range 
4  west,  and  running  south  by  said  line  to  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  state;  on  the  south 
by  the  line  dividing  Michigan  and  Indiana;  on 
the  west  by  Lake  Michigan ;  on  the  north  by  the 
line  dividing  townships  3  and  4  north,  com- 
mencing at  the  northwest  corner  of  township  3 
north,  range  6  west,  and  running  with  said  line 
west  to  Lake.  Michigan ;  and  by  so  much  of  the 
base  line  as  divides  the  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth 
ranges  of  the  townships  west. 

This  district  embraced  all  of  the  counties  of 
Berrien,  Cass,  St.  Joseph,  Branch,  Calhoun,  Kal- 
amazoo and  Van  Buren  and  all  of  the  counties 
of  Allegan  and  Barry  except  the  northern  tier 
of  townships  in  each,  which  were  placed  in  the 
Grand  River  district.  The  land  office  of  this 
district  was  located  at  White  Pigeon  in  1831  and 
removed  to  Kalamazoo  in  1833.  Two  or  three 
townships  were  offered  for  sale,  and  some  lands 
were  entered  in  1830,  notably  by  Titus  Bronson 
and  Stephen  Richardson.  The  sales  in  1831  were 
93,179.36  acres  at  a  cost  of  $117,128.26;  in  1832, 
74,696.17  acres  at  a  cost  of  $98,060.23;  in  1833, 
95,980.25  acres  at  a  cost  of  $123,465.25.  The 
year  of  the  largest  sales  was  1836,  when  a  grand 
rush  of  easterners  crowded  all  of  the  houses  of 
entertainment  and  the  amount  of  business  was 
so  great  at  the  land  office  that  they  were 
months  behind  in  their  work.  During  this  year 
1,634,511.82  acres  were  sold,  the  government  re- 
ceiving $2,043,866.87.  The  vacant  lands  remain- 
ing unsold  in  the  district  in  1837  were  449>°56.i9 


acres ;  the  school  lands,  95,862.60  acres ;  the  uni- 
versity lands  amounted  to  35,914.84  acres,  while 
the  Indian  reservations  amounted  to  83,001.69 
acres. 

The  population  of  the  county  by  the  census 
of  1850  was  thirteen  thousand,  one  hundred  and 
seventy-nine  and  the  wealth  of  population  and 
improvements  went  steadily  forward.  The  re- 
maining forests  were  rapidly  falling  before  the 
settler's  axe,  thousands  of  fertile  acres  were 
yearly  uncovered  to  the  sun  and  smiling  orchards 
took  the  place  of  gloomy  elms  and  towering  oaks. 
The  decade  from  1850  to  i860  also  witnessed  the 
full  change  from  log  houses  to  framed  ones.  Out- 
side of  the  villages  few  framed  houses  were 
erected  before  1840.  From  1840  to  1850  a  small 
number  had  taken  the  place  of  their  rude  prede- 
cessors, and  between  1850  and  i860  a  majority 
of  the  settlers  were  able  to  enjoy  the  luxury  of 
comfortable  framed,  brick  or  stone  houses. 
Pumps  took  the  place  of  the  picturesque  "sweeps" 
which  in  every  pioneer's  dooryard  greeted  the  eye 
afar  and  from  which  depended  the  "old  oaken 
bucket."  Changes  from  inconvenience  to  con- 
venience were  to  be  seen  everywhere  in  the 
county,  and  prosperity  was  the  order  of  the  day. 

An  important  factor  in  the  growth  of  this 
section  of  the  state  was  the  opening  of  the  rail- 
road to  Chicago  in  1852.  The  disastrous  panic 
of  1857  but  slightly  left  its  impress  on  the  per- 
manent prosperity  of  the  county.  It  was  so  slight 
in  proportion  to  the  terrible  crash  of  1837  that 
after  a  year  of  depression  the  business  of  the 
county  manifested  its  old  vitality.  The  popula- 
tion which  in  1837  had  been  6,377,  in  1840,  7,389, 
and  in  1850,  13,179,  in  i860  had  nearly  doubled, 
showing  the  grand  record  of  24,746. 

As  would  be  expected,  from  its  Puritanic  or- 
igin, the  politics  of  the  county  has  ever  been 
Whig  and  Republican.  In  1836  the  Democratic 
party  had  innings,  Martin  Van  Buren  re- 
ceiving two  hundred  and  thirteen  majority  over 
William  H.  Harrison.  In  1840  the  New  England 
element  manifested  itself,  the  vote  standing  954 
for  Harrison,  744  for  Van  Buren.  In  1848  Tay- 
lor, Whig,  had  1,010  votes,  Cass,  Democrat,  880* 
and  Van  Buren,  Free  Soil,  495.     In  1856  Fre- 


62 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


mont,  Republican,  had  2,803  votes,  Buchanan, 
Democrat,  1,620.  In  the  momentous  election  of 
i860  Lincoln  received  3,230  votes;  Douglas, 
2,031. 

The  great  Civil  war  affected  this  county  as  it 
did  all  parts  of  the  North.  The  taking  away  of 
so  many  men  as  volunteer  soldiers,  the  young, 
stalwart  and  vigorous  being  usually  the  fated 
ones,  to  fill  the  ranks  of  the  Union  army,  was 
seriously  felt  in  all  business  circles  and  in  the 
industrial  development  of  the  county,  for  until 
the  war  closed  in  1865  labor  was  at  a  premium. 
With  the  issuing  of  "greenbacks"  by  the  gov- 
ernment, prices,  not  only  of  labor,  but  of  all  com- 
modities, greatly  increased,  and  a  period  of  in- 
flation ensued  which  was  probably  beneficial  to 
this  section,  as  the  products  brought  high  prices 
and  the  large  amount  of  money  sent  home  by  the 
soldiers  added  much  to  the  wealth  of  the  various 
communities.  All  kinds  of  business  flourished 
and  "times  were  good."  Notwithstanding  the 
great  drain  on  the  population  during  the  first 
half  of  this  decade  the  number  of  inhabitants  in- 
creased to  thirty-one  thousand,  four  hundred  and 
forty-six  by  1870. 

The  decade  from  1870  to  1880  saw  the  com- 
plete fulfillment  of  the  development  of  the  origi- 
nal wilderness  conditions  to  the  highest  civiliza- 
tion of  modern  times.  The  county  had  become 
as  old  as  the  counties  of  the  east  from  which  had 
come  its  original  settlers,  and  under  the  law  of 
progress  the  ultimate  had  been  attained.  Aside 
from  the  reclamation  of  a  few  marshes  and  the 
drainage  of  some  low-lying  lands  the  agricultural 
possibilities  of  usual  country  farming  had  here 
been  fulfilled.  The  natural  law  that  draws 'men 
to  centers  and  away  from  the  country  had  com- 
menced its  operation,  and  it  is  very  probable 
that  this  decade  indicated  the  greatest  population 
that  the  county  will  reach  for  many  years. 

It  may  be  of  interest  for  purposes  of  com- 
parison to  know  what  were  the  agricultural  and 
manufacturing  interests  thirty  years  ago,  so  we 
will  give  some  statistics  of  the  conditions  of  these 
industries  in  1874.  There  were  then  343,467 
acres  of  taxable  lands ;  lands  exempt  from  taxa- 
tion, 1,874.25,  the  value  of  the  latter  being  $333,- 


165.  The  number  of  farms  was  1,520.  These 
contained  158,078  acres.  There  were  72,691 
acres  in  wheat,  about  27,000  in  corn  and  96,888 
bushels  of  potatoes  were  raised;  22,870  tons  of 
hay  were  produced,  283,991  pounds  of  wool, 
2,743,476  pounds  of  pork,  16,128  pounds  of 
cheese,  728,266  pounds  of  butter,  48,387  pounds 
of  maple  sugar  and  61,457  pounds  of  fruit  were 
harvested  and  marketed.  The  apple  and  grape 
industries  were  well  represented.  Celery  culture 
had  not  attained  sufficient  proportions  to  attract 
much  attention.  The  stock  of  the  county  con- 
sisted of  9,411  horses,  88  mules,  278  oxen,  8,260 
milch  cows,  16,740  hogs,  while  63,854  sheep  were 
sheared  in  1873. 

The  manufacturing  establishments  in  1874 
numbered  ninety-one,  of  which  twenty-eight  were 
operated  by  steam  and  twenty-six  by  water.  These 
industries  employed  1,766  operatives,  and  with 
their  capital  of  $853,650  produced  goods  valued 
at  $1,748,369  yearly.  There  were  fifteen  flour- 
ing mills,  two  operated  by  steam ;  nineteen  saw- 
mills, one  shingle  mill,  five  planing  mills,  four 
foundries  and  machine  shops,  two  steam  imple- 
ment works,  one  "musical  instrument"  factory, 
one  carriage  factory,  one  fanning  mill  factory, 
three  chair  factories,  one  stave  factory,  four  wind- 
mill factories,  one  "novelty"  factory,  one  wooden- 
ware  factory,  one  paper  mill,  three  shoe  factories, 
one  cooperage  plant,  four  breweries,  two  soap  and 
candle  factories,  two  marble  and  stone  shops,  two 
tanneries,  one  "stove  works"  and  various  other 
plants  of  this  character. 

During  the  latter  portion  of  the  nineteenth 
century  the  population  of  both  the  county  and  the 
city  advanced  rapidly,  as  did  also  the  commercial 
importance  of  the  city.  In  1880  there  was  per- 
haps no  town  of  its  size  in  the  state  that  did  a 
larger  business.  One  thing  that  did  much  to 
bring  about  this  result  was  the  increased  facili- 
ties offered  to  manufacturers  by  the  important 
railroads. 

An  historical  event  worthy  of  preservation 
here  was  the  Kalamazoo  County  Pioneer  meet- 
ing, which  occurred  at  the  "court  house  yard"  in 
the  city  on  August  5,  1880.  The  program  of  this 
enjoyable  reunion  of  both  early  settlers  and  later 


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65 


residents  was  thus  printed:  Meeting  to  be 
called  to  order  by  the  Hon.  L.  F.  Brown,  presi- 
dent of  the  Kalamazoo  County  Pioneer  Associa- 
tion, at  10  A.  M. ;  prayer  by  the  Rev.  J.  T.  Robe, 
the  first  minister  of  any  denomination  that  ever 
preached  in  Kalamazoo;  address  by  President 
Brown ;  response  by  Hon.  H.  G.  Wells,  president 
of  the  Pioneer  Society  of  Michigan;  adjourn- 
ment to  partake  of  a  dinner  spread  on  tables  in 
the  court  house  yard ;  music  by  the  band  at  1  P. 
M.,  which  is  the  signal  for  assembling  at  the 
speakers'  stand."  Then  followed  addresses  by 
Hon.  Charles  E.  Stewart,  of  Kalamazoo ;  John 
J.  Adams,  Lenawee;  Albert  Miller,  Bay;  M. 
Shoemaker,  Jackson ;  W.  J.  Baxter,  Hillsdale ; 
O.  C.  .Comstock,  Calhoun;  Levi  Bishop,  Wayne; 
F.  H.  Thompson,  Genesee;  Jonathan  Shearer, 
Plymouth.  These  were  followed  by  vocal  music, 
"The  Young  Pioneer,"  and  the  benediction  by 
Rev.  M.  Bradley.  Speeches  were  then  made  by 
old  pioneers. 

Hon.  H.  C!  Briggs  gave  an  interesting  "talk/' 
He  said  in  part  that  in  1836  his  father,  mother, 
brother,  sister  and  himself  left  the  far  East  in 
a  one-horse  wagon,  having  a  sheet  thrown  over 
the  wagon  bows,  and  found  their  way  to  Allegan 
county  after  four  weeks  of  hard  travel.  Upon 
their  arrival  their  cash  capital  was  one  dollar, 
which  was  paid  for  horse  feed.  "For  two  years 
the  family  subsisted  on  suckers  and  milk  for  the 
reason  that  it  was  'brain  food.'  The  diet  failing 
in  good  results  in  that  direction,  the  family  re- 
moved their  home  into  the  wild  woods  eight  miles 
from  a  settler  or  a  road.  Here  they  struggled  for 
years  in  clearing  a  way  for  a  home.  At  that  time 
there  was  not  five  dollars  in  money  in  the  town- 
ship. There  were  no  aristocrats.  Everybody  had 
the  best  of  land.  Company  both  ate  and  slept  in 
the  parlor  and  was  not  tucked  off  into  a  back 
room.  People  had  a  fine  ear  for  music.  I  have 
traveled  one  hundred  miles  to  hear  a  cowbell. 
For  years  there  were  no  schools  and  when  one 
was  finally  established  in  a  log  house  the  teacher 
was  paid  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  a  week 
in  store  pay.  There  was  no  money  to  buy  either 
tea  or  coffee  or  to  pay  postage,  which  cost  twenty- 
five  cents  where  now  we  pay  but  two.     Tea  was 


made  from  sage,  and  coffee  from  browned  bread 
crumbs.  People  were,  however,  just  as  happy 
then  as  now." 

Hon.  Levi  Bishop,  of  Detroit,  said  that  in 
1836  he  left  New  York  state  for  Michigan.  On 
reaching  Marshall  he  started  on  foot  for  Kalama- 
zoo county.  When  he  reached  Comstock  he  was 
so  fatigued  that  he  could  go  no  further,  but,  after 
refreshing  himself  with  a  bowl  of  bread  and  milk 
at  a  settler's  cabin,  he  again  started  on  his  way 
to  Kalamazoo,  where  he  arrived  with  his  feet 
blistered  and  very  sore.  He  entered  land  and 
returned.  He  traveled  all  over  the  state  in  pio- 
neer days  and  was  never  molested,  never  seeing 
any  of  the  dangers  some  of  the  old  pioneers  told 
of  experiencing  in  the  early  days  from  bears, 
wolves  and  Indians.  When  he  entered  his  land 
the  land  office  was  two  weeks  behind  time  in  its 
business,  the  town  was  full  of  people  and  the  old 
Kalamazoo  House  fed  men  night  and  day  as  fast 
as  the  tables  could  be  cleared  or?,  being  then  un- 
able to  take  care  of  the  crowds  of  land  buyers. 
The  floors  of  all  the  rooms  and  the  halls  were 
nightly  covered  with  tired  and  disgusted  men. 

Dr.  Comstock  said  that  the  first  salutation 
that  a  stranger  received  here  was  "What  will 
you  have  to  drink?" 

Hon.  Erastus  Hursey,  of  Battle  Creek,  said 
that  he  came  to  Kalamazoo  September,  1830, 
from  the  South  in  search  of  a  farm.  The  only 
white  man  he  found  here  was  Judge  Basil  Har- 
rison, who  kept  a  ferry  at  the  mouth  of  the  Port- 
age and  ferried  him  across  the  river. 

This  ferry  was  in  operation  from  the  very 
earliest  settlement,  Nathan  Harrison  succeeding 
his  father  in  the  ownership.  It  was  put  out  of 
business  in  1835  by  the  building  of  a  trestle  bridge 
across  the  river.  This  bridge  cost  four  hundred 
dollars,  of  which  the  federal  government  paid 
one-half. 

At  a  town  meeting  held  in  April,  1834,  it  was 
voted  to  raise  one  hundred  dollars  as  a  wolf 
bounty,  four  dollars  to  be  paid  for  each  scalp 
taken  in  the  town  until  the  money  was  expended. 

An  old  Thanksgiving  dinner  is  thus  de- 
scribed: In  the  fall  of  1838  invitations  were  sent 
out  to  all  the  settlers  in  the  county,  and  on  that 


66 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


especial  day  teams  were  sent  for  those  who  could 
not  come  otherwise.  The  good  matrons  superin- 
tended the  cooking  of  the  dinner,  which  consist- 
ed of  wild  turkeys  brought  in  by  the  Indians,  im- 
mense spareribs  roasting  before  the  great  open 
fireplace,  huge  mince  pies,  pumpkin  pies  and  pud- 
dings, all  baked  in  the  large  brick  oven,  for  cook 
stoves  no  one  had.  The  turkeys  and  meats  were 
suspended  by  stout  tow  strings  before  the  open 
fire  and  slowly  turned.  The  sauce  of  the  meal 
was  stewed  cranberries  brought  in  by  the  Indians. 
Not  a  fruit  tree  was  here  to  bear  fruit  like  that 
of  the  old  Eastern  homes.  Extensive  tables  were 
spread  and  the  many  guests  passed  a  very  enjoy- 
able day  and  fun  and  mirth  and  jollity  ruled  su- 
preme. 

Kalamazoo  Village. — From  President  E.  W. 
De  Yoe's  exaugural  address  at  the  last  meeting 
of  the  village  trustees,  we  extract  the  following: 
"With  the  coming  of  your  board  came  through  a 
committee,  of  the  citizens  a  request  of  a  commis- 
sion to  draft  a  charter  providing  for  a  city  gov- 
ernment to  be  submitted  to  the  legislature  of  the 
state  for  enactment.  In  compliance  therewith, 
a  committee  was  appointed,  the  charter  prepared, 
carefully  revised  and  submitted  to  the  people,  who 
by  an  informal  ballot  adopted  and  recommended 
its  passage.  The  preparation  and  review  was  a 
matter  in  which  you  manifested  a  deep  concern. 
Upon  you  has  devolved  the  duty  of  setting  up  the 
machine  of  a  city  municipality,  nothing  remains 
to  be  done  but  'pulling  the  throttle'  and  starting 
out  from  the  station  heretofore  known  as  the  'Big 
Village/  which,  we  trust  will  be  run  on  the  same 
lines  of  general  prosperity  that  has  characterized 
our  village  for  several  years.  In  1836  the  legis- 
lature passed  an  act  /that  from  and  after  the  31st 
of  March  inst.  the  name  of  the  township  of  Ar- 
cadia be  changed  and  allowed  to  that  of  Kalama- 
zoo/ Those  days  were,  comparitively  speaking, 
prehistoric.  The  education,  culture  and  refine- 
ment of  our  people  have  contributed  in  no  small 
degree  to  spread  the  fame  of  our  enterprising  vil- 
lage. The  pleasant,  cheerful  homes,  the  well-or- 
dered churches,  the  fine  schools  and  seminaries 
of  learning,  the  beautiful  place  of  public  amuse- 
ment, the  extensive  public  and  private  libraries, 


the  several  charitable  institutions,  all  betoken  a 
spirit  of  enterprise  reflecting  credit  that  touches 
the  pride  of  every  Kalamazoo  man,  woman  and 
child.  This  happy,  thriving  and  prosperous  con- 
dition we  turn  over  to  the  new  city  as  a  legacy 
from  the  village  for  their  fostering.''  In  the 
financier's  report  of  Thomas  R.  Bevans,  of  the 
same  year,  we  extract  thus :  "Today  we  stand 
practically  out  of  debt  and  the  financial  record  of 
our  village  from  1842  to  1884  shows  clearly  that 
the  men  governing  us  have  been  economical  and 
prudent.  Unlike  many  other  places,  no  rings  have 
ever  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  depleting 
the  public  treasury  and  our  trustees  have  always 
evinced  a  desire  to  work  for  tfye  real  interest  of  our 
beautiful  village.  It  should  be  remembered  that 
careful  legislation  makes  a  strong  factor  in  the 
matter,  inducing  outside  capital  to  seek  investment 
where  it  exists  and  this  explains  why  parties  are 
prospecting  here  with  a  view  to  investments  in 
our  midst.  Kalamazoo  as  a  city  should  certainly 
be  entitled  to  some  of  the  floating  capital  and  will 
have  it  soon.  The  importance  of  careful  legis- 
lation by  our  successors  at  the  birth  of  the  new 
city  will  be  apparent  to  all  and  the  past  financial 
record  for  prudence  and  economy  we  trust  will  be 
maintained  in  and  under  the  new  form  of  city 
government." 

Kalamazoo  in  1891. — From  the  exaugural  ad- 
dress of  the  Hon.  William  E.  Hill  in  1891,  we 
extract  as  follows :  "During  the  past  fiscal  year 
there  has  been  purchased  and  paid  for,  real  estate 
to  the  amount  of  about  seventeen  thousand  dollars, 
fifteen  thousand  dollars  of  which  was  paid  for  the 
Howard  lot,  which  was  selected  by  Dr.  E.  N. 
Van  Deusen  and  wife  as  their  choice  of  a  site  for 
a  public  library,  they  having  donated  the  magnifi- 
cent sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  toward  paying 
for  the  library  building.  We  should  appreciate 
this  whole-souled  gift,  coming  as  it  did  from  two 
of  pur  most  respected  citizens.  It  grieves  me  that 
a  few  of  our  people  forget  and  allow  .themselves 
to  grumble  at, the  extra  tax  they  had  to  pay  in  con- 
sequence of  the  purchase  of  the  library  lot. 

"They  should  look  at  it  in  this  light,  that  while 
our  citizens  only  had  to,  pay  fifteen  thousand  dol- 
lars in  extra  taxes,  two  citizens,  Dr.  and  Mrs. 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


67 


Van  Deusen  gave  fifty  thousand  dollars,  other 
private  citizens  paying  one  thousand  dollars,  we, 
as  taxpayers,  paid  fifteen  thousand  dollars  and  got 
sixty-six  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  property. 
This  library,  when  completed,  will  belong  to  our 
citizens  and  it  is  for  each  one's  benefit.  It  is  not 
only  for  those  living  now  in  Kalamazoo,  but  for 
all  who  may  be  citizens  for  all  time  to  come. 

"During  the  past  year  the  city  has  purchased 
the  triangular  piece  of  land  (known  as  the  flat- 
iron)  located  west  on  Main  street,  near  the  Mich- 
igan Central  Railroad  crossing,  at  a  cost  to  the 
city  of  one  thousand  dollars,  private  citizens  pay- 
ing one  thousand  six  hundred  dollars.  The  build- 
ings have  been  removed,  the  lot  graded  and  cement 
walks  laid,  thereby  making  it  pleasing  to  the  eye 
and  a  great  source  of  gratification  to  our  citizens, 
and  this  is  not  all.  It  is  a  matter  of  great  safety 
to  all  who  pass  over  that  railroad  crossing.  If 
this  had  been  accomplished  three  years  ago,  that 
terrible  railroad  accident  that  occurred  at  this 
crossing  in  which  the  lives  of  five  of  our  citizens 
were  lost,  would  in  all  probability  not  have  oc- 
curred. We  have  in  the  past  year  purchased  a 
new  pumping  engine,  a  duplicate  of  the  one  we 
have  been  using  in  our  new  pumping  house,  at 
the  cost  of  sixteen  thousand  dollars  for  machinery, 
foundation  and  connection.  It  has  been  located 
alongside  of  the  old  one  and  in  conjunction  with 
it.  thereby  doubling  our  pumping  capacity  and 
the  two  are  a  source  of  much  pride  to  citizens,  as 
well  as  a  great  source  of  safety  to  their  property." 

Titus  Bronson. — The  first  settler  on  the  soil 
of  Kalamazoo  city  was  Titus  Bronson.  In  June, 
829,  he  came  from  Ann  Arbor,  following  the 
'Treat  St.  Joseph  trail  and  fording  the  river  at  the 
trading  station,  continuing  along  the  trail  until 
he  reached  the  mound  now  conspicuous  on  the 
grounds  of  Bronson  Park,  where  he  camped  for 
the  night,  placing  a  pine  torch  in  the  ground 
before  the  door  of  his  little  tent  to  keep  away  the 
wolves.  The  next  morning  he  made  a  close  ob- 
servation of  the  valley  and  poncluded  to  make 
hi  is  home  here  at  once. 

During  the  season  he  erected  a  rude  cabin 
and  entered  the  land.  In  Mr.  Van  Buren's  sketch 
of  Bronson  he  says  that  Branson's  practical  dis- 


cernment recognized  not  only  the  beauty  but  the 
utility  of  the  location,  saying  to  himself,  "This 
will  be  a  county  seat."  On  the  site  he  chose  for 
his  home  he  built  a  hut  of  tamarack  poles  which 
he  brought  from  the  neighboring  swamp,  and 
covered  it  with  grass.  He  passed  the  winter  of 
1829  and  1830  at  Prairie  Ronde,  in  1830  going 
to  Ohio  for  his  family.  With  his  wife  and  eldest 
daughter,  he  came  to  Kalamazoo  with  a  wagon 
drawn  by  a  yoke  of  oxen.  Anxious  hours,  weary 
days  and  shelterless  nights  were  spent  upon  their 
journey   hither  ward. 

They  were  the  first  inhabitants  of  Kalamazoo, 
the  beginning  of  what  has  become  a  great,  pros- 
perous, as  well  as  a  very  beautiful  city.  On 
account  of  the  illness  of  his  wife,  the  tamarack 
hut  was  not  considered  a  suitable  home  for  the 
cold  weather,  hence  the  winter  was  passed  by 
the  family  and  Stephen  Richardson,  a  brother  of 
Mrs.  Bronson,  who  had  come  with  them  to  the 
new  home,  at  the  little  settlement  of  Prairie 
Ronde. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1831  Mr.  Bronson 
erected  a  log  house  on  the  northwest  corner  of  the 
present  Church  and  Main  streets.  In  June,  1831, 
he  entered  the  east  half  of  the  southeast  quarter 
of  section  15  in  his  wife's  name,  Mr.  Richardson 
at  the  same  time  entering  the  west  half  of  the 
same  section.  Mr.  Bronson  also  entered  land 
in  other  parts  of  this  county.  During  this  time 
he  had  laid  out  the  village  of  Bronson,  and  se- 
cured the  location  of  the  county  seat  here.  He 
very  generously  contributed  to  the  public  the 
land  extending  from  the  corner  of  Rose  and  Bur- 
dick  streets  west  to  Park  street  and  south  to  south 
street,  including  one  square  of  sixteen  rods  as  a 
court  house  site,  and  one  square  of  sixteen  rods 
as  a  site  for  a  jail,  one  square  of  sixteen  rods  for 
an  academy,  one  square  of  eight  rods  for  a  com- 
mon-school building,  also  four  squares  of  eight 
rods  each  to  be  given  to  the  first  four  religious 
denominations  that  were  incorporated  in  the  vil- 
lage. These  tracts  include  what  is  now  Bronson 
Park.  To  these  gifts  he  added  a  lot  of  two  acres 
for  a  cemetery. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1831  General  Justus 
Burdick,  a  Vermonter,  purchased  a  portion  of  Mr. 


68 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


Bronson's  village  property.  In  1836  other  parties 
acquired  a  controlling  interest  and  the  name  of 
the  village  was  changed  from  Bronson  to  Kala- 
mazoo, which  so  depressed  Mr.  Bronson  that  he 
soon  sold  all  of  his  interests  here,  removed  first 
to  Davenport,  Iowa,  then  to  Henry,  111.,  and 
finally  in  1852  to  Connecticut,  where  he  died,  a 
poor  man,  in  January,  1853.  The  more  probable 
reason  for  the  change  of  name  to  'Kalamazoo  is 
that  a  much  more  populous  township  in  Branch 
county  was  named  Bronson. 

Abolitionism. — Nothing  in  the  early  history 
of  the  county  more  clearly  shows  the  advanced 
thought  and  liberality  of  New  England  than  the 
number  of  strong  men  who  came  here  from  that 
section  and  were  early  of  the  despised  class  called 
abolitionists.  The  "underground  railroad"  had 
many  stations  in  Michigan  and  some  of  the  most 
prominent  of  the  citizens  of  Kalamazoo  countv 
were  its  conductors.  Dr.  Nathan  M.  Thomas, 
the  first  regular  physician  in  this  county,  located 
at  Prairie  Ronde  in  June,  1830.  By  heredity  and 
by  education  he  was  a  strong  anti-slavery  man 
at  the  time  when  it  required  a  hero's  fortitude 
to  proclaim  that  doctrine.  Believing  it  to  be  a 
great  moral  as  well  as  a  political  question,  he 
considered  it  would  be  best  met  by  a  high  moral 
stand  in  politics,  thinking  moral  suasion  insuffi- 
cient to  remedy  the  evil  of  slavery. 

In  1837  Dr.  Thomas,  with  four  hundred  and 
twenty-two  other  voters  of  Grand  Ronde  and 
Brady,  sent  a  petition  to  congress  asking  its  op- 
position to  the  admission  of  Texas,  a  slave-hold- 
ing republic,  as  one  of  the  United  States.  This 
was  the  first  memorial  sent  from  Michigan  on 
this  subject.  So  Kalamazoo  was  prominently  a 
pioneer  in  the  cause  of  freedom  for  the  blacks. 
At  later  periods  this  strong  body  of  men  sent  nu- 
merous petitions  to  congress  asking  for  the  abo- 
lition of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
against  the  admission  of  any  more  slave  states 
into  the  Union.  In  1838  and  1839  Dr.  Thomas 
took  the  matter  into  politics  and  in  1840  he  active- 
ly aided  in  the  formation  of  the  Liberal  party,  for 
whose  presidential  candidates  he  cast  his  ballot. 

There  is  at  the  present  writing  residing  at 
Tiis  home  near  the  asylum  building  in  Kalamazoo 


city  one  of  the  strongest  men  of  the  earlier  period, 
Henry  Montague,  who  has  passed  his  ninety-first 
year  of  life  and  is  of  sound  mentality  and  pos- 
sessed of  physical  powers  equal  to  many  of  thirty 
years  less  his  age.  He  was  from  early  youth 
an  advocate  of  temperance  and  anti-slavery.  Be- 
fore he  attained  his  majority  he  was  battling  for 
personal  liberty  in  his  native  Massachusetts 
agaip,»st  the  proslavery  element  in  the  town  of  his 
residence,  headed  by  a  leading  deacon  in  the 
church. 

Coming  to  Michigan  in  1836,  he  was  a  dele- 
gate to  the  first  temperance  convention  of  the 
state,  which  was  held  at  Ann  Arbor.  The  senti- 
ment of  the  majority  of  the  delegates  was  for  an 
abstinence  from  distilled  liquors,  but  Mr.  Mon- 
tague tried  strongly  to  have  the  convention  de- 
clare for  total  abstinence.  In  January,  1837,  he 
located  in  Oshtemo,  and  in  February  was  a  del- 
egate from  Washtenaw  county  to  the  first  aboli- 
tion convention  of  Michigan,  twenty-five  dele- 
gates meeting  at  Ann  Arbor. 

The  first  fugitives  from  slavery  came  to  Kal- 
amazoo county  in  the  spring  of  1837,  they  being 
a  man  and  his  wife  who  were  escaping  from  Vir- 
ginia and  a  young  man  from  Alabama.  They 
came  to  Mr.  Montague's  house,  tired,  hungry  and 
in  dread  of  being  captured  by  their  former  own- 
ers, who  were  hot  on  their  trail.  Mr.  Montague 
took  them  to  a  neighbor's  house,  where  a  warm 
meal  was  hastily  prepared  for  them,  and  then 
Mr.  Montague  drove  them  to  Galesburg  and  was 
relieved  of  his  charges  by  Hugh  M.  Shafter,  the 
father  of  General  Shafter  of  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can war.  From  this  time  Mr.  Montague,  so  long 
as  need  existed,  kept  an  open  station  of  the  under- 
ground railroad. 

In  1839  the  abolitionists  of  this  county  aided 
liberally  in  the  establishment  of  an  anti-slavery 
newspaper  in  this  state,  and  in  1845  Dr.  Thomas 
was  the  cadidate  for  lieutenant-governor  on  the 
ticket  of  the  Liberal  party,  James  G.  Birney 
heading  the  state  ticket.  The  anti-slavery  party 
then  cast  three  thousand  five  hundred  votes.  In 
1848  the  Free  Democratic  or  Free- Soil  party  ab- 
sorbed the  Liberal  party  and  the  abolitionists  of 
the  county  were  found  loyally  supporting  the  new 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


69 


organization.  In  1852  Dr.  Thomas  was  one  of  the 
presidential  electors,  John  P.-  Hall  being  the  can- 
didate for  President.  The  abolitionists  were  in 
hearty  accord  with  the  views  of  the  state  mass 
meeting  held  at  Jackson  on  July  17,  1854,  at 
which  the  Republican  party  was  organized. 

The  anti-slavery  men  of  this  county  were 
largely  in  evidence  at  the  state  mass  convention 
of  the  Free  Democrats  held  in  Kalamazoo  at  an 
earlier  date,  and  where  a  committee  of  sixteen 
members  was  chosen  to  go  to  the  Jackson  meet- 
ing and  as  accredited  agents  to  merge  the  Free 
Democratic  party  of  Michigan  in  the  new  organ- 
ization, if  the  platform  adopted  was  of  a  satis- 
factory character.  This  was  found  acceptable, 
and  the  new  Republican  party  thus  received  a 
valuable  element  of  strength.  In  November,  1861, 
one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  citizens  of  School- 
craft and  vicinity  sent  this  petition  to  Congress : 
"To  the.  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States:  In  accordance  with  justice, 
the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  to  meet  the  approval 
of  the  good  and  true  throughout  the  world,  and 
with  a  view  of  restoring  four  million  native 
Americans  to  their  rights,  and  bringing  the  war 
in  which  we  are  now  involved  to  a  speedy  termi- 
nation, the  undersigned,  citizens  of  Kalamazoo 
county  and  state  of  Michigan,  respectfully  pray 
your  honorable  body  to  so  exercise  the  right  with 
which  you  are  invested,  under  the  war  power  of 
the  government,  as  to  declare  slavery  by  act  of 
congress  totally  abolished." 

The  "underground  railroad''  had  several  sta- 
tions in  Michigan,  a  prominent  one  being  in 
Schoolcraft.  The  first  train  that  arrived  brought 
but  one  fugitive,  an  escaped  slave  from  the  far 
South.  He  entered  Michigan  in  October,  1838, 
and  passed  through  Schoolcraft,  Battle  Creek, 
Marshall,  Jackson  and  Detroit.  Other  fugitives 
soon  followed  along  this  route,  which  became  the 
main  line  of  this  travel  for  many  years,  the  rail- 
road extending  from  the  borders  of  the  slave 
states  north  and  east  to  the  Canada  line.  Its  cars 
fan  for  nearly  twenty  years  and  the  number  of  es- 
caping slaves  had  been  variously  computed  from 
r>ne  thousand  to  one  thousand  five  hundred,  and 
some  of  these  became  useful  citizens  of  this  state, 
most  of  them,  however,  passing  over  into  Canada. 


During  the  Civil  war  many  of  these  fugitives 
were  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  Union  army 
and  made  brave  soldiers.  One  incident  is  worthy 
of  being  handed  down  to  coming  generations  to 
incite  loyalty  to  freedom.  Four  young  negroes 
came  from  Kentucky  on  the  underground  line  to 
Schoolcraft  in  1856.  Here  they  settled.  After 
the  Civil  war  commenced  they  all  desired  to  en- 
list, but  on  account  of  the  race  prejudice  existing 
they  had  a  hard  time  enlisting,  finally  doing  so  in 
different  regiments.  At  the  capture  of  Charles- 
ton the  four  met,  and,  as  they  marched  through 
the  streets  of  the  captured  metropolis  of  the 
South  Carolina,  in  unison  they  sang  the  stirring 
strains  of  Julia  Ward  Howe's  grand  anthem  of 
freedom,  "John  Brown's  body  lies  moldering  in 
the  grave,  but  his  soul  goes  marching  on." 

Children  s  Home. — One  of  the  laudable  in- 
stitutions of  Kalamazoo  is  the  Children's  Home, 
which  was  incorporated  under  the  state  law  gov- 
erning incorporations  on  April  28,  1888.  The 
good  people  who  had  originated  the  home  had 
labored  zealously  in  a  quiet  but  eminently  useful 
way  for  several  years  and  by  this  time  the  work 
had  advanced  to  such  proportions  that  a  legal  or- 
ganization was  demanded.  As  stated  in  the  char- 
ter, the  object  of  the  home  is  "the  maintenance 
of  homes  for  vagrant  children  without  friends 
and  for  the  instruction  of  indigent  children  gen- 
erally in  the  various  occupations  of  the  life  by 
training  them  in  virtue  and  usefulness  and  for 
finding  them  permanent  homes  in  suitable  fam- 
ilies, and  also  to  give  them  a  common-school 
education  and  a  moral  religious  training."  Ad- 
mission to  the  home  is  confined  to  females.  None 
are  debarred  entrance  from  inability  to  pay,  but 
when  parents  and  friends  of  the  applicant  are 
able  to  pay,  a  charge  of  twenty-five  to  fifty  cents 
a  week  is  made  to  provide  food  and  clothing. 
Many  of  the  inmates  of  the  home  are  full  or  part 
orphans,  having  no  relatives  to  care  for  them. 
As  often  as  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  good  homes  are 
provided  for  the  children,  the  managers  of  the 
home  reserving  in  all  cases  the  right  to  oversee, 
protect  and  care  for  their  wards. 

The,  incorporators  were  William  C.  Deming, 
David  Fisher,  Henry  Bishop,  Francis  B.  Stock- 
bridge,   Mary   J.   Kent,   Jane  A.   Deming,   Kate 


70 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


W.  Hitchcock,  Cynthia  Brooks  and  Fanny  E.  M. 
Strong.  William  C.  Deming  was  the  generous 
donator  of  the  ground  upon  which  the  home  was 
erected  at  a  cost  of  nearly  eleven  thousand  dollars. 
The  necessary  furnishings  of  the  home  have  been 
mostly  contributions  from  friends  of  this  good 
cause.  The  home  receives  its  support  from  a  small 
endowment  fund  and  liberal  donations.  The  use- 
fulness of  this  wise  institution  is  manifest  in  the 
number  of  children  who  are  here  given  the  ad- 
vantage of  a  Christian  home,  the  average  number 
of  inmates  being  twenty-eight.  Frequently,  how- 
ever, there  have  been  forty  children  receiving  its 
benefits.  A  matron  and  a  housekeeper  are  em- 
ployed who  are  responsible  for  the  good  care  of 
the  inmates  of  the  home.  The  officers  are 
assisted  in  their  labors  by  a  board  of  managers 
composed  of  ladies  of  influence  who  visit  the  home 
weekly  for  consultation  and  concerted  action  con- 
cerning its  needs. 

Fire  and  Water  Works. — In  1881  the  village 
published  a  history  of  the  fire  and  water  works 
from  their  first  introduction  on  April  10,  1843,  t0 
April  18,  1881.    We  extract  from  this  as  follows: 

The  very  capable  committee  having  this  work 
in  hand  were  the  following  gentlemen :  William  R. 
Coats,  George  H.  Chandler,  James  H.  Hopkins. 
They  found  that  in  the  early  days  of  the  settle- 
ment each  citizen  could  obtain  excellent  water  by 
digging  a  well  of  from  ten  to  sixteen  feet  in 
depth.  The  water  was  found  in  a  stratum  of  sand 
and  gravel  and  was  amply  sufficient  for  domestic 
purposes.  Fires  becoming  frequent  as  population 
increased,  other  and  greater  water  supplies  were 
needed. 

The  beautiful  Arcadia  creek,  a  small  stream, 
entering  the  village  from  the  southwest,  had  its 
source  of  supply  at  an  elevation  of  one  hundred 
feet  above  the  outlet,  and  its  waters,  though  not 
sufficient  to  propel  heavy  machinery,  were  classed 
as  valuable  water  rights.  It  was  used  as  the 
power  of  numerous  small  enterprises,  turning- 
lathes,  chair  and  cabinet  works,  planing  mills 
and  wood-carving  machines.  Thus  the  village 
could  not  change  the  course  of  the  stream  to  take 
the  water  from  its  users  and  was  forced  to  be 


content  with  the  water  after  it  had  passed  the  last 
mill. 

The  Swazey  wool  carding  plant,  on  the  south 
side  of  Main  street,  was  impelled  by  water 
brought  from  the  Arcadia  in  a  race  or  flume,  which 
ran  close  to  the  sidewalk,  and  which  had  a  gate, 
which  closed  for  the  limited  operations  of  the 
"bucket  brigade,"  that  dipped  up  the  water  in 
buckets  at  the  time  of  fire.  Similar  arrangements 
were  made  for  the  same  use  at  different  points 
along  the  Arcadia,  which  latter  were  used  as  sup- 
plies for  fire  engines.  The  Michigan  Central 
Railroad,  when  building  its  station,  laid  pipes  to 
the  Arcadia  through  which  it  brought  water  for 
the  tank  at  the  station. 

Superintendent  Brooks  of  the  company  offered 
the  overflow  from  the  tank  to  the  village  and  the 
first  reservoir  of  the  village  was  built  to  receive  it 
in  the  court  house  yard,  the  water  coming  from 
the  railroad  in  wooden  pipes.  How  long  the  res- 
ervoir was  used  we  do  not  know,  but  in  1854 
George  N.  Bollen  put  in  a  dam  on  the  Arcadia 
between  Rose  and  Burdick  streets  and  there  built 
a  woodworking  shop.  In  i860  it  is  recorded  on 
the  village  journal  that  he  in  that  year  agreed  to 
pump  water  into  this  reservoir  from  his  shop. 
This  water  was  brought  in  iron  pipes  and  a  force 
pump  provided  by  the  village  filled  the  reservoir. 
After  the  Bollen  dam  was  removed  the  pump  was 
operated  at  the  Lawrence  and  Gale  foundry,  later 
at  the  Kalamazoo  Iron  Works,  and  until  the  Holly 
system  was  introduced  in  1869. 

A  brief  summary  of  the  official  action  in  this 
direction  will  be  of  interest.  On  June  5,  1843,  a 
village  ordinance  was  passed  requiring  all  occu- 
pants of  buildings  to  provide  two  ladders  and  two 
buckets  or  pails  to  be  kept  especially  for  fire  pur- 
poses. On  October  7,  1844,  it  was  ordered  that 
the  burning  of  bonfires,  etc.,  be  prohibited  from 
sundown  until  sunrise;  also  the  firing  of  anvils, 
cannbns,  etc.,  within  the  village  limits.  December 
14,  1844,  the  first  fire  wardens,  N.  A.  Balch,  L. 
W.  Whitcomb,  Charles  E.  Stuart,  L.  H.  Trask 
and  Israel  Kellogg,  were  appointed  and  instructed 
to  expend  five  dollars  out  of  any  funds  on  hand 
and  to  solicit  from  citizens  additional  the  amount 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


7i 


needed  for  the  purchase  of  a  good  and  sufficient 
fire  hook,"  which  was  the  first  remembered  "im- 
plement" for  fire  purposes  purchased  by  the  vil- 
lage. 

The  "Kalamazoo  Hook  and  Ladder  Company" 
was  organized  on  March  11,  1846,  with  Alexan- 
der J.  Sheldon  as  foreman.  This  was  the  pioneer 
fire  company  of  the  place.  During  1846  fifty- 
nine  dollars  and  three  cents  was  appropriated  and 
expended  for  "hooks,  ladders,  ropes  and  other 
articles."  One  hundred  fire  buckets  and  a  suitable 
wagon  or  truck  and  other  apparatus  were  also 
bought.  Mr.  Sheldon  was  later  advanced  to  be 
the  chief  engineer  of  the  new  fire  department. 

On  May  3,  1847,  a  petition  was  handed  to  the 
board  of  trustees  asking  for  an  appropriation  of 
one  thousand  dollars,  to  be  raised  by  tax,  to  buy 
a  fire  engine  and  needful  apparatus.  Nothing  was 
done,  for  on  May  1,  1848,  D.  S.  Walbridge, 
Horace  Mower  and  T.  P.  Sheldon  were  on  the 
committee  to  consider  the  same  subject.  Their* 
report  advising  the  expenditure  of  seven  hundred 
dollars  was  "laid  on  the  table."  On  October  2, 
1848,  a  tax  of  three  mills  on  the  dollar  was  or- 
dered and  a  committee  chosen  to  confer  with  the 
owner  of  water  rights  on  Arcadia  creek  for  the 
use  of  the  water  of  the  stream.  In  November  the 
above  tax  order  was  rescinded.  On  February  5, 
1850,  the  marshal  was  instructed  to  purchase  six 
ladders.  The  first  important  fire  of  the  village 
occurred  on  February  9,  1850,  when  were  burned 
all  the  houses  on  the  north  side  of  Main  street, 
from  the  site  of  the  Burdick  House  west  to  the 
building  on  the  northeast  corner, — five  stores, 
three  carpenter  shops  and  the  office  of  the  Tele- 
graph newspaper. 

On  March  #9,  1850,  the  "Rescue  Hook  and 
Ladder  Company"  was  organized,  with  Benjamin 
F.  Orcutt,  foreman,  and  forty-one  members.  Au- 
gust 7,  1850,  Alexander  Buell,  L.  H.  Trask  and 
William  E.  White  were  appointed  a  committee 
"to  examine  and  report  upon  the  probable  expense 
of  bringing  water  into  the  village."  This  is  the 
first  action  on  record  concerning  supplying  the 
place  with  water  for  domestic  purposes. 

In  1851  William  R.  Watson  and  Alexander 
Buell  were  as  a  committee  in  negotiation  with  the 


Michigan  Central  corporation  for  the  reservoir  in 
the  courtyard  spoken  of  before.  On  May  19, 
185 1,  the  construction  of  this  reservoir  was  favor- 
ably reported  by  the  committee,  Kellogg,  Watson 
and  Clark ;  hydrants  to  be  placed  at  the  corner  of 
Main  and  Burdick,  and  Main  and  Portage  streets. 
The  reservoir  was  put  into  use  in  the  summer  of 
1851.  On  May  5,  1851,  White  &  Turner's  foun- 
dry and  machine  shop  were  burned,  loss  eight 
hundred  dollars.  On  July  7,  1852,  an  ordinance 
was  passed  organizing  and  regulating  a  fire  de- 
partment. On  January  5,  1852,  a  vote  of  thanks 
was  passed  by  the  village  board  to  J.  J.  Perrin, 
Henry  Colt  and  Moses  Ward  for  personal  skill 
and  bravery  in  extinguishing  a  fire  in  the  loft  of 
Parsons  &  Wood's  store.  In  1852  also  The  Fire-  * 
man's  Hall  Association  organized  and  built  a  hall. 
In  May,  1853,  tne  Michigan  Central  Railroad  sta- 
tion, Henry  Cook  &  Company's  warehouse  and 
several  other  buildings  were  burned,  one  life,  the 
first  by  fire  in  the  town,  being  lost.  On  June  6, 
1853,  H.  S.  Gage  and  J.  C.  Hays  were  made  a 
committee  to  procure  ground  whereon  to  build  an 
engine  house,  etc.  On  July  8,  1853,  one  thousand 
one  hundred  dollars  were  appropriated  to  buy  a 
fire  engine  and  apparatus,  Allen  Porter  being  ap- 
pointed to  do  this  business.  Four  cisterns,  each 
having  a  capacity  of  from  one  hundred  and  fifty 
to  two  hundred  barrels  and  to  cost  twenty-five 
dollars  each,  were  ordered  built  in  front  of  Gov- 
ernor Ransom's  residence,  Dr.  Abbott,  N.  A. 
Balch,  B.  Hoskins  and  Ira  Burdick  being  chosen 
to  superintend  the  work,  but  they  were  never 
made. 

On  July  25,  1853,  the  first  engine  of  the  town 
was  purchased.  It  was  originally  bought  by  Ran- 
som &  Arnold  for  their  distillery.  It  was  called 
the  "Cataract"  and  cost  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  dollars.  The  purchase  included  the  use  of 
another  but  smaller  engine,  the  "Star,"  whenever 
needed. 

MANUFACTURING    INDUSTRIES. 

'Kalamazoo,  known  far  and  wide  as  the  "Cel- 
ery City,"  still  retains  that  fair  name,  and  has 
added  unto  it  the  extended  recognition  of  Kala- 
mazoo as  a  manufacturing  city. 


72 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


Perhaps  no  city  in  Michigan  has  progressed 
as  rapidly  along  manufacturing  lines  as  has  Kal- 
amazoo. Within  the  past  four  years  she  has 
come  to  the  front  in  ways  that  are  amazing,  and 
now  ranks  third  in  the  state  in  regard  to  bank 
clearings,  the  amount  of  labor  employed,  salaries 
paid,  and  the  amount  of  freight  tonnage  and  trans- 
portation. These  are  not  boastful  and  idle  state- 
ments, but  are  based  on  the  report  recently  made 
by  the  Michigan  board  of  census  officials. 

With  its  population  of  over  thirty  thousand, 
Kalamazoo  has  more  diversified  industries  than 
any  other  city  of  like  population  that  can  be 
named.  As  a  railroad  center  her  condition  could 
not  be  bettered,  as  four  railroads  furnish  facili- 
ties for  shipping  to  all  parts  of  the  country. 

New  manufacturies  are  locating  in  Kalama- 
zoo continually,  and  at  present  she  can  boast  of 
over  one  hundred  ninety-two  manufacturing  in- 
stitutions, eighty-eight  of  which  are  incorpo- 
rated, representing  a  capital  of  over  ten  million 
dollars,  employing  over  six  thousand  people  and 
having  a  pay  roll  of  about  three  million  five  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars. 

There  are  two  hundred  and  twenty-three  es- 
tablished celery  growers  and  shippers  in  the  city, 
representing  over  one  million  dollars  in  exports 
annually. 

Kalamazoo  is  known  widely  as  the  center  of 
the  paper  making  industry,  having  eleven  well-es- 
tablished paper  mills,  representing  in  value  over 
four  million  dollars,  with  an  annual  capacity  of 
over  sixty  thousand  tons,  and  employing  one 
thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty  people.  Paper 
from  these  factories  is  sent  to  all  parts  of  the 
country. 

The  American  Playing  Card  Company,  one 
of  the  largest  card  factories  in  the  United  States, 
is  one  of  Kalamazoo's  most  thriving  manufac- 
tories, and  represents  a  large  capital.  It  has  re- 
cently been  enlarged  in  order  to  take  care  of  its 
large  business. 

Through  its  corset  factories,  also,  Kalamazoo 
has  become  widely  known.  It  is  the  home  of  the 
American  Beauty  corset,  made  by  the  Kalamazoo 
Corset  Company,  and  of  the  Puritan  corset.  The 
Kalamazoo  Corset  Company  is  the  largest  exclu- 


sive corset  factory  in  the  United  States,  and  has 
recently  been  forced  to  enlarge  its  capacity.  These 
two  corset  factories  represent  an  annual  output 
of  over  one  million  two  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  dollars,  and  employ  about  one  thou- 
sand- hands. 

The*  vehicle  industry  of  the  city  is  well  repre- 
sented by  eight  concerns — automobile,  buggy  and 
wagon  factories — employing  over  seven  hundred 
and  thirty  men,  and  representing  an  annual  out- 
put of  over  one  million,  eight  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  Among  these  factories  are  the  Michigan 
Automobile  Company,  the  Burtt  Automobile 
Company,  the  Michigan  Buggy  Company,  the 
Lull  Carriage  Company,  and  the  American  Car- 
riage Company. 

Although  not  the  "Windy  City,"  Kalamazoo 
is  well  to  the  front  in  the  windmill  industry.  She 
has  two  windmill  factories  representing  an  out- 
put of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  annually. 

She  numbers  two  sled  factories — the  Kalama- 
zoo Sled  factory  and  the  Angle  Sled  factory,  the 
former  being  one  of  the  largest  of  like  concerns 
in  the  country.  The  Clark  Engine  and  Boiler 
Company  is  one  of  the  oldest  business  concerns  in 
Kalamazoo,  and  supplies  a  large  market  with  en- 
gines and  boiler  products.  The  railway  supply 
industry  is  carried  on  by  three  successful  con- 
cerns, representing  an  annual  output  of  over  four 
hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand  dollars.  One  of 
our  city's  most  successful  mail-order  businesses 
is  done  by  the  Kalamazoo  Store  Company,  a  com- 
paratively new  concern,  which  carries  on  a  large 
mail-order  business.  The  Globe  Casket  Factory, 
one  of  Kalamazoo's  pioneer  factories,  is  the  only 
one  of  like  character  in  southwestern  Michigan, 
and  has  always  carried  on  a  large  business.  The 
cigar  manufacturing  industry  is  carried  on  by 
eighteen  companies,  all  of  which  do  a  thriving 
business.  The  largest  of  these  are  the  Lilies 
Cigar  Company  and  the  Verdon  Cigar  Com- 
pany. Two  of  Kalamazoo's  most  success- 
ful factories  are  the  Humprey  Manufactur- 
ing and  Plating  Company,  makers  of  the  cele- 
brated Humphrey  heaters,  and  the  General  Gas 
Light  Company,  manufacturers  of  the  famous 
Humphrey  lamp.  The  Henderson- Ames  Company 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


75 


is  one  of  the  largest  regalia  factories  in  the  world, 
and  does  a  mammoth  business.  The  manufactur- 
ing chemists'  industry  is  sustained  by  the  Upjohn 
Pill  and  Granule  Company,  a  concern  known  from 
coast  to  coast,  and  the  P.  L.  Abbey  Company. 
There  are  also  several  smaller  concerns.  The 
Merchants'  Publishing  Company,  a  comparatively 
new  concern,  and  the  R.  E.  Bartlett  Company 
carry  on  the  label  and  price-mark  industry.  Kala- 
mazoo has  three  garment  factories,  whose  prod- 
ucts are  well  known. 

The  lumber  industry  is  carried  on  by  Dewing 
&  Sons  and  by  North  &  Coon,  both  of  which  are 
old  and  well  established  concerns.  Much  of  the 
paper  made  in  Kalamazoo's  various  paper  mills  is 
used  by  the  Paper  Box  Company  and  by  the  Kal- 
amazoo Stationery  Company,  two  well  known  con- 
cerns. The  Dutton  Boiler  Company  holds  an 
enviable  place  in  the  list  of  Kalamazoo's  factories, 
it  being  an  old  established  concern.  The  Reynolds 
Wagon  Company  and  the  Bullard  Davenport-Bed 
Company  are  two  recent  additions  to  Kalamazoo's 
long  list  of  factories. 

Aside  from  being  widely  known  as  a  manu- 
facturing city  of  varied  industries,  Kalamazoo 
holds  sway  as  a  mercantile  center  as  well,  as  is 
shown  by  the  many  stores  and  business  insti- 
tutions that  may  be  seen  on  her  streets.  It  is  here 
that  her  thirty  thousand  inhabitants  come  to  pur- 
chase necessities  and  luxuries  of  all  kinds,  and  not 
only  do  her  own  inhabitants  come  to  this  center  but 
also  the  people  from  many  surrounding  towns  and 
from  the  fruitful  and  fertile  farms  around  about. 

The  banking  institutions  of  Kalamazoo  are 
institutions  of  which  she  is  justly  proud.  She 
boasts  of  eight  banks  in  all,  four  national  banks, 
three  state  banks  and  one  private  bank.  An  enor- 
mous business  is  carried  on  by  the  concerns  which 
possess  over  seven  million  dollars  in  resources 
with  deposits  exceeding  over  five  million  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  banks  are  as  fol- 
lows :  City  National,  E.  C.  Dayton,  president ; 
First  National,  J.  A.  Pitkin,  president;  Kalama- 
zoo National,  E.  J.  Phelps,  president;  Michigan 
National,  Charles  Campbell,  president;  Central 
Savings,  A.  L.  Blumenberg,  president;  Home 
5 


Savings,  V.  T.  Barker,  president;  and  Kalama- 
zoo Savings,  F.  B.   Monroe,  president. 

The  dry^-goods  business  is  represented  by 
many  concerns,  the  most  important  being  Gilmore 
Bros.'  dry-goods  store,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
complete  in  the  state,  J.  R.  Jones  &  Sons,  W.  W. 
Olin  &  Son,  A.  L.  Flexner's,  George  Bruen's 
and  Charles  White's.  All  of  these  stores  are 
strictly  up-to-date  and  do  a  splendid  business. 

Kalamazoo  has  many  grocery  stores,  situated 
in  all  parts  of  the  city.  The  leading  ones  are 
A.  B.  Scheid's,  E.  B.  Russell's,  A.  L.  South- 
hurd's  and  A.  C.  Baker's.  Sam  Foly's,  George 
Taylor's  and  M.  Cramer's  Son  are  leading  cloth- 
ing stores.  H.F.Weimer  and  Frank  Cowlbeck  run 
up-to-date  haberdasheries.  Kalamazoo  has  many 
fine  jewelry  stores — the  leading  ones  being  A. 
C  Worthey's,  F.  P.  Darey's,  F.  W.  Hendricks, 
and  Pyl  &  Wykel's.  In  furniture  stores  Kalamazoo 
excels  most  cities  of  her  size — the  principal  ones 
are  the  Ihling-Cone  Company,  the  People's  Out- 
fitting Company  and  A.  T.  Prentice.  The  city 
has  innumerable  drug  stores,  the  leading  drug- 
gists being  H.  G.  Colman,  E.  M.  Kennedy,  F.  N. 
Maus,  David  McDonald  and  J.  L.  Wallace.  Two 
attractive  candy  stores  are  located  in  Kalamazoo, 
one  being  run  by  Miss  K.  A.  Meadimher  and 
the  other  by  Miss  Belle  McLaughlin.  Kalamazoo's 
leading  hardware  stores  number  three — the  Ed- 
wards &  Chamberlain  Company,  John  Van  Male's 
and  Larned  &  Shandrews.  Many  neat  cigar  stores 
are  doing  business  in  Kalamazoo — the  leading 
ones  being  Whitley  Karls',  S.  P.  Fitzgerald's 
and  Chenewerk's.  The  leading  music  stores  are 
the  Benjamin  Temple  of  Music  and  Reem's  Music 
Store.  Two  splendid  art  stores  are  to  be  found 
in  Kalamazoo — one  run  by  James  Geary  and  the 
other  by  E.  E.  Labodie.  Many  other  mercantile 
pursuits  are  engaged  in  in  Kalamazoo,  and  most 
of  the  merchants  are  doing  a  hustling  business. 

The  Lilies  Cigar  Company. — Kalamazoo  is 
justly  proud  of  the  fact  that  she  possesses  one  of 
the  largest  cigar  manufactories  in  America,  and 
the  very  largest  in  the  state  of  Michigan.  This 
is  a  potent  factor  in  the  business  welfare  of  the 
city,   employing  many  work-people  and  paying 


pr 


76 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


out  a  generous  amount  of  money.  We  allude  to 
the  Lilies  Cigar  Company,  which  employs  over 
two  hundred  fifty  operatives,  with  a  weekly  pay- 
roll of  over  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars. 
Starting  in  business  in  1870,  the  record  of  the 
company  is  one  of  steady  prosperity.  The  main 
office  is  on  Jackson  boulevard,  Chicago,  where 
the  famous  El  Sueto  cigar  is  made.  The  business 
in  this  city  is  ably  managed  by  Samuel  T.  Gold- 
berg. An  eastern  office  is  located  at  116  Nassau 
street,  New  York  city. 

The  Central  Michigan  Nursery. — Incorporat- 
ed in  1894,  produces  nursery,  greenhouse  and 
small  fruit  stocks.  Extensive  greenhouses,  to- 
gether with  several  hundred  acres  of  land,  are  lo- 
cated at  Kalamazoo,  and  their  large  business  de- 
mands and  uses  a  branch  at  Three  Rivers.  The 
offices  and  salesrooms  are  located  at  306  West 
Main  street,  and  in  connection  with  this  business 
they  plan  and  execute  landscape  gardening,  the 
beautifying  of  home  grounds  and  of  public  and 
private  parks.  In  Kalamazoo  are  grown  the  flow- 
ers, including  roses,  bedding  plants,  etc.,  and  or- 
namental trees,  shrubs  and  herbaceous  plants.  At 
the  nursery,  south  of  the  city,  the  grounds  are 
solely  devoted  to  nursery  stock.  At  Three  Rivers 
are  grown  strawberry  plants,  grape  vines,  rasp- 
berry, blackberry  and  other  small  fruit  stock. 

The  Lull  Carriage  Company. — Kalamazoo  is 
rapidly  coming  to  the  front  as  a  carriage  manu- 
facturing center,  and  greatly  enhancing  the  com- 
mercial importance  of  the  city.  The  grade  of  ve- 
hicles produced  has  reached  the  highest  standard 
since  the  inception  of  the  industry.  The  improve- 
ment in  the  work  produced  has  been  largely  due 
to  the  Lull  Carriage  Company.  With  the  organi- 
zation of  this  company  in  September,  1902,  came 
the  policy  which  was  the  result  in  only  high  grade 
product.  The  policy  has  been  followed  out  to 
the  letter  and  has  had  its  effect  upon  the  attitude 
the  buggy  trade  is  assuming.  The  Lull  Carriage 
Company  comes  as  successor  of  the  Lull  &  Skin- 
ner Company,  following  the  dissolution  of  H. 
A.  Crawford  and  J.  F.  Beuret,  who  formerly 
were  engaged  in  the  carriage  manufacture  in 
Flint.  The  large  plant  operated  by  the  company 
covers  three  and  a  half  acres  at  Grace  and  Pitcher 


streets,  near  the  tracks  of  the  Grand  Rapids  & 
Indiana  and  Lake  Shore  railroads,  from  each  of 
which  a  switch  enters  the  plant.  The  establish- 
ment has  the  unusual  capacity  of  ten  thousand 
vehicles  and  five  thousand  sleighs  and  cutters. 
About  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  employes 
are  steadily  at  work  in  the  factory.  The  officers 
are  L.  C.  Lull,  president;  J.  F.  Beuret,  secre- 
tary :  H.  A.  Crawford,  treasurer. 

The  Kalamazoo  Paper-Box  and  Card  Com- 
pany.— This  important  manufacturing  industry 
is  the  outgrowth  of  a  vigorous  firm  organized  in 
August,  1897,  as  the  Kalamazoo  Paper-Box 
Company.  This  began  business  in  the  Hall  block 
on  North  Church  street  at  the  crossing  of  the 
Michigan  Central  Railroad.  This  block  was 
burned  in  1898,  when  the  business  was  removed 
to  Water  and  Edwards  streets,  its  present  home. 
Four  thousand  feet  of  floor  space  was  here  oc- 
cupied, and,  in  August,  1900,  six  thousand  feet 
were  added,  to  which,  in  January,  1903,  six  thou- 
sand four  hundred  feet  more  was  placed  in  serv- 
ice. These  additions  testified  to  the  rapid  growth 
of  the  trade,  which  included  paper  boxes  only.  In 
December,  1903,  an  advance  movement  was  made 
and  eighteen  thousand  feet  of  floor  surface  was 
again  added  to  the  plant.  A  full  and  expensive 
outfit  for  the  manufacture  of  playing  cards  was 
installed.  As  fine  a  quality  as  is  placed  on  the 
market  is  here  produced  under  the  personal  su- 
perintendence of  S.  N.  Barker,  the  vice-president 
and  efficient  general  manager. 

South  Side  Improvement  Company. — Kala- 
mazoo is  essentially  a  city  of  homes.  It  has  been 
well  said  that  if  you  house  your  labor  according 
to  the  most  approved  sanitary  and  hygienic 
knowledge  there  need  be  no  fear  of  strikes.  Per- 
haps no  one  in  many  a  mile  of  distance  has  con- 
tributed more  to  do  this  than  has  Charles  B. 
Hays,  the  owner  of  that  tract  of  land  formerly 
the  mustering  campground  of  the  Civil  war,  now 
known  as  the  "South  Side."  Less  than  eight  years 
ago  the  land  was  comparatively  a  waste  and  un- 
promising section,  with  a  millrace  running  di- 
agonally across  it  and  having  but  a  solitary  resi- 
dence, which  was  located  on  Portage  and  Reed 
streets.    Mr.  Hays,  in  August,  1896,  became  the 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


77 


owner  and  founded  the  South  Side  Improvement 
Company,  of  which  he  is  the  secretary  and  busi- 
ness manager.  A  wonderful  transformation  has 
been  accomplished,  the  district  being  today  a 
beautiful  and  artistic  suburb  of  Kalamazoo. 
Messrs.  O.  M.  Allen  and  H.  C.  Reed,  deceased 
were  the  original  investors  in  the  property.  Mr. 
Hays,  the  secretary,  from  the  first,  becoming 
later  sole  owner.  In  1899  the  South  Side  Im- 
provement Company  was  organized  and  pur- 
chased the  old  fair  grounds  from  the  Stockridge 
and  Eggleston  estates  and  as  much  land  adjoining 
on  the  side  of  Portage  street. 

"South  Side"  is  only  one  mile  from  the  Kala- 
mazoo House  and  is  fully  thirty  feet  above  the 
adjoining  lands,  thus  giving  good  drainage.  The 
view  of  the  surrounding  country  is  entrancing, 
the  beautiful  city,  with  its  church  towers,  public 
buildings,  asylum  and  seminary,  standing  out  in 
bold,  yet  rich  relief,  in  the  distance.  The  tract 
presents  now  the  appearance  of  a  cultivated  park. 
Modern  homes  with  sanitary  plumbing,  correct 
system  of  heating,  ventilating  and  lighting  are 
furnished  on  terms  attainable  by  all.  Over  one 
hundred  of  these  model  homes  have  been  con- 
structed, and  still  the  number  grows.  As  a  result 
of  the  association  of  Messrs.  Allen,  Reed  and 
Hays  in  this  enterprise,  Kalamazoo  has  been 
much  benefited,  these  important  industrial  homes 
having  been  called  into  existence :  The  Bryant, 
the  Superior,  the  King  and  Imperial  Paper  com- 
panies, the  C.  B.  Ford  Body  Factory,  the  Michi- 
gan Buggy  Company,  and  the  Kalamazoo  Rail- 
way Supply  Company.  Through  the  advent  of 
these  plants,  the  taxable  property  of  the  city  has 
been  increased  more  than  one  million  dollars. 

Burtt  Manufacturing  Company. — This  busi- 
ness was  established  in  1901  and  incorporated  on 
October  1,  1902.  The  products  are  the  celebrated 
Cannon  automobile,  which  is  made  in  three  styles, 
ranging  in  price  from  six  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars to  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars, the  manufacture  being  inaugurated  in  1903. 
The  house  is  unable  to  fill  its  orders  on  account 
of  the  great  demand  for  and  the  popularity  of 
the  automobiles.  They  also  manufacture  the 
well  known  Schau  cold  tire  setters,  of  which  they 


are  the  exclusive  makers,  the  D.  &  L.  gasoline 
engines  and  automobile  fittings.  The  stock- 
holders and  officers  are  as  follows:  President, 
Frank  Burtt;  secretary  and  manager,  W.  B. 
Cameron;  J.  M.  Burtt,  H.  M.  Burtt,  C.  T.  Burtt, 
and    T.    W.    Resch,    of    Detroit. 

The  Kalamazoo  Gas  Company. — This  incor- 
poration was  organized  in  1899.  The  officers  are 
H.  D.  Walbridge,  president ;  John  J.  Knight, 
vice-president;  F.  W.  Blowers,  secretary  and 
general  manager;  David  H.  Haines,  treasurer; 
Claude  Hamilton,  assistant  treasurer.  Its  manu- 
facturing plant  is  the  most  complete  in  the  state; 
all  the  apparatus  being  of  the  latest  design.  It 
is  located  on  Spring  and  Pitcher  streets,  while  its 
offices  are  at  127  South  Rose  street.  This  com- 
pany has  facilities  for  supplying  the  public  with 
gas  of  a  high  grade  for  illuminating,  heating  and 
industrial  purposes,  their  products  giving  general 
satisfaction.  It  has  an  excellent  service,  employ- 
ing a  large  corps  of  employes.  Its  already 
extensive  mains  are  rapidly  being  enlarged  and 
extended  to  meet  the  persistent  demands  for  gas. 

General  Gas  Light  Company. — This  is  one  of 
the  successful  manufacturing  houses  of  the 
county.  Its  specialty  is  the  celebrated  Hum- 
phrey Gas  Arc  Lamps,  which  have  revolutionized 
the  commercial  lighting  gas  companies.  To  A. 
H.  Humphrey  and  his  associates  is  due  credit  for 
the  fact  that  today  gas  competes  successfully 
with  the  arc  electric  light.  The  extensive  plant  of 
this  company  occupies  the  entire  square  embraced 
by  Church,  Water  and  North  Park  streets.  The 
annual  output  is  over  sixty  thousand  lamps. 
Branch  offices  and  distributing  stations  are  main- 
tained in  New  York,  San  Francisco  and  Havana, 
and  London  and  Bremen  in  Europe.  A  large 
porcelain  enameling  plant  is  a  feature  of  the  busi-  . 
ness,  and  they  also  use  the  entire  productions  of 
a  large  glass  manufacturing  house  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Kalamazoo  Valley  Electric  Company. — This 
company  was  established  years  ago,  with  an 
amended  incorporation  in  1898.  It  does  a  general 
electric  light  and  power  business,  with  these 
plants:  3,000  horsepower  at  Trowbridge,  1,- 
400     horsepower     at     Plainwell,     3,000     horse- 


78 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


power     at    Otsego    and    a     1,000    horsepower 
steam  plant  at  Kalamazoo,  with  sub-stations  lo- 
cated at  Allegan,   Otsego,   Augusta,    Galesburg, 
Battle  Creek,  Marshall,  Albion  and  Parma.    The 
company   transmits   power   ninety   miles   to   the 
Michigan  Traction   Company,   and  the  Jackson 
Light  and  Power  Company,  also  furnishes  power 
to  the  Jackson  Suburban  Company.     The  com- 
pany also  owns  other  water-power   rights,   and 
when  these  rights  are  developed  it  will  control 
one  of  the  largest  and  finest  transmission  systems 
in  the  United   States.     The   company  now   fur- 
nishes power  to  a  large  list  of  consumers.     The 
lighting  service  is  exceptionally  fine  and  the  de- 
mand is  steadily  increasing.    Electric  power  serv- 
ice being  so  available,  many  manufacturers  have 
come  to  this  city.  The  officers  of  the  company  are 
W.  A.  Foote,  president;  James  B.  Foote,  secre- 
tary  and   treasurer;   W.    P.    Stephens,   superin- 
tendent.   The  office  is  located  at  III  Chase  block. 
The  Michigan  Traction  Company,  a  Michigan 
corporation,  operates  electric  street  railway  lines 
in  the  cities  of  Kalamazoo  and  Battle  Creek,  and 
an  electric  interurban  between  those  cities.     The 
combined   trackage   of  the  system   is   over   fifty 
miles.     Evans  B.  Dick,  of  New  York,  is  presi- 
dent ;    Gerald    Holsman,    vice-president ;    H.    C. 
Winchester,  secretary  and  treasurer;  D.  A.  He- 
garty,  also  of  New  York  city,  is  general  superin- 
tendent of  the  roads,  as  well  as  of  those  of  the 
Railway  Company  General,  a  Pennsylvania  cor- 
poration, which  controls  several  street  railways 
and  electric  companies.    The  local  superintendent, 
S.    J.    Dill,  is  an  experienced    and    progressive 
street  railway  manager,  under  whose  administra 
tion  the  Michigan  Traction  Company  has  made 
marked    progress.     The    company    procures    its 
electric   power   from   the   Valley   Electric   Com- 
pany and  operates  forty-eight  cars.    It  has  a  car- 
barn, repair  and  paint-shop  at  Kalamazoo,  a  car- 
barn at  Battle  Creek,  and  is  provided  with  a  large 
rotary   snow  plow   and   an   adequate   equipment 
to  keep  its  trackage  open  during  the  winter.     It 
employs  about  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  men, 
and  has  a  payroll  aggregating  nine  thousand  dol- 
lars per  month.     It  has  placed  a  number  of  new 
and  modern  cars  in  service  upon  its  lines  and  is 


now  engaged  in  making  extensions  to  its  trackage 
at  both  Kalamazoo  and  Battle  Creek  and  is  pre- 
paring to  erect  an  extensive  steel  bridge  over  the 
Michigan  Central  Railway  at  Galesburg.  The  in- 
terurban cars  reach  Gull  Lake  and  Yorkville  by  a 
branch  line  from  Augusta,  furnishing  excellent 
service  to  picnic  parties,  summer  residents  and 
the  guests  of  the  hotels  at  this  lake.  At  Kalma- 
zoo,  during  the  summer  months,  vaudeville  enter- 
tainments are  nightly  provided  at  the  Casino  and 
the  grounds  owned  by  the  company  at  Lake 
View.  At  Battle  Creek  is  a  fine  service  to  Go- 
guac  lake,  a  beautiful  sheet  of  water,  at  which 
bathing,  dancing  and  many  other  attractions  are 
installed  which  is  regularly  maintained.  The 
company  does  an  extensive  freight  business  be- 
tween Kalamazoo  and  Battle  Creek  and  purposes 
to  increase  its  facilities  in  this  line  of  its  business. 
The  Phelps  &  Bigelow  Windmill  Company. — 
This  company  has  been  in  consecutive  business 
existence  in  Kalamazoo  for  fully  thirty  years, 
within  that  time  building  up  the  largest  windmill 
trade  of  any  house  in  this  line  in  Michigan.  Their 
specialty  is  the  I.  X.  L.  brand.  Their  produc- 
tions comprise  steel  windmills,  steel  towers,  steel 
tanks,  steel  feed-cookers,  steel  tank-heaters,  steel 
sub-structures,  wood-wheel  windmills,  wood  tow- 
ers, wood  tanks,  tubular  well  supplies.  The 
windmill  is  simple,  substantial  and  in  great  de- 
mand. The  company  was  awarded  the  first  pre- 
mium on  both  steel  and  woodwheel  windmills 
three  years  in  succession  at  the  Kansas  and  Mis- 
souri   Interstate    Fairs    of    1891,    '92    and    '93. 

THE     KALAMAZOO    TELEGRAPH. 

The  Michigan  Telegraph,  as  it  was  called,  was 
started  as  a  weekly  newspaper  in  August,  1844, 
the  first  number  appearing  on  the  10th  of  that 
month.  It  was  started  as  an  ardent  Whig  organ. 
Henry  B.  Miller  was  editor  and  publisher.  The 
office  was  in  a  little  low  building  on  Portage 
street,  just  south  of  the  present  Humphrey  block. 
George  Torrey,  Sr.,  subsequently  became  part 
owner.  In  November,  1845,  Mr.  Miller  disposed 
of  his  interest  to  William  Millikin,  and  the  paper 
was   published   by   Millikin   and   Torrey    in   the 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


79 


basement  of  a  building  on  the  corner  of  Main 
and  Rose  streets.  The  following  spring  the  office 
was  moved  to  the  second  story  of  a  building  on 
the  southeast  corner  of  Main  and  Burdick  streets. 
In  1847  tne  nam€  0I  the  paper  was  changed  to 
the  Kalamazoo  Telegraph.  Mr.  Torrey  continued 
as  editor.  In  1849  Samuel  N.  Garitt  became 
owner  of  the  Telegraph.  In  January,  1850,  Garitt 
sold  out  to  George  A.  Fitch  &  Company.  Feb- 
ruary 5,  1850,  fire  destroyed  the  plant,  but  in  two 
months  a  new  plant  was  installed.  Mr.  Fitch  had 
H!  E.  Hascall  associated  with  him  from  1858  to 
November,  i860,  while  Mr.  Fitch  was  state 
printer.  H.  C.  Buffington  &  Company  leased  the 
office  in  November,  i860,  and  continued  in  charge 
for  about  a  year.  He  was  succeeded  by  R.  F. 
Johnstone  for  a  year,  Mr.  Fitch  returning  to  the 
helm.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Fitch  claim  that  he 
deserves  the  credit  for  first  suggesting  the  name 
"Republican  party"  to  the  party  that  succeeded 
the  Whig  party.  An  editorial  was  written  by 
him  and  published  'in  the  Telegraph  just  prior  to 
the  memorable  Jackson  convention,  suggesting 
the  name  "Republican."  The  Telegraph,  under 
Mr.  Fitch,  was  the  first  journal  to  advocate  the 
formation  of  a  new  party,  the  first  to  define  its 
purpose  and  the  first  to  predict  its  great  triumph. 

In  1865  Thomas  Fitch  was  associated  with  his 
brother,  and  Rev.  Dr.  James  A.  B.  Stone,  presi- 
dent of  Kalamazoo  College,  became  editor.  In 
July,  1866,  the  Fitch  Brothers  sold  out  to  Clement 
W.  and  Horatio  H.  Stone,  sons  of  Dr.  Stone.  In 
April,  1867,  the  office  was  removed  from  the 
House  block  to  the  old  postoffice  building  on 
Burdick  street. 

In  April,  1868,  the  Daily  Telegraph  was  es- 
tablished on  a  firm  footing  by  the  Stone  brothers. 
December  9,  1869,  the  Kalamazoo  Telegraph 
Company  was  formed,  Rev.  George  W.  Harris, 
of  Detroit,  becoming  editor.  Mrs.  L.  H.  Stone 
was  a  frequent  contributor.  The  daily  at  the  be- 
ginning was  a  morning  paper  for  a  year,  later 
made  an  evening  paper.  It  received  the  Asso- 
ciated Press  news  from  the  very  first. 

March  4,  1870,  Horatio  H.  Stone  died.  In 
October  following,  James  H.  Stone,  a  son  of  Dr. 
Stone  and  Harry  H.  Smith,  late  journal  clerk  of 


the  national  house  of  representatives,  became  the 
proprietors.  Under  the  management  of  Stone 
&  Smith  an  unpleasantness  over  an  attack  on 
Senator  Chandler  arose,  arid  Smith  retired,  selling 
his  interest  to  Herman  E.  Hascall  in  November, 
1871.  November  25th  the  plant  was  agairi  seri- 
ously injured  by  fire.  February  2,  1872,  Mr.  Has- 
call died  ;  and  in  January,  1873,  the' entire  proper- 
ty passed  into  the  hands  of  James  H.  Stone.  At 
this  time  Dr.  Stone  was  postmaster  and  James  H. 
Stone,  deputy.  In  March,  1874,  L.  B.  Kendall 
bought  a  half  interest  in  the  Telegraph,  and 
Messrs.  Stone  and  Kendall  published  the  paper. 
Mr.  Kendall  was  appointed  postmaster,  and  later 
Lyman  M.  Gates  purchased  Mr.  Stone's  interest, 
Mr.  Kendall  and  Mr.  Stone  not  agreeing  as  to 
the  paper's  treatment  of  local  politicians.  In  Oc- 
tober, 1874,  the  Kalamazoo  Publishing  Company 
was  organized,  composed  of  L.  B.  Kendall,  L.  M. 
Gates,  O.  and  R.  Illing,  Dwight  May,  George  M. 
Buck  and  Arthur  Brown.  Later  the  company  re- 
organized with  L.  B.  Kendall,  W.  L.  Eaton,  E.  T. 
Mills  and  E.  E.  Bartlett  as  owners.  Mr.  Eaton 
was  editor  and  Mr.  Bartlett  business  manager. 
Edward  Fleming,  for  years  a  noted  Washington 
correspondent,  and  Henry  L.  Nelson,  who  sub- 
sequently became  noted  as  a  writer  and  especially 
as  editor  of  Harper's  Weekly,  were  Mr.  Eaton's 
predecessors.  Mr.  Eaton  had  as  an  associate 
editor  Clarence  L.  Dean,  subsequently  one  of  the 
editors  of  the  Detroit  Free  Press  and  later  on  the 
Kansas  City  Star,  and  still  later  special  newspaper 
representative  and  part  owner  of  Barnum  & 
Bailey's  great  show. 

In  August,  1888,  the  Telegraph  was  sold  to 
Hon.  Nelson  Dingley,  Jr.,  a  member  of  congress, 
and  his  son,  Edward  N.  Dingley,  ©f  Lewiston, 
Me.,  the  latter  becoming  editor  and  manager. 
In  1890  the  Telegraph  was  moved  into  a  new 
building  on  South  Burdick  street.  The  paper 
grew  rapidly  in  circulation  and  influence;  and 
soon  its  new  quarters  on  Burdick  were  inade- 
quate. In  June,  1903,  the  handsome  and  com- 
modious five-story  building  on  South  street, 
known  as  the  Telegraph  building,  was  begun.  In 
June,  1904,  the  entire  Telegraph  plant,  with  many 
additions  in  the  way  of  machinery  and  appliances; 


8o 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


was  installed  in  the  Telegraph  building.  The 
Telegraph  plant  and  building  is  now  one  of  the 
sights  of  Kalamazoo.  The  building  has  electric 
elevators,  nineteen  suites  of  offices,  a  mammoth 
steam  heating  plant  and  a  newspaper  plant  second 
to  none  in  the  state  outside  of  Detroit. 

The  Telegraph  since  1888  has  had  a  remark- 
able growth  and  holds  a  commanding  position  in 
Kalamazoo  and  southwestern  Michigan.  It  is  an 
independent  Republican  paper,  fearless  and  enter- 
prising. The  Evening  Telegraph  is  published  in 
four  editions  daily.  The  Saturday  Telegraph  is 
always  a  special  number  with  special  attractions. 
The  Semi-Weekly  Telegraph  circulates  in 
every  village  and  hamlet  in  southwestern 
Michigan. 

Edward  N.  Dingley,  the  editor  and  general 
manager  of  the  Telegraph,  was  born  in  Auburn, 
Me.,  August  21,  1862.  He  graduated  from  Yale 
University  in  1883,  and  from  the  Columbian  Law 
School,  Washington,  D.  C,  in  1885.  He  worked 
for  some  time  as  a  special  writer  on  the  Boston 
Advertiser  and  Record  and  while  in  Washington, 
D.  C,  was  an  active  newspaper  correspondent. 
In  1888  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo  and  began  his 
career  in  Michigan.  He  has  always  been  active 
in  politics  and  public  affairs,  and  in  1898  and 
1900  was  elected  a  member  of  the  state  legisla- 
ture from  Kalamazoo.  In  June,  1898,  he  was 
also  made  clerk  of  the  ways  and  means  committee 
of  the  national  house  of  representatives,  serving 
until  January  1,  1900.  As  a  member  of  the  state 
legislature  of  1901  he  was  chairman  of  the  ways 
and  means  committee.  In  1901  Mr.  Dingley 
compiled  and  published  a  biography  of  his  fa- 
ther, entitled  "Life  and  Times  of  Nelson  Dingley, 
Jr."  .  Mr.  Dingley  was  president  of  the  Michigan 
League  of  Republican  Clubs  in  1897,  and  was 
Michigan's  candidate  for  national  president  at 
the  Omaha  convention.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Michigan  delegation  to  the  Republican  national 
convention  in  1900  at  Philadelphia,  and  was 
Michigan's  member  of  the  committee  on  res- 
olutions. He  has  been  a  frequent  contributor 
to  magazines  on  political  and  social  questions. 
He  is  an  active  Mason  (Knight  Templar) 
and    Elk.      He    married    Miriam    G.    Robinson, 


of  Boston,  Mass.,  in  December,  1888.  They  have 
had  five  children,  Irene  (deceased),  Nelson,  Mi- 
riam (deceased),  Madelen  and  Edward.  They 
reside  in  Kalamazoo  on  the  remodeled  Hydenburk 
estate  on  West  street  hill. 

NOTEWORTHY   EVENTS. 

In  1880  a  writer  describes  Climax  to  be  the 
"garden  town"  of  the  county,  the  village  of  the 
same  name  having  a  population  of  three  hundred 
people.  This  is  located  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
township,  eighteen  miles  from  Kalamazoo  and  ten 
miles  from  Battle  Creek.  The  Chicago  &  Grand 
Trunk  Railroad  runs  through  the  town.  Mr. 
Hodgman  had  then  just  erected  the  finest  business 
block  of  the  village,  containing  a  large  public  hall ; 
here  are  also  a  grocery  store,  a  shoe  store,  a  har- 
ness manufactory,  the  county  surveyor's  office,  a 
good  hotel,  owned  by  John  O.  Wilson,  a  hard- 
ware store,  two  drug  stores,  a  dry-goods  store, 
meat  market,  a  flour  and  feed  store,  kept  by  G. 
Hanover,  who  purchased  fully  one  thousand 
bushels  of  wheat  daily,  a  carriage  manufactory 
and  a  blacksmith  shop.  Doctors  Jackson  and 
Seeley  were  established  here  in  medical  practice. 
Doctor  Loyell,  a  wealthy  gentleman,  was  then 
living  here  a  retired  life.  The  cemetery  is  worthy 
of  especial  mention.  One  noticeable  and  attractive 
monument  costing  fifteen  hundred  dollars  is  that 
erected  by  Mrs.  Isaac  Pierce  upon  the  last  resting 
place  of  the  body  of  her  husband,  who  was  one  of 
the  early,  brave  and  industrious  pioneers  of  the 
township,  leaving,  after  a  useful  life,  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars  to  his  family. 

In  1782  Recollet  and  Numouville,  French 
traders,  erected  a  trading  post  on  the  east  site  of 
the  Kalamazoo  river. 

A  sewer  system  to  cost  twenty  thousand  dol- 
lars was  voted  favorably  upon  in  the  regular  meet- 
ing of  the  village  board  of  Kalamazoo  on  Sep- 
tember, 1880.  This  provided  for  three  miles  of 
main  sewer. 

Col.  Ertran  Allen,  a  prominent  business  man 
for  twenty  years  in  Kalamazoo,  died  on  January 
5,  1880. 

Mrs.  N.  A.  Balch,  prominent  in  literary  and 
society  circles,  died  on  January  7,  1880.    She  was 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


81 


very  philanthropic  and  had  a  large  circle  of 
friends. 

James  Green,  an  old  settler  and  noted  musi- 
cian, died  on  January  19,  1880. 

Gen.  D  wight  May  died  on  January  28,  1880, 
and  was  buried  with  Masonic  honors. 

George  E.  Cochran,  superintendent  of  the 
schools  of  Kalamazoo,  and  prominent  Freemason, 
died  on  February  7,  1880. 

Newton  Luce,  born  in  Texas  on  March  16, 
1835,  a  prominent  citizen  and  Odd  Fellow,  died 
on  February  9,  1880. 

On  February  12,  1880,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Orange 
Pike  celebrated  their  golden  wedding.  They  were 
settlers  on  new  land  in  Portage  in  1854,  where 
their  subsequent  lives  were  passed  as  industrious 
farmers. 

David  Meredith,  a  wealthy  old-time  resident 
of  Portage,  died  on  February  18,  1880. 

In  1880  Galesburg  had  six  hundred  popula- 
tion, comprising  three  churches,  three  dry-goods 
stores,  two  groceries,  one  hardware,  two  drug,  one 
jewelry  and  one  shoes  tore,  one  saloon,  one  res- 
taurant, one  hotel,,  one  harness  shop,  one  pump 
and  windmill  manufactory,  six  live-stock  mer- 
chants, a  cooper  shop,  a  lumber  yard,  a  foundry,  a 
planing  mill  and  two  physicians. 

At  Galesburg  in  1880  a  flourishing  Ladies' 
Library  Association  of  sixty  members  was  in  ex- 
istence. The  board  of  directors  was  composed  of 
Mrs.  F.  Town,  Mrs.  R.  G.  Smith,  Mrs.  J.  Allen, 
Mrs.  S.  Barlow,  Mrs.  C.  Beach,  and  Mrs.  B.  A. 
Wing.  The  officers  were  at  that  time  Mrs.  R.  G. 
Smith,  president;  Mrs.  M.  M.  Proctor,  vice-pres- 
ident; Mrs.  M.  B.  Olmstead,  secretary;  Mrs.  F. 
Town,  assistant  secretary;  Mrs.  W.  A.  Blake, 
treasurer;  Miss  Ella  Dunning,  assistant  librarian. 

Lester  Davis,  an  old  and  honored  resident  of 
Charleston,  died  on  February  26,  1880.  He  came 
irom  Otsego  county,  New  York,  in  1854  and  made 
a  permanent  settlement  on  eighty  acres  in  Charles- 
»on. 

William  A.  Wood,  a  prominent  banker  and 
financier,  died  after,  a  brief  illness  on  March  8, 
1880.  He  was  born  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  March 
26,  1828.  In  1836  he  accompanied  his  parents 
to  Marshall,  Mich.,  where  he  resided  until  1849, 


when  he  came  to  Kalamazoo  and  became  a  clerk 
for  Woodbury  &  Parsons.  In  1850  he  engaged 
in  trade  with  Jonathan  Parsons,  in  1854  becoming 
a  clerk  in  the  banking  house  of  Theodore  P.  Shel- 
don &  Co.  Later  he  was  in  the  dry-goods  trade 
with  Joel  J.  Perrin,  as  Perrin  &  Wood.  On  June 
16,  1856,  he  became  a  member  of  the  new  banking 
house  of  Woodbury,  Potter  &  Co.,  which,  on  Jan- 
uary 1,  1859,  was  changed  to  Woodbury,  Potter 
&  Wood.  This  house  existed  until  July  15,  1865, 
when  it  was  reorganized  as  the  Michigan  Na- 
tional Bank,  Mr.  Wood  being  its  first  president. 

The  receipts  of  the  United  States  government 
from  the  Detroit  district  of  internal  revenue  dur- 
ing the  month  of  March,  1880,  were  as  follows : 
Tobacco,  $52,988.72;  cigars,  $7,005.59;  beer,  $10,- 
584.04;  special,  $253.69;  miscellaneous,  $143.17; 
making  a  total  of  $81,075.12. 

Hon.  William  A.  Howard,  who  died  early  in 
1880,  left  an  estate  of  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  thousand  dollars,  of  which  he  bequeathed  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  to  religious  and  char- 
itable institutions. 

William  Eldred,  a  resident  of  the  town  of 
Climax  since  1832,  died  at  his  home  there  on 
March  9,  1880.  The  town  when  he  made  it  his 
home  was  a  wilderness.  His  axe  felled  some  of 
the  earliest  trees  cut  in  its  clearing  process  and  he 
was  the  builder  of  the  first  frame  barn  of  Charles- 
ton township.  He  was  a  classleader  and  a  stew- 
ard of  the  Methodist  church  for  thirty-six  years, 
and  assisted  in  the  construction  of  three  Methodist 
churches,  one  at  Augusta  and  two  at  Galesburg,  to 
which  he  contributed  eight  hundred  dollars. 
Schools  and  Christian  benevolence  had  no  warmer 
friend  in  the  town. 

Guyon  Fisher,  an  old  resident  of  the  county, 
was  accidentally  shot  to  death  by  a  gun  that  he 
was  carrying  on  March  13,  1880.  He  once  owned 
and  ran  a  flouring  mill  in  Combtock.  He  was 
prominent  in  local  Democratic  politic^. 

Aladic  Parker,  an  old  citizen  of  Cooper,  where 
he  had  lived  since  1844,  died  on  April  5,  1880. 
For  some  years  he  resided  with  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  Thomas  Brownell,  at  Kalamazoo. 

Nelson  Parsons,  an  early  settler,  died  in  Texas 
on  July  25,  1880.     By  economy  and  close  atten- 


82 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


tion  to  business  he  was  prospered  and  became 
a  wealthy  man. 

Henry  D.  Rogers,  who  in  1834  located  in  the 
township  of  Charleston  on  a  fine  tract  of  land, 
died  on  July  1,  1880,  aged  sixty-eight  years.  He 
was  a  postmaster  of  Galesburg  for  seven  years 
and  was  an  honest,  estimable  citizen. 

In  1880  the  village  of  Scotts,  in  the  towns  of 
Pavilion  and  Climax,  is  thus  described :  It  lies  on 
the  Chicago  &  Grand  Trunk  Railroad,  thirteen 
miles  southeast  of  Kalamazoo.  It  contains  two 
dry-goods  stores,  one  hardware  store,  a  drug 
store,  a  flouring  mill,  a  hotel,  two  new  and  com- 
modious store  buildings,  a  large  grain  warehouse, 
a  livery  stable  and  other  enterprises.  No  village 
in  the  state  is  backed  up  by  a  more  productive 
rural  district  and  large  shipments  of  wheat,  corn, 
cattle,  hogs,  sheep  and  lumber  are  sent  out  from 
the  village. 

VILLAGE    AND    CITY    OFFICERS. 

For  purposes  of  reference,  we  give  the  last 
board  of  trustees  and  officers  of  the  village  of 
Kalamazoo  and  the  mayor,  aldermen  and  other 
officers  of  the  city  government,  which  took  office 
on  April  14,  1884;  the  village  then  ceasing  to 
exist. 

Village  officers:  Edwin  W.  DeVoe,  presi- 
dent ;  David  Bumell,  John  DeVisser,  Edward  Mc- 
Caffrey, Romine  H.  Buckholt,  Thomas  H.  Bev- 
ans,  Thomas  O'Niell,  Allen  M.  Stearns,  Adolphus 
Van  Sickel,  trustees;  Frederick  Cellen,  clerk; 
Frank  C.  Dudgeon,  treasurer;  John  H.  Blanev: 
marshal;  Robert  F.  Hill,  attorney;  Herman  H. 
Schaberg,  health  officer;  George  S.  Pierson,  en- 
gineer; Hugh  Biggs,  chief  engineer  of  fire  de- 
partment; Michael  F.  Blaney,  assistant  engineer: 
Clarence  Clark,  secretary  and  treasurer;  Bryon  J. 
Healy,  captain  of  paid  department;  Frederick 
Cellem,  water  commissioner ;  George  H.  Chandler, 
engineer  of  water  works ;  Charles  Healy,  assistant 
engineer ;  John  Dudgeon,  Frank  Little,  Frederick 
Bush,  sewer  commissioners;  George  S.  Pierson, 
engineer  of  department. 

1884— Allen  Potter,  mayor;  Fred  Hotop, 
Hugh  J.  McHugh,  Charles  H.  Bird,  Theodore 


A.  Palmer,  George  C.  Winslow,  Hale  W.  Page, 
Otto  Ihling,  Albert  L.  Lakey,  George  Fuller, 
John  F.  Schlick,  aldermen;  Lawrence  N.  Burke, 
recorder ;  Stephen  H.  Wattles,  marshal ;  A.  Sid- 
ney Hays,  treasurer;  Chauncey  Strong,  clerk; 
Edwin  M.  Irish,  attorney;  George  S.  Pierson, 
engineer;  Henry  B.  Hemenway,  health  officer; 
Byron  J.  Healy,  chief  engineer  and  captain  of 
fire  department;  Frederick  Cellem,  water  com- 
missioner; George  H.  Chandler,  chief  engineer 
and  superintendent  of  water  works. 

1885 — Edwin  W.  DeVoe,  mayor;  George 
Fuller,  Fred  Hotop,  Otto  Ihling,  John  W. 
Rose,  George  C.  Winslow,  Jacob  Levy, 
Edward  McCaffery,  John  W.  Rowley,  John  F. 
Schlick,  Daniel  Waterbury,  Lawrence  N.  Burke, 
judge  of  recorder's  court;  Fred  Cellem,  clerk; 
A.  Sidney  Hays,  treasurer ;  R.  John  Lamb,  mar- 
shal;  William  G.  Howard,  attorney;  William 
Mottram,  M.  D.,  health  officer;  George  S.  Pier- 
son, engineer;  F.  J.  Ballast,  assistant  engineer; 
Byron  J.  Healy,  chief  engineer  of  the  fire  de- 
partment, and  captain  of  paid  department;  Wil- 
liam Athey,  assistant  chief  of  fire  department; 
John  McKey,  Jr.,  water  commissioner;  George 
H.  Chandler,  Charles  A.  Healy,  assistant  en- 
gineers. 

!gg6 — Edwin  W.  Devoe,  mayor ;  George  Ful- 
ler, Fred  Hotop,  Otto  Ihling,  John  W.  Rose, 
Geo.  C.  Winslow,  Jacob  Levy,  Edward  McCaf- 
fery, John  W.  Rowley,  John  F.  Schlick,  Daniel 
Waterbury,  aldermen;  Lawrence  N.  Burke, 
judge  of  recorders  court;  Fred  Cellem,  clerk; 
A.  Sidney  Hays,  treasurer ;  R.  John  Lamb,  mar- 
shal;  William  G.  Howard,  attorney;  William 
Mottram,  M.  D.,  health  officer;  George  S.  Pier- 
son, engineer;  A.  E.  Ingerson,  superintendent  of 
streets;  Byron  J.  Healey,  chief  engineer  of 
the  fire  department. 

xgg7 — Peyrton  Ramney,  mayor;  Fred  Ho- 
top, John  W.  Rose,  Albert  L.  Lakey,  Samuel  S. 
McCamly,  Abe  R.  Garrison,  Jacob  Levy,  Theo- 
dore A.  Palmer,  James  N.  Stearns,  William  M. 
Beeman,  John  B.  Allen,  alderman ;  Lawrence  N. 
Burke,  judge  of  recorder's  court;  Chauncey 
Strong,  city  clerk;  Martin  Verhage,  treasurer: 
Syman  M.   Gates,  marshal;  William  Hare,   as- 


COURT  HOUSE. 

By"  court* 'sy   of   the  Gazette. 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


85 


sistant  treasurer;  Elbert  S.  Rose,  city  attorney; 
Edwin  C.  Taylor,  M.  D. ;  George  S.  Pierson,  en- 
gineer ;  Byron  J.  Healy,  chief  engineer  of  fire 
department,  and  captain  of  paid  department; 
Phenix  A.  Duffir,  water  commissioner;  George 
H.  Chandler,  chief  engineer  and  superintendent 
of  water  works;  Charles  A.  Healy,  assistant  en- 
gineer. 

1888 — Otto  Ihling,  mayor;  Jacob  Levy,  Theo- 
dore A.  Palmer,  James  A.  Stearns,  Homer  Man- 
vel,  John  P.  Allen,  Fred  Cellem,  William  H. 
Cobb,  William  E.  Hill,  Henry  Stern,  James  A. 
Taylor,  aldermen ;  William  W.  Peck,  judge  of 
recorder's  court ;  Chauncey  Strong,  clerk ;  Mar- 
tin Verhage,  treasurer;  Syman  M.  Gates,  mar- 
shal ;  William  Hare,  assistant  marshal ;  Elbert  S. 
Rose,  city  attorney ;  Adolph  Hoch stein,  M.  D., 
health  officer;  George  S.  Pierson,  engineer;  Wil- 
liam M.  Beeman,  street  commissioner ;  Byron  J. 
Healy,  chief  engineer ;  William  H.  Athey,  as- 
sistant chief;  Phelix  A.  Duffir,  water  commis- 
sioner ;  George  Chandler,  chief  engineer  and  su- 
perintendent of  water  works;  Charles  A.  Healy, 
assistant  engineer.  . 

1889 — Otto  Ihling,  mayor;  Fred  Cellem,  Wil- 
liam E.  Hill,  William  H.  Cobb,  Henry  Stein, 
James  A.  Taylor,  Jacob  Levy,  Edward  McCaf- 
fery,  James  N.  Stearns,  Walter  Hock,  James  W. 
Strithers,  aldermen  ;  William  W.  Peck,  judge  of 
recorder's  court;  George  R.  Balch,  clerk;  Alger- 
man  S.  Hays,  treasurer;  Thomas  F.  Owens,  mar- 
shal ;  Joseph  H.  Harper,  assistant  marshal ; 
James  H.  K.  Kinnard,  city  attorney;  Adolph 
Hochstein,  M.  D.,  health  officer ;  George  S.  Pier- 
son, engineer;  John  DeSmith,  street  commis- 
sioner; Byron  J.  Healy,  chief  engineer;  William 
H.  Athey,  assistant  chief;  Hugh  Biggs,  water 
commissioner;  George  H.  Chandler,  chief  en- 
gineer and  superintendent  of  water  works ; 
Charles  A.  Healy,  assistant  engineer. 

1890 — William  E.  Hill,  mayor;  Jacob  Levy, 
Edward  McCaffery,  James  N.  Stearns,  Walter 
Hock,  James  W.  Struthers,  John  A.  Lamb, 
Thomas  Gleason,  J.  R.  Biger,  Herbert  H.  Ever- 
hard,  James  H.  Taylor,  aldermen ;  William  W. 
Peck,  judge  of  recorder's  court;  George  H. 
Balch,  clerk ;  Edgar  Baseman,  treasurer ;  Thomas 


Owens,  marshal;  Joseph  H.  Harper,  assistant 
marshal ;  James  H.  Kinnam,  attorney ;  A.  B.  Cor- 
nell, M.  D.,  health  officer;  Frank  C.  Balch,  en- 
gineer; Hathaway  McAllister,  street  commis- 
sioner ;  Byron  J.  Healy,  chief  engineer ;  William 
H.  Athey,  assistant  engineer;  Harry  Reid,  super- 
intendent of  fire  alarm;  Hugh  Biggs,  water  com- 
missioner ;  George  Chandler,  chief  engineer  and 
superintendent  of  water  works ;  Herman  Watson, 
assistant  engineer. 

189T — Frederick  Bush,  mayor;  John  Lamb, 
Thomas  P.  Gleason,  Josiah  R.  Birge,  Herbert 
H.  Everhard,  James  A.  Taylor,  J.  Fred  Knapp, 
Thomas  Wilson,  John  J.  Morse,  Lawrence  Hol- 
lander, Patrick  H.  Burke,  aldermen ;  William  W. 
Peck,  judge  of  recorder's  court;  T.  F.  Giddings, 
city  clerk;  Albert  A.  Daniels,  treasurer;  W.  H. 
Cobb,  marshal ;  John  W.  Thomson,  assistant  mar- 
shal ;  C.  Van  Zwaluwender,  M.  D.,  health  offi- 
cer;  Edwin  M.  Irish,  attorney;  George  S.  Pier- 
son, engineer;  Charles  C.  Curtenius,  street  com- 
missioner; Byron  J.  Healy,  chief  engineer  and 
superintendent  of  fire  alarms ;  William  H.  Athey, 
assistant  chief;  Edgar  Roseman,  water  commis- 
sioner; Wilbur  F.  Reed,  chief  engineer  and  su- 
perintendent of  water  works ;  Herman  Watson, 
Henry  Hobbs,  assistant  engineers. 

1892— William  E.  Hill,  mayor;  William  R. 
B.  White,  Samuel  A.  Brown,  William  E.  Upjohn, 
Herbert  H.  Everhard,  James  A.  Taylor,  Fred 
Knapp,  Thomas  Wilson,  John  J.  Morse,  Law- 
rence Hollander,  Patrick  H.  Burke,  aldermen; 
William  W.  Peck,  judge  of  recorder's  court;  F. 
F.  Giddings,  clerk;  A.  A.  Daniels,  treasurer; 
William  Hare,  marshal ;  A.  B.  Huntly,  assistant 
marshal;  C.  Van  Zwaluwender,  health  officer; 
Edwin  M.  Irish,  attorney;  Miner  C.  Taft,  engi- 
neer ;  William  H.  Cobb,  street  commissioner ;  By- 
ron J.  Healy,  chief  engineer ;  John  G.  Ter  Harr, 
water  commissioner;  William  F.  Reed,  chief  en- 
gineer water  works. 

1893 — James  W.  Osborn,  mayor;  George  L. 
Gilkey,  Hutson  B.  Colman,  Charles  C.  Curtenius, 
Lawrence  Hollander,  Patrick  N.  Burke,  William 
R.  B.  White,  Thomas  Wilson,  William  Upjohn, 
Julius  Schuster,  James  A.  Taylor,  aldermen; 
William   W.    Peck,    judge   of   recorder's   court; 


86 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


Chauncey  Strong,  clerk;  Charles  H.  Gleason, 
treasurer;  William  Hare,  marshal;  C.  A.  Mer- 
rill, assistant  marshal;  George  P.  Hopkins,  at- 
torney ;  Miner  G.  Taft,  engineer ;  Adolph  Hock- 
stein,  health  officer;  Peter  Moileck,  street  com- 
missioner; Byron  J.  Healy,  chief  engineer  fire 
department;  Wilbur  F.  Reed,  chief  engineer  wa- 
ter works;  William  Hall,  marshal. 

1894 — James  W.  Osborn,  mayor;  Frederick 
Cellem,  John  W.  Rose,  Charles  A.  Fletcher,  Jul- 
ius Schuster,  Ezra  Baker,  George  L.  Gilkey,  H. 

B.  Colman,  Charles  C.  Curtenius,  Lawrence  Hol- 
lander, Patrick  H.  Burke,  aldermen ;  W.  H.  Peck, 
judge  of  recorder's  court ;  Chauncey  Strong, 
clerk;  Charles  H.  Gleason.  treasurer:  William 
Hare,  marshal ;  C.  B.  Allen,  assistant  marshal ; 
George  P.  Hopkins,  attorney ;  Miner  C.  T.aft. 
engineer;  Adolph  Hockstein,  health  officer; 
James  R.  McCall,  street  commissioner;  Byron  J. 
Healey,  chief  engineer  of  the  fire  department ; 

'  Wilbur  F.  Reed,  chief  engineer  of  the  water- 
works. 

1895 — Otto  Ihling,  mayor  ;  John  Adams,  Ezra 
Baker,  Richard  R.  Brenner,  Fred  Cellem,  Charles 
H.  Ford,  John  W.  Rose,  Julius  Schuster,  Ira 
Snyder,  aldermen;  William  W.  Peck,  judge  of 
recorder's  court ;  Charles  Gleason,  clerk ;  Law- 
rence Hollander,  treasurer ;  William  Hare,  mar- 
shal ;  Charles  P.  Allen,  assistant  marshal ;  George 
P.  Hopkins,  attorney ;  Minor  C.  Taft,  engineer ; 
Adolph  Hockstein,  health  officer ;  J.  B.  McCall, 
street  commissioner ;  Noah  Dibble,  inspector ;  By- 
ron Healy,  chief  engineer  fire  department;  Wil- 
bur F.  Reed,  chief  engineer  of  water  works. 

1896 — James  Monroe,  mayor;  Fred  Cellem, 
James  I.  Upjohn,  Washington  W.  Okin,  Jacob 
DeKam,  Patrick  H.  Burke,  Richard  R.  Brenner, 
Charles  B.  Ford,  Charles  C.  'Curtenius,  Jonathan 

C.  Adams,  Ira  Snyder,  aldermen;  William  W. 
Peck,  judge  of  recorder's  court ;  Charles  H.  Glea- 
son, clerk :  Lawrence  Hollander,  treasurer ;  Wil- 
liam Hare,  marshal ;  Charles  B.  Allen,  George  P. 
Hopkins,  Miner  C.  Taft,  engineers;  Alvin  Rock- 
well, health  officer;  James  R.  McCall,  street  com- 
missioner; Byron  Healy,  chief  fire  department; 
Wilbur  Reed,  superintendent  water  -  works ; 
Henry    C.     Hoagland,    superintendent    lighting 


plant ;  John  G.  Hopper,  inspector ;  George  Bilkert, 
assistant  inspector. 

1897-8 — Allan  M.  Stearns,  mayor;  William  W. 
Peck,  judge  of  the  recorder's  court;  George  C. 
Winslow,  assessor;  Charles  H.  Gleason,  clerk; 
William  Murray,  treasurer;  Calvin  Rasor, 
marshal ;  E.  S.  Roos,  city  attorney ;  M.  C. 
Taft,  engineer;  A.  H.  Rockwell,  health  officer; 
John  W.  Bosman,  city  physician ;  Byron  J.  Hea- 
ley, chief  of  fire  department ;  H.  C.  Hoagland, 
superintendent  and  chief  engineer  of  the  lighting 
plant ;  H.  T.  Martin,  city  inspector ;  Thomas  F. 
Owens,  street  commissioner ;  William  A.  Rich- 
ards, superintendent  of  the  poor. 

1899 — W.  J.  Howard,  mayor;  John  A. 
Wrheeler,  R.  R.  Brenner,  Milton  Westbrook,  A. 
H.  Humphrey,  C.  Varburg,  A.  J.  Curtis,  Jacob 
Dekam,  Martin  Verhage,  Frank  Burtt,  H.  H. 
Congdon,  aldermen  ;  William  W.  Peck,  judge  of 
recorder's  court ;  Samuel  McKee,  clerk ;  John  H. 
Hoffman,  treasurer ;  Burr  Greenfield,  marshal ; 
F.  J.  Walsh,  health  officer;  Byron  J.  Healey, 
chief  of  the  fire  department. 

1901 — A.  H.  Prehn,  mayor;  H.  H.  Prehn, 
R.  R.  Brenner,  Milton  Westbrook,  John  A. 
Staketee,  C.  Varburg,  A.  G.  Curtiss,  Walter 
Hoek,  Jacob  Levy,  Frank  N.  Mans,  Herbert  E. 
Congdon,  aldermen ;  T.  W.  Brown,  judge  of  re- 
corder's court;  John  DeVisser, clerk;  Peter  J.  Ba- 
den, treasurer;  George  C.  Winslow,  assessor;  E. 
W.  Buckley,  engineer;  Burr  Greenfield,  chief  of 
police ;  Byron  J.  Healey,  chief  of  fire  department ; 
W.  F.  Reed,  superintendent  of  the  water  works ; 
George  Houston,  water  commissioner ;  H.  H. 
Schaberg,  health  officer ;  F.  J.  Welsh,  city  physi- 
cian. 

1902-3 — Edmond  S.  Rankin,  mayor ;  John  S. 
McLarty,  Richard  R.  Brenner,  Frank  Flaitz, 
John  A.  Steketee,  George  C.  Winslow,  A.  Jud- 
son  Curtiss,  Edgar  Raseman,  Jacob  Levy,  John 
A.  Louden,  Herbert  E.  Congdon,  aldermen; 
Thomas  W.  Browne,  judge  recorder's  court ;  Al- 
bert L.  Campbell,  assessor ;  John  DeVisser,  clerk ; 
Peter  J.  Baden,  treasurer ;  Harry  C.  Howard,  at- 
torney;  George  Houston,  water  commissioner; 
Burr  Greenfield,  chief  of  police;  William  S. 
Downey,  assistant  chief;  E.  W.  Buckley,  city  en- 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


87 


iineer;  H.  O.  Statler,  health  officer;  Francis  J. 
Welsh,  city  physician;  John  Owens,  street  com- 

riissioner;  Henry  P.  Raseman,  chief  of  fire  de- 
partment; Wilbur  F.  Reed,  superintendent  and 
chief  of  water  works ;  Frank  Burtt,  superintend- 
ent and  chief  of  lighting  plant;  Sidney  Cather- 
man,  superintendent  of  poor;  George  Bailey, 
superintendent  of  Riverside  cemetery. 

1904 — Samuel  Folz,  mayor;  John  S.  Mc- 
Larty,  Richard  R.  Brenner,  Frank  Flaitz,  Thomas 
V  an  Urk,  George  C.  Winslow,  Horace  E.  Rals- 
ton, William  G.  Austin,  Dudley  C.  Rollins,  John 
A.  Louden,  Bernard  Benson,  aldermen ;  Thomas 
W.  Browne,  judge  recorder's  court ;  Albert  L. 
Campbell,  assessor ;  Harry  W.  Bush,  clerk ;  Jo- 
seph Adams,  treasurer;  Harry  C.  Howard,  at- 
torney ;  George  Houston,  water  commissioner ; 
George  Boyles,  chief  of  police ;  George  H.  Seller, 
assistant  chief ;  Minor  C.  Taft,  engineer ;  Ralph 
P.  Beebe,  M.  D.,  health  officer;  Will  H.  Scott, 
M.  D.,  city  physician ;  Martin  Verhage,  street 
commissioner;  Henry  P.  Raseman,  chief  of  fire 
department ;  Wilbur  F.  Reed,  superintendent  and 
chief  of  water  works ;  Edward  W.  Messany, 
superintendent  and  chief  of  lighting  plant ;  Wil- 
liam H.  Johnson,  superintendent  of  poor ;  George 
I  'ailey,  superintendent  of  Riverside  cemetery. 

1905 — James  W.  Osborn,  mayor;  Richard  R. 
Hrenner,  John  P.  Riley,  Charles  Clarage,  George 
IT.  Henshaw,  Horace  E.  Ralston,  John  M.  Big- 
gerstaff,  Dudley  C.  Rollins,  Peter  Molhoek,  Ber- 
nard Benson,  Henry  R.  Hinga,  aldermen  ;  Lynn 
]>.  Mason,  judge  recorder's  court;  Albert  L. 
Campbell,  assessor;  Harry  W.  Bush,  clerk;  Jo- 
seph Adams,  treasurer ;  William  R.  Fox,  attor- 
ney ;  George  Houston,  water  commissioner ; 
( *eorge  Boyles,  chief  of  police ;  George  H.  Seiler, 
assistant   chief;    Miner   C.   Taft,   city   engineer; 

>avid  Walton,  Edwin  J.  Manning,  Westley  J. 
;>ameral,  building  inspectors;  John  J.  Knight, 
v  harles  A.  Blaney,  Otto  Ihling,  board  of  police 
and  fire  commissioners ;  Ralph  P.  Beebe,  M.  D., 
health  officer;  Will  H.  Scott,  M.  D.,  city  physi- 
cian; Archer  W.  Huff,  street  commissioner; 
ilenrv  P.  Raseman,  chief  of  fire  department ;  Wil- 
' :iir  F.  Reed,  superintendent  and  chief  of  water 
•'•'orks ;  Edward  W.  Messany,  superintendent  and 


chief  of  lighting  plant ;  George  H.  Young,  super- 
intendent of  poor;  George  W.  Bailey,  superin- 
tendent of  Riverside  cemetery. 

FRATERNAL    ORGANIZATIONS. 

In  Kalamazoo  are  to  be  found  representatives 
of  all  the  leading  fraternal  organizations,  the 
lodges  of  which  are,  as  a  rule,  in  a  healthy  and 
flourishing  condition.  Their  growth  has  been 
steady  and  substantial  and  their  influence  in  the 
city  all  that  could  reasonably  be  expected  of  so- 
cieties whose  organizations  are  based  upon  the 
immortal  principles  of  friendship,  charity,  love, 
benevolence  and  the  other  higher  virtues,  and 
whose  mission  it  is  to  bind  together  in  close  bonds 
of  unity  and  mutual  good  will  those  who  have  at 
heart  the  best  interests  of  their  fellowmen.  The 
societies  are  well  officered,  wisdom  and  modera- 
tion have  prevailed  in  the  various  meetings  and 
the  affairs  of  the  bodies  have  been  managed  with 
admirable  skill  and  tact,  so  that  in  a  large  degree 
they  have  proven  a  powerful  stimulus  in  not  only 
forming  the  characters  and  shaping  the  lives  of 
the  members,  but  indirectly  of  benefiting  the 
public  at  large.  Among  these  societies  may  be 
mentioned  the  following: 

Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen,  Kalama- 
zoo Lodge,  No.  7. — Meets  first  and  third  Thurs- 
days of  each  month  at  Auditorium. 

Degree  of  Honor,  Liberty  Lodge,  No.  34. — 
Meets  second  and  fourth  Fridays  of  each  month 
at  No.  106  East  Main  street. 

Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks, 
Kalamazoo  Lodge,  No.  50. — Meets  every  Thurs- 
day, 8  P.  M.,  at  Elks  Hall,  No.  118  East  Main 
street,  third  floor. 

Catholic  Knights  and  Ladies  of  America. — 
Meets  second  and  fourth  Tuesdays  of  each  month. 

Catholic  Mutual  Benefit  Association,  St.  Au- 
gustine's Branch,  No.  17. — Meets  second  and 
fourth  Mondays  of  each  month  at  No.  118  East 
Main  street. 

Catholic  Mutual  Benefit  Association,  Branch 
No.  28. — Meets  second  and  fourth  Mondays  of 
each  month  at  Foley  Guild  Hall. 

Coming  Men  of  America,  Kalamazoo  Inde- 
pendent Lodge,  No.  393. 


88 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


Deutsche  Order  of  Harugari,  Einheit  Lodge, 
No.  645. — Meets  second  and  fourth  Wednesdays 
of  each  month  at  the  Auditorium. 

Deutsche  Order  of  Harugari,  Schiller  Lodge, 
No.  651. — Meets  second  and  fourth  Wednes- 
days at  No.  109  West  Kalamazoo  avenue. 

Independent  Order  of  Foresters,  Court  Kala- 
mazoo, No.  1 53 1. — Meets  first  and  third  Fridays 
of  each  month  at  No.  114  East  Main  street. 

Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  Orcutt  Post, 
No.  79. — Meets  first  and  third  Tuesdays  in  each 
month  at  G.  A.  R.  Hall,  208-212  North  Rose 
street. 

Woman's  Relief  Corps  is  also  represented  here 
by  a  strong  and  efficient  organization. 

Union  Veterans'  Union,  Dwight  May  Com- 
mand. 

Improved  Order  of  Red  Men. — Meets  second 
and  fourth  Fridays  of  each  month. 

Independent  Order  of  B'nai  B'rith,  Mishan 
Lodge,  No.  247. — Meets  first  and  third  Sundays 
of  each  month  in  the  vestry  room  of  the  Jewish 
synagogue,  East  South  street. 

International  Congress,  Howard  Assembly, 
No.  15. — Meets  every  Tuesday  in  Woodmen's 
Hall. 

International  Congress,  Kalamazoo  Assembly, 
No.  49. — Meets  every  Thursday  in  Woodmen's 
Hall. 

Knights  of  the  Maccabees,  Burr  Oak  Tent, 
No.  57. — Holds  review  on  second  and  fourth 
Mondays  of  each  month,  in  Maccabee  Temple. 

Knights  of  the  Maccabees,  Kalamazoo  Tent, 
No.  692. — Meets  first  and  third  Mondays  of  each 
month,  in  Maccabee  Temple. 

Knights  of  the  Maccabees,  Valiant  Tent,  No. 
867. — Meets  second  and  fourth  Mondays  of  each 
month,  at  No.  106  East  Main  street. 

Knights  of  the  Maccabees,  Uniform  Rank, 
Celery  City  Division,  No.  15. — Meets  on  the  sec- 
ond Tuesday  of  each  month,  at  Maccabee  Temple. 

Ladies  of  the  Maccabees,  Burr  Oak  Hive,  No. 
220. — Meets  on  the  first  and  third  Tuesdays  of 
-each  month,  at  Maccabee  Temple. 

Ladies  of  the  Maccabees,  Kalamazoo  Hive, 
No.  202. — Meets  on  the  first  and  third  Fridays 
of  each  month  at  Maccabee  Temple. 


Ladies  of  the  Maccabees,  Valiant  Hive,  No. 
780. — Meets  on  the  second  and  fourth  Fridays  of 
each  month,  at  Maccabee  Temple. 

Knights  of  Pythias,  Kalamazoo  Lodge,  No. 
25. — Meets  every  Friday,  at  No.  125  East  Main 
street. 

Knights  of  Pythias,  South  worth  Lodge,  No. 
170. — Meets  every  Tuesday,  at  No.  125  East 
Main  street. 

Knights  of  Pythias,  Uniform  Rank,  Kala- 
mazoo Division,  No.  9. — Meets  every  Monday  at 
No.  121  East  Main  street. 

Knights  of  Pythias,  Endowment  Rank,  No. 
292. — Meets  on  call  and  at  annual  election,  at  No. 
107  West  Main  street. 

Rathbone  Sisters,  Syracuse  Temple,  No.  37. 
— Meets  every  Tuesday,  at  No.  107  West  Main 
street. 

Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  Anchor  Lodge 
of  S.  O.,  No.  87. — Meets  on  first  Wednesdays  on 
or  before  the  full  moon,  at  Masonic  Temple,  cor- 
ner of  West  Main  and  North  Rose  streets. 

Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  Kalamazoo 
Lodge. — Meets  Monday  before  the  full  of  the 
moon  and  at  the  call  of  the  worshipful  master,  at 
Masonic  Temple. 

.  Royal  Arch  Masons,  Kalamazoo  Chapter,  No. 
13. — Meets  on  Tuesday  before  the  full  of  the 
moon  and  at  the  call  of  the  high  priest. 

Royal  and  Select  Masters,  Kalamazoo  Coun- 
cil, No.  63. — Meets  on  Thursday  after  the  full  of 
the  moon,  at  Masonic  Temple. 

Knights  Templar,  Peninsular  Commandery, 
No.  8. — Meets  first  Friday  of  each  month  and  at 
the  call  of  the  eminent  commander,  at  Masonic 
Temple. 

Order  of  the  Eastern  Star,  Corinthian  Chap- 
ter, No.  123. — Meets  on  Thursday  on  or  before 
the  full  of  the  moon,  at  Masonic  Temple. 

Modern  Woodmen  of  America,  Kalamazoo 
Camp,  No.  851. — Meets  on  the  second  and  fourth 
Wednesdays  of  each  month,  at  No.  210  North 
Rose  street. 

Modern  Woodmen  of  America,  Sylvan  Camp, 
No.  4626. — Meets  every  Wednesday,  at  its  lodge 
room  on  North  Burdick  street. 

National  Protective  Legion,  Kalamazoo  Le- 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


89 


crion,  No.  133. — Meets  on  the  second  and  fourth 
Thursdays  of  each  month,  at  No.  129  West  Main 
street. 

National  Protective  Legion,  Progress  Legion, 
No.  43. — Meets  on  the  first  and  third  Tuesdays 
of  each  month,  at  106  East  Main  street. 

National  Union,  Kalamazoo  Council,  No.  199. 
-  Meets  on  the  first  Monday  in  each  month,  at 
No.  208  North  Rose  street. 

Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Burr  Oak 
Encampment,  No.  118. — Meets  on  the  second  and 
fourth  Mondays  of  each  month. 

Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Burr 
Oak  Lodge,  No.  270. — Meets  every  Wednesday, 
at  No.  125  West  Main  street. 

Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Canton 
Colfax,  No.  12. — Meets  on  the  first  and  third 
Mondays  of  each  month  at  No.  107  East  Main 
street. 

Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Kalama- 
zoo Encampment,  No.  78. — Meets  on  the  first  and 
third  Mondays  of  each  month,  at  No.  107  East 
Main  street. 

Independent  Order,  of  Odd  Fellows,  Kalama- 
zoo Lodge,  No.  7. — Meets  every  Tuesday,  at  No. 
107  East  Main  street. 

Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Unity 
Lodge,  No.  407. — Meets  every  Thursday,  at  No. 
IT4  East  Main  street. 

Daughters  of  Rebekah,  Burr  Oak  Lodge,  No. 
184. — Meets  on  the  second  and  fourth  Fridays  of 
each  month,  at  No.  125  West  Main  street. 

Daughters  of  Rebekah,  Social  Lodge,  No.  35. 
— Meets  on  the  first  and  third  Wednesdays  of 
each  month,  at  No.  107  East  Main  street. 

Daughters  of  Rebekah,  Triple  Link  Lodge, 
No.  265. — Meets  on  the  second  and  fourth  Wed- 
nesdays of  each  month,  at  No.  114  East  Main 
street. 

Royal  Arcanum,  Burr  Oak  City  Council,  No. 
600. — Meets  on  the  second  and  fourth  Tuesdays 
of  each  month,  at  No.  104  East  Main  street. 

Tribe  of  Ben  Hur,  Kalamazoo  Service  Court, 
No.  4. — Meets  on  the  first  and  third  Tuesdays  of 
each  month,  at  the  Auditorium. 

United  Home  Protectors'  Fraternity,  Kalama- 
zoo Lodge,  No.  70. 


Woodmen  of  the  World,  Kalamazoo  Camp, 
No.  38. — Meets  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  each 
month,  at  No.  103  East  Main  street. 

COLORED    SOCIETIES. 

Knights  of  Pythias,  Damon  Lodge,  No.  6. — 
Meets  on  the  first  and  second  Thursdays  of  each 
month,  at  No.  215  North  Rose  street. 

Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  Central  Lodge, 
No.  10. — Meets  on  the'  first  Monday  of  each 
month,  at  No.  215  North  Rose  street. 

Knights  Templar,  St.  John's  Commandery, 
No.  5. — Meets  on  the  second  Monday  in  each 
month. 

Royal  Arch  Masons;  Central  Chapter. — Meets 
the  second  Monday  in  each  month,  at  No.  215 
North  Main  street. 

Order  of  the  Eastern  Star,  Zorah  Chapter, 
No.  3. — Meets  at  No.  217  East  Main  street. 

Grand  United  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Kala- 
mazoo Lodge,  No.  3900. — Meets  on  the  first  and 
third  Wednesdays  of  each  month,  at  125  West 
Main  street. 

Ladies'  Auxiliary,  Household  of  Ruth,  No. 
1068. — Meets  on  the  first  and  third  Tuesdays  of 
each  month,  at  No.  125  West  Main  street. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

TH-E    HOLLAND    SETTLEMENT. 

In  1847  tne  first  Hollanders  came  to  Kalama- 
zoo. They  came  with  the  full  assurance  of  more 
religious  freedom.  The  church  in  Holland  had 
become  extremely  liberal  and  many  seceded  from 
the  parent  church.  On  their  arrival  here  they 
were  taken  into  the  homes  of  American  families 
and  several  gentlemen  furnished  conveyances  to 
transfer  these  strangers  in  a  strange  land,  with 
their  belongings,  to  their  future  home  on  the 
shores  of  the  Black  lake  to  what  then  became  the 
Holland  colony,  now  known  as  Holland,  Zealand, 
etc.  Notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  many 
friends,  it  did  not  deter  Paulus  den  Bleyker  from 
making  preparations  to  embark  for  America,  eager 
to  embrace  the  opportunity  to  test  the  promises 


90 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


offered  by  the  United  States.  Among  the  first 
Dutch  arrivals,  the  largest  company  who  came  to 
Kalamazoo  consisted  of  twenty-seven  persons  un- 
der the  leadership  of  Paulus  den  Bleyker.  Leav- 
ing Holland  August  14,  1850,  they  landed  in  Kal- 
amazoo the  following  October.  Mr.  den  Bleyker 
and  a  part  of  his  company  stopped  at  the  Sheri- 
dan House  now  occupied  by  the  Chase  block. 
Through  the  carelessness  of  a  waitress  three  men 
were  poisoned  and  died,  one  of  whom  was  a  Mr. 
Brown,  of  Grand  Rapids,  father  of  Mrs.  J.  J.  Per- 
rin  and  another  was  one  of  the  newly  arrived  Hol- 
landers. On  account  of  the  increased  illness  of  a 
little  invalid  son,  Mr.  den  Bleyker  rented  a  house 
of  John  Marsh,  brother-in-law  of  Governor  Ran- 
som, and  moved  into  it  with  his  family,  where  the 
young  child  passed  away.  At  the  same  time  a 
number  of  the  Dutch  party,  though  in  good  health 
during  their  recent  voyage,  upon  their  arrival  here 
sickened  and  died  from  what  seemed  a  summer 
difficulty.  The  impression  of  the  citizens  was 
naturally  unfavorable  to  foreigners  with  a  strange 
language  and  habits  which  appeared  peculiar  and 
connecting  the  illness  of  this  party  with  the  deaths 
at  the  hotel,  some  of  the  trustees  of  the  village 
jumped  at  a  conclusion  and  attributed  it  to  cholera; 
took  the  family  from  their  new  home  and  moved 
them  to  the  wooded  outskirts  of  the  town  into  a 
hastily,  rudely  constructed  and  incomplete  build- 
ing, subjecting  the  inmates  to  the  storms  and  se- 
verities of  the  late  autumnal  season,  excluding 
them  by  quarantine  from  procuring  such  comforts 
as  are  necessary  to  the  relief  of  the  sick,  thereby 
inviting  suffering,  additional  illness  and  death. 
Among  those  who  rendered  them  efficient  service, 
the  names  of  the  Rev.  A.S.  Kidzie  and  Dr.  Marsh, 
the  son  of  John  Marsh,  will  long  be  remembered. 
Soon  after  their  release  from  this  terrible  ordeal, 
Mr.  den  Bleyker  purchased  the  Judge  Wells 
place  of  four  hundred  acres  in  Texas  town- 
ship. At  that  time  one  of  the  most  extensive 
landed  proprietors  in  the  then  village  of  Kalama- 
zoo was  supposed  to  be  Epaphroditus  Ransom, 
who  had  just  completed  his  term  as  first  governor 
of  Michigan,  from  the  new  capitol  at  Lansing. 
The  Governor  Ransom  home  extended  from 
Lovell   street  over   stretches   of  upland   covered 


with  beautiful  trees,  chiefly  the  burr  oak,  and  over 
the  marshy  stretches  (now  the  noted  South  celery 
fields),  for  nearly  a  mile  to  the  present  line  of 
Reed  street,  and  about  ten  rods  east  of  Pine  street, 
to  half  way  between  Rose  and  Park  streets.  Forty 
rods  south  of  Lovell  street  stood  the  home  which 
the  Governor  had  built  for  himself,  a  structure 
which  in  those  early  times  of  the  country  might  be 
said  to  honor  the  office  of  its  occupant.    It  was  r: 
substantial  frame  building  entered  by  a  portico 
leading  through  a  large  door,  situated  between  nar- 
row Venetian  windows,  having  access  to  a  long 
hallway  connecting  with  spacious  rooms  on  each 
side.  One  day  Paulus  den  Bleyker,  accompanied  by 
his  interpreter,  appeared  at  the  Governor's  house. 
This   man   who  had   but   recently  been   released 
from  the  pest  house,  and  had  been  considered  one 
of  the  poverty-stricken  and   despised  emigrants, 
was  now  anxious  to  enter  into  a  negotiation  for 
the  purchase  of  this  beautiful  tract  of  land,  with 
its   orchard,    its   double   line   of   trees   extending 
from  the  private  gate  way  on  Lovell  street   (sit- 
uated between  the  Dr.  O.  H.  Clark  home  and  the 
Krause  property)  to  the  house.     His  proposition 
to  the  Governor  was  to  purchase  the  entire  farm, 
not  a  portion.     In  reply  from  the  Governor  the 
amount  needed  would  be  twelve  thousand  dollars, 
which  at  that  time  was  considered  a  large  sum, 
but  the  amazement  was  still  more  intense  when 
this  man  late  from  foreign  soil  was  ready  to  close 
the  deal,  so  the  gold  was  exchanged  for  the  land. 
From  the  time  of  the  settlement  in  the  Gov- 
ernor Ransom  house,  Mr.  den  Bleyker  was  ever 
after  known  as  the  "Dutch  Governor."    Realizing 
the  desirability  of  platting  this  farm  into  town  lots, 
he  secured  the  services  of  the  village  surveyor,  S. 
H.  Trask,  father  of  Mrs.  H.  S.  Cornell,  to  assist 
in  the  undertaking  and  thus  furnished  to  the  vil- 
lage  the   extensive  tract  of   land  known  as   the 
den  Bleyker  addition.     When  Mr.  den  Bleyker 
was  fully  ready  he  removed  the  gates  to  his  pri- 
vate entrance  at  Lovell  street  and  opened  up  Bur- 
dick  street  south  about  a  mile.    The  main  portion 
of  the  old  home  he  at  that  time  removed  from  the 
center  to  front  the  extended  street  from  its  east 
side.     The  old  dwelling  known  as  the  "Dutch 
Governor's"  home  stands  with  its  white  paint  and 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN 


9i 


green  blinds,  shaded  by  the  same  native  bur  oak 
and  in  the  rear  a  few  of  the  original  trees  of  the 
old  orchard  planted  over  sixty  years  ago.  One 
or  two  years  later,  understanding  the  needs  of  his 
compatriots,  and  considering  it  his  Christian  duty, 
lie  went  to  the  then  Holland  colony  and  built  and 
established  a  much  needed  lumber  and  flour  mill 
combined.  Before  this  these  people  had  been  ne- 
cessitated to  take  their  grain  to  be  ground  to 
Allegan,  twenty-seven  miles  distant.  For  two 
vears  he  spent  his  time  with  his  family,  partly  in 
Holland  and  Kalamazoo,  but  finding  this  too  ardu- 
ous, he  disposed  of  his  Holland  mills  and  devoted 
his  time  thereafter  in  Kalamazoo. 

Paulus  den  Bleyker  was  born  in  the  province 
of  South  Holland,  December  23,  1804,  was  left  an 
orphan  at  nine  years  of  age  and  was  adopted  into 
the  home  of  a  friend  who  was  possessed  of  high 
principle  and  religious  zeal.  Having  acquired  a 
common-school  education,  combined  with  keen 
observance,  he  gained  a  large  portion  of  his 
knowledge.  At  the  age  of  eighteen,  according  to 
the  laws  of  the  Netherlands,  he  was  required  to 
enter  the  army,  serving  his  country  for  nine  years, 
and  was  called  into  active  service  during  the  rev- 
olution between  Belgium  and  Holland,  at  which 
time  Belgium  became  a  secedant  from  the  Nether- 
lands. Having  distinguished  himself  by  his  sol- 
dierly bearing,  mathematical  precision  and  correct 
demeanor,  he  rose  to  the  office  of  sergeant  quar- 
termaster and  major,  equivalent  to  the  rank  of 
colonelcy  in  the  United  States.  At  the  close  of 
his  army  life  he  went  to  the  province  of  North 
Holland,  where  he  married.  He  carried  on  agri- 
culture and  also,  in  connection  with  two  gentle- 
men friends  as  partners,  he  engaged  in  a  venture 
the  undertaking  of  which  required  both  enter- 
prise and  capital.  This  reclaiming  land  from  the 
Zeuder  Zee  and  the  dyking  in  of  an  area  on  the 
north  of  the  island  Lexel,  was  an  onerous  task, 
but  this  tract  proved  an  acquisition  to  them  and  is 
i'ow  known  as  the  "Eendractel  Polder."  Mr. 
den  Bleyker  died  in  Kalamazoo,  April  8,  1872. 
leaving  three  children,  John  den  Bleyker  and  Miss 
Martha  den  Bleyker,  residing  in  Kalamazoo,  and 
toimmen  den  Bleyker,  of  Tacoma,  Wash.  He  was 
a  Christian  man,   conscientiously  devoted  to  his 


religious  views,  adhering  to  the  faith  of  the  Dutch 
Reformed  church  in  its  strictest  sense.  Ever 
considering  himself  unworthy  to  publicly  pro- 
fess, he  was  ever  full  of  doing  kindly  deeds, 
and  ever  ready  to  respond  to  the  needs  of  the 
poor,  but,  according  to  the  Bible,  never  allowed 
his  right  hand  to  know  what  his  left  hand  did. 
After  his  death  many  were  the  attestations 
made  to  his  family  of  help  rendered  by  him 
to  the  poor  and  suffering.  In  all  his  business 
ventures  caution  and  precision  were  exercised. 
He  was  scrupulously  conscientious,  enterprising 
and  energetic,  sympathetic,  just,  liberal  and  lenient 
towards  his  debtors,  especially  kind  and  loyal  to 
those  of  his  own  nationality.  Conservative  as  a 
politician,  always  voting  for  the  one  he  considered 
the  best  man  for  the  office,  regardless  of  party, — 
so  it  can  be  truly  said  he  was  a  strong  man,  who 
never  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  distress  and  embar- 
rassments of  others.  From  his-  quiet  life,  though 
busy  and  useful,  came  the  consciousness  to  his 
children  that  this  long  life  was  blest. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

HISTORY    OF   GALESBURG   SINCE    l88o. 

During  the  past  twenty-five  years  the  changes 
in  Galesburg  have  been  radical,  but  so  gradual 
that  only  by  comparison  with  the  condition  years 
ago  are  they  noticeable.  In  size  the  village  has 
grown  but  little ;  in  appearance  it  has  improved  to 
a  striking  degree.  One  of  the  first  changes  oc- 
curred in  1886,  when  Charles  Cory  purchased 
the  brick  building  known  for  many  years  as  the 
"Old  Brick/'  then  in  a  ruinous  condition,  re- 
moved it  and  erected  in  its  place  a  brick  block 
that  for  several  years  was  the  pride  of  the  village. 
In  1 89 1  the  two  wooden  store  buildings  adjoining 
on  the  west,  owned,  one  by  Dr.  W.  A.  Burdick, 
and  the  other  by  I.  V.  Brown,  were  destroyed  by 
fire  and  were,  the  following  year,  replaced  by 
neat  brick  buildings.  The  Masonic  Temple,  also 
of  brick,  was  built  soon  after.  In  1900  H.  H. 
Warren  purchased  a  lot  on  East  Battle  Creek 
street,  removed  the  frame  building  that  stood 
there  to  the  rear  of  the  premises  and  built  Hotel 


92 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


Warren,  a  handsome  brick  structure.  This  was 
purchased  in  1904  by  F.  M.  Lortei,  who  im- 
proved and  beautified  it  until  it  now  compares 
favorably  with  many  large  city  hotels.  It  is  now 
known  as  the  Hill  House.  The  same  year  ( 1900) 
Charles  Towsley  added  a  brick  block  to  the  same 
street.  The  town  hall,  also  of  brick,  was  built  in 
1901.  In  the  meantime  all  of  the  older  business 
buildings,  both  brick  and  frame,  had  been  greatly 
improved  and  modernized  until  the  business  por- 
tion of  Galesburg  presents  a  thoroughly  neat  and 
attractive  appearance. 

In  the  residence  portion  of  the  town  the 
changes  have  been  no  less  noticeable.  The  re- 
moval of  fences  and  improvement  of  houses  have 
greatly  added  to  the  attractiveness  of  the  place, 
while  the  care  of  lawns  and  streets  has  become  a 
source  of  pride  to  almost  every  resident.  Many 
years  ago  maple  trees  were  planted  along  both 
sides  of  nearly  every  street.  These  have  grown 
to  noble  proportions  until  the  tree-lined  streets 
are  now  a  marked  beauty  of  the  place,  exciting 
the  admiration  of  all  who  visit  the  town.  For  a 
number  of  years  no  new  dwellings  were  erected, 
but  during  the  past  fifteen  years  many  modern 
homes  have  been  added  to  the  place,  which,  with 
the  remodeling  of  older  ones,  have  made  the  vil- 
lage one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  the  state.  For 
many  years  a  grove  of  oak  trees,  owned  by  W.  A. 
Blake,  occupied  a  large  portion  of  a  block  in  the 
west  part  of  town.  A  few  years  ago  this  was  di- 
vided into  village  lots  and  sold  and  now  forms 
one  of  the  pleasantest  residence  portions  of  the 
place. 

In  1900  the  Michigan  Traction  Company  com- 
pleted the  construction  of  an  electric  railroad  from 
Kalamazoo  through  Galesburg  to  Battle  Creek, 
an  innovation  that  has  proved  an  untold  conven- 
ience to  the  villagers  and  nearby  farmers  and  also 
brought  about  increased  business  activity.  Not 
many  months  later  the  old  oil  lamps,  for  whose 
dim  light  former  citizens  had  been  most  thankful, 
were  discarded  and  the  streets  were  lighted  by 
means  of  electricity.  This  method  of  lighting  was 
soon  introduced  into  the  business  places  and  grad- 
ually into  many  residences.  In  1904,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  double  tracking  of  the  Michigan 


Central  Railroad,  a  part  of  a  high  wooden  bridge 
that  the  Michigan  Traction  Company  had  built 
over  that  road  was  removed  and  in  its  place  a 
steel  bridge,  which  for  strength  and  engineering 
triumph  is  unsurpassed  in  this  part  of  the  state, 
was  constructed.  This  bridge  is  eight  hundred 
feet  long  and  more  than  twenty-two  feet  above  the 
rails  below. 

Coexistant  with  material  progress  has  been 
the  intellectual.  The  Galesburg  union  schools 
have  made  long  strides  during  the  past  twenty- 
five  years  toward  efficiency  and  usefulness  and 
have  become  the  pride  of  the  community.  The 
corps  of  teachers  now  numbers  six,  besides  a 
teacher  of  vocal  music,  and  the  pupils  enrolled 
have  become  far  more  numerous  than  a  few  years 
since.  Especially  is  this  true  in  the  higher  grades 
where  the  foreign  attendance,  coming  from  all 
surrounding  districts  and  villages  and  even  from 
other  counties,  greatly  swells  the  ranks  of  pupils. 
The  courses  of  study  have  been  gradually  im- 
proved and  new  branches  added  until  now  four 
distinct  branches  are  taught.  Since  1876  the 
graduates  number  one  hundred  and  eighty,  many 
of  whom  have  become  widely  known,  while  they 
are  few  who  are  not  now  filling  positions  of  use- 
fulness and  trust.  In  1899  Mrs.  Melinda  J. 
Schroder  presented  to  the  school  the  "William  J. 
Schroder  Memorial  Laboratory  Equipment,"  in 
memory  of  her  husband,  who  was  always  deeply 
interested  in  educational  advancement.  This, 
with  what  the  school  already  possessed  and  what 
has  since  been  added  as  the  advance  of  modern 
science  necessitated,  gave  to  the  school  a  most 
valuable  means  of  instruction  in  the  natural  sci- 
ences, indeed  seldom  equalled  in  a  small  village. 
In  addition  to  this  the  supply  of  maps,  charts, 
globes,  books  of  reference,  etc.,  is  very  complete. 
The  library,  selected  with  greatest  care,  has  grad- 
ually grown  to  seven  hundred  volumes  and  in- 
cludes books  of  history,  poetry,  fiction,  etc.,  suit- 
able to  the  needs  of  pupils  of  all  ages. 

Besides  the  school  library  there  is  a  township 
library,  containing  over  five  hundred  books  of  the 
best  literature.  The  largest  library  in  the  place 
is  owned  and  managed  by  the  Ladies'  Library 
Association.     This    organization    dates    back    to 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


95 


1876,  when  it  was  started  in  a  very  humble  way 
with  only  twelve  books,  which  were  donated  by 
the  members.  From  this  modest  beginning  it 
lias  grown  steadily  to  a  library  of  thirteen  hun- 
dred volumes  that,  in  choice  of  selection  if  not  in 
number,  compares  very  favorably  with  the  libra- 
ries of  cities.  Too  much  can  not  be  said  in  appre- . 
ciation  of  the  influence  of  this  institution  in  the 
village.  Not  only  has  good  literature  been  made 
easily  accessible  to  all  residents,  but  the  standard 
of  literary  tastes  has  been  perceptibly  elevated  by 
the  untiring  efforts  of  its  members..  It  is  the 
present  hope  of  the  organization  to  erect  a  suit- 
able library  building  soon. 

Besides  this  organization  there  are  numerous 
others.  The  Mutual  Improvement  Club,  a 
women's  literary  society,  has  been  in  continuous 
existence  since  1895,  and  is  affiliated  with  the 
State  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs.  Fraternal 
societies  are  numerous.  Prairie  Lodge  No.  92, 
Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  organized  in  1856,  the 
Order  of  Eastern  Star,  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  the  Rebekahs,  the  Knights  of 
the  Maccabees  and  Ladies  of  the  Maccabees,  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  the  Modern  Woodmen,  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  the  Galesburg 
Protective  Association,  which  has  been  in  exist- 
ence since   1851,  are  all  popular. 

Four  churches  flourished  for  many  years,  but 
the  members  of  the  Adventist  denomination  grad- 
ually removed  to  other  places  and  services  in  their 
building  were  finally  abandoned.  The  house  stood 
empty  for  several  years,  then  was  sold  and  remod- 
eled into  a  dwelling.  The  Methodist  Episcopal, 
Congregational  and  Baptist  churches,  with  their 
Sunday  schools,  young  people's  and  junior  so- 
cieties and  their  various  ladies'  organizations  are 
all  in  a  thriving  condition  and  are  actively  en- 
gaged in  spreading  the  gospel  in  the  community. 
Early  in  the  '80s  a  weekly  newspaper  was 
started  in  a  modest  way  under  the  name  of  "The 
Enterprise."  It  did  not  prove  profitable  and  fre- 
quently changed  editors.  J.  B.  Smiley  at  length 
purchased  it  and  made  it  a  publication  of  con- 
siderable local  fame,  his  original  poetry  being  one 
of  its  leading  features.  As  a  humorous  poet  Mr. 
Smiley  gained  considerable  note.     In  1888  a  sec- 

6 


ond  paper  was  started  by  Henry  Ford.  This 
was  named  "The  Argus,"  and  in  1891  was  made  a 
semi-weekly.  The  two  papers  continued  as  rival 
publications  until  1903,  when,  Mr.  Smiley's  health 
failing,  Mr.  Ford  purchased  his  outfit  and  the 
Enterprise  was  absorbed  by  the  Argus.  The 
latter  is  at  present  a  wide-awake,  up-to-date  paper, 
with  a  circulation  of  fifteen  hundred,  and  is  the 
most  active  and  popular  advertising  medium  be- 
tween Battle  Creek  and  Kalamazoo. 

Other  industries  in  Galesburg  are  such  as  are 
befitting  a  village  of  its  size.  There  are  two  ho- 
tels, two  general  stores,  two  drug  stores,  two 
groceries,  a  bank,  a  meat  market,  a  furniture 
store  and  undertaking  establishment,  a  book  store, 
a  harness  shop,  two  hardware  stores,  two  milli- 
nery stores,  a  bakery,  a  barber  shop,  a  cigar  and 
confectionery  store,  a  shoe  store,  a  restaurant,  a 
livery  barn  and  two  blacksmith  shops.  Four  prac- 
ticing physicians,  two  lawyers  and  a  dentist  are 
among  the  professional  residents.  The  Gold 
Medal  Remedy  and  Extract  Company  is  a  new 
organization,  formed  in  1904,  and  at  present  en- 
gaged in  building  up  a  business. —  [Henry  Ford.] 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE   BANKING    BUSINESS    OF    SCHOOLCRAFT. 

In  1866  William  Griffiths  and  J.  C.  Moore,  of 
Three  Rivers,  and  Thomas  Griffiths,  of  School- 
craft, under  the  firm  name  of  Thomas  Griffiths  & 
Company,  bought  and  shipped  grain  and  did  a 
general  banking  business,  which  was  continued 
for  four  or  five  years.  On  April  1,  1867,  I.  W. 
Pursel,  E.  B.  Dyckman,  M.  Hale  and  M.  R.  Cobb, 
all  of  Schoolcraft,  started  a  bank  under  the  firm 
name  of  M.  R.  Cobb  &  Company,  with  a  capital 
of  eight  thousand  dollars.  They  continued  to 
receive  deposits  until  December  9,  1870.  On  this 
date  the  First  National  Bank  of  Schoolcraft  com- 
menced business,  with  a  paid-up  capital  of  thirty- 
five  thousand  dollars,  and  on  January  28,  1871, 
they  had  a  paid-up  capital  of  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars. The  officers  of  this  bank  were  E.  B.  Dyck- 
man, president,  M,  R.  Cobb,  cashier,  and  G  C. 
Dyckman,  teller.    The  First  National  continued  in 


96 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


business  until  January  10,  1876,  on  which  date  E. 

B.  Dyckman  &  Company  commenced  business 
with  a  capital  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  The 
members  of  the  firm  of  E.  B.  Dyckman  &  Com- 
pany were  E.  B.  Dyckman,  I.  W.  Pursel  and  M. 
R.  Cobb.  The  officers  were  E.  B.  Dyckman, 
president,  and  M.  R.  Cobb,  cashier.  They  con- 
tinued in  business  until,  after  the  death  of  Mr. 
Pursel,  in  1878,  Myron  M.  Cole  purchased  the 
interest  of  Mr.  Pursel,  and  the  business  continued 
under  the  same  firm  name  until  after  the  death  of 
Mr.  Dyckman,  in  October,  18881.  Nesbitt  &  Mil- 
ler commence  business  in  January,  1882,  and  the 
business  of  E.  B.  Dyckman  &  Company  was 
closed  up.  The  firm  of  Nesbitt  &  Miller  was  com- 
posed of  Thomas  Nesbitt  and  Philip  D.  Miller, 
both  of  Schoolcraft.  They  continued  in  business 
until  February,  1891,  when  the  Kalamazoo 
County  Bank,  of  Dwiggins  Starbuck  &  Company, 
was  started,  with  E.  W.  Bowman  as  cashier.  In 
1893  a  state  bank  was  organized  by  Mr.  Bowman, 
under  the  name  of  the  Kalamazoo  County  Bank,  a 
state  bank;  E.  W.  Bowman  was  president  and 
Charles  E.  Stuart  cashier.  In  July,  1897,  the 
present  bank,  the  Kalamazoo  County  Bank  of  C. 

C.  Duncan  &  Company,  was  organized  with  C.  C. 
Duncan,  president,  and  C.  E.  Stuart,  cashier. 

CHAPTER  XL 

THE   CHURCHES   AT  ALAMO. 

The  Methodist  church  has  the  distinction  of 
being  the  oldest  organization.  It  had  its  origin 
in  a  class  that  was  formed  in  a  log  house  on  the 
township  line  north  of  Jug  Corners,  in  1842,  by 
Rev.  F.  Gage.  The  members  of  this  class  were 
Thomas  G.  Carpenter  and  wife ;  F.  Montague  and 
wife;  T.  Johnson,  J.  Johnson  and  others.  Ser- 
vices were  held  at  various  places  in  the  township, 
as  convenience  dictated.  The  brick  school  house 
at  the  Center,  the  Hackley  school  house  and  one 
known  at  that  time  as  the  Spalding  school  house 
were  the  principal  places. 

In  1867  the  societies  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal and  Presbyterian  churches  united  to  form 
a  house  of  worship,   which   was   dedicated  and 


opened  for  services  in  1869.  At  the  time  of  their 
union  and  occupancy  of  the  new  edifice,  they 
numbered  fifty  members.  In  1880  they  numbered 
seventy-five  members. 

From  the  erection  of  the  church  to  1880,  the 
following  ministers  have  officiated.  Rev.  T.  J. 
Congdon,  Rev.  William  Cogshall,  Rev.  E.  D. 
Young,  Rev.  C.  T.  Van  Antwerp,  Rev.  J.  S. 
Valentine,  and  Rev.  E.  H.  Day. 

The  Rev.  Congdon  retired  from  the  ministry 
soon  after  he  closed  his  pastorate  here.  He  bought 
a  house  and  store  at  Alamo  Center  and  moved 
his  family  from  Cooper  (he  resided  at  Cooper 
and  preached  at  Cooper  and  Alamo)  to  his  new 
home.  Here  for  several  years  he  kept  a  general 
store  and  the  postoffice.  Well  does  the  writer 
remember,  when  but  a  little  schoolgirl  in  company 
with  her  mates  of  receiving  many  treats  of  candy 
from  the  kind  old  gentleman.  After  a  time  he 
sold  the  store  and  purchased  a  farm  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  street,  where  he  erected  a  fine 
dwelling.  After  a  few  years,  as  he  realized  that 
age  and  infirmity  were  creeping  upon  him,  he 
sold  his  property  at  the  Center  and,  with  his 
family  sought  the  genial  climate  of  California. 
After  a  short  residence  in  that  sunny  climate, 
he  heard  the  call  of  the  Master  to  that  "Great 
Beyond"  where  we  trust  he  heard  the  welcome 
words,  "Well  done;  enter  thou  unto  the  joys 
of  thy  Lord." 

Rev.  Van  Antwerp  now  resides  at  Lake  View, 
Montcalm  county,  Mich.  He  has  retired  from 
active  work  on  account  of  his  health  and  it  is 
hardly  expected  he  will  be  adequate  to  perform 
the  duties  of  a  pastor  again.  His  aged  and  in- 
firm father-in-law  resides  with  him. 

Rev.  E.  H.  Day  died  of  pneumonia  at  Cad- 
illac, Mich.,  March  31,  1904,  at  the  age  of  seven- 
ty-six years.  Mr.  Day  closed  a  five-years  pastorate 
in  Lawton,  and  retired  from  the  ministry,  in 
which  he  had  served  fifty-one  years.  He  enter- 
ed the  ministry  at  the  age  of  twenty-four  years 
and  was  sent  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church 
to  the  Indians  west  of  Lake  Superior.  Arrived 
at  the  Sault,  he  waited  two  weeks  for  a  steam- 
boat to  be  drawn  over  the  rapids  by  horse  power. 
By  the  first  trip  of  this  steamer,  the  first  on  the 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


97 


lake,  he  reached  La  Pontie,  a  post  of  the  Amer- 
ican Fur  Company,  thence  by  a  small  boat  to 
his  station,  a  small  place  about  twenty-five  miles 
above  what  is  now  Duluth.  Here,  one  hundred 
miles  from  a  white  man,  from  supplies  and  a 
postoffice,  he  labored  three  years.  His  next  work 
was  among  the  miners  at  Cliff  mine,  on  Eagle 
river  and  Ontonnagon,  at  each  place  he  spent 
two  years  and  built  a  church.  Then  he  went 
among  the  Indians  in.  Allegan  county  and 
near  Hastings;  there  we  see  him  on  his  first 
appointment  among  the  white  churches,  at  Char- 
lotte, Hastings  and  vicinity,  making  the  rounds 
of  eighteen  stations,  one  hundred  and  forty  miles, 
on  foot,  once  in  three  weeks.  He,  with  Rev. 
Bush,  his  able  helper,  was  a  leader  in  the  great 
revival  at  Alamo  in  1878.  During  his  life  he 
witnessed  some  five  thousand  conversions.  Well 
done,  faithful  servant,  it  is  meet  you  should  enter 
your  reward.  Of  the  other  ministers  spoken  of 
the  writer  can  give  no  account.  Since  1880  the 
names  of  some  of  the  ministers  who  have  served 
the  people  are  Rev.  C.T.  Van  Antwerp,  Rev.  Wal- 
lace, deceased,  Rev.  Cottrell,  and  Rev.  Boswick. 
During  the  present  summer  the  church  was 
struck  by  lightning,  the  steeple  demolished  and 
other  damage  done.  It  has  been  nicely  repaired 
and  with  its  symmetry  and  fresh  coat  of  paint 
is  an  imposing  structure,  an  honor  to  Alamo. 

The  Presbyterian  church  was  organized  May 
17,  1865,  by  Rev.  S.  Osinga,  acting  pastor.  The 
individuals  who  enrolled  their  names  as  its  first 
members  were  J.  Tallman,  S.  D.  Barbour,  C.  W. 
Barber  and  wife,  S.  Love,  Jane  E.  Love,  Mrs.  H. 
Maregang  and  Lydia  Bachelder.  S.  D.  and  C.  W. 
Barbour  were  elected  as  the  first  elders  and  a  peti- 
tion was  forwarded  to  the  Kalamazoo  presbytery 
to  be  taken  under  its  care,  which  was  granted. 
The  first  communion  was  held  in  the  school  house 
at  Alamo  Center,  June  11,  1865.  The  society 
united  with  the  Methodist  church  in  1867,  for  the 
purpose  of  erecting  a  house  of  worship.  After 
the  erection  of  the  edifice  some  of  the  members 
united  with  the  Congregational  church.  As  far 
as  my  knowledge  extends,  there  is  at  present  no 
Presbyterian  organization  in  Alamo. 

Congregational    Church. — The    following 


extract  was  taken  from  the  early  records  of  the 
church  referring  to  its  organization: 

"Alamo,   Mich.,  October,   1849. 

"At  a  council,  called  by  letters  missive,  by  the 
brethren  interested,  and  by  the  Rev.  Isaac  C. 
Crane,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  church  in 
this  place,  there  was  present  I.  C.  Crane,  of  this 
place ;  Rev.  A.  S.  Kedzie,  of  Kalamazoo ;  Broth- 
er M.  Everett,  of  the  Congregational  church, 
Kalamazoo ;  Brother  L.  Fasler,  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church  of  Otsego,  and  Brothers  James  Tall- 
man  and  Julius  Hackley,  of  this  place.  The  Rev. 
I.  C.  Crane  was  appointed  moderator  and  the  Rev. 
A.  S.  Kedzie  was  appointed  scribe.  The  council 
was  opened  with  prayer.  After  a  full  discussion 
of  the  subject  by  the  council  and  by  the  brethren 
interested,  it  was  resolved  that  this  council  recom- 
mend to  their  brethren  that  they  be  formed  into  a 
church.  The  following  persons  then  presented 
letters  of  admission  and  recommendation  from 
the  churches  with  which  they  were  connected, 
viz :  James  Tallman  and  Elizabeth  Tallman,  from 
the  church  at  Lodi  Plains,  Mich. ;  Julius  Hackley 
and  Dorothy  Hackley,  from  the  church  at  Otsego, 
Mich. ;  Searles  D.  Barbour,  from  the  church  at 
Oxford,  Mass. :  Charles  Barber,  from  the 
church  at  Kalamazoo,  Mich. ;  Rev.  I.  C.  Crane, 
from  the  Methodist  Prostestant  church ;  Agnes 
Tallman  and  Martha  Green  were  received  on  pro- 
fesion  of  faith.  The  church  then  made  choice  of 
Brothers  Julius  Hackley  and  C.  W.  Barber  as 
deacons,  who  were  then  set  apart  to  the  office  with 
prayer  by  the  council.  Brother  Searles  D.  Bar- 
bour was  appointed  scribe.  The  church  then  ad- 
journed. 

Isaac  C.  Crane, 

Moderator.,, 
"A.   S.   Kedzie,   Scribe." 

Their  first  pastor  was  Rev.  I.  C.  Crane  and 
in  1853  the  following  officers  were  unanimously 
elected:  Malon  Everett,  Julius  Hackley,  dea- 
cons ;  Charles  W.  Barbour,  clerk ;  Julius  Hackley, 
treasurer  of  benevolent  fund.  Rev.  B.  F.  Mon- 
roe began  his  work  as  pastor  in  1853,  and  con- 
tinued his  pastorate  for  three  years,  after  which 
the  church  became  extinct.  An  effort  was  made 
to  revive  the  organization  in  1863,  and  in  June  of 


98 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


that  year  Rev.  S.  Ozinga  began  his  labors  and 
continued  them  until  May  5,  1867,  when  his  fare- 
well sermon  was  preached.  In  the  summer  of 
1867  Rev.  B.  F.  Monroe  returned  to  this  field  of 
labor,  and  in  December  of  that  year  the  church 
was  organized.  At  the  next  meeting  the  follow- 
ing persons  presented  themselves  for  member- 
ship :  S.  D.  Barbour,  C.  W.  Barber  and  wife,  Ju- 
lius Hackley  and  wife  and  Mrs.  Selkrig.  Julius 
Hackley  and  C.  W.  Barber  were  elected  deacons, 
and  S.  D.  Barbour,  clerk.  All  the  above  men- 
tioned have  been  called  from  the  church  terrestrial 
to  the  church  celestial.  The  first  and  youngest 
to  receive  the  call  was  S.  D.  Barbour,  who  passed 
away  at  the  age  of  fifty- four ;  he  died  September 
13,  1873.  The  last  in  this  list  to  receive  the  call 
was  his  brother,  C.  W.  Barber,  whose  summons 
came  August  24,  1903,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six 
years.  Agnes  Barber,  his  wife,  departed  this  life 
October  8,  1893,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three  years. 
Lydia  Bachelder's  death  occurred  February  12, 
1888.  Mrs.  Selkrig  died  about  1877  or  1878. 
Mrs.  Hackley 's  work  closed  June  24,  1890,  at 
the  ripe  age  of  eighty-one  years.  Mr.  Hackley, 
her  husband,  traveled  on  nine  lonely  years  without 
his  helpmeet,  after  which  he  was  called  to  meet 
her  where  loneliness  is  unknown.  Mr.  Hackley 
lived  to  be  the  oldest  of  the  group,  he  having 
reached  his  ninety-first  milestone.  Mr.  Monroe 
was  the  first  minister  to  serve  in  the  new  edifice, 
he  acting  as  pastor  during  its  construction.  The 
two  churches  added  materially  to  the  growth  of 
our  little  village.  The  day  of  the  raising  of  the 
church  here  the  children  scampered  upon  the  back 
seat  of  the  old  brick  school  house,  where,  from 
the  windows  they  could  watch  the  men  heave  the 
ponderous  beams  in  position ;  with  what  keen  ap- 
petites they  viewed  the  long  tables  set  in  the  par- 
sonage yard,  being  piled  with  choice  viands  by  the 
noble  and  good  women  of  Alamo.  The  little 
people's  turn  came  at  last.  The  men  feasted  and 
departed.  There  was  a  superabundance  for  all. 
The  tables  fairly  groaned  under  their  weight. 

After  a  pastorate  of  three  years  Rev.  Monroe 
resigned  in.  March,  1870.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Rev.  Elam  Branch,  who  began  his  labors  in  July 
of  the  same  year  and  closed  them  April  1,  1872. 


The  following  year  Rev.  Armstrong  served  Alamo 
and  Cooper.  Rev.  E.  Dyer  came  June  29,  1873, 
and  continued  to  minister  to  the  people  until  Rev. 
F.  W.  Bush  was  installed  April  1,  1877.  He  re- 
mained about  four  years.  He  worked  harmoni- 
ously with  his  Methodist  brother,  Rev.  Day,  and 
through  their  efforts  many  were  added  to  the 
churches.  Mr.  Bush  has  visited  Alamo  several 
times  since  his  pastorate  here.  A  few  years  ago 
he  delivered  the  Memorial  Day  sermon  at  Alamo. 
Quite  recently  he  was  called  to  officiate  at  the 
funeral  of  one  who  used  to  listen  to  his  sermons 
during  his  pastorate  here.  Mr.  Bush,  though  past 
the  prime  of  life,  is  still  in  the  ministry  and  at 
present  located  at  Clarksville,  Mich. 

The  church  membership  in  1880  numbered 
ninety-two.  The  deacons  at  that  date  were  Jo- 
seph Coshun,  Penuel  Hobbs  and  C.  W.  Barber; 
the  trustees,  H.  C.  Van  Vranken  and  Oliver 
Brocway;  clerk,  C.  W.  Barber. 

Since  1880  the  church  has  lost  greatly  through 
death  and  removal ;  the  present  membership  is 
about  ninety.  The  following  are  some  who  have 
served  as  pastors  since  1880:  Mr.  Lanphere,  Mr. 
Bradley,  Mr.  Keightley,  the  latter  two  were  na- 
tives of  England;  these  two  have  passed  to  their 
reward.  Mr.  Keightley  died  at  his  daughter's  in 
Detroit,  June  24,  1894,  at  the  age  of  three  score 
years.  His  first  work  was  as  a  missionary  in  the 
east  part  of  the  state;  his  health  failed  and  he 
gave  up  this  work  and  preached  at  several  places, 
Alamo  being  among  the  number  and  nearly  the 
last  place. 

"Beautiful  toiler,  thy  work  all  done, 
Beautiful  soul,  into  glory  gone  ; 
God  giveth  thee  rest." 

His  widow  has  visited  Alamo  three  times,  the 
last  time  being  during  the  last  summer.  We  all 
enjoy  the  visits  of  so  genial  and  Christian  a  woman 
as  Mrs.  Keightley.  May  she  make  many  such 
sojourns  in  Alamo. 

The  next  minister  to  Alamo  was  Mr.  Web- 
ster, then  Mr.  Hurbert,  then  Mr.  Andrus,  then 
Mr.  Lillie,  then  Mr.  Randal,  next  Mr.  Snyder, 
Mr.  Malar,  Mr.  C.  Maxfield,  Rev.  Malar  and  Mr. 
O.  Johnson. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


99 


This  church,  like  her  sister  church,  received  a 
touch  of  the  electric  fluid ;  but  it  did  much  less 
damage.  I  do  not  just  remember  the  date,  but 
think  it  was  about  1894  or  1895. 

Joseph  Coshuri  is  still  serving  as  deacon,  one 
of  the  oldest  members  of  the  church,  a  faithful 
and  stanch  member.  May  it  be  many  years  before 
he  hears  the  bugle  call  to  join  the  soldiers  over 
the  river.  The  other  deacons  are  Alvord  Peck 
and  Westley  Edwards. 

Both  churches  are  provided  with  furnaces  and 
are  well  lighted.  Services  are  held  nearly  every 
Sunday.  In  the  Congregational  in  the  morning 
and  in  the  afternoon  at  the  Methodist;  in  the 
evening  at  both.  Memorial  Day  services,  in  charge 
of  H.  P.  Shutt,  are  held  annually,  alternating  with 
each  church. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

STATE    ASYLUM     FOR    THE    INSANE. 

This  admirable  institution,  which  represents 
the  finely  organized  charity  of  the  state  to  one 
class  of  its  unfortunate  citizens,  has  been  in  opera- 
tion for  many  years,  and  its  history  is  peculiar  and 
unique.  The  Michigan  Asylums  for  the  Insane, 
the  Deaf,  Dumb  and  Blind,  were  established  in 
1848.  The  reasons  for  associating,  under  a  single 
board,  three  institutions,  having  nothing  in  com- 
mon, either  in  their  general  object,  construction, 
organization  or  management,  do  not  appear  in 
any  state  document  or  paper,  but  in  that  year 
petitions  from  various  sections  of  the  state  were 
presented  to  the  legislature,  asking  for  the  adop- 
tion of  some  method  of  care  for  the  insane,  and 
the  superintendents  of  the  poor  of  Kent,  Saginaw 
and  Wayne  counties  also  asked  for  some  provision 
for  the  same  object. 

In  a  special  message,  dated  February  28,  1848, 
Governor  Ransom  recommended  that  "provision 
should  be  made  for  the  establishment  of  a  hos- 
pital for  the  insane  and  an  asylum  for  the  deaf 
and  dumb  at  the  earliest  period  consistent  with 
the  existing  obligations  of  the  state."  This  mes- 
sage was  soon  followed  by  an  enactment,  estab- 
lishing such  institutions,   providing  for  ,  the  ap- 


pointment of  a  board  of  trustees,  which  was  to  se- 
lect suitable  sites  and  erect  buildings,  and  appro- 
priating eight .  sections  of  salt  spring  lands  for 
these  purposes.  In  1849  tn€  Governor  announced 
that  from  the  conditions  then  existing,  he  would 
defer  the  appointment  of  the  board  and  renewed 
his  recommendation  that  other  provision  than  that 
made  in  the  previous  act  should  be  speedily 
made  and  that  suitable  grounds  should  be  selected 
and  set  apart  for  the  erection  of  proper  buildings. 

In  1850  Messrs.  Hascall,  Stuart,  Cook,  Taylor 
and  Farnsworth  presented  their  first  report  as 
trustees,  saying  that  they  had  located  the  Asylum 
for  the  Insane  at  Kalamazoo,  the  citizens  of  that 
place  giving  to  the  state  fifteen  hundred  dollars 
in  addition  "to  a  site  for  the  asylum,  containing 
ten  acres  of  land."  The  legislature  this  year  ap- 
propriated five  thousand  as  an  asylum  fund.  In 
185 1  the  trustees  recommended  the  sale  of. the  ten 
acres  at  Kalamazoo  and  the  purchasing  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  in  the  vicinity  and  urged 
a  more  liberal  appropriation.  In  1853  Governor 
McClelland  commended  the  asylums  of  the  state 
to  the  favorable  notice  of  the  legislature,  which 
appropriated  twenty-three  thousand  dollars  to  be 
used  as  a  purchasing  and  construction  fund  in 
1853  and  1854.  The  trustees,  Sheldon  McKnight, 
Bela  Hubbard,  P.  J.  Spaulding,  Israel  Kellogg, 
and  Joseph  B.  Walker  were  authorized  to  sell  the 
ten  acres  formerly  donated.  By  this  time  the 
very  beautiful,  attractive  and  desirable  location 
where  the  asylum  now  stands  had  been  purchased. 
It  contained  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  for 
which  eight  dollars  an  acre  was  paid. 

Before  1856,  $17,487.48  had  been  expended  in 
preliminary  work  to  the  construction  of  buildings, 
in  labor  on  the  central  building,  etc.  In  1855-6 
sixty-seven  thousand  dollars  was  appropriated  as 
an  asylum  construction  fund.  In  1857  the  con- 
nection which  had  obtained  from  the  first  legis- 
lation on  the  asylums  between  the  Flint  and  Kala- 
mazoo institutions  was  severed  and  a  separate 
board  appointed  for  each.  The  state  building 
commissioner  at  the  time  reported  to  the  legisla- 
ture that  the  building  was  "very  perfectly  adapted 
to  the  purposes  of  its  erection,  losing  nothing 
when  compared  with  the  most  expensive  asylums 


IOO 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


in  sister  states."  They  adopted  for  their  rule  of 
action  the  embodied  experience  of  the  Associa- 
tion of  Medical  Superintendents  of  American 
Asylums,  and  by  the  early  appointment  of  a  medi- 
cal officer,  "with  the  view  of  having  the  building 
erected  so  far  under  his  supervision  as  to  secure 
his  approbation  when  finished,  all  capricious  modi- 
fications and  changes  in  plan  and  policy  have  been 
avoided/'  The  buildings  and  surroundings  were 
erected  in  accordance  with  plans  furnished  by 
that  eminent  specialist  in  the  care  of  the  insane, 
Dr.  John  P.  Gray,  who  was  elected  superintend- 
ent in  1855,  one  year  later  resigning  to  become 
the  superintendent  of  the  New  York  State  Asy- 
lum. From  1856  to  March,  1878,  Dr.  Edward  H. 
Van  Deusen  guided  the  affairs  of  the  asylum. 

On  February  11,  1858,  the  central  building 
was  totally  destroyed  by  fire,  which  seriously  de- 
layed progress,  but  in  1859  tne  trustees  reported 
to  the  legislature  that  they  were  nearly  ready  to 
care  for  ninety  patients,  and  asked  for  sufficient 
monies  to  increase  the  capacity  so  that  they  could 
provide  for  one  hundred  and  forty-four  patients. 
The  progress  was  greatly  hampered  at  this  time 
by  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  funds,  although  the 
state  made  a  liberal  appropriation,  and  the  im- 
possibility of  obtaining  the  appropriations  of  1859 
and  i860  was  a  serious  blow  to  the  state's  interest 
in  this  direction.  The  asylum  was  fully  equipped 
and  organized  for  the  reception  of  patients  by 
February  24,  1859.  Eleven  years  had  slowly 
passed  from  the  time  of  the  first  organization 
until  it  was  formally  opened  (this  event  occurring 
on  August  29,  1859),  and  much  suffering  had  re- 
sulted. From  the  organization  and  opening  of 
the  south  wing  to  the  building  of  the  north  wing, 
seven  years  of  time,  three  hundred  and  fifty  pa- 
tients could  be  accommodated.  From  the  com- 
mencement of  the  north  wing  until  provision  was 
made  for  the  male  department  (which  offered  ac- 
commodations for  three  hundred)  five  years 
elapsed. 

In  1859  tne  act  °^  organization,  under  which 
the  affairs  of  the  asylum  are  yet  conducted,  be- 
came a  law.  The  first  board  of  trustees  was  Dr. 
Z.  Pitcher,  Messrs.  Coggeshall,  Montague,  Pratt, 
Trask  and   Woodbury.     The  first  meeting  was 


held  on  March  30,  1859,  when  L.  H.  Trask  was 
chosen  president  of  the  board  and  J.  P.  Woodbury, 
secretary.  Dr.  -  Edwin  H.  Van  Deusen  was  re- 
elected superintendent,  and  on  April  23d  the  first 
patient  was  received.  David  A.  McNair  was  elect- 
ed treasurer  on  March  30, 1859,  and  on  April  28th 
the  code  of  by-laws  was  adopted.  William  Brooks 
succeeded  J.  P.  Woodbury  as  secretary  of  the 
board  on  June  14,  1859.  The  first  religious  serv- 
ices were  held  in  one  of  the  little  parlors  of  the 
south  wing  on  November  6,  1859.  The  north 
wing  was  completed,  furnished  and  prepared  for 
occupancy  in  September,  1869,  at  a  cost  of  $27- 
091.70,  this  building  being  the  completion  of  the 
originally  planned  asylum,  the  foundation  of 
which  was  laid  in  April,  1854. 

In  1871  two  additional  buildings,  an  "asylum 
extension"  of  sufficient  capacity  to  accommodate 
two  hundred  and  fifty  patients,  was  ordered 
erected,  and  eighty  thousand  dollars  was  appro- 
priated by  the  legislature  to  be  expended  in  1871 
for  that  purpose  and  one  hundred  and  forty  thou- 
sand for  1872.  These  buildings  increased  the 
size  of  the  asylum  so  much  that  more  than  five 
hundred  and  fifty  patients  could  be  cared  for 
easily  and  raised  it  in  rank  and  efficiency  to  the 
standing  of  the  large  and  admirable  institutions 
of  New  York  and  other  older  states.  The  rooms 
were  made  commodious  and  cheerful  and  the 
solidity  and  excellent  character  of  the  work  were 
vouched  for  by  experienced  builders. 

The  chapel  building  was  completed  in  1872, 
the  dedicatory  services  being  held  on  June  30th. 
Many  citizens  of  Kalamazoo  and  citizens  of  Mich- 
igan and  other  states  gave  generous  contri- 
butions to  this  work.  From  the  time  the 
first  patient  was  admitted  for  treatment  in 
April,  1859,  the  total  number  of  inmates  of 
the  asylum  up  to  July  27,  1904,  was  9,576; 
1,591  receiving  treatment  at  that  time.  The  es- 
timated annual  increase  from  the  admission  of 
the  first  patient  to  the  present  time  in.  the  number 
yearly  is  fifty  patients. 

On  April  5,  1872,  the  trustees  met  with  a  great 
loss  in  the  death  of  one  of  their  number,  Dr.  Zina 
Pitcher.  He  was  a  trustee  of  the  asylum  from 
its  separate  organization  in  1859  until  his  death— 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


IOI 


thirteen  years.  Standing  high  as  an  authority 
in  his  special  field,  he  held,  with  marked  ability, 
the  office  of  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of 
the  Michigan  State  Asylum  for  the  Insane  and 
for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  from  1856  to  1859,  when 
he  commenced  his  official  connection  with  the 
Kalamazoo  work.  Dr.  Pitcher  was  eminently 
fitted  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  onerous  office. 
Having  conscientious  fidelity  to  duty,  a  broad 
professional  experience  and  an  enlightened  judg- 
ment, he  had  in  a  high  degree  the  qualities  essen- 
tial to  the  proper  inauguration  of  a  beneficent 
public  institution.  Among  those  not  heretofore 
mentioned,  his  acute  and  vigorous  intellect,  his 
great  Christian  philanthropy  and  his  heartfelt 
sympathy  for  not  only  the  insane,  but  for  all  suf- 
fering persons,  must  be  especially  noted.  During 
his  long  term  of  service  he  acted  on  the  commit- 
tee on  the  appointment  of  the  medical  staff,  dis- 
charging the  difficult  and  delicate  duties  with  a 
wise  and  far-seeing  sagacity. 

What  is  known  as  the  "colony  system,"  the 
most  advanced  and  beautiful  system  yet  devised 
to  the  treatment  of  the  class  of  diseases  known  as 
mental  disorders,  has  been  fully  adopted  here. 
The  asylum  farm  proper  has  been  enlarged  until 
it  now  embraces  in  its  area  three  hundred  and 
forty  acres.  In  1885  the  Brook  farm,  lying  north 
of  the  city  of  Kalamazoo,  was  purchased.  This 
contains  two  hundred  and  fifty-six  acres  and  is 
admirably  adapted  to  give  healthful  labor  and 
cheering  recreation  to  the  class  of  patients  as- 
signed to  its  care  and  labors.  Forty-seven  men 
are  now  under  treatment  here  and  the  duties  of 
the  farm  are  largely  attended  to  by  them.  In 
1887  tne  Hinds  farm,  now  known  as  the  Colony 
farm,  at  this  writing  comprising  three  hundred 
and  fifty-seven  acres,  became  the  property  of  the 
asylum.  Here  the  cottage  plan  was  first  inaugu- 
rated and  has  been  most  fully  carried  out.  On 
this  farm,  which  was  most  beautifully  adapted  by 
nature  for  its  present  mission,  are  now  located 
four  cottages,  the  Van  Deusen,  giving  a  home  to 
thirty-five  women;  the  Palmer,  furnishing  rooms 
to  twenty-nine  women ;  the  Pratt,  occupied  by 
seventy-two  men ;  the  Mitchell,  caring  for  seventy- 
nine  women.     "Fair  Oaks"  is  devoted  to  the  use 


of  the  medical  staff  of  the  asylum  as  a  residence. 
The  colony  system  deserves  a  word  of  atten- 
tion in  this  connection.  It  is  like  a  pleasure  re- 
sort in  many  of  its  features,  combining,  however, 
more  of  the  characteristics  of  a  home,  where  the 
household  duties  and  the  work  of  gardening  are 
done  under  freedom  of  action,  thus  affording 
regular  occupations  to  distract  the  mind  from 
troubled  thoughts,  and  at  the  same  time  making 
the  patient  self-supporting  to  quite  an  extent.  In 
other  words,  construction  of  quarters  for  four 
hundred  patients,  under  the  "room"  method, 
would  cost  the  state  four  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars ;  under  the  colony  plan,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  thousa-nd.  By  large  pleasure  grounds, 
long  walks  within  the  inclosure  "far  from  the 
maddening  crowd,"  the  complete  isolation  of  the 
quieter  patients  from  the  noisy  ones,  and  the  ad- 
vantages, mentioned  heretofore,  of  exercise  at 
liberty  in  the  open  air  and  an  opportunity  to  keep 
busy  at  pleasant  employment,  a  very  beneficial 
effect  is  produced.  This  colony  method  does  not 
obtain,  however,  in  treating  persons  suffering 
from  acute  diseases,  accompanied  by  great  ex- 
citement and  uncontrollable  impulses.  For  the 
most  part  these  privileges  are  enjoyed  by  chronic 
cases  of  mild  character  and  of  long  standing. 

The  site  of  the  asylum  is  a  most  admirable  one, 
on  a  height  of  land  overlooking  the  beautiful 
valley  of  the  Kalamazoo  river  at  an  eleva- 
tion of  over  one  hundred  feet.  Over  one- 
fifth  of  the  grounds  is  covered  with  a  fine, 
thrifty  growth  of  forest  trees,  principally 
oak  and  hickory,  and  the  extensive  grounds  in 
front  of  the  buildings  are  covered  with  a  scatter- 
ing growth  of  oaks,  that  stand  out  clear  and  free 
from  underbrush,  adding  to  the  general  beauty 
of  the  place,  and  furnishing  highly  appreciated 
shade  to  the  inmates  in  the  hot  days  of  summer. 
Arcadia  creek,  a  clear,  rapid  stream,  runs  through 
the  asylum  farm  and  the  land  gradually  falls  away, 
presenting  knolls,  hollows,  plains  and  ravines  in  a 
great  variety  until  the  valley  of  the  creek,  west 
of  the  buildings,  had  attained  a  low  level, '  suffi- 
cient to  give  the  best  of  drainage  facilities.  The 
soil  of  this  farm  is  a  sandy  loam,  very  product- 
ive and  easily  tilled. 


102 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


From  its  inception  the  asylum  has  been  espe- 
cially favored  by  the  high  character  and  special 
ability  of  the  men  who  have  been  in  charge.  Dr. 
Gray  and  Dr.  Pitcher  have  already  been  men- 
tioned, and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  nowhere 
in  the  whole  extent  of  the  American  continent 
could  an  individual  have  been  found  as  compe- 
tent to  wisely  and  tenderly  conduct  its  affairs  as 
was  Dr.  E.  H.  Van  Deusen,  to  whose  devoted 
endeavor  from  1859  to  1878,  as  its  medical  super- 
intendent, very  much  of  its  national  reputation, 
as  a  model  institution  in  its  line,  has  been  de- 
rived. His  successor,  Dr.  George  C.  Palmer,  was 
a  superintendent  of  like  character.  He  held  of- 
fice until  June  1,  1891,  when,  on  his  resignation, 
he  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  William  M.  Edwards, 
who  had  been  connected  with  the  medical  staff 
since  May  1,  1884.  Dr.  Edwards  stood  in  the 
same  rank  in  the  estimation  of  the  people  as  did 
his  distinguished  predecessors.  He  died  in  April, 
1905,  and  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Alfred  I.  Noble 
as  superintendent.  Dr.  Alfred  I.  Noble  was  born 
in  Fairfield,  Me.,  forty-nine  years  ago,  and  his 
entire  life  as  a  student  was  passed  in  his  native 
state.  After  graduating  from  the  schools  of  Fair- 
field, he  entered  Colby  College  in  1879  and  grad- 
uated with  honors  in  the  class  of  1883.  His 
course  there  was  academical,  and  upon  gradu- 
ating he  entered  the  medical  school  of  Bowdoin 
College.  He  was  graduated  in  1886  and  went 
to  Boston,  where  he  practiced  for  a  short  time, 
and  then  came  to  Worcester  and  entered  the  in- 
sane hospital.  During  the  first  of  his  being  there 
Dr.  Noble  served  as  a  medical  attendant,  but  he 
rapidly  rose  from  one  position  of  trust  to  another 
until  seven  years  ago  he  was  made  assistant  su- 
perintendent under  Superintendent  Hosea  M. 
Quinby.  His  medical  staff  is  in  perfect  accord 
with  him,  being  most  faithful,  competent  and 
efficient  co-workers  in  their  human  treatment 
of  the  suffering  and  in  all  lines  of  sanitary 
science. 

The  present  roster  of  trustees  and  officers,  we 
will  here  give:  Trustees— Alfred  J.  Mills,  presi- 
dent, Kalamazoo;  Erastus  N.  Bates,  Moline; 
Chauncey  F.  Cook,  Hillsdale ;  Harris  B.  Os- 
borne,   M.    D.,    Kalamazoo;     C.    S.    Palmerton, 


Woodland ;  Charles  E.  Belknap,  Grand  Rap- 
ids. Resident  Officers — Alfred  I.  Noble,  med- 
ical superintendent ;  W.  A.  Stone,  assistant 
superintendent.  Assistant  physicians — Herman 
Ostrander,  George  F.  Inch,  Frances  E.  Bar- 
rett, Charles  W.  Thompson,  Emory  J.  Brady, 
George  G.  Richards,  S.  Rudolph  Light;  John  A. 
Hoffman,  steward ;  Edwin  J.  Phelps,  treasurer. 
The  total  number  of  employes  now  is  three  hun- 
dred. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

KALAMAZOO    EDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

One  of  the  many  good  reasons  for  which  the 
citizens  of  Kalamazoo  are  proud  of  their  beautiful 
city  is  for  its  wonderful  educational  advantages. 
These  institutions  are  not  only  numerous,  but  are 
all  well  in  the  front  ranks  of  institutions  of  a  like 
nature.  These  are  of  an  exceedingly  high 
standard,  and  have,  for  merit  alone,  become  favor- 
ably known  as  educational  institutions  of  great 
excellence.  No  western  city  of  equal  size  and 
very  few  eastern  cities  can  compare  with  Kala- 
mazoo in  variety  and  standard  of  educational 
institutions.  Thousands  and  thousands  of  dollars 
are  represented  by  the  property  owned  by  these 
institutions. 

Kalamazoo  College  is  the  oldest  established 
educational  institution  in  the  city,  being  founded 
in  1835  by"  the  Rev.  Thomas  Merrill.  It  enjoys 
the  distinction  of  being  one  of  the  first  co-educa- 
tional colleges  in  America.  For  the  past  twelve 
years  Dr.  Arthur  Gaylord  Slocum  has  been  its 
president  and  has  brought  it  to  its  present  pros- 
perity. It  is  affiliated  with  the  University  of  Chi- 
cago, and  has  a  faculty  of  cultured  and  competent 
instructors. 

Michigan  Seminary  is  another  of  Kalamazoo's 
institutions  of  learning  that  is  widely  known.  It 
is  a  high  class  school  for  young  ladies  and  is  under 
the  competent  guidance  of  the  Rev.  John.  Gray, 
the  president  of  the  institution. 

The  Western  State  Normal  School  is  a  com- 
paratively recent  addition  to  Kalamazoo's  educa- 
tional   institutions,    and    commands    a    beautiful 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


105 


view  of  the  valley  from  Prospect  Hill.  Dwight 
B.  Waldo  is  president  of  the  institution,  which 
has  one  of  the-  most  cultured  and  able  faculties  in 
the  state. 

Nazareth  Academy,  a  Catholic  institution,  is 
located  two  miles  east  of  the  city,  and  is  a  school 
of  high  rank  in  every  way.  The  other  Catholic 
institutions  are  Le  Fevre  Institute  and  St.  Joseph 
Institute. 

Parson's  Business  College  is  a  commercial 
school  of  high  rank  and  of  splendid  reputation. 
It  graduates  every  year  numbers  of  excellent 
bookkeepers  and  stenographers. 

The  public  schools  of  Michigan  are  well  known 
for  their  excellence  throughout  the  country.  The 
public  schools  of  Kalamazoo  are  in  the  front  rank 
of  the  schools  of  Michigan.  There  are  seven 
graded  schools  at  present,  with  negotiations  being 
made  for  a  new  one  on  Reed  street.  The  Kala- 
mazoo Central  High  School  is  one  of  the  finest  in 
the  state,  as  is  also  the  new  Vine  street  school, 
which  is  inspected  almost  every  day  by  out-of- 
town  visitors.  About  one  hundred  and  fifty 
teachers  are  employed  by  the  board  of  education, 
who  demand  scholarship  and  good  character  in 
teachers.  Perhaps  more  than  eny thing  else  she 
possesses,  Kalamazoo  should  be  proud  of  her 
public  schools. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

MICHIGAN    FEMALE    SEMINARY. 

This  popular  and  important  institution,  which 
numbers  among  its  graduates  many  of  the  best 
and  brightest  ladies  in  this  and  neighboring  states, 
was  incorporated  in  December,  1856.  It  was  or- 
ganized under  the  auspices  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  in  the  synod  of  Michigan.  A  tract  of 
thirty-two  acres  of  land,  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Kalamazoo  river,  was  purchased  as  its  site.  It 
has  a  fine,  healthful  and  commanding  location 
upon  the  slopes  and  uplands  of  the  bluff,  covered 
by  magnicent  oaks,  and  falling  away  gradually  to 
the  river  valley  below.  It  was  determined  by  the 
founders  to  place  the  buildings  upon  the  crown 
of  the  hill,  so  as  to  command  a  magnificent  view 


of  the  city  and  widely  surrounding  country.  Ac- 
cording to  the  original  plan,  the  building  was  to 
be  a  brick  structure,  in  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross, 
two  hundred  and  nineteen  by  one  hundred  and 
forty  feet  in  dimension,  four  stories  in  height, 
with  basement  and  attic  in  addition.  The  style 
of  architecture  was  to  be  Norman  and  the  plan  to 
include  a  large  central  building,  and  a  wing  upon 
either  side,  connected  by  wide  corridors.  It  was 
to  be  finished  in  the  most  approved  style,  heated 
with  steam,  lighted  with  gas,  supplied  with  hot 
and  cold  water  and  offering  accommodations  for 
three  hundred  pupils  and  a  corps  of  twenty  teach- 
ers. The  estimate  cost  was  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  The  work  of  construction  was  begun  in 
1857,  but  was  attended  with  delays  and  interrup- 
tions until  i860,  when  it  was  suspended  until 
after  the  close  of  the  war.  It  was  renewed  in 
1866,  when  the  Rev.  John  Covert  was  engaged  to 
take  charge  of  the  work,  and  to  have  the  building 
ready  for  occupancy  at  as  early  a  date  as  possi- 
ble. Luther  H.  Trask,  one  of  the  devoted  friends 
of  the  movement,  was  appointed  superintendent 
of  the  work,  with  W.  H.  Coddington  to  assist. 
The  central  building  alone  was  completed  at  that 
time,  and  the  school  opened  to  pupils  January 
30,  1867.  A  frame  building,  which  was  erected 
some  time  afterward  upon  the  south  side  of  the 
main  edifice,  wras  removed  in  1892  to  make  way 
for  the  new  Dodge  Hall.  This  was  a  handsome 
four-story,  brick  structure,  complete  in  every  re- 
spect, one  hundred  and  ten  feet  in  length  and  fifty 
in  depth  and  connected  with  the  main  building 
according  to  the  original  plan.  In  1903  a  two- 
story  brick  building,  with  class  rooms,  library 
and  studios  was  added,  and  greatly  aids  in  the 
efficiency  and  comfort  of  the  work.  The  trustees 
are  indebted  for  Dodge  Hall  to  the  bequest  of  the 
late  Mr.  Willard  Dodge,  of  Kalamazoo,  and  for 
Recitation  Hall  to  generous  gifts  from  Mr.  C.  C. 
Chapin,  of  Chicago,  and  Mrs.  H.  B.  Peck  and 
her  daughters,  Mrs.  Cannable  and  Mrs.  Wads- 
worth,  as  a  memorial  to  their  husband  and  father, 
the  late  Mr.  H.  B.  Peck,  of  -Kalamazoo.  The 
foundations  were  laid  in  1857  for  a  wing,  similar 
to  Dodge  Hall,  upon  the  north  side  of  the  main 
edifice.     When  the  trustees  are  enabled  to  erect 


io6 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


this  building,  so  much  required,  the  plan  of  the 
founders  will  have  been  carried  out  and  one  of 
the  most  commodious,  handsome  and  complete 
school  properties  secured  which  is  anywhere  to  be 
found. 

Dr.  George  Duffield,  of  sainted  memory,  pas- 
tor of  the  First  Presbyterian  church,  Detroit,  was 
the  first  to  realize  fully  the  necessity  for  such  an 
institution  and  was  most  active  in  his  endeavors 
to  promote  its  interests  and  lived  to  see  his  desire 
accomplished.  Shortly  before  his  death  he  deliv- 
ered the  first  commencement  address.  It  is  fitting 
that  his  portrait  should  adorn  the  seminary  wall 
and  with  it  those  of  the  early  trustees,  Rev.  Dr. 
A.  T.  Pierson,  then  of  Detroit,  Mr.  Elisha  Taylor, 
still  living  in  Detroit,  Mr.  Hughart,  of  Grand 
Rapids,  with  Messrs.  Trask,  Tomlinson,  Wood- 
Ward,  Curtenius,  Parsons,  Humphrey,  Dr.  Sill 
and  Judge  Wells,  of  Kalamazoo,  who  by  their 
devotion  and  self-sacrifice  laid  broad  and  deep 
the  foundations  of  an  institution  which  has  been 
a  source  of  benefit  to  so  many. 

The  names  of  two  honored  ladies  should  be 
especially  mentioned  as  very  intimately  associated 
with  the  success  and  usefulness  of  this  work. 
These  are  Mrs.  Moore,  of  Three  Rivers,  the  first 
and  for  many  years  efficient  principal  of  the  semi- 
nary, and  Mrs.  M.  J.  Bigelow,  of  this  city,  for 
several  years  before  her  marriage  the  much  es- 
teemed principal. 

The  people  of  Kalamazoo  and  friends  of 
Michigan  Seminary  generally  recall  with  satis- 
faction and  gratitude  the  advent  of  the  present 
president,  the  Rev.  John  Gray,  D.  D.,  to  the  helm 
of  its  affairs  at  a  critical  period  in  1900.  He  is  a 
native  of  Toronto,  Ontario,  Canada,  being  the  son 
of  Mr.  John  Gray,  lumberman  and  miller  of  that 
city.  After  completing  his  studies  in  the  Model 
Grammar  School  and  University  College,  Toronto, 
he  entered  upon  the  study  of  divinity  in  the  Theo- 
logical Halls  of  Knox  College  there.  Immediately 
upon  his  graduation  he  accepted  a  call  to  St.  An- 
drew's Presbyterian  church,  in  the  city  of  Wind- 
sor, in  his  native  province.  He  remained  there  for 
twenty-two  years,  was  successful,  in  building  up 
a  large  and  influential  congregation,  which  he 
left  to.  accept  a   call   to  the   First   Presbyterian 


church  in  Kalamazoo,  in  1893.  It  was  during 
his  seven  years'  pastorate  in  Kalamazoo  that,  as 
a  trustee  in  the  institution,  he  became  deeply  in- 
terested in  and  learned  the  requirements  of  Michi- 
gan Seminary.  He  took  with  him  to  the  work 
a  well  trained  mind,  a  large  experience  and  much 
native  energy,  so  that,  as  was  predicted,  he  has 
proved  a  great  success.  Many  difficulties  have 
been  overcome,  the  conditions  of  the  property  im- 
proved, the  attendance  increased  and  the  course, 
academic,  college  and  musical,  is  readily  accepted 
without  examination  in  the  best  institutions  in 
the  country. 

President  Gray,  while  pastor  in  Windsor, 
married  Miss  Bessie  Sutherland,  only  daughter 
of  Mr.  Donald  Sutherland,  manufacturer  and 
miller  of  New  Market,  Ontario,  and  sister  of  the 
Hon.  R.  T.  Sutherland,  K.  C,  M.  P.,  of  Wind- 
sor, and  at  the  present  time  speaker  of  the  domin- 
ion house  of  commons.  They  have  two  daughters, 
Gertrude  S.  and  Muriel  J.,  who  with  President 
and  Mrs.  Gray  and  her  aged  mother,  Mr.  Suther- 
land, reside  in  the  seminary  building  and  form  an 
interesting  and  important  element  in  the  social 
life  of  the  institution. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

LADIES'      LIBRARY      ASSOCIATION      OF      KALAMAZOO. 

From  time  to  time  in  the  "Burr  Oak"  village 
there  had  been  gatherings  for  literary  pursuits, 
but  the  hour  came  when  it  seemed  necessary  that 
these  informal  convenings  should  assume  a  more 
businesslike  air.  The  Ladies'  Library  Associa- 
tion was  organized  at  the  home  of  Mrs.  Frances 
Dennison,  in  January,  1852.  The  following  la- 
dies were  chosen  its  first  board  of  directors :  Mes- 
dames  D.  B.  Webster,  L.  H.  Stone,  Lyman  Ken- 
dall, Nathaniel  A.  Balch,  Milo  J.  Goss,  Bruce  S. 
Travor,  William  Dennison,  Elon  G.  Huntington. 
Miss  Hannah  L.  Trask,  now  Mrs.  H.  L.  Cornell, 
was  its  firstTibrarian.  The  library  was  formally 
opened  on  Friday,  March  i£,  1852,  at  the  resi- 
dence of  Col.  G.  W.  Rice,  where  it  was  kept  for 
a  few  weeks.  •  It  was  then  removed  to  a  small 
room   over  Austin   &  Tomlinson's   store  on  the 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


107 


northwest  corner  of  Main  and  Burdick  streets, 
where  it  was  held  until  the  spring  of  1853.  In 
April  of  that  year  the  supervisors,  recognizing 
the  importance  of  this  organization  and  its.  in- 
fluence upon  this  then  village,  placed  at  their  dis- 
posal a  pleasant  room  in  the  court  house  where 
the  library  found  a  home  for  nearly  six  years.  In 
1859  the  association  was  reorganized  and  incor- 
porated, new  quarters  secured  in  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  basement  of  the  Baptist  church,  at 
a  rental  of  thirty  dollars  a  year,  and  occupied  un- 
til 1867.  Through  the  generosity  of  the  board  of 
village  trustees,  two  rooms  in  Corporation  Hall 
were  obtained  at  a  nominal  sum  of  one  dollar  for 
years,  and  there  it  remained  until  October,  1878, 
when  it  returned  to  its  old  quarters  in  the  Baptist 
church  basement  till  the  completion  of  its  own 
library  building,  May,  1879.  The  lot  upon  which 
this  building  stands  was  presented  by  Mrs.  Ruth 
Webster,  costing  one  thousand  three  hundred  and 
seventy-five  dollars.  The  plan  of  the  proposed 
home  for  the  library,  after  its  twenty-six  years  of 
frequent  change,  was  furnished  by  a  Chicago  ar- 
chitect for  seventy-five  dollars.  Frederick  Bush 
contracted  to  erect  the  building  for  eight  thousand 
dollars.  The  contract  did  not  include  stained 
glass  windows,  tiling  the  vestibule,  gas  fixtures, 
book  cases  or  cabinets,  mantels,  nor  any  work 
outside  the  building.  All  these  were  added,  with 
the  stage  and  scenery,  at  a  cost  of  about  two 
thousand  dollars.  The  cost  of  the  stained  glass 
windows  was  six  hundred  and  fifty-two  dollars, 
which  was  much  under  price,  as  the  makers,  W. 
H.  Wells  &  Brother,  would  not  duplicate  them 
under  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  A  building  fund 
of  something  under  two  thousand  dollars  had 
accumulated  through  Mrs.  Webster's  careful 
management  and  this  was  raised  to  five  thousand 
dollars  by  subscription ;  the  three  thousand  was 
borrowed  from  Mr.  J.  P.  Woodbury,  five  hundred 
for  two  years  and  twenty-five  hundred  for  three 
years,  at  seven  per  cent.  No  salary  had  been  paid 
any  officer  of  the  association  except  to  the  libra- 
rian between  the  years  i860  and  1863,  when  she 
received  twenty-five  dollars  per  annum. 

A  "social  meeting,"  as  it  was  called,  was  held 
in  the  earlier  years  of  its  existence  one  afternoon 


each  month,  when  papers  were  read  and  discus- 
sions held  informally.  An  evening  "reading 
class"  was  instituted  in  1861,  the  first  meeting  be- 
ing at  the  home  of  Mrs.  Alfred  Thomas,  where 
the  Guild  House  stands,  Mrs.  James  Hubbard  and 
Mrs.  L.  H.  Stone  being  the  readers  and  all  at- 
tending paying  five  cents.  It  was  resumed  the 
following  winter  with  a  season  ticket  of  one  dol- 
lar for  those  who  chose,  the  profits  being  divided 
with  the  Soldiers'  Aid  Society.  These  fortnightly 
socials  were  continued,  somewhat  modified  as  to 
the  entertainments,  under  the  name  of  Library 
Socials,  for  several  winters  from  1863  to  1868. 
In  the  winter  of  1867-8  Mrs.  Stone  gave  a  course 
of  historical  studies  of  twenty  lessons.  In  Octo- 
ber, 1868,  a  second  course  was  given;  in  January, 
1869,  a  third  course  of  twelve  lessons ;  in  October, 
1869,  a  fourth  course  was  begun.  The  charge  for 
these  historical  courses  was  at  first  five  dollars, 
and  then  three,  the  profit  being  divided  between 
Mrs.  Stone  and  the  association.  A  drawing  class, 
under  Mrs.  John  Cadman's  instruction;  a  French 
class,  taught  by  Mrs.  Volney  Hascall,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1873 ;  winter  lectures  by  distinguished 
lecturers  were  furnished  each  year  from  1854  to 
1862,  two  or  three  years  in  connection  with  the 
Young  Men's  Library  Association.  Single  lec- 
tures were  given  from  time  to  time,  notable 
among  which,  one  by  John  B.  Gough,  the  gross 
receipts  of  which  were  four  hundred  and  ninety- 
two  dollars.  In  1870  a  series  of  Shakesperian 
readings  were  kept  up  fortnightly  in  the  evening. 
In  the  summer  and  fall  of  1873  Mrs.  Stone  gave 
a  series  of  conversations  on  foreign  countries  and 
travels.  As  an  outgrowth  of  these  classes  came 
the  Library  Club  in  1873.  The  annual  member- 
ship fee  was  fifty  cents  till  1867,  when  it  was  in- 
creased to  one  dollar. 

To  return  to  the  building :  Above  the  large 
front  triple  window  may  be  seen  the  words  "La- 
dies' Library,"  and  in  the  stained  glass  the  let- 
ters "L.  L.  A."  The  front  lower  window  is 
called  the  Woman's  window,  the  only  one  in- the 
building.  -  The  center  of  the  transom,,  from  Mrs* 
Browning's  Aurora  Leigh,  ."Aurora  and  .Rod- 
ney,", on  her  birthday  morn,  "Aurora,  the  earliest 
of  Auroras.".    On  each  side  of  this  are  two  of 


io8 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


the  five  learned  women  of  Bologna,  "Novella  and 
Tambrone."    The  library  transoms  are  to  Amer- 
ican authors,   Longfellow's   "Courtship  of   Miles 
Standish,"  Bryant's  poem  "The  Waterfall;'  Whit- 
tier's  "Mable  Martin,"  Rip  Van  Winkle,  met  by 
his  dog,  belongs  to  Washington  Irving.     At  the 
east  end  of  the  library  is  the  memorial  window, 
placed  to  the  memory  of  Mrs.  Ruth  Webster  by 
her  many  friends.     The  window  is  in  three  sec- 
tions, on  the  central  of  which  is  an  oval,  pointed 
at  both  top  and  bottom  and  inclosing  a  lozenge,  a 
figure  indicating,  according  to  heraldry,  that  the 
deceased  was  of  the  female  sex.     Across  this,  on 
three  transverse  bands,  we  read  "In  Memoriam, 
Ruth   W.    Webster,    Nov.    27,    1878."     Two   in- 
verted torches  cross  each  other  over  the  lozenge, 
emblematic  of  death;  under  the  same  an  antique 
lamp   burning,   emblematic  of  life.     The  border 
of  the  oval  is  a  design  in  mingled  olive  branches 
and   ivy  leaves ;  the   former  meaning  peace,   the 
latter,  immortality.     About  this  central  figure  are 
various     heraldic     devices    and     conventionalized 
flowers.     Above  the   oval   in  a    medallion    is   a 
winged  hour-glass,  which  tells  the  flight  of  time. 
Within  a  still  higher  compartment  are  heavenly 
cherubs  and  a  crown,  from  either  side  of  which 
falls   a  branch  of  pomegranate  and  palms ;  the 
fruitful  pomegranate  tells  of  the  blessedness  of 
good  works,   when  coupled  with  the  victory  of 
faith,  while  the  crown  and  the  angels  speak  of 
hope  verified  and  the  Christian  inheritance  gained. 
Beneath   the  oval,   on   a   tablet,    is   inscribed, 
"Twenty-five  years  treasurer  and  fifteen  years  li- 
brarian of  the  L.  L.  A."    About  this  entire  di- 
vision runs  a  border  of  thorns  and  reeds,  which 
bring  to  remembrance  the  person  of  the  Savior. 
The  left  section  is  filled  principally  by  the  graceful 
leaves   of   the   palm,    everywhere  emblematic  of 
victory.     In  this  same  we  find  the  lily,  represent- 
ing purity,  and  a  stalk  of  golden  fleece,  which  be- 
ing interpreted,  means  the  joy  of  heaven.    On  the 
center  of  one  of  these  ribbons,  running  diagonally 
across  the  trunk  of  the  palm,  are  placed  the  words, 
"Faithful   unto   death."    The   central   portion   of 
the  section  on  the  right  is  filled  with  ripe  wheat 
and  poppies,  which  tell  of  a  life  of  good  works 
and  the  final  sleep  of  death.     The  motto  here  is, 


"She  has  wrought  a  good  work."  Above  these 
sections  in  medallions  are,  on  the  left,  the  globe, 
book,  ink  stand  with  pens,  etc.,  so  frequently 
seen,  and  on  the  right  a  sickle  and  a  handful  of 
gathered  grain.  .  The  border  on  either  side  is 
conventionalized  palms  and  roses  of  Sharon. 

The  different  transoms  of  the  auditorium  are 
devoted  to  Tennyson,  with  Scott  and  Burns  on 
either  side,  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Goethe  and  the 
novelists,  Dickens,  Cooper  and  Hawthorne.  An 
illustration  for  Tennyson's  "Elaine"  has  been  used 
for  one  of  the  decorations.  "The  Guardian  Maid 
of  the  Strand,"  a  scene  from  Scott's  "Lady  of  the 
Lake,"  is  the  representative  design  for  that  au- 
thor. The  Burns  selection  is  "Tarn  O'Shanter 
Crossing  the  Bridge,"  with  the  witches  on  the 
track  and  a  real  consolation  it  is  that  "A  running 
stream  they  dare  na  cross."  For  the  front  window 
a  scene  from  Shakespeare's  "King  Lear"  stands 
between  portraits  of  Dante  and  Michael  Angelo, 
"Cordelia  bending  above  and  looking  upon  her 
sleeping  father."  The  design  illustrative  of  Mil- 
ton is  from  his  life.  The  blind  poet  is  dictating 
to  his  two  daughters,  loving  and  ever  faithful, 
the  words  of  his  immortal  poems.  This  brief  but 
beautiful  quotation  from  one  of  his  shorter  pro- 
ductions, accompanies  the  scene,  "They  also  serve 
who  only  stand  and  wait."  For  Goethe,  the  scene 
is  Faust  in  his  library,  but  the  words — 

"Here  I  stand  with  all  my  lore. 
Poor  fool,  no  wiser  than  before" — 

must  not  be  taken  too  literally,  for  the  picture  has 
him  sitting  down.  The  window  of  novelists  has 
Dickens  in  the  center.  The  illustration  is  from 
the  "Old  Curiosity  Shop,"  being  "Nell  and  her 
grandfather."  Cooper  is  very  well  typified  by 
two  Indians  looking  at  a  dripping  mill  wheel; 
"The  pale  faces  are  masters  of  the  world."  Haw- 
thorne's "Hilda  feeding  the  doves"  comes  from 
the  "Marble  Faun." 

All  along  through  these  years  special  effort 
has  been  made  to  adorn  the  walls.  Admirable 
copies  of  paintings  such  as  "Lot's  Daughters," 
after  Rubens'  original  in  the  Louvre;  "Vittoria 
Colonna,"  Uffizi  Gallery,  painted  by  Michael  An- 
gelo; also  from  the  Uffizi  Gallery  at  Florence,  a 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


109 


pair  of  "Fra  Angelico's  Angels" ;  a  fine  picture  of 
"Dante  and  Beatrice/'  from  Ary  Schefler.  Dante 
says  his  last  vision  of  his  beloved  was  crowned 
among  the  supreme  blessed  as  far  above  him  as 
the  region  of  thunder  is  above  the  center  of  the 
sea.  The  whole  history  may  be  found  in  the  last 
cantos  of  the  Purgatory  continued,  through  the 
Paradise,  to  the  scene  which  the  painter  has  evi- 
dently chosen.  A  fine  copy  of  "Madam  Le  Brun" 
of  herself.  "Love  Triumphant"  and  "Love  Treach- 
erous," originals  in  the  Vatican,  designed  by  Ra- 
phael and  executed  by  his  favorite  pupil,  Ginleo 
Romano.  They  are  framed  in  Byzantine  style. 
Albrect  Durer,"  portrait  of  himself  at  Munich. 
"The  Fonianno,"  after  Raphael,  in  the  Uffizi  Gal- 
lery, Florence.  "The  Melon  Eaters,"  after  Mu- 
rillo,  in  the  Pinakothek,  Munich.  "St.  Cecilia," 
copied  from  Romanelli's  original  in  the  Capitol  at 
Rome.  "Street  Musicians,"  after  Van  Ostade. 
"Pompeiian  Ora,"  Raphael.  Linda  de  Chamon  in 
scene  from  opera,  by  Donizetti.  Some  fine  land- 
scapes, the  "Golden  Gate,"  by  L.  Holtz,  a  Dan- 
ish artist ;  "Pine  Lake,  Wisconsin" ;  others  by  A. 
F.  Bonier,  Hansen,  Knapp  and  Sanderson.  To 
friends  we  are  indebted  to  much  of  art  presented ; 
to  the  Misses  Helen  and  Mary  Bates,  Mrs.  D.  B. 
Webster,  Mrs.  John  Cadman,  Will  Park,  Walter 
O.  Balch,  Mrs.  John  Dudgeon,  Miss  Mary  Pen- 
field,  Mrs.  W.  H.  De  Yoe,  Col.  Robert  Burns, 
Mrs.  Lorenzo  Eggleston.  The  pictures  to  which 
references  has  been  made  were  purchased  by  a 
committee,  some  of  whom  were  sent  to  Chicago  to 
make  selections.  The  committee  consisted  of  Mrs. 
Van  Wyck,  Mrs.  L.  P.  Sheldon  and  Mrs.  J.  B. 
Sill.  The  pictures  from  abroad  were  chosen  by 
Mrs.  Stone,  not  so  much  for  the  beauty  of  the 
nictures  themselves,  but  because  they  seemed  to 
have  a  special  message  to  an  organization  like 
this.  For  instance,  in  the  one  of  "Madam  Le 
!>run,"  Mrs.  Stone  noted  particularly  the  artist 
long  contended  with  and  over  which  she  tri- 
umphed to  become  a  member  of  the  French  Acad- 
emy of  Arts.  Madam  Le  Brun  produced  her  best 
work  at  eighty.  The  lesson  taught  is  only  ob- 
tained by  arduous  self-training.  In  addition  to 
these,  we  have  hundred  of  large  photographs  of 


cathedrals,    of    ruins,    of   celebrated    frescos    and 
paintings,  a  megalithoscope. 

Would  time  permit,  it  would  add  interest  to 
read  the  record  of  gifts  received  and  the  names 
of  donors  from  the  earliest  day  to  the  present, 
but  Kalamazoo  is  under  obligation  to  those  who 
have  with  so  much  labor,  time  and  money  made 
these  beautiful,  instructive  chef  d'oeuvre  accessi- 
ble to  all.  For  the  purchase  of  many  of  these  we 
are  largely  indebted  to  the  talents,  musical  and 
dramatic,  of  the  people  of  Kalamazoo.  Their  ver- 
satility of  genius  and  power  of  execution  as  a 
source  of  advancing  the  financial  interest  was  ex- 
ceedingly gratifying.  For  the  chairs  in  the  audi- 
torium we  are  indebted  to  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Joseph 
B.  Sill.  The  chandelier  was  presented  by  Mrs. 
Van  Huzen,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  a  friend  of  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  E.  H.  Van  Deusen;  the  latter  made  it  pos- 
sible for  it  to  be  transported  and  placed  in  posi- 
tion, free  to  this  institution.  The  cases  and  con- 
tents in  this  same  room  were  gifts  from  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Alfred  Thomas.  The  president's  table,  to- 
gether with  the  sofa  and  large  chair  in  the  library, 
from  Mrs.  Ruth  W.  Webster.  The  piano  from 
Mrs.  Elia  Marsh  Walker,  of  Chicago.  The 
handsome  table  in  the  library  from  Mrs.  Benja- 
min F.  Austin.  The  presentation  of  books  and 
curios  recall  the  names  of  Hon.  Samuel  Clark, 
Hon.  Charles  E.  Stuart,  Hon.  David  S.  Wal- 
bridge,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  J.  A.  B.  Stone,  Hon.  Allen 
Potter,  to  whom  more  than  any  one  man  we  are 
indebted  for  our  beautiful  building,  through  his 
personal  exertion  among  the  friends  of  this  asso- 
ciation. We  can  say  "We  owe  no  man."  Colonel 
and  Mrs.  Curtenius,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  O.  Seeley, 
Hon.  and  Mrs.  Jonathan  Parsons,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
George  Torrey,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  B.  Peck,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  W.  G.  Dewing,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Conover, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  E.  Woodward,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Kendall  Brooks,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  R.  S.  Babcock, 
Mrs.  F.  C.  Van  Wyck,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  G.  C.  Burn- 
ham,  Judge  and  Mrs.  H.  G.  Wells,  Hon.  and  Mrs. 
N.  A.  Balch,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  Woodbury,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  L.  H.  Trask,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  B.  Cor- 
nell, Mrs.  Emeline  House,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  L.  H. 
McDuffie,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  J.  Griffiths,  Lieuten- 


na 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


ant  Gardner,  Mrs.  Berry,  Mrs.  Kate  Bishop,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  L.  P.  Sheldon,  Hon.  and  Mrs.  J.  C. 
Burroughs,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  F.  Blount,  Mrs. 
Carrie  Trask,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  A.  Gibson,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  D.  O.  Roberts,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  S.  Hill- 
house,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  H.  O.  Hitchcock,  Rev.  and 
Mrs.  O.  P.  Hoyt,  Mrs.  L.  E.  Eames,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  D.  Woodford,  Dr.  Maurice  Gibbs,  Lieut. 
Gov.  Charles  S.  May  and  scores  of  others  did 
time  permit,  who  have  generously  contributed. 
The  library  shelves,  with  their  over  three  thou- 
sand volumes,  and  the  museum,  bespeak  the  love 
that  existed  in  their  hearts  for  the  betterment  and 
enjoyment  of  those  who  might  be  privileged  to 
enjoy  this  treasure  house.  It  was  founded  in 
generosity  and  is  conducted  without  pecuniary 
profit  to  any  one. 

Mrs.  John  den  Bleyker. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

LADIES'     LIBRARY     ASSOCIATION     OF     SCHOOLCRAFT. 

The  Schoolcraft  Ladies'  Library  Association 
was  organized  July  8,  1879.  There  were  eighteen 
charter  members,  and  before  the  close  of  the  year 
the  number  had  increased  to  sixty-nine.  The 
assets  for.  the  year  were  the  membership  fees,  the 
proceeds  of  a  dinner  furnished  for  the  Pioneer 
Picnic,  and  a  donation  of  twenty-five  dollars  from 
James  H.  Bates,  given  the  week  after  organiza- 
tion. A  part  of  this  fund  was  immediately 
expended  in  the  purchase  of  books,  Hawthorne's 
works,  the  novels  of  Dickens,  Scott,  Thackeray 
and  George  Elliot,  being  included  in  the  first 
purchase. 

Of  the  first  large  membership  many  never  be- 
came working  members,  and  dropped  out  at  the 
close  of  the  first  year,  and  the  club  grew  gradu- 
ally smaller  until  in  the  year  1883-4  often  not 
more  than  four  or  five  were  present  at  its  meet- 
ings. This  was  the  most  discouraging  time  in  the 
history  of  the  club,  but  a  brighter  day  soon 
dawned.  Mrs.  L.  H.  Stone  came  to  the  rescue 
and  directed  the  study  of  the  club  for  two  years. 
Many  valuable  books  were  bought  on  the  sub- 
jects  studied,  a  regular  meeting  place  was  ar- 


ranged at  Mrs.  Kirby's,  and  since  that  time  the 
club  has  steadily  advanced  in  influence  and 
numbers. 

The  society  was  incorporated  under  the  name 
of  the  Ladies'  Library  Organization,  in  1886,  and 
some  years  later,  finding  its  quarters  too  small 
for  its  growing  library,  as  well  as  for  the  meet- 
ings of  the  club,  the  project  of  building  was  con- 
sidered. On  October  8,  1895,  at  a  regular  meet- 
ing of  the  club,  it  was  decided  to  purchase  a  lot 
and  build  a  club  house,  and  one  year  from  that 
date,  October  8,  1896,  saw  the  building  dedicated 
free  from  debt.  Generous  donations  were  re- 
ceived from  the  residents  of  the  village  and  from 
friends  away  who  had  formerly  lived  here,  the 
chief  among  these— save  for  Mr.  Bates — being 
Prof.  Edward  M.  Brown,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
But  to  James  H.  Bates,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  was 
the  club  indebted  for  its  success,  as  he  gave  more 
than  half  the  cost  of  the  building.  In  addition  to 
this  he  gave  many  valuable  presents  to  the 
library  from  its  organization  in  1879  to  n^s  death 
in  1901.  Among  these  are  a  collection  of  books 
formerly  owned  by  Dr.  Lyon,  of  Kalamazoo;  a 
copy  in  oil  of  Andrea  del  Sarto's  "Holy  Family" ; 
a  number  of  fine  engravings  of  noted  men  ;  several 
hundred  dollars  for  the  purchase  of  books ;  a  copy 
of  the  Latin  poets  bearing  date  of  1516,  one  of  the 
famous  Aldine  editions ;  the  complete  works  of 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  one  hundred  volumes,  dated 
1834-38,  containing  illustrations  by  Turner,  Land- 
seer  and  other  noted  English  artists ;  a  Knight's 
Shakespeare;  and  a  work  on  natural  history  of 
forty  volumes  beautifully  illustrated  with  colored 
drawings. 

The  club  house  owned  by  the  Ladies'  Library 
Association  is  located  on  Hay  ward  street.  It  is 
built  of  red  brick,  with  slate  roof,  and  consists  of 
one  story  and  basement.  There  is  a  well  lighted 
assembly  room,  a  vestibule,  and  a  book  room  con- 
taining on  its  shelves  about  fourteen  hundred  well 
selected  books. 

The  association  is  now  entering  upon  the 
tenth  year  of  occupancy  of  its  pleasant  club  house 
with  a  membership  of  seventy-nine.  Its  meetings 
are  held  weekly  on  Tuesdays  at  2  130  P.  M.  These 
and  many  other  matters  relative  to  the  club  may 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


in 


be  found  in  its  printed  calendars,  which  have 
been  issued  yearly  since  1895-6.'  The  officers 
for  the  present  year  1905-6,  are  Miss  Ella 
Thomas,  president;  Mrs.  Alice  Shaw,  secretary; 
Mrs.  L.  A.  Brown,  treasurer,  and  Miss  Mary  P. 
Cobb,  librarian. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

RELIGIOUS    ORGANIZATIONS. 

The  many  churches  and  religious  institutions 
that  flourish  in  Kalamazoo  speak  well  for  the  char- 
acter of  her  citizens  in  general.  All  of  these  in- 
stitutions show  a  decided  gain  in  membership 
from  year  to  year,  and  their  influence  is  widely 
extended. 

The  churches  supported  by  the  citizens  of 
Kalamazoo  represent  thousands  and  thousands 
of  dollars  in  property,  and  are  gems  of  ecclesi- 
astical architecture.  They  are  well  supported  in 
every  way,  and  their  excellent  locations  and  beauti- 
ful buildings  speak  well  for  the  financial  condi- 
tions and  generosity  of  Kalamazoo  people.  Their 
ministers  number  among  Kalamazoo's  most  prince- 
ly and  cultured  men,  and  are  respected  and  loved 
by  the  community  in  which  they  dwell. 

There  are  few  cities  in  the  United  States  that 
have  a  church-seating  capacity  of  sixty  per  cent. 
of  the  entire  population,  but  this  is  what  Kala- 
mazoo has.  Nearly  seventy  per  cent,  of  her  peo- 
ple are  church  adherents,  and  thirty  per  cent,  are 
church  communicants.  Kalamazoo,  a  city  of  thirty 
thousand  inhabitants,  has  twenty-six  churches,  and 
five  miscellaneous  religious  institutions,  and  of 
this  number  four  are  Baptist  churches,  five  are 
Methodist  Episcopal,  two  are  Presbyterian,  five 
are  Dutch  Reformed,  and  two  are  Lutheran. 

St.  Luke's  Episcopal  church  is  one  of  the 
handsomest  edifices  in  the  city,  and,  together  with 
St.  Luke's  Parish  House,  the  gift  of  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
E.  H.  Van  Deusen,  forms  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful sites  in  the  city.  It  is  located  on  west  Lovell 
street,  and  is  built  in  the  form  of  the  Greek  cross, 
with  a  handsome  entrance  tower  in  the  northeast 
corner.  The  English  ivy  that  overgrows  the 
white  stone  gives  it  an  air  of  beauty,  peace  and 


quiet.  The  interior  is  even  more  beautiful,  the 
color  scheme  being  soft  browns  and  reds.  It 
is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  churches  of  its  size 
in  the  country.  The  chancel  and  altar  are  beauti- 
ful in  every  detail,  as  is  also  the  small  chapel  open- 
ing off  from  the  east  transept.  Inside  of  this 
beautiful  house  of  God,  peace  truly  settles  on  one's 
soul.  It  has  an  exquisite  and  costly  pulpit,  read- 
ing desk,  litany  desk  and  baptismal  font.  The 
parish  house  is  also  of  white  stone  and  is  as  well 
equipped  and  handsome  in  appearance  and  con- 
struction as  could  be  imagined. 

The  history  of  St.  Luke's  Episcopal  church  is 
very  interesting.  It  was  organized  on  March 
22,  1837,  and  held  services  on  the  site  now  occu- 
pied by  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  The  Rev.  John  Fenton 
was  chosen  rector  in  1839.  In  i860  the  church 
divided  into  two  bodies,  St.  John's  and  St.  Luke's 
church.  Under  the  leadership  of  the  Rev.  Robert 
Ellis  Jones  these  two  parishes  were  united  in 
1884,  and  soon  afterward  the  present  church 
was  erected.  The  present  rector  of  St.  Luke's 
is  the  Rev.  Hanson  Peters,  who  was  chosen  in 
1902.  Some  of  Kalamazoo's  oldest  and  most  rep- 
resentative citizens  are  members  of  St.  Luke's 
vestry. 

The  beautiful  and  costly  church  of  the  Roman 
Catholics,  which  is  elsewhere  described,  is  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  attractive  churches  in 
Michigan  and  has  a  large  congregation.  This 
church  is  built  on  the  Norman  order,  with  two 
fine  towers. 

The  First  Presbyterian  is  the  largest  of  like 
denomination  in  the  city,  and  is  situated  on  the 
corner  of  Rose  and  South  streets,  opposite  the 
Public  Library.  It  is  in  the  style  of  the  Renais- 
sance, and  is  complete  in  appointments,  and  ex- 
ceedingly convenient  and  roomy.  It  tends  toward 
the  cheerful  in  both  arrangement  and  decoration, 
and  has  one  of  the  largest  congregations  in  the 
city.  The  present  building  was  erected  in  1884 
Dr.  H.  W.  Gelston  is  the  present  pastor.  The 
other  Presbyterian  church  is  the  North  Presby- 
terian church,  located  at  the  corner  of  north 
Burdick  and  Ransom  streets.  This  is  an  attractive 
church,  whose  seats  are  always  well  filled. 

The  First  Congregational  church,  beautifully 


112 


COMPENDIUM  OF  HISTORY  OF 


located  on  the  corner  of  Park  and  South  streets, 
opposite  Bronson  Park,  is  a  comparatively  new 
edifice.  The  church  was  organized  in  1835.  The 
present  building  unites  the  advantages  of  a  large 
auditorium,  Sunday-school  room,  parlors  and 
kitchen.  It  is  a  building  of  modern  design,  and 
has  unusually  handsome  windows.  The  Rev.  S. 
Woodbury  was  the  first  pastor,  and  the  present 
one  is  the  Rev.  Howard  Murray  Jones.  The 
present  membership  is  over  six  hundred. 

Of  the  many  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  in 
Kalamazoo,  the  First  Methodist  is  the  largest 
and  oldest.  It  is  situated  at  the  corner  of  Lovell 
and  Rose  streets  and  is  of  Norman-Gothic  style 
of  architecture,  having  a  handsome  steeple.  The 
present  minister  is  the  Rev.  W.  M.  Puffer,  who 
was  called  here  in  1901.  *  The  first  Methodist 
sermon  preached  in  Kalamazoo  was  delivered  by 
the  Rev.  James  T.  Rabe  at  the  home  of  Titus 
Bronson  in  1832.  The  first  church  stood  at  the 
corner  of  South  and  Henrietta  streets,  the  second 
on  Church  and  Academy  streets  and  the  present 
edifice  was  built  in  1867.  The  congregation  num- 
bers seven  hundred  members.  The  other  churches 
of  like  denomination  are  the  Simpson  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  at  the  corner  of  Elm  and  North 
streets,  the  Damon  Methodist  Episcopal  church 
in  Portage  street,  the  East  Avenue  Methodist 
church,  Grant  Chapel  and  the  Free  Methodist 
church  on  First  street. 

The  First  Baptist  church,  one  of  the  oldest  in 
the  city,  is  „  situated  at  the  corner  of  Main  and 
Church  streets,  and  is  of  the  Gothic  order  of 
architecture,  having  a  tall  tower  from  which  deep 
toned  bells  peal  forth  the  hour  of  day.  It  is  a 
large  church  and  prosperous  in  many  ways.  This 
church  was  organized  in  1836,  the  first  pastor 
being  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Hall.  The  present 
pastor  is  the  Rev.  J.  E.  Smith  and  the  congre- 
gation numbers  about  seven  hundred  members. 


Other  Baptist  churches  are  the  Bethel  Baptist, 
on  north  Edwards  street,  the  Portage  Baptist, 
on  the  corner  of  Portage  and  Lake  streets,  and 
the  Second  Baptist  church,  at  the  corner  of  Kala- 
mazoo avenue  and  Walbridge  streets. 

One  of  the  finest  and  most  modern  church 
edifices  in  the  city  is  the  People's  church,  at  the 
corner  of  Park  and  Lovell  streets.  This  is  built 
of  beautiful  red  sandstone,  and  has  a  large  audi- 
torium and  parlors.  The  Rev.  Caroline  Bart- 
lett  Crane,  widely  known  throughout  Michigan 
and  the  middle  west,  was  for  many  years  the 
pastor  of  this  church.  The  present  pastor  of 
this  Unitarian  church  is  the  Rev.  Joseph  P. 
MacCarthy. 

A  recent  addition  to  Kalamazoo's  list  of 
churches,  which  is  already  long,  is  the  Christian 
Science  church,  located  at  the  corner  of  South  and 
Park  streets,  facing  Bronson  Park.  This  church 
has  come  rapidly  to  the  front  and  is  increasing 
almost  daily  in  membership.  This  church,  which 
was  organized  in  1898,  has  an  attendance  of  over 
one  hundred  and  fifty. 

The  Jewish  Synagogue,  located  on  east  South 
street,  is  one  of  the  oldest  churches  in  the  city, 
and  has  a  large  and  devoted  congregation. 

Aside  from  the  churches  already  mentioned, 
there  are  many  smaller  ones,  such  as  the  First, 
Second,  Third  and  Fourth  Dutch  Reformed 
churches.  Of  the  miscellaneous  religious  organ- 
izations there  is  the  Salvation  Army,  whose  bar- 
racks are  on  North  Rose  street,  the  Loyal  Tem- 
perance Legion,  the  Church  of  God,  the  Bethany 
Mission  and  the  Douglass  Avenue  Mission  Hall. 
All  of  these  religious  institutions  are  steadily  gain- 
ing in  strength  and  influence.  Their  well  filled 
congregation  rooms  on  Sunday  mornings  be- 
speaks the  nature  of  most  of  Kalamazoo's  citi- 
zens who  so  loyally  revere  and  support  these 
institutions. 


PART  SECOND 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY 
MICHIGAN 


LARGELY    BIOGRAPHICAL 


We  have  undertaken  to  discourse  for  a  little  upon  Men,  their 
manner  of  appearance  in  our  World's  business,  how  they  have 
shaped  themselves  in  the  World's  history,  what  ideas  other 
men  have  formed  of  them,  what  work  they  did.   -CARLYLE. 


CHICAGO: 

A.    W.    BOWKN    &     CO. 

1906 


7-8 


The  wheels  now  roll  in  fire  and  thunder, 

To  bear  us  on  with  startling  speed; 
They  shake  the  dust  of  Nations  under 

The  flowers  of  forest,  mount  and  mead. 
The  old-time  worthies  still  are  near; 
The  spirit  of  the  Past  is  here: 
And,  where  we  tread,  the  old  mound  builders 

Looked  forward  through  the  mist  of  Time 
As  we  look  back.    The  scene  bewilders, 

And  all  the  distance  is  sublime. 


•&<sCs<L&o^. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  HISTORY 


OF 


KALAMAZOO  CO.,  MICHIGAN 


DR.  E.  H.  VAN   DEUSEN. 

The  kind  and  beneficent  face  of  Dr.  E.  H. 
Van  Deusen,  one  of  Kalamazoo's  oldest  and  most 
honored  physicians,  is  doubtless  known  to  every 
resident  in  Kalamazoo  county.  His  deeds  of  phi- 
lanthropy, done  in  his  quiet  and  modest  way,  and 
his  noble  character  have  won  for  him  the  love  of 
hundreds  who  have  in  some  way  been  benefited 
by  him.  Affable  and  courteous  in  his  manner 
towards  all,  he  is  exceedingly  unobtrusive  and  re- 
tiring; fond  of  domestic  life  and  the  society  of 
i.iends,  but  shunning  crowds,  both  social  and  po- 
litical. The  public  knows  but  little  of  the  count- 
less deeds  of  charity  and  helpfulness  due  to  the 
kindly  hearts  and  gracious  hands  of  Dr.  Van 
Deusen  and  his  devoted  wife,  both  of  whose  lives 
should  a'ct  as  a  spur  to  good  deeds.  Edwin  H. 
Van  Deusen,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  was  born  at 
Livingston,  Columbia  county,  New  York, 
(M  August  29,  1828.  His  parents  were 
Robert  N.  Van  Deusen,  a  merchant  and  miller, 
•''•id  Catherine  Best,  daughter  of  John  Best,  a 
farmer  of  Columbia  county.  He  attended  the  dis- 
trict school  during  his  boyhood,  and  then  took  a 
preparatory  course  of  three  years  at  Claverack 
-  cademy,  now  known  as  Hudson  River  Institute, 
alter  which  he  entered  Williams  College,  gradu- 


ating at  the  age  of  twenty.  The  degree  of  Master 
of  Arts  was  conferred  upon  him  three  years  later 
by  this  college.  In  1848  he  entered  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  at  New  York,  gradu- 
ating two  years  later,  at  which  time  he  accepted 
a  position  on  the  staff  of  the  New  York  Hospital, 
where  he  remained  three  years.  In  1853  he  re- 
ceived the  appointment  of  first  assistant  physician 
at  the  New  York  State  Lunatic  Asylum  at  Utica, 
which  he  held  until  1858.  Provision  was  made 
for  the  establishment  of  the  Michigan  Asylum  for 
the  Insane  by  an  act  of  the  legislature  of  Michi- 
gan in  1848,  and  in  1855  Dr.  Van  Deusen  was  ap- 
pointed medical  superintendent  of  the  institution. 
The  locating  committee  purchased  one  hundred 
and  fifty-seven  acres  of  land  for  the  establishment 
of  the  institution,  and  Dr.  Van  Deusen,  who  had 
visited  Kalamazoo  frequently  in  1855,  1856  and 
1857  resigned  his  position  at  the  Utica  Asylum, 
of  which  he  was  then  assistant  medical  superin- 
tendent, and  removed  to  Kalamazoo  in  the  fall  of 
1858.  On  July  22,  1858,  he  had  married  Miss 
Cynthia  A.  Wendover,  daughter  of  John  Thomp- 
son Wendover,  Esq.,  a  merchant  of  Stuyvesant- 
on-the-Hudson.  They  have  one  son,  Robert  T. 
Van  Deusen,  who  was  born  on  April  6,  1859.  He 
is  now  married  and  resides  at  Stuyvesant, 
N.  Y.    Up  to  1858  the  appropriations  by  the  legis- 


n8 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


lature  for  the  asylum  had  been  insufficient  to  carry 
out  the  proposed  plans,  and  in  February,  1859, 
Dr.  Van  Deusen,  with  the  assistance  of  Dr.  Fos- 
ter Pratt,  secured  one  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
the  first  large  appropriation  of  the  legislature. 
Under  his  supervision,  active  building  operations 
were  commenced.  On  August  29,  1859,  the  in- 
stitution was  formally  opened.  The  center  build- 
ing and  the  contiguous  half  of  what  is  now  the 
south  wing  of  the  female  department  were  then 
finished ;  the  south  wing  was  completed  in  the 
next  two  years,  and  the  north  wing  about  six 
years  later,  while  what  is  now  the  male  depart- 
ment was  finished  in  1877.  Dr.  Van  Deusen  at- 
tained a  success  in  this  work  that  is  seldom  met 
with  in  the  history  of  public  buildings  of  this 
character.  Dr.  Van  Deusen  served  as  a  member 
of  the  commission  appointed  to  select  the  loca- 
tion and  supervise  the  construction  of  the  Eastern 
Michigan  Asylum  for  the  Insane  at  Pontiac,  and 
acted  on  a  similar  commission  in  connection  with 
the  Northern  Michigan  Asylum  for  the  Insane  at 
Traverse  City.  He  also  served  for  six  years  as  a 
commissioner  on  the  Michigan  state  board  of 
charities  and  corrections.  He  held  the  position  of 
medical  superintendent  of  the  asylum  until  Feb- 
ruary, 1878,  when  failing  health,  brought  on  by 
excessive  labor,  compelled  his  resignation.  Pos- 
sessed of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  institu- 
tion's requisites,  a  wonderful  grasp  of  detail,  and 
a  brilliant  executive  ability,  his  name  was  a 
synonym  of  success  in  a  broad  field  of  labor — that 
of  treating  and  caring  for  the  insane  of  the  state. 
His  health  has  not  permitted  the  active  contin- 
uance of  his  profession,  and  since  his  resignation 
as  medical  superintendent  of  the  asylum  he  has 
lived  a  quiet  life  in  his  pleasant  home  in  Kalama- 
zoo, but  his  twenty  years  of  useful  labor  and  self- 
sacrificing  work  in  connection  with  the  asylum 
will  never  be  forgotten.  Both  he  and  his  wife  are 
active  and  devoted  members  of  St.  Luke's  Epis- 
copal church,  at  which  they  are  constant  attend- 
ants, Dr.  Van  Deusen  having  served  on  the  vestry 
for  years,  and  having  been  chairman  of  the  build- 
ing committee  when  the  church  was  built  in  1885. 
In  1892  St.  Luke's  church,  through  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Van  Deusen,  secured  its  admirable  parish  house, 


which  is  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
commodious  and  attractive  in  the  country. 
Aside  from  this  they  performed  another  great  act 
of  public  benevolence — by  presenting  to  the  citi- 
zens of  Kalamazoo  their  present  beautiful  public 
library.  Thus  they  have  founded  a  great  public 
benefaction,  of  which  every  intelligent  member 
of  the  community  can  partake  for  all  time  to 
come.  All  of  these  deeds  of  charity  and  public 
benevolence  have  been  done  without  any  ostenta- 
tion, and  when  known,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Van  Deusen 
have  discouraged  public  notice  of  them. 

THE    ECLIPSE    GOVERNOR    COMPANY. 

This'  progressive  and  enterprising  corpora- 
tion, whose  product  is  one  of  the  most  useful  and 
effective  for  its  purposes  of  all  the  varied  devices 
manufactured  in  Kalamazoo  county,  which  is  a 
verv  prolific  region  in  industrial  invention  and 
activity,  was  founded  as  a  copartnership  in  1892, 
with  J.  E.  Kimble,  Ransom  Kimble  and  Dr.  Mc- 
Kain.  They  started  an  enterprise  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  the  Eclipse  governor  for  use  on  steam 
engines,  and  continued  their  operations  under  the 
partnership  until  1899,  when  they  organized  the 
stock  company  which  now  conducts  the  business, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  twenty  thousand  dollars, 
of  which  eight  thousand  dollars  were  paid  in. 
and  J.  E.  Kimble,  president,  Mrs.  Frankie  Kim- 
ble, vice-president,  and  Roy  C.  Kimble,  secretary 
and  treasurer.  In  1900  the  company  built  its 
present  plant,  which  has  a  capacity  of  three  thou- 
sand five  hundred  governors  per  year,  and  the 
output  of  which  is  sold  in  all  parts  of  the  United 
States  and  portions  of  Canada.  The  industry 
employs  regularly  more  than  thirty  men  and  the 
demand  for  the  product  is  always  equal  to  if  not 
ahead  of  the  supply.  Emory  Kimble  is  the  in- 
ventor of  the  governor,  as  he  is  of  many  other 
useful  mechanical  contrivances  which  are  manu- 
factured in  this  neighborhood.  He  invented  the 
accolating  piston  engine  known  as  the  Kimble 
engine,  which  was  formerly  manufactured  by  the 
Kimble  Engine  Company  of  Comstock,  capital- 
ized at  seventy-five  thousand  dollars,  that  after- 
ward became  the  Comstock  Manufacturing  Com- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


119 


pany,  and  is  still  operating  under  that  name.  He 
then  designed  and  built  the  Jewel  auto  engine, 
made  first  and  now  by  the  C.  H.  Dutton  Company, 
of  Kalamazoo,  which  is  still  a  much  desired  and 
extensively  used  mechanism  and  has  a  large  sale. 
Later  Mr.  Kimble  designed  the  Gem  automatic 
engine  for  the  Clark  Manufacturing  Company,  of 
Kalamazoo,  and  still  later  the  governor  now  made 
by  the  Eclipse  Governor  Company  of  Vicksburg. 
Mr.  Kimble,  whose  inventive  genius  and  me- 
chanical skill  have  been  so  prolific  and  have  en- 
riched the  industrial  life  of  this  county  with  so 
many  useful  creations  for  the  convenience  of  man 
and  the  benefit  of  manufactures,  was  born  in  the 
county,  Brady  township,  on  November  16,  1850, 
and  is  the  son  of  Lewis  C.  and  Amanda  M.  (Os- 
born)  Kimble,  venerated  pioneers  of  the  county, 
who  have  long  been  at  rest  from  earthly  labor 
and  a  sketch  of  whom  will  be  found  elsewhere  in 
this  volume.  Their  son  Emory  was  reared  and 
educated  in  his  native  township,  leaving  the  home 
farm  at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  entering  the  gro- 
cery trade  in  company  with  his  father  at  Vicks- 
burg. In  1873  tne}7  s°ld  the  grocery  business  to 
Manfred  Hill,  who  is  still  conducting  it.  The 
younger  Mr.  Kimble  then  began  operating  one 
of  the  first  steam  threshers  in  the  county,  and  was 
engaged  in  that  needful  and  appreciative  occupa- 
tion four  years,  after  which  he  invented  a  sepa- 
rator, and,  in  partnership  with  J.  K.  Wagner  and 
John  Fleming,  under  the  firm  name  of  the  Kim- 
ble Manufacturing  Company,  manufactured  the 
same  until  they  sold  the  business  to  den  Blyker. 
In  company  with  him  Mr.  Kimble  was  then  en- 
gaged for  a  time  in  the  manufacture  of  threshing 
engines,  and  later  became  associated  with  the 
Corn  stock  Manufacturing  Company.  He  is  a 
stockholder  in  and  the  president  of  the  Dentler 
Bagger  Company  of  Vicksburg,  and  connected 
with  other  enterprises  of  great  benefit  to  the  com- 
munity. In  1874  he  was  married  to  Miss  Frankie 
Garland,  a  native  of  Albion,  Calhoun  county. 
they  have  two  children,  their  son  Roy  and  their 
daughter  Blanch,  wife  of  Ed.  Sergent.  In  poli- 
ces Mr.  Kimble  is  a  Democrat  and  as  such  has 
filled  a  number  of  local  offices.  Fraternally  he  is 
an  Elk. 


E.  C.  RISHEL. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  and  successful 
business  men  of  Vicksburg,  and  a  leading  and  rep- 
resentative citizen  of  his  township  in  all  phases 
of  its  public  life,  E.  C.  Rishel  has  been  a  factor  of 
consequence  in  the  development  of  this  part  of 
the  state.  He  is  orie  of  the  oldest  merchants  in 
the  village,  in  continuity  of  mercantile  life  here, 
having  been  established  in  the  same  trade  and 
store  for  a  period  of  about  twenty-six  years.  He 
was  born  in  Park  township,  St.  Joseph  county, 
Mich.,-  on  January  16,  1855,  and  is  the  son  of 
John  and  Hannah  (Kaufman)  Rishel,  who  were 
born  and  reared  in  Columbia  county,  Pa.  The 
father  was  a  blacksmith  and  also  followed  farm- 
ing. He  removed  from  his  native  state  to  Summit 
county,  Ohio,  and  after  a  short  residence  there 
came  to  Michigan  in  1854.  A  few  months  after  his 
arrival  in  this  state,  during  which  he  lived  in  St. 
Joseph  county,  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo  county 
and  located  in  Brady  township,  where  he  bought 
one  hundred  acres  of  wild  land.  On  this  he  built 
a  frame  dwelling  in  which  he  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  1855,  and  at  once  began  to  clear,  break 
up  and  cultivate  his  land.  He  lived  on  the  farm 
and  devoted  his  energies  to  its  improvement  until 
his  death,  in  1893,  his  wife  passing  away  a  few 
months  before  him.  They  had  two  children,  their 
son  E.  C.  and  a  daughter,  who  died  in  infancy. 
The  father  was  a  leading  Democrat  but  never 
sought  office.  He  and  his  wife  were  active  mem- 
bers of  the  English  Lutheran  church  of  Brady 
township.  Mr.  Rishel's  paternal  grandfather  was 
John  Rishel,  a  prosperous  farmer  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, who  passed  the  whole  of  his  life  in  that 
state.  E.  C.  Rishel,  the  immediate  subject  of  this 
sketch,  grew  to  manhood  in  Brady  township,  this 
county,  and  obtained  his  education  in  the  district 
schools.  He  remained  on  the  home  farm  with 
his  parents  until  he  was  twenty-four  years  of 
age,  then  moved  to  Vicksburg  and  started  the 
hardware  business  in  which  he  is  still  engaged, 
and  has  been  continuously  on  the  same  site  and 
in  the  same  building  ever  since  he  started.  He 
has  taken  an  active  part  in  various  industrial  and 
commercial  enterprises  of  merit  in  his  township, 


120 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


and  has  been  a  helpful  force  in  building  them  up 
and  fostering  them  to  good  advantage.  He  is  now 
a  stockholder  in  the  Railway  Supply  Company  of 
Vicksburg,  and  also  owns  the  home  farm  and  an- 
other which  he  purchased  some  years  ago.  In 
1877  ne  was  married  at  Three  Rivers  to  Miss 
Melissa  J.  Mohney,  who  was  born  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  is  a  daughter  of  Abram  Mohney,  an 
early  settler  in  this  county.  They  have  no  chil- 
dren. Politically  Mr.  Rishel  is  a  Democrat,  but 
he  has  never  been  an  active  partisan,  and  takes 
but  a  good  citizen's  general  interest  in  political 
contests,  neither  seeking  nor  desiring  political 
honors  for  himself,  although  he  has  served  three 
years  as  treasurer  of  the  local  school  board.  Fra- 
ternally he  is  a  Freemason,  and  has  been  the 
worshipful  master  of  his  lodge  four  years.  He 
and  his  wife  belong  to  the  Congregational  church, 
and  he  is  treasurer  of  the  organization.  Mr. 
Rishel's  business  has  occupied  the  greater  part  of 
his  time  and  attention,  and  he  has  built  it  up  to 
fine  proportions  and  won  for  it  an  unassailable 
standing  in  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  the 
community  and  the  trade  in  general. 

ROBERT   BAKER. 

The  American  progenitors  of  the  Baker  fam- 
ily, to  which  the  subject  of  this  review  belongs, 
came  to.  this  country  and  settled  in  Rhode  Island 
in  early  colonial  times.  Their  firmness  of  con- 
viction and  love  of  freedom  led  them  to  the  colony 
founded  by  Roger  Williams,  which  was  then  the 
only  place  of  safety  in  New  England  for  persons 
of  the  Quaker  sect  to  which  they  belonged.  In 
that  colony  Reuben  Baker,  the  grandfather  of 
Robert,  was  born  and  reared.  When  a  young  man 
he  moved  to  New  York  state  and  there  farmed 
until  his  death,  at  the  age  of  about  sixty-five  years. 
One  of  his  six  sons  was  Reuben  Baker,  Jr.,  Rob- 
ert's father,  who  was  born  at  Easton,  Washington 
county,  N.  Y.,  in  1795,  and  in  early  life  was  a 
shoemaker,  carrying  on  extensively  for  that  day. 
and  employing  a  number  of  men  in  his  shops. 
Later  he  turned  his  attention  to  farming,  at  which 
he  continued  until  his  death  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
two  years,  passing  his  whole  life  in  his  native 


township.  His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Martha  Potter,  and  who  was  a  daughter  of  Da- 
vid Potter,  an  orthodox  Quaker  born  in  Rhode 
Island,  was  also  a  native  of  Washington  county, 
N.  Y.,  and  was  born  at  Grandville  in  1801.  She 
reared  a  family  of  six  children,  and  died  when 
she  was  forty-five  years  old.  Robert  Baker  was 
born  at  Easton,  Washington  county,  N.  Y.,  on 
December  6,  1824.  After  a  preparatory  course 
in  the  district  schools  he  attended  the  State  Nor- 
mal School  at  Albany  three  terms,  and  from  the 
age  of  nineteen  to  that  of  twenty-four  taught 
school  in  the  winter  months.  After  that  he  de- 
voted his  entire  time  to  the  profession  until  1866. 
For  some  time  he  taught  the  new  method  of  local 
geography  at  Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y.,  then,  in 
the  spring  of  1850,  came  west  to  Racine,  Wis., 
where  he  clerked  in  a  dry-goods  store.  Soon  aft- 
erward he  bought  the  Racine  Academy,  which  he 
conducted  three  years.  After  selling  it  he  became 
the  first  teacher  in  the  graded  schools  of  Delavan, 
Wis.,  and  filled  his  position  there  three  years. 
During  the  next  four  years  he  taught  in  the 
graded  schools  at  Darien,  that  state,  later  return- 
ing to  Delavan  and  opening  a  book  and  music 
store.  Two  and  a  half  months  after  he  embarked 
in  this  mercantile  enterprise  the  block  in  which 
his  store  was  located  was  burned,  and  he  then 
moved  to  Oxford,  Wis.,  and  again  taught  school, 
also  managing  a  farm  that  was  occupied  by  a  ten- 
ant and  comprised  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres. 
He  also  owned  eighty  acres  of  woodland  in  that 
section  of  the  country.  In  the  fall  of  1865  he 
moved  to  Breedsville,  Mich.,  where  he  taught  five 
terms  in  the  graded  schools  and  served  as  post- 
master from  1866  until  1877,  carrying  on  at  the 
same  time  a  general  merchandising  business. 
Prior  to  this,  however,  in  March,  1864,  he  enlisted 
in  Company  D,  Nineteenth  Wisconsin  Infamry, 
which  soon  afterward  became  a  part  of  the  Army 
of  the  Cumberland.  On  the  third  day  after  the 
regiment  reached  Virginia  it  participated  in  an 
engagement  at  Ball's  Bluff,  and  for  two  successive 
days  suffered  defeat.  After  a  period  of  encamp- 
ment behind  entrenchments  at  Bermuda  Hun- 
dred, the  command  was  marched  to  Petersburg, 
and  there  Mr.  Baker  served  as  adjutant's  clerk  and 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


121 


kept  account  of  the  dead  and  wounded,  perform- 
ing his  duty  in  the  midst  of  a  continual  shower 
of  shot  and  shell.  He  was  promoted  to  service 
at  headquarters  under  General  Burnside,  in  the 
Eighteenth  Army  Corps,  and  assigned  to  duty  as 
clerk  in  the  mustering  office.  Becoming  ill,  he 
was  sent  to  the  general  hospital  in  Hampton 
Roads  in  August,  and  when  he  left  the  hospital 
in  the  following  November  he  returned  to  his  old 
New  York  home.  Here  his  relatives  failed  to  rec- 
ognize him,  as  rheumatism  compelled  him  to  use 
crutches,  and  his  weight  was  reduced  from  one 
hundred  and  fifty-five  pounds  to  one  hundred  and 
sixteen  pounds.  On  February  17,  1865,  he  re- 
turned to  headquarters,  but  on  reaching  Fortress 
Monroe  was  pronounced  unfit  for  duty,  and  was 
appointed  by  General  Butler  principal  of  a  col- 
ored school  at  Hampton  Roads,  where  he  re- 
mained until  his  discharge  from  military  service 
on  June  23,  1865.  After  the  war  he  was  almost 
helpless  for  some  time  from  the  disabilities  he 
incurred  in  the  service,  but  he  never  applied  for 
a  pension  until  1878,  when  he  received  one  of 
four  dollars  a  month  for  three  years,  and  this 
has  since  been  increased  to  sixteen.  This  he  is 
pleased  to  have  as  a  recognition  of  his  services 
rather  than  as  a  compensation  for  the  loss  of  his 
health.  Returning  to  this  county  after  the  close 
of  the  sanguinary  strife  between  the  sections  of 
our  unhappy  country,  Mr.  Baker  located  at 
Yicksburg  in  1877,  an^  was  actively  engaged  in 
merchandising  at  that  place  in  drugs,  groceries, 
wall  paper,  paints,  crockery  and  glassware.  His 
two-story  brick  store  contained  a  complete  stock 
oi"  goods  in  his  several  lines,  valued  at  several 
thousand  dollars,  and  his  trade  amounted  to  a 
large  amount  every  year.  Mr.  Baker  retired 
from  business  in  January,  1903,  and  now  lives 
retired  in  Vicksburg.  He  owns  the  foundry 
building  near  the  railroad  station  in  the  village, 
a.  1  his  fine  frame  dwelling  at  Water  and  Prairie 
sheets.  One  of  the  leading  men  of  the  town,  he 
i':  also  one  of  its  most  influential  and  representa- 
ti  e  citizens,  active  in  every  endeavor  to  develop 
av-(l  improve  it  and  earnest  in  the  promotion  of 
evrry   element   of   its   intellectual   and   civil   life. 


He  was  married  in  1847  to  Miss  Lydia  S.  Conger, 
a  native  of  Danby,  Vt,  who  died  on  March  15, 
1897,  leaving  four  children,  George  R.,  a  drug- 
gist in  Chicago;  Etta  M.,  wife  of  Marshall  Best, 
a  farmer  of  Brady  township ;  and  Herbert  G.  and 
Herman  D.,  twins,  the  former  of  whom  has  since 
died,  and  the  latter  is  now  in  business  with  his 
father.  On  October  23,  1897,  the  father  married 
a  second  wife,  Mrs.  Sarah  (Patterson)  Wilbur. 
She  has  five  children  born  of  her  former  mar- 
riage: Sibyl,  wife  of  George  R.  Baker;  Chloe, 
wife  of  J.  E.  Cannon,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;  Isa- 
belle,  wife  of  Henry  Kunselman,  t  of  Mendon, 
Mich. ;  Emory,  of  Vicksburg,  this  county ;  and 
Blanch,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Mrs.  Baker's  par- 
ents were  William  and  Mary  Patterson,  the 
former  a  native  of  Ireland  and  the  latter  of  Penn- 
sylvania. They  were  pioneers  of  St.  Joseph 
county,  this  state,  settling  on  Portage  Lake  sixty- 
four  years  ago.  The  father  died  in  that  county 
and  the  mother  at  Mishawaka,  Ind.  Mr.  Baker 
is.  one  of  the  oldest  citizens  of  the  county,  and 
his  residence  of  twenty-eight  years  within  its 
borders  has  given  a  wide  acquaintance  with  its 
people,  among  whom  he  walks  as  a  venerated 
patriarch  of  high  character,  lofty  aspirations  and 
long  usefulness  to  his  kind  in  peace  and  war. 

DR.  FRANK  S.  COLLER. 

This  widely  known  and  highly  appreciated 
physician  and  surgeon  of  Kalamazoo  county,  who 
has  been  in  an  active  general  practice  at  Vicks- 
burg during  all  of  the  last  eighteen  years,  is  a 
native  of  the  county,  born  in  Wakeshma  township 
on  August  11,  1864.  His  parents  were  Dr.  Eli 
H.  and  Mirrandad  R.  (Smith)  Coller,  natives  of 
the  state  of  New  York.  The  father  who  was  long 
a  leading  physician  and  surgeon  in  this  state,  and 
received  his  professional  training  at  the  State 
University  at  Ann  Arbor,  being  graduated  with 
the  class  of  1857  or  1858,  was  brought  to  Michi- 
gan in  1836  by  his  parents  when  he  was  but  two 
years  old.  The  family  settled  in  Lenawee  county, 
where  the  parents  passed  the  remainder  of  their 
lives.    Dr.  Frank  S.  Coller's  father  served  as  sur- 


122 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


geon  in  the  First  Michigan  Cavalry  during  the 
Civil  war,  being  promoted  to  that  position  from 
that  of  assistant  surgeon  of  the  Twelfth  Michigan 
Cavalry,  enlisting  in  1863  and  serving  three 
years,  participating  in  all  the  engagements  of  his 
command  during  the  period  of  the  war  in  his 
term.  He  moved  to  Wakeshma  township,  this 
county,  in  1859  an(^  settled  on  a  farm  which  he 
worked  in  connection  with  his  practice.  His 
earlier  fees  for  professional  service  were  paid  in 
maple  sugar  which  he  exchanged  at  Kalamazoo 
for  supplies,  one  pound  of  quinine  costing  thirty 
pounds  of  sugar.  In  1872  he  moved  to  Climax, 
where  he  lived  until  1874,  when  he  went  to  Cali- 
fornia in  company  with  Dr.  Sealey,  remaining 
until  1877.  He  then  returned  to  this  state  and 
located  at  Athens,  removing  later  to  Battle  Creek, 
where  he  died  on  December  13,  1903.  His  wife 
died  in  1879.  They  had  four  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter. Two  of  these  are  living,  the  Doctor  and  his 
brother,  Dr.  E.  H.  Coller,  one  of  the  leading  den- 
tists of  Battle  Creek.  The  father  married  as  his 
second  wife  Miss  Hester  Foote,  of  Athens,  who  is 
still  living.  The  Doctor's  grandfather  was  Jesse 
Coller,  a  Michigan  farmer  who  died  in  Lenawee 
county.  The  Doctor  grew  to  manhood  and  was 
educated  in  Calhoun  and  Kalamazoo  counties.  He 
began  his  professional  studies  under  the  direction 
of  his  father,  and  in  1884  entered  the  medical  de- 
partment of  the  university  at  Ann  Arbor,  and 
from  this  he  was  graduated  in  1887.  In  Jury  °f 
that  year  he  began  practicing  at  Vicksburg,  and 
he  has  followed  his  profession  here  ever  since, 
growing  into  a  large  and  representative  practice 
and  "establishing  himself  firmly  in  the  regard  and 
good  will  of  the  people.  He  has  taken  post-grad- 
uate courses  in  the  polytechnic  schools  at  Chicago 
and  Ann  Arbor,  and  has  kept  in  the  active  cur- 
rents of  medical  thought  and  discovery  by  zealous 
and  serviceable  membership  in  the  county  and 
state  medical  societies,  the  Kalamazoo  Academy 
of  Medicine  and  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion. He  was  married  at  Mendon,  Mich.,  on  De- 
cember 24,  1889,  to  Miss  Vianna  Jenkinson,  a 
daughter  of  Francis  Jenkinson,  one  of  the  hon- 
ored pioneers  of  Kalamazoo  county.  They  have 
one  child,   their  son   Russell   J.     Politically  the 


Doctor  is  independent,  but  his  interest  in  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  lives  has  been  shown  by  six 
years'  service  and  usefulness  on  the  board  of 
village  trustees.  Fraternally  he  belongs  to  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows. 

DAVID  FISHER. 

David  Fisher,  one  of  the  few  pioneers  of  Kala- 
mazoo county'  now  left,  was  born  at  Wrentham, 
Mass.,  September  30,  1827.  His  parents  were 
David  A.  and  Sarah  (Comstock)  Fisher,  both  na- 
tives of  Massachusetts.  The  father  served  in 
Massachusetts  as  sheriff  and  other  public  offices. 
He  came  to  Michigan  in  1856,  coming  direct  to 
Kalamazoo,  and  was  widely  known  as  an  auction- 
eer throughout  the  county.  He  died  in  Kalama- 
zoo. The  mother  died  in  Massachusetts,  on  Sep- 
tember 29,  1854.  They  had  seven  children,  and 
all  are  dead  but  our  subject  and  Mrs.  F.  S.  Cobb, 
of  Kalamazoo,  and  Mrs.  S.  A.  Loomis,  also  of 
Kalamazoo.  Our  subject  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated in  Massachusetts  to  the  age  of  fifteen  years, 
attending  the  common  schools  and  Day's  Acad- 
emy. In  1845  ne  came  to  Michigan,  coming  di- 
rect to  Kalamazoo.  He  went  to  Schoolcraft  and 
clerked  in  the  general  store  of  S.  S.  Cobb  & 
Company,  remaining  there  two  years,  and  then 
came  to  Kalamazoo,  where  he  has  since  resided. 
In  1854  he  opened  a  crockery  store  and  later  took 
as  a  partner  Thomas  S.  Cobb,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Cobb  &  Fisher.  They  continued  in  busi- 
ness for  thirty  years,  erecting  what  is  known  as 
the  Steam's  block.  Mr.  Fisher  retired  in  1884. 
Since  then  he  has  filled  various  positions  of  trust . 
He  has  served  as  an  officer  of  the  Children's 
Home,  of  Kalamazoo,  for  the  past  twenty-six 
years  as  treasurer.  He  was  one  of  the  original 
stockholders  and  builders  of  the  Kalamazoo  & 
South  Haven  Railroad,  serving  as  treasurer  of  the 
same,  which  was  later  sold  to  the  Michigan  Cen- 
tral Railroad.  He  has  served  as  superintendent 
of  the  Mountain  Home  Cemetery  for  the  past 
fifteen  years.  He  has  been  an  officer  and  member 
of  St.  Luke's  church  for  the  past  fifty-two  years. 
He  is  interested  in  various  other  enterprises  here 
and  in  the  state.     Mr.  Fisher  was  married  June 


DAVID  FISHKR. 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


125 


29,  1853,  in  Kalamazoo,  to  Sarah  C.  Weever,  a 
native  of  New  Hampshire.  She  came  to  Kala- 
mazoo with  her  parents,  Constine  P.  and  Sarah 
(Willard)  Weever,  in  1834,  they  locating  in 
Kalamazoo,  where  she  grew  to  womanhood.  She 
died  April  14,  1905.  She  was  a  member  of  St. 
Luke's  for  fifty-two  years. 

CHARLES  S.  COOLEY. 

After  many  long  years  of  persistent  .industry, 
prosperous  operations  and  useful  service  to  the 
community  in  which  he  lived,  Charles  S.  Cooley, 
of  Vicksburg,  this  county,  is  now  living  retired 
from  active  pursuits,  enjoying  the  fruits  of  his 
long  labor,  the  universal  respect  of  his  fellow 
citizens  and  the  rest  he  has  so  well  earned.  He 
was  born  in  Steuben  county,  N.  Y.,  on  April  8, 
1848,  and  is  the  son  of  Calvin  W.  and  Celinda 
(Davis)  Cooley,  the  former  a  native  of  Ohio 
and  the  latter  of  New  York  state.  The  father  was 
born  at  Dover,  Ohio,  in  18 18,  and  removed  to  the 
state  of  New  York  when  he  was  about  eighteen 
years  old.  There  he  engaged  in  various  business 
callings  and  served  a  term  as  sheriff  of  Steuben 
county.  In  1856  he  came  to  Kalamazoo  county 
and  bought  eighty  acres  of  woodland  in  Pavilion 
township,  only  seven  acres  of  which  wTere  cleared. 
The  county  around  him  was  almost  in  its  pristine 
wilderness,  with  wild  game  abundant,  and  beasts 
of  prey  too  numerous  for  safety  or  comfort  to 
the  newcomers.  He  cleared  his  farm  and  added 
to  it  until  he  owned  over  four  hundred  acres,  all 
of  which  he  cleared  and  nearly  all  of  which  he 
brought  to  an  advanced  state  of  cultivation.  On 
this  farm  he  lived  until  1871,  then  moved  to 
Vicksburg,  where  his  wife  died  on  January  2, 
1891,  and  he  in  March,  1901.  In  1880  he  went  to 
North  Dakota  with  his  son  Charles  and  purchased 
four  and  one-half  sections  of  land  in  Cass  county. 
But  he  returned  soon  afterward  to  this  county, 
and  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  at  Vicksburg. 
Three  sons  and  one  daughter  were  born  in  the 
household,  and  of  these,  two  sons  and  the  daugh- 
ter are  living.  Ernest  D.  is  a  resident  of  Colorado 
Springs,  Colo.,  and  the  daughter,  Hattie,  is  now 
Mrs.  E.  W.  Carter,  of  this  countv.     The  father 


was  a  man  of  prominence  here  and  filled  a  number 
of  township  offices  in  Pavilion  township.  He  was 
a  Whig  in  early  life,  but  later  became  a  Democrat. 
The  mother  was  an  active  member  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  church.  They  were  successful  in 
farming  and  raising  live  stock,  and  were  well 
known  and  highly  esteemed  throughout  the 
county.  Charles  S.  Cooley  has  passed  nearly  all 
of  his  life  except  the  first  eight  years  in  this 
county,  and  has  been  fully  identified  with  the 
progress  and  development  of  the  section  and  the 
aspirations  and  'endeavors  of  its  people.  He  re- 
ceived his  education  in  the  district  schools,  the 
Union  School  of  Kalamazoo,  and  the  commercial 
school  at  Battle  Creek.  He  remained  on  the  home 
farm,  in  the  operation  of  which  he  was  largely  con- 
cerned until  his  removal  to  North  Dakota  in  1880. 
There  he  engaged  in  general  farming  and  raising 
stock  until  1895,  when  he  returned  to  Vicksburg. 
where  he  has  since  resided.  He  owns  and  until 
recently  worked  a  large  farm  near  the  village. 
On  June  7,  1877,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Ella  A. 
Neasmith,  a  daughter  of  James  M.  and  Susan  E. 
(Dvkeman)  Neasmith,  the  former  born  in  Man- 
chester, England,  on  September  26,  1823,  and  the 
latter  at  Canajoharie,  N.  Y.,  on  September  20. 
1824.  The  father  attended  the  district  schools  #  in 
Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  and  after  coming  of  age 
passed  five  months  at  the  Carey  Collegiate  Insti- 
tute at  Oakfield,  that  county.  He  afterward 
taught  school  two  years,  then  made  flour  barrels 
one  year,  and  kept  a  hotel  at  East  Pembroke  three 
years.  From  then  until  1853  he  was  engaged  ih 
general  merchandising  at  East  Pembroke  in  part- 
nership with  John  A.  Willett.  In  the  year  last 
mentioned  he  sold  his  interest  in  the  store  and 
came  to  this  county  in  the  fall.  He  bought  two 
hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  land,  a  part  of  his 
present  farm,  which  was  but  partially  improved. 
On  July  1,  1847,  ne  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Susan  E.  Dykeman,  and  of  this  union  three  chil- 
dren were  born,  Ella  A.  (Mrs.  Cooley),  George 
E.  and  Fred  W.  Mr.  Neasmith  had  five  hundred 
and  thirty  acres  of  fine  land  in  one  body,  of  which 
three  hundred  and  fifty  acres  are  well  improved. 
He  is  now  deceased.  He  was  a  strong  Republican 
in  his  political  views,  and  was  elected  to  the  state 


126 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


senate  in  1870  and  again  in  1872,  serving  during 
the  winters  of  187 1-2  and  1873-4.  He  took  an 
active  part  in  legislation  during  the  sessions  and 
introduced  and  secured  the  passage  of  a  number 
of  important  laws.  He  served  as  commissioner 
of  the  state  land  office  from  1878  to  1882,  and 
during  his  tenure  of  the  office  made  important 
improvements  in  the  way  of  managing  its  busi- 
ness. For  eight  years  he  was  one  of  the  trustees 
of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum  at  Flint  in  Gen- 
esee county.  He  took  the  position  against  his 
will  but  at  the  express  solicitation  of  Governor 
Croswell,  who  said  he  was  "dissatisfied  with  the 
management  of  the  institution  and  desired  to  in- 
fuse new  blood  into  it."  Mr.  Neasmith  inaugu- 
rated several  reforms  in  the  management  and 
methods  of  conducting  the  business  which  were 
greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  asylum.  He  has 
also  served  as  commissioner  of  corrections  and 
charities,  and  was  treasurer  of  Kalamazoo  county 
from  1862  to  1868,  and  of  Kalamazoo  city  in 
1867.  For  many  years  he  was  president  of  the 
Vicksburg  &  Bellevue  Bank.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Cooley  have  two  children,  their  son  Roy  J.  and 
their  daughter  Hattie,  both  living  at  home.  Mr. 
Cooley  is  independent  in  politics  and  has  filled  a 
number  of  local  offices  with  credit  to  himself  and 
benefit  to  the  township.  He  has  also  been  very 
active  in  commercial  circles  and  was  an  agency 
of  great  force  in  securing  the  location  of  the  Lee 
Paper  Company  at  Vicksburg,  raising  nine  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  purpose,  of  which  he  sub- 
scribed five  hundred  dollars.  He  is  also  a  stock- 
holder in  the  Railway  Supply  Company,  and  other 
enterprises  of  the  kind. 

JOSEPH  W.  McELVAIN. 

This  widely  and  favorably  known  business 
man  of  Kalamazoo  county,  who  for  many  years 
was  an  influential  force  in  the  affairs  of  his  and 
the  surrounding  townships,  but  is  now  living  re- 
tired from  active  work  in  the  town  of  Vicksburg, 
was  born  in  Schoolcraft  township,  this  county,  on 
December  25,  1839.  His  parents,  William  and 
Mary  (Downs)  McElvain,  were  natives  of  Penn- 
sylvania, the  former  born  at  York  and  the  latter 


at  Georgetown,  that  state.  They  were  farmers 
and  moved  to  Ohio,  and  in  1828  to  Michigan, 
locating  on  Gourd  Neck  Prairie,  this  county, 
where  the  father  entered  a  quarter  section  of  prai- 
rie land  on  which  he  at  once  began  to  make  im- 
provements, building  a  log  dwelling.  In  this  the 
parents  lived  until  death,  the  mother  passing  away 
in  1845  and  the  father  a  year  later.  They  had 
three  daughters  who  died  in  infancy,  leaving  their 
son  Joseph,  after  their  death,  the  only  surviving 
member  of  the  family.  The  father  was  a  highly 
respected  citizen  and  leader  of  the  Whig  party 
in  the  county  during  his  life  here.  The  grand- 
father, John  McElvain,  a  native  of  York,  Pa., 
moved  from  his  native  place  to  Erie,  in  the  same 
state,  and  in  1828  accompanied  his  son  and  family 
to  this  state,  later  dying  here  at  the  home  of  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Guilford,  on  Prairie  Ronde.  Jo- 
seph W.  McElvain  was  reared  on  the  prairie 
where  his  parents  died,  by  his  uncle,  Joseph 
Frakes,  and  other  relatives,  for  a  few  years  at- 
tending the  country  schools  of  the  period  in  the 
winter  months.  At  an  early  age  he  was  obliged  to 
do  his  share  of  the  farm  work,  and  thus  laid  the 
foundation  of  his  life-long  industry  and  frugality. 
When  he  was  twenty  years  old  he  started  in  life 
for  himself  as  a  farmer.  Coming  into  possession 
of  his  father's  farm,  he  worked  that  for  two  years, 
then  in  1864  bought  the  Union  hotel  in  Vicks- 
burg, which  he  replaced  with  a  modern  and  more 
commodious  brick  structure.  Of  this  he  soon 
afterward  became  the  landlord,  and  from  that  time 
until  1900  he  kept  the  hostelry  in  a  manner  satis- 
factory to  its  large  patronage  and  profitable  to 
himself,  except  that  during  a  few  years  he  rented 
it  to  a  tenant  who  ran  it.  He  was  married  in  the 
fall  of  1865  to  Miss  Julia  Kenyon,  a  native  of  the 
state  of  New  York,  and  a  sister  of  Bradley  Ken- 
yon, a  sketch  of  whom  is  published  on  another 
page.  They  have  no  children.  Mr.  McElvain 
has  always  been  a  man  of  liberal  spirit  and 
breadth  of  view.  He  has  contributed  generously 
to  all  the  leading  enterprises  in  his  neighborhood, 
and  withheld  no  effort  or  material  assistance  he 
could  give  from  any  commendable  undertaking 
for  the  good  of  the  section.  He  is  a  stockholder 
in   the   Railway    Supply   Company   and   the   Lee 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


127 


Paper  mill.  In  politics  he  has  been  a  Republican 
from  the  organization  of  the  party,  and  ever  a 
diligent  worker  for  the  cause,  but  never  sought 
or  held  office.  He  is  a  Freemason  and  has  been  a 
Knight  Templar  since  1870.  He  also  belongs  to 
the  order  of  Elks.  One  of  the  oldest  residents  of 
his  township  and  county,  born,  reared  and  edu- 
cated among  their  people,  married  here,  and  hav- 
ing passed  the  whole  of  his  useful  life  in  this  sec- 
tion, he  is  altogether  a  product  of  this  county,  and 
is  everywhere  esteemed  as  one  of  its  best  and  most 
representative  citizens. 

E.  A.  STRONG. 

This  estimable  and  highly  respected  gentle- 
man, whose  reputation  for  uprightness  of  life, 
close  attention  to  business  and  enterprise  and  pro- 
gressiveness  of  spirit  is  co-extensive  with  the 
state,  for  many  years  broke  the  stubborn  glebe  as 
a  farmer  in  this  county  and  took  an  active  part  in 
all  its  local  affairs.  He  is  now  living  at  Vicks- 
burg,  retired  from  active  labor,  and  giving  his 
attention  principally  to  the  affairs  of  the  state 
Grange,  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  of  which  he  has 
been  the  treasurer  for  a  period  of  twenty  years. 
He  belongs  to  a  race  of  pioneers,  and  was  born  on 
March  9,  1830,  in  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  the  son 
of  Solomon  and  Ruth  (Porter)  Strong,  natives 
of  Essex  county,  Vt,  where  the  American  pro- 
genitors of  the  family  located  on  their  arrival 
from  England  in  the  early  days.  Mr.  Strong's 
paternal  grandfather,  Ezekiel  Strong,  was  a  Ver- 
mont farmer  and  had  two  sons  in  the  war  of  1812. 
The  father  of  E.  A.  Strong  was  born  in  Vermont 
in  1801,  and  followed  farming  in  that  state  until 
the  frontier  of  western  New  York  opened  a  pleas- 
ing prospect  to  him,  and  he  moved  thither.  In 
1844  he  came  to  Michigan  and  located  near  Cen- 
treville,  St.  Joseph  county,  where  he  lived  three 
years,  then  bought  a  farm  on  the  line  between  that 
county  and  Kalamazoo,  part  of  it  being  in  each 
county.  It  was  improved  with  a  small  log  house 
and  barn,  and  was  partially  cleared.  He  finished 
clearing  it  and  brought  it  to  a  good  state  of  culti- 
vation before  his  death  in  1888,  his  wife  dying 
there  some  years  previously.  They  had  two  sons 


and  one  daughter,  all  of  whom  are  living, E.  A., his 
brother  J.  W.  and  their  sister,  Mrs.  L.  C.  Lyman, 
of  Plainwell,  this  county.  The  first  named  reached 
man's  estate  in  this  state  and  was  educated  in  its 
district  schools.  He  assisted  in  clearing  and 
breaking  the  home  farm,  and  has  made  his  home 
on  it  during  the  greater  part  of  his  life.  In  1840 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Abby  Sawyer,  a  daughter 
of  Horace  Sawyer,  whose  name  stands  high  on 
the  list  of  this  county's  honored  pioneers,  and  who 
became  a  resident  of  the  county  in  1830,  locating 
in  Schoolcraft  township,  where  he  died.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Strong  have  had  three  children :  Levant 
A.,  who  is  engaged  in  the  grocery  trade  at  Vicks- 
burg.  He  married  Miss  Esther  Judson  and  has 
one  child,  his  son  Ray ;  Minnie  A.,  who  was  Mrs. 
Prof.  Waldo,  but  is  now  deceased;  and  Louis  P., 
who  also  is  a  Vicksburg  grocer,  and  in  addition 
operates  two  grain  elevators  and  conducts  a  large 
coal  business  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Kent  & 
Co.  In  the  local  affairs  of  the  township  Mr. 
x  Strong  has  been  active  and  serviceable,  looking 
well  to  the  substantial  advancement  and  improve- 
ment of  the  section,  serving  its  people  a  number 
of  years  as  a  justice  of  the  peace,  making  the  race 
on  the  Republican  ticket  for  a  seat  in  the  state 
legislature,  and  aiding  to  promote  the  fraternal 
life  of  the  community  as  a  blue  lodge  Mason  and 
for  five  years  master  of  his  lodge,  and  an  earnest 
and  serviceable  member  of  the  order  of  Patrons 
of  Husbandry.  In  the  latter  he  has  been  treas- 
urer of  the  state  Grange  for  twenty  years,  and  has 
been  recently  elected  for  another  term.  He  and 
his  wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church  and  diligent  in  all  its  beneficial  work.  He 
is  the  oldest  Grange  officer  in  the  state. 

DANIEL  STROUGH. 

For  fifty-three  years  a  resident  of  this  county, 
and  during  the  last  seventeen  living  on  the  farm 
which  is  now  his  home,  Daniel  Strough,  of  Brady 
township,  has  long  been  one  of  the  forceful  fac- 
tors in  developing  the  industries  of  the  county 
and  expanding  its  commercial  and  agricultural 
greatness.  He  is  a  native  of  Jefferson  county, 
N.  Y.,  born  on  September  10,  1827.    His  parents, 


128 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


Daniel  and  Annie  (Wise well)  Strough,  were  also 
native  in  New  York,  Herkimer  county,  and  of 
German  ancestry.-  The  paternal  grandfather, 
Baltis  Strough,  came  to  this  country  from  Ger- 
many before  the  Revolution,  and  at  the  beginning 
of  that  war  enlisted  in  a  New  York  regiment,  and 
was  soon  afterward  killed  by  a  neighbor  disguised 
as  an  Indian.  His  home  was  destroyed  by  the 
same  person,  but  the  family  escaped.  His  son 
Daniel,  father  of  the  immediate  subject  of  this 
paper,  was  at  that  time  eight  years  old.  He  grew 
to  manhood  and  lived  in  New  York  state  until 
his  death,  the  mother  surviving  him  several  years, 
then  passing  away  in  the  same  place.  They  had 
seven  children  who  grew  to  maturity,  and  of 
these,  two  sons  and  one  daughter  are  living. 
Daniel's  brother  George  H.  resides  in  the  state 
of  New  York  and  his  sister,  Mrs.  Ellwood,  at 
Comstock,  Kalamazoo  county.  The  father  was  a 
Republican  and  was  chosen  to  a  number  of  local 
offices,  which  he  filled  with  credit.  His  son,  the 
present  Daniel,  was  reared  in  his  native  county 
and  worked  at  his  trade  as  a  carpenter  there  until 
1852,  when  he  came  to  this  county  and  located 
in  the  city  of  Kalamazoo.  Here  he  wrought  at 
his  trade  ten  years,  then  moved  to  Pavilion  town- 
ship. He  built  some  of  the  finest  business  blocks 
and  other  structures  in  both  places,  and  pros- 
.pered  at  his  work.  Seventeen  years  ago  he 
bought  the  farm  in  Brady  township  on  which  he 
now  resides,  and  of  this  he  has  made  a  model 
farm  and  most  attractive  home.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  Kalamazoo  on  March  30,  1869,  to  Miss 
Hannah  Thurber,  a  native  of  Steuben  county, 
N.  Y.,  where  her  father,  Loren  Thurber,  died. 
The  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Irene  Hop- 
kins, married  a  second  husband  and,  bringing  her 
family,  came  with  him  to  this  county  in  1854. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Strough  have  one  child,  their  son 
Le  Roy,  who  is  engaged  in  raising  high-grade 
sheep.  His  exhibit  took  the  first  gold  medal  at 
the  St.  Louis  world's  fair  in  1904.  In  March, 
1865,  Mr.  Strough  enlisted  in  Company  B,  Tenth 
Michigan  Cavalry,  in  defense  of  the  Union,  and 
in  this  command  he  served  until  the  following 
November,  taking  part  in  a  number  of  important 
engagements,  among  them  the  battle   of  Peach 


Tree  Creek  in  Georgia,  those  incident  to  Sher- 
man's march  to  the  sea,  and  many  others.  Po- 
litically he  is  a  strong  Republican,  and  as  such 
has  been  chosen  to  and  rendered  effective  serv- 
ice in  a  number  of  township  offices.  In  fraternal 
relations  he  is  prominent  in  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic. 

LUCIUS  V.  LYON. 

This  scion  and  honored  representative  of  a 
distinguished  pioneer  family  of  southern  Michi- 
gan, was  born  in  the  village  of  Schoolcraft,  Kala- 
mazoo county,  on  March  6,  1837,  anc^  1S  there- 
fore one  of  the  oldest  residents  now  living  within 
the  borders  of  the  county.  He  was  an  officer 
in  the  Union  army  during  the  Civil  war,  and  won 
military  honors  that  brought  additional  credit  to 
his  command  and  the  cause  in  which  it  was  en- 
listed. In  the  pursuits  of  peaceful  industry  he 
has  also  been  distinguished  for  versatility  of  tal- 
ent and  effort,  and  general  success  in  his  under- 
takings, and  also  for  his  usefulness  in  the  general 
progress  and  development  of  the  section  of  his 
home.  His  parents  were  Ira  and  Anna  (Lewis) 
Lyon,  the  former  born  in  Vermont  in  1801  and 
the  latter  in  New  York  state  in  1802.  They 
were  married  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  some  time 
afterward  came  to  Michigan,  making  the  journey 
through  the  wilderness  from  Detroit  to  this 
county  in  1828,  in  a  wagon  drawn  by  oxen.  Ira 
Lyon's  brother  Lucius  had  come  hither  previously 
to  conduct  the  government  survey  of  what  was 
then  the  new  territory  of  Michigan.  He  soon 
became  prominent  and  influential  in  the  territory, 
and  after  its  admission  to  the  Union  as  a  state, 
was  one  of  its  first  two  United  States  senators. 
Ira  Lyon  took  up  two  hundred  and  forty  acres 
of  government  land  on  the  prairie  near  School- 
craft, and  made  a  number  of  improvements  on 
it  before  his  labors  were  cut  short  by  his  un- 
timely death  in  1841,  when  he  was  in  the  very 
prime  of  life  and  the  midst  of  a  great  usefulness. 
His  wife  died  in  1873.  They  had  nine  children, 
four  of  whom  are  living:  Addison,  of  Russell 
Springs,  Logan  county,  Kan.;  Worthington  S., 
of   San   Francisco,   Calif. ;   Sarah  A.,  now   Mrs. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN 


129 


Whitcomb,  of  Wapello,  Iowa ;  and  Lucius  V. 
The  last  named  had  a  full  experience  of  pioneer 
life  in  his  boyhood,  and  has  a  distinct  recollec- 
tion of  the  times  when  Indians  were  not. unusual 
visitors  at  his  early  home,  and  when  deer,  wolves 
and  bears  were  seen  in  the  forests  near  by  many 
times  in  a  week.  He  began  his  education  in  the 
primitive  district  schools  of  the  time  and  local- 
ity, and  although  the  early  death  of  his  father 
caused  him  to  go  to  work  with  his  brothers  and 
sisters  to  aid  in  the  support  of  the  household 
while  he  was  yet  a  mere  boy,  to  which  the  mother 
contributed  essentially  by  the  fruits  of  her  loom, 
he  managed  to  secure  a  higher  training  at  the 
Baptist  Seminary,  where  he  paid  his  way  by  per- 
forming janitorial  duties.  At  the  age  of  twenty 
lie  was  married,  but  he  continued  working  out 
for  wages  until  his  enlistment,  on  August  20, 
1862,  in  Company  C,  Sixth  Michigan  Infantry, 
which  became  a  part  of  the  Nineteenth  Corps 
of  the  Army  of  the  Gulf,  commanded  by  Gen. 
B.  F.  Butler.  From  then  on  he  ,was  in  active 
service  until  mustered  out  at  N.ew  Orleans  on 
September  22,  1865.  His  regiment  was  engaged 
in  guard  duty  at  Baltimore  until  April,  1863,  and 
during  its  detention  there  had  a  number  of  spir- 
ited contests  with  the  enemy  along  the  Virginia 
border.  In  April,  1863,  the  regiment  was  ordered 
to  go  on  his  New  Orleans  expedition  with  Gen- 
eral Butler,  and  three  thousand  five  hundred  men 
were  packed  on  one  steamer  that  passed  around 
Ship  Island  and  thence  up  the  Mississippi  to 
the  Crescent  City,  the  passage  being  hotly  op- 
posed by  the  Confederate  batteries  along  the 
shore  and  the  Confederate  gunboats  on  the  river, 
sixty  of  the  latter  being  captured  at  New  Or- 
leans. Mr.  Lyon  witnessed  the  execution  of  the 
Confederate  Mumford,  by  the  order  of  General 
Butler,  for  pulling  down  the  United  States  flag 
from  the  government  building  and  trampling  it 
in  the  dust,  the  rope  with  which  he  was  hanged 
being  made  from  the  flag  he  had  insulted.  The 
regiment  was  next  sent  up  the  river  to  Baton 
Rouge,  then  to  Port  Hudson,  and  from  there  to 
Mobile,  Ala.,  the  capture  of  forts  and  engage- 
ments with  the  Confederates  under  General 
Breckenridge  furnishing  active  employment  for 


many  months.  The  climate  was  unhealthful  and 
many  soldiers  sickened  and  died.  While  on  the 
Red  River  expedition,  the  boat  in  which  Mr. 
Lyons  was  traveling  was  fired  upon  by  secluded 
batteries  and  totally  destroyed.  Many  of  the 
soldiers  were  shot  down  on  board  or  sank  with 
the  boat,  while  others  jumped  into  the  river  and 
were  shot  while  swimming.  Mr.  Lyon  and  eight 
others  managed  to  escape  and  get  to  shore.  After 
traveling  a  long  distance  they  were  directed  by 
an  old  negro  to  a  Union  man's  house,  where  they 
were  fed  and  secreted,  and  during  the  night 
were  rowed  across  the  river  and  started  in  the 
right  direction  for  the  Union  lines.  They  were 
obliged  to  break  through  four  Confederate  picket 
lines,  and  to  kill  one  picket  guard  to  avoid  being- 
exposed.  They  finally  reached  a  Union  foraging 
party  and  were  safely  conducted  within  the  lines 
at  Alexandria.  After  that  their  regiment  was 
converted  into  a  heavy  artillery  regiment  to  man 
batteries.  On  the  results  of  a  rigid  examination 
Mr.  Lyon  was  commissioned  second  lieutenant 
of  the  Seventy-third  Colored  Regiment  of  New 
Orleans,  which  under  him  did  some  hard  fighting, 
and  later  were  ordered  to  Mobile,  from  where 
with  six  boats  they  patroled  the  Alabama  river 
and  confiscated  twelve  boat-loads  of  cotton,  which 
they  took  to  Mobile.  In  August,  1864,  the  sub- 
ject was  promoted  first  lieutenant  of  the  same 
regiment,  as  it  was  found  that  he  handled  the 
colored  troops  with  great  tact  and  wisdom,  and 
was  a  strict  disciplinarian.  He  was  also  sent 
north  that  year  to  do  recruiting,  and  rendered 
admirable  service  in  that  line.  He  remained 
with  his  command  until  he  was  mustered  out  of 
the  service,  then  returned  home  and  bought  his 
present  farm  of  sixty-four  acres  in  Brady  town- 
ship, this  county.  It  was  covered  with  heavy 
timber  at  the  time,  but  is  now  a  well  improved 
and  valuable  property.  Much  of  his  time  since 
the  war  has  been  devoted  to  public  duties.  He 
has  been  justice  of  the  peace,  pension  claims 
agent,  and  several  other  things  of  an  official 
character.  In  politics  he  is  a  Republican,  active 
and  vigilant  in  the  councils  of  his  party  and 
recognized  as  one  of  its  valued  leaders.  Frater- 
nally he  belongs  to  the  Freemasons,  the  Odd  Fel- 


i3o 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


lows  and  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  All 
the  members  of  his'  family  are  members  of  the 
German  Reformed  church.  Mr.  Lyon  was  hap- 
pily married  in  September,  1857,  to  Miss  Julia 
Ainsworth,  a  lady  of  superior  merit,  born  in  the 
state  of  New  York  on  October  13,  1836.  They 
have  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  Of  these 
Mertie  J.  is  now  the  wife  of  Albert  Merchant,  of 
Kalamazoo;  Mary  B.  is  Mrs.  Alvin  E.  Young,  of 
Fulton ;  Orville  C.  married  Miss  Amelia  A.  Sny- 
der and  has  three  children,  Ernest  W.,  Pearl  C. 
and  Gladys ;  and  Charles  married  Emmoa  Van 
Avery  and  lives  four  miles  south  of  Vicksburg. 
They  have  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  Forest 
A.,  Hazel  M.,  Bernice  L.,  Harold  B.,  Clifford  and 
Kenneth.  Mrs.  Lyon's  father  came  to  Michigan 
in  1845  and  died  at  her  home  at  the  age  of 
eighty-eight. 

DANIEL   F.    BARTSHE. 

The  history  of  this  country  has  been  a  contin- 
uous progress  of  civilization  following  in  the  track 
of  the  setting  sun  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pa- 
cific, each  succeeding  generation  taking  up  the 
march  of  conquest  where  the  preceding  one 
dropped  it,  thus  laying  all  sections  of  the  country 
under  the  dominion  of  man  and  tribute  to  his 
enterprise  and  advancement.  Daniel  F,  Bartshe  is 
a  scion  of  an  old  Pennsylvania  family,  members 
of  which  in  time  colonized  in  Ohio,  then  in  In- 
diana and  later  in  Michigan.  He  was  born  in 
Putnam  county,  Ohio,  in  1842,  on  March  17,  the 
son  of  George  and  Barbara  (Wideman)  Bartshe, 
the  former  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  latter 
of  Canada.  The  father  was  taken  to  Wayne 
county,  Ohio,  in  his  infancy,  and  when  he  was  but 
four  years  of  age  his  father  was  killed  there  at  a 
raising.  George  Bartshe  -was .  reared  in  Medina 
county,  Ohio,  and  moved  to  Elkhart  county,  Ind., 
in  1842.  After  a  residence  of  seven  years  on 
wild  land  there,  which  he  cleared  and  transformed 
into  some  semblance  of  a  productive  farm,  he 
returned  to  Medina  county,  Ohio,  where  he  died 
in  1863,  his  wife  surviving  him  until  1901.  They 
had  nine  children,  of  whom  four  sons  and  one 
daughter  are  living,  Daniel  F.  being  the  only  one 


of  them  who  resides  in  Kalamazoo  county.  He 
grew  to  manhood  in  Medina  county,  Ohio,  and 
farmed  there  until  1870,  when  he  came  to  this 
county  and  settled  on  the  farm  on  which  he  has 
since  had  his  home.  This  farm  he  took  hold  of  as 
an  unbroken  tract  and  of  it  he  has  made  an  excel- 
lent farm  and  enriched  it  with  good  buildings,  all 
the  result  of  his  industry  and  systematic  applica- 
tion to  his  business.  He  was  married  in  Ohio  in 
1868  to  Miss  Julia  Lance,  a  native  of  that  state. 
Five  children  have  blessed  their  union:  Hattie, 
wife  of  Albert  Rom,  of  Wakeshma  township; 
Mertie,  wife  of  Simon  G.  Wise,  of  Wakeshma 
township;  Howard,  who  married  Rose  Fleisher, 
has  two  children ;  Frank,  who  married  Miss  Au- 
gusta Yoiing,  now  deceased,  and  has  one  child, 
his  son  Ross  A. ;  and  Earl,  who  is  living  at  home. 
Mr.  Bartshe  is  a  Republican  in  political  allegiance, 
and  has  filled  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace. 
He  is  a  prominent  and  active  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and  devoted  to 
every  element  of  progress  and  improvement  in 
his  county.  He  is  widely  known  and  highly 
esteemed  throughout  the  county. 

CAPT  A.  A.  HOLCOMB. 

Coming  to  this  state  in  the  very  dawn  of  its 
civilized  history,  and  from  then  until  now  taking 
an  active  and  serviceable  part  in  all  the  transac- 
tions of  a  public  nature  .which  tended  to  build  up 
the  section  in  which  they  lived,  and  at  the  same 
time  winning  their  way  to  consequence  and  com- 
petency through  industrious  and  judicious  efforts, 
the  Hplcomb  family  of  Kalamazoo  county  is  justly 
entitled  to  all  the  credit  that  belongs  to  both  pio- 
neers and  their  descendants  of  the  best  type,  and  to 
citizenship  of  the  most  elevated  and  sterling  char- 
acter. The  Captain  is  a  native  of  the  state  and 
was  born  at  Lodi,  Washtenaw  county,  on  May 
29>  T&33'  His  parents,  Alanson  and  Nancy 
(Slaughter)  Holcomb,  were  born  in  Yates  county, 
N.  Y.,  the  father  in  1798  and  the  mother  in  1807. 
They  were  reared  and  married  in  their  native 
county  in  1827,  and  the  next  year  joined  the 
mighty  march  of  the  industrial  army  which  has 
conquered  this  country  from  the  wilderness,  jour- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


131 


neying  up  the  Erie  canal  to  Buffalo,  from  there 
across  the  lake  by  steamer  to  Detroit,  and  thence 
by  team  to  Washtenaw  county,  this  state,  where 
they  entered  government  land,  on  which  they 
lived  four  years.  They  then  moved  to  Jackson 
county  and  bought  more  government  land,  and  on 
that  they  resided  until  1853,  when  they  moved  to 
this  county,  locating  in  Charleston  township. 
There  the  father  bought  a  farm  of  Langford  Bur- 
dick,  on  which  the  family  dwelt  until  1865,  then 
sold  it,  and  took  up  their  residence  at  Galesburg. 
Both  parents  died  at  the  home  of  their  son,  the 
Captain,  in  Vicksburg.  The  household  comprised 
three  sons,  all  of  whom  are  living,  Horace  in  Cali- 
fornia, George  in  North  Dakota,  and  Albert  in 
this  county.  The  grandfather  of  these  sons,  Eben- 
ezer  Holcomb,  passed  the  whole  of  his  life  in  the 
state  of  New  York,  and  was  a  prosperous  farmer 
there.  His  ancestors  were  English,  the  American 
progenitor  of  the  family  emigrating  to  this  coun- 
try in  1680.  Captain  Holcomb  was  reared  from 
infancy  to  the  age  of  twenty  in  Jackson  county, 
and  obtained  a  limited  education  in  the  district 
schools.  He  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  with  his 
parents  in  1853  and  farmed  here  until  1864,  when 
he  enlisted  in  the  Union  army,  entering  the  serv- 
ice on  August  2d  of  that  year,  in  Company  I, 
Twenty-eighth  Michigan  Infantry.  The  regi- 
ment became  a  part  of  the  Twenty-third  Army 
Corps,  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Nashville  and 
other  fierce  engagements,  and  joined  General 
Sherman  at  Goldsboro,  N.  C,  and  remained  un- 
der his  command  to  the  close  of  the  war.  The 
Captain  went  into  the  service  as  a  second  lieu- 
tenant, but  soon  rose  to  the  rank  of  cap- 
tain, and  as  such  was  mustered  out.  After 
the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  his  farm 
in  Wakeshma  township,  which  was  yet  all 
wild,  unbroken  land,  without  a  road  on  it  or 
leading  to  it,  not  a  tree  having  been  felled  within 
a  mile  and  a  half  of  it  when  he  first  took  posses- 
sion of  it  in  1863.  It  originally  comprised  two 
hundred  and  forty  acres,  but  by  additions  has  be- 
come one  of  the  largest,  and  by  judicious  cultiva- 
tion and  improvement  one  of  the  most  productive 
in  the  county.  Captain  Holcomb  cleared  the  land 
himself  and  made  all  the  improvements  on  it.    He 


lived  on  this  farm  during  the  greater  part  of  his 
life  since  returning  from  the  war,  dwelling  a  few 
years  in  the  village  of  Vicksburg.  In  1890  he 
was  elected  register  of  deeds,  filling  the  office 
with  credit  six  years,  and  prior  to  that  time  served 
seven  years  as  township  supervisor.  He  also 
served  as  deputy  sheriff  eight  years  under  Lyman 
Gates  and  two  years  under  John  H.  Dix.  He  was 
married  on  November  15,  1858,  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Minnis,  a  sister  of  Albert  C.  Minnis  (see  sketch 
of  him  on  another  page).  They  have  two  chil- 
dren, their  sons  Bernard  A.,  who  is  in  the  office 
of  the  auditor  general  of  the  state  at  Lansing,  and 
their  other  son,  Howard,  who  is  in  the  United 
States  railway  postal  service  on  the  Grand  Rapids 
&  Indiana  Railway.  The  Captain  has  been  a  Re- 
publican -from  the  organization  of  the  party,  and 
has  ever  taken  an  active  part  in  the  campaigns  of 
his  party,  being  recognized  as  one  of  its  leaders, 
and  representing  his  section  in  district,  state  and 
congressional  conventions  during  the  last  forty 
years.  In  fraternal  relations  he  is  a  Freemason 
of  the  Knight  Templar  degree  and  a  Grand  Army 
man.  He  also  belongs  to  the  Grange.  Having 
passed  three-score  and  ten  years  of  life,  he  is 
resting  in  large  measure  from  active  labor,  and 
enjoying  the  fruits  of  his  industry  and  the  esteem 
of  his  fellow  men  of  all  classes. 

THOMAS  E.  GUTHRIE. 

This  prosperous  and  progressive  farmer  of 
Brady  township,  this  county,  was  born  in  Wash- 
tenaw county,  Mich.,  on  March  29,  1852,  and  was 
reared  and  educated  in  that  county.  He  lived 
on  the  home  farm  with  his  parents  until  1878, 
then  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  and  bought  the 
farm  in  Brady  township  on  which  he  now  lives. 
This  he  has  cleared  and  improved  to  good  ad- 
vantage, carrying  on  his  farming  operations  with 
vigor  and  success  and  also  working  at  times  at 
his  trade  as  a  carpenter.  In  addition  to  these  in- 
dustries he  ran  a  threshing  outfit  for  eleven  years 
and  has  worked  at  other  useful  lines  of  activity. 
In  1878  he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Amy  H.  Pierce,  a  daughter  of  Hiram  and  Cath- 
erine  (Cassady)    Pierce,  the  former  a  native  of 


132 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


the  state  of  New  York  and  the  latter  of  Michi- 
gan. The  father  of  Mrs.  Guthrie  died  in  Wash- 
tenaw county,  and  the  mother  died  on  August 
2,  1905.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Guthrie  have  five  children 
living  and  one  dead.  Those  who  are  living  are 
John  H.,  Hiram  P.,  Fred  T.,  Bertha  and  Sher- 
man. In  political  faith  Mr.  Guthrie  is  a  Repub- 
lican, and  while  zealous  in  the  interest  of  his 
party,  he  has  preferred  to  serve  his  people  from 
the  honorable  post  of  private  citizenship,  never 
seeking  or  wishing  for  public  office.  He  has, 
however,  with  a  good  citizen's  fidelity  to  duty, 
consented  to  serve  as  highway  commissioner,  and 
in  the  position  he  gave  the  township  a  wise  and 
useful  administration.  He  belongs  to  the  Masonic 
order,  and  for  many  years  has  been  a  devoted 
participant  in  its  mystic  rites  and  follower  of  its 
moral  teachings.  Throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  county  he  is  well  known  and  highly 
esteemed  as  a  good  citizen  and  an  upright  man, 
as  a  firm  friend,  excellent  neighbor  and  warm 
advocate  of  what  is  right. 

JACOB  K.  WAGNER. 

The  pen  of  the  biographer  has  seldom  a  more 
engaging  theme  than  the  life  story  of  a  good  citi- 
zen who  has  grown  old  in  the  service  of  his  peo- 
ple, and  has  lived  to  see  the  fruit  of  his  labors  in 
their  prosperity  and  happiness,  and  the  established 
success  of  valued  public  institutions  to  whose  crea- 
tion and  development  he  has  essentially  and  sub- 
stantially contributed.  Such  a  theme  is  presented 
in  the  career  of  the  late  Jacob  K.  Wagner,  of 
Kalamazoo,  who,  on  Friday,  June  17,  1904,  sur- 
rendered his  trust  at  the  bequest  of  the  Great  Dis- 
poser, at  the  ripe  age  of  seventy-two  years,  and 
left  to  the  city  he  loved  and  his  sorrowing  friends 
the  priceless  legacy  of  a  good  name  untarnished 
by  any  unworthy  act  or  motive  and  a  record  of 
usefulness  which  in  itself  is  a  measureless  bene- 
faction to  American  citizenship.  Mr.  Wagner 
came  to  Kalamazoo  on  January  13,  1855,  when 
the  city  was  practically  in  its  infancy  and  when 
he  was  himself  a  young  man  of  twenty-four.  That 
he  arrived  on  the  scene  of  his  great  activity  and 
fruitfulness  for  good  to  the  community  with  only 


six  cents  in  money  in  his  possession,  and  with 
no  influential  acquaintances  to  aid  him  to  prefer- 
ment and  consequence,  or  even  to  opportunities 
for  employment,  only  heightens  the  value  and  im- 
pressiveness  of  his  achievements  and  adds  force 
to  the  lesson  of  his  life.     That  fact  and  the  sub- 
sequent productiveness  of  his  energy  and  capacity 
also  illustrate  the  firmness  of  his  inherent  fiber  of 
character  and  cogency  of  many  qualities  he  in- 
herited from  a  long  line  of  forceful  and  enterpris- 
ing ancestors,  who  on  many  fields  of  manly  en- 
deavor met  fate  with  an  unruffled  front  and  dared 
the  worst  of  her  malignity  in  the  contest  for  su- 
premacy.    Mr.  Wagner  was  born  in  the  state  of 
New  Jersey,  at  Stanton,  Hunterdon  county,  on 
November   13,    1831.     His  parents,    Jacob    and 
Elizabeth    (Poulson)    Wagner,    were   natives    of 
the  same  county,  the  Wagners  being  of  German 
origin.     The  paternal  grandfather,  Jacob  Wag- 
ner, was  a  well-to-do  farmer  of  independent  char- 
acter and  action,  and  the  same   relative  on  the 
mother's  side  was   for  more  than   sixty  years  a 
highly  esteemed   Baptist  clergyman  of  influence 
and  eloquence.     The  father  was  a  mechanic  and 
farmer,   and  both  he   and  his   wife  passed  their 
lives   in  their   native  state.     They  had  a  family 
of  ten  children,  of  whom  one  son  and  four  daugh- 
ters are  now  living.     Jacob  was  reared  to  man- 
hood  on    the    farm   whereon    he   was   born   and 
was  educated  in  the  district  schools  in  the  neigh- 
borhood.    He  began  to  earn  his  own  living  as  a 
clerk  and  salesman  in  a  general  store,  and  after 
passing  a  few  years  in  this  humdrum  and  unin- 
teresting life,  which,  however,  gave  him  a  good 
knowledge  of  himself  and  his  fellow  men,  he  came 
to  Michigan  in   1855,  arriving  early  in  the  year 
writh    a    capital  of  six  cents  in  money,    as    has 
been  stated.     Soon  after  his  arrival  at  Kalamazoo 
he  found  employment  as  a  clerk  for  Andrew  Tay- 
lor &  Company,  with  whom  he  remained  a  short 
time.     Saving  his  earnings,  and  making  friends 
by  his   fidelity  and   capacity,   he   was   soon   able 
to  open  a  small  book  store  of  his  own,  and  this  he 
conducted  for  a  period  of  twenty  years  with  in- 
creasing business  and  profits.     This  enabled  him 
to  gratify  his  great  taste  for  reading,  and  with 
his    strong    mental    endowment,    discriminating 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


135 


judgment  and  genial  disposition,  he  became,  in  a 
few  years,  one  of  the  most  cultivated  and  enter- 
taining men  in  the  city.  But  he  had  a  keen  in- 
sight into  business  of  a  larger  scope,  as  well  as 
a  taste  for  literature,  and  an  almost  intuitive  per- 
ception of  the  needs  and  possibilities  of  the  com- 
munity in  the  way  of  industrial  enterprise.  In 
1876  he  founded  the  Kalamazoo  Spring  &  Axle 
Works  by  organizing  a  stock  company  for  con- 
ducting the  business,  which  was  begun  in  a  small 
way,  but  soon  expanded  to  such  dimensions  as 
to  necessitate  the  erection  of  the  large  factory  in 
which  it  is  now  so  comfortably  housed  on  Portage 
street,  although  the  factory  was  not  at  first  as 
large  in  size  or  as  complete  in  equipment  as  it  is 
now7,  continuous  expansion  of  its  trade  requiring 
successive  enlargements  and  additions  to  its  appli- 
ances. Mr.  Wagner  acted  as  secretary  and  gen- 
eral manager  of  this  establishment  until  1879, 
when  he  started  the  Harrow  Spring  Tooth  Fac- 
tory and  became  secretary  of  the  stock  company, 
formed  for  the  purpose,  and  general  manager  of 
its  business,  occupying  this  position  until  1887, 
when  he  was  elected  president  of  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank,  and  also  president  of  this  company, 
hi  1893  ne  ^signed  the  bank  presidency,  having 
more  business  interests  under  his  immediate  man- 
agement than  his  advancing  years  made  agreeable 
to  him.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  a  stock- 
holder in  the  First  National  and  the  Michigan 
National  Banks,  president  of  the  Spring  Tooth 
Companv  and  a  stockholder  in  the  King  Paper 
Company  and  several  other  corporations,  includ- 
ing the  Electric  Light  Company  of  the  city.  Mr. 
Wagner  was  a  great  lover  of  travel  as  well  as 
of  good  literature,  and  in  spite  of  his  large  and 
exacting  business  interests,  he  was  able  to  gratify 
this  taste  and  secure  the  benefits  of  intercourse 
with  minds  which  have  profited  by  an  extensive 
comparison  of  nations,  climates  and  customs,  and 
of  the  refining,  harmonizing,  expanding  influences 
of  general  society.  He  crossed  the  Atlantic  many 
times  and  made  his  way  understandingly  into  the 
principal  cities  of  the  old  world  and  came  back 
laden  with  the  rich  spoils  of  his  observation  of 
their  institutions  and  the  aspirations  and  tenden- 
cies of  their  peoples.  His  travels  in  various  parts 
9 


of  our  own  country  were  also  extensive  and  profit- 
able. On  October  24,  1858,  he  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Ellen  E.  Carpenter,  of  Kalamazoo,  a 
young  lady  of  great  promise,  and  like  himself  a 
lover  of  books  and  refined  in  taste  and  elevated  in 
aspirations.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Orson  and 
Laura  (Royce)  Carpenter,  natives  of  Vermont. 
Two  children  blessed  their  union,  Laura  R.  and 
Elizabeth  P.,  the  latter  now  the  wife  of  Arthur 
L.  Pratt.  In  political  faith  Mr.  Wagner  was  an 
unwavering  Democrat,  and  in  fraternal  circles  he 
found  enjoyment  in  the  Masonic  order,  of  which 
he  was  for  many  years  an  enthusiastic  member. 
While  averse  to  public  office  for  himself,  he  con- 
sented on  one  occasion  to  serve  as  a  member  of 
the  village  and  the  city  council  for  the  public 
good.  In  1896,  deeming  the  policy  of  his  party 
too  radical  for  the  general  welfare,  he  became  in- 
dependent of  party  control  and  remained  so  until 
his  death.  Now  gathered  to  his  fathers  in  the  ful- 
ness of  years  and  of  usefulness,  his  death  has  left 
a  void  in  the  business  and  social  life  of  his  city 
and  count}',  and  an  example  of  stimulating  po- 
tency to  all  who  knew  him  or  know  his  record. 

STEPHEN  HOWARD. 

Among  the  earliest  settlers  of  Portage  town- 
ship, this  county,  was  Stephen  Howard,  who 
moved  into  the  township  in  the  summer  of  1831, 
when  the  deep  woods,  the  growth  of  centuries, 
was  still  unbroken  by  the  arteries  of  traffic,  the 
swamps  were  undrained,  the  "garden  beds"  of  a 
dead  and  gone  race  were  plentifully  visible,  and 
the  wild  inhabitants  of  the  region,  man  and  beast 
and  reptile,  were  yet  abundant  and  dangerous. 
And  he  lived  to  see  the  whole  face  of  the  country 
changed  and  all  its  resources  ministering  to  the 
wants  of  a  sturdy  and  enterprising  race  of  men 
whose  call  on  the  forces  and  storehouses  of  nature 
were  made  in  such  voice  as  to  compel  them  to  lib- 
eral obedience  and  benefaction.  Sixty-two  years 
of  his  active  and  useful  life  were  passed  in  this 
county  and  they  were  years  full  of  industry  and 
fruitful  with  good  results.  He  settled  in  the 
township  a  young  man  of  twenty-three  and 
passed  over  from  the  toils  of  this  life  to  the  ac- 


136 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


tivities  that  know  no  weariness  at  the  age  of  eigh- 
ty-five. Mr.  Howard  was  born  in  Silver  Creek 
township,  Chautauqua  county,  N.  Y.,  on  January 
1,  1808,  and  was  the  son  of  John  E.  and  Lydia 
(King)  Howard,  the  former  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont and  the  latter  of  Rhode  Island.  The  fa- 
ther was  a  hotelkeeper  in  New  York,  but  in  1830, 
impelled  by  the  spirit  of  discovery  and  adventure 
that  had  brought  him  westward  from  his  native 
state,  he  made  a  trip  to  this  part  of  Michigan, 
and  being  well  pleased  with  the  appearance  and 
promise  of  the  country,  entered  government  land 
in  Portage  and  Alamo  townships.  He  then  re- 
turned to  his  home  and  settled  up  his  business 
there,  and  the  next  year  moved  his  family  to  this 
county.  The  children  then  numbered  four  sons 
and  three  daughters.  They  made  the  trip  with 
teams  of  oxen  and  consumed  several  weeks  of 
weary  journeying  and  great  hardship  in  making 
it,  building  their  own  roads  over  swamps  and  cut- 
ting their  way  through  miles  of  trackless  forests. 
They  reached  their  destination  on  August  10, 
1831,  and  built  a  little  log  house  on  their  land  in 
which  they  all  lived  the  first  year,  the  par- 
ents lived  on  the  farm  the  remainder  of 
their  lives,  the  father  dying  there  in  1855 
and  the  mother  some  years  before.  Their 
son  Stephen  assisted  in  clearing  up  the 
farm  and  getting  it  ready  for  cultivation  two 
years,  then  moved  to  his  own  place  in  section  8, 
which  he  entered  on  his  arrival  in  the  county.  This 
place  he  improved  and  made  it  his  home  until  his 
death  in  1893.  He  was  married  in  this  county  in 
1838  to  Miss  Eliza  C.Payne,  who  was  also  an  early 
arrival  here.  They  had  six  children,  four  of  whom 
are  living,  Harriet,  widow  of  Henry  E.  Brooks, 
Amanda  M.,  who  is  living  on  the  home  farm, 
Celia  E.,  wife  of  Fred  Burkhout,  of  Kalamazoo, 
and  George  S.,  who  is  also  living  on  the  home- 
stead. Their  mother  died  on  December  24,  1890. 
Mr.  Howard  was  a  Whig  and  later  a  Republi- 
can, but  he  was  never  an  active  partisan,  although 
he  filled  a  number  of  local  offices.  In  religious 
faith  he  was  a  Universalist.  He  was  everywhere 
recognized  as  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the 
township  and  county,  and  was  universally  held  in 
high  regard. 


HENRY  E.  BROOKS. 

The  late  Henry  E.  Brooks,  one  of  the  early 
dwellers  in  Portage  township,  was  born  there  on 
September  28,  1837.  His  parents,  Isaac  A.  and 
Amelia  F.  (Bushnell)  Brooks,  the  former  born 
in  Connecticut,  and  the  latter  in  New  York  state, 
came  to  live  in  this  state  in  1836,  and  entered  a 
tract  of  government  land  in  Portage  township, 
this  county.  The  father  had  previously  been  a 
merchant  doing  business  at  Livingston,  N.  Y., 
for  a  number  of  years.  He  cleared  and  improved 
his  land  here  and  transformed  it  into  a  fine  farm 
equipped  with  everything  needed  for  the  proper 
conduct  of  its  operations.  On  this  farm  he  died 
in  about  1882,  and  his  wife  is  also  dead.  They 
had  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  of  whom 
have  passed  away  but  their  son  Albert  and  their 
daughter,  Mrs.  Glynn,  both  residents  of  Kalama- 
zoo. Their  son  Henry  was  reared  and  educated 
in  this  county  and  began  farming  when  he  was  a 
young  man.  This  occupation  engaged  his  at- 
tention until  the  end  of  his  life,  which  came  in 
1886,  when  he  was  but  forty-nine  years  old.  His 
early  death  cut  short  an  honorable  career  and  re- 
moved from  the  active  productive  forces  of  the 
county  one  of  their  most  enterprising  and  use- 
ful factors.  For  he  was  a  man  deeply  imbued  with 
the  spirit  of  progress  and  devoted  to  the  promo- 
tion of  all  the  best  interests  of  his  community.  He 
was  married  in  1863  to  Miss  Harriet  Howard,  a 
daughter  of  Stephen  and  Catherine  E.  (Payne) 
Howard,  pioneers  of  this  county,  an  account  of 
whose  lives  will  be  found  in  another  place  in  this 
volume.  In  political  affairs  Mr.  Brooks  took  no 
active  part,  his  time  and  energies  being  given  11  p 
to  his  farming  operations.  Fraternally  he  was  a 
zealous  Freemason,  and  in  all  parts  of  the  county 
he  was  well  known  and  highly  respected. 

JOHN  GIBBS. 

No  publication  which  purports  to  be  in  any 
considerable  degree  the  life  story  of  the  progres- 
sive men  of  Kalamazoo  county,  would  be  com- 
plete without  some  mention,  more  or  less  ex- 
tended, of  one  of  its  most  resolute,  resourceful 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


137 


serviceable  and  inspiring  pioneers,  the  late  John 
Gibbs,  who  died  in  the  county  in  1881  after  a 
residence  here  of  forty-nine  years,  during  which 
lie  made  his  mark  in  deep  and  durable  characters 
on  the  industrial,  commercial  and  educational  in- 
stitutions so  great  in  number,  varied  in  kind  and 
prolific  in  good  results  which  this  people  have 
erected.  The  narration  of  a  career  like  his,  al- 
though familiar  to  the  American  people  as  an  oft- 
told  tale,  with  differing  names  and  differing  fea- 
tures in  the  various  sections  of  the  country,  al- 
ways inspires  the  young,  encourages  the  strug- 
gling, consoles  the  good  and  cheers  the  patriot 
with  an  example  that  is  elevated  and  elevating, 
strong  and  stimulating,  pure  and  purifying.  John 
(libbs  was  born  in  Middlefield,  Otsego  county, 
\.  Y.,  on  July  3,  1796,  and  came  of  a  family  of 
pioneers.  His  grandfather  was  an  early  settler  in 
Cherry  Valley,  Otsego  county,  N.  Y.,  and  in  his 
day  dared  as  many  dangers,  endured  as  many 
hardships  and  won  as  many  triumphs  as  most 
pioneers  have  done  anywhere.  He  was  living  in 
that  beautiful  valley  on  November  11,  1778,  when 
the  village  was  sacked  and  its  inhabitants  mas- 
sacred by  the  Tories  and  Indians  under  command 
of  the  notorious  son  of  Col.  John  M.  Butler  and 
the  Mohawk  chief  Brant,  and  in  that  awful  trag- 
edy saw  his  wife  murdered  and  scalped  by  the 
infuriated  savages.  The  father  of  John  Gibbs 
was  a  farmer  and  his  son  remained  with  him, 
working  on  the  homestead  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  manhood.  He  then  learned  the  trade  of  a 
carpenter  and  joiner  and  also  that  of  a  mill- 
wright. And  thereafter,  although  in  this  county 
an  extensive  and  leading  farmer,  he  wrought  at 
these  trades  until  old  age  admonished  him  to  lay 
aside  the  tools  of  his  craft  and  take  a  long-needed 
and  well-earned  rest.  In  the  autumn  of  1832 
he  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  in  company  with 
his  brothers  Isaac  and  Chester,  and  they  together 
entered  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land,  all 
they  had  money  to  purchase.  John  and  Chester 
at  once  settled  on  this  land,  while  Isaac  went  back 
to  New  York  to  settle  up  their  business  in  that 
state.  A  small  log  house  was  built  and  the  clear- 
ing of  the  land  was  begun.     But  it  chanced  that 


John  was  the  most  capable  millwright  and  builder 
in  the  county  at  that  time,  and  his  services  were 
in  constant  requisition  in  the  erection  of  dwell- 
ings, barns,  mills  and  bridges.  He  raised  the 
third  frame  house  put  up  in  Kalamazoo,  and  built 
the  first  three  barns  on  Grand,  Genesee  and  Dry 
prairies.  He  also  assisted  in  building  and  equip- 
ping many  of  the  first  mills  in  the  county,  and 
was  always  called  in  when  others  failed  to  make 
a  mill  dam  stand,  and  he  always  succeeded.  When 
the  railroad  reached  Kalamazoo  he  helped  to  erect 
the  first  bridge  across  the  river,  and  countless 
other  works  of  great  utility  and  merit  stand  yet 
to  his  credit  in  all  parts  of  the  county.  In  1850, 
in  company  with  his  son  William,'  he  fitted  out  a 
team  of  horses  and  a  wagon  with  a  liberal  supply 
of  provisions  and  started  for  California,  following 
thither  his  brother  Isaac,  who  had  gone  with  ox 
teams  the  year  before.  The  party  spent  months 
on  the  way  and  suffered  untold  hardships.  They 
remained  three  years  in  California  engaged  in 
mining,  then  they  returned  home  by  the  isthmus 
route.  In  1859,  accompanied  by  his  second  son, 
John,  Mr.  Gibbs  made  a  trip  to  Colorado,  and  in 
i860  he  again  visited  that  territory.  The  next 
rear  he  came  home  to  remain  for  the  rest  of  his 
days.  In  1881,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five,  sur- 
rounded by  his  family,  all  of  whom  are  in  afflu- 
ent circumstances  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  every 
comfort-  he  surrendered  the  trust  he  had  so  faith- 
fully administered  and  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  soil 
that  was  hallowed  by  his  labors  amid  universal 
testimonials  of  public  esteem  and  regard.  On 
January  29,  1824,  he  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Miranda  Kinne,  a  native  of  Braintrem,  Pa., 
born  on  March  25,  1805.  Their  family  com- 
prised eight  daughters  and  five  sons,  Jennette  D., 
Marcia  V.,  William  A.,  Rosa  Annis,  Josephine 
K,  John,  Jr.,  James  O.,  Emcline  P.,  I.  W.  Wil- 
lard,  James  Martin,  Alice  M.,  H.  Elizabeth,  and 
L.  Isinella.  Of  these  the  first  four  were  born  in 
New  York  and  the  others  in  Kalamazoo.  There 
are  now  living  three  of  the  daughters  and  four  of 
the  sons. 

William     A.     Gibbs,     the    third     born     of 
these    children,   is  a  native  of  Monroe    countv, 


138 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


N.  Y.,  where  his  life  began  on  October  4,  1828.  He 
was  but  four  years  of  age  when  the  family  moved 
to  this  state,  and  yet  he  well  remembers  the  first 
night  spent  here,  which  was  in  the  house  of 
Squire  John  Hascall.  He  attended  a  primitive 
school  in  the  neighborhood  of  his  home  known 
by  the  suggestive  but  inelegant  name  of  "Toad 
Hollow/'  and  aided  the  rest  of  the  family  and  his 
parents  in  clearing  the  farm  and  making  it  pro- 
ductive, as  soon  as  he  was  able  driving  an  ox 
team  in  breaking  up  the  land.  Indian  children 
were  his  playmates  and  wild  game  abounded  on 
every  side  in  the  wild  domain  in  which  his  boy- 
hood and  youth  were  passed.  But  while  his  early 
path  was  choked  with  difficulties,  his  body  and 
soul  were  hardened  to  meet  them  ;  while  it  was  be- 
set with  dangers,  these  were  the  very  spice  of  his 
life.  Here  in  those  days  nature  opened  a  theatre 
of  boundless  existence,  and  held  forth  to  the  soul 
properly  attuned  a  cup  brimming  with  redundant 
pleasure,  furnishing  with  every  draught  new  vig- 
or and  a  heightened  zest,  and  with  no  dregs  of 
bitterness  at  the  bottom.  Mr.  Gibbs  remained  at 
home  until  he  passed  his  legal  majority,  arfd  the 
next  year,  1850,  made  a  trip  with  his  father  across 
the  plains  with  teams  to  California,  starting  on 
March  15th,  and  arriving  on  August  17th.  They 
had  no  trouble  with  Indians,  but  experienced  al- 
most every  other  difficulty  and  danger,  and  had 
a  long,  hard  trip.  The  first  winter  was  passed  at 
Nevada  City,  California,  and  in  the  ensuing 
spring  the  party  began  mining  on  Snake  bar, 
north  of  Sacramento.  Mr.  Gibbs  passed  three 
years  in  that  state  and  returned  home  with  about 
four  thousand  dollars  in  gold,  with  which  he 
bought  his  present  farm  of  two  hundred  and  forty 
acres.  This  he  has  by  his  own  efforts  made  into 
a  valuable  home  from  its  condition  of  untamed 
nature,  and  to  its  development  and  improvement 
he  has  devoted  all  his  time  since  he  made  the  pur- 
chase. He  was  married  in  Allegan  county,  on 
May  10,  1854,  to  Miss  Jennette  Prouty.  They 
have  four  living  children,  Helen  F,  wife  of  Mau- 
rice Weed,  of  Kalamazoo,  Gilbert  P.,  living  on 
the  farm,  Harvey  B.,  also  a  farmer,  and  Leon,  a 
resident  of  Kalamazoo.  One  of  Mr.  Gibbs's 
brothers,  James  O.  Gibbs,  was  a  Union  soldier  in 


the  Civil  war,  serving  in  a  Colorado  regiment.  In 
politics  Mr.  Gibbs  is  independent. 

ANDREW  JACKSON  STEVENS. 

This  esteemed  pioneer  of  Kalamazoo  county, 
who  has  lived  within  its  borders  seventy  years, 
having  come  here  with  his  parents  when  he  was 
but  six  years  old,  was  born  in  Oneida  county, 
N.  Y.,011  August  25,  1828.  His  parents  were  Isaac 
and  Betsey  E.  (Pelton)  Stevens,  also  natives  of 
Oneida  county,  N.  Y.,  where  the  father  was  born 
in  1800  and  the  mother  in  1799.  The  father  was 
a  blacksmith  and  farmer.  He  brought  his  family 
to  this  county  in  1834  and  entered  a  tract  of  land* 
at  Lakeview  which  he  cleared  and  reduced  to  cul- 
tivation from  its  state  of  primeval  wilderness  and 
lived  on  it  to  the  end  of  his  life,  which  came  in 
1879,  his  wife  dying  there  two  years  before.  He 
was  the  first  blacksmith  to  settle  in  Kalamazoo 
and  worked  at  his  trade  thirty  years  there.  While 
living  in  New  York  he  was  a  captain  in  the  state 
militia,  and  he  took  an  earnest  interest,  both  there 
and  here,  in  political  affairs  as  a  Democrat,  but 
was  never  desirous  of  holding  public  office.  There 
were  five  sons  and  seven  daughters  in  the  family, 
all  of  whom  are  now  deceased  but  Andrew  and 
one  of  his  sisters.  The  Stevens  family  is  of  Irish 
origin,  but  has  lived  long  in  this  country.  Mr. 
Stevens'  grandfather,  Jonathan  Stevens,  became  a 
resident  of  this  county  in  1844  and  died  in  Osh- 
temo  township.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of 
1812  and  made  a  good  record  in  the  struggle.  An- 
drew Jackson  Stevens  reached  man's  estate  in 
Kalamazoo  township,  attending  the  primitive 
schools  of  the  early  days  and  assisting  in  clearing 
and  cultivating  the  home  farm,  driving  an  ox- 
team  in  the  first  breaking  of  the  land  and  content- 
edly sharing  the  close  quarters  and  inconven- 
iences of  the  family  in  its  little  log  house  which 
was  its  dwelling  for  a  number  of  years.  This 
cabin  had  a  puncheon  floor  and  greased  paper 
window  lights,  with  a  rude  mud  chimney  to  carry 
of!  the  smoke.  As  a  young  man  and  later  in  life 
the  son  was  a  great  hunter.  He  kept  the  family 
well  supplied  with  game  and  by  his  enterprise  and 
success  in  this  way  aided  considerably  in  adding 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


139 


to  the  health  and  enjoyment  of  its  members.  And 
as  his  fowling  piece,  which  was  the  family  meat 
market,  never  failed  in  its  bounty  to  the  table, 
so  the  labor  of  his  hands  in  the  fields  also  yielded 
its  tribute  to  the  domestic  commissariat.  In  1852 
lie  bought  his  present  farm  and  here  he  has  lived 
ever  since,  clearing  his  land  of  its  wild  growth 
and  bringing  it  to  an  advanced  stage  of  develop- 
ment, and  enriching  it  in  time  with  commodious 
and  well-arranged  buildings  and  other  improve- 
ments, until  he  has  made  it  one  of  the  attractive 
and  profitable  homes  of  the  neighborhood.  In 
1861,  when  armed  resistance  threatened  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  Union,  he  enlisted  in  response  to 
the  first  call  for  volunteers  in  its  defense,  but 
his  company  was  not  accepted  for  the  service.  For 
a  period  of  twenty-five  years  he  was  engaged  in 
threshing  grain  throughout  this  and  adjoining 
counties,  his  first  outfit  being  one  of  horse  power 
and  his  last  one  of  the  most  modern  and  complete 
steam  patterns.  He  was  married  in  1855  to  Miss 
Martha  Ray,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  the  daugh- 
ter of  James  and  Elizabeth  (Blaine)  Ray,  who 
became  residents  of  this  county  in  1847.  Her 
mother  was  a  cousin  of  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine. 
Three  children  have  been  born  in  the  household 
and  two  of  them  are  living,  Elizabeth  B.,  wife  of 
R.  P.  Walter,  of  this  county,  and  Maud  E.,  wife 
of  G.  H.  Kindall,  of  Kalamazoo.  Mr.  Stevens  is 
an  active  Democrat  in  political  faith  and  has 
served  as  school  director  and  pathmaster.  He  is 
now  among  the  oldest  settlers  in  the  county,  and 
his  reminiscences  of  his  early  life  in  the  county, 
when  Indians  were  plentiful  on  its  soil  and  their 
children  were  his  playmates,  and  when  the  wild 
game  of  the  region  haunted  even  the  doorways  of 
the  settlers  and  the  beasts  of  prey  threatened  their 
lives  by  night  and  day,  are  full  of  interest  to  a 
generation  which  has  never  seen  such  conditions. 

FREDERICK  LUCE. 

While  a  vast  majority  of  the  men  and  women 
who  confronted  the  conditions  of  untamed  nature 
m  this  state  and  began  its  conquest  and  the  trans- 
formation of  this  fair  domain  into  a  region  of 
peace,  prosperity  and  advanced  civilization  were 


from  other  states,  it  can  not  be  denied  that  their 
immediate  descendants  also  found  life  hard  to 
support  and  full  of  difficulties  and  danger,  and 
had  almost  the  same  toil  and  trouble  their  par- 
ents experienced ;  for  the  subjugation  of  a  new 
country  is  not  accomplished  in  a  few  years,  how- 
ever enterprising  the  people  may  be  who  are  en- 
gaged in  the  work.  The  first  generation  born  on 
its  soil  is  from  its  infancy  face  to  face  with  the 
very  circumstances  its  parents  find  in  a  new  home 
and  must  take  its  place  in  the  ranks  of  the  sub- 
duing army  and  aid  with  all  its  powers  in  the  ef- 
fort to  push  forward  the  triumph.  Frederick 
Luce,  although  born  on  the  soil  of  this  county, 
was  one  of  the  early  residents  here  and  grew  to 
manhood  amid  the  very  essence  of  frontier  life ; 
and  as  he  has  lived  in  the  county  during  all  his 
years  so  far,  he  has  borne  his  part  in  its  progress 
and  development  and  shared  with  others  the  ar- 
duous toil  and  ever  present  danger  of  the  early 
days.  Mr.  Luce  was  born  in  Texas  township  on 
March  22,  1841,  at  a  time  when  the  settlement  of 
that  portion  of  the  county  was  scarcely  ten  years 
old,  his  parents,  Levi  and  Lydia  (Stanley)  Luce, 
who  were  among  the  very  first  settlers  here,  hav- 
ing taken  up  their  residence  in  the  township  in 
1833.  The  mother  was  a  native  of  New  York 
state  and  the  father  of  Martha's  Vineyard,  Mass. 
He  was  a  tailor,  but  followed  farming  the  greater 
part  of  his  life.  In  1833,  as  has  been  noted,  he 
brought  his  family  to  Michigan  and  located  on 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  he  bought 
in  what  is  now  Texas  township,  this  county.  Some 
time  later  he  bought  an  additional  tract  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  acres,  and  with  the  aid  of 
his  children  he  cleared  all  of  both  tracts  and  im- 
proved them  into  a  good  farm  and  a  comfortable 
home.  On  this  land  he  lived  until  his  death  in 
December,  1850.  His  widow  died  December  10, 
1904,  in  Kalamazoo.  They  had  a  family  of  three 
sons  and  two  daughters,  of  whom  only  their  son 
Frederick  and  one  of  his  brothers  are  alive. 
Frederick  remained  at  home  with  his  parents  until 
1866,  assisting  in  the  work  of  the  farm  in  their 
interest.  He  attended  the  schools  of  the  district 
at  irregular  intervals,  such  as  they  were,  and  in 
them  received  the  rudiments  of  an  English  educa- 


140 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


tion.  In  the  year  last  named  he  bought  his  pres- 
ent farm  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  in  Port- 
age township,  he  being  then  twenty-five  years  old 
and  having  been  married  two  years  before,  to 
Miss  Susan  Jackson,  a  daughter  of  James  and 
Sarah  (Swift)  Jackson,  the  father  a  native  of 
England  and  the  mother  of  Canada.  Mrs.  Luce 
came  to  Kalamazoo  county  in  her  childhood,  and 
has  lived  here  ever  since.  They  have  two  children, 
their  sons  Ralph  H.  and  Burton  J.,  both  of  whom 
are  farmers.  In  political  faith  Mr.  Luce  is  a 
Democrat,  but  he  has  never  taken  an  active  part 
in  party  contests  and  has  had  no  desire  for  public 
office.  He  is  a  quiet,  peace-loving  citizen  who  has 
the  respect  of  all  who  know  him,  and  although 
full  of  energy  and  enterprise,  is  mainly  occupied 
in  pushing  his  own  affairs  and  promoting  the 
general  welfare  of  his  township  and  county. 

EMANUEL  E.  HENIKA. 

Portage  township,  this  county,  has  a  body  of 
high  class,  enterprising  and  progressive  farmers 
who  are  building  up  their  township,  enlarging  the 
development  of  its  resources  and  advancing  it  in 
every  way  by  individual  efforts  on  their  farms 
and  by  aggregate  activity  in  all  works  of  public 
improvement.  Among  them  none  stands  higher 
or  is  more  worthy  of  a  high  regard  than  Emanuel 
E.  Henika,  who  is  a  native  of  the  township,  born 
on  April  12,  1848.  He  is  the  son  of  Emanuel  and 
Julia  (Scramlin)  Henika,  natives  of  the  state  of 
New  York.  The  father  was  born  in  Genesee 
county,  that  state,  and  was  the  son  of  John  and 
Hannah  (Overrocker)  Henika.  John  Henika 
came  to  this  county  in  1833  and  purchased  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  government  land  in 
what  is  now  Kalamazoo  township.  In  June  of 
that  year  he  moved  his  family,  comprising  his 
wife,  five  sons  and  three  daughters,  to  this  land, 
and  on  it  he  lived  twenty  years,  laboriously  clear- 
ing and  cultivating  it,  and  enriching  it  as  time 
passed  with  valuable  improvements.  His  wife  died 
on  this  farm  in  1847.  I*1  ^53  ne  moved  to  Kal- 
amazoo, where  he  died  in  about  1871,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-nine  years,  he  having  been  born  in 
1792.    One  of  their  sons  and  two  of  their  daugh- 


ters are  living.  Their  son  Emanuel,  the  father 
of  the  immediate  subject  of  this  review,  was  ten 
years  of  age  when  the  family  came  to  Michigan. 
He  grew  to  manhood  on  the  farm,  then  learned 
the  trade  of  blacksmith,  which  he  followed  for 
several  years  in  different  parts  of  the  county,  dy- 
ing in  1847.  He  had  but  one  child,  his  son  Eman- 
uel E.  The  latter  was  also  reared  in  this  county 
and  educated  in  its  public  schools.  He  began 
life  as  a  clerk  for  Charles  Bell  in  the  grocery 
trade  in  Kalamazoo.  After  remaining  with  Mr. 
Bell  twelve  years  he  engaged  in  business  as  a 
baker,  in  which  he  was  occupied  eighteen  years, 
and  since  the  close  of  that  period  he  has  been 
farming.  He  was  married  in  1890  to  Miss  Jennie 
Pierce,  a  native  of  New  York.  They  have  three 
children,  Elwilda  J.,  Louis  E.  and  Irma  A.  The 
parents  are  members  of  the  First  Baptist  church 
at  Kalamazoo.  An  uncle  of  Mr.  Henika,  James 
Henika,  was  living  for  a  time  with  them.  He  was 
born  on  December  20,  18 19,  and  came  to  this 
county  many  years  ago.  He  assisted  in  building 
the  asylum  in  Kalamazoo,  and  for  twenty-five 
years  was  connected  with  the  institution  as  its 
carpenter.  He  also  lived  at  Big  Rapids  twenty - 
fwe  years.  At  eighty-five  years  of  age  he  was 
hale,  hearty  and  active,  and  exhibited  an  energy 
and  zeal  that  might  put  many  a  much  younger 
man  to  the  blush.  His  death  occurred  on  March 
o.   1905. 

Mc.  M.  BRYANT. 

One  of  the  oldest,  best  known  and  most  re- 
spected residents  of  Cooper  -township,  Mc.  M. 
Bryant  has  long  been  prominent  in  the  history 
and  industries  of  his  section  of  the  county,  and 
has  made  an  enviable  record  for  uprightness  of 
character,  business  capacity,  practical  public 
spirit  and  social  worth  among  its  people.  Pie  was 
born  at  China,  in  that  part  of  Genesee  county 
which  is  now  Wyoming  county,  N.  Y.,  on  Janu- 
ary 11,  1826.  His  parents  were  Damon  and  Anna 
(McMaster)  Bryant,  the  former  a  native  of  Col- 
chester, Conn.,  and  the  latter  of  Antrim,  N.  Y. 
The  father  was  a  farmer  and  moved  to  Orange 
county,  Vt.,  with  his  parents  in  his  childhood. 
His  father,  Daniel  Bryant,  was  a  Revolutionary 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


141 


soldier  and  served  as  General  Washington's  bag- 
gage master.  He  died  in  Vermont  from  the  effects 
of  exposure  in  crossing  the  Delaware  on  the  mem- 
orable occasion  which  preceded  the  battle  of 
Trenton.  The  father  grew  to  manhood  in  Ver- 
mont and  in  181 2  moved  to  western  New  York. 
The  stirring  activities  of  the  period  and  the  mar- 
tial and  patriotic  spirit  he  had  inherited  from  his 
father  led  him  into  the  war  of  1812  and  he  saw 
active  service  in  the  contest.  A  fter  a  residence 
of  some  years  in  Livingston  county  he  changed 
to  Allegany  county,  N.  Y.,  and  afterward  became 
a  resident  of  Wyoming  county,  X.  Y.,  where  he 
died  at  the  age  of  seventy-three.  His  offspring 
numbered  six  sons  and  six  daughters.  Nine  grew 
to  maturity,  but  all  are  dead  but  the 'subject  of 
this  memoir,  and  one  of  his  sisters  who  lives  at 
Haimvell,  in  Allegan  county.  The  father  was  a 
Whig  in  politics  and  filled  a  number  of  offices  in 
his  locality.  W Tile  he  was  a  young  man  he  taught 
school  a  number  of  years  and  assisted  in  rearing 
his  father's  family.  He  reached  man's  estate  in 
Wyoming  county,  X.  Y.,  and  engaged  in  farming 
there  until  1865,  when  he  came  to  Michigan  and 
bought  his  present  farm,  which  has  ever  since 
been  his  home.  ( )n  this  he  has  built  a  comfort- 
able dwelling,  commodious  barns  and  other  neces- 
sary outbuildings,  and  by  assiduous  and  wisely 
applied  industry  has  transformed  a  practically  un- 
cultivated tract  of  land  into  one  of  the  most  de- 
sirable farms  in  the  township.  He  was  married 
in  New  York  in  1853,  to  Miss  Marintha  M. 
Smith,  of  the  same  nativity  as  himself.  She  died 
011  May  15,  1880,  and  in  1883  he  married  Mrs.— 
Augusta  O.  Chappeli,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Gill,  and  who  also  was  born  in  the  same  county  as 
Mr.  Bryant.  Th.ev  have  one  daughter,  Helen 
Louise,  who  is  now  attending  Kalamazoo  Col- 
lege. Mrs.  Bryant  had  two  sons  by  her  first  mar- 
riage, Fred  L.  and  Earl  W.  Chappeli.  .Mr.  Bry- 
ant  is  independent  in  politics,  but  he  has  often 
been  nominated  for  office  although  he  never 
sought  a  nomination.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic order,  belonging  to  the  lodge  at  Cooper 
Center.  In  his  religious  views  he  is  classed  as  a 
liberal.  From  every  point  of  view  he  is  a  worthy 
and   useful   citizen,   and   now   has   in   abundance 


"such   things   as   should   accompany   old   age,   as 
honor,  love,  obedience  and  troops  of  friends." 

GEORGE  A.  HOLMES. 

George  A.  Holmes,  of  Cooper  township,  who 
is  widely  and  favorably  known  all  over  this 
county,  has  been  a  resident  of  the  township  in 
which  he  now  lives  ever  since  he  was  one  year  old, 
coming  hither  with  his  parents  in  1847.  He  was 
born  at  Strongsville,  Cuyahoga  county,  Ohio,  on 
January  3,  1846,  and  is  the  son  of  John  H.  and 
Rocena  C.  (Beebe)  Holmes,  natives  of  the  state 
of  New  York.  The  father  was  a  shoemaker  and 
farmer.  He  removed  to  Ohio  when  he  was  but 
twenty  years  old  and  remained  there  until  1847, 
when  he  came  to  this  county,  bringing  his  family, 
making  the  trip  with  a  team  and  conveying  all 
his  worldly  possessions  in  one  wagon.  The  fam- 
ily settled  in  Cooper  township  on  the  farm  on 
which  their  son  George  A.  now  lives.  The  land 
on  which  they  located  was  without  improvements 
of  any  kind.  The  keen  Qdge  of  the  pioneer's  axe 
had  not  been  felt  in  its  deep  woods  of  long  stand- 
ing, the  gleaming  plowshare  of  the  husbandman 
had  not  entered  its  soil,  no  sound  of  the  approach- 
ing civilization  had  as  yet  frightened  with  the 
foretokening  of  their  inevitable  doom  the  wrild 
beasts  which  made  it  their  lair.  These  hardy  ad- 
venturers took  the  domain  as  nature  gave  it  to 
them,  and  proceeded  with  the  all-conquering 
spirit  of  their  class  to  transform  it  into  a  culti- 
vated farm,  fruitful  in  the  products  of  civiliza- 
tion and  smiling  with  the  comforts  and  the 
blandishments  of  a  comfortable  home.  The  par- 
ents lived  here  to  see  the  change  wholly  effected, 
the  mother  dying  on  this  farm  in  1894  and  the  fa- 
ther in  1899.  They  had  two  children,  their  sons 
George  A.  and  Alva  W.,  of  Schoolcraft  town- 
ship. The  father  took  his  place  and  performed 
his  part  of  the  public  life  of  the  community  and  as 
an  earnest  and  loyal  Freemason  contributed  es- 
sentially to  its  fraternal  enjoyments  and  benefits. 
The  grandfather  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812 
and  died  at  West  Bloomfield,  N.  Y.  His  name  was 
John  Holmes.  George  A.  Holmes  grew  from  in- 
fancy to  manhood  in  Cooper  township,  working 


142 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


on  the  farm  and  gathering  a  few  of  the  priceless 
nuggets  of  book  knowledge  xin  the  primitive 
schools  of  his  boyhood.  He  has  lived  on  this 
farm,  which  he  helped  to  redeem  from  the  wilder- 
ness, all  his  life  so  far,  and  has  always  been  ac- 
tively engaged  in  farming  except  during  a  period 
of  five  years  when  he  worked  at  his  trade  as  a 
carpenter.  He  was  married  in  Cooper  township, 
in  1868,  to  Miss  Adelia  Souser,  a  daughter  of 
Jacob  P.  and  Lavina  (Patry)  Souser,  who  be- 
came residents  of  the  county  about  1852.  They 
have  three  children,  Albert  H.,  Lillian  A.  and 
Raymond  C.  The  head  of  the  house  is  a  Republi- 
can in  political  alliance,  but  he  has  never  been 
either  an  office  seeker  or  an  active  party  worker. 
Orlena  Beebe,  an  uncle  of  Mr.  Holmes, 
who  lived  in  this  county  at  various  times  and  for 
various  periods  since  1837,  and  who  died  in  Kala- 
mazoo on  Thanksgiving  day,  1904,  was  born  in 
Ontario  county,  N.  Y.,  on  March  26,  18 19.  His 
parents,  Abraham  W.  and  Dorcas  (Fuller) 
Beebe,  were  natives  of  Waterbury,  Conn.,  where 
they  farmed  until  1792,  then  moved  to  New  York 
state,  locating  at  what  is  now  the  town  of  Cort- 
land and  some  little  time  afterward  changing  their 
residence  to  Ontario  county.  Later  they  moved 
to  Medina  county,  Ohio,  where  the  father  died  in 
i860,  aged  eighty  years.  There  the  mother  also 
died.  They  had  a  family  of  six  sons  and  five 
daughters.  Three  of  the  sons  and  one  daughter 
became  residents  of  Cooper  township  in  this 
county.  Mr.  Beebe  reached  his  nineteenth  year  of 
life  in  Ohio,  and  after  obtaining  a  common-school 
education  there  learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter. 
In  1837  ne  came  to  this  county  and  from  then  un- 
til 1852  lived  in  Cooper  township.  He  then  went 
back  east  and  remained  until  i860,  when  he  again 
came  to  Cooper  township,  and  this  time  remained 
until  1878.  In  that  year  he  removed  to  Van 
Buren  county,  where  he  engaged  in  fruit  growing 
until  1902,  when  he  became  a  resident  of  Kalama- 
zoo, where  he  afterward  lived.  He  was  twice 
married,  the  first  time  in  1840  to  Miss  Lucinda 
J.  Haines,  who  bore  him  four  sons,  two  of  whom 
are  living  and  were  in  the  Lmion  army  during  the 
Civil  war  and  one  died  in  the  service  at  Raleigh, 
N.  C.     The  second  marriage  occurred  in   1858, 


and  was  to  Miss  Carrie  Osborn,  a  native  of 
Franklin,  Ohio.  Of  the  children  born  of  this 
union,  eight  are  living,  three  sons  and  five  daugh- 
ters. Mr.  Beebe  was  a  Republican  in  politics  and 
filled  several  offices  in  Cooper  township.  Fra- 
ternally he  belonged  to  the  Masonic  order,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church. 

HENRY    LITTLE. 

In  the  settlement  of  a  new  country,  when  ev- 
erything toward  even  the  planting  of  civilization 
is  yet  to  be  done,  and  the  common  conveniences 
of  life  have  to  be  fashioned  from  raw  material 
with  such  skill  as  may  be  at  hand,  an  accom- 
plished mechanic  is  of  the  utmost  usefulness,  and 
while  finding  an  abundance  of  work,  also  sees 
that  his  craft  is  appreciated  and  the  labor  of  his 
head  and  hands  is  held  in  the  highest  regard.  So 
it  was  that  the  advent  of  the  late  Henry  Little, 
of  Kalamazoo,  into  this  county  on  October  3. 
1 83 1,  which  was  early  in  its  history,  and  at  a 
time  when  the  population  was  sparse,  was  hailed 
as  a  great  benefaction,  bringing  in  its  train  many 
needed  conveniences  and  benefits  for  the  pioneers 
who  were  struggling  with  adverse  conditions 
and  badly  in  need  of  well-constructed  mechanical 
powers.  For  he  was  a  millwright,  machinist  and 
master  mechanic  of  great  skill  and  resourceful- 
ness, with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  his  craft  and 
an  indomitable  energy  in  applying  it.  Mr.  Little 
was  born  at  Cambridge,  N.  Y.,  on  April  29,  1797, 
the  son  of  William  and  Phoebe  (Merchant) 
Little.  When  he  was  but  six  years  old  his  mother 
died,  and  the  family  was  broken  up.  As  soon  as 
he  was  able  to  work  he  found  employment  on  a 
farm,  and  continued  to  be  so  occupied  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  fifteen.  He  was  then  appren- 
ticed to  the  trade  of  a  millwright  and  general  ma- 
chinist, and  soon  after  completing  his  apprentice- 
ship, during  which  he  applied  himself  with  earn- 
est attention  to  the  full  mastery  of  everything 
connected  with  his  trade,  he  began  business  for 
himself  in  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt.,  in  181 5.  He  soon 
rose  to  distinction  in  his  work  and  secured  large 
and  important  contracts  *  for  the  construction  of 
public  utilities  and  private  structures.     In   1826 


IvRANK  LITTLK 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


145 


lie  went  to  Boston,  Mass.,  and  built  several  mills 
on  the  "Big  Dam"  there.  The  next  year  he  re- 
turned to  St.  Johnsbury  and  entered  the  employ 
of  E.  &  T.  Fairbanks,  who  were  then  conducting 
a  foundry,  iron  works  and  machine  shops  on  the 
site  of  their  present  extensive  scales  manufac- 
tory, and  in  1830  he  superintended  for  them  the 
section  of  a  mill  for  cleaning  and  preparing 
hemp  fiber  for  market.  In  the  operation  of  this 
mill  an  imperative  necessity  arose  for  some  im- 
proved apparatus  for  weighing  hemp  when  it  was 
brought  to  the  mill.  To  meet  this  necessity  the 
Fairbanks  brothers  began  experimenting  on  de- 
vising scales  upon  an  entirely  new  plan,  and  Mr. 
Little  aided  them  materially  in  originating  and 
bringing  to  perfection  the  valuable  invention  now 
known  all  over  the  world  as  "the  Fairbanks  plat- 
form scales."  On  March  1  1/1822,  he  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Ruth  Fuller,  the  daughter 
of  Abraham  Fuller,  a  Revolutionary  soldier  with 
a  record  of  gallant  service  in  the  great  war  for 
independence.  Nine  years  later  the  family  came 
to  Michigan,  arriving  at  Galesburg,  then  known 
as  Tolin  Prairie,  this  county,  on  October  3,  1831. 
More  than  six  years  were  passed  there,  at  Com- 
stock  and  Gull  Prairie,  then  in  March,  1838,  they 
took  up  their  residence  at  Grand  Rapids  on  gov- 
ernment land,  which  was  afterward  exchanged 
for  an  improved  farm  near  the  old  home  on  Gull 
Prairie.  From  1838  to  1840  Mr.  Little  was  en- 
gaged in  the  erection  and  equipping  of  mills  for 
grinding  grain  at  Paw  Paw,  Yorkville  and  Kala- 
mazoo. In  1863  he  gave  his  farm  in  charge  to 
his  two  younger  sons,  William  Henry  and  Al- 
bert, and  became  a  permanent  resident  of  the  city 
<>f  Kalamazoo.  His  only  daughter,  Mrs.  Wil- 
liam C.  Travis,  died  on  February  21,  1878,  and 
<>n  February  8,  1888,  his  faithful  wife,  who 
walked  life's  troubled  way  with  him  for  sixty- 
six  years,  laid  down  her  trust  at  the  behest  of  the 
Great  Disposer,  aged  eighty-seven  years.  He 
survived  her  more  than  two  years,  dying  at  his 
city  residence,  No.  435  Lovell  street,  on  May  25, 
!8()o,  at  the  age  of  ninety-three,  and  so  remark- 
able were  his  vital  energies  that  both  his  physi- 
cal and  mental  powers  were  well  retained  to  the 
day  of  his  death.     His  later  vears  were  devoted 


to  general  reading  and  the  writing  of  articles 
for  publication,  his  productions  being  highly  ap-  '-fy-ps/S* 
preciated.  vf^yfc^sons  survive  him,  ^  William 
Henry  and  Albert.  Mr.  Little  was  a  man  of  pos- 
itive convictions,  indomitable  energy,  perse- 
verance and  self-will.  He  was  orderly,  frugal, 
painstaking  and  industrious  through  life,  up- 
right, reliable  and  exact  in  business  affairs,  and 
orthodox  and  unwavering  in  his  religious  faith. 
As  a  citizen,  neighbor  and  friend  he  possessed 
the  highest  esteem  and  confidence  of  his  fellow 
men. 

Frank  Ltttlk,  the  oldest  son  of  Henry  and 
Ruth  (Fuller)  Little,  and  whose  death  occurred 
in  November,  1903,  was  born  at  St.  Johnsbury, 
Vt.,  on  September  29,  1823,  and  for  more  than 
fifty  years  was  prominent  in  the  public,  social, 
political  and  literary  life  of  Kalamazoo  county 
and  the  state  of  Michigan.  He  was  eight  years 
old  when  the  family  moved  to  this  state,  and  he 
grew  to  manhood  and  was  educated  here.  On 
attaining  his  majority  in  1844  he  turned  his  at- 
tention to  merchandising,  and  during  the  next 
ten  years  followed  that  line  of  business  at  Grand 
Rapids,  Richland  and  Kalamazoo.  His  public 
life  began  with  his  election  as  a  notary  public  in 
1849,  an(l  from  then  until  the  time  of  his  death 
he  was  almost  continuously  in  the  public  gaze  as 
the  incumbent  of  some  important  official  or  semi- 
official station.  In  1850  he  was  chosen  clerk  of 
Richland  township,  and  after  that  was  succes- 
sively deputy  postmaster,  school  inspector  and 
director,  school  superintendent,  member  of  the 
board  of  education  for  thirteen  years,  and  during 
the  whole  time  its  secretary  and  librarian,  and 
secretary  of  the  public  library,  draft  commis- 
sioner of  the  county,  secretary  of  the  State  Sani- 
tary Fair  organized  for  the  relief  of  Union  sol- 
diers in  the  Civil  war,  clerk  of  Kalamazoo 
township  and  village  clerk,  and  member  of  the 
sewer  commission.  In  the  spring  of  1883  he 
was  prominent  and  zealous  in  securing  a  city 
charter  for  Kalamazoo  and  drafted  the  one 
obtained.  Beginning  in  1857,  he  was  for  nearly 
thirty  years  the  very  popular  and  efficient  secre- 
tary of  the  Kalamazoo  County  Agricultural  So- 
ciety ;   for  eleven  years   first   assistant   secretary 


146 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


of  the  State  Agricultural  Society;  for  seven 
years  secretary  of  the  State  Association  of  Agri- 
cultural Societies,  an  organization  largely  of  his 
creation ;  and  was  also  connected  with  the  Kala- 
mazoo National  Park  Horse  Association  of  ear- 
lier times.  During  all  that  long  period,  in  con- 
nection with  other  duties,  he  was  a  voluminous 
writer  for  the  press,  and  his  numerous  treatises, 
papers  and  public  addresses  on  various  subjects 
attracted  much  attention  and  were  extensively 
quoted  in  public  documents  and  elsewhere.  In 
January,  1874,  the  Millers'  National  Association 
of  the  United  States,  at  its  first  convention, 
elected  him  secretary,  and  he  was  annually  re- 
elected to  this  position  until  1879.  Such  was  his 
efficiency  and  so  valuable  were  his  services  in  this 
portion  that  "The  Miller/'  a  London  publication 
devoted  to  the  interests  of  milling,  paid  him  vol- 
untarily the  high  compliment  of  publishing  a 
sketch  of  his  life  with  his  portrait  as  a  frontis- 
piece, and  said :  "There  can  be  no  doubt  that  no 
inconsiderable  share  of  the  success  that  has  at- 
tended the  association  is  due  to  Mr.  Little's  effi- 
ciency as  secretary,  a  position  for  which  he  was 
eminently  qualified  both  by  general  and  special 
intelligence."  In  1887,  month  of  November, 
"The  American  Miller,"  of  Chicago,  published 
an  extended  sketch  of  him  with  portrait,  and  paid 
him  this  tribute  in  reference  to  his  services  as 
secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Michigan  Millers' 
State  Association :  "As  a"  writer  for  the  press 
Mr.  Little  is  especially  happy.  His  style  is  bold, 
terse  and  pointed.  His  reports,  papers  and  ad- 
dresses read  before  various  societies  have  always 
been  regarded  as  models  of  clearness  and  accu- 
racy. His  writings  are  eminently  practical.  As 
an  agricultural  authority  he  can  not  be  surpassed. 
On  all  subjects,  politics  included,  his  views  are 
sensible,  sound  and  forcible  ;  he  is  pre-eminently 
a  man  of  and  for  the  times,  devoting  his  life  to 
furthering  the  usefulness,  happiness  and  im- 
•  provement  of  the  human  race."  For  many  years 
he  was  prominently  connected  with  the  County 
Pioneer  Society,  and  was  for  a  long  time  its  effi- 
cient president.  In  the  campaign  of  1888  he  was 
Democratic  candidate  for  representative  of  the 
first  district,  but  was  defeated,  the  district  being 


heavily  Republican.    He  was  chief  correspondent 

and  statistical  crop  reporter  to  the  agricultural 
department  in  Washington  for  Kalamazoo  conn 
ty  for  over  forty  years.  An  article  he  wrote  on 
"Celery  Culture  in  Kalamazoo,"  was  published 
in  the  report  of  the  department  for  1886.  In  the 
"Biographical  Sketches  of  Eminent  Self-Made 
Men  of  Michigan,"  the  editor  gives  the  follow 
ing  just  estimate  of  Mr.  Little's  character:  "In 
all  the  various  positions  assigned  him,  Mr.  Little 
has  shown  the  strictest  integrity  and  faithfulness, 
a  capacity  for  business  details  of  no  common 
order,  an  energy  and  force  of  character  truly  re- 
markable, discharging  every  trust  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  all  concerned.  He  is  methodical,  thor- 
ough and  painstaking  in  business  matters,  a  man 
of  very  sound  judgment,  rare  power  of  mind,  of 
much  reading  and  general  intelligence.  For 
quite  a  number  of  years  he  has  been  a  frequent 
contributor  to  the  local  press,  treating  various 
questions  of  public  interest  with  such  signal  abil- 
ity as  to  give  direction  to  popular  thought,  and 
call  forth  commendations  from  persons  of  high 
culture  and  intelligence."  Mr.  Little  was  mar- 
ried on  November  21,  1846,  to  Miss  Cornelia 
Elizabeth  Rnekw^U,  the  only  daughter  of  Deacon 
and  Celestia  E.  (May)  ReekweU,  natives  of  Sand- 
isfield,  Mass.  Two  children  were  born  to  the  un- 
ion, Isabella  May,  wife  of  John  A.  Weeks,  a 
merchant  of  Yankton.  S.  D.,  and  Frances  K., 
wife  of  Dr..  Clarence  A.  Dolson,  of  Atlantic,  la. 
William  H.  Little,  the  second  son  of 
Henry  Little,  was  born  in  Kalamazoo  county  on 
September  28,  1837.  He  grew  to  nianhoul  in 
this  county,  and  has  given  the  whole  of  his  lite 
so  far  to  the  vocation  of  farming.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  common  schools  and  at  Prairie  Semi- 
nary in  Richland.  His  parents  were  pioneers  in 
the  county,  and  he  was  called  on  for  a  full  share 
of  the  arduous  labor  of  clearing  the  paternal 
homestead  and  bringing  it  to  productiveness  ;  tl in- 
state of  high  development  and  improvement  of 
the  farm  gives  no  suggestion  of  the  wilderness  it 
was  when  the  family  located  on  it.  Recently  Mr. 
Little  sold  the  place  and  now  resides  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Richland.  On  January  t,  1867,  he  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Charlotte  Brown,  a  na- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


147 


tive  of  this  county,  and  the  daughter  of  Charles 
B.  and  Marietta  (Mills)  Brown,  and  grand- 
daughter of  Deacon  Samuel  Brown,  who  was 
an  early  pioneer  of  Richland  township,  where  he 
settled  in  1831  and  died  in  1861.  Mrs.  Little  has 
two  brothers  and  two  sisters  living,  Samuel  and 
Chester,  Lucy,  the  wife  of  George  Knappen,  and 
Lizzie,  the  wife  of  Eugene  Knappen.  Their 
mother  died  in  January,  1873.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Little  had  four  children,  Charles  H.,  George  E., 
Lucy  E.  and  William  F.  The  mother  died  Feb- 
ruary 16,  1898,  and  Mr.  Little  was  again  married 
( )ctober  31,  1900,  his  second  wife  being  Miss 
Bell  Jackson,  a  native  of  this  township.  Her  par- 
ents, Steelman  and  Luanda  (Knappen)  Jackson, 
were  pioneers  of  this  county,  coming  from  Ver- 
mont in  1833.  The  father  belongs  to  the  Presby- 
terian church,  in  which  body  he  has  been  ruling 
elder  for  a  number  of  years,  and  the  mother  was 
an  active  member  of  the  Missionary  and  Ladies' 
Aid  Society.  Mr.  Little  is  a  Republican  in  pol- 
itics, and  for  a  number  of  years  he  served  as 
township  commissioner.  Like  his  brother  Frank, 
he  is  a  gentleman  of  extensive  intelligence,  wide 
reading  and  true  culture,  with  excellent  business 
capacity  and  good  judgment,  combined  with  a 
breadth  of  view  and  a  lofty  spirit  of  patriotism. 
No  citizen  of  his  township  is  better  known  and 
is  more  generally  esteemed. 

JAMES  WENHAM. 

James  Wenham,  who  for  thirty-seven  years 
has  followed  the  peaceful  vocation  of  farming  in 
this  and  Allegan  counties,  twenty-nine  of  them  on 
the  place  which  is  now  His  home,  entered  on  the 
great  theatre  of  life  as  a  young  man  in  the  mili- 
tary service  of  his  adopted  country,  bravely  de- 
fending the  Union  in  the  Civil  war  and  daring 
death  on  many  of  its  most  saguinary  fields  of  bat- 
tle. He  was  born  in  Sussex  county,  England,  on 
September  29,  1842,  and  is  the  son  of  James  and 
Maria  (Hunt)  Wenham,  natives  of  the  same 
county  as  himself.  The  father  was  a  farmer  and 
brought  his  family  to  the  United  States  in  1849, 
locating  at  Cleveland,  O.,  and  from  there  as  his 
headquarters  carrying  on  large  operations  in  rail- 


road construction  work  under  contract  in  western 
Ohio  and  Pennsylvania.  He  moved  to  this  county 
in  1 86 1  and  lived  here  until  1866,  his  death  oc- 
curring in  1882,  at  Plain  well,  Allegan  county. 
The  mother  died  in  Allegan  county  in  1884.  They 
had  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  of  whom  are 
living  except  the  oldest  daughter.  The  parents 
were  earnest  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church.  Their  son  James  lived  in  Ohio  until 
late  in  the  summer  of  1861,  when,  on  August  6th, 
he  enlisted  in  the  Union  army  as  a  member  of 
Company  C,  Twenty-ninth  Ohio  Infantry.  His 
regiment  was  soon  at  the  front  as  a  part  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  to  which  it  was  attached 
during  the  first  two  years  of  its  existence,  and  in 
this  time  he  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Winchester, 
Cedar  Mountain,  Chancellorsville  and  Gettys- 
burg. At  the  last  named  Mr.  Wenham  fired  four 
hundred  rounds  of  ammunition.  Soon  after  that 
great  battle  the  regiment  was  transferred  to  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee,  under  command  of  Gen- 
eral Joe  Hooker,  and  participated  in  the  battle  of 
Lookout  Mountain.  He  was  then  veteranized  and 
went  with  Sherman  to  the  sea.  In  the  battle  of 
Buzzard's  Roost,  in  which  he  was  color  bearer, 
he  was  shot  in  the  side,  and  his  wound  laid  him 
up  in  the  hospital  ten  months.  He  was  discharged 
in  1865  with  the  rank  of  corporal,  and  in  the  fall 
of  that  year  joined  his  parents  in  Alamo  township, 
this  county.  The  next  year,  in  partnership  with 
his  father,  he  bought  a  farm,  which  they  worked 
together  until  1876,  when  he  purchased  his  pres- 
ent home  in  Cooper  township,  and  on  this  he  has 
lived  ever  since.  He  was  married  in  the  autumn 
of  1869  to  Miss  Harriett  Hart,  a  native  of  Trum- 
bull county,  Ohio.  Her  father  was  born  in  Con- 
necticut, and  her  mother  in  Pennsylvania.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Wenham  have  three  children,  Carrie- 
wife  of  Wallace  Breese,  of  Cooper  township,  Al- 
bert, a  farmer  of  this  township,  who  married  Lot- 
tie Adams,  of  Alamo  township,  and  Bernice,  liv- 
ing at  home.  Mr.  Wenham  has  served  as  justice 
of  the  peace  two  terms.  He  is  a  Republican  in  po- 
litical relations,  and  fraternally  he  belongs  to  the 
Masonic  order  and  its  adjunct,  the  Order  of  the 
Eastern  Star.  He  and  his  wife  are  members  of 
the  Congregational  church,  of  which  he  has  been 


148 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


a  trustee  for  many  years,  and  for  two  years  super- 
intendent of  its  Sunday  school.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  school  board. 

E.  H.  GLEN. 

This  esteemed  pioneer  and  worthy  citizen  of 
Cooper  township,   who  has  passed    almost    the 
whole  of  his  life  so  far  within  its  borders  and 
lived  acceptably  among  its  people,  is  a  native  of 
Chautauqua  county,  N.  Y.,  where  he  was  born  on 
June  7,  1837.     He  is  the  son  of  Alexander  and 
Hannah  (Gregory)  Glen,  the  former  born  in  New 
York  and  the  latter  in  Vermont.    The  father  was 
a   millwright   and    carpenter   and    also    followed 
farming.    In  1837  he  brought  his  family  to  Mich- 
igan, traveling  by  water  to  Detroit  and  from  there 
with  ox  teams  to  Kalamazoo  county,  locating  in 
Cooper  township  on   section  20,   where  he  pur- 
chased one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  govern- 
ment land.     This  he  sold  later  and  then  bought 
another  tract  on  section  16.     While  clearing  his 
land  and  making  it  habitable  and  productive,  he 
worked  at  his  trade,  for  which  there  was  great 
need  in  the  township,  as  mechanical  labor  was 
scarce  and  skill  in  that  line  was  at  a  premium. 
He  erected  many  of  the  earlier  barns,  dwellings 
and  other  structures  in  this  and    the    adjoining 
townships,  and  did  his  work  so  well  that  although 
nearly  half  a  century  has  passed  since  some  of 
them  were  put  up  they  still  stand  in  excellent  con- 
dition.    He  lived  on  his  farm  in  the  township  un- 
til his  death,  on  August  11,   1882.     The  mother 
died  there  in  1877.    They  had  three  sons,  and  also 
a  daughter  who  is  now  dead.    Their  son  E.  H.  is 
the  only  member  of  the  family  now  living  in  this 
county.     The  father  was  a  Democrat  in  political 
faith,  and  served  many  years  as  justice  of  the 
peace  and  also  as  highway  commissioner.     The 
grandfather,  Allen  Glen,  was  a  Scotchman  who 
came  to  the  United  States  a  young  man  and  died 
in  this  country.    E.  H.  Glen  has  never  known  any 
other  home  than  Kalamazoo  county.     He  came 
here  with  his  parents  when  he  was  less  than  a 
year  old,  and  all  of  his  subsequent  life  has  been 
passed  in  the  county.    His  education  was  obtained 
in  its  district  schools,  his  habits  of  thrift  and  in- 


dustry were  formed  in  clearing  and  cultivating  its 
soil,  and  when  the  time  came  for  it  his  domestic 
,  shrine  was  erected  among  its  people.  After  finish- 
ing the  course  of  instruction  in  the  public  schools 
he  pursued  a  course  of  special  business  training 
at  the  Kalamazoo  Commercial  College,  and  after 
assisting  his  parents  with  their  farm  work  a 
number  of  years  after  reaching  his  majority  he 
bought  the  farm  on  which  he  now  lives,  and  has 
since  continuously  resided.  On  September  3. 
1863,  he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Nancy 
A.  Hart,  whose  father,  George  Hart,  was  a  pio- 
neer of  Cooper  township,  settling  there  in  1836. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Glen  had  two  children,  both  now 
deceased.  Their  mother  also  is  dead,  having 
passed  away  on  July  26,  1903.  From  his  early 
manhood  Mr.  Glen  has  loyally  adhered  to  the 
principles  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  has  given 
its  cause  his  hearty  support.  He  served  a  num- 
ber of  years  as  a  justice  of  the  peace,  although 
never  desirous  of  political  office.  To  the  Ma- 
sonic order  he  has  long  been  attached  and  de- 
voted. He  is  a  charter  member  of  United  Lodge, 
No.  149,  at  Cooper  Center,  and  was  its  worship- 
ful master  for  many  years.  He  is  also  a  Royal 
Arch  Mason,  and  both  in  the  symbolic  and  the 
capitular  degrees  he  finds  continued  pleasure  and 
profit. 

ANSON  W.  HUNTLEY. 

The  restless  energy  of  the  American  people, 
which  never  rests  in  its  ambitious  efforts  for  su- 
premacy, but  makes  one  conquest  the  stepping- 
stone  to  another,  and  even  sometimes  seeks  diffi- 
culties for  the  joy  in  the  triumph  of  overcoming 
them,  is  well  illustrated  in  the  family  record  of 
the  Huntley  family,  of  which  Anson  W.  Huntley, 
a  well  known  farmer  and  highly  respected  citi- 
zen of  Cooper  township,  this  county,  is  a  worthy 
representative.  Leaving  its  native  England  to  seek 
a  foothold  in  the  new  world  early  in  our  colonial 
history,  and  establishing  itself  in  New  Eneland.  it 
entered  upon  the  trying  office  of  subduing  the 
wild  conditions  then  obtaining  in  that  region  to 
civilization  and  fruitfulness  in  cultivated  life. 
Then  when  that  task  was  measurably  accom- 
plished, it  took  a  flight  toward  the  sunset  where 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


149 


there  were  other  new  lands  to  conquer  and  located 
in  Ohio ;  and  a  few  years  later  came  farther  west 
and  settled  on  the  virgin  soil  of  Michigan,  each 
generation  repeating  on  the  farther  frontier  the 
achievements  of  its  predecessor  where  it  camped. 
Anson  W.  Huntley  was  born  on  January  13,  1840, 
in  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  where  his  grandfa- 
ther, Ezekiel  Huntley,  who  was  born  and  reared 
in  Connecticut,  settled  in  1812.  There  Mr.  Hunt- 
ley's father,  Ezekiel  W.  Huntley,  was  born  and 
reared,  his  mother  having  been  born  in  New 
York  state.  In  October,  1862,  they  moved  to 
Kalamazoo  county  and  located  on  the  farm  in 
Cooper  township  on  which  their  son  now  lives. 
Thev  built  the  present  dwelling  on  this  land  and 
lived  here  until  summoned  from  their  earthly  la- 
bors, the  mother  dying  in  1879,  an^  the  father  in 
1897.  After  the  death  of  his  first  wife  he  mar- 
ried Mrs.  C.  Hart,  of  Plajnwell.  He  had  four 
sons,  all  of  whom  are  living  in  Cooper  township, 
but  one,  Hollis,  who  died  in  June,  1905.  Ezekiel 
I  luntley  was  a  man  of  local  prominence  and  filled 
a  number  of  township  offices.  Fraternally  he  be- 
longed to  the  Masonic  order  and  was  earnest  in 
devotion  to  his  lodge.  His  son  Anson  reached 
manhood  and  was  educated  in  Ohio.  Me  became 
a  resident  of  this  county  in  1863  and  began  farm- 
ing one-half  a  mile  west  of  Cooper  Center,  where 
he  lived  until  1902,  when  he  moved  to  his  present 
home.  He  was  married  in  Ohio,  in  October, 
1862,  to  Miss  Amelia  L.  Hare,  a  native  of  Eng- 
land. They  have  had  four  children,  all  deceased. 
In  political  affairs  Mr.  Huntley  supports  the  Re- 
publican party,  and  has  filled  a  number  of  local 
offices,  serving  as  township  clerk,  afterward  as 
supervisor,  and  now  as  highway  commissioner. 
I  le  is  a  Freemason  and  holds  his  membership  in 
the  lodge  of  the  order  at  Cooper  Center.  The 
reputation  made  by  his  father  in  public  and  pri- 
vate life  as  an  excellent  citizen  has  been  sus- 
tained by  him  in  his  own  record,  and  throughout 
the  county  he  is  respected  as  one  of  Cooper's 
sterling  and  representative  men. 

ASHER  G.  HUNTLEY. 

This  well  known  and  esteemed  blacksmith  of 
(  ooper  Center,  wdiose  forge  has  emitted  its  cheer- 


ful glow  in  this  community  for  twenty  years,  is  a 
native  of  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  born  on  Sep- 
tember 18,  1843.  He  is  a  brother  of  A.  W.  Hunt- 
ley, whose  sketch  in  another  part  of  this  work 
contains  extended  mention  of  the  family  history. 
In  his  native  state  he  grew  to  manhood  and  re- 
ceived a  common-school  education.  After  leaving 
school  he  learned  his  trade,  finishing  his  appren- 
ticeship in  1 86 1  and  working  as  a  journeyman 
until  1864,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  Twenty-fifth 
Ohio  Independent  Light  Artillery,  and  during  the 
remainder  of  the  Civil  war  was  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Steele  on  the  Saline  river  and 
at  Little  Rock,  Ark.  He  was  mustered  out  of  the 
service  in  December,  1865,  at  Camp  Chase.  The 
next  year  he  came  to  Michigan  and  farmed  in 
Kalamazoo  and  Shiawassee  counties  until  1884, 
when  he  opened  his  shop  at  Cooper  Center,  which 
he  has  had  in  active  operation  ever  since.  He  was 
married  in  Ohio  in  1873  to  Miss  Isabelle  Mar- 
shall. They  have  one  child,  their  son  Willard  M., 
who  is  living  at  home.  Mr.  Huntley  is  a  Republi- 
can in  political  allegiance,  but  while  he  supports 
his  party  loyally,  he  has  never  sought  or  desired 
any  of  its  honors  or  emoluments  in  the  way  of 
political  office  for  himself.  Fraternally  he  belongs 
to  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  the  Ma- 
sonic order  in  lodge  and  chapter.  With  capacity, 
intelligence  and  skill,  and  moreover  with  unceas- 
ing industry  in  his  vocation,  he  has  won  the  log- 
ical reward  of  his  usefulness  in  a  substantial  pros- 
perity and  a  firm  hold  on  the  confidence  and  re- 
gard of  his  fellow  men.  Cooper  township  knows 
no  better  citizen  and  looks  upon  none  as  more 
faithful  to  duty. 

WILLIAM  WALLACE. 

The  late  William  Wallace,  a  well  known  pro- 
gressive farmer  of  Kalamazoo  and  Cooper  town- 
ships, was  essentially  a  pioneer  in  this  county,  al- 
though he  did  not  become  a  resident  of  it  until 
1 85 1.  For  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the 
county  had  been  occupied  by  many  whites  for 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  before  that  time,  he 
found  on  his  arrival  here  much  unoccupied  land 
and  vast  tracts  of  wholly  unsettled  country.     He 


150 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


was  born  in  Cambridgeshire,  England,  in  1813, 
and  lived  there  until  he  reached  the  age  of  thirty- 
eight  years.  Then  emigrating  to  the  United 
States,  he  came  direct  to  Kalamazoo  county  and 
found  employment  with  the  old  distilling  com- 
pany of  that  day  at  Schoolcraft.  Nothing  is 
known  now  of  his  parents  or  ancestry,  but  that 
he  came  of  a  sturdy  and  self-reliant  strain  was 
demonstrated  by  his  own  characteristics  and  the 
industry  and  usefulness  of  his  life.  He  lived  at 
Schoolcraft  a  number  of  years,  then  moved  to 
Kalamazoo  and  engaged  in  farming  near  the  vil- 
lage as  it  was  in  that  period.  Some  years  later 
he  bought  the  farm  in  Kalamazoo  township  on 
which  he  lived  until  his  death  in  1891,  and  which 
his  diligence  and  skill  as  a  farmer  changed  from 
an  almost  unimproved  condition  to  one  of  great 
productiveness  and  value.  He  was  married  at 
Schoolcraft  in  1859  to  Miss  Mary  Ann  Crawford, 
a  native  of  Ireland,  who  crossed  the  ocean  and 
located  in  Canada  in  her  girlhood.  They  had  two 
children,  Mary  E.,  now  the  wife  of  Lewis  Hen- 
schel,  of  Cooper  township,  and  William  E.,  who 
was  born  in  1862.  The  latter  has  always  resided 
in  Kalamazoo  township.  He  operates  the  old 
homestead  and  a  farm  in  Cooper  township.  The 
father  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church,  and 
the  mother  of  the  Church  of  England. 

A.   H.   STODDARD. 

This  venerable  and  most  worthy  citizen  of 
Cooper  township,  who  is,  although  not  strictly  a 
pioneer  of  the  county,  one  of  its  oldest  and  most 
respected  citizens,  as  he  has  been  one  of  its  most 
useful  and  productive  men  during  his  residence 
here  of  more  than  forty  years,  is  now  past 
ninety  years  of  age  and  is  still  hale,  strong  and 
active.  He  has  had  a  remarkable  career,  aside 
from  the  great  age  to  which  he  has  lived,  and  is 
well  deserving  of  an  honored  place  in  any  work 
which  purports  to  be  in  any  extended  sense  an 
exposition  of  the  lives  and  achievements  of  the 
progressive  men  -of  Kalamazoo  county.  For  he 
has  been  an  earnest  advocate  of  every  means  of 
grace  to  the  best  and  most  wholesome  develop- 
ment  of  the   community,  and   being  highly   en- 


dowed by  nature  with  physical  strength  and  dar- 
ing and  intellectual  qualities  that  have  enabled 
him  to  twine  the  club  of  Hercules  with  the  flowers 
of  rhetoric,  his  personal  achievements  in  mere 
bodily  labor  and  his  advocacy  of  moral,  educa- 
tional and  spiritual  forces  for  the  advancement  of 
his  section  of  the  country  have  been  potential,  im- 
portant and  of  lasting  effect.  His  paternal  an- 
cestors were  of  English  origin  and  the  American 
progenitors  of  the  family  were  among  the  early 
settlers  of  New  England.  His  father,  Asa  Stod- 
dard, was  a  native  of  Connecticut,  but  in  his 
young  manhood  moved  to  Essex  county,  New 
York,  and  he  lived  there  a  number  of  years.  In 
the  war  of  18 12  he  served  on  the  Niagara  fron- 
tier, and  in  1852  became  a  resident  of  Juniata, 
Tuscola  county,  Michigan,  and  here  he  lived  un- 
til his  death,  in  1868.  On  the  maternal  side 
Mr.  Stoddard  traces  his  ancestry  to  John  Rogers, 
the  martyr  of  the  bigotry  of  his  age,  who  perished 
at  the  stake  in  1555.  His  maternal  great-grand- 
father, when  an  old  man,  was  slain  in  the  Wyom- 
ing (Pennsylvania)  massacre  in  July,  1778.  Mr. 
Stoddard's  grandmother  was  among  those  who 
at  this  time  found  refuge  in  "Forty  Fort,''  just 
above  Wilkes- Bar  re.  When  the  few  survivors  of 
the  massacre  returned  to  the  fort  they  drove 
in  some  of  the  cows  belonging  to  the  inhabitants, 
and  this  good  woman,  with  others,  hastened  to 
milk  them.  In  a  few  minutes  she  had  finished 
two  and  came  in  with  two  brimming  pails,  and 
she  immediately  began  to  distribute  their  con- 
tents among  the  thirsty  soldiers  who  had  formed 
in  line  inside  the  fort.  The  welcome  beverage 
was  just  enough  to  go  around.  She  was  in  this 
fort  when  the  British  and  Indians  took  possession, 
and  she  saw  among  the  savages  one  who  was 
wearing  her  father's  coat,  which  he  had  taken 
from  the  dead  body.  The  fatal  bullet-hole  told 
how  the  deadly  messenger  had  done  its  work.  The 
heroic  woman  made  her  escape  with  others  by 
traveling  011  foot  through  forty  miles  of  wilder- 
ness, carrying  her  little  child,  eighteen  months 
old,  and  a  package  of  wearing  apparel  with  other 
articles  in  her  arms.  Mr.  Stoddard  has  a  pewter 
plate  in  his  possession  which  she  carried  on  that 
perilous      journey.      Mr.      Stoddard's      maternal 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


151 


o-randfather   served   under   Washington   in    New 
icrsey  in  the  Revolution  and  was  in  General  Sulli- 
van's   famous    expedition    against    the    Six    Na- 
tions in    1779.     He  died    at   Minisink,    Orange 
county,  New  York,  in   1792,  leaving  eight  chil- 
dren, of  whom  Lucretia,  the  mother  of  Mr.  Stod- 
dard, was  the  youngest,  save  one.     Mrs.  Harding 
married   a    second   husband,    Benjamin    At  water, 
one  of  the  pioneers  of  Wayne  county,  New  York. 
They   settled   at   Williamson    in    that   county,    in 
1802,  and  there,  on  October  31,  1814,  Mr.  Stod- 
dard was  born.     His  mother  dying  while  he  was 
wt  an  infant,  he  and  his  sister,  the  late  Mrs.  M. 
\\.  Russell,  of   Battle  Creek,  were  reared  in  his 
(irandfather  Atwaters  family,  where  he  remained 
until    he    was    eighteen    years   old.      Being   then 
thrown   on   his   own   resources,   he   worked   on  a 
farm  by  the  month  during  the  summer  in  order 
to  get  the  needed  funds  to  attend  school  in  the 
winter  until  he  was  qualified  to  teach,  when  he 
reversed  the  order  by  teaching  during  the  win- 
ter and  attending  an  academy  in  the  summer.  He 
taught   twenty-four     successive    winters,    six    of 
them  in  one  school  district.     In  1837  he  married 
Miss  Mary  Ann  Russell,  of  Williamson,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Daniel  Russell, the  first  settler  of  that  town- 
ship. She  died  in  1846,  leaving  one  daughter,  who 
died  in  1853.  Tn  1848  Mr.  Stoddard  married  Miss 
Ann  Elizabeth  Anthony,  a  daughter  of  Silas  An- 
thony, of  Williamson.     She  died  in  1849,  anc^  m 
1852  he  married  Miss  Laura  Jane,  daughter  of 
William  R.  San  ford,  of  Marion,  the  same  county. 
This  lady,  like  her  husband,  had  been  a  successful 
school  teacher.     Of  their  union  were  born  two 
snns.   William   S.   and   Lucien   H.,   the   latter  of 
whom  is  a  resident  of  this  county,  and  lives  on 
the  old  homestead.  They  came  to  the  county  with 
their  father  as  boys  in  1863,  and  here  William 
died"  on  July  20,    1898.     The   father  has,    from 
his  young  manhood,  taken  an  earnest  interest  in 
public   education,   devoting  his   best   energies   to 
the  advancement  of  the  common  schools  in  New 
York  and  Michigan,  and  has  at  various  times  held 
wiportant  positions  in  connection  with  the  school 
system.     He  has   from  boyhood  been  a  zealous 
advocate  of  temperance,  and  has  by  his  voice  and 
his  pen,  as  well  as  by  other  means,  done  much 


to  advance  the  cause.  Although  never  an  active 
politician  he  was  reared  a  Democrat,  but  after 
1854  he  generally  supported  the  Republican  party, 
it  being,  according  to  his  views,  'The  more  demo- 
cratic of  the  two."  Since  1884  ne  nas  voted  the 
Prohibition  ticket.  Mr.  Stoddard  is  a  vigorous 
and  graceful  poetical  writer,  and  has  long  been 
familiarly  known  as  the  "Farmer  Poet,"  a  so- 
briquet very  justly  bestowed  and  one  which  he 
wears  with  becoming  modesty. 

William  S.  Stoddard,  the  older  of  his ' 
two  sons  by  his  third  marriage,  whose  useful  life 
had  an  untimely  end  on  July  20,  1898,  was  born 
in  New  York  state  on  April  29,  1853.  Pie  be- 
gan his  scholastic  training  in  the  schools  of  his 
native  state  and  finished  it  in  those  of  Michigan, 
winding  up  with  a  course  at  the  Kalamazoo  high 
school.  He  was  a  farmer  through  life  and  pur- 
chased a  place  adjoining  his  father's,  on  which 
he  lived  to  the  end.  He  was  united  in  marriage 
in  1874  with  Miss  Carrie  E.  Goodrich,  a  native 
of  Cooper  township,  and  a  daughter  of  Thomas 
Goodrich,  one  of  its  prominent  pioneers.  They 
had  five  children,  all  living,  Lucy  M.,  Elizabeth, 
wife  of  George  Castle,  Ressie,  wife  of  Ered  Sell- 
ers, both  of  Kalamazoo,  and  Shirley  and  William 
San  ford,  living  at  home.  Their  father  was  a 
man  of  influence  and  filled  a  number  of  local 
offices  in  the  township. 

Lucien  Stoddard,  the  second  son  of  A. 
PL  Stoddard  by  his  third  marriage,  and  the  one 
who  now  lives  on  the  homestead,  was  also  born  in 
Xew  York,  his  life  beginning  there  on  May  28, 
1855.  He  came  to  Michigan  when  he  was  but 
eight  years  old,  and  here  he  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated, attending  the  common  schools  and  finish- 
ing with  a  one  year's  course  at  Kalamazoo  Col- 
lege. Like  his  brother,  he  has  followed  farming 
through  life,  but  has  made  a  specialty  of  small 
fruits-,  grapes,  berries,  etc.,  and  more  especially 
orcharding.  His  vineyard  is  large  and  productive 
and  its  yield  is  of  the  first  quality  of  excellence. 
His  farm  is  admirably  located  and  the  buildings 
and  other  improvements  which  enrich  and  adorn 
it  are  among  the  best  in  the  township.  He  was 
married  in  1882  to  Miss  Lavinia  Pease,  a  native 
of  New  York,  whose  parents,  William  and  Sarah 


152 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


(Dykeman)  Pease,  came  to  this  county  in  1867 
and  located  in  Texas  township.  A  few  years  ago 
they  came  to  live  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stoddard, 
with  whom  they  still  have  their  home.  Five  chil- 
dren have  been  born  in  this  household,  Elworth 
F.,  Minnie  B.,  Grace  A.,  William  A.  and  Jennie 
P.' Their  father  is  a  Prohibitionist  in  politics  and 
has  been  the  candidate  of  his  party  for  several 
local  offices. 

HON.  JOHN  MILHAM. 

This    prominent   and   well-known    pioneer   of 
Kalamazoo    county    became    a    resident    of    the 
county  in  1845  and  passed  the  remainder  of  his 
life  ir\  the  midst  of  its  people,  deeply  interested 
in  a  practicable  and  serviceable  way  in  its  multi- 
tudinous industries  and  all  its  educational,  moral 
and  social  activities.     He  was  a  native  of  Colum- 
bia county,  N.  Y.,  born  on  May  24,   1805,  and 
the  son  of  Mathias  and  Gertrude   (Michel)   Mil- 
ham,  who  were  also  born   in  the  state  of  New 
York  and  passed  the  whole  of  their  lives  there 
actively  engaged  in  farming.     There  they  reared 
their   family  and   gave  them  all   the  advantages 
their  circumstances  would  allow.    Their  son  John 
was  brought  up  on  the  farm  and  early  in  his  life 
began  farming  for  himself,  adopting  his  vocation 
from  choice  and  never  quiting  it  to  the  end  of  his 
days.     Early  in  the  '40s  he  made  a  tour  of  obser- 
vation   through   this    portion   of    Michigan,    and 
being  pleased  with  the  outlook,  came  here  in  1845 
to  live,  settling  on  a  tract  of  wild  land  which  he 
purchased  two  miles  and  a  half  south  of  Kala- 
mazoo.    He  erected  a  frame  dwelling  which  is 
still    standing,   and   pushed   the   improvement   of 
his    farm    so    vigorously   that    in    1848    he    was 
awarded  a  prize  of  half  a  dozen  solid  silver  spoons 
by  the  Kalamazoo   County  Agricultural   Society 
for  having  the  best  farm  in  the   county.     The 
spoons  are  still  in  the  family  and  are  cherished 
as  a  valuable  souvenir,  much  more  for  the  tribute 
to  his  worth  they  embody  than  for  their  intrinsic 
value.     He  added  to  his  original  purchase  until 
he  owned  four  hundred  and  forty-six  acres  of 
excellent  and  highly  improved  land  at  his  death, 
on  February  7,  1885.    While  living  in  New  York 


he  was  an  officer  in  the  state  militia  and  as  such 
acted   as   a  part   of  Lafayette's   escort   in    1824. 
There  he  also  represented  his  district  a  number 
of  terms  in  the  state  legislature  and  filled  several 
other  local  offices.  After  coming  to  Michigan  he 
served  as  supervisor  of  his  township  and  filled 
other  offices  of  local  prominence  and  importance. 
Throughout  his  long  life  he  adhered  faithfully  to 
the  Democratic  party  in  politics,  and  was  ever  an 
earnest   and   forceful   advocate  of   its   principles. 
He   was    active   and    energetic   also   in   business, 
being  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Kalamazoo  Paper 
Mill  Company  and  one  of  its  stockholders  to  the 
day  of  his  death.    In  addition  he  was  president  of 
the   Farmers'    Mutual    Fire   Insurance   Company 
fifteen   years,   being  the   first   incumbent  of   the 
office,  and  for  many  years  an  officer  of  the  agri- 
cultural  society,   in   which   he   took   a   deep   and 
zealous    interest.      He   was    four   times   married, 
first  to  Miss  Eva  Poucher,  a  native  of  Columbia 
county,  N.  Y.,  who  died  there  in   183 1,  leaving 
four   children,    all   sons.      The    second    marriage 
was  with  Miss  Almira  Rathbone,  also  a  native  of 
New  York,  who  died  in  this  county  in  1848,  leav- 
ing a   family  of  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 
The  third  wife  was   Miss  Louisa  Anderson,  of 
Kalamazoo  county,  and  the  fruit  of  this  union  was 
four  sons  and  three  daughters.     She  died  here  in 
November,  1866.     Samantha  Anderson,  who  then 
became  his  wife,  survived  him  a  number  of  years. 
Mr.  Milham  was  one  of  the  first  trustees  of  the 
Michigan  Female  Seminary  and  also  a  trustee  of 
the  Congregational  church. 

Robert  E.  Milham,  a  son  of  the  third  mar- 
riage, was  born  on  September  19,  1854,  on  the 
home  farm  and  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  the 
county.  He  assisted  his  father  on  the  farm  until 
attaining  his  majority  when  he  took  charge  of  the 
place  himself.  Since  then  he  has  conducted  its 
operations  continuously,  and  has  kept  it  up  to 
the  high  standard  of  excellence  reached  in  its 
management  by  his  father.  He  was  married  on 
October  4,  1888,  to  Miss  C.  Clemana  Pomeroy,  a 
daughter  of  Norton  Pomeroy,  an  account  of 
whose  life  appears  on  another  page  of  this  work. 
Like  his  father,  Robert  Milham  takes  an  active 
part    in   the    commercial    and    industrial    life   of 


<£*  iSS^ 


/ 


mt 


JOHN    Ml  I.HAM. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


155 


Kalamazoo  and  the  neighboring  counties,  being  a 
stockholder  in  the  Bardeen  Paper  Company  of 
Otsego,  and  the  Superior  Paper  Company  and  the 
Railway  Supply  Company  of  Kalamazoo,  also  in 
the  Standard  Paper  Company  which  has  recently 
been  organized.  He  is  an  independent  Democrat 
in  politics,  and  is  now  (1905)  serving  as  over- 
seer of  highways,  in  which  capacity  he  has  acted 
for  over  twenty  years.  Two  children  have  been 
bom  in  his  family,  his  sons  Robert  L.  and  Clinton 
T.  He  is  a  Knight  of  Pythias  and  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  near  his  home. 
It  is  high  praise  but  a  just  tribute  to  his  worth 
to  say  that  he  is  a  fine  exemplar  of  the  business 
thrift,  public  spirit  and  elevated  citizenship  so 
amply  exhibited  by  his  father. 

CYRUS  A.  WALKER. 

Cooper,  which  is  one  of  the  northern  tier  of 
townships  in  this  county,  has  a  pleasing  variety  of 
soil  and  altitude,  resources  and  possibilities, 
which  has  made  it  the  home  of  a  thrifty,  indus- 
trious and  progressive  people,  and  one  of  the 
most  prosperous  sections  of  the  county.  Its  settle- 
ment by  the  whites  began  about  1833,  an<^  ^olir 
years  later  the  parents  of  Cyrus  A.  Walker  lo- 
cated in  the  township  on  the  land  which  is  the 
present  home  of  Mr.  Walker  and  on  which  he  was 
born  on  January  2,  1859.  He  is  the  son  of  John 
and  Octavio  (Cunningham)  Walker,  the  former 
born  in  the  state  of  New  York  and  the  latter  in 
bake  county,  Ohio.  They  were  farmers  and  came 
tn  Michigan  in  1836,  taking  up  their  residence 
at  Kalamazoo,  where  the  father  taught  school 
and  acted  as  assistant  postmaster  for  a  year.  In 
1837  he  purchased  of  Luther  Trask  the  home 
farm  and  moved  on  it  at  once.  Here  he  passed  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  clearing  his  land,  enlarging 
iis  fertility  and  productiveness  and  enriching  it 
v/ith  good  improvements  as  the  years  glided  by. 
(  ]n  this  farm  he  died  in  1878  and  his  wife  in  1904. 
i  bey  had  two  children,  both  living,  their  son 
Cyrus  and  their  daughter  Mary,  the  wife  of  J. 
-1  T ravers,  of  Plainwell,  Allegan  county.  The 
father  was  a  man  of  prominence  and  influence  in 
*°cal  affairs  and  represented  the  county  three 
10 


terms  in  the  lower  house  of  the  state  legislature, 
going  there  in  1864,  1867  and  1873.  He  was  also 
township  clerk  and  supervisor  a  number  of  years. 
In  political  adherence  he  was  a  pronounced  Aboli- 
tionist, and  was  earnest  and  zealous  in  behalf  of 
the  cause  he  espoused.  The  son  received  his  edu- 
cation in  the  district  schools  near  his  home  and 
was  prepared  for  business  at  the  Parsons  Com- 
mercial College  in  Kalamazoo.  On  the  death  of 
his  father  he  took  charge  of  the  farm,  and  he  has 
lived  on  it  and  conducted  its  operations  ever 
since.  In  1883  he  was  married  to  Miss  Lyclia 
Earl,  a  native  of  Cooper  township,  this  county, 
and  daughter  of  Sandford  and  Elizabeth  (Lay  ton) 
Earl,  who  settled  in  Cooper  township  in  the  '5os- 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walker  have  two  children,  their 
sons  John  E.  and  Leon  O.  Mr.  Walker  is  a  Re- 
publican in  political  faith  and  has  served  five 
years  as  supervisor  and  four  as  town  clerk.  He 
is  a  Freemason  in  fraternal  relations  and  has  been 
the  worshipful  master  of  his  lodge.  Following  his 
father's  example,  he  is  a  member  of  the  Congre- 
gational church.  He  has  kept  faith  with  his 
family  and  his  sense  of  duty  by  faithfully  carry- 
ing forward  the  work  of  local  improvement  be- 
gun by  his  parents,  and  has  maintained  in  every 
relation  of  life  the  good  name  they  won  by  their 
demonstrated  merit  and  sterling  lives. 

TOM  WILLIAMS. 

This  fine  mechanic  and  superior  business  man, 
who  is  one  of  the  oldest  millers  in  Kalamazoo 
county,  both  in  years  of  life  and  continuous  work 
at  his  trade,  was  born  in  Somersetshire,  England, 
on  November  29,  1838.  He  is  the  proprietor  and 
practical  operator  of  the  Williams  mill,  which 
stands  on  the  site  of  the  old  blast  furnace  erected 
by  Woodbury,  Potter  &  Wood,  a  site  used  for  a 
manufactory  from  an  early  date  in  the  history  of 
Kalamazoo.  He  is  the  son  of  Richard  and  Emily 
(Barrett)  Williams,  who  were  also  natives  of 
Somersetshire,  where  their  forefathers  lived 
many  generations.  The  father  came  to  the  United 
States  in  T848  and  took  up  his  residence  in  the 
state  of  New  York.  He  soon  afterward  brought 
his  entire  family,  consisting  of  his  wife  and  six 


156 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


children,  over,  and  after  a  residence  in  the  Empire 
state  of  a  number  of  years,  he  made  a  trip  to  Cali- 
fornia in  1859,  remaining  there  several  years.  He 
then  returned  to  New  York,  where  he  and  his 
wife  died  at  advanced  ages.  Their  son,  Tom, 
grew  to  manhood  in  that  state,  and  there  learned 
his  trade  as  a  miller.  He  worked  in  several  of  the 
largest  mills  in  Oswego,  doing  all  kinds  of  work 
that  are  to  be  done  in  a  mill,  dressing  stones  and 
attending  to  all  other  branches  of  the  business. 
In  1863  he  came  to  Michigan  and  went  to  work 
in  the  mill  of  Royal  C.  Kellogg  at  Battle  Creek, 
where  he  remained  until  1864,  when  he  moved  to 
Kalamazoo.  After  a  short  term  of  employment 
in  the  Olcott  mill  here,  he  and  his  brother  bought 
a  mill  at  Hannibal,  N.  Y.,  which  they  operated 
until  1876.  In  that  year  Tom  returned  to  Kala- 
mazoo and  soon  afterward  purchased  of  Grant 
Whitcomb  a  one-half  interest  in  his  present  mill 
site,  four  years  later  buying  the  other  half.  The 
old  mill  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1896  and  Mr. 
Williams  immediately  erected  the  present  struc- 
ture, installing  a  fine  roller  process  and  making 
his  plant  up-to-date  in  every  respect.  Here  he 
has  worked  and  prospered,  steadily  enlarging  his 
trade  and  strengthening  himself  in  the  regard  of 
the  public  until  his  mill  is  one  of  the  best  known 
industrial  institutions  of  the  city  and  he  is  one  of 
the  best  known  and  most  esteemed  citizens  of  the 
county.  He  was  married  in  Kalamazoo  in  1865 
to  Miss  Julia  E.  Evits,  a  native  of  the  city  and  a 
daughter  of  Ransler  E.  Evits,  one  of  its  venerated 
pioneers.  They  have  two  children,  Nellie  M., 
now  Mrs.  Bassett,  and  Harriet  J.,  now  Mrs.  Fritz, 
the  latter  living  at  home.  Their  mother  died  on 
January  9,  1904.  The  father  is  a  Baptist  in  church 
affiliation  and  a  Prohibitionist  in  politics.  His 
achievements  in  life  and  the  competency  he  has 
won,  large  and  worthy  as  they  are,  have  been  the 
results  of  his  indomitable  energy  and  persistent 
industry,  for  he  started  with  no  capital  but  his 
natural  endowments  and  has  no  favors  of  for- 
tune to  aid  him  along  the  dusty  highway  of  en- 
deavor. 

JAMES  H.  TRAVIS. 

The  late  James  Travis,  one  of  the  esteemed 
and   leading   farmers   of   Cooper   township,   this 


county,  who  departed  this  life  on  his  homestead, 
on  which  his  widow  now  lives,  passing  away  in 
1903,  was  one  of  a  family  of  ten  children,  all 
now  deceased,  born  to  Jonathan  and  Prudence 
(Austin)  Travis,  and  first  saw  the  light  of  this 
world  on  his  father's  farm  in  Cooper  township, 
eight  miles  north  of  Kalamazoo,  on  June  12, 
1 84 1.  His  parents  were  both  natives  of  New 
York  state  and  followed  farming  there  until  1837, 
when  they  moved  to  this  state  and  settled  on  the 
farm  before  mentioned.  The  father  was  a  soldier 
in  the  war  of  181 2,  and  rendered  gallant  service 
in  that  short  but  often  sanguinary  struggle 
whereby  the  independence  of  the  United  States 
was  established  on  the  sea  as  it  was  by  the  revo- 
lution on  land.  After  many  years  of  usefulness 
in  developing  and  cultivating  his  farm  and  aiding 
in  the  general  progress  of  the  people  in  this 
county,  he  died  on  his  farm  in  1872.  His  widow 
afterward  moved  to  Kalamazoo,  where  her  life 
ended  some  years  later.  Their  son  James  was 
reared  and  educated  in  this  county,  attending  dis- 
trict schools  in  intervals  between  the  busy  seasons 
of  farm  work  in  which  he  assisted  his  parents,  and 
pursued  a  course  of  special  training  in  the  Kala- 
mazoo Business  College.  He  taught  school  for 
a  number  of  years  and  then  began  farming,  an 
occupation  which  engaged  his  attention  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  almost  everything  else  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  on  the  farm  on  which  he  settled 
in  1886.  He  was  married  on  December  23,  1873, 
to  Miss1  Sophia  Oatman,  a  native  of  Vermont. 
They  had  four  children,  Harry  A.,  Mae  P., 
Emma  E.  and  Laura  J.,  all  living.  Mr.  Travis 
was  never  a  politician,  but  he  was  a  model  farmer 
and  a  highly  respected  citizen. 

CLARENCE  J.  VANDERBILT. 

Among  the  progressive,  enterprising  and  suc- 
cessful farmers  of  Cooper  township,  this  county, 
Clarence  J.  Vanderbilt  stands  in  the  first  rank  and 
his  fine  farm  of  one  hundred  and  six  acres  is  one 
of  the  best,  most  highly  improved,  and  most  skill- 
fully cultivated  in  that  part  of  the  county.  He 
has  on  it  a  good  modern  brick  dwelling  and  all 
other  needed  structures  to  make  it  complete,  up- 
to-date  and  tasteful  in  appearance;  and  here  he 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


157 


pursues  the  peaceful  and  independent  vocation  of 
the  old  patriarchs,  contented  with  his  lot  and  un- 
disturbed by  the  noisy  contentions    of    political 
strife,  the  schemes  of  worldly   ambition  of  the 
mercantile  world  or  the  follies  of  fashionable  so- 
ciety.   He  was  born  at  Lawrence,  Wayne  county, 
N.  Y.,  on  May  19,  1849,  and  is  the  son  of  John 
and   Rachel    (Jennings)    Vanderbilt,   the    father 
also  a  native  in  that  county,  and  the  mother  in 
Connecticut.     The  grandfather,  Michael  Vander- 
bilt, was  a  second  cousin  to  Commodore  Vander- 
bilt.    The  father  of  Clarence  came  to  Michigan 
and  brought  his  family  with  him  in  1869.    He  lo- 
cated in  Cooper  township,  where  he  had  previ- 
ously purchased  land,  and  lived  there  until  his 
death  in  1889,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two  years.  Of 
his  family  of  eight  children,  five  are  living.  Clar- 
ence J.  Vanderbilt  was  educated  in  the  district 
schools  of  his  native  county  and  at  the  academy 
of  some  renown  located  at  Sodus  in  that  county. 
He  accompanied  his  parents  in  their  removal  to 
Michigan  and  was  married  here,  in  1875,  t°  Miss 
Emily  Vandenburg,   the   daughter  of   Philo  and 
Alice   (Owen)   Vandenburg,  the  former  a  native 
of  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y.,  and  the  latter  of  Ver- 
mont.   The  father  came  to  this  state  in  1833  and 
bought  a  farm  on  the  river  road.  He  lived  to  clear 
his  land  and  put  his  property  in  good  condition. 
The  farm  is  one  on  which  Mr.  Vanderbilt  now 
lives  and  contains  as  fine  land  as  can  be  found  in 
the  county.     Mrs.  Vanderbilt's  mother  came  to 
Kalamazoo  a  girl,  and  after  she  reached  maturity 
taught  school  a  number  of  years,  at  Marengo, 
Calhoun  county.    She  was  graduated  from  an  ex- 
cellent seminary  in  Montpelier,  Vt.,  and  is  still 
living.     Her  husband  died  on  October  5,   1887. 
He  was  prominent  in  local  affairs  and  filled  a 
number  of  township  offices.     Mr.  Vanderbilt  is  a 
Democrat  in  politics,  and  he  and  his  wife  belong 
to  the  Congregational  church.    He  has  employed 
in  his  work  as  a  farmer  the  shrewdness,  business 
capacity  and  energy  for  which  the  family  is  noted, 
<md  has  won  in  his  way  as  complete  and  signal 
triumph  in  material  results  as  any  man  in  the 
township  of  equal  opportunities.    Among  the  peo- 
ple around  him  in  a  large  extent  of  country  he  is 
much    thought    of    and    is    generally    respected 
throughout  the  county. 


JOHN  E.  MILLS. 

The  first  settler  in  Cooper  township,  this 
county,  located  there  in  1833,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  thereafter  the  advent  of  additional  set- 
tlers was  sporadic,  one  following  another  at  ir- 
regular intervals  and  locating  wherever  chance  or 
inclination  led  him,  without  any  attempt  at  sys- 
tematic colonization.  But  the  natural  wealth  of 
the  region  soon  began  to  attract  first  squads  and 
later  platoons  of  the  on-coming  army  of  pioneers 
which  was  marching  in  the  wake  of  the  setting 
sun  and  subjugating  everything  as  it  advanced. 
Among  the  early  arrivals  after  the  first  few 
years  came  the  late  John  E.  Mills,  who  departed 
this  life  in  the  township  in  1898  after  living  fifty- 
three  years  of  his  long  and  serviceable  career  on 
the  soil  of  the  state.  While  not  one  of  the  very 
first  settlers,  he  came  soon  enough  to  find  all  the 
conditions  of  the  wildest  frontier  confronting  him 
and  contesting  his  efforts  to  win  a  home  and  an 
estate  in  the  new  country  to  which  the  spirit  of 
adventure  and  the  hope  of  gain  had  broughtt  him. 
Mr.  Mills  was  born  in  Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.,  in 

1 81 3,  the  son  of  Elijah  and (Cameron) 

Mills,  the  former  a  native  of  New  York,  and  the 
latter  of  Ireland,  who  came  hither  about  the  year 
1840  and  here  passed  the  remainder  of  their  days. 
The  father  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and 
for  many  years  was  engaged  in  works  of  con- 
struction and  transportation  in  his  native  state, 
working  on  several  old  stage  lines  and  the  Erie 
canal.  His  son  John  grew  to  the  age  of  twenty  - 
two  in  New  York,  received  there  a  limited  educa- 
tion in  the  common  schools,  and  until  1835  ne 
wrought  at  various  occupations  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  his  home.  In  the  year  just  specified  he 
became  a  resident  of  Michigan,  the  fame  of  which 
as  a  land  of  promise  and  great  possibilities  was 
filling  his  native  state  at  that  time  and  winning 
portions  of  its  brain  and  brawn  to  beget  a  new 
political  entity  in  the  wilderness  held  in  the  em- 
brace of  the  great  lakes.  He  first  located  near 
Detroit  and  some  little  time  afterward  moved  to 
Schoolcraft,  where  he  remained  a  short  time. 
Later  he  took  up  his  home  in  Kalamazoo  town- 
ship on  a  farm  he  purchased  just  east  of  the 
village   of   Kalamazoo   which   is   now   a   part   of 


158 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


Recreation  Park  within  the  city  limits.  In  the 
course  of  time  he  sold  this  and  bought  a  farm  in 
Cooper  township,  on  which  he  died  in  1898.  He 
was  married  in  1852,  in  Cooper,  to  Mrs.  Edwin 
F.  Murphy,  whose  maiden  name  was  Louisa  L. 
Delano.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Ephraim  E. 
Delano,  a  pioneer  of  the  township  who  moved 
there  from  Saratoga  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1834,  and 
entered  forty  acres  of  land  in  section  17,  on 
which  he  settled.  He  also  owned  land  in  sections 
8  and  9.  Having  come  early  to  the  region,  he 
was  able  to  make  choice  selections  from  the  at- 
tractive oak  openings  and  fine  timber  land,  which 
he.  transformed  into  a  superior  and  well-culti- 
vated farm.  He  was  the  first  clerk  of  the  town- 
ship, and  after  many  years  of  usefulness  and  pro- 
ductive labor  in  improving  his  own  property,  and 
of  wholesome  influence  on  the  public  affairs  of 
the  section,  he  died  in  1871  on  the  land  he  first 
entered.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mills  had  seven  sons, 
four  of  whom  are  living,  George  C,  at  home,  J. 
Irvin,  of  Idaho,  Fred,  an  attorney  in  Kalamazoo, 
and  Samuel  W.,  also  at  home.  In  political  affilia- 
tion Mr.  Mills  was  first  a  Whig  and  later  a  Re- 
publican. He  was  a  man  of  force  and  influence, 
and  was  generally  known  and  respected  through- 
out the  county. 

CYRUS  E.  TRAVIS. 

In  the  year  following  the  organization  of 
Cooper  township,  this  county,  that  is  in  1837,  the 
late  Cyrus  E.  Travis,  one  of  its  honored  pioneers, 
became  a  resident  of  the  township  and  at  once 
began  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  stirring  indus- 
trial activities  of  the  region  to  which  it  had  but 
recently  awakened  from  its  long  sleep  of  centu- 
ries, and  also  to  look  forward  to  the  career  of  use- 
fulness and  credit  which  he  was  destined  to  have 
among  its  people.  He  was  born  in  the  state  of 
New  York  on  October  8,  1820,  the  son  of  Jona- 
than and  Prudence  (Austin)  Travis,  whom  he 
accompanied  to  this  state  from  Ohio,  whither 
they  had  moved  from  New  York  where  they  had 
been  born  and  reared.  The  father  was  a  farmer, 
and  after  pursuing  his  chosen  vocation  in  his  na- 
tive state  until  1830,  determined  to  try  his  hand 


on  the  virgin  soil  of  the  w^est,  and  accordingly 
gathered  his  household  goods  about  him  and  set 
out  for  what  was  then  considered  the  garden  spot 
of  all  the  region  beyond  the  Alleghanies,  the  new 
state  of  Ohio.     But  that  favored  region  was  al- 
ready too  old  and  well  settled  to  satisfy  his  desire 
for  frontier  life  of  an  ultra  character,  and  after 
living  in  it  something  over  six  years,  in  1837  he 
brought  his    family   to   Michigan    and    settled    in 
Cooper  township,  this  county.     The  family  then 
comprised  seven  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  for 
a  time  they  were  crowded  into  a  little  log  shanty 
which   was  hastily   erected  on   the  tract  of  wild 
land  which  the  father  entered  as  his  future  home. 
But  all  were  cheerful  with  hope  and  the  prospect 
of  expanding  prosperity,  and  all  labored  diligently 
in   clearing   the   lands    and   getting   it   ready    for 
cultivation.     In  a  few  years  the  shanty  gave  place 
to  a  comfortable  frame  dwelling,  which  was  liter- 
ally raised  from  the  soil  as  the  family  had  no  in- 
come except  what  was  realized  from  the  crops  of 
the  farm.     The  father  lived  to  see  the  whole  of 
this  farm  cleared  and  brought  to  advanced  culti- 
vation, and  then,  on  the  land  which  was  hallowed 
by  his  labors,  the  end  of  life  came  to  him  and  he 
was   laid   to  rest   amid   an  advancing  civilization 
which  he  had  helped  materially  to  plant  in  this 
wilderness.     The  mother   died   some  years   later 
in    Kalamazoo.       They    were    members    of    the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and  helped  to  build 
some  of  the  first  structures  used  by  this  sect  in 
this  part  of  the  country.     For  many  years  before 
his    death   the    father   drew   a   pension    from    the 
government  for  gallant  services  rendered  in   the 
war  of  1812.     His  son  Cyrus  was  seventeen  years 
of  age  when  he  became  a  resident  of  Michigan, 
and  accepting  with  alacrity  his  place  in  the  work- 
ing force  on  the  farm,  and  using  his  opportunities 
and  abilities   energetically  and  wisely,   was  soon 
recognized  as  a  young  man  of  force  and  industry 
among  the  people.     He  lived  in  this  township  all 
the  remainder  of  his  life  except  five  years  which 
he  passed  at  Plainwell,  Allegan  county.     He  was 
married    in    1851    to    Miss    Melissa   F.    Barto,   a 
daughter   of   Orin   and    Esther    (Averil)    Barto, 
natives   of  Vermont,  who  came  to   Michigan   in 
1837  and  settled  on  the  farm  on  which  Mr.  Travis 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


159 


died.  They  cleared  it  of  its  wild  growths  and 
made  a  good  farm  of  it  which  they  improved  with 
comfortable  buildings  and  all  other  needed  struc- 
tures for  their  work.  The  end  of  life  and  labor 
came  to  them  after  many  years  of  peaceful  and 
productive  industry  here.  The  father  had  con- 
siderable local  prominence  and  filled  many  town- 
ship offices.  He  died  at  Morlev,  this  state,  and  the 
mother  at  Yankee  Springs.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Travis 
had  three  children,  all  sons,  George  E.,  a  Cooper 
township  farmer,  Henry  M.,  living  at  home,  and 
Jay  E.,  deceased.  The  father  was  never  an  active 
politician,  but  exhibited  an  earnest  and  practical 
interest  in  the  general  development  and  progress 
of  the  county.  He  belonged  to  the  Methodist 
episcopal  church  and  was  active  in  supporting 
it.  His  widow  is  still  living  on  the  homestead, 
and  enjoys,  like  a  veritable  mother  in  Israel,  the 
respect  and  regard  of  the  whole  comunity  and 
the  surrounding  country. 

DR.  DAVID  E.  DEMING. 

"Not  honored  less  is  he  who  founds  than  he 
who  heirs  a  line."  While  it  is  seldom  that  the 
present  gives  the  past  a  long  hearing,  there  is 
always  a  deep  and  lasting  interest,  romantic, 
historial  and  personal,  which  invest  the  founder 
of  a  new  country — him  whose  adventurous  foot- 
step first  invades  a  hitherto  untrodden  section  and 
there  plants  the  seed  of  civilization  and  erects  a 
domestic  shrine.  This  interest  appertains  in  a 
forceful  and  impressive  way  to  Dr.  David  E. 
Deming,  the  first  settler  in  Cooper  township,  this 
county,  who  there  entered  a  portion  of  section 
2  in  1833,  anc'l  became  a  permanent  resident  of 
the  township  in  March,  1834.  The  Doctor  was 
horn  at  Cornish,  N.  H.,  on  June  14,  1796.  He 
received  a  common-school  and  academic  educa- 
tion in  his  native  state  and  then  studied  medicine 
there.  He  began  his  practice  at  Hinesburg,  Vt., 
where  he  remained  several  years,  and  while  liv- 
ing at  that  place  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Electa  L.  Eldredge,  a  native  of  the  town  born 
on  June  12,  1808.  They  left  Hinesburg  on  April 
27-  1833,  for  this  state,  and  on  June  21st  follow- 
ing arrived  at  Gull  Prairie,  making  the  trip  hither 


by  way  of  the  Erie  canal  to  Buffalo,  then  by 
steamer  to  Detroit,  whence  they  journeyed  to  the 
interior  with  ox  teams.  After  a  residence  of  nine 
months  on  Gull  Prairie,  during  which  the  Doctor 
built  a -board  shanty  on  his  land,  the  family  moved 
to  their  new  home  and  began  the  arduous  work  of 
making  the  land  productive  and  the  home  com- 
fortable. They  took  up  their  residence  there  on 
March  20,  1834,  and  they  lived  on  the  new  pos- 
session until  it  was  cleared  and  changed  into  a 
fine  farm  with  all  the  comfortable  and  attractive 
accessories  of  modern  rural  life.  The  Doctor's 
last  few  years  were  passed  at  Plainwell,  Allegan 
county,  where  he  died  on  September  2,  1879.  His 
widow  then  returned  to  the  farm,  where  she  died 
on  April  2,  1884.  ^or  some  years  after  his  ar- 
rival in  this  section  of  the  country  the  Doctor 
practiced  his  profession,  but  he  gradually  relin- 
quished it  for  the  pursuit  of  agriculture,  and 
being  an  ardent  lover  of  nature,  he  gave  himself 
with  enthusiasm  to  his  adopted  vocation.  Being 
a  gentleman  of  fine  scholastic  attainments  and 
great  force  of  character,  he  soon  became  a  leader 
in  all  public  movements  around  him.  He  assisted 
in  organizing  the  township  and  was  its  first  super- 
visor. Some  years  afterward  he  represented  his 
district  in  the  state  senate,  and  although  not  an 
active  politician,  he  performed  his  official  duties 
with  his  accustomed  intelligence  and  energy,  and 
increased  and  intensified  the  hold  he  had  already 
won  on  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  fellow 
citizens.  He  was  also  a  man  of  strong  religious 
convictions  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the 
church  work  of  the  township  especially  in  con- 
nection with  the  Sunday  school  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  of  which  he  and  his  wife  were 
long  earnest  and  active  members.  He  died  at  the 
age  of  eighty-three,  full  of  honors  as  he  was  of 
years,  the  patriarch  of  his  township  and  an  ex- 
ample of  the  best  form  of  sterling  American 
citizenship.  His  family  comprised  two  sons,  born 
in  Vermont,  and  two  sons  and  two  daughters, 
born  in  Cooper  township.  Of  these  three  are 
living.  Charles  E.,  who  has  never  married,  lives 
on  the  home  farm ;  William  P.,  who  married  Miss 
Elizabeth  Drew,  is  a  farmer  near  Burlingame, 
Osage  county,   Kan. ;  and  George,  who  in   1875 


i6o 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


was  married  to  Miss  Mary  J.  Machin,  a  native  of 
Lincolnshire,  England,  owns  and  operates  an  im- 
proved farm  in  Cooper  township. 

George  Deming,  the  youngest  son  of  Dr. 
David  E.  Deming,  is  a  native  of  Cooper  town- 
ship, this  county,  which  is  still  his  home,  and  was 
born  on  November  30,  1845.  Mr.  Deming  was 
married  in  1875  to  Miss  Mary  J.  Machin,  a  na- 
tive of  Lincolnshire,  England,  a  daughter  of 
Stephen  and  Fannie  (Gilbert)  Machin,  also  na- 
tives of  that  country,  where  the  father  was  a 
farmer.  In  1851  the  family  emigrated  to  the 
United  States,  and  after  a  few  years'  residence 
in  New  York,  came  to  Michigan  in  1865,  and 
located  in  Walton  township,  Eaton  county.  Mr. 
Machin  died  in  December,  1887,  at  tne  a&e  °f 
sixty-nine  years,  and  Mrs.  Machin  is  still  living 
at  Walton,  aged  eighty-three  years.  They  reared 
a  family  of  seven  children,  all  of  whom  are  living. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Deming  are  the  parents  of  three 
children,  Lucy  M.,  now  Mrs.  William  H.  E.  Jack- 
son, of  Kalamazoo,  Ada  Belle  and  Fannie  Electa, 
all  of  whom  are  living.  Mrs.  Deming  is  an  active 
and  prominent  member  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal church,  and  enjoys  in  a  marked  degree  the 
esteem  of  a  large  circle  of  acquaintances.  She 
has  been  the  cheerful  helpmate  of  her  husband  in 
all  his  undertakings,  and  his  present  possessions 
have  been  gained  largely  through  her  assistance. 
In  the  spring  of  1905  George  and  Charles  Dem- 
ing purchased  a  home  in  Plain  well,  Allegan 
county,  where  they  now  reside.  This  they  have 
remodeled  and  made  of  it  one  of  the  best  homes 
in  the  village. 

Jay  D.  Crane,  a  grandson  of  Dr.  David  E. 
Deming,  is  a  son  of  Billings  and  Jane  E.  (Dem- 
ing) Crane,  and  was  born  in  Cooper  township  on 
July  28,  1868.  His  father,  one  of  the  early  set- 
tlers of  the  county,  was  a  native  of  Genesee 
county,  N.  Y.,  born  on  May  30,  1828.  When  he 
was  but  six  years  old  he  accompanied  his  parents 
to  Michigan,  coming  by  way  of  the  lakes  to  De- 
troit and  from  there  with  ox  teams  through  the 
wilderness  to  Kalamazoo,  a  small  village  then 
called  Bronson.  The  family  settled  on  a  farm 
of  one  hundred  and  ten  acres  which  the  father 
purchased  from  the  government,  living  until  fall 


in  a  little  log  shanty  which  they  hastily  erected. 
This  was  in  1836,  and  in  the  fall  the  shanty  was 
replaced  by  a  more  comfortable  dwelling,  the  lum- 
ber for  which  was  cut  in  Kalamazoo  and  floated 
down  the  river.  Cooper  township  was  organized 
that  year  and  Mr.  Crane  soon  became  very  promi- 
nent in  its  public  affairs.  Here  the  son  grew  to 
manhood,  assisting  in  clearing  the  homestead  and 
obtaining  his  education  in  the  primitive  log  school- 
house  of  the  district.  He  was  married  on  Febru- 
ary 17,  1863,  t0  M*ss  Jane  E.  Deming,  by  whom 
he  had  two  children,  Jay  D.  and  Sarah  E.  The 
father  was  a  Republican  in  politics  and  served 
in  various  local  offices,  among  them  township 
treasurer,  highway  commissioner  and  supervisor, 
holding  the  one  last  named  nine  years  in  succes- 
sion. He  was  chairman  of  the  county  board  one 
year,  during  which  the  county  court  house  was 
built.  He  was  also  elected  constable  when  but 
twenty-one  years  of  age.  During  his  long  resi- 
dence of  sixty  years  in  this  township  he  was  fre- 
quently sent  as  a  delegate  to  township,  county 
and  state  conventions  of  his  party.  He  died  on 
April  15,  1894,  and  his  wife  on  May  21,  1902. 
They  brought  their  farm  of  three  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  to  a  high  degree  of  cultivation  and 
improved  it  with  first-rate  modern  buildings  fur- 
nished with  every  comfort  and  all  the  most  ap- 
proved appliances  for  carrying  on  its  work.  Their 
son,  Jay  D.  Crane,  who  married  Miss  Fannie 
Munn  in  1892,  has  four  children,  Julian,  Alice 
I.,  Lewis  H.  and  Charles  B.  He  is  actively  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  is  one  of  the  leading  and 
representative  farmers  of  the  township,  holding 
up  well  in  every  way  the  traditions  and  examples 
of  his  family  on  both  sides  of  the  house  and 
carrying  forward  with  energy  and  skill  the  work 
begun  by  his  ancestors  in  this  part  of  the 
country. 

HENRY  V.  SKINNER. 

The  late  Henry  V.  Skinner,  of  Cooper  town- 
ship, who  at  the  time  of  his  death,  on  September 
21,  1899,  was  the  oldest  settler  in  the  township, 
was  a  native  of  Orleans  county,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
was  born  on  June  26,  1827.  His  father,  Joseph 
Skinner,  was  a  native  of  Saratoga  county,  N.  Y., 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


161 


where  his  life  began  on  April  28,  1801  ;  and  the 
mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Nancy  Veeder, 
was  a  native  of  the  same  county,  of  Holland  de- 
scent, and  born  in  1805.     They  were  farmers  all 
their  lives.  In  1833  the  family  removed  to  Michi- 
gan, coming"  by  way  of  the  Erie  Canal  and  Lake 
Rrie  to   Detroit,   and   from  there  with  ox  teams 
through    the    wilderness    to   Washtenaw    county, 
where    they     located    two    miles     southwest    of 
Ann     Arbor.     The     father     purchased     a     tract 
of     land      there      intending     to     make     it     his 
future       home,       but      in       April,       1835,      he 
changed    his    mind,    and    coming    to    Kalamazoo 
county,  settled  in  Cooper  township.     The  journey 
from  Washtenaw  to  this  county  was  made  with 
a  wagon  drawn  by  two  yoke  of  oxen,  and  those 
of  the  party  who  walked  drove  the  few  head  of 
cattle  belonging  to  the  family.     The  first  night 
this   little   party   spent   in    Cooper  township   they 
slept  on   the  ground,  and   during  the   night   six 
inches  of  snow  fell  upon  them,  adding  greatly  to 
their  discomfort.     Mr.  Skinner  took  up  two  hun- 
dred and  forty  acres  of  government  land  in  1834, 
when  not  a  tree  had  been  felled  in  the  township, 
and    wild    game,    wild    beasts    and    wild    Indians 
were  plentiful.     A  few  families  of  Indians  who 
were  friendly  lived  half  a  mile  north  of  his  farm 
and  the  next  year  twro  men  built  shanties  some 
distance  south  of  his.     It  was  a  common  occur- 
rence of  the  period  for  the  Indians  to  have  green 
corn   dances,   and    on    such   occasions    frequently 
five  hundred  families  of  them  passed  his  house, 
which   was   near  one  of  the  trails.     The   patent 
for  his   land   was   signed   by    President   Andrew 
Jackson,    and    his    first    house    was    rudely    con- 
structed of  logs  and  was  eighteen  by  twenty  feet 
in    size.      A    more    commodious    and    pretentious 
dwelling  was  soon  after  erected.     Very  soon' after 
lie  settled  on  the  land  he  cleared  five  acres  which 
he    planted    to    corn,    potatoes    and  .  buckwheat. 
Thereafter  he  cleared  ten   acres   each  year  until 
the  whole  tract  was  cleared  and  under  cultivation, 
«ind  on  the  improved  homestead  he  lived  until  his 
death,  in  November,  1885.     He  was  a  prominent 
«i"d  useful  man  in  the  community  and  filled  the 
ortices  of  highway  commissioner  and  assessor  for 
the  township  many  years.     He  was  also  influential 


in   the  organization   of  the   Methodist  Episcopal 
church  in  the  township,  and  was  well  and  favor- 
ably known  over  a  wide  extent  of  territory.   After 
the   death   of   his   first   wife,   which   occurred    in 
1845,  ne  married  Sophia  Lillie.     Henry  was  the 
last  survivor  of  the  six  children  born  of  the  first 
union.      Mr.    Skinner,    of    this    sketch,    left    his 
native  county  with  his  parents  when  he  was  but 
six   years  old,   and   came  to   Michigan,   walking 
from   Detroit   to   Washtenaw   county.     The  first 
school  in   Cooper"  township  was  taught  by  Mrs. 
George  Hart,  who  lived  long  after  her  labors  in 
the   little   log   schoolhouse   were   finished.      This 
school    Mr.    Skinner   attended  and   there   he   ac- 
quired   all    the    scholastic    training    he    obtained. 
After  reaching  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  worked 
three  years  at  the  trade  of  a  carpenter,  and  also 
chopped  wood  for  a  compensation  of  twenty-five 
cents  a  cord.     He  found  great  pleasure  in  hunt- 
ing  deer  and  turkeys,   many   of  which    fell   be- 
neath   his    unerring    rifle.      After    game    became 
scarce  in  the  region  of  his  home  he  made  annual 
hunting  trips  in  the  fall  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  state.     On  December  1,  1852,  he  was  married 
to    Miss    Mary    M.    Delano,    who    was    born    in 
Schoolcraft  township,  this  county,   on  April   18, 
1835,  and  was  but  six  weeks  old  when  her  par- 
ents moved  to  Cooper  township.      In    1853  thev 
began    farming    on    the    place    on    which    Mrs. 
Skinner  still  lives.  She  is  the  daughter  of  Ephraim 
l>.     and     Xancy    (Gillette)    Delano,     natives     of 
the  state  of  New  York,  the  father  born  in  Orleans 
and  the  mother  in  Saratoga  county.     They  came 
to  Michigan  in  1832  and,  after  living  in  Washte- 
naw county  two  years,  settled  in   Cooper  town- 
ship in    1835.     Here  they  took  up  land  and  re- 
mained until  death,  the  mother  passing  away  in 
1848  and   the   father  in    1872.     They  had  seven 
children,  whom  they  reared  and  trained  carefully 
for  responsible  positions  in  life.     Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Skinner  were  the  parents  of  three  children,  Jay 
J.,  Bert  E.,  who  is  now  in  Alaska,  and  one  who 
died   in  infancy.     Their  mother  is   at  this   time 
one  of  the  oldest  settlers   left   in  the  township. 
She  vividly  recalls  many  of  the  thrilling  scenes 
and  incidents  of  her  early  days.     She  is  living  on 
the   old    farm.      Politically    Mr.    Skinner   was    a 


1 62 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


Democrat  and  frequently  went  as  a  delegate  to 
the  conventions  of  his  party.  He  held  a  number 
of  township  offices,  serving  as  highway  commis- 
sioner for  almost  twenty  years.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Congregational  church,  as  is  his  widow, 
and  both  have  contributed  liberally  of  their  time 
and  means  to  its  support,  and  to  every  other  good 
cause  in  the  community. 

WILLIAM  MILHAM. 

The  pleasing  subject  of  this  brief  notice,  who 
is  passing  the  evening  of  his  days  in  a  serene  and 
cheerful  old  age  on  the  farm  which  he  has  made 
so  beautiful  and  productive  in  Portage  township, 
and  who  lives  in  the  midst  of  valued  public  in- 
stitutions which  he  has  helped  to  found,  foster 
and  enlarge  in  benefaction  for  the  people  whom 
they  serve,  is  a  native  of  Columbia  county,  X. 
Y.,  where  he  was  born  on  September  5,  1824. 
His  father,  the  late  Hon.  John  Milham  (  see  sketch 
on  another  page  of  this  work),  was  also  born  in 
that  county  and  there  he  married  Miss  Eva 
Poucher,  who  died  in  that  county  in  1831.  Tn 
1845  tne  father  came  to  this  county  and  settled  in 
Kalamazoo  township,  where  he  died  forty  years 
later.  Of  his  first  marriage  four  sons  were  born, 
of  whom  William  was  the  first.  He  accompanied 
his  father  to  this  county  and  continued  to  live 
with  him  until  the  autumn  of  1849,  when  he  set- 
tled in  Portage  township,  where  he  has  since  made 
his  home.  In  the  year  last  named  he  united  in 
marriage  with  Miss  Anna  Eliza  tiam,  a  native  of 
Columbia  county.  New  York,  who  died  in  Port- 
age township  in  May,  1862,  leaving  one  child, 
Anna  E.  Mr.  Milham's  second  marriage  occurred 
in  August,  1864,  and  was  to  Miss  Marietta  Root. 
She  died  in  August,  1866,  having  had  one  child 
who  died  in  infancy.  On  October  27,  1868,  he 
married  a  third  wife,  Miss  Emma  Scudder,  a  na- 
tive of  Newton,  Eairfield  county,  Conn.  They  had 
one  daughter,  Flora  E.  Her  mother  died  in  Port- 
age township  on  March  2J,  1876,  leaving  her 
husband  a  widower  for  the  third  time.  Mr.  Milham 
owns  nearly  five  hundred  acres  of  excellent  land 
which  he  has  brought  to  a  high  state  of  develop- 
ment and  fertilitv  and  enriched  with  fine  build- 


ings and  other  first-class  improvements.  With 
toil  and  patience  and  continued  hope,  he  has  pur- 
sued the  even  tenor  of  his  way  through  life,  look- 
ing neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left  for  the 
favors  of  fortune  except  such  as  he  has  earned, 
but  depending  ever  on  his  own  enterprise  and 
thrift  for  the  continuance  of  his  steady  advance- 
ment, and  by  this  means  he  has  held  every  foot  of 
the  progress  he  has  ever  made.  The  contentions 
of  politics,  the  claims  of  mercantile  life,  the  gilded 
prospects  of  speculation,  have  sung  their  siren 
songs  around  him  in  vain.  He  has  turned  a  deaf 
ear  to  them  all  and  held  his  hand  firmly  to  the 
plow  of  his  choice  without  a  backward  look  or  a 
forward  longing  for  any  other  vocation,  finding 
in  its  duties  enough  to  occupy  all  his  faculties, 
save  what  his  devotion  to  the  public  good  has 
taken  for  the  advancement  of  the  general  weal  of 
his  Gommunity,  and  in  its  independence  and 
abundance  of  returns  sufficient  to  satisfy  all  his 
desires.  He  supports  the  principles  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  with  fidelity,  but  never  asks  any  of 
the  honors  of  public  office.  For  many  years  he 
has  been  an  attendant  at  the  Presbyterian  church 
and  a  liberal  contributor  to  its  various  interests. 
Nearly  sixty  years  of  his  useful  and  inspiring  life 
have  been  passed  in  this  county,  and  now  when 
the  shadows  of  age  are  closing  around  him  there 
is  none  of  its  citizens  who  does  not  do  him 
reverence. 

NELSON  H.  DELANO. 

The  son  of  one  of  the  best  known  pioneers  ol 
Cooper  township  in  this  county.  Nelson  H.  Delano 
is  a  native  of  the  township,  born  in  October,  1839. 
His  parents,  Ephraim  and  Nancy  (Gillett)  De- 
lano, the  former  a  native  of  Rhode  Island  and 
the  latter  of  Orleans  county,  N.  Y.,  came  to  this 
state  in  1833,  traveling  by  way  of  the  Erie  canal 
to  Buffalo,  from  central  New  York  where  they 
were  then  living,  and  then  across  Lake  Erie  to 
Detroit,  whence  with  ox  teams  they  completed 
their  journey  to  Washtenaw  county,  often  cutting 
their  way  through  the  dense, woods  or  building  a 
road  over  swamps.  Some  little  time  after  locating 
in  Washtenaw  they  sold  out  there  and  changed 


w 


ILU AM   MILHAM. 


^_ 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


165 


their  residence  to  Kalamazoo  county,  locating  on 
section  16,  Cooper  township,  in  the  midst  of  heavy 
timber  and  surrounded  by  Indians  and  wild 
beasts.  The  father  cleared  his  land  and  made  it 
over  into  a  good  farm,  living  on  it  until  his  death 
in  1872.  He  was  a  man  of  some  prominence  in 
the  township  and  was  chosen  to  a  number  of  its 
responsible  official  positions  from  time  to  time. 
i  Ie  was  also  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the 
state  legislature  but  declined  to  qualify  for  the 
office  of  representative.  Taking  a  deep  interest  in 
church  affairs,  lie  was  of  great  assistance  in 
founding  the  Congregational  church  in  his  neigh- 
borhood, and  to  the  end  of  his  life  gave  that  sect 
and  others  cordial  and  liberal  support.  He  was 
also  an  active  and  earnest  Freemason,  joining  this 
ancient  and  honorable  order  in  the  state  of  New 
York  and  remaining  an  interested  attendant  upon 
its  rites  until  his  death.  His  first  wife  died  in 
1848,  leaving  seven  children,  who  are  all  living 
and  all  in  this  county  but  one  son  who  lives  in 
Texas.  For  a  second  wife  the  father  married 
Mrs.  Eliza  (Johnson)  Montague,  a  widow;,  and 
native  of  Vermont,  who  died  in  this  county  in 
about  1878. 

Xelson  Delano  was  reared  in  Cooper  township 
and  educated  in  the  public  schools,  lie  assisted 
his  father  in  clearing  the  homestead,  and  resided 
with  his  parents  until  he  was  twenty-seven  years 
old.  He  then  began  farming  for  himself  within 
sight  of  his  father's  chimney,  and  has  passed  all 
his  years  in  this  township  except  one  which  he 
spent  in  Iowa.  He  was  married  in  Cooper  in 
1868  to  Miss  Julia  Janes,  a  native  of  Wisconsin, 
rhey  have  had  four  children  and  three  of  them 
are  living,  May  E.,  wife  of  George  W.  Perrin, 
Luna  J.,  wife  of  C.  W.  Sipley,  both  of  Kala- 
mazoo, and  H.  Dale,  living  at  home.  Mr.  Delano 
lias  taken  an  active  part  in  all  movements  for 
the  development  and  improvement  of  the  town- 
ship, but  has  steadfastly  declined  all  offers  of 
official  recognition  from  the  people  around  him, 
preferring  to  render  his  service  to  the  public 
Irom  the  post  of  private  citizenship,  although 
politically  he  supports  the  Democratic  party.  He 
is  a  charter  member  of  United  Lodge,  No.  49, 
Pree  and   Accepted    Masons,   of   Cooper   Center. 


His  wife  is  an  active  and  valued  member  of  the 
Congregational  church,  to  the  good  work  of  which 
he  is  also  a  liberal  contributor. 

PETER  SWEET. 

Time  in  its  rapid  flight  brings  to  every  man 
some  measure  of  opportunity  for  usefulness  .to 
his  fellows  and  advancement  for  himself,  but  does 
not  halt  for  one  to  ponder  and  make  choice.  It 
is  well  for  those  who  have  the  vision  to  see  their 
chance,  and  the  alertness  to  seize  and  use  it.  Such 
men  may  hope  to  leave  behind  them  some  lasting 
memorial  of  the  lives  they  live  and  the  work 
they  do ;  and  however  unappreciative  public  senti- 
ment may  seem  at  most  times,  the  record  they 
make  will  ever  stand  to  their  credit,  and  on  oc- 
casions at  least  will  receive  the  attention  and 
commendation  of  many.  Hut  happily  the  class 
who  are  vigilant  and  active  in  their  chosen  sphere 
seldom  look  or  care  for  the  showy  reward  for 
fidelity  that  comes  in  the  form  of  men's  praises, 
but  find  sufficient  need  for  their  labor  in  its  ma- 
terial returns  and  the  satisfaction  of  performing 
it  well.  To  this  class  belonged  Peter  Sweet,  one 
of  the  early  settlers  of  this  county,  who  came 
hither  when  the  work  of  conquering  nature  and 
her  wild  brood  of  opposing  forces  was  all  yet  to 
be  done,  and  who  set  to  doing  it  with  resolute 
determination.  He  has  run  his  race  of  toil  and 
trade  and  ambition  ;  his  day's  labor  is  entirely  ac- 
complished, and  he  has  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  it 
with  the  added  satisfaction  that  it  has  been  well 
done,  and  has  won  the  approval  of  all  those  who 
knew  him.  While  he  was  alive  he  was  held  in  high 
esteem  by  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him,  and 
when  he  departed  this  earth  his  death  was  sin- 
cerely mourned  by  a  host  of  loving  friends.  Mr. 
Sweet  was  born  in  Wyoming  county,  N.  Y.,  on 
October  22,  1835.  His  parents,  Robert  and 
Phebe  (Shader)  Sweet,  were  also  natives  of 
New  York  state,  where  the  father  worked  at  the 
trade  of  a  cooper  until  1843,  when  he  came  to 
Michigan  with  his  family.  For  three  years  he 
worked  on  a  rented  farm  on  Genesee  Prairie,  and 
in  1846  bought  a  farm  in  Cooper  township  ad- 
joining the  one  now  owned  and  occupied  by  the 


i66 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


wife  of  Peter  Sweet.  The  father  died  on  this 
farm  in  1853,  and  his  wife  in  1862.  Their  fam- 
ily comprised  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  all 
of  whom  are  now  dead,  the  last  one,  Peter,  dying 
on  June  30,  1905,  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine  years. 
He  lived  in  Kalamazoo  county  since  1843,  an(l 
always  bore  his  part  in  the  work  of  development 
going  on  around  him,  and  contributed  his  full 
share  to  multiplying  and  vitalizing  the  morals  and 
educational  forces  of  the  community.  Learning 
well  in  his  early  youth  to  chop  and  grub,  he  aided 
in  clearing  and  cultivating  the  homestead,  and  be- 
fore he  reached  man's  estate,  purchased  a  farm 
for  himself,  on  which  he  lived  for  forty-two 
years,  and  where  he  breathed  his  last.  He  was 
married  in  this  county  to  Miss  Betsy  Hugget,  a 
native  of  England,  whose  parents  were  early  set- 
tlers in  this  county.  He  is  survived  by  a  wife, 
niece  and  nephew. 

WILLIAM  KILGORE. 

Among  the  progressive  and  wide-awake  farm- 
ers of  Portage  township  none  has  or  is  entitled  to 
a  higher  regard  for  substantial  merit  and  upright 
and  useful  citizenship  than  William  <Kilgore.  He 
belongs  to  the  first  generation  of  the  hardy  yeo- 
manry of  Michigan  born  on  its  soil,  having  come 
into  the  world  in  Kalamazoo  township,  this 
county,  on  May  28,  1845.  His  parents  were  John 
and  Catherine  (Martin)  Kilgore,  an  account  of 
whose  lives  will  be  found  in  the  sketch  of  their 
son  Hiram  elsewhere  in  this  volume.  In  the 
county  of  his  nativity  their  son  William  was 
reared  to  manhood  and  in  its  schools  he  received 
his  education.  Among  its  people  also  he  began 
the  battle  of  life  for  himself  and  among  them  he 
has  continually  fought  it  ever  since.  He  remained 
at  home  until  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty-six, 
then  worked  three  years  at  the  trade  of  a  cooper, 
making  barrels  for  use  in  grist  and  flour  mills  of 
this  section.  The  next  five  years  he  passed  in 
running  the  mills  in  association  with  his  brother 
Hiram.  After  that  he  wrought  at  the  carpenter 
trade  one  year,  then  in  1880  began  farming  on 
his  own  account  on  sixty  acres  of  the  homestead, 
to  which  he  has  since  added  forty.     He  was  mar- 


ried in  1874  to  Miss  Frances  N.  Cornwell,  a 
daughter  of  Jacob  and  Maria  (Wissler)  Corn- 
well,  who  settled  in  this  county  in  1855.  Three 
children  have  blessed  their  union,  Jennie,  wife  of 
Frank  J.  Fornoff,  of  Portage  township,  and  Mabel 
F.  and  Monroe  W.,  who  are  living  at  home. 
Politically  Mr.  Kilgore  is  a  Democrat,  and  hav- 
ing an  earnest  interest  in  local  affairs  and  a  genu- 
ine desire  to  aid  in  promoting  the  welfare  of  the 
community,  he  has  filled  a  number  of  township 
offices.  Fraternally  he  is  a  Freemason  and  a 
Modern  Woodman  of  America.  Belonging  to 
an  old,  numerous  and  respected  family  here,  and 
himself  one  of  the  early  inhabitants  of  his  town- 
ship, Mr.  Kilgore's  name  is  prominently  con- 
nected with  all  that  is  valuable  and  worthy  in 
the  achievements  of  this  people,  and  the  general 
esteem  in  which  he  is  held  gives  proof  that  he  has 
met  his  responsibilities  as  a  man  and  a  citizen  in 
a  capable  and  estimable  manner,  performing  his 
various  duties  with  fidelity  and  ability  and  hold- 
ing up  ever  before  others  the  good  example  of 
an  upright  character  and  a  lofty  ideal  of  manhood. 

GEORGE  E.  KILGORE. 

When  the  early  settlers  of  Michigan  invaded 
its  untrodden  wilds  and  began  to  hew  out  for 
themselves  opportunities  for  advancement  and 
homes  for  their  families  they  opened  the  way  to 
a  gradual  development  of  the  unbounded  wealth 
of  the  section  and  the  erection  here  of  a  great 
commonwealth,  results  which  have  followed 
grandly  in  their  wake.  But  at  the  same  time  they 
left  to  their  immediate  descendants  a  destiny  of 
toil  and  privation  in  carrying  forward  amid  dif- 
ficulties and  dangers  which  they  themselves  con- 
fronted but  did  not  wholly  overcome,  the  great 
work  they  had  begun.  Among  those  to  whom 
this  heritage  came  was  George  E.  Kilgore,  who 
was  born  in  Portage  township,  this  count}',  the 
son  of  John  and  Catherine  (Martin)  Kilgore,  and 
the  brother  of  Hiram  and  William  Kilgore,  ac- 
counts of  whose  achievements  are  recorded  on 
other  pages  of  this  volume.  Born  to  the  destiny 
of  which  mention  has  been  made,  and  inheriting 
with  it  a  firmness  of  fiber  and  a  force  of  char- 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


167 


acter  which  fitted  him  well  for  his  part  in  the 
work  his  parents  had  begun,  he  cheerfully  ac- 
cepted his  lot  and  entered  upon  the  performance 
of  his  duties  as  soon  as  he  was  able,  receiving 
what  preparation  for  them  was  possible  through 
the  schools  of  the  period  of  his  youth  in  a  new 
country  and  through  assisting  in  the  later  labor  of 
clearing  his  father's  farm  and  enlarging  its  till- 
able acreage.  His  life  began  in  the  house  in 
which  he  now  lives,  on  February  11,  1848,  and 
in  this  house,  hallowed  by  the  trials  and  the  tri- 
umphs of  his  parents  and  his  older  brothers,  he 
has  passed  the  whole  of  his  life  so  far.  He  began 
operations  for  himself  as  a  farmer  on  the  paternal 
homestead  and  he  has  never  varied  from  this  oc- 
cupation or  the  scene  of  its  activities.  He  was 
married  in  Allegan  county  in  1880  to  Miss  Rosa 
Baker,  who  was  born  in  that  county.  Her  par- 
ents, Jackson  and  Emma  (Adams)  Baker,  were 
early  settlers  there,  the  father  having  been  born 
in  Canada  and  the  mother  in  Indiana.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Kilgore  have  five  children,  John  J.,  George 
A.,  Catherine  E.,  Melyin  and  Martha  R.,  all  liv- 
ing at  home.  In  politics  Mr.  Kilgore  is  a  Demo- 
crat, but  while  he  supports  his  party  with  loyalty, 
he  has  never  been  an  active  partisan  and  has  never 
sought  office.  When  he  took  the  homestead  to 
work  it  on  his  own  account,  it  was  in  a  forward 
state  of  development  and  had  on  it  good  improve- 
ments. But  being  a  progressive  man,  he  has  not 
rested  on  accomplished  results,  but  has  steadily 
pushed  the  improvement  and  productiveness  of 
the  place  until  it  is  largely  increased  in  value  and 
comfort  through  his  efforts,  and  has  kept  pace 
with  the  general  advance  of  interests  in  the  town- 
ship. At  the  same  time  he  has  given  due  atten- 
tion to  the  general  needs  of  his  community  and 
has  not  suffered  them  to  lapse  or  languish  for 
want  of  any  aid  he  could  give  to  their  advantage. 
He  is  regarded  on  all  sides  as  a  good  citizen,  an 
enterprising  farmer  and  a  man  of  genial  social 
disposition. 

NORTON  POMEROY. 

The  scion  of  an  old  and  distinguished  New 
England  family  on  each  side  of  his  house,  promi- 
nent in  the  history  of  that  section  of  the  country 


from  early  Colonial  times,  his  father's  ancestors 
being  pioneers  of  Northampton,  Mass.,  and  his 
mother's  of  Somers,  Conn.,  some  members  of 
whom  settled  later  in  New  York,  Norton  Pome- 
roy  left  the  scenes  made  memorable  by  them  in 
his  young  manhood  and  came  to  the  wilds  of 
Michigan  to  make  a  home  and  a  name  for  himself 
and  aid  in  the  development  of  this  region  as  they 
did  in  the  development  of  their  early  homes.  He 
was  born  of  the  New  York  branch  of  the  Pomeroy 
family,  coming  into  the  world  at  Lockport,  Nia- 
gara county,  on  May  11,  1823.  His  parents  were 
Jabez  and  Phebe  (Hopkins)  Pomeroy,  the  for- 
mer a  native  of  Connecticut  and  the  latter  of 
Madison  county,  N.  Y.  The  father  was  a  cloth 
dresser  and  while  at  his  trade  also  engaged  in 
farming  for  many  years.  He  removed  to  the 
Holland  Purchase  in  western  New  York  about 
1820,  and  the  next  year  he  returned  to  Madison 
county  in  the  central  part  of  the  state  and  was 
married,  making  the  trip  both  ways,  a  distance  of 
some  three  hundred  miles  in  all,  with  a  team. 
He  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  on  his  west- 
ern New  York  farm,  dying  in  February,  1879. 
His  wife  died  in  Kalamazoo  in  1870.  They  had 
six  sons  and  three  daughters  who  grew  to  ma- 
turity, of  whom  three  of  the  sons  and  two  of  the 
daughters  are  living.  The  Pomeroys  came  to  this 
country  in  1635  from  England,  where  the  family 
had  long  been  domesticated,  and  settled  in  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Connecticut.  Norton  Pomeroy 
grew  to  manhood  in  his  native  place  and  was 
educated  in  its  district  schools.  He  had  the  usual 
experiences  of  country  boys  of  his  day  and  lo- 
cality, working  on  the  paternal  farm  in  summer 
and  attending  school  in  winter,  with  but  little  out- 
look into  the  world  beyond  his  immediate  neigh- 
borhood. After  leaving  school  he  engaged  in 
farming  and  teaching  until  1845.  Then  a  young 
man  of  twenty-two,  he  came  to  this  county  and 
settled  on  a  tract  of  land  in  Pavilion  township 
which  his  father  had  purchased  some  years  pre- 
vious, buying  it  of  the  government.  He  at  once 
began  to  clear  and  improve  his  land,  and  to  this 
work  he  devoted  himself  until  1866,  when  he 
moved  to  a  farm  just  outside  the  city  limits  on 
which  he  lived  until  his  death  in  July,  1893.     He 


i68 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


was  a#  Republican  in  politics  but  never  an  active 
partisan.  In  1851  he  was  married  to  Miss  Jane 
Chipman,  whose  parents  were  pioneers  of  this 
county,  coming  here  from  Vermont.  By  his  mar- 
riage Mr.  Pomeroy  became  the  father  of  seven 
children,  Willis  M.,  Wardeli  J.,  Clara  T.  (de- 
ceased), S.  Ada,  Jennie  B.,  Clemana  C.  and 
Orphia  L.  Their  mother  died  in  1870,  and  in 
1872  the  father  married  again,  his  second  wife 
being  Mrs.  Mary  E.  (Byrne)  Pomeroy,  the  widow 
of  his  younger  brother,  Lewis  S.  Mrs.  Pomeroy 
had  two  children  by  her  first  marriage,  her  sons 
Harry  K.,  who  is  living  at  home,  and  Llewellyn 
S.,  a  civil  engineer.  To  her  second  union  three 
children  have  been  born,  Arthur  B.,  a  resident  of 
Kalamazoo,  Beatrice  and  Alice  G.,  all  of  whom 
are  living.  Mr.  Pomeroy  attended  the  Presby- 
terian church  and  took  an  active  interest  in  its 
affairs.  He  was  well  known  throughout  the 
county  and  everywhere  was  highly  respected  as 
a  good  farmer,  an  upright  man  and  an  excellent 
citizen. 

CHESTER   A.   WILLIAMS.  ' 

The  great  state  of  Xew  York  challenges  the 
world  in  its  progress,  development,  industrial, 
commercial  and  educational  wealth  and  political 
power.  These  are  present  and  manifest  evidences 
of  the  industry,  ingenuity,  enterprises  and  breadth 
of  view  of  its  people.  But  it  has  another  claim 
to  the  admiration  of  mankind,  and  that  is  in  the 
triumphs  of  its  offspring  in  colonizing  the  wilds 
of  the  western  country  in  this  land  beyond  its 
borders,  and  the  mighty  commonwealth  they 
have  helped  to  build  up  therein  to  add  to  the  great- 
ness of  our  Union,  and  the  wealth  and  conse- 
quence of  the  American  people.  Among  the  most 
prominent  and  prosperous  of  these,  her  foster 
children,  is  the  state  of  Michigan,  whose  early 
settlers  were  in  large  part  from  her  restless  and 
all-conquering  populations.  They  came  hither 
when  the  region  was  a  primeval  wilderness,  bask- 
ing in  the  noontide  sun  with  a  wild  vegetation  of 
variegated  beauty,  whose  annual  decay  had  been 
enriching  the  soil  for  centuries,  or  deeply  shaded 
by  a  forest  growth  that  had  run  riot  in  luxuriance 
for  ages  before  America,  at  the  bidding  of  Colum- 


bus, rose  from  her  slumbering  couch  to  greet  her 
lord.  One  of  these  hardy  New  York  pioneers, 
who  came  thus  into  the  wilderness  with  no  capital 
but  his  resolute  spirit  and  all-daring  determina- 
tion, and  helped  to  push  along  the  superstructure 
of  a  giant  commonwealth  whose  foundation  had 
been  laid  by  earlier  arrivals  from  the  same  section, 
was  the  late  Chester  A.  Williams, of  Alamo  town- 
ship, this  county,  who  was  born  in  Seneca  county. 
New  York,  on  November  5,  1825,  and  became  a 
resident  of  Michigan  in  1854.  He  was  the  son 
of  Robert  Williams,  himself  a  native  of  the  Em- 
pire state,  where  he  passed  his  life  in  the  peace- 
ful pursuit  of  farming.  Pie  and  his  wife  had 
three  sons  and  three  daughters.  Of  these,  three 
of  the  daughters  are  living.  Chester  was  reared  in 
his  native  state  and  there  received  a  common- 
school  education.  After  leaving  school  he  made 
choice  of  an  occupation  as  a  farmer  and  followed 
it  on  rented  land  there  until  1854.  Then  realizing 
that  there  were  better  opportunities  for  him  in  the 
unbroken  wilds  of  the  farther  west,  where  there 
was  yet  an  abundance  of  unoccupied  land  for  tb- 
thrifty  worker,  he  came  to  this  county  and  se- 
cured by  purchase  eighty  acres  of  a  domain  which 
had  never  yet  been  furrowed  by  the  plow  and 
was  covered  by  a  dense  growth  of  timber.  On 
this  he  built  a  small  log  cabin  for  a  dwelling  and 
began  to  devote  himself  exclusively  to  clearing 
and  improving  his  land.  He  did  all  the  work  <d 
clearing  it  himself,  and  for  years  the  sound  <-\ 
his  gleaming  ax  was  a  familiar  one  in  that  vicinity. 
He  also  replaced  his  first  unambitious  dwelling 
with  a  commodious  and  comfortable  residence  and 
added  other  buildings  that  were  needed  as  rapidly 
as  he  could,  meanwhile  bringing  the  land  to  an 
advanced  state  of  cultivation  and  reaping  good  an- 
nual harvest  as  the  result  of  his  industry  and 
care.  He  made  a  model  farm  of  his  purchase  and 
was  enjoying  its  fruits  in  full  measure,  when  the 
spirt  of.  modern  commercialism  seized  upon  it, 
and  the  postoffice  of  the  same  name  was  estab- 
lished there.  With  proper  consideration  the  village 
was  named  in  his  honor  and  he  was  appointed  its 
first  postmaster,  a  position  which  he  filled  accep- 
tably for  a  number  of  years.  One  of  the  leading 
industries  of  the  town  is  a    large  heading  mill 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


169 


which  does  a  flourishing  business.  Here  he  con- 
tinued to  live  until  his  death,  in  August,  1894. 
Mr.  Williams  was  twice  married,  first  in  New 
York  to  Miss  Catherine  Allen,  who  died  in  this 
county  in  1870,  leaving  no  children.  His  second 
marriage  occurred  in  1871  and  was  with  Miss 
Harriet  Tallman,  a  daughter  of  David  and  Eva- 
line  ('Tripp)  Tillman,  who  was  born  in  Wyoming 
ioiint\',  \T.  Y.  They  had  three  children,  Ed- 
gar, living  at  home  ;  Harry,  mail  carrier  of  Alamo 
lownship,  and  Belle,  the  wife  of  C  E.  Price,  who 
is  also  living  at  home.  The  father  never  took  an 
active  part  in  political  contentions,  but  he  never 
shunned  the  proper  duties  of  good  citizenship  in 
the  way  of  aiding  the  life  and  progress  of  all 
commendable  enterprises  for  the  welfare  of  the 
community.  Among  the  respected  citizens  of  his 
township  he  stood  in  the  first  rank  and  none  bet- 
ter deserved  the  station. 

JOHN  M.  SELKRTG. 

Although  but  ten  years  old  when  he  accom- 
panied his  parents  to  this  county  in  1851  from 
their  New  York  home,  John  M.  Selkrig  began  at 
once  to  perform  his  part  in  clearing  the  wild  land 
on  which  the  family  settled,  the  exigencies  of  the 
situation  requiring  the  aid  of  every  available  en- 
ergy in  redeeming  the  tract  from  the  wilderness 
and  maintaining  a  living  on  it.  He  had  but  lim- 
ited opportunities  for  schooling  and  these  were 
amid  the  most  primitive  facilities.  The  wants  of 
the  body  had  to  be  first  cared  for  by  the  pio- 
neers, and  those  of  the  mind  had  to  take  care  of 
themselves  in  a  large  measure,  but  as  the  tuition 
(>l  nature  and  experience  was  all  around  them, 
these  were  not  wholly  neglected.  In  books  used 
by  such  teachers  the  words  are  too  simple  to  need 
much  schooling,  and  their  meanings  are  too  com- 
prehensive to  leave  their  student  without  a  rich 
hind  of  ready  knowledge  and  a  preparation 
t(>r  energetic  action  in  any  emergency.  Mr.  Sel- 
krig was  born  in  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  on 
February  28,  1841,  and  is  the  son  of  William  and 
Abigail  (Gross)  Selkrig,  the  former  a  native  of 
Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  the  latter  of  Connecticut.  The 
father  was  a  manufacturer  of  woolen  goods  in 


New  York  and  followed  his  business  there  until 
1 85 1.  He  then  moved  his  family  to  Kalamazoo 
county  and  bought  a  farm  in  Alamo  township,  on 
which  he  lived  until  his  death  in  1871,  his  wife 
surviving  him  eight  years,  and  dying  on  the  farm 
in  1879.  ^he  land  on  which  they  established 
themselves  was  the  virgin  forest,  densely  covered 
with  the  wild  growth  of  centuries,  and  their  first 
work  on  it  was  the  erection  of  a  little  log  shanty 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  family.  After  this 
was  completed  they  gave  themselves  zealously  to 
the  clearing  and  cultivating  of  the  farm,  and 
kept  on  improving  it  and  enlarging  its  response 
to  their  diligent  and  systematic  tilling  until  it  be- 
came a  fruitful  farm  and  comfortable  home,  and 
death  released  them  from  their  toil.  Their  family 
comprised  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  of 
whom  are  living,  John  and  his  sister.  Mrs.  Mary 
(i.  Upham,  being  the  only  ones  now  resident  in 
this  county.  He  cleared  the  greater  part  of  the 
farm,  and  on  the  death  of  his  parents  became  its 
owner.  It  has  been  his  life-long  home  in  this 
county,  and  its  condition  furnishes  a  striking 
tribute  to  his  skill  and  enterprise  in  managing  its 
operations.  His  sister  keeps  house  for  him,  and 
together  they  pursue  their  wonted  way  with  good 
annual  returns  for  their  labors,  in  a  material  way, 
and  crowned  with  the  lasting  esteem  of  all  their 
neighbors  and  acquaintances.  Mr.  Selkrig  is  an 
ardent  Republican  from  firm  conviction,  and  gives 
his  party  his  best  support  on  all  occasions  without 
a  desire  for  any  of  its  honors  or  emoluments  for 
himself.  He  is  an  earnest  member  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  church,  and  one  of  its  main  sup- 
ports in  his  section  of  the  county.  Fifty- four 
years  of  his  life  have  been  passed  amid  the  people 
surrounding  him,  and  after  this  long  period  of 
trial  and  triumph,  there  is  not  one  who  does  not 
feel  for  him  the  utmost  good  will  and  regard,  a 
public  estimation  in  which  his  sister  has  an  equal 
share. 

EDWIN  CORBIN. 

After  taking  an  active  part  in  the  great  Civil 
war  of  1 861 -5  in  this  country,  which  settled 
long  contentions  between  the  sections  and  for- 
ever removed  the  cloud  of  human  slavery  from 


170 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


our  political  sky  Edwin  Corbin  became  again  a 
resident  of  this  county,  and  resumed  the  fanning 
operations  he  had  abandoned  to  go   forth  as   a 
volunteer  in  defense  of  the  Union,  and  since  then 
he  has  been  one  of  the  industrious  agricultural 
promoters  of  this  part  of  the  state,  winning  suc- 
cess and  a  competence  for  himself  by  his  efforts 
and  aiding  in  building  up  the  county  for  the  gen- 
eral weal  of  its  people  and  all  the  elements  of  its 
commercial  and  moral  greatness  and  power.     He 
was  born  in  Trumbull  county,  Ohio,  on  January 
29,   1837,  the  son  of  Palmer  and  Mariah   (Pier- 
son)   Corbin,  natives  of  the  state  of  New  York, 
who  moved  to  Ohio  early  in  their  married  life 
and  in   1842  changed  their  residence  to  the  un- 
farmed  but  promising  wilds  of  Michigan.     They 
located  in  Alamo  township  on  leased  land,  and  a 
few  years  later  bought  a  tract  of  unbroken  waste 
there  on  which  they  settled  and  began  the  work 
of  transforming  their  wild  domain  into  a  produc- 
tive  farm  and   comfortable   home.      The   mother 
died  in  1843  on  this  ^arm  and  the  father  in  1851, 
he  having  succeeded  before  his  death  in  getting 
a  large  part  of  it  cleared  and  under  cultivation. 
Four  of  their  children  grew  to  maturity,  and  of 
these,  three  of  the  sons  are  living,  Edwin  being 
'the  only  one  resident  in  Alamo  township.     The 
father  was  a  man  of  prominence  in  his  section 
of  Ohio,  a  zealous  Whig  in  politics  and  a  captain 
of  militia  officially.     Being  but  five  years  of  age 
when  the   family  moved  to  this   county,   Edwin 
has  passed  almost  all  of  his  life  here.  He  received 
a  common-school  education  and  acquired  a  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  husbandry  in  working  on  his 
father's  farm  and  others  in  the  vicinity,   for  he 
left  home  at  the  age  of  fourteen  and  began  mak- 
ing his  own  living.     In  1861  he  enlisted  in  the 
Union  army   for  the   Civil  war  in   Company  F, 
Third  Michigan  Cavalry,  and  was  soon  with  his 
regiment  in  the  Western  division  of  the  Federal 
army.     He  was  in  active  service  almost  from  the 
start  and  took  part  in  many  engagements  that  are 
historic,  among  them  the  battle  of  New  Madrid, 
Mo.,  and  that  of  Pittsburg  Landing  or  Shiloh, 
Tenn.     He  was  also  in  the  contest  at  Corinth, 
Miss.,  and  in  much  other  hazardous  and  trying 
service  in  the  southwest  and  south.    He  was  mus- 


tered out  in  1863  and  passed  the  next  two  years 
in  Illinois,  then  coming  to  Kalamazoo  county,  he 
purchased  the  farm  on  which  he  now  lives  in 
Alamo  township.  He  was  married  in  1863  to 
Miss  Jeannette  Lamb,  the  daughter  of  Allen  and 
Mary  (Blair)  Lamb,  early  settlers  in  Dupage 
county,  111.  Two  children  have  blessed  their 
union,  their  sons  William  T.  S.  and  Ernest,  both 
of  whom  live  in  Chicago.  The  father  is  a  Repub 
lican  in  political  faith  and  warmly  supports  his 
party,  although  for  himself  he  has  never  sought 
or  desired  public  office.  He  and  his  wife  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and 
take  an  active  part  in  church  work.  They  are 
highly  respected  citizens  and  whether  measured 
by  the  material  results  of  their  labor  or  the  pub- 
lic esteem  in  which  they  are  held,  they  have 
passed  their  forty  years  of  life  in  this  county  to 
good  purpose. 

ZARDIS  SANFORD. 

Zardis  Sanford,  of  Alamo  township,  whose 
fine  farm  of  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  on  sec- 
tions 8  and  17,  with  its  wealth  of  good  buildings 
and  other  modern  improvements, ,  is  one  of  the 
pleasant  features  of  the  landscape  in  that  portion 
of  the  county,  was  born  in  Cattaraugus  county,  N. 
Y.,  on  June  13,  1829,  and  was  fourteen  years  old 
when  he  accompanied  his  parents,  Tilly  and 
Nancy  (Stetson)  Sanford,  to  this  county  in  1843, 
the»trip  being  made  in  a  wagon  which  conveyed 
the  younger  members  of  the  family  and  the 
household  goods  over  the  long  stretch  of  inter- 
vening territory  of  alternating  hill  and  plain,  wild 
and  woodland,  swamp  and  water  course,  betweeti 
the  old  home  and  the  new.  His  father  was  a  na- 
tive of  Massachusetts,  and  when  a  young  man 
journeyed  on  foot  from  that  state  to  western 
New  York,  becoming  one  of  the  earliest  settlers 
in  what  is  now  Wyoming  county,  and  locating 
near  Silver  lake.  In  1838  he  made  a  prospecting" 
tour  to  this  county,  and  was  so  well  pleased  with 
the  land  and  the  promise  of  advancement  here 
that  he  traded  his  land  in  New  York  for  a  farm 
in  Alamo  township.  On  this  he  built  a  frame 
cabin,  which  was  still  standing  a  year  prior  to 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


171 


his  death,  and  in  1843  ne  moved  his  family  hither, 
making  the  trip  with  a  horse  team,  and  being 
three  weeks  on  the  way.  On  the  farm,  which  he 
then  carved  out  of  the  wilderness,  he  lived  until 
his  death  in  1853,  at  tne  aRe  °f  fifty-nine.  His 
widow  survived  him  thirty-five  years,  dying  in 
1894.  She  found  the  duty  of  rearing  her  fam- 
ily and  carrying  on  the  development  and  cultiva- 
tion of  the  farm  a  trying  one,  but  she  faced  it 
fearlessly  and  performed  it  faithfully,  losing  no 
step  in  the  advance  and  working  out  a  substantial 
and  enduring  success,  which  her  children  have 
continued  in  their  various  lines  and  localities.  She 
was  a  devout  member  of  the  Methodist  church 
from  her  girlhood,  and  her  husband  also  belonged 
to  that  organization.  The  family  comprised  five 
children,  two  of  whom  have  died.  Albert,  the 
oldest  son,  went  to  California  in  1850,  and  died 
there  ten  years  later.  Edwin  passed  from  this 
life  in  1852.  Ariston,  the  second  child  in  the 
order  of  birth,  is  a  resident  of  Van  P>uren  county, 
this  state,  and  Adeline  J.,  the  widow  of  Wilson 
ITenry,  has  her  home  at  East  Jordan,  Mich.  Zar- 
rlis,  who  was  the  third  born  of  the  children,  re- 
ceived his  education  in  a  little  country  school  of 
the  early  days,  located  three  miles  from  his  home, 
and  alternated  his  duties  there  with  work  on  the 
home  farm  from  his  boyhood.  He  aided  his  fa- 
ther greatly  in  clearing  the  land,  breaking  it  for 
culture  and  building  its  fences  and  other  improve- 
ments. A  great  hunter  in  his  youth  and  early 
manhood,  he  pursued  the  chase  with  ardor  and 
pronounced  success,  helping  to  furnish  the  table 
with  venison  and  other  wild  game,  while  gratify- 
ing his  love  of  sport.  He  cherishes  a  fine  pair  of 
antlers  from  a  deer  that  he  killed  in  1848.  In- 
heriting his  father's  love  of  adventure  and  dispo- 
sition to  see  and  conquer  new  lands  and  enliven 
liis  experience  with  variety  of  scene  and  achieve- 
ment, in  185 1  he  went  to  California  by  way  of 
NTew  York  and  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  leaving 
home  on  October  6th,  that  year,  and  arriving  at 
San  Francisco  on  January  14,  1852.  He  at  once 
engaged  in  mining  and  was  fairly  successful  in 
his  operations.  On  April  5,  1859,  he  started 
homeward  and  reached  Michigan  on  May  20th 
following.     The  death  of  his  brother,  Albert,  in 


the  Golden  state  soon  afterward  obliged  him  to 
return  thither  for  the  purpose  of  settling  up  the 
estate  of  the  deceased,  and  he  remained  in  Cali- 
fornia from  February  7  to  July  4,  1861.  Before 
making  this  second  trip  to  the  Pacific  coast,  how- 
ever, he  was  married  in  i860  to  Miss  Frances 
Bachelder,  a  native  of  Perry,  N.  Y.,  whose  par- 
ents were  early  settlers  in  Michigan.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Sanford  have  had  seven  children.  Of  these 
Addie  and  Fred  are  dead ;  Lillette  is  the  wife  of 
George  Hammond,  of  South  Bend,  Ind. ;  Wilby 
E.  is  married  and  hves  at  Kalamazoo;  Clark  is 
the  husband  of  Millie  Myers ;  Luella  is  the  wife 
of  Wilbur  Snow,  of  Climax  township,  ex-sherifT 
of  the  county,  and  Newman  is  living  at  home. 
Their  mother  died  on  November  29,  1885,  and  on 
June  1,  1888,  the  father  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
Keech,  a  native  of  Canada,  whose  parents, 
George  and  Sarah  (Cushman)  'Keech,  natives,  re- 
spectively, of  New  York  and  Canada,  became 
residents  of  Allegan  county,  Mich.,  in  1857.  Mr. 
Sanford  gives,  his  attention  to  general  farming  on 
a  large  scale,  and  is  very  successful  in  his  work. 
He  is  a  Republican  in  politics  and  has  frequently 
represented  his  district  in  the  conventions  of  his 
party.  In  local  affairs  he  is  prominent,  and  in 
all  progressive  measures  for  the  benefit  of  his" 
community  he  is  earnestly,  intelligently  and  help- 
fully interested. 

CHARLES  SEARLE. 

Coming  to  Kalamazoo  county  from  his  home 
in  western  New  York  nearly  forty  years  ago, 
and  living  here  ever  since  busily  occupied  411 
farming  on  land  which  he  took  up  in  its  wild 
state  and  has  improved  to  great  value  and  an 
advanced  condition  of  productiveness,  Charles 
Searle  has  devoted  more  than  half  of  his  life  to 
the  development  of  the  county  and  has  to  his 
credit  a  record  of  useful  industry  and  practical 
achievement  worthy  of  the  respect  and  emulation 
of  all  classes  of  our  citizens.  He  has  met  the  re- 
quirements of  his  situation  courageously  and 
faithfully,  and  performed  his  duty  in  all  respects 
in  a  manly  and  straightforward  manner  which 
has  gained  for  him  the  confidence  and  good  will 


172 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


of  all  the  people  around  him,  illustrating  in  his 
continued   and    systematic   diligence,   and   in   his 
intelligent  and  far-seeing  regard  for  the  best  in- 
terests of  his  township  the  best  and  most  admired 
attributes   of   American   citizenship.      Mr.   Searle 
was  born  in  Wayne  county,  New  York,  on  Sep- 
tember  30,    1835,    and    was    reared    to   manhood 
and  educated  there,  working  on  the  farm  of  his 
parents   until    1867.      His  parents   were   Almond 
and   Sophia    (Craw)    Searle,   the   father  a  native 
of  Vermont  and  the  mother  of  the  state  of  New 
York.     They  were  farmers  and  followed  the  in- 
dustry in   New   York  until   death   released   them 
from  their  labors,  the  father  dying  there  in  about 
1892  and  the  mother  in  about  1875.     Their  fam- 
ily comprised   four  sons  and  one  daughter.     Of 
these,  all  are  now  deceased  but  their  son  Charles 
and  one  of  his  brothers  who  still  lives  in   New 
York.     The  former  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  in 
1867,  when  he  was  thirty-two  years  of  age,  and 
has  since  made  his  home  in  this  county.     He  first 
bought  a   farm  in   Oshtemo  township  on   which 
he   lived   two   years,   then   purchased   another   in 
Alamo  township  comprising  eighty  acres,  and  on 
this  he  has  since  made  his  home.     The  land  was 
almost  wholly  wild  and  unimproved  when  he  took 
possession  of  it,  and  it  is  now  one  of  the  best  de- 
veloped and  most  highly  improved  in  the  town- 
ship, its  present  condition  being  the  result  of  his 
continuous  industry  and  skill  in  farming  it  and 
his   enterprise   in   providing  it  with   good  build- 
ings   and    other    necessary    structures.      In    1858 
he  was  married  in  New  York  state  to  Miss  Caro- 
line Woolsey,  a  native  of  Cayuga  county,  in  that 
state,    whose    mother   became   a   resident   of   this 
county    late    in    her    life   and    died    here.      They 
have    four    children,    Emma,    now    the    wife    of 
William    D.    Wyllis,    of    Kalamazoo;    Bertha,   at 
home;  Ora,  now  the  wife  of  Arthur  Pickard,  of 
Kalamazoo,   and    Burton    A.,    who   manages    the 
home  farm.     The  father  has  served  a  number  of 
years    a«    highway    commissioner,    and    in    other 
wrays  has  rendered  the  township  excellent  serv- 
ice.    He  ha9  been  an  ardent  Republican  from  the 
dawn  of  his  manhood,  casting  his  first  vote  for 
General  Fremont,  the  first  presidential  candidate 
of  his  party.     For  a  period  of  thirty  years  he  has 


been  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order,  and  for 
nearly  or  quite  as  long  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal church.  He  is  one  of  the  best  known  citi- 
zens of  the  county,  and  none  has  a  higher  or  more 
firmly  established  title  to  the  regard  and  esteem 
of  the  people. 

HON.  ALLEN  POTTER. 

The   late   Hon.    Allen    Potter,   of   Kalamazoo, 
was  a  man  distinguished  in  business  circles  and 
political    affairs    throughout    southern    Michigan. 
In  every  undertaking  of  his  busy  and  useful  life- 
lie    succeeded    well,   and   the   various   enterprises 
with  which  he  was  connected  were  many  and  im- 
portant.      Ilis    life   began   in     Saratoga    count}". 
X.  Y.,  on  October  2,   1818,  and  he  was  the  son 
of  Elisha  and  Maria   (Allen)    Potter,  both  born 
and  reared  in  New  York  state.     The  father  was  a 
farmer  there  and  for  a  number  of  years  a  manu- 
facturer of  woolen  fabrics.     In  his  later  life  lie 
moved    to    Hillsdale    county,    Mich.,    and    settled 
near  Moscow  on  a  farm,  which  he  afterward  dis- 
posed of  and  took  up  his  residence  with  his  son 
at  Kalamazoo,  where  he  died.     He  was  a  son  of 
Dr.  Stephen    Potter,    a    surgeon    in    the    United 
States  army  during  the  war  of  181 2  and  a  well- 
known  physician  of  the  state  of  New  York.    Hon. 
Allen  Potter,  the  only  child  of  his  parents,  was 
reared   and   educated   in   his   native   county,   and 
there  he  learned  his  trade  as  a  tinner  and  worked 
at  it  seven  years.     In  1838  he  became  a  resident 
of  Michigan, t  and  here  he  followed  his   craft  in 
a  number  of  different  places,  among  them  Jones- 
ville,,  in  Hillsdale  county,  and  later  at  Homer,  at 
each    place    remaining    several    years.      In    June, 
1845,  ne  moved  to  Kalamazoo  and  opened  a  small 
hardware  store  and  tin  shop,  and  from  this  small 
beginning  he  built  up  an  extensive  trade  which 
he   conducted   successfully   in  connection  with   a 
blast  furnace.     For^  some  time  he  was  in  partner- 
ship  with    Mr.    Woodbury,   and   afterward   with 
Mr.  Parsons  and  others.     Subsequently  he  retired 
from  active  business  pursuits  in  these  lines  and 
devoted  his  attention  to  private  banking  and  after- 
ward became  vice-president  of  the  Michigan  Na- 
tional Bank.     He  also  held  stock  in  the  gas  com- 


Ct/jLu^     VfrUjUY-^ 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


175 


pany  and,  in  company  with  Mr.  Woodbury  and 
Mr.  Walter,  purchased  and  owned  the  first  plant. 
He  was  ever  alive  to  the  commercial  interests  of 
his  city,  in  a  number  of  other  enterprises  of  value 
to  the  community  and  advantage  to  its  people. 
Taking  an  active  part  in  politics  as  a  Republican, 
lie  was  chosen  to  represent  his  county  in  the 
lower  house  of  the  state  legislature  and  dfterward 
as  a  representative  of  his  district  in  the  congress 
of  the  United  States.  In  legislative  work  he 
exhibited  the  same  energy,  capacity  and  breadth 
of  view  that  distinguished  him  in  private  business 
and  displayed  besides  a  wide  and  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  public  affairs  that  made  him  a  valuable 
member  of  the  bodies  to  which  he  was  sent  as  a 
representative..  Locally,  although  he  did  not  de- 
sire or  seek  public  office,  he  served  as  president 
of  the  village  and  afterward  as  the  first  mayor  of 
the  city.  He  died  on  May  8,  1885,  in  the  full 
maturity  and  vigor  of  his  powers  and  with  ap- 
parently many  years  of  usefulness  yet  before 
him.  In  September,  1845,  ne  married  with  Miss 
Charity  P.  Letts,  a  daughter  of  Abraham  and 
Eliza  (Smith)  Letts,  both  natives  of  New  York. 
The  family  moved  to  Michigan  in  1835  and  set- 
tled near  Homer,  Calhoun  county,  where  the  fa- 
ther-engaged in  farming.  He  died  in  Kalamazoo. 
His  father  was  John  Letts,  a  native  of  New  Jer- 
sey and  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  in 
a  New  Jersey  regiment  in  which  he  served  seven 
years.  In  the  service  he  had  many  narrow  es- 
capes from  violent  death  and  often  was  obliged 
to  have  recourse  to  skillful  strategem  to  save 
himself,  being  employed  in  a  measure  in  the  se- 
cret service  of  the  army.  He  died  at  a  good  old 
ngc  in  Orleans  county,  N.  Y.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pot- 
ter had  three  children.  Their  son,  Allen  Potter. 
Jr.,  died  in  1883.  The  daughters,  Mrs.  May 
Knight  and  Mrs.  Lillie  Gardner,  live  in  Kala- 
mazoo. 

JOHN  N.  RANSOM. 

Although  not  a  pioneer  of  the  state,  John  N. 
■  Hansom,  a  well-known,  enterprising  and  prosper- 
ous farmer  of  Alamo  township,  this  county,  was 
undoubtedly  an  early  arrival  in  the  state,  being 
born  in  the  city  of  Kalamazoo  on  March  2,  1840, 
11 


less  than  ten  years  after  the  foundation  of  the  vil- 
lage which  has  since  become  the  city,  and  less  than 
twelve  years  after  the  first  stake   was  stuck  to 
mark  the  claim  of  a  white  man  to  any  of  the 
land  now  within  its  limits.     He  is  a  son  of  Dr. 
Fletcher  Ransom,  who  was  born   at  Townsend, 
Vt.,  on  August  22,  1800,  and  whose  father  was  J. 
Ezekiel  Ransom,  also  a  native  of  Vermont.     Dr. 
Ransom,  the  father  of  John  N.,  was  educated  in 
his  native  state,  being  matriculated  at  Middlebury 
College  in  the  town  of  the  same  name,  and  com- 
pleting there  the  scholastic  training  he  had  be- 
gun in  the  common   schools.     He  afterward  at- 
tended the  Castleton  Medical  College  in  Rutland 
county,  and  was  graduated  from  that  institution 
with  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  in  1830.  For  a 
number  of  years  he  practiced  his  profession  at 
Putney,  Windham  county, and  then  at  Glens  Falls, 
N.  Y.,  where  he  remained  until  1837.  In  tnat  Year 
he  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  and  bought  three 
hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  government  land  in 
Alamo     township,    to    which    he    added     subse- 
quent purchases  until  he  owned  five  hundred  acres. 
He  was  active  in  political  affairs,  for  a  while  as  a 
Whig  and  afterward  until  his  death  as  a  Demo- 
crat, and  early  in  his  residence  in  the  county  was 
elected  a  justice  of  the  peace,  an  office  he  filled 
many  years.     In  1845  and  again  in  1846  he  was 
elected  to  the  legislature.     At  the  end  of  his  term 
in  that  body  he  settled  on  his  farm,  which,  in  the 
meantime,  he  had  greatly  improved  and  developed, 
and  for  a  number  of  years  he  devoted  his  time 
and  energies  almost  wholly  to  its  needs  and  culti- 
vation.     His    last   residence    was   in    the   city   of 
Kalamazoo,  where  he  died  in  June,  1867.    He  was 
twice  married,  his  second  wife  being  Miss  Lucia 
Lovell.     The  first,  who  was  the  mother  of  John 
X.,  was  Miss  Elizabeth  Noyes,  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont.    She  died  in  1840,  leaving  two  sons,  John 
N.  and  his  brother  Charles,  who  lives  at  Plainwell. 
John  N.  Ransom  was  reared  in  this  county  and 
educated  in  its  public  schools  and  at  Kalamazoo 
College.     He  began  life  as  a  farmer  and  stock- 
grower,  and  in  those  lines  of  productive  effort  he 
is  still  engaged.     He  and  his  brother  cleared  the 
home  farm  themselves  and  erected  all  the  build- 
ings on  it.     In  the  course  of  time  he  became  the 


176 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


owner  of  this  farm,  and  he  has  since  increased  its 
size  until  he  is  now  the  owner  of  nine  hundred 
acres  of  excellent  land,  all  under  cultivation  and 
brought  to  a  high  state  of  fertility.  It  is  im- 
proved with  a  fine  modern  dwelling  and  other 
good  buildings  of  every  needed  kind,  and  provided 
with  all  the  most  approved  appliances  for  carry- 
ing on  its  work,  or  ministering  to  the  comfort 
and  enjoyment  of  the  family.  Air.  Ransom  is 
president  of  the  Citizens'  State  Savings  Bank  of 
Plainwell,  a  stockholder  in  the  City  National  Bank 
of  Kalamazoo,  and  president  of  the  Alamo  Valley 
Creamery  Company  of  Alamo.  He  was  married  in 
this  county  on  December  30,  1869,  to  Miss  Caro- 
line Hydorn,  a  native  of  Alamo  township  and 
daughter  of  William  and  Susan  (Jewell)  Hydorn, 
who  were  born  and  reared  in  New  Jersey  and 
came  to  Kalamazoo  county  in  1845,  locating  then 
in  Alamo  township,  where  they  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  their  lives.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ransom 
have  four  children,  Fletcher  C,  who  is  an  artist 
and  lives  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;  Fannie  E.,  now 
Mrs.  Franklin  Scott,  of  Plainwell ;  John  W.,  a 
farmer  in  Alamo  township,  and  Larkin  N.,  living 
at  home.  The  father  is  a  pronounced  Democrat 
in  political  allegiance,  and  is  active  in  the  service 
of  his  party.  Pie  has  frequently  been  a  delegate 
to  its  county  and  state  conventions.  He  also 
served  four  years  as  township  supervisor,  and  is 
one  of  the  best  known  and  most  esteemed  citizens 
of  the  county. 

THE  KALAMAZOO  GAS  COMPANY. 

While  it  is  but  eighty-two  years  since  gas  was 
first  used  as  an  illuminator  in  this  country,  and 
for  a  considerable  time  after  that  its  use  as  an 
illuminating  fluid  was  almost  wholly  experi- 
mental, the  spread  of  its  employment  in  this  ca- 
pacity has  been  wonderful  and  its  use  therefor  is 
now  universal  in  cties,  villages,  factories  and 
offices,  and  even  where  electricty,  that  agreeable 
and  convenient  medium,  is  extensively  in  service, 
gas  still  has  a  strong  hold  on  the  good  will  and  a 
large  place  in  the  work  of  the  world.  The  facts 
in  the  case  show  how  quick  the  enterprise  of  the 
American  people  is  to  harness  to  their  service  an 


obedient  and  comfortable  agency  with  power  to 
accomplish  desired  results,  and  also  their  great 
resourcefulness  in  improving  its  character  and 
adapting  it  to  their  needs.  When  the  village  of 
Kalamazoo  was  looking  forward  with  hope  to 
putting  aside  its  swaddling  bands  and  assuming 
the  more  ambitious  habiliments  of  a  more  ma- 
ture stature,  it  demonstrated  its  disposition  to 
keep  pace  with  the  march  of  progress  then  al- 
ready sounded  in  its  midst  by  adopting  every 
available  modern  appliance  for  the  comfort  and 
convenience  of  its  people.  In  this  state  of  mind 
the  Kalamazoo  Gas  Company  was  organized  by 
a  few  enterprising  and  far-seeing  men  in  1856, 
its  founders  being  J.  P.  Woodbury,  Allen  Potter 
and  James  Walters,  all  now  deceased.  They 
formed  a  close  corporation  themselves,  owning  all 
the  stock.  The  company  started  with  a  small 
plant,  twenty  consumers  and  two  streets  to  light, 
some  discouragement  of  the  undertaking  having 
been  created  by  a  previous  attempt  to  introduce 
the  illuminant  by  popular  subscription.  But  these 
men  had  faith  in  their  project,  and  at  once  began 
to  enlarge  the  system  and  augment  the  number 
of  its  patrons.  The  company  was  changed  into 
a  larger  stock  company  in  1886,  and  J.  P.  Wood- 
bury was  chosen  president,  a  position  in  which  he 
served  until  his  death.  The  capital  stock  was  at 
first  two  thousand,  seven  hundred  dollars.  This 
was  increased  from  time  to  time  until  in  1900, 
when  the  company  re-organized  with  a  capital 
stock  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  the 
following  officers  were  elected :  H.  D.  Walbridge, 
of  New  York,  president ;  Edward  Woodbury,  sec- 
retary-treasurer;  and  J.  J.  Knight,  manager.  At 
this  time  (1904)  Mr.  Walbridge  is  still  president, 
Mr.  Knight  is  vice-president,  F.  W.  Blowers  is 
secretary  and  manager,  and  D.  H.  Haines  is 
treasurer.  In  this  city  it  now  has  three  thou- 
sond  consumers  and  thirty-six  miles  of  pipe,  and 
the  capacity  of  the  plant  has  been  raised  to  one 
hundred  million  feet  per  year,  an  increase  ot 
thirty  per  cent,  a  year  from  the  start.  The  com- 
pany employs  here  sixty  to  seventy-five  persons 
regularly.  David  IT.  Haines,  treasurer,  was  born 
at  Salem,  N.  Y.,  in  1844,  his  parents  also  being 
natives  of  that  state.    The  familv  moved  to  Ohio 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


177 


in  1853,  and  there  the  son  grew  to  the  age  of  sev- 
enteen.    In  1861  he  came  to  Allegan,  Mich.,  and 
in   August  of    1862    enlisted   in   defense   of   the 
Union  as  a  member  of  Company  L,  Fourth  Mich- 
igan Cavalry.     His  regiment  was  assigned  to  the 
Army    of   the    Cumberland    under   command    of 
General  Buell,  and  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Chick- 
amauga  and  other  engagements  of  that  time  and 
locality,  beginning  with  Stone  river.     The  regi- 
ment then  was  transferred  to  the  cavalry  corps 
of  the  Military  Division  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
did  active  service  in  all  the  Atlanta  campaigns. 
Later  it  went  with  General  Wilson  in  his  march 
across  Alabama  to  Georgia  and  took  part  in  the 
capture  of  President  Davis  of  the  Confederacy. 
Mr.  Haines  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  in 
July,    1865,    and    returning    soon    afterward    to 
Michigan,  settled  at  Kalamazoo,  where  he  passed 
a  year  at  school,  after  which  he  found  employ- 
ment seven  years  with  the  milling  firm  of  Mer- 
rell  &  McCourtie.     During  the  next  ten   years 
lie  was  otherwise  engaged,  and  at  the  end  of  that 
period  the  company  was  re-organized  as  the  Mer- 
rell  Milling  Company,  and  he  returned  to  it  and 
remained  as  its  secretary  until  1890.     For  three 
years  thereafter  he  conducted  a  milling  business 
of  his  own,  and  in  1901  became  associated  with 
the  gas  company,  with  which  he  has  been  contin- 
uously connected  since.    He  was  married  at  Kala- 
mazoo in  1873  to  Miss  Lila  Thayer,  a  native  of 
Ohio.   They  have  one  child,  their  son,  Donald  H. 
Mr.  Haines  takes  an  active  interest  in  the  frater- 
nal life  of  the  community  as  a  Freemason  and  a 
member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Repubilc. 

SAMUEL  A.  BROWNE. 

The  late  Samuel  A.  Browne  was  one  of  Michi- 
gan's best  known  and  most  enterprising  horse- 
men, breeding  horses  of  the  highest  grade  and 
giving  his  stable  an  envied  renown  all  over  this 
country.  He  was  born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  Septem- 
ber 18,  1833,  the  son  of  William  and  Anna  (Meg- 
lade)  Browne,  who  were  also  natives  of  the  Irish 
capital.  Late  in  life  they  followed  their  son  to  the 
United  States  and  died  in  Chicago.  Their  son 
was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native  city,  and 


at  the  age  of  nineteen  years  came  to  this  country 
and  located  at  Chicago.    Here  he  engaged  in  the 
lumber  business  and  later  in  the  lumber  trade,  al- 
ways having  large  interests  in  his  charge  in  this 
line,  even  until  his  death,  after  he  had  begun  to 
devote  a  large  share  of  his  attention  to  other  pur- 
suits.   In  1885  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo,  and  asso- 
ciated himself  with   Senator  Stockbridge  in  the 
firm  of  S.  A.  Browne  &  Company,  bought  a  half 
section  of  land  west  of  the  city  and  began  breeding 
horses  of  the  best  quality  for  the  track.     Among 
the  renowned  racers  they  bred  and  owned  were 
"Grand  Sentinel"  and  "Empire,"  both  of  which 
had  excellent  records,  and  afterwards  "Ambassa- 
dor," which  they  refused  an  offer  of  seventy-five 
thousand   dollars,   but   which   afterward    died   at 
Kalamazoo.       Later    their    "Anteeo"    became    a 
leading  stud  and  was  sold  by  them  for  fifty-one 
thousand   dollars,  and  their  "Bell   Boy"  brought 
thirty-five    thousand    dollars    as    a    two-year-old. 
They  also  raised  "Vassar,"  which  made  a  record 
of  2:07,  and  "Dancourt,"  which  won  a  ten-thou- 
sand-dollar stake  at  Detroit.    In  addition  to  these 
they  bred  a    long    list  of    fast  horses    including 
"Eminence,"  2  :i8,  trial  2  :io.   The  stallions  won  a 
wide    reputation    throughout    the    continent,    and 
as  a  horseman  Mr.  Browne  was  well  known  all 
over  this  and  many  foreign  countries.     He  died 
on  March  4,   1895,  at  Los  Angeles,  Calif.     On 
November  15,  1899,  ne  was  married  in  Chicago  to 
Miss  Jane  H.  Hanna,  a  native  of  Ireland.     They 
had  five  sons  and  one  daughter,  all  of  whom  are 
now  deceased  but  two  of  the  sons.     The  father 
took  a  lively  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  city, 
especially  in  the  matter  of  public  improvements, 
and  displayed  great  public   spirit  and  enterprise 
in  promoting  the  substantial  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity.     While   serving   as   alderman    from   the 
second    ward    he  secured  the  paving    of    Main 
street.     He  was  also  a  presidential  elector  from 
the  ninth  district  in  1880  on  the  Garfield  ticket. 
In    fraternal    life  he  was  a  Freemason    of    the 
thirty-second  degree,  and  in  church  affiliation  was 
a  Congregationalism 

William  H.  Brownk.  his  son  and  the 
only  member  of  the  family  now  living  in  Kala- 
mazoo, except  the  mother,  who  survives  her  hus- 


i78 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


band,  is  keeping  the  stock  farm  up  to  the  high 
standard  it  reached  under  the  management  of  his 
father,  and  carrying  on  the  business  on  the  same 
broad  and  elevated  plane  it  occupied  in  the  care  of 
that  progressive  gentleman.  He  was  born  in 
Chicago  and  came  to  this  county  with  his  father. 
He  was  married  to  Miss  Ella  Drake,  the  daughter 
of  Benjamin  Drake,  Jr.,  a  short  sketch  of  whom 
will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

FRANCIS  HODGMAN. 

Francis  Hodgman,  second  son  of  Moses 
Hodgman  and  Frances  (Bellows)  Hodgman, 
was  born  in  Climax,  Kalamazoo  county,  Mich., 
November  18,  1839.  His  parents  were  both  na- 
tives of  New  Hampshire,  of  good  old  English  an- 
cestry, and  on  the  mother's  side  he  is  closely  con- 
nected with  many  eminent  and  distinguished  men 
of  the  Bellows  and  Chase  families.  Among  the 
most  celebrated  of  these  were  Rev.  Henry  W. 
Bellows,  of  New  York,  who  had  a  world-wide 
reputation  as  a  clergyman,  and  also  as  the  origi- 
nator and  the  president  of  the  Sanitary  Commis- 
sion, which  did  such  a  world  of  good  for  the 
soldiers  during  the  war  of  the  Rebellion;  Hon. 
Henry  A.  Bellows,  chief  justice  of  the  state  of 
New  Hampshire;  Salmon  P.  Chase,  who  was 
Lincoln's  secretary  of  treasury  and  chief  justice 
of  the  United  States.  These  men  were  all  of 
them  second  cousins  of  Mr.  Hodgman's  mother. 
His  father  was  a  shoemaker,  who  came  to  Mich- 
igan with  other  pioneers  in  1836,  and  located  in 
Climax  four  years  after  the  first  settlement  in  the 
town.  He  was  the  first  shoemaker  in  it.  In  those 
days  it  was  common  for  shoemakers  to  go  from 
house  to  house  among  a  certain  class  of  people 
who  furnished  their  own  leather,  and  the  shoe- 
maker made  it  up  into  the  footwear  for  the  whole 
family.  During  the  first  dozen  years  of  their  res- 
idence in  Michigan,  the  Hodgman  family  moved 
as  many  as  six  times,  at  last  settling  down  at  the 
homestead  which  has  been  the  family  home  since 
1848.  Moses  Hodgman  gave  his  children  the  best 
facilities  for  securing  an  education  that  his  lim- 
ited means  permitted.  They  attended  the  district 
schools  and  Francis  studied  in  the  select  schools 


taught  by  Mary  Norris  in  the  old  Farmers'  Ex- 
change, which  stood  on  the  corner  now  (1905) 
occupied  by  the  Willison  and  Aldrich  block,  by 
George  A.  Chapim  in  what  has  lately  been  known 
as  the  Buckberry  house,  and  by  J.  L.  McCloud 
in  what  is  now  the  residence  of  Samuel  Tobey. 
He  also  went  for  one  term  to  the  high  school  in 
Battle  Creek.  His  schooling  was  mostly  in  the 
winter.  At  the  age  of  ten  he  began  working  out, 
the  first  summer  being  spent  on  what  is  now 
the  Horace  H.  Pierce  farm,  where  he  worked  for 
twenty-five  cents  per  day.  For  several  years  he 
worked  out  by  the  month  during  the  summer  on 
neighboring  farms  and  in  a  saw  mill  which  his 
father  and  uncle  had  built  in  Wakeshma.  In  the 
winter  of  1857-8  he  taught  the  district  school  in 
District  No.  6,  Climax,  having  just  passed  his 
seventeenth  year.  The  following  spring  he  en- 
tered the  Michigan  Agricultural  College,  where 
he  worked  his  way  through — teaching  winters 
and  working  on  the  college  farm  from  three  to 
eight  hours  per  day  while  there.  He  graduated 
in  1862  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science. 
Three  years  later  the  degree  of  Master  of  Science 
was  conferred  on  him  for  special  scientific  work. 
The  next  year  after  leaving  the  college  he  went  to 
Littleton,  N.  H.,  where  he  spent  about  a  year 
clerking  for  his  cousins  in  a  drug  store.  From 
there  he  went  in  i860  to  Sandusky,  O.,  where  he 
worked  for  six  months  in  a  photograph  gallery. 
From  there,  in  the  spring  of  1865,  he  went  to 
Galesburg,  Mich.,  where  for  three  years  he  ran 
a  photograph  gallery  except  for  the  six  months 
spent  in  Coldwater,  Mich.,  studying  law.  When 
he  entered  college  the  question  was  asked  him 
what  he  expected  to  become  after  leaving  school, 
and  the  answer  was  "a  civil  engineer."  '  Up  to 
this  time  he  had  found  no  opportunity  to  enter 
upon  his  favorite  work,  but  in  1868  the  chance 
came  without  any  solicitation  or  foreknowledge 
on  his  part.  In  that  year,  at  the  instance  of  M. 
O.  Streater,  a  retired  Kalamazoo  county  sur- 
veyor, he  was  nominated  for  that  office  at  the  Re- 
publican convention  and  a  few  days  later  was  ap- 
pointed to  fill  a  vacancy  in  that  office.  He  held 
that  position  with  the  exception  of  one  term, 
when  he  was  engaged  in  railroad  surveys  until 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


179 


1893,  when  failing  health  compelled  him  to  re- 
tire  from  active  field  work.     During  that  time 

he  was  engaged  for  a  year  as  leveler  on  the  line 
of  the  defunct  Marshall  &  Coldwater  Railroad 
and  one  year  as  engineer  in  charge  of  location 
and  construction  on  several  divisions  of  the  Rio 
Grande  Western  Railroad  in  eastern  Utah.  He 
was  married  November  14,  1870,  at  Galesburg. 
Mich.,  to  Florence  B.  Comings,  making  his  home 
at  Kalamazoo  and  Galesburg  until  March,  1874, 
when  he  removed  to  the  old  paternal  homestead 
at  Climax,  where  he  has  resided  ever  since.  He 
has  held  some  kind  of  public  office  ever  since  he 
was  of  age,  beginning  with  school  inspector  and 
ending  with  cemetery  trustee.  He  never  sought 
but  one  public  office,  representative,  and  that  he 
did  not  get.  He  was  the  active  promoter  and 
founder  of  the  Kalamazoo  County  Husbandman's 
Club,  while  he  was  master  of  the  Climax  Grange 
and  was  the  active  wrorker  and  organizer  in  that 
club  in  its  earlier  years.  He  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Michigan  Engineering  Society, 
and  has  been  the  secretary  and  treasurer  of  that 
society  since  1886.  He  was  active  in  procuring 
the  incorporation  of  the  village  of  Climax,  and 
was  its  president  for  a  number  of  terms.  He  is  a 
musician  and  as  such  was  for  thirty  years  an 
active  member  and  leader  in  choirs  wherever  he 
happened  to  be.  In  1899  he  published  a  volume 
of  music  of  his  own  composition  entitled  "Home's 
Sweet  Harmonies. "  Pie  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College  Alumni  As- 
sociation, and  has  once  been  the  orator  and  twice 
the  poet  at  their  triennial  gatherings.  His  poems 
have  been  collected  and  published  by  him  under 
the  title  of  the  "Wandering  Singer  and  His 
Songs,"  of  which  two  editions  have  been  issued. 

Te  has  written  much  for  the  press,  mostly  on 
farming  and1  engineering  topics.  He  has  recently 
published  a  pamphlet  of  historical  and  reminis- 
cent sketches  entitled  "Early  Days  in  Climax. " 
He  is  one  of  the  contributors  to  the  volume  en- 
titled "Michigan  Poets  and  Poetry."  He  is  an 
artist  of  ability  and  has  his  house  decorated  from 
(>ne  end  to  the  other  with  oil  paintings  and  photo- 
graphs, his  own  work.  For  the  past  twenty  years 
he  has  edited  the  organ  of  the  Michigan  Engi- 


neering Society,  the  "Michigan  Engineer."  In 
1886,  under  the  auspices  of  that  society,  he,  in 
conjunction  with  Prof.  C.  F.  R.  Bellows,  of  Ypsi- 
lanti,  wrote  and  published  the  "Manual  of  Land 
Surveying."  Three  years  later  he  bought  out 
Prof.  P>ellows  and  re-wrrote  the  book  which  is 
now  in  the  twelfth  edition.  It  is  pronounced  by 
.the  author  of  another  book  on  surveying  to  be 
"the  most  desirable  work  on  land  surveying  in 
the  English  language."  It  is  now  accepted  by  all 
as  the  standard  work  on  the  subject  and  its 
author  has  been  employed  by  the  highest  authori- 
ties in  the  United  States  as  an  expert  on  questions 
of  boundary  lines.  On  one  occasion  he  published 
a  criticism  of  the  decision  of  the  supreme  court 
of  Michigan  in  a  boundary  line  case,  Wilson  vs. 
Hoffman,  which  so  impressed  that  court  that  of 
their  own  motion  they  re-called  the  case  and  re- 
versed the  decision.  They  could  have  paid  him 
no  higher  compliment.  Since  his  residence  on  the 
old  homestead  it  has  grown  from  a  village  lot  of 
an  acre  to  a  small  farm  of  fourteen  acres,  from 
which  he  receives  excellent  returns  and  enjoys 
overseeing  it.  He  has  three  children  by  his  first 
wife :  Harry,  who  is  a  civil  engineer  employed 
by  the  United  States  government  on  the  Detroit 
river  improvement  work ;  Fanny,  married  to 
Archer  P>.  Tobey,  a  Climax  farmer,  and  Lucy, 
married  to  D.  A.  Davis,  principal  of  No.  2  city 
school,  Battle  Creek,  Mich.  His  first  wife  died 
in  the  spring  of  1888,  and  in  October  of  that  year 
he  was  married  to  Emma  F.  Smith,  at  Chicago. 
She  died  in  1898,  and  in  October,  1902,  he  was 
married  to  Jennie  A.  Dickey,  of  Charleston, 
Mich.,  with  whom  he  now  lives.  Llis  present  resi- 
dence has  practically  been  his  life-long  home.  He 
has  seen  his  township  change  from  a  wilderness, 
with  scattered  settlements  on  the  prairie  and  in 
the  forest,  to  a  fair  land  of  cleared-up,  prosperous 
farms,  with  two  thriving  villages  in  their  midst. 
He  has  seen  forests  of  black  walnut,  whitewood, 
ash,  elm,  basswood,  cherry,  beech,  maple,  oak  and 
hickory  disappear,  which  if  they  were  now  stand- 
ing as  they  did  when  he  was  a  boy,  would  sell  for 
more  than  the  entire  township  and  everything  on 
it  will  sell  for  now.  He  has  seen  the  land  when 
bears,   deers,   wolves,   turkeys,    prairie   chickens, 


i8o 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


partridges,  black  and  gray  squirrels  were  plenti- 
ful, and  no  one  need  lack  for  game.  He  has  seen 
the  game  disappear,  one  kind  after  another,  till 
hardly  anything  but  rabbits  and  skunks  are  left. 
He  has  seen  the  postal  service  change  from  the 
weekly  rider,  who  could  carry  all  the  mail  for  an 
office  in  his  coat  pocket,  to  the  rural  free  delivery, 
with  its  daily  delivery  at  the  farmer's  own  door. 
He  has  seen  the  installation  and  growth  of  the 
railway,  the  telegraph  and  the  telephone  lines, 
the  bicycle  and  the  automobile,  the  sower,  the 
harvester,  the  thresher  and  the  busker.  He  has 
seen  the  good  old-fashioned,  honest,  steady,  re- 
liable, hard-working  hired  man  disappear  and  his 
place  taken  by  machinery,  and  wonders  if  after 
all  we  are  any  better  <ar  any  happier  than  folks 
were  fifty  years  ago. 

RIG  FOUR  MERCANTILE  COMPANY. 

The  Big  Four  Mercantile  Company,  of  Scott, 
Pavilion  township  was  organized  on  November 
23,  1902,  with  a  capital  stock  of  twenty  thousand 
dollars,  and  the  following  officers :  President,  J. 
A.  Richardson ;  vice-president,  Albert  J.  Hard- 
ing; and  secretary,  Wells  N.  Adams.  It  suc- 
ceeded the  Richardson  Mercantile  Company, 
which  had  been  founded  some  years  before  by 
Mr.  Richardson  and  others.  The  new  company 
erected  more  buildings  and  enlarged  the  stock, 
and  now  handles  everything  from  a  threshing 
machine  to  a  paper  collar,  carrying  on  an  im- 
mense general  merchandising  business,  with  a 
large  extent  of  territory  tributary  to  its  trade,  and 
all  conducted  in  the  most  vigorous  and  system- 
atic manner.  The  present  officers  of  the  com- 
pany are  the  same  as  when  it  was  organized,  ex- 
cept that  Ross  E.  Adams  is  secretary  instead  of 
Wells  N.  Adams. 

Albert  J.  Harding,  the  vice-president  and 
practical  manager  of  the  business,  is  a  native  of 
Genesee,  N.  Y.,  born  January  13,  1853.  He  came 
to  Michigan  with  his  parents,  Abraham  and  Jane 
(Ransom)  Harding,  and  their  four  other  chil- 
dren. They  located  in  Climax  township,  this  coun- 
ty, where  the  father  worked  at  his  trade  as  a  car- 
riage maker,    for  a   short  time,  then   moved   to 


Barry  county,  and  some  years  later  died  in  north- 
ern Michigan.  He  was  a  soldier  in*  the  Civil 
war,  and  saw  much  active  and  arduous  service 
in  the  memorable  contest,  participating  in  a  num- 
ber of  its  most  important  battles.  The  mother 
died  when  her  son  Albert  was  a  child.  He  was 
reared  in  Climax  township  and  educated  in  the 
district  schools.  After  leaving  school  he  worked 
out  by  the  month  for  a  time,  then  bought  a  farm, 
in  the  township,  which  he  still  owns,  and  which 
he  has  increased  to  two  hundred  and  eighty  acres. 
This  he  operated  until  1902,  when  he  moved  to 
Scott  and  became  connected  with  the  mercantile 
company  for  which  he  is  now  operating  and  of 
which  he  is  so  important  and  productive  a  factor. 
He  was  married  in  Calhoun  county  on  February 
20,  1878,  to  Miss  Ida  Mapes,  a  native  of  that 
county,  and  a  daughter  of  Anson  and  Maria 
(  Bloss)  Mapes,  who  settled  there  in  1835,  and 
died  there  after  many  years  of  successful  farm- 
ing. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harding  have  had  six  chil- 
dren, three  of  whom  are  living:  Zella  M.,  wife  of 
J.  R.  Campbell;  Myrtie  M.,  wife  of  Ross  E. 
Adams,  secretary  of  the  company ;  and  Winnie 
O.,  who  is  living  at  home.  In  the  six  children 
there  were  two  pair  of  twins,  three  of  whom  have 
died.  In  politics  Mr.  Harding  is  a  Republican. 
He  is  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  has  served  six 
years  as  highway  commissioner.  He  is  a  third- 
degree  Mason,  a  Modern  Woodman  of  America 
and  a  Knight  of  the  Maccabees.  Mr.  Harding 
began  life  as  a  poor  boy  and  was  reared  by  stran- 
gers. He  has  made  himself  what  he  is,  a  well- 
informed,  high-minded  and  successful  business 
man,  an  excellent  citizen,  and  a  social  and  indus- 
trial force  of  magnitude  and  influence. 

WALTER  C.  SMITH. 

This  esteemed  citizen  and  farmer  of  Wak- 
eshma  township,  in  this  county,  who  retired  from 
active  work  some  years  ago  and  took  up  his  resi- 
dence at  Vicksburg,  is  a  native  of  Oakfield,  Gene- 
see county,  New  York,  where  he  was  born  011 
March  1,  1843.  His  parents,  William  and  Man 
E.  (Shoemaker)  Smith,  were  also  natives  of  the 
state   of   New   York   and   born    in    Montgomery 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


181 


county.  The  father  was  a  blacksmith  and  later  a 
farmer.  The  family  came  to  Michigan  in  1867, 
and  after  a  residence  of  eleven  months  in  Cal- 
houn county  moved  to  Charleston  township,  in 
Kalamazoo  county,  where  they  bought  a  partially 
improved  farm  on  which  he  died  in  1872  and 
his  wife  in  1881,  in  Wakeshma  township.  They 
had  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  now  dead 
but  their  son,  Walter  C.  The  grandfather  of  the 
last  named,  Abraham  Smith,  was  a  shoemaker  in 
New  York  state,  and  died  there,  as  did  his  wife, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Mary  E.  Kelley.  Walter 
C.  Smith  reached  man's  estate  in  this  county,  and 
began  life  as  a  farmer.  In  1876  he  purchased  a 
farm  of  his  own  in  Wakeshma  township,  which 
he  still  owns,  but  is  now  worked  by  his  son.  The 
father  and  mother  have  lived  in  Vicksburg  dur- 
ing the  last  twenty-two  years.  They  were  married 
in  1867,  the  mother  being  Miss  Josephine  L. 
Burnham  prior  to  her  marriage,  the  daughter  of 
Hiram  O.  Burnham.  a  pioneer  of  Charleston 
township,  this  county,  who  died  in  Charleston 
township  aged  eighty-two  years.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Smith  have  two  children,  their  daughter,  Nellie 
L.,  now  the  wife  of  F.  A.  Robinson,  of  Vicksburg, 
and  the  mother  of  two  children,  Margerie  and 
Walter  N..  and  their  son  Fred  R.,  who  is  living 
on  the  homestead.  The  latter  married  Miss  Anna 
L  Mason  and  has  one  son,  W.  Mason.  Mr. 
Smith  has  served  four  terms  as  township  treas- 
urer. He  and  his  wife  belong  to  the  Methodist 
Fpiscopal  church,  of  which  he  is  a  trustee. 

CHARLES  V.  MOTTRAM,  M.  D. 

Notable  in  his  professional  career,  distin- 
guished in  military  service,  and  widely  known 
and  highly  esteemed  in  private  life,  the  late  Dr. 
diaries  V.  Mottram,  of  Kalamazoo,  after  his 
death,  was  laid  to  rest  in  Mountain  Home  ceme- 
tery with  every  demonstration  of  popular  regard 
and  affection.  He  was  born  at  Gilbertville,  Otsego 
county,  New  York,  on  December  25,  1823,  and 
was  the  grandson  of  Colonel  Jasper  Bedient,  a 
Revolutionary  patriot  who  took  part  in  the  battle 
^f  Bunker  Hill,  Saratoga  and  Yorktown.  The 
Doctor  obtained  his  primary  education  in  the  com- 


mon schools  and  academy  of  his  native  place,  and 
had  partially  completed   a   course  of  higher  in- 
struction at  Hamilton  College,  New  York,  when 
he   moved   to   Michigan   and  took  up   the   study 
of  his  profession  in  the  office  of  his  brother,  Dr. 
William    Mottram,    then    located    and    engaged 
in    a    large    practice    at    Nottawa    in    St.    Joseph 
county.     In  1847  ne  was  graduated  with  distinc- 
tion from  the  State  Medical  College  at  La  Porte, 
Indiana,     serving,   during    the    last   year   of  his 
course,    as    demonstrator   of   anatomy,    a   branch 
of   medical    science    in   which   he   was   unusually 
proficient.     After  his  graduation  he  returned  to 
Nottawa,  and  there  practiced  in  association  with 
his  brother  until  1850,  when  they  moved  to  Kala- 
mazoo, where  he  remained  actively  and  success- 
fully engaged  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil 
war.     During  his  first  residence  in  Kalamazoo  he 
made  a  widely  extended  acquaintance,  especially 
in  the  outlying  districts,  where  he  became  popular 
with  all   classes  of  citizens.     He  was  interested 
and  active  in  public  affairs,  and  built  a  large  hos- 
pital of  concrete  on  the  lot  south  of  Corporation 
hall,  which  was  destroyed  by  fire  just  as  it  was 
ready  for  occupancy.     In  June,  1861,  he  was  ap- 
pointed surgeon  of  the  Sixth  Michigan  Infantry, 
and  the  following  autumn  the  regiment  was  or- 
dered   to    Baltimore,    Md.,    where    it    remained 
in  active  service  until  February,   1862.     It  was 
then   ordered  to  New  Orleans  as  a  part  of  the 
force  detailed  for  the  reduction  of  that  city.  The 
Sixth  Michigan,  Fourth  Wisconsin,  Twenty-first 
Indiana  and  Norris  Battery  being  brigaded,  Dr. 
Mottram  was  appointed  brigade  surgeon,  and  was 
subsequently  made   chief   medical   officer   on   the 
staff  of  General   B.   F.   Butler,  who  commanded 
the  land  forces  of  the  expedition.     He  was  with 
Commodore    Farragut   at    the   passage    of   Forts 
Jackson  and  St.  Philip  on  April  24,  1862.    At  the 
occupancy  of  New  Orleans  he  was  promoted  to  be 
medical  director  of  the  Dq^artment  of  the  Gulf, 
and  was  particularly  distinguished  at  the  battles 
of  Baton  Rouge  and  Port  Hudson  for  his  hos- 
pital service  on  the  field.     He  was  with  General 
Banks  on  the  Red   river  expedition,  in  the  bat- 
tles of  Alexandria  and  Grand  Ecole,  and  partici- 
pated in  the  capture  of  Forts  Morgan  and  Gaines 


1 82 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


and  other  defenses  at  the  entrance  of  Mobile  bay. 
In  1864  he  was  enrolled  as  a  veteran  and  remained 
on  duty  until  September,  1865,  his  closing  service 
being  on  a  hospital  steamer  in  charge  of  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers  who  were  being  returned  to 
their  place  of  discharge.  Previous  to  his  retire- 
ment from  the  service  he  was  offered  the  colonelcy 
of  his  regiment,  but  declined  the  honor.  For  three 
years  following  his  "muster  out"  he  was  an  in- 
valid from  diseases  contracted  during  the  war. 
He  then,  after  a  second  residence  and  interval  of 
practice  at  Kalamazoo,  removed  to  Lawrence, 
Kan.,  where  he  soon  achieved  state-wide  distinc- 
tion as  a  physician  and  surgeon.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  various  local  medical  societies  of  both 
Michigan  and  Kansas,  and  a  permanent  member 
of  the  American  Medical  Association,  and  was  the 
delegate  to  the  international  convention  of  the 
last  named  body  at  Paris.  After  attending  this 
convention  he  passed  several  months  on  the  con- 
tinent and  at  London  in  researches  through  a 
number  of  colleges  and  hospitals.  Fraternally  he 
was  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a  member  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  and  in  religions  faith  a 
firm  believer  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, and  in  practice  a  man  of  active  charities 
and  great  humanity.  He  loved  his  profession  and 
devoted  all  his  energies  to  its  practice.  In  the  war 
he  had  a  high  reputation  with  men  of  learning 
for  his  great  acquirements,  and  on  the  field,  by 
his  kindly  solicitude  for  the  sick,  wounded  and 
sore  distressed,  he  won  the  closest  and  most  cor- 
dial regard  of  the  soldiers. 

OSCAR  M.  ALLFN,  Sr. 

To  the  interesting  subject  of  this  brief  and  in- 
adequate review  the  city  of  Kalamazoo  is  proba- 
bly indebted  for  usefulness  in  as  many  capacities 
as  to  any  other  man  among  her  citizens.  There 
is  scarcely  any  form  of  productive  enterprise  or 
public  interest  which  has  not  been  quickened 
by  the  touch  of  his  tireless  hand  or  widened  by 
the  force  of  his  active  mind.  The  mere  list  of  the 
enterprises  of  value  with  which  he  is  connected 
now  or  has  been  in  the  past  is  in  itself  a  broad 
suggestion  of  his  multiform  energy  and  fruitful- 


ness  in  commercial  and  industrial  life,  and  if  the 
full  story  of  his  service  in  these  capacities  could 
be  told  in  detail  it  would  form  one  of  the  most 
interesting  and   impressive  in   American  biogra- 
phy.    As  an  extensive  real  estate  operator  Mr. 
Allen  added  several  beautiful  tracts  to  the  munici- 
pality   for   residence   or   business   purposes.      Pie 
was  one  of  the  original  and  most  effective  pro- 
moters of  the  Henderson-Ames  Company  for  the 
manufacture    of    uniforms,    regalia    and    kindred 
products.     He  has  been  an  extensive  patentee  of 
his  own  inventions  and  those  of  others,  helping- 
many  a  poor  man  to  good  returns  for  his  invent- 
ive genius.     He  has  been  for  years  largely  inter- 
ested in  the  paper  manufacturing  industry  here 
and  elsewhere,  has  aided  in  founding  and  main- 
taining benevolent  institutions,  has  been  of  ma- 
terial assistance  in  building  and  equipping  an  im- 
portant railroad  in  the  state,  has  contributed  lib- 
erally to  schools  and  churches,  has  catered  to  and 
raised  the  standards  of  taste  in  engravings,  and 
has  been  a  leading  official  and  directing  potency 
in   financial   institutions   of   wide   usefulness  and 
growing  power.     And  while  carrying  on  all  these 
enterprises,  the  value  of  any  one  of  which  would 
have  been   a  handsome  tribute  to  the  usefulness 
of  his  life,  he  has  been  an  unassuming  and  un- 
ostentatious  citizen,   performing  with   fidelity   to 
duty  every  good  work  that  has  come  before  him 
without  reference  to  the  showy  reward  that  is  to 
be  found  in  men's  praises  or  positions  of  promi- 
nence.    Mr.  Allen  was  born  in  Niagara  county, 
N.  Y.,  in   1828,  and  is  the  son  of  Thomas  and 
Hannah    (Chesbrough)    Allen,    natives    of   Ver- 
mont.    The  father  was  a  tanner  who  brought  his 
family  to  Michigan  in  1837  and  settled  in  Jack- 
son county,  where  he  became  a  prosperous  farmer 
and  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life.     His  father 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution  and  fought  un- 
der Stark  at  Bennington.     Oscar  M.  Allen,  Sr. 
was   one   of   seven    children,   five    sons    and   two 
daughters,  born  in  his  father's  family,  all  of  whom 
are  now  deceased  but  himself.     Coming  with  the 
family  to  this  state  when  he  was  nine  years  old. 
he   here    grew    to   manhood    and    completed    the 
common-school  education  which  he  had  begun  in 
his  native  state.    He  remained  in  Jackson  county 


OSCAR   M    ALLEX. 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


185 


until  1845,  then,  a  youth  of  seventeen  and  desir- 
ous of  a  different  life  from  that  offered  on  his 
father's  farm,  he  went  to  Detroit  and  learned  the 
trade  of  coach  painting.  After  eight  years  of  ac- 
tive work  in  this  line  in  Detroit  he  moved  to  San- 
dusky, Ohio,  where  he  wrought  in  the  same  line, 
painting  the  first  four  passenger  coaches  for  the 
Michigan  Central  Railroad  after  it  was  purchased 
from  the  state.  At  Sandusky  he  had  a  shop  of 
his  own  and  carried  on  general  house  and  coach 
painting  five  years.  He  then  returned  to  De- 
troit and  there  passed  three  years  in  the  produce 
trade.  In  1853  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo  and 
opened-  a  large  establishment  for  the  work  of 
painting  and  decorating,  papering  walls  and  col- 
lateral lines  of  work,  and  selling  the  materials 
for  the  industry.  In  this  undertaking  Mr.  Rice 
was  his  partner,  the  firm  being  Rice  &  Allen,  and 
continuing  in  business  fifteen  years.  They  also 
conducted  a  branch  business  in  Chicago.  At  the 
end  of  that  time  Mr.  Rice  retired  and  Mr.  Allen 
added  a  large  stock  of  superior  grades  of  furni- 
ture. After  some  time  he  sold  out  the  furniture 
and  a  little  later  the  entire  business.  He  then 
opened  the  first  dollar  store  in  the  city  and  found 
the  project  a  decided  success  from  the  start. 
After  conducting  it  for  a  number  of  years  he  dis- 
posed of  his  interest  in  it  and  founded  the  Globe 
Casket  Manufacturing  Company,  the  first  estab- 
lishment engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  cloth 
covered  caskets  in  this  country.  Selling  his  in- 
terest in  this  business,  he  became  largely  en- 
gaged in  real  estate  operations  in  and  around  the 
city,  and,  in  company  with  Heber  C.  Reed,  formed 
the  South  Side  Improvement  Company  and  plat- 
ted for  a  residence  section  its  addition  of  forty 
acres  to  the  city,  in  which  they  built  over  five 
miles  of  sidewalks  and  which  has  helped  to  make 
one  of  the  most  desirable  residence  portions  of 
the  town.  He  was  also  one  of  the  earliest  and 
heaviest  investors  in  paper  manufactories  and 
<»iie.of  the  early  promoters  of  the  Henderson- 
Ames  Company  for  the  manufacture  of  uniforms, 
«'n  account  of  which  will  be  found  on  another 
page  of  this  work.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the 
Kalamazoo  Corset  Company,  and  was  an  original 
subscriber  to  the  stock  of  the  City  National  Bank, 


in  which  he  is  still  a  director.  He  also  assisted 
in  founding  the  Michigan  National  Bank.  He 
added  to  the  city  domain  the  Allen  place  and  the 
Elm  place,  which  together  have  a  ten-thousand- 
dollar  cement  boulevard.  In  addition  he  platted 
the  Allen  farm  north  of  the  city,  containing  one 
hundred  and  forty  acres,  into  small  tracts  for 
raising  celery,  on  which  thirty  tenants  now  live 
and  thrive.  Being  of  an  inventive  turn  of  mind, 
he  designed  and  patented  the  movable  glass  plate 
in  caskets  which  is  now  in  general  use.  He  also 
took  out  other  patents  for  some  of  his  own  de- 
vices and  those  of  other  men,  thirty-two  in  all,  thus 
aiding  more  than  one  poor  inventor  to  a  proper 
compensation  for  his  invention.  He  is  a  stock- 
holder and  director  in  several  paper  mills,  among 
them  the  Bryant,  the  Imperial  Coating  Mill  and 
the  Superior,  and  also  in  the  Illinois  Envelope 
Company  of  Kalamazoo.  For  twenty-five  years 
he  has  been  a  stockholder  in  and  trustee  of  the 
Charlevoix  Home  Association.  Foreseeing  the 
need  of  increased  transportation  facilities  for  this 
section,  he  was  one  of  nine  men  to  build  the  Kala- 
mazoo &  Saginaw  Railroad,  in  which  he  was  a  di- 
rector for  a  number  of  years.  While  associated 
in  business  with  Mr.  Rice  they  had  a  branch  . 
house  in  Chicago,  of  which  he  was  the  resident 
manager,  and  during  his  residence  in  that  city 
he  sold  a  piece  of  property  on  State  street,  one 
hundred  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide,  for 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  which  is  now 
worth  a  million  dollars.  Prior  to  going 
there  he  was  engaged  for  a  time  in  publishing 
stec^l  plate  engravings  of  the  illustrious  men  and 
women  of  the  world  and  had  almost  exclusive 
control  of  the  business.  His  benefactions  to  re- 
ligious and  educational  institutions  have  been  on 
a  par  with  his  business  enterprise  and  success.  He 
gave  five  thousand  dollars  to  the  Congregational 
church,  of  which  he  has  long  been  a  member, 
and  has  given  freely  to  all  other  denominations 
in  the  city.  He  was  also  one  of  the  first  sub- 
scribers to  the  Michigan  Female  Seminary  in 
Kalamazoo  and  is  still  a  trustee  of  the  institution. 
Always  a  liberal  friend  of  the  cause  of  education, 
he  has  never  withheld  his  bounty  from  its  needs, 
whether  those  of  institutions  or  individuals,  and 


i86 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


has  helped  many  a  worthy  poor  young  man  and 
lady  to  good  school  facilities.  In  politics  he  was  a 
Whig  until  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party 
and  since  then  he  has  been  an  ardent  supporter  of 
that  organization.  Mr.  Allen  was  married  in 
Detroit  in  1849  to  M*ss  Hannah  Smith,  a  native 
of  Leeds,  England.  They  have  had  five  sons  and 
two  daughters,  all  of  whom  are  living  but  one. 
In  fraternal  life  he  has  been  a  Master  Mason  for 
a  long  time  and  a  Knight  Templar  for  twenty- 
eight  years.  Now  on  the  verge  of  four  score 
years  and  ten,  he  is  passing  the  evening  of  life 
with  the  people  among  whom  he  has  lived  and 
labored  to  such  good  purpose,  and  there  is  none 
among  them  who  does  not  call  him  blessed 

JAMES  A.  CRANE. 

Like  many  another  of  the  prominent,  progres- 
sive and  successful  farmers  of  southern  Michi- 
gan, James  A.  Crane  was  a  native  of  the  state  of 
New  York,  and  grew  to  manhood  and  received 
his  education  there.  He  was  born  in  Seneca 
county,  of  that  state,  on  April  24,  1828,  the  son 
of  Amza  L.  and  Nancy  (Crosby)  Crane,  the 
former  a  native  of  New  Jersey  and  the  latter  of 
New  York.  The  parents  were  farmers,  and  their 
son  was  reared  on  the  parental  homestead  and 
took  his  part  in  its  useful  labors.  He  remained  at 
home  until  1861,  when  he  came  to  this  county  and 
settled  on  the  farm  on  which  he  lived  until  1902. 
At  that  time  he  mewed  to  Augusta,  where,  until 
death  called  him  on  August  29,  1905,  he  was  ac- 
tively engaged  in  overseeing  the  work  on  his 
farm  and  doing  his  share  of  it.  This  land,  which 
had  never  yet  heard  the  voice  of  command  calling 
it  forth  from  its  wilderness  and  lethargy  to  re- 
sponsive productiveness  when  he  took  possession 
of  it,  yielded  to  his  persuasive  industry  with  alac- 
rity, and  rewarded  his  faith  by  developing  into 
comeliness,  fruitf illness  and  great  value.  On 
July  5,  T869,  Mr.  Crane  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Flora  E.  Forbes,  a  daughter  of  Nathan  and 
Laura  (Willmoth)  Forbes,  the  former  a  native  of 
New '  Hampshire  and  the  latter  of  New  York. 
They  were  early  settlers  in  Kalamazoo  county, 
and  after   residing   for  a   time   in   Oshtemo  and 


Alamo  townships,  some  time  in  the  '6os  located 
in  Ross  township,  where  they  remained  until 
death.  Mr.  Forbes  was  a  deacon  in  the  Baptist 
church,  to  which  his  wife  also  belonged.  Mrs. 
Crane  is  one  of  their  three  children,  the  other 
two  being  her  brothers,  Francis  M.  and  Benja- 
min F.  She  was  reared  in  this  county,  and  after 
completing  her  education  taught  two  terms  of 
school  in  Alamo  township.  She  and  her  husband 
adopted  a  son,  George  E.  Crane,  on  whom  they 
bestowed  great  care,  educating  him  both  by  home 
training  and  educational  advantages  of  the  best 
character  for  a  position  of  usefulness  in  the  world. 
In  religious  belief  Mrs.  Crane  is  a  Baptist,  and  is 
prominent  in  church  work  and  in  the  best  social 
circles  in  her  community.  In  connection  with  his 
general  farming  interests  Mr.  Crane  raised  num- 
bers of  well-bred  live  stock,  making  this  industry 
a  specialty  in  wrhich  he  took  the  greatest  interest 
and  found  much  enjoyment.  He  was  very  suc- 
cessful in  his  efforts,  having  made  a  study  of  the 
work  and  familiarized  himself  with  all  its  phases 
and  requirements,  and  he  omitted  no  effort  on 
his  part  to  secure  the  best  results.  Politically, 
he  was  a  pronounced  Democrat.  He  was  always 
prominent  and  influential  in  local  affairs  in  his 
township,  and  was  as  favorably  known  from  one 
end  of  the  county  to  the  other  as  an  excellent 
farmer,  reliable  man  and  representative  citizen, 
and  it  is  with  much  sorrow  that  his  many  friends 
reckon  him  among  those  departed  this  life. 

WILLIAM  WAGNER. 

William  Wagner,  one  of  the  pioneer  business 
men  of  Kalamazoo,  and  at  the  time  of  his  retire- 
ment from  traffic  the  oldest  merchant  of  his  line 
in  this  city,  is  a  native  of  Germany,  born  in  Sep- 
tember, 1835,  ancl  tne  son  °f  David  and  Man- 
Wagner,  also  natives  of  the  fatherland.  The 
father  was  a  government  officer,  and  died  when 
his  son  William  was  five  years  old.  The  son 
grew  to  manhood  in  his  native  place  and  attended 
the  schools  there  until  he  was  fifteen.  He  then 
learned  his  trade  as  a  tailor  and  followed  it  in 
Germany  until  1851,  when  he  came  to  the  United 
States,  being  forty-four  days  on  the  ocean.     On 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


187 


his  arrival  in  this  country  he  came  at  once  to  Ann 
Arbor,    Mich.,    where   he    found    employment   at 
bis  trade  with  an  uncle,  in  whose  employ  he  re- 
mained two  years.     Being-  somewhat  dissatisfied 
with  his  craft,  and  having  a  favorable  opportunity 
to  master  one  more  to  his  taste,  he  apprenticed 
himself  to  a  harnessmaker,  and  spent  three  years 
at  his  apprenticeship.     Thereafter  he  wrought  at 
the  new  trade  in  various  places  in  this  state  until 
the  summer  of  1859,  tnen  came  to  Kalamazoo  and 
worked   as   a   journeyman   until    1873.      In   that 
year  he  began  the  business  for  himself,  and  car- 
ried it  on  briskly  with  an  increasing  trade  until 
December,    1903,    when    he    retired    from    active 
pursuits.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Central  Rank 
and  has  long  been  a  factor  of  importance  in  the 
fiscal  and  commercial  life  of  the  city,  and  is  in 
all  respects  a  worthy  and  well  esteemed  citizen. 
He  was  married  in  1859  to  Miss  Anna  M.  Yaw- 
ager,  a  native  of  New  Jersey  and  of  German  an- 
cestry.   They  had  one  child,  William  W.,  who  is 
a    resident    of    Kalamazoo.      The    parents    of 
Mrs.    Wagner,    James    W.    and    Anna    (Crater) 
Yawager,  were  among  the  first  settlers  of  Lan- 
sing,  going   there    from    Northville,    Mich.,    and 
making   the    journey   by   team   through    the   un- 
broken forests,   crossing  swamps  and  unbridged 
rivers,  often  carrying  their  effects  so  as  to  enable 
the  teams  to  get  through,  and   suffering  all  the 
hardships  of  that  sort  of  travel  in  a  new  and  un- 
inhabited country:     The   father  erected   the  first 
log  cabin  at  the  place,  the  commissioners  who  lo- 
cated the  capital  assisting  him  to  cut  a  road  to 
his  land  and  build  his  little  log  shanty.     The  site 
was  in  the  midst  of  a  boundless  wilderness,  with 
all  the  concomitants  of  savage  life  infesting  it, 
and  the  outlook  for  comfort  within  a  human  life 
was  far  from  promising.     Indians  were  plentiful 
and   not   always    friendly,    wild   beasts   and    rep- 
tiles contested  possession  of  the  land  with  the  new 
dwellers,    the    conveniences    of   civilization    were 
scant  and  hard  to  get,  and  those  who  cast  their 
k){  there  faced  every  form  of  danger  and  were 
called  upon  to  endure  every   form  of  privation 
incident  to  life  in  the  remotest  wilds.     That  they 
were  resolute  in  spirit  and  vigorous  in  action  in 
meeting-   and    subduing   the    difficulties    of   their 


situation,  the  rapid  growth  of  the  city  in  its  earlier 
history,  and  its  splendid  development  abundantly 
attest..  Mr.  Wagner's  wife  died  on  October  7, 
1905,  at  the  family  residence  on  west  South  street, 
in  the  city  of  Kalamazoo,  after  an  illness  which 
lasted  three  .days.  She  was  a  woman  of  remark- 
able character,  and  left  many  friends  to  mourn 
her.  Mr.  Wagner  has  never  had  an  active  part 
in  politics,  nor  sought  nor  desired  public  office. 
He  has,  however,  been  interested  in  the  fraternal 
life  of  the  community,  and  freely  mingled  in  it 
as  a  Freemason  and  a  United  Workman.  He 
dwells  quietly  now,  at  rest  from  active  labor, 
amid  the  institutions  he  has  helped  to  build  up, 
and  is  highly  respected  among  the  people  among 
whom  he  has  lived  and  labored  so  long. 

ROBERT  JICKLING. 

As  the  virgin  forest  of  Kalamazoo  county, 
which  for  ages  towered  aloft  in  their  great 
growth  and  storm-defying  might,  showed  the 
richness  and  strength  of  its  soil,  the  high  charac- 
ter of  its  civilization,  the  excellence  and  vigor  of 
its  civil  institutions,  and  the  amplitude  and  wealth 
of  its  commercial  life,  abundantly  prove  the  virile 
force,  lofty  courage,  resolute  energy,  and  com- 
prehensive breadth  of  view  of  its  founders  and 
early  settlers.  Among  these,  one  worthy  of  spe- 
cial mention  is  Robert  Jickling,  until  recently 
one  of  the  prosperous  and  enterprising  farmers 
of  Comstock  township,  but  who  spent  the  later 
years  of  his  life  retired  from  active  pursuits.  He 
was  born  at  Hitcham,  Norfolkshire,  England,  on 
September  2,  1821,  and  was  the  son  of  Robert  and 
Mary  (Lee)  Jickling,  who  were  born  and  reared 
in  the  same  locality  as  their  son.  In  1835  tne 
family  emigrated  to  Canada,  and  took  up  their 
residence  at  Overbeck,  in  the  province  of  Ontario. 
The  journey  across  the  ocean  and  into  the  interior 
covered  seven  weeks  and  three  days.  The  mother 
died  in  her  native  land  on  December  19,  1831,  at 
the  age  of  forty-three  years.  The  father  became 
an  early  settler  near  the  town  of  Woodstock,  and 
there  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  as  a  farmer, 
dying  on  April  9,  1872,  aged  seventy-eight  years. 
Robert  was  the  third  son  and  third  child  of  his 


i88 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


parents,  and  remained  with  his  father  until  the 
family  came  to  this  country,  and  soon  after  their 
arrival  was  bound  out  to.  David  Ford,  with  whom 
he  remained  until  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty- 
six,  coming  with  him  to  Michigan  soon  after  the 
beginning  of  his  service.  On  December  5,  1847, 
he  was  married  at  Galesburg,  this  county,  to 
Miss  Julia  Ann  Aldrich,  the  oldest  child  of  Fay 
and  Lura  (Johnson)  Aldrich.  Her  parents  died 
a  number  of  years  ago  in  Alamo  township,  this 
county,  and  their  remains  were  buried  at  Otsego. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jickling  became  the  parents  of 
eleven  children,  eight  of  whom  are  living:  Ade- 
line, wife  of  Frederick  Shay  (see  sketch  on  an- 
other page);  Marquis,  a  prosperous  farmer  of 
Richland  township ;  Lura,  wife  of  Joseph 
Newell,  of  Portage  township  ;  Mary,  wife  of  Gor- 
don P>.  Brigham,  of  Richland  township  ;  Ella,  wife 
of  Sabin  B.  Nichols,  of  Kalamazoo  ;  Albert,  con- 
nected with  the  North  &  Coon  Lumber  Company, 
of  Kalamazoo;  Walter  W.,  formerly  on  the  home- 
stead in  Comstock,  and  Howard  B.,  in  business  in 
Kalamazoo.  The  four  deceased  are  Sarah,  who 
was  the  wife  of  Henry  Tolhurst  at  the  time  of 
her  death,  on  May  9,  1888;  Emma,  who  died  on 
May  22,  1889;  Clara  E.  wife  of  the  Rev.  John 
Humphreys,  who  died  in  October,  1894,  and  Rob- 
ert, who  died  on  October  24,  1904.  Their  mother 
was  born  six  miles  from  the  town  of  Angelica  in 
Allegany  county,  N.  Y.,  and  was  brought  by 
her  parents  to  Michigan  when  she  was  but  four 
years  old.  The  journey  was  made  with  an  ox  team, 
and  led  through  the  famous  Maumee  swamp.  The 
family  was  among  the  first  to  settle  in  Charleston 
township.  Her  parents  were  natives  of  New 
York  state,  as  was  her  paternal  grandfather, 
Abram  Aldrich,  who  was  also  an  early  settler  in 
this  county,  locating  here  in  1833  on  government 
land.  Mr.  Jickling  died  on  October  24,  1904,  and 
Mrs.  Jickling  now  makes  her  home  with  her 
daughter,  Mrs.  Frederick  Shay,  of  Richland 
township.  Soon  after  his  marriage  he  located  on 
the  farm  which  was  the  scene  of  his  useful  labors 
for  so  many  years,  and  which  he  bought  of  his 
former  employer,  Mr.  Ford.  There  were  no  im- 
provements on  the  place  at  the  time,  except  a 
small  log  house  eighteen  by  twenty  feet  in  dimen- 


sions, and  the  roof  covered  with  shakes.  He  and 
his  wife  lived  in  that  humble  abode  nine  years, 
their  furniture,  when  they  set  up  housekeeping, 
being  barely  sufficient  for  their  absolute  wants,-— 
a  primitive  cook-stove,  a  chest  that  served  for  a 
table  as  well,  and  a  few  other  indispensable  ar- 
ticles. The  country  around  them  was  a  wilder- 
ness ;  there  were  no  roads  or  other  evidences  of 
civilization  near  them.  Their  early  years  were  here 
passed  in  hard  work,  with  many  privations  and 
difficulties,  but  they  persevered  in  their  enterprise, 
and  in  time  had  the  land  in  a  condition  of  ad- 
vanced cultivation,  and  improved  with  good  build- 
ings and  all  the  appliances  necessary  for  vigorous 
and  successful  farming.  The  farm  comprised  one 
hundred  and  ninety-two  acres,  all  of  it  under  cul- 
tivation but  about  twenty  acres,  and  one  hundred 
and  forty  of  it  cleared  by  the  enterprising  owner. 
His  industry  and  worth,  his  energy  in  the  matter 
of  public  improvements,  his  high  character  and 
broad-minded  citizenship,  soon  secured  him  a 
name  and  place  in  the  township  second  to  that 
of  no  other  man,  and  the  regard  which  he  won  in 
his  young  manhood  but  broadened  and  deepened 
as  age  drew  near  him.  In  political  relations  he 
was  a  Republican,  but  never  an  active  partisan. 
The  cause  of  public  education  had  his  zealous  at- 
tention from  the  start  and  he  rendered  it  good  ser- 
vice in  his  long  tenure  of  the  office  of  school  direc- 
tor. When  he  passed  the  three  score  and  ten 
years  fixed  by  the  psalmist  as  the  ordinary  term  of 
mortal  life,  he  lived  retired  from  active  work  and 
passed  the  evening  of  his  life  in  peace  and  com- 
fort after  many  trials,  and  was  blessed  with 
abundant  proofs  of  the  confidence  and  esteem  of 
his  fellow  men. 

NATHANIEL  H.  STEWART. 

Perhaps  no  man  in  the  county  is  more  repre- 
sentative of  progress  than  is  Nathaniel  H.  Stew- 
art, of  the  city  of  Kalamazoo.  His  whole  life 
is  the  living  testimony  of  the  splendid  results  that 
an  indomitable  will,  backed  up  by  tireless  energy 
and  indefatigable  perseverance,  can  accomplish. 
Mr.  Stewart,  who  belongs  to  an  ancient  and 
time-honored    race,    and   can   trace   his   ancestry 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


189 


back  to  the  time  of  Henry  VIII,  was  born  on 
July  20,  1847,  at  Johnstown,  N.  Y.  He  attended 
school  and  worked  in  his  father's  shops  until  1868 
when  he,  like  Benjamin  Franklin,"  left  his  native 
town  with  only  thirty  dollars  in  his  pocket,  and 
came  to  the  then  village  of  Kalamazoo,  arriving 
there  with  but  seven  dollars.  Soon  afterward  he 
entered  the  law  office  of  ex-Senator  Charles  E. 
Stuart,  Edwards  &  May.  His  great  physical 
strength,  as  well  as  his  mental  and  moral  power, 
aided  him  in  enduring  the  privations  he  had  to 
undergo,  such  as  sleeping  all  night  on  the  bare 
floor  of  what  is  now  his  private  office.  At  this 
time  he  made  the  resolution  that  has  been  in 
a  great  measure  the  cause  of  his  splendid  success 
in  the  business  world — to  pay  as  he  went,  and 
never  to  be  any  one's  debtor.  When  he  received 
little,  he  spent  less,  always  paying  cash  for  every 
thing.  Throughout  his  life  he  has  always  ad- 
hered to  the  rules  of  self-respect,  industry  and 
economy.  In  1869  he  went  to  Plainwell,  where 
he  worked  for  one  year  in  an  elevator  and  prod- 
uce house,  receiving  a  salary  of  seventy-five  dol- 
lars a  month.  By  strict  economy  he  was  able  to 
save  enough  out  of  his  earnings  to  enable  him  to 
return  to  Kalamazoo  and  again  take  up  the  study 
of  his  beloved  profession  with  the  same  law  firm, 
which  had  changed  to  Edwards  &  Sherwood. 
This  firm,  appreciating  Mr.  Stewart's  fine  busi- 
ness ability,  keen  insight,  and  general  aptitude  for 
the  profession,  made  a  contract  with  him  for 
three  years.  In  March,  1872,  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  on  his  first  examination.  When  the  firm 
of  Kdwards  &  Sherwood  dissolved,  Mr.  Edwards 
reeuested  Mr.  Stewart  to  join  him  in  his  chosen 
profession,  which  he  did.  On  December  14,  1875, 
he  married  Miss  Emily  Frances  Gates,  a  daughter 
of  Chauncey  and  Jane  Gates,  who  came  to  Kala- 
mazoo from  New  York  in  1868.  Mr.  and  Airs. 
Stewart  have  two  sons,  both  grown  to  manhood 
—  I  )onald  Argyle  and  Gordon  L.  In  politics  Mr. 
Stewart  is  a  Democrat,  and  he  has  given  liberally 
°f  his  time  and  means  to  advance  in  every  pos- 
sihle  way  the  principles  of  Democracy.  He  is 
°ne  of  the  most  successful  lawyers,  and  is  a  pub- 
lic speaker  of  great  eloquence  and  force.  In  1882 
"?  was  chairman  and  congressional  manager  of 


the  campaign,  when  by  his  shrewdness  and  skill- 
ful manipulation  a  Democrat  overcame  a  Repub- 
lican majority  of  five  thousand  in  the  district. 
When  he  ran  the  entire  campaign  in  1883,  a^  tne 
Democratic  candidates  for  supreme  judges  and 
two  regents  of  the  State  University  were  elected. 
He  has  served  on  all  the  executive  committees  of 
the  Democratic  party,  and  has  aided  this  party 
greatly  in  various  ways.  Mr.  Stewart,  aside  from 
T>eing  a  politician  of  the  highest  order,  is  a  lover 
of  all  that  is  beautiful  in  art,  literature,  and  na- 
ture, being  extremely  fond  of  paintings,  poetry 
and  flowers.  As  he  prefers  those  poets  that  ap- 
peal to  the  heart  and  the  sympathies,  his  favorite 
among  them  all  is  "Bobby"  Burns,  the  Scottish 
poet.  His  great  fondness  for  poetry  and  his 
wonderful  memory  are  shown  by  his  having  com- 
mitted to  memory  the  entire  poem  of  the  Rubai- 
yat  of  Omar  Khayam,  the  Persian  poet.  This 
poem,  which  Fitzgerald  has  translated,  consists 
of  one  hundred  quatrains,  all  of  which  Mr. 
Stewart  can  repeat.  He  has  entertained  his 
friends  for  hours  and  hours  at  a  time  by  reciting 
in  a  style  peculiarly  his  own  and  one  that  never 
fails  to  please,  selections  from  his  favorite  poets. 
Mr.  Stewart  is  a  man  of  great  capabilities  and  of 
strong  convictions.  With  all  his  positiveness  and 
force  in  leadership,  he  has  a  vein  of  gentleness 
and  innate  culture  that  is  shown  most  beautifully 
in  his  everyday  family  life.  To  all  who  know 
him,  and  his  friends  are  many  from  all  walks  of 
life,  he  stands  as  a  splendid  example  of  a  self- 
made  man  of  the  highest  honor  and  integrity. 

DANIEL   HARRIGAN. 

Although  he  had  reached  the  age  of  sixty-five 
at  the  time  of  his  death*  on  June  24,  1903,  the 
late  Daniel  Harrigan,  the  first  and  at  the  time  of 
his  death  the  largest  coal  and  wood,  dealer  in 
Kalamazoo,  and  one  of  the  leading  business  men 
of  the  city,  was  in  full  vigor-  and  gave  promise 
of  many  more  years  of  usefulness  in  commercial 
circles  and  as  a  citizen.  He  was  a  native  of 
county  Tipperary,  Ireland,  born  on  December  15, 
1838,  and  the  son  of  John  and  Ann  (Donohue) 
Harrigan,  who  were  natives  of  the  same  county 


190 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


as  himself.  They  were  farmers  and  died  when 
their  son  Daniel  was  a  child.  Of  their  six  chil- 
dren two  sons  and  two  daughters  came  to  the 
United  States.  Both  of  these  sons  are  now  dead. 
The  daughters  are  living  in  Michigan.  Daniel 
Harrigan  was  about  fourteen  when  he  became  a 
resident  of  the  United  States.  Although  so  young 
he  had  resolution  and  determination  of  spirit  and 
made  the  voyage  across  the  fretful  Atlantic  and 
the  trip  over  one-third  of  this  continent  alone,  at  * 
Ann  Arbor  joining  his  brother  John,  who  had 
emigrated  hither  some  years  earlier.  He  had  at- 
tended school  to  a  limited  extent  in  his  native 
land,  and  by  studious  and  judicious  reading  be- 
came a  very  well  informed  man.  x\fter  a  resi- 
dence of  two  years  at  Ann  Arbor,  he  came  to 
Kalamazoo  and  for  a  time  worked  for  D.  S.  Wal- 
bridge,  a  miller,  for  whom  he  drove  team  and 
packed  flour.  Later  he  bought  wool  and  grain 
for  Dudgeon  &  Coob.  In  1880  he  started  a  wood 
and  coal  business,  which  was  the  first  in  the  city, 
and  is  still  carried  on  by  his  son.  He  was  first 
married  about  1859  to  Miss  Ellen  Milan,  a  na- 
tive of  Ireland.  They  had  four  children,  of  whom 
one  son  and  one  daughter  are  living  and  reside 
in  California,  Frederick  J.  and  Emily.  Their 
mother  died  in  1872,  and  the  next  year  the  father 
was  married  to  Miss  Hannah  Kelley,  a  daughter 
of  John  Kelley,  born  in  Cork,  Ireland.  Her  fa- 
ther brought  his  family  to  'Kalamazoo  in  1845. 
He  was  employed  in  building  the  Michigan  Cen- 
tral Railroad  between  Detroit  and  Niles,  this 
state,  and  was  popularly  known  as  "Boss  Kelley. " 
He  died  in  Kalamazoo  in  1847.  By  his  second 
marriage  Mr.  Harrigan  became  the  father  of 
five  children.  Of  these,  four  are  living,  Ellen 
M.,  wife  of  Marcus  S.  Harlowe,  of  San  Luis 
Obispo  county,  Calif. ;  and  Alice,  Blanch  and  Leo 
B.,  who  live  at  home,  the  son  having  charge  of  the 
coal  and  wood  business  left  by  their  father.  All 
the  members  of  the  family  belong  to  the  Catholic 
church.  Frederick,  the  son  of  the  first  marriage, 
living  in  California,  has  four  children,  John  H., 
Philip  F.,  Laura  and  Clarence.  The  father  was  a 
member  of  the  order  of  Elks  and  the  Catholic 
Mutual  Benefit  Association,  a  church  society.  He 
came  to  this  country  a  poor  boy,  but  died  in  very 


comfortable  circumstances  and  possessed  of  an 
excellent  business,  all  the  result  of  his  thrift,  en- 
terprise and  business  sagacity. 

THE  PURITAN  CORSET  COMPANY. 

The  Puritan  Corset  Company,  of  Kalamazoo, 
is  a  stock  company,  organized  in  January,  1900, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  seventy-five  thousand  dol- 
lars, the  first  officers  being  William  L.  Brownell, 
president ;  C.  H.  Williams,  vice-president ;  A.  If. 
Shellmier,  secretary,  and  C.  A.  Peck,  treasurer,  all 
of  whom  are  still  serving,  except  thatC.A.Blaney 
has  succeeded  Mr.  Shellmier  as  secretary.  The 
company  manufactures  a  general  line  of  corsets 
and  uses  the  Puritan  clasp,  which  was  invented 
and  patented  by  Mr.  Williams  and  Mr.  Brownell, 
of  this  company.  Seventy-five  to  one  hun- 
dren  persons  are  employed  by  the  com- 
pany. They  have  the  capacity  for  turn- 
ing out  one  hundred  and  fifty  dozen  corsets  a  day, 
their  product  being  sold  by  mail, — voluntary  or- 
ders— no  salesmen  employed.  The  goods  are  sold 
in  the  central,  western  and  southern  states,  and 
the  business  is  constantly  on  the  increase.  W. 
L.  Brownell,  president  of  the  company,  is  a  na- 
tive of  Kalamazoo,  born  in  1856,  and  the  son 
of  Thomas  C.  and  Matilda  (Parker)  Brownell, 
the  former  born  in  the  state  of  New  York  and 
the  latter  in  Michigan.  The  father  came  to  Kala- 
mazoo in  the  early  days  and  bought  a  tract  of 
land  adjoining  the  city  limits  at  that  time,  and 
here  lie  was  engaged  extensively  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  brick  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and 
during  all  of  that  period  he  was  superintendent 
of  the  county  poor.  He  made  the  brick  used 
in  the  asylum  and  many  other  important  struc- 
tures, and  had  a  high  reputation  for  the  quality 
of  his  product  and  the  care  with  which  his  work 
was  done.  He  died  in  1879,  having  been  during 
the  whole  of  his  residence  here  prominent  in  pub- 
lic affairs  and  having  filled  a  number  of  differ- 
ent local  offices.  His  son,  W.  L.  Brownell,  after 
receiving  a  common  and  high-school  education, 
began  business  as  a  clerk,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two  opened  a  grocery  for  himself,  in  which 
he  conducted   a  flourishing  wholesale  and   retail 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


191 


trade  for  more  than  twenty  years.  He  served  as 
secretary  of  the  Kalamazoo  Corset  Company  one 
\ear,  but  from  the  organization  of  the  Puritan 
Company  he  has  been  its  president  and  manager, 
lie  is  a  Knight  Templar  Free  Mason  and  a  Noble 
of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  and  the  fraternal  life  of  the 
community  receives  inspiration  from  his  interest 
and  active  work  in  the  order,  as  the  business  in- 
terests of  the  city  do  from  his  zeal  and  capacity 
in  commercial  and  industrial  lines.  It  is  largely 
due  to  his  shrewdness,  influence  and  fine  business 
ability  that  the  enterprise  of  which  he  is  the  head 
has  grown  to  such  magnitude  and  won  so  ex- 
tensive a  trade.  He  knows  through  practical  ex- 
perience and  close  observation  every  detail  of  his 
industry  from  start  to  finish,  and  gives  all  phases 
and  elements  of  the  business  his  personal  atten- 
tion. While  "it  is  not  in  mortals  to  command  suc- 
cess," and  they  are  enjoined  to  "deserve  it,"  which 
is  doing  more,  Mr.  Brownell  has  done  both  with 
conspicuous  ability  and  steadiness. 

DEWING  &  SONS. 

The  business  of  this  energetic,  progressive 
and  far-reaching  firm,  the  manufacture  of  sash, 
blinds  and  kindred  products,  is  one  of  the  oldest 
industrial  undertakings  in  Kalamazoo,  and  one 
of  the  earliest  and  most  extensive  of  its  kind  in 
this  part  of  the  country.  It  was  founded  by  Wil- 
liam G.  Dewing,  a  native  of  county  Norfolk,  Eng- 
land, where  he  was  born  on  May  17,  1809.  Mr. 
Dewing  was  one  of  eleven  children,  and  was 
brought  up  under  the  most  assiduous  and  con-  . 
siderate  domestic  care,  in  a  home  circle  abun- 
dantly supplied  with  the  comforts  of  life.  After 
being  well  educated  in  France  and  becoming 
master  of  the  French  language,  which  he  spoke 
with  the  accuracy  of  a  native,  he  insisted  on  fol- 
lowing the  sea  for  which  he  had  long  had  a  de- 
sire. His  father  determined  that  if  the  son  would 
he  a  sailor  he  should  know  his  business  from  the 
beginning,  and  apprenticed  him  so  that  he  would 
thoroughly  learn  the  sea-faring  life.  The  change 
from  the  tenderness  of  nurture  to  which  he  had 
'Ken  accustomed  to  the  hardships  he  was  now 
called  upon  to  endure  did  not  change  his  deter- 


mination, and  he  followed  the  sea  for  ten  years, 
rising  to  the  rank  of  first  officer.  In  his  life  at 
sea  he  visited  all  parts  of  the  globe,  and  had 
many  thrilling  and  unusual  adventures.  He  set- 
tled in  the  United  States  early  in  the  '30s,  locating 
in  the  state  of  New  York  not  far  from  the  city  of 
the  same  name,  where  he  remained  until  1836, 
when  he  came  to  Kalamazoo,  bringing  his  family 
and  worldly  effects  from  Detroit  by  teams.  The 
journey  was  one  of  hardship  and  privation,  full 
of  toil  and  difficulty,  but  this  fact  rather  stimu- 
lated than  dampened  his  enterprise.  After  his 
arrival  here  he  and  his  brother  Frederick,  who 
came  to  this  country  with  him,  kept  a  store  for 
five  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  Frederick 
withdrew  from  the  firm,  and  thereafter  Mr.  Dew- 
ing conducted  the  business  alone,  changing  its 
nature  several  times  and  meeting  with  alternat- 
ing successes  and  reverses,  until  at  length  he 
turned  to  the  present  line,  the  manufacture  of 
sash,  blinds,  doors,  etc.  For  a  time  Mr.  Scudder 
was  interested  in  the  establishment.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Mr,  Kemt,  who  was  one  of  its  active 
spirits  for  a  number  of  years.  Then  William  S. 
Dewing,  the  oldest  son  of  the  proprietor,  became 
a  partner,  and  later  the  other  sons,  Charles  A. 
and  James  H.,  entered  the  firm.  It  was  then  re- 
organized and  assumed  the  name  it  now  bears, 
the  firm  of  Dewing  &  Sons.  The  father  remained 
in  the  business  and  gave  it  his  personal  atten- 
tion until  within  five  years  of  his  death  in  April, 
1884,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years.  Since  his 
departure  the  sons  have  carried  its  interests  for- 
ward along  the  lines  of  liberality  and  progres- 
siveness  marked  out  by  him,  expanding  the  trade 
of  the  establishment,  increasing  its  output  and 
enlarging  its  usefulness  to  the  business  world  of 
the  city  and  surrounding  country.  In  1887,  or  the 
next  year,  large  tracts  of  land  were  purchased  in 
West  Virginia  and  mills  for  sawing  the  lumber 
on  them  were  erected  there.  This  proceeding 
was  done  in  the  northern  part  of  this  state  in 
1875,  with  frequent  orders  from  many  far  more 
distant  points,  as  its  reputation  for  excellence  in 
products  and  fairness  in  methods  is  well  known 
all  over  this  country  and  portions  of  Canada.  The 
elder   Dewing  was   a  man   of  large   commercial 


192 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


spirit  and  fully  awake  to  the  opportunities  for  his 
own  trade  and  the  other  mercantile  and  indus- 
trial possibilities  of  the  region  in  which  he  had 
cast  his  lot.  He  was  connected  with  various  lines 
of  commercial  activity  in  Kalamazoo,  notably  an 
extensive  hardware  business.  In  the  public  affairs 
of  the  community  he  took  an  earnest  and  service- 
able part.  While  never  desirous  of  public  office 
for  himself,  he  was  zealous  in  aiding  in  the  se- 
lection of  good  men  for  positions  of  importance, 
and  for  the  general  good  of  the  city  now  and 
then  accepted  membership  in  the  city  council.  In 
national  politics  he  was  a  Republican,  but  in  lo- 
cal matters  his  genuine  public  spirit  overbore  all 
party  considerations.  In  his  nature  he  was  es- 
sentially and  practically  benevolent,  being  one  of 
the  foremost  men  in  Michigan  in  charitable  mat- 
ters, and  one  of  the  prominent  figures  in  all  con- 
ventions in  his  part  of  the  state  for  the  promotion 
of  benevolent  purposes.  Even  in  England,  while 
yet  a  young  man,  he  was  widely  known  for  his 
earnest  efforts  to  promote  charitable  and  philan- 
thropic institutions.  In  this  county  his  philan- 
thropy, although  unostentatious,  was  wide-spread 
and  abounding.  One  of  his  greatest  pleasures 
was  in  helping  the  poor  to  get  a  foothold  and 
homes  for  themselves,  and  the  number  of  his 
beneficiaries  in  this  respect  was  legion.  In  church 
affiliation  he  was  an  Episcopalian,  and  a  member 
of  the  first  vestry  of  St.  Luke's  church ;  but  he 
was  ever  generous  in  helping  other  churches.  He 
was  practically  the  founder  of  the  Industrial 
School  for  Children  in  Kalamazoo  and  of  the 
Children's  Home,  and  the  city  has  no  institutions 
in  which  he  took  a  deeper  interest.  He  was  also 
the  originator  and  one  of  the  most  zealous  sup- 
porters of  the  Kalamazoo  County  Pioneer  Asso- 
ciation. His  life  was  a  calm,  full  current  of  ac- 
tive goodness,  and  his  name  was  more  dear  to 
many  people  in  humble  circumstances  than  that 
of  any  other  citizen  of  the  county,  and  he  was 
more  esteemed  by  all  friends  of  humanity  and 
effective  charity.  He  was  married  in  Vermont  to 
Miss  Jane  Tuttle,  a  native  of  that  state.  They  had 
five  sons  and  one  daughter,  of  whom  three  of  the 
sons  are  living,  William  S.,  Charles  A.  and 
James  H. 


Charles  A.  Dewing,  of  the  firm,  was 
born  in  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  and  came  to  Kalama- 
zoo with  his  parents  when  he  was  a  boy.  He  was 
reared  and  educated  in  his  new  home,  attending 
the  common  and  high  schools  and  Olivette  Col- 
lege. On  leaving  school  he  at, once  entered  the 
establishment  to  which  he  has  contributed  so 
much  of  enterprise  and  capacity ;  and  he  has  been 
connected  with  it  in  a  leading  way  ever  since.  He 
is  also  a  stockholder  and  the  treasurer  of  the 
Kalamazoo  Stove  Company,  and  holds  stock  in 
the  Puritan  Corset  Company,  the  Sugar  Factory, 
the  Chicago,  Kalamazoo  &  Saginaw  Railroad 
Company,  and  other  enterprises  of  importance 
and  value  in  the  commercial  and  industrial  life 
of  the  city.  He  is  one  of  the  most  widely  known 
and  highly  esteemed  citizens  of  the  county,  and 
one  of  its  best  business  representatives. 

PELICK   STEVENS. 

The  late  Pelick  Stevens,  of  Kalamazoo,  who 
died  in  the  city  in  1881,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight, 
was  a  pioneer  in  two  states  of  the  Middle  West 
and  embraced  in  his  career  a  scope  of  country 
lying  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Mississippi  and 
extending  from  one  to  the  other.  He  was  born 
at  Worcester,  Mass.,  on  March  15,  1813, 
and  was  the  son  of  Rhoads  and  Abigail  (Kimbell) 
Stevens,  the  former  a  native  of  England  and 
the  latter  of  Scotland.  They  emigrated  to  the 
United  States  early  in  their  life  and  settled  in 
Massachussets,  and  there  they  lived  until  death 
ended  their  labors.  The  father  was  a  farmer  and 
also  kept  an  inn.  Both  lived  to  ripe  old  ages 
and  died  highly  respected  in  the  community  which 
had  so  long  known  them.  Sixteen  children  were 
born  in  the  household,  all  of  whom  are  now  dead. 
One  of  them  was  the  late  John  C.  Stevens,  founder 
of  the  New  York  Yacht  Club,  and  its  first  com 
mod  ore,  and  as  such  his  name  is  familiar  to  all 
Americans.  The  interesting  subject  of  this  review- 
was  reared  to  the  age  of  seventeen  in  his  native 
city  and  there  received  a  common-school  educa- 
tion. At  the  age  mentioned,  in  company  with  one 
of  his  brothers,  he  made  a  trip  from  Worcester 
to  White   Pigeon,   Mich.,   on  horseback,  and  iti 


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KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


195 


this  new  section  they  bought  a  tract  of  land  on 
the  prairie  near  what  was  then  known  as  Ed- 
wardsburg.  Mr.  Stevens  made  some  improve- 
ments on  the  land,  then  sold  it  and  returned  to 
Massachusetts.  Soon  afterward  he  came  west 
ao-ain  and  located  on  a  wild  piece  of  land  which 
lie  bought  adjoining  the  village  of  Schoolcraft. 
This  also  he  improved  and  sold,  after  which  he 
cleared  another  new  farm  on  which  he  lived  for 
more  than  thirty  years.  In  1862  he  moved  to  Kala- 
mazoo, purchasing  a  home  on  West  Main  street, 
where  his  widow  now  resides.  While  living  in 
the  city  he  devoted  his  attention  to  building 
houses,  putting  up  a  number  of  brick  structures 
for  dwelling  and  business  purposes,  and  at  the 
time  of  his  death  owned  extensive  and  valuable 
interests  in  real  estate.  He  was  a  Republican  in 
politics,  but  not  an  active  partisan  and  never  de- 
sired public  office  of  any  kind,  but  did  consent 
to  serve  a  number  of  years  on  the  school  board. 
He  was  married  on  January  31,  1836,  to  Miss 
Lydia  Alexander,  a  native  of  Lyons,  Wayne 
county.,  N.  Y.,  where  she  was  born  on  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1818.  She  is  the  daughter  of  George  A. 
and  Margaret  (Shaver)  Alexander,  the  father 
born  in  Philadelphia  and  the  mother  in  New  Jer- 
sey. Mrs.  Stevens  came  to  Michigan  alone  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  years,  making  the  journey  overland 
by  stage  to  Schoolcraft  or  Prairie  Ronde.  She 
has  lived  in  this  county  ever  since  and  is  now 
probably  one  of  its  oldest  living  settlers.  She 
saw  the  country  in  this  section  almost  as  it  came 
from  the  hands  of  its  Maker,  luxuriant  in  its 
unpruned  growth  of  ages  and  all  unknown  to  the 
systematic  productiveness,  the  domestic  comforts 
and  the  moral  agencies  of  cultivated  life.  And 
she  has  lived  to  see  it  in  its  present  state  of  high 
development,  intense  industrial  activity,  flowing 
commercial  wealth  and  advanced  moral  and  so- 
cial greatness,  to  all  of  which  she  has  contributed 
her  due  proportion  of  energy  in  production  and 
satisfaction  in  enjoyment.  Her  life  spans  the 
period  between  the  dawn  of  its  history  to  its  noon- 
day splendor,  and  the  achievements  involved 
would,  without  experience,  be  deemed  scarcely 
possible  within  the  scope  of  a  single  human  life. 
She  and  her  husband  were  the  parents  of  six 
12 


children,  all  of  whom  she  has  survived  but  two, 
their  son  Henry  A.,  who  makes  his  home  with 
her,  and  their  daughter,  Emma  J.,  widow  of  the 
late  Loren  Shear.  Mrs.  Stevens  has  in  her  pos- 
session two  pictures  of  historic  value  in  this 
section,  one  of  the  first  county  court  held  in  the 
county  and  one  of  the  first  house,  a  log  structure, 
built  in  Kalamazoo. 

Peter  F.  Alexander,  a  brother  of  Mrs. 
Stevens,  was  also  an  early  settler  in  Kalamazoo 
county,  arriving  here  on  October  26,  1832.  He 
was  born  at  Lyons,  Wayne  county,  N.  Y.,  on 
July  6,  1816,  the  sixth  child  in  a  family  of  nine 
born  to  "his  parents,  George  and  Margaret 
(Shaver)  Alexander,  the  American  progenitor  of 
the  family  being  his  grandfather,  who  was  born 
in  Scotland  in  1744.  This  worthy  gentleman, 
when  he  was  seventeen  years  of  age,  after  hav- 
ing served  some  time  as  apprentice  to  a  weaver 
in  Dublin,  Ireland,  determined  to  come  to  the 
United  States,  and  being  without  the  necessary 
means  to  pay  his  passage  across  the  ocean,  stole 
on  board  a  vessel  bound  for  Philadelphia  and  hid 
among  the  freight,  keeping  himself  concealed  un- 
til he  was  several  days  at  sea.  On  his  arrival  in 
the  Quaker  City  he  was  sold  to  a  weaver  for  a 
term  of  three  years  to  pay  his  passage  money.  At 
the  completion  of  his  term  of  service  he  entered  . 
the  Continental  army,  in  which  he  served  through 
the  Revolutionary  war.  Soon  after  its  close  he 
married  with  Miss  Mary  Rumage  and  settled  in 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  become*  a  prosperous 
farmer  and  acquired  a  competency.  He  was  a 
man  of  decided  ability  and  took  an  active  part 
in  political  matters.  He  died  in  1826,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-two  years.  When  Peter's  father  was  a 
boy  the  family  moved  to  Tompkins  county,  N.  Y., 
where  he  was  reared  to  manhood  and  was 
married.  About  1810  he  moved  his  family  to 
Lyons,  Wayne  county,  where  he  died  in  1830,  at 
the  age  of  forty-eight.  Peter  was  at  this  time  four- 
teen years  old.  Three  years  later  he  was  thrown 
on  his  resources.  By  industry  and  frugality  he 
earned  and  saved  twelve  dollars,  and  with  this 
meager  sum  started  for  Michigan,  a  distance  of 
seven  hundred  miles.  Through  the  kindness  of 
friends  he  accomplished  his  undertaking,  arriv- 


196 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


ing  at  Detroit  penniless.  From  there  he  walked 
the  whole  distance  to  the  home  of  his  uncle, 
Abram  I.  Shaver,  on  Prairie  Ronde.  He  re- 
mained with  his  uncle  and  worked  in  his  employ 
four  years,  and  for  a  number  thereafter  worked  at 
his  trade  of  carpenter  and  joiner.  In  1840  he  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Sabra  Anton,  of 
Menclon,  St.  Joseph  county,  who  was  born  near 
Utica,  N.  Y.,'  on  February  25,  1820.  Her 
parents  were  natives  of  Oneida  county,  N.  Y., 
and  came  to  Michigan  in  1837.  After  their 
marriage  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Alexander  settled  on  a 
place  which  he  had  previously  'purchased  and 
which  was  their  home  during  the  rest  of  their 
lives.  His  first  purchase  of  land,  however,  was 
made  in  1834.  Six  children  were  born  in  the 
family,  only  one  of  whom  is  living,  Luce  T., 
whose  life  began  on  the  home  farm  on  March 
17,  1856.  Mr.  Alexander  was  emphatically  a 
self-made  man.  His  whole  life  was  ordered  on 
the  belief  that  there  is  no  royal  road  to  success, 
but  that  wealth  and  position  are  the  results  of 
individual  effort.  He  occupied  an  enviable  po- 
sition in  his  community  and  filled  many  offices  of 
trust  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people.  He  was 
a  Republican  in  politics,  a  man  of  high  character 
and  persevering  in  whatever  he  undertook, 
in  public  and  private  life,  and  always  industrious. 
He  passed  away  in  April,  1901. 

JOHN  VANDEWALKER. 

Nothing  in  the  history  of  the  American  peo- 
ple is  more  remarkable,  or  more  indicative  of 
their  real  character,  than  the  lofty  courage,  stern 
endurance,  unflagging  industry  and  readiness  for 
every  requirement,  shown  by  the  pioneers,  or 
early  settlers,  in  all  parts  of  our  land.  No  toil 
deterred,  no  danger  daunted,  no  hardship  dis- 
mayed them.  With  unyielding  will  they  pressed 
their  way  over  every  obstacle,  often  challenging 
fate  herself  into  the  lists,  and  meeting  her  on  al- 
most equal  terms.  To  this  fast  fading  race  be- 
longs the  interesting  subject  of  this  memoir,  who 
is  one  of  the  few  pioneers  of  Kalamazoo  county 
left  yet  among  the  living.  He  came  to  this  state 
when  almost  the  whole  of  it  was  new  and  uncul- 


tivated and  promptly  took  his  place  in  the  army 
of  occupation  and  conquest  that  was  to  redeem  it 
from  the  wilderness  and  make  it  fragrant  with 
the  flowers  and  fruitful  with  the  products  of  cul- 
tivated life — that  was  to  evoke  its  stores  of  hid- 
den wealth,  transform .  its  wild  growths  into 
comely  and  valuable  commodities  and  send  into 
the  channels  of  trade  its  bounteous  resources  for 
the  sustenance  and  comfort  of  man.  Mr.  Yande- 
walker  was  born  at  Preble,  Courtland  county,  N. 
Y.,  on  October  n,  1823,  and  is  the  son  of  Wil- 
liam and  Betsey  (Bouck)  Vandewalker,  them- 
selves natives  of  New  York,  where  the  father  was 
a  well-to-do  farmer,  and  from  whence  he  came  to 
this  state  in  1838.  Here  he  lived  until  his  death. 
At  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  the  territory  wild 
game  was  everywhere  plentiful  and  he  found 
profitable  and  congenial  occupation  as  a  hunter 
and  trapper  for  many  years.  He  had  a  family  of 
six  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  now  deceased 
except  his  son  John.  The  grandfather,  Martin 
Vandewalker,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution  and 
one  of  Washington's  guards.  He  saw  much  ac- 
tive service  in  the  war,  but  lived  long  after  it  to 
witness  and  enjoy  the  prosperous  beginning  of 
the  history  of  the  country  he  had  fought  to  free, 
and  died  at  a  good  old  age  in  the  state  of  New 
York.  The  maternal  grandfather  Bouck  was  also 
a  Revolutionary  soldier,  and  was  three  times 
taken  prisoner  by  the  British,  but  made  his  es- 
cape each  time.  John  Vandewalker  reached  man's 
estate  in  New  York,  and  received  a  limited  edu- 
cation in  its  public  schools.  His  mother  died 
when  he  was  a  child,  and  at  an  early  age  he  was 
obliged  to  support  himself.  In  1842  he  came  to 
Michigan,  traveling  by  way  of  the  Erie  canal 
to  Buffalo,  thence  by  steamer  to  Detroit,  from 
there  to  Jackson  by  rail,  whence  he  came  to  Kal- 
.  amazoo  by  stage,  arriving  in  that  city  on  October 
4,  1842.  He  found  employment  with  his  brother 
on  his  farm,  and  two  years  later  he  bought  a 
tract  of  land  for  himself  in  Richmond  township, 
of  which  twenty  acres  were  cleared.  He  cleared 
the  rest,  and  since  then  he  has  bought  and  cleared 
two  other  farms.  During  the  last  twenty  years 
he  has  lived  quietly  in  Kalamazoo  retired  from 
active   pursuits,   and   enjoying  the   fruits  of  his 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


197 


long  and  faithful  industry.  He  has  been  mar- 
ried three  times,  the  first  marriage  occurring  in 
1849,  when  he  was  united  with  Miss  Sallie 
Dailey,  a  native  of  New  York,  daughter  of  Gar- 
rett Dailey,  who  was  a  pioneer  in  this  county. 
They  had  two  children,  their  son  Eugene,  who 
died  at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  their  daughter  Alta 
(\,  who  is  now  the  wife  of  H.  H.  Everhardt. 
Their  mother  died  in  1879,  and  the  father  mar- 
ried, in  1885,  Miss  Angie  M.  Case,  who  died  in 
T891.  On  November  15,  1898,  he  consummated 
his  third  marriage,  being  united  on  this  occasion 
with  Mrs.  Sarah  Spaulding,  widow  of  B.  W. 
Spaulding.  Her  maiden  name  was  Hamilton,  and 
she  is  the  daughter  of  Uriah  and  Mary  (Jenkins) 
Hamilton,  natives  of  New  York.  She  has  one 
son  by  her  former  marriage.  Mr.  Vandewalker 
is  a  Democrat  in  political  affiliation,  but  he  has 
never  sought  or  held  public  office  or  taken  an  ac- 
tive interest  in  politics.  He  is  a  stockholder  in 
the  Kalamazoo  National  Bank.  Now  past  four 
score  years  of  age,  he  is  passing  the  evening  of 
life  in  that  serene  and  quiet  harbor  wherein  the 
storms  break  not  or  are  felt,  but  in  the  gentle 
undulations  of  the  unrippled  and  mirroring  wa- 
ters, a  cheerful,  a  hale,  a  contented  old  age,  re- 
spected by  all  who  know  him  for  his  sterling 
worth  and  the  valuable  service  he  has  rendered  in 
developing  the  resources  and  building  up  the 
wealth,  power  and  moral  greatness  of  the  state 
of  his  adoption.  Mrs.  Vandewalker's  parents 
come  to  this  county  in  1834  from  New  York  state 
and  settled  in  Ypsilanti  township,  where  they 
cleared  up  a  farm  and  died  there.  Mrs.  Vande- 
walker and  one  brother,  Monroe  M.,  are  still 
living. 

HENRY   MONTAGUE. 

For  a  period  of  nearly  seventy  years  this 
honored  pioneer  has  been  a  resident  of  Michigan 
and  for  about  sixty-seven  has  lived  in  this  county. 
His  advent  here  was  almost  contemporary  with 
the  dawn  of  civilization  in  this  section,  and  he 
has  been  able  to  witness  the  growth  of  a  great 
commonwealth  from  its  infancy  to  its  present 
stature  and  power,  and  to  aid  materially  in  the 
process,   being  one   of  the   few   remaining  links 


of  human  life  which  connect  the  wilderness  of 
the  past  with  the  advanced  state  of  progress  and 
development  of  the  present,  combining  in  his  own 
person  and  memory  the  dawning  hopes  of  an 
early  age  for  the  far  future  and  the  accomplished 
results  and  status  of  a  triumphant  and  glorious 
present,  jytr.  Montague  was  born  at  Hadley, 
Mass.,  on  July  30,  1813,  and  belongs  to  an  old 
colonial  family  which  settled  there  in  1659,  he 
representing  the  fifth  generation  born  in  the 
house  in  which  his  life  began.  His  parents  were 
Stephen  and  Grace  G.  (White)  Montague.  The 
father  was  a  farmer  who  passed  the  whole  of  his 
life  in  his  native  state  and  on  the  family  home- 
stead. He  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  181 2  with 
the  rank  of  sergeant,  but  his  company  was  not 
called  into  active  field  service  owing  to  the  short- 
ness of  war.  The  son,  Henry  Montague,  re- 
mained at  home  until  he  reached  the  age  of 
twenty-two,  receiving  a  limited  education  in  the 
town  schools  and  acquiring  on  the  farm  of  his  fa- 
ther the  habits  of  industry  and  thrift  which  have 
distinguished  him  through  life.  In  1835  ne  came 
to  Michigan,  then  the  far  western  frontier  of  this 
country,  and  located  in  Washtenaw  county  where 
he  lived  two  years.  At  the  end  of  that  period  he 
moved  to  'Kalamazoo  county,  purchasing  a  tract 
of  wild  land  on  Grand  Prairie  which  he  cultivated 
and  improved  and  on  which  he  lived  until  1859. 
During  his  residence  in  Washtenaw  county  he 
was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  brooms,  but 
did  not  continue  this  industry  long  after  settling 
on  his  farm,  its  exactions  requiring  all  of  his 
time  and  energies.  Being  elected  trustee  and  011 
the  building  committee  for  the  erection  of  the 
Michigan  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  he  put  up  the 
two  principal  buildings  of  the  institution,  serving 
on  the  committee  until  1859,  when  he  was  made 
steward,  a  position  he  filled  until  October,  1884. 
He  then  resigned  and  retired  from  active  pur- 
suits, and  he  has  since  lived  in  the  quiet  enjoy- 
ment of  his  estate,  his  friendships  and  his  pride 
in  the  state  and  county  he  helped  to  build.  In 
October,  1836,  he  was  married  at  Webster,  Mich., 
to  Miss  Abigail  Kingsley,  a  native  of  Brighton, 
Mass.  They  had  a  family  of  twelve  children, 
all  of  whom  are  now  deceased  but  four:  Calvin 


198 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


S.,  a  resident  of  Washington,  D.  C,  who  served 
throughout  the  Civil  war,  being  in  the  army 
nearly  five  years  and  coming  out  as  a  lieutenant 
colonel;  Mary  J.,  wife  of  William  A.  Dion,  of 
Kalamazoo;  Helen  C,  living  at  home,  and  Henry 
E.,  a  prominent  business  man  of  Chicago.  Their 
mother  died  on  April  3,  1898.  Mr.  Montague 
belonged  at  the  dawn  of  his  manhood  to  the  Lib- 
erty party  and  cast  his  first  vote  in  1844  for  the 
candidates  of  that  party,  in  whose  behalf  he  also 
stumped  the  county.  He  aided  in  organizing  the 
Republican  party  in  1854,  at  Jackson,  this  state, 
and  since  then  has  been  a  faithful  adherent  of 
that  organization.  As  its  candidate  he  was  elected 
to  the  lower  house  of  the  state  legislature  in 
1854,  serving  that  winter  and  in  1855.  In  1837 
he  joined  the  Congregational  church,  and  in  1838 
he  and  his  wife  organized  the  first  Sunday  school 
on  Grand  Prairie,  holding  the  services  in  their 
little  log  house.  The  school  is  still  in  progress, 
but  has  found  a  more  commodious  and  ambitious 
home;  yet  it  is  doubtful  if  its  spirit  of  enterprise 
and  devotion  has  increased  in  proportion  as  its 
prosperity  has  advanced,  or  could  surpass  that 
which  pervaded  it  in  its  infancy.  Mr.  Montague 
also  founded  the  first  county  society,  which  is 
still  in  vigorous  life.  It  was  started  in  1855,  and 
he  was  chairman  of  its  executive  committee  five 
years.  He  is  now  past  ninety-one  years  old,  hav- 
ing lived  much  longer  than  most  men  do,  and  his 
life  has  been  crowded  with  useful  labor  to  his 
kind.  Full  of  years,  he  is  also  venerable  with 
honor  and  affectionate  regard  among  his  fellow 
men  and  has  to  his  credit  the  record  of  a  well 
spent  life.  As  early  as  1833  Mr.  Montague  be- 
came an  advocate  of  the  cause  of  abolition  and 
after  coming  to  Michigan  was  an  active  worker 
in  the  interests  of  that  cause,  making  numerous 
speeches  throughout  this  and  adjoining  counties, 
his  home  being  a  station  on  the  "underground 
railway"  which  then  existed.  He  can  relate 
many  exciting  tales  of  the  escape  and  pursuit  of 
slaves  making  their  escape  to  Canada  and  free- 
dom, having  as  many  as  five  in  his  home  at  one 
time.  In  1852  he  was  elected  delegate  to  the 
national  convention  of  the  Liberal  party  held  at 
Pittsburg,  Pa. 


CHARLES  A.  PECK. 

Although  he  entered  the  world  of  finance  and 
commercial  and  industrial  effort  in  a  humble  ca- 
pacity, it  may  be  said  of  Charles  A.  Peck  that 
he  was  "born  to  the  purple"  in  these  lines.  His 
father  was  a  banker  and  was  also  connected  with 
a  number  of  manufacturing  enterprises  in  Kala- 
mazoo city  and  county;  and  his  older  brother, 
Horace  B.  Peck,  was  then  engaged  in  the  same 
pursuits  in  a  leading  way.  The  interesting  story 
of  both  careers  is  written  elsewhere  in  this  vol- 
ume. Charles  A.  Peck,  the  third  son  of  Hon. 
Horace  M.  Peck  and  his  wife,  Emilia  (Barnes) 
Peck,  was  born  at  "Richland,  Kalamazoo  county, 
on  December  23,  1852.  He  was  educated  at  the 
public  schools,  Prairie  Academy  at  Richland  and 
the  Kalamazoo  high  school.  After  leaving  school 
he  entered  the  City  Bank  of  Kalamazoo  as  mes- 
senger boy,  and  from  that  humble  position  he  rose 
gradually  on  merit  to  the  post  of  cashier  and  later 
to  that  of  vice-president  of  the  City  National 
Bank,  the  successor  of  the  old  City  Bank  in  which 
he  started  the  career  which  has  so  gratified  his 
friends  and  been  of  such  signal  service  to  the 
business  circles  of  the  city  and  county.  He  is 
also  a  stockholder  in  the  Kalamazoo  Savings 
Bank  and  the  Michigan  National  Bank;  and  not 
confining  his  attention  and  energies  wholly  to 
banking  institutions,  is  treasurer  of  the  Bardeen 
Paper  Company,  with  interests  in  other  paper 
mills ;  treasurer  of  the  Globe  Casket  Company ; 
stockholder  in  the  Kalamazoo  Gas  Company,  and 
stockholder  and  president  of  the  Star  Brass 
Works  and  the  Puritan  Corset  Company.  In  ad- 
dition to  these  various  interests,  to  each  of  which 
he  gives  his  personal  attention  and  in  each  of 
which  is  felt  the  force  of  his  quickening  mind  and 
firm  hand,  he  owns  considerable  real  estate  in  the 
city  and  county,  besides  lands  in  Red  river  valley 
in  North  Dakota.  It  will  be  seen  that  he  has 
enough  in  the  way  of  business  to  engage  all  his 
time  and  faculties,  yet  such  is  his  business  ca- 
pacity and  so  great  is  his  facility  for  the  dispatch 
of  important  matters,  as  well  as  small  details,  that 
he  finds  opportunity 'to  give  stimulus  and  inspira- 
tion to  the  social  life  of  the  community  and  aid 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


199 


in  directing  its  political  affairs  as  an  ardent  Re- 
publican. On  the  22d  day  of  January,  1879,  Mr. 
Peck  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary  F.  Hall, 
a  daughter  of  Judge  Cyrus  L.  Hall,  formerly  a 
judge  at  Hudson,  Wis.,  but  now  in  the  govern- 
ment service  at  Washington,  D.  C.  They  have 
one  child,  their  daughter  Dorothy.  In  the  fra- 
ternal activities  of  the  city  Mr.  Peck  takes  an  ac- 
tive interest  as  a  member  of  the  order  of  Elks. 

HON.  HORACE  M.  PECK. 

The  late  Hon.  Horace  M.  Peck,  of  Kalamazoo, 
whose  death,  on  the  28th  of  April,  1894,  although 
it  came  to  him  in  the  fullness  of  years  and  after 
a  long  career  of  unusual  merit  and  usefulness, 
was  felt  to  be  a  general  loss  to  the  community  in 
which  he  had  so  long  lived  and  labored  for  the 
promotion  of  every  commendable  enterprise,  was 
one  of  the  honored  pioneers  of  the  county,  and 
was  connected,  from  an  early  time  in  its  history, 
with  every  phase  of  its  industrial,  commercial, 
intellectual  and  moral  growth.  He  was  born  at 
Watertown,  Conn.,  in  1814,  the  son  of  Benjamin 
M.  and  Salina  (Atwood)  Peck,  both  natives  of 
that  state  also.  His  father  was  a  farmer  on  a 
well  improved  farm  of  his  own  about  one-half  a 
mile  from  the  town.  Here  he  resided  and  man- 
aged the  interests  of  the  farm,  but  he  was  largely 
engaged  in  making  investments  in  stocks  and 
bonds  for  himself  and  others.  He  was  an  active 
worker  in  the  Presbyterian  church  and  was  well 
and  widely  known  as  Deacon  Peck.  He  stood 
high  in  his  community  and  was  influential  in  its 
public  life.  He  and  his  wife  died  in  their  native 
state  at  good  old  ages.  Their  son  Horace  grew 
to  manhood  near  his  birthplace  and  was  educated 
in  its  schools.  His  first  independent  venture  in 
iife  was  as  a  commercial  traveler  representing 
'-he  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Company,  in  whose  in- 
terest he  traveled  a  number  of  years  through  the 
southern  states.  In  1838  he  came  to  Michigan, 
and  while  passing  through  Richland  in  Kalama- 
zoo county  he  learned  of  a  desirable  tract  of  two 
hundred  acres  of  prairie  land  which  was  about 
to  be  sold  under  execution,  and  being  pleased 
with  it  he  became  its  purchaser.  It  was  still  in 
the  possession  of  his  heirs  until  sold  in  March, 
I9°5-    He  at  once  became  a  speculator  in  western 


lands,  renting  this  tract  to  a  tenant  and  purchas- 
ing large  tracts   of  wild   domain   in   Wisconsin 
and   Iowa.     These  he  later  exchanged   for  im- 
proved property  in  this  county  and  became  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years  its  most  extensive  owner 
of  farms.     His  interests  in  lands  were  very  con- 
siderable, but  his  energy  did  not  stop  with  caring 
for  them.     Desiring  to  aid   the   farmers   of  the 
county  to  increase  and  improve  their  five  stock, 
he   bought   large    numbers    of   sheep    which   he 
placed  with  them  on  shares,  and  so  the  farmers 
were  able  to  get  in  a  short  time  good  flocks  of 
their  own  without  tying  up  any  capital  for  the 
purpose.     Mr.  Peck  continued  to  reside  at  Rich- 
fi^nd  until  1868,  when  he  removed  to  Kalamazoo 
and  became  associated  with  Col.  F.  W.  Curtenius, 
Charles  A.  Hull  and  C.  S.  Dayton  in  the  banking 
business,  they  together  founding  the  Kalamazoo 
Savings  Bank,  of  which  he  became  vice-president, 
although   it  was   not  an   incorporated   institution 
but  only  a  partnership  business.     This  bank  later 
was  reorganized  into  the  City  Bank  and  still  later 
into  the  City  National  Bank,  and  Mr.  Peck  re- 
mained vice-president  through  all  changes  until 
a  few  years  before  his  death.     His  broad  and  ac- 
tive mind  could  not,  however,  rest  with  one  enter- 
prise as  its  only  care.     He  was  connected  in  a 
leading   way   with   a   number   of   industrial   and 
commercial  enterprises   in   addition  to  this,   and 
gave    them    all    close    and    serviceable    attention. 
All  public  interests   of  the  county  and   city,  all 
political  activities  of   the   state  and   country,   all 
elements  of  growth  and  progress  for  the  people 
secured  his  intelligent  and  helpful  consideration, 
and  he  was  long  recognized  as  one  of  the  leading 
citizens   of  the  county   in  which  he  lived.     On 
July  4,    1837,   he   was   married   to   Miss   Emilia 
Barnes,  the  daughter  of  Tillotson  Barnes,  one  of 
the  most  esteemed  pioneers  of  this  county,  who 
came  here  at  a  very  early  day  and  built  the  first 
grist  mill  in  Michigan,  it  being  located  at  York- 
ville,  where  he  died.    Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peck  had  six 
children,  five  of  whom  are  living:  Mrs.  Susan  C./^^J 
Campbell,  of  Ann  Arbor ;  Horace  B.,  late  of  Kala-\T^ 
mazoo   (see  sketch)  ;  Mrs.  Frances  P.  Burrows,   ,, 
wife  of  United  States  Senator  Burrows,  of  Kala- 
mazoo; Herbert  N.,  of  Minneapolis;  and  Charles 
A.,  of  Kalamazoo  (see  sketch). 


200 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


Horace  B.  Peck. — This,  the  eldest  son  of 
Hon.  Horace  M.  Peck,  of  the  aforegoing  sketch, 
was  born  at  Yorkville,  this  county,  on  July  20, 
1 84 1,  and  received  his  education  at  the  district 
schools  near  his  home.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he 
entered  the  banking  house  of  T.  P.  Sheldon,  of 
Kalamazoo,  with  whom  he  remained  until  June, 
1868.  Then,  in  company  with  August  S.  But- 
ler, he  organized  the  banking  firm  of  Butler  & 
Peck,  of  Allegan,  which  later  became  the  Allegan 
City  Bank,  of  which  Mr.  Peck  and  his  father 
owned  the  greater  part  of  the  stock.  Mr.  Peck 
continued  in  control  of  this  bank  until  1884,  since 
which  time  he  gave  his  entire  attention  to  his 
large  interests  in  other  lines  of  business,  he  be- 
ing president  of  several  lumber  companies  in 
northern  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  and  a  director 
of  the  Berwick  Lumber  Company,  of  New  Or- 
leans, La.,  which  does  an  immense  business  in 
cypress  lumber  in  the  south.  Politically  Mr. 
Peck  was  a  Democrat  and  served  as  a  delegate  to 
the  Democratic  national  convention  of  1884  which 
nominated  Mr.  Cleveland  for  the  presidency  the 
first  time.  He  also  served  as  mayor  of  Allegan 
while  he  was  living  in  that  city.  He  was  married 
in  1870  to  Miss  Helen  E.  Parkhurst,  a  native  of 
Vermont.  To  them  were  born  two  children,  their 
daughters,  Mrs.  F.  E.  Wadsworth,  of  Detroit,  and 
Mrs.  A.  B.  Connable,  of  Kalamazoo.  Fraternally 
Mr.  Peck  belonged  to  the  Knights  of  Honor,  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Elks.  In  all  the  rela- 
tions of  life  he  lived  acceptably  to  all  who  had  the 
pleasure  of  his  acquaintance.  In  business  circles 
he  stood  at  the  top,  in  political  councils  he  had 
commanding  influence,  in  social  life  he  was 
warmly  welcomed  into  the  best  companies,  and 
in  fraternal  bodies  to  which  he  belonged  he  was 
always  enthusiastically  received.  There  can  be 
no  higher  tribute  to  a  man's  worth  as  a  citizen 
than  to  be  generally  esteemed,  and  this  is  the 
tribute  manifest  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Peck.  He 
died  June  14,   1903. 

EMANUEL    C.    HENIKA. 

Coming  to  Michigan  at  the  dawn  of  his  young 
manhood  in  1850,  and  from  that  time  until  near 
his  death,  in  December,  1903,  mingling  with  the 


stirring  activities  of  the  state  and  the  useful  in- 
dustries  of  its  people,  the  late  Emanuel  C.  Henika, 
of  Ross  township,  this  county,  had  good  oppor- 
tunities for  useful  citizenship  here  and  he  im- 
proved them  to  good  advantage  for  himself  and 
greatly  to  the  benefit  of  the  section  in  which  he 
lived,  becoming  one  of  the  best  known,  most 
progressive  and  prosperous  farmers  in  his  town- 
ship and  one  of  its  leading  citizens.  He  was 
born  near  the  city  of  Canandaigua,  New  York,  on 
February  14,  1830.  His  parents,  Henry  and 
Elizabeth  (Stahl)  Henika,  were  also  natives  of 
the  state  of  New  York,  and  prospered  there  as 
farmers  for  many  years.  In  1850  they  moved  to 
Michigan  and  located  at  Battle  Creek.  The  trip 
from  their  old  to  their  new  home  was  made  with 
teams,  and  the  incidents  of  the  long  and  tedious 
journey,  all  of  them  interesting  and  some  romantic 
or  thrilling,  were  deeply  impressed  on  the  mind 
of  their  children,  two  sons  and  two  daughters. 
After  living  a  year  at  Battle  Creek,  they  bought 
a  farm  near  that  town,  and  on  it  a  few  years 
later  the  mother  died.  The  father  in  time  married 
again  and  once  more  became  a  resident  of  Battle 
Creek,  where  he  died.  All  the  children  are  also 
now  dead  but  one  son,  Henry  Henika,  who  lives 
at  Grand  Rapids.  Emanuel  grew  to  manhood  in 
his  native  state,  receiving  his  education  in  its  com- 
mon schools,  and  working  on  the  parental  farm 
until  it  was  sold  and  the  family  came  west.  He 
accompanied  them  to  this  state  and  remained  with 
his  parents  five  years  after  their  arrival  here.  But 
soon  after  he  came  he  bought  a  partially  improved 
farm  in  Ross  township,  this  county,  and  when 
he  left  his  parents  he  purchased  a  home  in  the 
village  of  Augusta  and  worked  his  farm  from 
there.  He  gave  himself  wholly  to  its  develop- 
ment and  improvement,  and  in  the  course  of  a 
few  years  he  had  it  raised  to  a  high  degree  of 
productiveness  and  well  provided  with  good 
buildings  and  other  farm  necessities.  In  1851  he 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Susan  Lavar,  a 
daughter  of  John  W.  and  Maria  (Graham)  La- 
var, natives  of  Tompkins  county,  N.  Y.,  who 
came  to  Michigan  in  1834  and  entered  land  i" 
Ross  township,  this  county,  which  they  improved, 
and    for   many   years   worked   vigorously.     Both 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


20 1 


((ied  in  Augusta,,  highly  respected  and  deeply 
mourned.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henika  had  two  children, 
one  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  Their  daughter, 
Frances  Nina,  is  now  the  wife  of  Claude  Doyle, 
an  esteemed  citizen  of  Augusta.  Mrs.  Henika  is 
still  living  at  the  old  home  and  has  the  active 
management  of  the  farm.  She  is  a  lady  of  busi- 
ness capacity  and  great  enterprise,  and  the  in- 
terests under  her  control  do  not  fail  of  their  full 
measure  of  usefulness  and  profit  in  her  hands. 
The  farm  is  now  known  as  the  Henika  fruit  farm, 
and  is  devoted  to  the  culture  of  fruits  of  all  kinds. 

JAMES  R.   COMINGS. 

Except  the  human  mind  itself  there  is  noth- 
ing on  this  earth  more  interesting  than  its  works. 
If  we  consider  the  department  of  mechanical  skill 
alone  we  are  amazed  at  the  wonderful  achieve- 
ments of  this  proteus.  Its  power  to  plan  and  con- 
summate, to  confront  and  conquer  difficulties,  to 
devise  means  to  ends  and  operate  them,  to  lay 
every  substance  and  condition  under  tribute  to  its 
wants  and  make  all  subservient  to  its  will,  its 
overmastering  supremacy  in  all  forms  of  indus- 
trial potency  and  every  phase  of  human  need  or 
desire,  are  manifestations  of  sublime  and  immeas- 
urable power  and  resourcefulness.  The  conquest 
of  man  over  nature  is  an  inspiring  theme  from 
any  point  of  view  that  we  may  take.  What  is  any 
city  but  an  aggregation  of  incongruous  materials 
which  have  obeyed  his  will?  The  granite  was 
reluctant,  but  his  hands  were  stronger,  and  it 
came.  Iron  was  deep  in  the  ground,  and  well 
combined  with  stone  ;  but  it  could  not  hide  from 
his  fires.  Wood,  lime,  stuffs,  fruits,  gums  and 
other  materials  were  dispersed  over  the  earth  and 
sea,  in  vain.  Here  they  are,  within  reach  of 
every  man's  day  labor, — what  he  wants  of  them. 
And  the  work  of  the  pioneers  of  civilization — the 
sorest  conquerors,  before  whose  lusty  strokes  and 
sharp  blades,  the  century-crowned  wood-mon- 
archs,  rank  after  rank,  have  come  crashing,  to 
the  earth — what  triumph  of  armies  and  navies  can 
surpass  this  in  majesty,  in  greatness  of  conquest, 
or  in  true  glory?  To  this  fast-fading  army  of  ax- 
men   belonged     the     interesting    subject    of   this 


sketch,  now  the  oldest  living  settler  in  Comstock 
township,  and  one  of  its  most  revered  citizens.  He 
with  others  of  his  class  strode-  boldly  into  the 
wilderness  with  their  lives  in  their  hands,  chal- 
lenging to  combat  all  its  dangers,  daring  all  its 
difficulties,  and  willingly  embracing  in  a  death 
struggle  all  its  toil  and  hardships.  Mr.  Comings 
was  born  in  Washington  county,  Vt.,  on 
September  20,  1817,  and  is  the  son  of  Sherman 
and  'Betsey  (Smart)  Comings,  the  former  a  na- 
tive of  New  Hampshire  and  the  latter  of  Vermont. 
The  father,  with  his  wife  and  seven  children, 
came  to  Kalamazoo  county  in  1830,  arriving  on 
December  3,  and  in  seven  days  built  a  log  house 
for  shelter  on  the  land  he  selected  as  his  future 
home.  .  In  this  rude  structure  a  buffalo  robe 
formed  the  door,  and  straw  was  stuffed  between 
logs  to  keep  out  the  cold  of  the  most  severe  win- 
ter in  the  history  of  the  state.  The  dimensions 
were  eighteen  by  twenty  feet,  and  in  this  cramped 
space  the  whole  family  of  twelve  persons  passed 
the  winter.  The  following  summer  a  crop  of 
wheat  was  raised  and  sold  at  ten  shillings  a 
bushel,  and  gradually  the  land  was  brought  under 
cultivation  and  a  better  dwelling  and  other  build- 
ings were  provided.  James  R.  was  in  his  four- 
teenth year  when  the  removal  took  place,  and 
he  took  his  part  in  the  work  of  clearing  the 
place  and  supporting  the  family,  remaining  at 
home  until  his  marriage  in  January,  1840,  with 
Miss  Lucy  J.  Kingsley,  a  native  of  New  York. 
He  still  has  in  his  possession  the  tin  grater  with 
which  the  family  used  to  make  meal  of  the  corn 
for  Johnny-cakes,  almost  the  only  food  they  had 
for  a  whole  season.  Flowerfield,  some  fifteen 
miles  distant,  was  the  nearest  point  for  milling 
and  blacksmithing,  and  Detroit,  between  eighty 
and  ninety  miles  away,  the  nearest  postoffice  and 
depot  for  groceries  and  other  supplies.  The  pres- 
ent condition  of  the  farm,  with  its  two  hundred 
and  twenty  acres  of  highly  cultivated  land  and 
its  beautiful  large  brick  residence  and  other  first- 
class  buildings,  fences  and  other  improvements, 
making  it  one  of  the  most  attractive  homesteads 
in  the  county,  suggests  nothing  of  the  dreariness 
and  suffering  of  its  first  occupancy,  or  the  un- 
remitting toil  expended  upon  it.    By  his  first  mar- 


202 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


riage,  Mr.  Comings  became  the  father  of  three 
children,  Florence,  deceased,  formerly  the  wife  of 
Frank  Hodgman ;  Sherman,  who  lives  on  the  old 
homestead,  and  Katie,  also  deceased.  The  mother 
died  on  June  13,  1873,  and  on  March  11,  1874, 
the  father  was  married  to  Miss  Emma  Mills,  a 
daughter  of  Deacon  W.  and  Maria  (Root)  Mills, 
both  natives  of  New  York.  She  died  on  October 
27,  1900,  leaving  one  child,  their  daughter  Mary 
M.  Mr.  Comings  has  for  a  long  time  been  an 
active  and  zealous  member  of  the  Congregational 
church,  and  during  a  period  of  more  than  thirty 
years  was  the  chorister  of  the  congregation  to 
which  he  belongs,  and  also  for  many  years  one  of 
its  trustees.  His  political  affiliation  is  with  the 
Republican  party,  and  as  a  good  and  trustworthy 
citizen  he  has  frequently  obeyed  the  call  of  his 
fellows  to  important  official  positions,  among 
them  several  school  offices  and  that  of  road  com- 
missioner. Now  in  his  eighty-ninth  year,  after 
a  life  of  great  activity  and  public  and  private 
usefulness,  he  is  enjoying  the  rest  he  has  so  well 
earned  and  the  universal  veneration  of  the  people 
among  whom  he  has  lived  nearly  three-quarters 
of  a  century,  which  is  due  to  his  worth  and  freeh- 
and cordially  given. 

Sherman  Comings,  the  only  son  of  this 
"patriarch  in  Israel,"  was  born  on  the  farm  which 
belongs  to  his  father  and  himself,  and  has  passed 
all  his  subsequent  years  on  it.  His  education  was 
secured  in  the  district  schools  of  the  neighborhood 
and  his  physical  training  on  the  farm  in  the  work 
of  which  he  became  an  early  laborer.  His  life  be- 
gan on  November  24,  1847,  and  from  the  opening 
of  his  manhood,  in  fact  from  before  this,  he  has 
been  earnestly  interested  in  public  affairs  and  the 
general  welfare  and  prosperity  of  his  township. 
He  is  now  serving  as  its  superintendent  of  the 
poor  and  filling  the  position  with  credit  to  himself 
and  advantage  to  the  community.  Following 
closely  in  the  footsteps  of  his  father  and  his 
grandfather,  he  sustains  with  manliness  and 
proper  dignity  their  reputation  for  probity  and 
lofty  citizenship,  and  shares  the  general  esteem  in 
which  their  names  are  held.  He  was  married  on 
April  26,  1879,  to  Miss  Cornelia  Daniels,  who  is 
also  a  native  of  this  county,  where  her  parents 
were  earlv  settlers.     The  fruit  of  their  union  is 


two  sons,  James  Ripley,  Jr.,  and  Harris  Daniels. 
The  history  of  this  family,  grandfather,  father 
and  son,  is  almost  co-extensive  with  that  of  the 
county  itself ;  and  its  present  state  of  development, 
wealth,  industrial  and  commercial  greatness,  and 
social,  intellectual  and  moral  culture,  represents 
the  mighty  work  of  a  class  of  progressive,  broad- 
minded  and  heroic  men  of  which  they  are  the 
types  and  to  which  they  have  materially  con- 
tributed. That  all  which  has  occurred  on  this 
soil  should  take  place  within  the  limits  of  one 
human  life  is  wonderful  to  think  of  and  per- 
haps impossible  in  any  other  country  but  ours. 
But  it  is  an  experience  that  the  elder  Comings 
and  many  more  like  him  have  had,  here  and  else- 
where, and  this  forcibly  illustrates  the  genius,  en- 
terprise and  all-conquering  spirit  of  the  American 
people. 

ALVIN  B.  BARNES. 

Alvin  B.  Barnes,  who  is  now  living  retired 
from  active  pursuits  at  Richland,  this  county, 
after  an  honorable  career  of  success  in  business 
and  of  practical  usefulness  in  helping  to  build  up 
the  section  of  the  county,  in  which  much  of  his 
life  has  been  passed,  is  one  of  the  few  early  pio- 
neers of  the  county  still  left  among  us  to  tell  over 
the  trials  and  hardships,  the  exciting  adventures, 
the  crude  appliances  for  all  kinds  of  labor,  and 
the  great  difficulties  of  laying  the  foundations  of 
the  commonwealth,  in  the  early  days,  and  the 
later  triumphs  of  man's  intelligence  and  energy, 
leading  up  to  the  splendid  delevopment  around 
•  us  today,  in  which  he  had  his  full  share,  is  a  na- 
tive of  Oneida  county,  N.  Y.,  born  on  March  24, 
1822.  He  is  the  son  of  Tillotson  and  Clarissa 
(Byington)  Barnes,  who  were  born  and  reared  in 
Connecticut.  The  father  was  a  farmer  and  also 
a  millwright,  and  he  wrought  at  these  vocations 
a  number  of  years.  In  1832  the  family  moved 
to  this  county,  making  the  trip  from  Rome,  N. 
Y.,  by  canal  to  Buffalo,  and  from  there  across 
Lake  Erie  by  steamboat  to  Detroit.  From  this 
city,  which  was  then  one  of  the  outposts  of  civ- 
ilization, they  traveled  with  an  ox  team  to  Gull 
Prairie  and  settled  on  one  hundred  acres  of  wild 
and  unbroken  land  in  Ross  township,  in  the  Oak 
Openings.     The  father  did  not  begin  farming  at 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


205 


once,  but,  yielding  to  the  necessities  of  the  neigh- 
borhood, he  erected  a  grist  and  saw  mill  at  York- 
ville, bringing  the  stone  from  Detroit  by  means  of 
ox  teams.  This  mill  he  operated  until  his  death, 
in  February,  1836.  The  mother  died  in  New 
York  when  her  son  was  but  four  years  old,  and 
afterward  the  father  married  a  second  wife,  Miss 
Ursula  Wilson,  who  died  at  Yorkville  in  1846. 
Of  the  first  marriage  three  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters were  born,  all  of  whom  are  now  dead  but 
Alvin.  The  father  was  a  leading  Presbyterian, 
and  assisted  in  the  erection  of  the  first  church 
edifice  for  that  sect  on  Gull  Prairie.  Alvin  B. 
Barnes  was  eleven  years  old  when  the  move  to 
Michigan  took  place,  and  he  saw  the  country  in 
which'  the  family  settled  in  all  its  pristine  beauty 
and  wildness,  and  experienced  also  all  the  priva- 
tions, trials  and  dangers  of  life  for  its  hardy  pio- 
neers. His  education  was  obtained  in  the  crude 
and  ill-qualified  common  schools  of  the  new  coun- 
try ;  and  at  an  early  age  he  put  on  the  harness  of 
a  worker  and  began  to  make  his  own  living  by 
working  on  farms  in  the  vicinity  of  his  home. 
In  1849  ne  assisted  in  founding  the  Yorkville 
Mitten  Factory  for  the  manufacture  of  buckskin 
gloves  and  mittens,  with  which  he  was  connected 
until  1854,  then  passed  two  years  in  general  mer- 
chandising at  Centralia,  111.  At  the  end  of  that 
period  he  returned  to  Yorkville,  and  in  1861  re- 
moved to  Richland,  where  he  kept  a  general  store 
until  1875.  Since  that  time  he  has  lived  retired 
from  active  work  or  business,  and  devoted  his 
time  to  his  own  quiet  enjoyments  and  what  aid 
he  could  give  in  pushing  forward  the  general  in- 
terests of  the  township.  He  is  a  stockholder  in 
the  Kalamazoo  Savings  Bank  and  the  Kalama- 
zoo National  Bank,  the  Superior  Paper  Company, 
the  Upjohn  Pill  Works, and  other  important  busi- 
ness enterprises.  In  December,  1854,  he  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Caroline  Luce,  a  native  of 
Vermont,  whose  parents  were  pioneers  of  Cook 
county,  111.  wSix  children  have  been  born  to  this 
union:  Emilia  B. ;  Carrie,  wife  of  J.  T.  Upjohn, 
of  Kalamazoo;  Hattie,  wife  of  A.  J.  Wylie,  of 
Shelby,  Mich. ;  Mary,  wife  of  George  E.  Little, 
of  Richland ;  and  Fannie  M.,  at  home.  The  fam- 
ily all  belong  to  the  Presbyterian  church  and  are 


actively  interested  in  its  works  of  benevolence  and 
religious  improvement.  To  live  from  the  dawn 
of  civilization  in  a  new  country  to  its  noonday 
splendor,  and  bear  a  willing  and  useful  hand  in 
helping  it  along;  to  see  a  whole  section  of  coun- 
try transformed  from  a  habitation  of  wild  deni- 
zens of  the  forest,  man  and  beast,  to  a  thickly 
peopled  region  of  happy  homes,  dressed  in  the 
majestic  robes  and  sparkling  with  the  glittering 
gems  of  cultivated  life ;  to  witness  mines  of  in- 
calculable value,  over  which  the  savage  trod  un- 
consciously in  his  haughty  pride,  without  sa- 
gacity to  discover  or  implements  to  explore  them, 
opened  to  general  utility  and  their  hidden  stores 
brought  forth  for  the  comfort,  convenience  and 
happiness  of  mankind — this  is  indeed  a  high  priv- 
ilege, and  it  is  one  that  Mr.  Barnes  has  enjoyed 
in  full  measure  in  his  experience,  and  now  enjoys 
many  times  over  in  retrospection. 

DAVID   B.   MERRILL. 

The  late  David  B.  Merrill,  who  passed  awav 
from  this  life  at  his  home  in  Kalamazoo  on  Fri- 
day, January  6,  1899,  was  a  prominent  business 
man  in  the  city  for  over  forty  years,  and  at  his 
death  left  many  landmarks  and  imposing  monu- 
ments to  remind  the  older  citizens  of  his  close 
and  successful  attention  to  business.  He  was 
one  of  the  most  extensive  manufacturers  in  Mich- 
igan, being  president  of  the  Merrill  Milling  Com- 
pany, which  owns  and  operates  four  mills,  two  in 
Kalamazoo,  one  three  miles  south  of  the  city,  and 
one  at  Plainwell,  their  names  being  the  Kalama- 
zoo, Coldstream,  Eagle  and  Plainwell  mills,  re- 
spectively. Mr.  Merrill  was  born  at  Peru,  Clin- 
ton county,  N.  Y.,  on  June  6,  1833,  anQl  was  tne 
son  of  Arthur  H.  and  Rhoda  (Stearns)  Merrill, 
natives  of  Claremont,  N.  H.  He  was  the  last 
born  of  nine  children,  and  after  receiving  an  ac- 
ademic education  taught  three  terms  of  school, 
beginning  when  he  was  but  fifteen  at  Peru.  Later 
he  taught  two  terms  on  Long  Island,  and  then 
clerked  about  one  year  in  a  grocery  in  New  York 
city,  after  which  he  returned  to  Peru  and  be- 
came bookkeeper  in  a  mill,  holding  the  position 
two  years.     For  a  similar  period  he  next  carried 


206 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


on  a  general  mercantile  business  at  Clintonville. 
He  became  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  in  1858,  and 
within  that  year  bought  the  Kalamazoo  mill  and 
entered  upon  his  long  and  active  career  as  a  man- 
ufacturer. Three  years  later  he  became  proprie- 
tor of  the  Coldstream  mill,  and  in  1872  bought 
the  Plainwell  mill,  and  in  1876  the  Eagle  mill. 
His  only  partner  at  first  was  George  W.  Fish, 
with  whom  he  continued  a  year  and  a  half,  then 
became  associated  with  Francis  H.  Chase,  their 
partnership  extending  over  three  years.  At  the 
end  of  that  period  W.  H.  McCourtie  joined  the 
firm,  of  which  he  was  a  member  until  1882.  But 
Mr.  Merrill's  whole  energy  was  not  taken  up  with 
his  milling  business.  He  had  an  abiding  faith  in 
the  growth  and  prosperity  of  Kalamazoo,  and 
was  never  wanting  in  the  clearness  of  vision  to 
see  and  the  enterprise  to  use  good  opportunities 
to  push  the  city's  progress  and  development.  In 
1866  he  and  Mr.  McCourtie  plotted  an  addition  of 
twelve  acres  to  the  city,  and  in  1865  he  pur- 
chased a  one-half  interest  in  the  Stuart  addi- 
tion, in  which  he  erected  a  number  of  dwelling 
houses.  Some  time  afterward  he  became  the 
owner  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  acres, 
twelve  acres  of  which  he  platted,  and  the  rest  he 
sold  in  one-acre  lots.  For  five  years  he  was  an 
extensive  stave  manufacturer,  and  in  this  under- 
taking, as  in  all  others  which  engaged  his  atten- 
tion, he  was  eminently  successful  and  prosperous. 
He  was  from  his  young  manhood  a  Republican  of 
pronounced  convictions  in  political  faith.  He  was 
a  stockholder  and  director  in  the  First  National 
Rank  and  also  a  stockholder  in  the  Kalamazoo 
Corset  Company.  In  addition  he  was  a  stock- 
holder in  the  Charlevoix  Summer  Home  Associa- 
tion, of  which  he  was  one  of  the  founders,  and 
an  owner  of  a  cottage  at  the  beautiful  and  health- 
ful resort  controlled  by  this  company.  He  was 
also  the  president  of  the  association  for  a  number 
of  years.  In  1856  Mr.  Merrill  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Julia  Hatch,  who  died  at  Kalamazoo 
in  April,  1859,  leaving  one  son,  Charles  B.,  who 
died  in  1876,  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  Subsequently 
the  father  married  a  second  wife,  Mrs.  Annie  La 
Due,  of  Milwaukee,  Wis.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  S.  B.  Davis,  of  Kalamazoo,  who  ran  the  first 


line  of  stages  between  Detroit  and  Chicago,  and 
wras  well  known  to  the  older  residents  of  his  home 
city.  He  was  killed  by  being  thrown  from  ;i 
wagon,  his  head  striking  a  telegraph  pole,  which 
brought  instant  death.  This  occurred  several 
years  ago.  The  second  Mrs.  Merrill  died  on 
August  11,  1890,  at  Petoskey.  She  was  the 
mother  of  one  child,  their  daughter  Ida,  now  de- 
ceased, who  married  G.  W.  Winans,  the  well 
known  manufacturer.  On  September  15,  1891, 
Mr.  Merrill  was  married  a  third  time,  his  choice 
on  this  occasion  being  Miss  Ida  L.  Rowley,  the 
daughter  of  Mrs.  J.  A.  Rowley,  of  Kalamazoo. 
Mr.  Merrill  was  an  influential  and  consistent 
member  of  the  First  Congregational  church,  and 
served  as  a  trustee  of  the  society,  and  was  a  lib- 
eral contributor  to  its  needs  for  more  than  thirty 
years.  He  visited  Europe  in  the  summer  of  1891 
and  made  a  tour  of  Scotland  and  England.  The 
office  of  the  milling  company  was  in  the  Merrill 
block,  which  was  built  by  Mr.  Merrill  in  1863. 
and  for  many  years  he  was  a  familiar  figure  to 
the  citizens  of  Kalamazoo  as  he  sat  at  his  desk 
in  the  front  of  the  office,  always,  except  at  short 
intervals,  giving  studious  personal  attention  to 
his  large  business.  Fraternally  he  belonged  to 
the  Masonic  order  for  many  years. 

HON.  HENRY  C.  BRIGGS. 

The  pioneer  attorney  and  the  Nestor  of  the 
bar  of  Kalamazoo  county,  Judge  Henry  C.  Briggs. 
who  has  been  in  the  active  and  absorbing  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  for  a  period  of  forty-three 
years,  has  sounded  all  the  depths  of  fame  in  his 
profession  here  and  encountered  all  its  difficulties 
in  the  trial  of  important  and  intricate  cases,  ami 
has  made  steady  progress  by  his  indomitable  will 
studious  habits  and  fine  natural  abilities,  from 
the  hour  when  he  was  first  sworn  in  as  an  attor- 
ney in  1861  until  now.  He  was  born  in  Rutland 
county,  Vt,  on  January  29,  1831,  his  father, 
Noah  Briggs,  being  also  a  native  of  that  state, 
while  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Sarah 
Kenyon,  was  born  in  the  state  of  New  York.  The 
father  was  a  mechanic  and  farmer,  and  the  family 
moved  to  Michigan  in  1836,  locating  in  Allegan 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


207 


county  when  almost  the  whole  of  the  state  was 
either  the  primeval  forest  or  the  unbroken  soil  vir- 
crin  to  the  plow  and  yet  filled  with  its  wild  growth 
of  luxuriant  but  practically  useless  vegetation. 
Tit  1864  he  moved  to  this  county  and  a  few  years 
afterward  (1874)  died  here.  Seven  sons  were 
born  to  the  parents  and  of  these  six  grew  to  man- 
hood and  two  are  now  living.  One,  William  H., 
served  in  the  Thirteenth  Michigan  Infantry  dur- 
ing the  Civil  war  and  died  in  the  service.  The 
Judge  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  and  at 
Kalamazoo  College,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
with  the -degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  and  after- 
ward received  that  of  Master  of  Arts.  Later  he 
pursued  a  special  course  at  the  State  University. 
In  1856  he  was  elected  clerk  of  Allegan  county 
for  a  term  of  four  years,  and  during  his  term  he 
studied  law.  In  i860  he  was  chosen  to  represent 
Allegan  and  Van  Buren  counties  in  the  state  sen- 
ate, and  was  known  as  "the  boy  member"  of  the 
body.  He  served  through  the  regular  session 
and  a  special  session  held  in  the  spring  of  1861 
and  rendered  efficient  service  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  011  enrolled  bills.  At  the  end  of  the 
special  session  he  resigned  his  seat,  and  having 
been  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Allegan  county,  lo- 
cated at  Kalamazoo  and  began  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  forming  for  the  purpose  a  partnership 
with  Hon.  Charles  S.  May,  the  firm  name  being 
May  &  Briggs.  In  the  fall  of  1862  he  was  elected 
prosecuting  attorney  and  this  firm  was  dissolved. 
He  served  four  years  as  prosecutor,  then  resumed 
his  private  practice.  In  1876  he  was  elected  pro- 
bate judge,  and  in  this  office  he  served  eight 
years,  at  the  same  time  carrying  on  his  general 
practice.  Afterward  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  Hon.  J.  C.  Burrows,  now  United  States 
senator  from  this  state,  which  lasted  two  years,  the 
firm  name  being  Briggs  &  Burrows.  In  1883,  on 
account  of  the  condition  of  his  health,  he  removed 
to  South  Dakota,  where  he  practiced  twelve  years 
and  filled  the  office  of  district  attorney,  and  also 
farmed  to  some  extent.  In  1896  he  returned  to 
Kalamazoo  and  since  then  he  has  been  actively 
engaged  in  a  large  general  practice.  He  is  now 
referee  in  bankruptcy.  The  Judge  is  a  Repub- 
lican in  politics,  and  in  devotion  to  his  party,  as 


in  his  practice,  he  makes  his  faith  known  by 
works  of  earnestness  and  value.  By  the  choice 
of  his  party  he  served  a  number  of  years  as  as- 
sistant district  attorney  in  this  county.  » He  was 
married  in  1859  in  Allegan  county,  this  state,  to 
Miss  Myra  R.  Toby,  who  was  born  in  Rhode 
Island.  She  died  in  1868,  and  on  June  16,  1875, 
he  solemnized  a  second  marriage,  being  united 
on  this  occasion  with  Miss  Amanda,  Hibbard,  a 
native  of  Massachusetts.  She  has  borne  him  two 
children,  both  sons,  William  H.,  now  living  in 
New  York,  and  Henry  B.,  now  of  the  Detroit 
Tribune.  In  church  affiliation  the  father  is  a 
Baptist  and  has  been  an  active  member  of  the  or- 
ganization for  many  years.  It  is  high  praise  but 
only  a  just  tribute  to  merit  to  say  that  in  all  the 
relations  of  life,  in  his  profession,  in  official  sta- 
tion, in  business  relations  with  his  fellows,  in 
social  communion  and  in  his  private  life  he  has 
met  every  requirement  and  responsibility  with  a 
manly  and  upright  character,  a  courageous  and 
self-reliant  spirit,  and  a  genial  consideration  for 
the  rights  and  feelings  of  others,  exemplifying 
in  an  admirable  way  the  best  attributes  of  Amer- 
ican citizenship. 

JOSEPH  DUNKLEY. 

If  the  man  who  makes  two  blades  of  grass 
grow  where  one  grew  before  is  a  public  benefac- 
tor, much  more  is  the  one  who  introduces  a  new 
product  into  a  region  and  there  multiplies  its  pro- 
duction so  as  to  make  it  one  of  the  leading  ele- 
ments of  wealth  and  comfort  to  the  people  and 
a  substantial  and  enduring  source  of  distinction 
to  the  section  in  which  it  brought  forth.  In  this 
class  belonged  the  late  Joseph  Dunkley,  of  Kala- 
mazoo, whose  useful  life  ended  on  May  26,  1898, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-two.  He  was  the  pioneer 
celery  grower  in  this  part  of  the  world,  and  be- 
ginning his  industry  on  a  small  scale,  he  ex- 
panded it  to  such  proportions  that  he  became  .the 
most  extensive  single  producer  of  this  palatable 
and  nutritious  plant  in  the  whole  world,  having  a 
the  time  of  his  death  seventy-five  acres  of  it 
fruitful  with  the  best  quality  known  to  the  mar- 
kets.    Mr.   Dunkley  was  born   in  Somersetshire, 


208 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


England,  on  October. 6,  1836,  and  was  the  son  of 
George  and  Elizabeth  (Knight)  Dunkley,  na- 
tives of  the  same  country,  who  emigrated  to 
Canada  and  died  at  London  in  the  province  of 
Ontario.  The  father  was  a  contractor  in  con- 
struction work  and  while  in  his  native  land  held 
large  contracts  from  the  government  in  building 
roads  and  sewers.  The  son  remained  in  England 
until  he  reached  the  age  of  seventeen,  receiving 
his  education  there  and  beginning  life  as  a  gar- 
dener. At  the  age  mentioned  he  emigrated  to 
Canada  and  located  near  the  city  of  London, 
where  he  followed  his  craft  of  gardening  until 
1857.  In  that  year  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo  and 
bought  two  lots  of  ground  on  Pearl  street.  For 
three  years  he  was  employed  by  Bush  &  Patterson, 
and  then  began  gardening  in  a  small  way,  later 
engaging  more  extensively  in  raising  strawberries 
and  other  small  fruits.  In  1880  he  started  an 
enterprise  in  growing  celery  on  a  large  scale  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  city.  This  became  his 
leading  industry  during  the  remainder  of  his  life 
and  by  steadily  enlarging  his  operations  in  the 
new  field  he  made  himself  the  most  extensive 
celery  grower  in  the  world.  About  1884  he  erected 
greenhouses  on  Pearl  street  and  added  to  his 
business  that  of  a  florist  and  nurseryman.  This 
branch  of  the  business  is  now  carried  on  by  his 
family  as  the  Dunkley  Floral  Company,  and  is 
one  of  the  flourishing  and  prosperous  industries 
of  the  city.  Mr.  Dunkley  was  a  Republican  in 
politics,  but  never  filled  or  desired  a  public  office. 
In  1859  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Wilson, 
a  native  of  Ireland.  They  had  two  children  who 
grew  to  maturity,  Samuel  J.,  of  the  Dunkley 
Celery  Company  of  Kalamazoo,  and  Robert  J., 
of  South  Haven.  Their  mother  died  in  1877,  and 
in  1888  the  father  was  married  to  Miss  Agnes 
Whillis,  who  was  born  at  Grand  Rapids,  this 
state,  the  daughter  of  James  and  Isabella 
(Thompson)  Whillis,  who  moved  to  that  city  in 
1837.  The  father  was  a  native  of  Scotland  and 
a  carpenter.  Of  Mr.  Dunkley's  second  marriage 
seven  children  were  born,  five  of  whom  are  living, 
Myra  A.,  Clara  A.,  Laura  I.,  Charles  W.  and 
Benjamin  H.  Mrs.  Agnes  Dunkley  died  in  April, 
1905.  The  father,  who  was  one  of  the  progressive 


and  far-seeing  business  men  of  the  community, 
took  an  active  interest  in  all  its  means  of  develop- 
ment and  progress,  aiding  every  commendable 
project  conducive  to  these  ends.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  First  Presbyterian  church  and  one  of 
its  most  liberal  supporters. 

HON.  CHARLES  EDWARD  STUART. 

The  strong,  true  men  of  a  people  are  its  most 
priceless  possession,  in  their  active  usefulness 
while  living,  and  in  the  inspiration  and  influence 
of  their  memory  when  they  are  gone.  Although 
he  has  been  among  the  departed  of  this  county 
for  nearly  twenty  years,  Hon.  Charles  E.  Stuart, 
late  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Kalamazoo,  is 
still  held  in  the  highest  esteem  by  the  people  of 
the  city  among  whom  his  influence  is  still  potent, 
and  whom,  in  a  measure,  he  still  rules  from  his 
urn,  so  to  speak.  The  ancestors  of  Mr.  Stuart 
were  Scotch  and  English,  members  of  the  May- 
hew  family,  who  emigrated  from  England  to  this 
country  and  settled  at  Martha's  Vineyard  in  1642. 
From  that  time  until  the  present,  wherever  mem- 
bers of  the  family  have  found  a  foothold,  they 
have  faithfully  borne  the  part  of  good  citizens  in 
peace  and  war,  and  they  have  dignified  and 
adorned  all  the  walks  of  life.  Mr.  Stuart  was  the 
son  of  Dr.  Charles  and  Catherine  (Parsons) 
Stuart,  and  was  born  on  November  25,  1810,  in 
Columbia  county,  N.  Y.,  on  a  farm  which  was 
then  the  parental  homestead.  Soon  after  the 
close  of  the  war  of  181 2  the  family  moved  to  Wa- 
terloo, Seneca  county,  the  same  state,  where  the 
father  practiced  his  profession  and  also  carried 
on  large  farming  operations.  On  the  farm 
Charles  grew  to  manhood,  and  in  the  intervals  be- 
tween its  exacting  labors  he  attended  the  district 
school  in  the  neighborhood  and  there  secured  the 
rudiments  of  an  English  education.  These,  al- 
though no  suitable  and  sufficient  preparation  for 
the  important  public  duties  he  was  afterward 
called  upon  to  perform  in  exalted  station,  did  fur- 
nish pabulum  for  his  naturally  quick  and  strong 
mind  and  laid  the  foundation  for  that  superstruc- 
ture of  wide  and  solid  general  information  which 
by  his  own  studies  and  observations  he  afterward 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


209 


erected.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  began  the 
studv  of  law  in  the  office  of  Birdsall  &  Clark  at 
Waterloo,  and  after  a  diligent  course  of  study 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Seneca  county.  Early 
in  1835,  while  the  state  was  still  a  part  of  the  far 
frontier,  he  came  to  Michigan,  and  after  some  in- 
spection of  various  localities,  settled  at  Kalama- 
zoo, where  he  formed  a  partnership  for  the  prac- 
tice of  law  with  Gov.  Epaphroditus  Ransom. 
The  next  autumn,  drawn  by  the  invisible  but  te- 
nacious thread  of  sentiment,  he  returned  to  his 
New  York  home,  where  on  November  3,  1835,  he 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Sophia  S.,  daugh- 
ter of  George  and  Sophia  (Lee)  Parsons.  Re- 
turning to  his  new  home  with  his  bride,  he  en- 
tered vigorously  on  the  career  of  active  useful- 
ness which  he  afterward  had,  devoting  himself 
assiduously  to  his  profession  and  with  character- 
istic public  spirit  and  patriotism  giving  public 
affairs  a  large  part  of  his  attention  as  a  Demo- 
crat of  firm  convictions.  He  served  one  term 
in  the  legislature,  then  kept  out  of  office  until 
1847,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States 
house  of  representatives.  In  1849  ne  was  re~ 
elected,  and  in  the  winter  of  1852-3  was  chosen 
United  States  senator  for  a  full  term  of  six  years. 
In  i860  he  was  a  delegate  at  large  to  the  Demo- 
cratic national  convention  which  met  at  Charles 
ton,  S.  C,  and  owing  to  the  irrepressible  conflict 
then  waging  between  the  sections  of  our  country, 
bin  which  had  not  yet  sought  the  arbitrament  of 
war,  adjourned  to  Baltimore,  Md.,  with  its  work 
unfinished.  Two  years  later,  after  the  gage  of 
battle  had  been  delivered  by  the  South  and  lifted 
by  the  North,  he  was  commissioned  by  Gov.  Blair 
to  raise  and  equip  the  Thirteenth  Regiment  of 
Michigan  Infantry,  which  was  noted  for  gallan- 
try on  the  battlefield  during  the  memorable  con- 
test. In  1866  and  again  in  1868  Mr.  Stuart 
served  as  a  delegate  to  the  national  conventions 
of  his  party,  the  former  held  at  Philadelphia  and 
the  latter  at  New  York,  and  these  were  almost  his 
last  public  services  of  a  conspicuous  character. 
Soon  afterward  inflammatory  rheumatism  at- 
tacked him,  and  becoming  chronic  and  affecting 
his  heart,  compelled  his  withdrawal  from  public 
affairs.     His  last  case  was  tried  in  1873.  From 


that  time  until  his  death  on  May  19,  1887,  he  was 
only  an  observer  of  events  and  a  patient  sufferer 
of  continuous  pain.  His  faithful  wife  and  helper 
through  so  many  years  of  his  great  activity  and 
prominence,  after  surviving  him  some  seven 
years  and  a  half,  passed  away  on  November  14, 
1894.  Both  were  universally  esteemed  in  life  and 
generally  mourned  in  death.  They  had  six  chil- 
dren, three  of  whom,  their  son  Charles  Lee  Stuart 
and  two  daughters,  are  living. 

FRANK  H.  MILHAM. 

Highly  endowed  by  nature  with  a  good  busi- 
ness capacity  which  has  been  well  developed  in 
the  rugged  but  thorough  school  of  practical  ex- 
perience, Frank  H.  Milham,  secretary  and  man- 
ager of  the  Bryant  Paper  Company,  has  found 
ample  scope  for  his  mercantile  and  industrial 
faculties  in  that  great  commercial  and  manufac- 
turing center,  the  city  of  Kalamazoo,  and  he  has 
used  his  opportunities  very  largely  to  his  own 
credit  and  advantage  and  for  the  lasting  benefit 
of  the  community.  He  was  born  in  Kalamazoo 
county  on  a  farm  near  the  city  of  Kalamazoo, 
on  April  25,  1864.  His  parents,  John  and  Louisa 
(Anderson)  Milham, settled  in  the  county  in  1840. 
The  father  was  throughout  his  life  an  industrious 
and  prosperous  farmer.  Previous  to  his  removal 
from  his  native  state  of  New  York  he  served  in 
the  legislature  and  was  also  a  member  of  the  Na- 
tional Guard.  During  Lafayette's  second  visit 
to  the  United  States  he  was  a  member  of  the  dis- 
tinguished visitor's  body  guard.  He  was  a  Demo- 
crat in  political  faith  and  once  was  the  nominee  of 
his  party  for  the  office  of  sheriff,  but  was  defeated 
by  a  few  votes  although  the  county  was  then 
strongly  Republican.  In  this  county  he  was  con- 
nected prominently  with  the  commercial  and  man- 
ufacturing interests  of  the  section,  being  a  stock- 
holder in  the  Kalamazoo  Paper  Company  and  one 
of  the  organizers  of  the  Farmers'  Mutual  Insur- 
ance Company,  of  which  he  was  president  for 
many  years.  He  died  in  Kalamazoo  in  1884. 
His  son  Frank  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
and  received  his  business  training,  or  the  begin- 
ning of  it,  at  the  Parsons  Business   College  of 


2IO 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


Kajamazoo.  After  leaving  that  institution  he 
farmed  a  year,  then  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Bardeen  Paper  Company  at  Otsego,  Allegan 
county,  as  foreman  of  the  assorting  department. 
After  three  years  of  service  in  that  capacity  he 
was  transferred  to  the  office  force  as  stock  clerk 
and  had  charge  of  all  stock  and  material  that 
came  into  the  mill.  In  1895  he  united  with  Noah 
Bryant,  H.  P.  KaufTer,  S.  F.  Dunkin  and  others, 
to  organize  the  Bryant  Paper  Company,  with  a 
capital  stock  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars.  He  was  made  secretary  and 
manager  of  this  corporation,  which  is  one 
of  the  largest  paper  manufacturies  in  the 
state  of  Michigan.  It  employs  regularly 
over  four  hundred  persons  and  has  an  an- 
nual output  of  more  than  twelve  thousand  tons  of 
high-grade  book,  bond  and  other  papers,  and  is 
the  only  paper  establishment  here  outside  of  the 
trust.  Mr.  Milham  is  also  secretary  and  a  director 
of  the  Superior  Paper  Company,  president  and  a 
director  of  the  Imperial  Coating  Company,  presi- 
dent of  the  Kalamazoo  Railroad  Supply  Company, 
president  and  a  director  of  the  Illinois  Envelope 
Company  of  Kalamazoo,  secretary  and  a  director ' 
of  the  Munissing  (Mich.)  Paper  Company,  and  a 
director  of  the  Home  Savings  Bank  of  Kalama- 
zoo. He  enjoys  the  distinction  of  having  been  at 
one  time  nominated  by  both  parties  for  the  office 
of  mayor  of  Kalamazoo,  and  of  having  declined 
the  nomination  from  both.  He,  however,  served 
three  years  as  president  of  the  village  council  of 
Otsego,  and  is  at  present  (1904)  a  member  of 
the  Kalamazoo  board  of  education  and  a  director 
and  member  of  the  building  committee  of  the 
Kalamazoo  Hospital.  He  was  married  on  Octo- 
ber 20,  1885,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Bryant,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Noah  Bryant  (see  sketch  elsewhere  in  this 
work).  They  have  one  child,  their  daughter 
Nora.  He  is  a  thirty-second-degree  Masion,  an 
Elk  and  a  Knight  of  Pythias.  He  has  served  his 
lodge  of  Elks  as  exalted  ruler  and  his  lodge  of 
Knights  of  Pythias  as  chancellor  commander. 

DR.  URIAH  UPJOHN. 

The  late  Dr.  Uriah  Upjohn,  for  a  long  time 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  medical  profession  of 
Kalamazoo  and  throughout   southern    Michigan, 


who  died  in  the  city  in  November,  1896,  at  the 
ripe  old  age  of  eighty-seven  years,  and  after  a 
long  career  of  great  usefulness  in  this  community, 
was  born  in  Wales  in  1808,  while  his  parents, 
Sibley  William  and  Mary  (Standard)  Upjohn, 
natives  of  England,  were  on  a  visit  to  that 
country.  The  father  was  a  civil  engineer  and  for 
many  years  practiced  his  profession  in  his  na- 
tive land,  being  connected  with  many  works  of 
construction  of  great  importance  there,  among 
them  the  first  railroad  built  in  the  country,  for 
which  he  made  a  portion  of  the  survey.  He  was 
also  a  preacher  of  the  Independent  domination, 
founded  by  him,  and  in  his  zeal  founded,  built  and 
maintained  a  church  of  this  faith  at  Shaftesbury. 
He  emigrated  to  the  United  States  about  1826, 
and  located  near  Albany,  N.  Y.,  where  he  farmed 
on  a  small  scale  until  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred there.  He  was  the  father  of  three  sons, 
all  of  whom  grew  to  maturity,  became  residents 
of  Michigan  and  devoted  themselves  to  the  medi- 
cal profession,  one  of  them,  Dr.  William  Upjohn, 
being  a  surgeon  in  a  Michigan  regiment  during 
the  Civil  war ;  another  brother,  Erastus,  went  as 
a  pioneer  to  Nebraska  and  printed  the  first  news- 
paper issued  in  that  territory.  Pie  was  also  a 
surgeon  in  the  Union  army  during  the  Civil  war. 
A  sister,  named  Helen,  married  Fenner  Ferger- 
son,  a  former  resident  of  Albion,  this  state,  who 
was  appointed  by  President  Pierce  the  first  chief 
justice  of  Nebraska,  and  afterwards  sent  as  a 
delegate  from  that  territory  to  the  United  States 
house  of  representatives.  Later  he  was  nominated . 
for  governor  of  Nebraska,  but  died  while  he  was 
making  the  canvass  for  the  office.  Dr.  Uriah  Up- 
john passed  from  childhood  to  manhood  amid 
the  favorable  influences  of  an  excellent  home  and 
the  discipline  and  thorough  training  of  good 
schools  in  England.  He  remained  at  home  until 
April,  1828;  when  he  and  his  older  brother,  Wil- 
liam, came  to  the  United  States,  landing  in  New 
York  in  June.  They  spent  the  summer  travelling' 
and  prospecting  through  some  of  the  eastern  and 
southern  states.  The  following  winter  Dr.  Uriah 
taught  school,  and  early  in  the  spring  of  1830  re- 
turned to  England  to  assist  his  parents  in  remov- 
ing to  this  country,  where  they  arrived  in  his 
company  in  July.     The  family  settled  at  Green- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


211 


Imsh  (East  Albany),  N.  Y.  Here  the"  Doctor 
began  the  study  of  medicine,  or  rather  continued 
it.  for  he  had  already  given  the  profession  some 
attention  in  England,  becoming  a  student  under 
i he  direction  of  Dr.  Hale,  a  learned  man  of  high 
character,  a  graduate  of  Jefferson  Medical  Col- 
lege in  Philadelphia,  and  the  husband  of  Governor 
George  Clinton's  granddaughter,  her  father  hav- 
ing been  the  well-known  "Citizen  Genet.'"  Dr. 
I'pjohn  pursued  the  full  professional  course  at 
the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  New 
York  and  was  graduated  from  that  institution 
on  March  25,  1834.  He  had  also  attended  the 
practice  of  physic  and  surgery  in  the  New  York 
Hospital  and  two  full  courses  in  anatomy  and 
surgery  under  Professor  Alden  March,  of  Albany. 
He  began  his  practice  at  Brighton,  Monroe 
county,  New  York,  and  in  June,  1835,  he  and  his 
brother,  William,  started  out  to  seek  their  for- 
tunes in  the  far  west,  as  it  was  then,  crossing 
Lake  Erie  by  steamer.  From  Detroit  they  jour- 
neyed to  Kalamazoo  on  horseback  through  the 
wilderness,  and  located  on  section  31  in  that  part 
of  Richland  township  since  named  Ross.  Build- 
ing a  little  log  house  on  their  land,  they  began 
the  practice  of  medicine  in  these  western  wilds, 
where  the  settlers  were  few  and  it  was  far  be- 
tween them,  the  conditions  laying  them  under 
tribute  for  prodigious  industry  and  the  endurance 
of  great  hardships  and  privations.  On  September 
15,  1837,  ne  was  niarried  to  Miss  Maria  Mills,  a 
daughter  of  Deacon  Simeon  Mills,  one  of  the  pio- 
neers of  Gull  Prairie.  For  a  period  of  twenty 
years  he  rode  horseback  to  visit  his  patients 
scattered  through  five  counties,  following  the 
new-made  track  of  the  pioneer,  or  the  Indian 
trail,  or  by  blazed  trees  through  the  trackless 
forest,  for  there  were  no.  roads  in  this  section  at 
that  time.  Kindly,  patiently,  he  went  forth  on  his 
errand  of  mercy  in  all  seasons  and  through  all 
kinds  of  weather,  giving  his  services  as  cheer- 
fully to  the  poor  who  could  not  pay  as  to  those 
who  could.  In  1845  ne  was  nominated  for  con- 
gress on  the  Free-Soil  ticket,  and  while  in  the 
midst  of  his  practice  he  and  his  brother,  William, 
s<int  a  memorial  numerously  signed  to  the  legis- 
lature which  resulted  in  the  passage  of  the  'home- 


stead law.  Dr..  Upjohn  and  his  wife  became  the 
parents  of  twelve  children,  seven  daughters  and 
five  sons.  Eleven  grew  to  maturity  and  of  them 
five  have  graduated  from  the  medical  department 
of  the  University  of  Michigan:  Mary  and  Amelia 
in  pharmacy,  the  first  lady  graduates  of  the  Uni- 
versity, and  Helen,  Henry  U.  and  William  E.  as 
physicians.  Helen  (Mrs.  Kirkland)  was  well 
established  in  practice  at  Kalamazoo,  but  died  in 
1902  ;  James  T.,  in  addition  to  the  five  named 
above,  is  a  graduate  of  the  State  University  and 
a  physician  in  active  practice.  In  1885  William 
E.  and  Henry  began  the  manufacture  of  pills  and 
granules  and  on  the  death  of  Henry,  James  T. 
became  a  member  of  the  company  along  with  an- 
other brother,  Frederick  L.  The  enterprise  is  a 
stock  company  well  capitalized  and  has  an  enor- 
mous business,  which  is  constantly  increasing  in 
the  volume  and  variety  of  its  products.  Mrs. 
Upjohn  died  in  February,  1882,  and  the  Doctor 
followed  her  to  the  other  world  in  November, 
1896.  During  the  last  ten  of  fifteen  years  of  his 
life  the  Doctor  was  connected  with  his  profession 
only  as  a  consulting  physician,  but  he  never  lost 
interest  in  it  or  eagerness  for  the  promotion  of  its 
best  interests.  The  earlier  years  of  his  work  were 
full  of  exposure,  hard  labor  and  privation.  Yet 
he  was  a  sturdy  man,  inured  to  toil  and  exposure, 
and  knew  no  other  life.  And  nature,  distributing 
her  favors  with  a  system  of  constant  balances  and 
compensations,  gave  him  through  his  very  hard- 
ships a  flexibility  of  function  and  a  toughness  of 
fiber  which  kept  him  in  condition  for  his  work 
and  enabled  him  to  continue  it  so  long  and  do  it 
so  well.  He  attributed  much  of  the  vigor  of  body 
and  mind  and  elasticity  of  spirit  which  he  en- 
joyed when  approaching  the  verge  of  four-score 
and  ten  to  his  continued  exercise  on  horseback  in 
the  open  air  during  the  long  period  of  his  country 
practice. 

GEORGE  B.  DAVIS. 

The  late  George  B.  Davis,  of  Kalamazoo, 
whose  death  occurred  on  May  4,  1902,  was  for 
many  years  one  of  the  principal  business  men  of 
the  city,  and  by  his  thrift,  industry  and  business 
acumen  accumulated  a  large  estate,  especially  in 


212 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


real  property,  demonstrating  impressively  that  to 
the  qualities  he  possessed  there  is  great  wealth 
of  opportunity  open  in  this  land  of  unbounded 
possibilities.  He  was  a  native  of  Kalamazoo,  born 
at  the  corner  of  South  and  Henrietta  streets  on 
February  27,  1839.  His  parents  were  Lewis  R. 
and  Nancy  (Simons)  Davis,  the  former  a  native 
of  New  Jersey  and  the  latter  of  New  York.  They 
settled  at  Kalamazoo  in  1834,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  thereafter  the  father  worked  at  his  trade 
as  a  tailor  in  the  city.  He  then  purchased  a  farm 
east  of  the  Michigan  Buggy  Works,  and  on  this 
he  and  his  wife  passed  the  remainder  of  their 
lives,  the  father  dying  there  on  March  11,  1889,  at 
the  age  of  eighty,  and  the  mother  on  March  13, 
1900,  at  the  same  age.  Their  offspring  numbered 
three,  one  son  and  two  daughters.  Of  these  all 
are  now  deceased  but  one  daughter,  Isabella,  who 
lives  at  Battle  Creek,  this  state.  The  son  George 
was  reared  and  educated  in  Kalamazoo,  attending 
the  common  schools,  the  Baptist  College  and 
Gregory's  Business  College,  being  graduated 
from  the  last  named.  Early  in  life  he  began  run- 
ning a  saw-mill  built  by  his  father  on  the  farm, 
and  to  the  industry  which  thus  took  his  fancy  as 
a  youth  he  devoted  the  rest  of  his  days,  becoming 
an  extensive  lumber  merchant,  conducting  large 
operations  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state  and 
running  a  number  of  mills  in  different  sections, 
one  of  his  specialties  being  hard  woods.  He  also 
became  an  extensive  dealer  in  real  estate  and 
owned  many  buildings  in  Kalamazoo,  among 
them  the  Davis  block,  at  the  corner  of  Kalamazoo 
avenue  and  Rose  street.  He  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  King  Paper  Company  and  a 
stockholder  in  the  Home  Savings  Bank.  While 
deeply  and  serviceably  interested  in  public  af- 
fairs, and  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  his  city  and 
county,  he  never  filled  or  desired  a  public  office, 
but  in  national  politics  loyally  supported  the  Dem- 
ocratic party.  On  October  6,  1875,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Annette  M.  Lewis,  a  daughter  of 
Hiram  and  Candice  (Leeland)  Lewis,pioneer  set- 
tlers in  Michigan,  having  come  to  Barry  county 
in  1836.  They  were  farmers  and  came  to  Kalama- 
zoo county  in  1865,  and  both  died  here.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Davis  had  two  children,  both  of  whom  are 
living,   George  G,   of  Kalamazoo,  and  Annette 


L.,  at  home.  Mr.  Davis  was  everywhere  highly 
respected  and  his  death  was  felt  to  be  a  great  loss 
to  the  community  in  which  he  so  long  lived  and 
labored  for  the  common  good  and  the  expansion 
of  every  element  of  commercial,  educational  and 
moral  interest. 

NOAH  BRYANT. 

Noah  Bryant  who  is  one  of  the  veteran  paper 
manufacturers  of  Michigan,  and  is  more  exten- 
sively engaged  in  the  business  than  almost  any 
other  man  in  the  state,  may  properly  be  said  to 
have  been  born  to  the  craft,  his  forefathers  having 
been  engaged  in  it  for  two  or  three  generations 
before  him.  He  was  born  at  Alton,  in  Hamp- 
shire, England,  on  January  3,  1844,  and  is  the 
son  of  Joseph  and  Mary  (Brown)  Bryant,  also 
natives  of  that  country.  The  father  was  largely 
occupied  in  the  manufacture  of  paper  throughout 
his  life,  much  of  the  time  in  England  and  in  later 
years  in  this  country.  He  died  at  Florence,  Mass., 
at  an  advanced  age.  His  father  was  also  a  paper 
manufacturer,  doing  his  work  by  a  hand  process. 
He  died  in  England.  Mr.  Bryant  is  one  of  seven 
sons  born  to  his  parents,  all  of  whom  engaged  in 
making  paper,  and  all  but  him  are  now  living  in 
Australia.  He  grew  to  manhood  and  was  edu- 
cated in  his  native  land,  and  there  he  learned  his 
trade,  serving  an  apprenticeship  of  seven  years. 
In  1859  he  emigrated  to  the  United  States  and 
located  at  East  Hartford,  Conn.,  where  he  was 
employed  a  year  in  running  a  paper  machine  in 
the  Goodwin  mills.  He  then  passed  a  year  atTroy, 
N.  Y.,  and  thereafter  was  employed  in  different 
places  in  the  east  until  1871.  He  was  with 
Crocker  &  Burbanks,  of  Fitchburg,  Mass.,  for 
eleven  years,  having  charge  of  two  mills.  He 
then  moved  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  had  charge 
of  a  mill  for  one  year.  In  the  fall  of  1871  he 
came  to  Kalamazoo  as  foreman  of  the  old  Kala- 
mazoo paper  mill,  which  he  built  up  in  its  busi- 
ness and  placed  on  a  paying  basis,  remaining  with 
the  company  for  a  period  of  eleven  years.  In 
1882,  in  company  with  Walter  Hodges,  George 
Barden  and  Jacob  Hook,  he  went  to  Otsego, 
Mich., and  founded  the  Bardeen  Paper  Mill, which 
he  served  as  superintendent  eight  years.     Then, 


XOAH   UK  Y  ANT. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


215 


in  company  with  Frank  Milham,  John  King,  J. 
Cook  and  others,  he  organized  the  Bryant  Paper 
Manufacturing  Company,  of  which  he  was  then 
made  and   is   now   president,   and   which   is   the 
largest  and  most  prosperous  company  of  the  kind 
in  Kalamazoo.     Under  his  vigorous  management 
and  business  capacity  the  trade  of  the  mills  has 
grown  to  large  proportions  and  its  profits  have 
kept  pace  with  its  expansion.     Mr.  Bryant  is  also 
vice-president  of  the  Imperial  Coating  Plant,  a 
director  of  the  Superior  Paper  Mill  and  a  stock- 
holder in  the  Munissing  Paper  Mill,  of  Munissing, 
He  also   still   holds   stock   in   the   Barden   Paper 
Company.  In  1864  he  was  married,  in  Fitchburg, 
Mass.,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Willmott,  a  native  of 
England.     They  have  one  child,  a  daughter,  who 
is  now  the  wife  of  Frank  Milham,  of  Kalamazoo. 
Mr.  Bryant  has  found  no  food  for  his  fancy  in 
political  contentions,  and  although  a  Republican 
in  party  faith  he  has  never  been  an  active  partisan. 
In  the  fraternal  life  of  the  community,  however, 
he  has  taken  an  active  interest  as  a  Freemason 
and  an  Elk.     His  business  and  his  domestic  af- 
fairs have  engaged  his  attention  to  the  exclusion 
of  almost  everything  else,  and  in  these  he  has  been 
true    to    every     demand     of    good     citizenship. 
Throughout  southern  Michigan  and  the  adjacent 
territory  he  is  widely  known  and  highly  esteemed. 
Mr.  Bryant  enlisted  in  1864  at  Philadelphia  in  a 
Pennsylvania  regiment   for  three  months.     The 
regiment  was   sent  to  Washington  and   various 
places    in    Pennsylvania,    including    Gettysburg, 
Chambersburg  and  Pottsville,  doing  guard  duty 
and  was  finally  sent  back  to  Philadelphia,  where 
they  were  discharged. 

KALAMAZOO  HACK  &  BUS  COMPANY. 

The  greater  the  attractions,  the  commercial 
and  industrial  activity  and  the  social  mingling  of 
a  city  or  community,  the  more  need  there  is  for 
transportation  facilities.  The  wants  of  Kalama- 
zoo in  this  respect  are  admirably  provided  for  by 
the  Kalamazoo  Hack  and  Bus  Company,  whose 
capital  stock  is  twenty-four  thousand  dollars,  and 
whose  equipment  is  one  of  the  most  complete  and 
modern  in  this  part  of  the  world.  The  business 
was  started  by  a  firm  of  energetic  and  enterpris- 
1-3 


ing  partners,  and  in  1890  the  company  was  or- 
ganized with  a  capital  stock  of  sixteen  thousand 
dollars,  by  George  Fuller,  H.  J.  Fuller,  Hall  P. 
Kauffer,  E.  C.  Dayton,  W.  R.  Beebe,  J.  C.  Good- 
ale,  H.  F.  Badger,  J.  W.  Osborn  and  C.  A.  Peck. 
The  first  officers  were  H.  P.  Kauffer,  president ; 
George  Fuller,  vice-president ;  W.  R.  Beebe,  sec- 
retary and  treasurer,  and  H.  J.  Fuller,  general 
manager.     At  its  organization  the  company  had 
forty  horses  and  twenty  hacks  and  busses,  and 
up  to  that  limit  was  fully  equipped  for  every  re- 
quirement of  the  business.     In   1893  it  was  re- 
organized, the  capital  stock  was  raised  to  twen- 
ty-four thousand  dollars,  and  H.  J.  Fuller  was 
elected    president    and    general    manager,     Mr. 
Kauffer  having  disposed  of  his  interest  and  re- 
tired from  the  company.     The  other  officers  are 
still  the  same  as  when  the  first  organization  took 
place.    One  hundred  horses  are  now  in  use  in  the 
enterprise,  with  a  corresponding  number  of  first- 
class  conveyances,  and  it  is  claimed  that  this  com- 
pany gives  the  best  service  in  the  United  States 
for  the  least  money.    It  controls  the  whole  trans- 
portation industry  in  the  city,  and  the  demands  on 
its  facilities  are  constantly  increasing  at  such  a 
rate  that  it  is  now  building  a  new  stable  on  Pitch- 
er street  with  accommodations  for  one  hundred 
fifty  horses,  which,  when  completed,  will  prob- 
ably be  the  largest  one  in  this  state.    H.  J.  Ful- 
ler, the  president  and  general  manager,  is  a  na- 
tive of  Kalamazoo  county,  born  on  a  west  end 
farm  in  i860.     His  parents,  George  and  Hester 
A.  (Slack)  Fuller,  were  born  in  the  state  of  New 
York.    The  father  settled  in  this  county  in  1858 
and  farmed  until  1863,  when  he  moved  to  Kala- 
mazoo and  engaged  in  manufacturing  flour  bar- 
rels.    Some  little  time  afterward  he  turned  his 
attention  to  the  grocery  trade  and  followed  it  un- 
til 1870.  Two  years  later  he  started  a  livery  busi- 
ness, and  in  this  he  is  still  occupied,  the  pioneer 
liveryman  of  the  city.    He  has  taken  a  lively  in- 
terest in  the  affairs  of  the  city,  serving  two  terms 
in  the  city  council  and  otherwise  giving  good 
service  to  municipal  matters.     The  son,   H.   J. 
Fuller,  grew  to  manhood  and  was  educated  in 
this  county.    For  some  years  after  leaving  school 
he  was  in  business  with  his  father,  in  the  firm  of 
George  Fuller  &  Son,  remaining  with  him  until 


2l6 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


the  organization  of  this  company,  since  when  he 
has  given  its  affairs  his  exclusive  attention,  and 
to  good  purpose.  He  is  also  a  stockholder  in  the 
South  Side  Improvement  Company,  and  a  stock- 
holder and  director  of  the  Recreation  Park  Com- 
pany. He  is  besides  the  owner  of  valuable  real 
estate  in  the  city,  among  his  possessions  being  the 
Fuller  block,  which  he  has  recently  greatly  im- 
proved and  made  into  an  office  building.  Fra- 
ternally he  is  connected  with  the  order  of  Elks.  In 
1884  he  was  married  to  Miss  Lizzie  P.  Kidder,  a 
daughter  of  Lewis  Kidder  and  niece  of  George  F. 
Kidder.  Her  mother  was  Maria  (Drake)  Kidder, 
a  daughter  of  Benjamin  Drake,  one  of  the  pio- 
neers of  Grand  Prairie.  Benjamin  Drake  was 
the  first  settler  in  the  town  of  Oshtemo,  locating 
there  on  September  1,  1830.  The  land  he  took 
up  was  not  in  the  market  at  that  time  and  was 
still  occupied  by  Indians.  In  1831  the  govern- 
ment offered  it  for  sale  and  he  bid  it  in  without 
opposition,  although  he  had  reason  to  fear  trouble 
with  a  man  named  Washburn  who  had  asserted 
a  squatter's  claim  to  it.  With  the  help  of  the 
Indians,  Mr.  Blake  built  a  Jog  dwelling  on  his 
land,  which  was  the  first  habitation  for  white  per- 
sons on  Grand  Prairie.  The  Indians  in  the  main 
were  friendly,  but  occasionally  showed  an  ugly 
disposition.  The  tract  of  unbroken  prairie  on 
which  he  settled  was  transformed  by  his  industry 
into  an  excellent  farm,  to  which  he  afterward 
added  three  hundred  acres  more,  and  the  whole 
body  became  fruitful  and  beautiful  to  the  last 
degree  before  his  death,  being  considered  one  of 
the  best  in  the  county,  and  lying  almost  under 
the  shadow  of  the  growing  city  of  Kalamazoo. 
This  farm  is  now  owned  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fuller. 
It  has  never  been  out  of  the  family  or  incumbered 
with  a  mortgage.  Mr.  Drake  lived  to  the  age  of 
ninety-eight,  enjoying  the  fruits  of  many  years  of 
toil  and  hardship,  the  wealth  he  acquired,  not  by 
speculation,  but  by  continued  and  systematic  in- 
dustry and  frugality.  He  stood  high  in  the 
county  as  a  man  of  sterling  worth  and  strict  in- 
tegrity. In  political  faith  he  was  an  unyielding 
Republican  but  never  an  active  party  worker.  On 
December  19,  1819,  he  married  Miss  Maria  Og- 
den,  a  native   of   Quinte,   province   of   Ontario, 


Canada.  It  was  his  happy  fate  to  see  the  un- 
occupied prairie  and  unbroken  forest  in  the  midst 
of  which  he  settled  changed  into  comfortable 
homes,  fields  of  golden  grain,  and  cultivated  land- 
scapes, plentifully  supplied  with  churches  and 
schools. 

WALTER  R.  TAYLOR. 

A  lawyer  in  active  practice,  deputy  county 
clerk  and  abstractor  of  titles,  Walter  R.  Taylor, 
of  Kalamazoo,  leads  a  busy  life,  but  he  finds  in 
his  multiform  and  important  duties  the  pleasure 
that  comes  from  useful  and  profitable  labor,  and 
the  best  bulwark  against  discontent  and  real  wea- 
riness. He  is  a  native  of  Kent  county,  this  state, 
born  on  November  5,  1859,  and  the  son  of  Hollis 
R.  and  Hannah  (Howell)  Taylor,  the  former  born 
in  Vermont  and  the  latter  in  the  state  of  New 
York.  The  father  was  a  farmer  and  builder. 
He  came  to  Michigan  in  1833,  and  after  a  resi- 
dence of  a  few  months  at  Jones ville,  Hillsdale 
county,  moved  to  Coldwater,  Branch  county, 
where  he  built  the  third  house  put  up  in  the  town. 
In  1857  ne  moved  to  Kent  county,  where  he  died 
in  1890.  Two  of  his  sons  were  Union  soldiers 
in  the  Civil  war.  Walter  attended  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  county,  and  after  completing 
his  education  there  found  employment  in  the  office 
of  the  register  of  deeds  in  the  adjoining  county 
of  Newaygo  in  compiling  a  set, of  abstracts,  re- 
maining there  until  1888.  During  his  residence 
in  that  county  he  began  studying  law  under  direc- 
tion of  Colonel  Standish.  In  1889  he  was  ap- 
pointed assistant  reporter  for  the  supreme  court 
by  W.  D.  Fuller,  the  reporter,  and  during  his  year 
of  service  in  that  capacity  he  continued  his  legal 
studies.  He  was  admitted  to  practice  before  the 
supreme  court  in  1890  and  at  once  moved  to 
Kalamazoo,  where  he  has  since  resided  and  con- 
ducted a  large  abstracting  business  in  connection 
with  his  practice.  On  coming  to  Kalamazoo  he 
was  appointed  deputy  county  clerk  and  still  holds 
this  position.  He  has  prospered  in  his  business 
and  risen  to  consequence  in  the  community  as  the 
reward  of  his  industry  and  capacity  and  his  close 
attention  to  every  duty  which  has  devolved  upon 
him.     He  was   elected   mayor  of  Kalamazoo  in 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


217 


April,  1905,  defeating  the  Hon.  Samuel  Tolz,  the 
Democratic  nominee.  He  is  a  director  of  the 
First  National  Bank  and  is  connected  with  other 
interests  of  importance  and  usefulness  in  the  city. 
He  takes  an  active  and  helpful  part  in  political 
affairs  as  a  Republican,  and  has  prominence  in 
fraternal  circles  as  a  Freemason,  an  Odd  Fellow 
and  a  Knight  of  Pythias.  In  1855  he  united  in 
marriage  with  Miss  Ella  Hubbard,  of  Newaygo. 
They  have  two  children,  their  son  Walter  H.  and 
their  daughter  Edna  R.  Throughout  southern 
Michigan  Mr.  Taylor  is  favorably  known  as  an 
excellent  citizen,  a  capable  and  conscientious  busi- 
ness man,  a  lawyer  of  ability  and  industry  and  a 
genial  and  companionable  gentleman.  He  has  a 
host  of  friends  wherever  he  is  known,  and  he  de- 
serves the  high  regard  in  which  they  hold  him. 
His  services  as  an  abstractor  are  in  continual  de- 
mand and  his  work  in  this  line  has  no  superior 
anywhere,  he  -being  careful  and  painstaking  with 
it  to  the  last  degree,  doing  this,  as  he  does  every- 
thing else  with  all  his  energy,  and  with  the  utmost 
attention  to  every  detail. 

H.  N.  ELWELL. 

From  the  dawn  of  his  manhood  the  pleasing 
subject  of  this  memoir  has  been  connected  with 
public  affairs,  bearing  his  part  of  the  burden  of 
American  citizenship  first  in  the  Civil  war,  and 
facing  death  on  more  than  one  hard- fought  field 
of  that  sanguinary  conflict,  and  since  that  mem- 
orable struggle  passed  into  history  in  the  more 
congenial  fields  of  peaceful  labor  and  official  serv- 
ice. He  came  into  this  world  in  Kalamazoo 
county  on  May  10,  1842,  where  his  parents,  Ne- 
miah  and  Ruth  (Whitford)  Elwell,  natives  of  the 
state  of  New  York,  settled  in  the  spring  of  1836. 
At  that  time  the  whole  country  in  this  section 
was  an  almost  unbroken  wilderness,  and  all  that 
was  to  make  it  habitable  and  productive  was  yet 
to  be  done.  Accepting  the  conditions  with  cheer- 
fulness and  courage,  they  began  to  make  a  clear- 
ing for  a  home  on  a  tract  of  government  land  in 
what  is  now  Climax  township,  and  in  a  few  years, 
by  assiduous  industry  and  stern  endurance  of 
many  privations,  they  had  a  comfortably  im- 
proved   and    well    cultivated    farm.     There  the 


father  died  July  20,  1904,  the  mother  having  died 
on  the  soil  hallowed  by  their  labor  in  1895.  The 
father  has  been  a  man  of  local  prominence  and 
influence,  holding  several  township  offices  from 
time  to  time,  and  among  them  that  of  treasurer, 
of  which  he  was  the  first  incumbent  Their  son 
H.  H.  Elwell,  who  is  now  the  county  recorder  of 
deeds,  grew  to  manhood  on  this  farm  and  gained 
hardiness  of  body  and  independence  of  mind  in 
its  useful  though  exacting  toil.  He  received  a 
common-school  education  through  the  primitive 
facilities  afforded  in  his  boyhood  in  the  country, 
and  before  he  reached  his  legal  majority  had  mas- 
tered the  carpenter  trade.  He  worked  at  this  and 
farming  until  August  7,  1862,  when,  under  a  call 
for  volunteers  to  defend  the  Union,  he  enlisted 
in  Company  E,  Twenty-fifth  Michigan  Infantry. 
His  regiment  was  assigned  to  the  Twenty-third 
Army  Corps* in  the  Army  of  the  Ohio,  and  was 
soon  at  the  front.  Mr.  Elwell  participated  in  the 
battles  of  Tebbs  Bend,  Green  River,  Ky.,  Resaca, 
Dallas  and  Atlanta,  in  Georgia,  and  Nashville 
and  those  of  the  Franklin  campaign  in  Tennessee. 
He  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  in  1865  at 
Salisbury,  N.  C,  with  the  rank  of  sergeant,  and 
immediately  returned  to  Kalamazoo.  Here  re- 
suming his  former  occupations  of  fanning  and 
carpentering,  he  found  his  services  in  demand  and 
well  paid  for.  He  also  took  an  active  and  helpful 
part  in  public  local  affairs,  and  as  a  Republican 
was  elected  township  treasurer, servingtwo  years, 
township  clerk,  serving  six,  and  township  super- 
visor, serving  seven.  On  November  4,  1902,  he 
was  chosen  recorder  of  deeds  for  the  county,  and 
re-elected  to  the  position  in  November,  1904,  and 
has  been  diligently  occupied  with  his  duties  in 
this  important  office.  On  December  22,  1869,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Alice  Harvey,  a  native  of 
this  county.  They  have  three  children,  their 
daughters  Ruth  and  Susan  and  their  son  Richard. 
Mr.  Elwell  is  active  in  the  fraternal  life  of  the 
community  as  a  Freemason  and  a  United  Work- 
man, and  in  its  political  life  as  a  Republican.  In 
all  of  the  official  positions  he  has  held  he  has  made 
a  good  record,  and  he  is  making  one  in  the  posi- 
tion he  is  now  filling.  He  has  well  earned  the 
regard  and  good  will  of  his  fellow  citizens  which 
he  enjoys  in  an  unusual  degree. 


2l8 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


THE    KALAMAZOO    PAPER    COMPANY. 

This  large  and  important  manufacturing  in- 
stitution was  founded  on  October  i,  1866.  Its 
present  officers  are  Fred  M.  Hodge,  president; 
Edward  Woodbury,  vice-president  and  treasurer, 
and  William  M.  Loveland,  secretary.  In  1899 
the  company  purchased  the  Wolverine  mill  and 
later  built  an  entirely  new  plant  nearby  of  large 
dimensions  and  equipped  it  with  the  most  ap- 
proved modern  machinery  for  its  purposes,  mak- 
ing it  one  of  the  most  complete  and  capable  pa- 
per mills  in  the  world.  It  turns  out  annually  some 
twenty  thousand  tons  of  paper  of  various  kinds, 
which  is  sold  chiefly  in  this  country,  and  has  a 
high  rank  in  the  markets.  Mr.  Hodge,  the  presi- 
dent and  general  manager,  was  born  in  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.,  in  1858;  was  educated  there  and 
in  Wisconsin,  at  Janesville,  whither  he  moved 
with  his  parents  in  boyhood,  and  at  Kalamazoo 
College,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1880,  the 
family  having  moved  to  Kalamazoo  in  1872.  After 
leaving  college  he  spent  six  years  as  head  book- 
keeper of  the  Michigan  National  Bank.  In  1886 
he  became  associated  with  the  late  Samuel  A. 
Gibson  in  the  old  Kalamazoo  Paper  Company  as 
secretary,  and  he  has  been  connected  with  the  com- 
pany ever  since.  On  the  death  of  Mr.  Gibson  in 
1899  he  was  elected  president  of  the  company  and 
since  then  its  destiny  has  largely  been  in  his  capa- 
ble hands.  He  is  also  president  of  the  Kalamazoo 
Stationery  Company,  treasurer  of  the  River  View 
Coated  Paper  Company  and  the  American  Play- 
ing Card  Company  of  Kalamazoo,  and  a  direc- 
tor of  the  Michigan  National  Bank.  He  was 
married  June  18,  1884,  to  Miss  Susan  Edith  Gib- 
son, daughter  of  Samuel  A.  and  Mary  A.  (Farns- 
worth)  Gibson,  and  has  two  daughters  and  two 
sons,  all  living.  Mr.  Hodge  is  a  worthy  suc- 
cessor of  Mr.  Gibson  as  president  of  this  com- 
pany, being  one  of  the  best  known  and  most 
highly  esteemed  business  men  of  the  city  in  which 
it  operates,  and  under  his  management  the  trade 
of  the  company  has  steadily  increased  and  its 
hold  on  the  confidence  of  the  commercial  world 
has  been  greatly  strengthened. 


Samuel  Appleton  Gibson  was  born 
on  the  17th  of  August,  1835,  at  New  Ipwich, 
N.  PL,  and  inherited  from  his  parents.  Colonel 
George  C.  and  Alvira  (Appleton)  Gibson,  and 
from  a  long  line  of  New  England  ancestors  on 
each  side  of  the  house,  the  characteristic  thrift,  in- 
dustry and  ability  for  business  of  the  New  Eng- 
land people.  At  the  age  of  twenty,  having  se- 
cured a  good  education,  he  became  a  clerk  in  the 
postofhce  at  Concord,  Mass.,  serving  there 
two  years,  and  then  accepted  a  clerkship  in 
a  general  store  at  Ashby,  Mass.,  which  position 
he  held  for  another  period  of  two  years.  In  1859 
he  started  business  for  himself  as  a  grocer  at 
Fitchburg,  Mass.,  and  continued  his  op- 
erations there  in  that  line  for  a  number  of  years. 
He  became  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  in  1867  and 
lived  there  until  his  death.  For  the  uses  of  this 
paper  company  a  mill  valued  at  fifty  thousand 
dollars  was  built  on  the  Grand  Rapids  branch  of 
the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  Railroad, 
two  miles  south  of  Kalamazoo.  A  capital  of 
eighty  thousand  dollars  was  required  to  operate 
the  mills  and  carry  on  the  business  which  soon 
grew  to  large  proportions.  Mr.  Gibson  was  em- 
ployed by  the  company  as  a  mechanic  and  book- 
keeper until  1870,  then  became  the  superintendent 
of  the  business  and  later  president  of  the  com- 
pany, holding  the  last  named  position  until  his 
death  in  1899.  He  was  fully  conversant  with 
every  detail  of  the  business  done  by  the  company 
and  every  feature  of  the  manufacture  of  the  differ- 
ent kinds  of  paper  it  makes,  and  he  gave  the  affairs 
of  the  company  his  exclusive  attention.  He  was 
also  a  director  of  the  Kalamazoo  National  Bank 
and  a  trustee  of  the  Kalamazoo  College.  He 
united  with  the  Congregational  church  in  1858, 
and  for  many  years  before  his  death  was  one 
of  its  trustees.  Politically  he  was  a  firm  Republi- 
can, but  not  an  active  partisan.  He  early  realized 
the  need  of  close  and  cordial  relations  between 
an  employer  and  his  force,  and  he  made  the  men 
who  worked  for  him  his  warmest  friends,  secur- 
ing their  ardent  interest  in  his  enterprise  and  gen- 
eral welfare.  On  October  14,  i860,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Bardeen,  the  daughter  of 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


219 


Deacon  A.  Farnsworth,  of  Fitchburg,  Mass. 
Their  union  was  blessed  with  two  daugh- 
ters, Alice  Gertrude,  wife  of  F.  D.  Haskell,  and 
Susan  Edith,  wife  of  F.  M.  Hodge,  both  of  whom 
live  in  Kalamazoo.  Mr.  Gibson  died  on  January 
22,  1899,  aged  sixty-three  years,  and  with  a  long 
record  of  usefulness  and  upright  and  benignant 
citizenship  to  his  credit.  He  was  laid  to  rest 
with  every  demonstration  of  popular  regard  and 
public  grief  over  his  departure,  and  his  memory 
is  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  Kala- 
mazoo as  one  of  its  best,  most  serviceable  and 
most  representative  business  men. 

EDWIN  A.  CARDER. 

This  pioneer  furniture  manufacturer  and  un- 
dertaker of  Kalamazoo,  whose  long  and  useful 
life  of  more  than  fifty  years  in  that  city  was  a 
blessing  and  an  inspiration  to  its  people,  was  born 
in  Connecticut,  the  son  of  William  and  Deborah 
(Alexander)  Carder,  of  that  state.  The  farther 
was  a  farmer  who  came  to  Michigan  late  in  his 
life  and  died  at  the  home  of  his  son  Edwin.  The 
son  passed  his  first  fifteen  years  in  his  native  state, 
then  came  to  Michigan  in  company  with  others 
and  located  for  a  time  at  Niles.  From  there  he 
moved  to  Otsego,  Allegan  county,  where  he 
learned  the  trade  of  chairmaker,  and  where,  in 
1843,  ne  was  married  to  Miss  Sarah  A.  Green,  a 
native  of  England.  In  1848  they  moved  to  Kala- 
mazoo, and  here,  soon  after  his  arrival,  Mr.  Car- 
der started  a  business  in  the  furniture  trade  and 
undertaking,  also  manufacturing  chairs  to  some 
extent  for  a  number  of  years.  Then,  in  partner- 
ship with  Henry  Gilbert,  he  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  furniture  at  Jackson,  using  convict  la- 
bor in  the  factory,  and  running  a  line  of  retail 
stores  for  the  sale  of  their  output  at  Battle  Creek, 
Jackson  and  Kalamazoo,  as  well  as  at  some  other 
points.  After  some  time  they  abandond  the  fac- 
tory at  Jackson,  and  thereafter  Mr.  Carder  gave 
his  whole  attention  to  his  enterprise  at  Kalamazoo, 
which  he  conducted  successfully  until  his  death, 
on  August  28,  1 901,  his  wife  following  him  to 
the  other  world  on  November  of  the  same  year. 
They  had  a  family  of  two  sons  and  three  daugh- 


ters, all  of  whom  are  living,  Myron  F.,  George 
H.,  Mrs.  H.  A.  Clark,  Mrs.  George  E.  Bardeen 
•  and  Miss  S.  A.  Carder.  » The  parents  were  mem- 
bers of  the  First  Methodist  church  and  gave  liber- 
ally to  its  support,  also  taking  an  active  part  in  its 
official  life  and  general  works  of  benevolence.  The 
father  was  a  strong  advocate  of  temperance  and 
did  much  to  advance  the  cause  in  this  community. 
His  son,  Myron  F.  Carder,  is  now  in  control 
of  the  business  and  is  managing  it  with  the  same 
foresight  and  diligence  that  distinguished  his 
father  in  his  prime.  He  was  born  at  Otsego,  this 
state,  in  1844,  but  grew  to  manhood  and  was 
educated  in  Kalamazoo.  After  leaving  school  he 
found  employment  with  his  father  and  later  be- 
came a  member  of  the  firm  of  E.  A.  Carder  & 
Son,  and  soon  afterward  began  to  take  the  bur- 
dens of  the  business  off  his  father's  shoulders.  The 
second  son,  George  H.,  is  a  physician  at  Passa- 
dena,  Calif.,  where  the  oldest  daughter,  Mrs. 
H.  A.  Clark,  lives.  Mrs.  Bardeen  is  a  resident  of 
Otsego,  Allegan  county,  and  Miss  S.  A.  Carder 
lives  at  Dowagiac,  this  state.  All  are  highly  re- 
spected in  their  several  communities,  and  it  is 
enough  to  say  of  them  that  they  are  worthy  ex- 
emplars of  the  uprightness  of  life  and  force  of 
character  so  impressively  shown  by  their  parents. 

EDWIN  W.  DE  YOE. 

For  more  than  fifty-two  years  a  resident  and 
active  worker  in  the  city  of  Kalamazoo,  and  dur- 
ing that  time  filling  many  local  offices  with 
credit  and  conducting  various  business  enterprises 
with  vigor  and  success,  Edwin  W.  De  Yoe  has 
behind  him  the  record  of  a  useful  and  well-spent 
life  in  this  community,  and,  approaching  now 
the  evening  of  his  days,  he  may  justly  enjoy  the 
retrospect  of  his  past,  and  be  inspired  by  the 
scenes  of  progress  and  development  around  him 
to  the  production  of  which  he  has  been  a  sub- 
stantial contributor.  He  is  one  of  the  best  known 
and  most  highly  esteemed  of  the  pioneers  of  the 
county,  that  fast  fading  race  whose  works  in  this 
part  of  the  world  form  the  best  tribute  to  their 
worth.  On  February  2,  1835,  at  the  town  of 
Waterloo,    Seneca    county,  N.  Y.,  his    life    be- 


220 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


gan,  and  there  he  grew  to  man's  estate,  received 
his  education  and  started  the  career  which  is  an 
inspiration  <  and  an  encouragement  to  the  strug- 
gling young  men  of  the  country.  His  parents 
were  William  and  Hester  (Clute)  De  Yoe,  natives 
of  Saratoga  county,  N.  Y.  The  father  was 
a  mason,  contractor  and  builder  who  passed  his 
life  in  his  native  state,  dying  there  in  1862,  at 
Waterloo.  The  mother  survived  him  fourteen 
years  and  passed  away  in  1876.  They  had  thir- 
teen children,  of  whom  four  are  living,  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review,  Mrs.  William  A.  Wood,  of 
Kalamazoo ;  a  brother  who  still  resides  in  Water- 
loo, N.  Y.,  and  Miss  Harriet  N.  DeYoe,  of 
Kalamazoo.  The  grandfather,  John  De  Yoe,  was 
a  native  of  New  York  and  his  wife,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Ruth  Hall,  was  born  in  Rhode  Island. 
The  De  Yoes  were  of  old  French  Huguenot  an- 
cestry and  the  Clutes  of  Holland  Dutch,  two 
races  of  people  who  have  met  every  requirement 
in  life  in  behalf  of  human  liberty  and  progress 
in  a  courageous,  manly  and  masterful  way.  Mr. 
De  Yoe's  maternal  grandfather,  Gradus  Clute,  a 
native  of  Waterford,  N.  Y.,  was  an  exten- 
sive farmer,  dealer  in  land  and  wealthy  citizen 
of  those  parts  in  his  day.  His  life  was  passed  at 
Waterford.  His  wife  was  Sarah  Alida  Van  Ness, 
a  member  of  an  old  and  distinguished  New  York 
family.  Edwin  W.  De  Yoe  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated in  his  native  town,  completing  the  course  at 
the  Waterloo  Academy,  then  serving  some  years 
as  clerk  in  a  wholesale  bakery  there,  after  which 
he  resumed  his  studies  at  the  academy,  pursuing 
a  special  course  and  remaining  until  1851.  He 
then  entered  the  Geneva  grammar  school  under 
Dr.  Prentice  and  Professor  W.  T.  Gibson,  a  cele- 
brated school  of  those  days  in  that  part  of  New 
York.  In  1853  he  became  a  resident  of  Kalama- 
zoo and  was  made  assistant  postmaster  under  his 
brother,  William  H.  De  Yoe  (see  sketch  of  him- 
elsewhere  in  this  work),  and  afterward  under 
Hon.  N.  A.  Balch,  serving  until  1861.  Dur- 
ing his  tenure  he  spent  six  months  in  the  Detroit 
Commercial  College  and  also  a  short  time  in  the 
grocery  trade  in  partnership  with  S.  H.  Porter. 
In  addition  he  did  considerable  insurance  busi- 
ness for  the  Phoenix  Company  of  Hartford, 
Conn.       In     1861     he     was     elected     township 


clerk  for  two  years,  and  at  the  end  of  his  term 
began  handling  the  claims  of  soldiers  against 
the  government  and  also  did  business  in  insurance, 
real  estate  and  loan  activities.  These  latter  lines 
of  business  he  is  still  engaged  in.  He  was  mar- 
ried on  January  9,  1862,  to  Miss  Harriet  P.  Free- 
man, a  daughter  of  Rev.  L.  N.  Freeman,  rector  of 
St.  Luke's  and  St.  John's  church  of  Kalamazoo. 
They  have  two  children,  their  daughter,  Lillian  D., 
wife  of  Allen  C.  Frink,  of  Boston,  Mass., 
and  their  son,  William  M.,  who  is  associated 
with  his  father  in  business.  Mrs.  De  Yoe  died  on 
May  18,  1904.  Throughout  his  life  the  father  has 
been  actively  and  earnestly  interested  in  public 
affairs  as  a  Democrat,  and  he  has  given  excellent 
service  to  the  city  and  county  in  various  local 
offices.  Early  in  his  life  here  he  was  the  can- 
didate of  his  party  for  the  lower  house  of  the 
state  legislature,  but  it  was  impossible  for  any 
one  then  to  overcome  the  large  adverse  majority ; 
however,  there  was  but  a  small  preponderance 
of  the  vote  against  him.  In  1878  he  was  elected 
village  trustee  and  served  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  finance  and  claims  in  the  council. 
Prior  to  this,  in  1869,  he  was  village  clerk  one 
year.  In  1883  he  was  chosen  village  president, 
the  last  man  to  fill  this  office,  for  at  the  end  of 
his  term  the  place  was  incorporated  as  a  city 
and  he  was  elected  its  second  mayor.  About  this 
time  he  was  his  party's  nominee  for  the  office  of 

t state  senator,  but  was  beaten  by  a  small  majority. 
Fraternally,  Mr.  De  Yoe  belongs  to  the  Masonic 
order,  having  been  made  a  Master  Mason  in  1857 
and  a  Knight  Templar  some  thirty  years  or  more 

*ago.  He  belongs  to  St.  Luke's  church,  and  was 
junior  warden  and  vestryman  in  St.  John's  from 
1862  to  1876.  In  1890  his  son  William  became  a 
member  of  the  firm,  which  was  then  organized  as 
E.  W.  &  W.  M.  De  Yoe.     The  business  of  this 

.firm  is  extensive  and  has  received  a  quickening' 
impulse  from  the  infusion  of  the  younger  blood 
of  the  son,  who  is  a  wide-awake  and  capable 
business  man. 

GEORGE  STEERS. 

Mr.  Steers  is  the  general  manager  of  the 
Kalamazoo  Ice  &  Fuel  Company  and  also  of  the 
Lake  View  Ice  Company,  and  for  these  organiza- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


221 


tions  he  has  by  application,  business  shrewdness 
and  a  genial  and  accommodating  disposition  built 
up  a  large  trade  and  established  them  on  a  safe 
and  broad  basis  of  enduring  prosperity.  He 
was  born  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  on  June  8, 
t86o,  and  is  the  son  of  Thomas  and  Mary 
(Hodges)  Steers,  who  were  born  and  reared  in 
England  and  came  to  the  United  States  about 
the  year  1850,  and  to  Michigan  in  1876.  The 
father  was  a  farmer  and  located  for  following  his 
vocation  near  the  city  of  Kalamazoo,  where  he 
died  in  1894.  The  mother  is  still  living.  Their 
son  George  was  educated  in  New  York  and  ac- 
companied his  parents  to  this  state  in  1875.  He 
worked  with  them  on  the  farm  until  he  was  about 
twenty  years  of  age,  then,  in  1880,  moved  to  Kala- 
mazoo, and  after  teaming  in  the  city  two  years, 
passed  two  in  farming.  He  then  again  turned  his 
attention  to  teaming  and  followed  this  line  un- 
til 1886,  when  he  started  an  enterprise  in  the 
sale  of  wood,  which  he  continued  until  1894.  In 
that  year  he  began  operations,  in  the  ice  business 
and  soon  afterward  began  to  handle  coal  also.  He 
conducted  this  trade  until  the  spring  of  1904, 
when  he  organized  the  leading  company  with 
which  he  is  now  connected,  the  Kalamazoo  Ice 
&  Fuel  Company,  and  of  which  he  has  ever  since 
been  the  general  manager,  as  he  is  of  the  Lake 
View  Ice  Company.  He  is  also  a  director  of  the 
Central  Bank  of  Kalamazoo  and  a  stockholder 
in  the  Rose  Street  Improvement  Company  and 
the  Recreation  Park  Association.  It  will  be  seen 
that  he  gives  an  intelligent  and  earnest  attention 
to  the  general  improvement  of  the  city  as  well 
as  to  building  up  its  business  interests,  and  in 
all  the  lines  of  activity  in  which  he  engages  he 
is  held  to  be  a  factor  of  force,  influence  and 
value.  He  was  married  in  1890  to  Miss  Emma 
J.  Eldred,  whose  parents  were  among  the  first 
settlers  on  Climax  Prairie.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Steers 
have  three  sons  and  two  daughters.  Their 
father  pushes  his  business  with  energy  and  vigor 
and  has  made  it  one  of  the  leading  ones  of  its 
kind  in  the  city,  steadily  enlarging  its  volume  and 
keeping  by  his  acceptable  methods  all  the  pa- 
trons he  secures.  He  takes  no  very  active  in- 
terest in  partisan  politics,  but  in  national  affairs 
supports  the  Democratic  party.    He  has  been  for 


years  absorbed  in  his  business  and  side  issues 
have  had  but  little  attraction  for  him.  As  a  citi- 
zen, a  merchant  and  a  public-spirited  man,  wise 
in  counsel  and  energetic  in  action  for  the  good 
of  his  community  he  is  well  esteemed  and  has 
influence  in  inspiring  others  to  increased  activity 
and  usefulness. 

EDWARD  P.  TITUS. 

Edward  P.  Titus  has  been  a  resident  of  Michi- 
gan since  1856  and  of  Kalamazoo  since  1861.  He 
is  therefore  one  of  the  older  residents  of  the  city, 
and  during  all  the  long  period  of  his  life  here 
he  has  been  an  active  and  progressive  citizen, 
deeply  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  community 
and  contributing  materially  to  its  advancement. 
He  was  born  near  Harford,  Susquehanna  county, 
Penn.,  on  July  1,  1828,  and  is  the  son  of 
Ezekiel  and  Betsey  (Jeffers)  Titus,  the  former  a 
native  of  Massachusetts  and  the  latter  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. The  father  was  a  farmer  and  one  of  nine 
men  known  as  the  Nine  Partners  who  emigrated 
to  Pennsylvania  in  1800  and  purchased  a  tract  of 
land  four  miles  square  which  they  divided  into 
nine  parcels  and  then  drew  lots  to  determine  each 
one's  location.  This  land  they  held  in  severalty 
although  they  were  called  the  Nine  Partners,  and 
on  it  they  founded  the  settlement  of  Nine  Partners 
Springs,  which  is  still  called  by  that  name.  Their 
location  was  in  the  midst  of  a  wilderness,  almost 
wholly  unsettled,  and  the  conveniences  of  life  for 
them  were  few  and  far  apart.  Their  nearest 
trading  point  was  at  Great  Bend  on  the  Susque- 
hanna and  their  nearest  mill  at  Binghamton,  N. 
Y.,  neither  being  less  than  fifteen  miles  dis- 
tant. The  Titus  family  to  which  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  belongs  descended  from  Robert  Titus, 
who  came  from  Harford,  England,  to  this  country 
in  1636  and  settled  at  Boston,  whence  the  family 
removed  to  Long  Island  in  1655.  The  father  of 
Edward  Titus  followed  farming  through  life  and 
died  on  the  old  Pennsylvania  homestead  on  March 
22,  1870,  aged  eighty-three  years.  His  political 
affiliation  was  with  the  Whigs  as  long  as  that 
party  existed  and  after  its  decease  with  the  Repub- 
licans, but  he  was  never  an  active  or  office-seeking 
partisan.     He  married   four  times  and   reared  a 


222 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


large  family  of  children,  of  whom  Edward  and 
one  of  his  brothers  are  all  who  are  left,  the  former 
being  the  only  one  resident  in  this  state.  He  re- 
mained at  home  until  he  was  twelve  years  old,  then 
started  out  in  life  for  himself.  Later  he  learned 
the  trade  of  carpenter  and  shipbuilder,  and 
worked  at  it  in  a  number  of  different  places. 
Prior  to  the  Civil  war  he  passed  a  number  of 
years  in  the  South  and  saw  the  institution  of  slav- 
ery in  all  its  forms.  This  made  him  an  ardent  abo- 
litionist, and  while  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  in  1853  and 
1854  he  was  connected  with  the  "underground 
railway"  and  helped  many  a  negro  slave  to  Canada 
and  freedom.  In  1856  he  became  a  resident  of 
Michigan,  locating  in  Van  Buren  county  on  a 
farm  near  Paw  Paw.  The  place  was  all  wild 
and  unbroken,  but  he  lived  on  it  three  years  and 
cleared  it  for  cultivation.  In  1861  he  moved  to 
Kalamazoo  and  began  contracting  and  building, 
and  in  this  work  he  aided  in  the  erection  of  many 
dwellings  and  business  houses  in  the  city.  Mr. 
Titus  was  married  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  on  De- 
cember 25,  1854,  to  Miss  Harriet  F.  Wells,  a 
native  of  that  city.  Her  father,  Orange  Wells, 
was  born  in  Massachusetts,  and  her  mother, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Nancy  Downer,  in  New 
Hampshire.  They  were  early  settlers  in  Orleans 
county,  N.  Y.  The  father  was  a  soldier  in 
the  war  of  18 12  and  had  a  brother  killed  in  the 
contest,  but  he  saw  no  active  service  himself.  Mr. 
and  JMrs.  Titus  had  one  son,  Edward  W.,  who 
died  in  New  York,  and  one  daughter,  Marian  A., 
who  died  at  Colorado  Springs,  Colo.  They 
reared  and  educated  two  adopted  children,  a  son 
and  a  daughter.  The  son  is  James  Cook,  a  promi- 
nent citizen  and  one  of  the  leading  stock  men  of 
Sioux  county,  Neb.,  and  the  daughter  is  Mrs. 
George  E.  Sutton,  of  Pontiac,  Mich.  Mr.  Cook 
started  in  life  with  nothing  in  the  way  of  worldly 
wealth,  and  has  made  himself  a  leader  in  his  sec- 
tion and  business.  Mr.  Titus  has  been  an  active 
Republican  from  the  foundation  of  the  party,  cast- 
ing his  vote  for  its  first  presidential  candidate. 
General  Fremont.  Since  1853  he  has  belonged  to 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  since 
1862  to  the  Baptist  church,  and  in  both  he  has 
been  energetic  and  useful  in  his  membership. 


FRANK  E.  KNAPPEN. 

It  is  everywhere  conceded  that  the  law  is  a 
jealous  mistress  and  admits  no  divided  allegiance 
from  her  votaries  who  wish  to  succeed  in  win- 
ning her  favors.  This  truth  was  well  impressed 
on  the  mind  of  Frank  E.  Knappen,  one  of  the 
leading  lawyers  of  Kalamazoo,  while  he  was  a 
student  of  his  profession,  and  he  has  kept  it 
ever  in  mind  during  his  practice.  He  has  de- 
voted himself  assiduously  to  the  requirements  of 
his  professional  work  with  a  special  attention  to 
the  criminal  practice.  And  his  worship  at  the 
shrine  of  duty  has  brought  him  commensurate 
returns  in  a  large  and  lucrative  practice,  a  good 
standing  among  his  professional  brothers,  and  a 
high  regard  in  the  mind  of  the  general  public.  Mr. 
Knappen  was  born  at  Hastings,  Barry  county,  this 
state,  on  September  27,  1854,  and  is  the  son  of 
Ashmun  A.  and  Sarah  J.  (Stafford)  Knappen, 
the  former  a  native  of  Vermont  and  the  latter  of 
Pennsylvania.  The  father  was  for  many  years 
a  lawyer  and  afterwards  a  minister  of  the  gospel. 
He  came  to  Michigan  with  his  parents  in  1833. 
when  he  was  four  years  old.  He  was  reared  and 
educated  in  Kalamazoo  county,  attending  the  old 
Branch  Academy.  After  leaving  school,  and  even 
before,  he  was  employed  in  mercantile  business, 
and  later  he  became  editor  of  the  Barry  County 
Pioneer  at  Hastings,  being  connected  with  the 
paper  as  editor  from  1850  to  1857.  He  passed 
the  next  three  years  at  Gull  Corners  engaged  in 
merchandising,  and  while  there  he  studied  law  in 
company  with  present  U.  S.  Senator  J.  C.  Bur- 
rows, being  admitted  to  the  bar  of  the  state  su- 
preme court  at  Detroit  in  1859.  In  1861  he  began 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  partnership  with 
Mr.  Burrows  at  Kalamazoo.  He  was  active  and 
zealous  in  his  chosen  work  until  1870,  then 
turned  his  attention  to  the  Christian  ministry  in 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  and  preached  un- 
til 1890  through  this  state,  becoming  in  course  of 
time  presiding  elder  under  the  control  of  the 
Michigan  conference.  He  now  lives  a  retired  life 
at  Albion.  He  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Sarah  J.  Stafford  in  this  county  in  1850,  and  they 
had  two  sons  and  three  daughters.     The  daugh- 


FRANK  E.  KNAPPAN 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


225 


ters  are  all  living  at  Albion.  One  son,  George 
Fred,  is  in  Sioux  Falls,  S.  D.,  cashier 
of  a  bank.  The  others  are  Mrs.  Mark  Russell, 
Mrs.  J.  L.  Thomas  and  Mrs.  H.  M.  Scripps,  all 
now  residing  at  Albion,  Mich.  Mr.  Knappen's 
parental  grandfather,  Mason  Knappen,  was  also 
a  Christian  minster,  being  active  in  the  Congre- 
gational church.  He  was  also  a  farmer.  He 
came  to  this  county  in  1833  and  cleared  up  five 
hundred  acres  of  land  near  Richland,  dying  there 
in  1856.  Frank  E.  Knappen  was  educated  in  the 
common  and  high  schools  of  Kalamazoo  and  the 
Northwestern  University  at  Evanston,  111.,  be- 
ing graduated  from  the  latter  institution  in  1877 
in  the  classical  course.  He  then  entered  the 
office  of  Briggs  &  Burrows,  of  Kalamazoo,  as 
a  law  student,  and  in  October,  1878,  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  practice  in  that  city  by  the  supreme 
court  of  Michigan.  Entering  at  once  on  his  pro- 
fessional work,  he  pursued  it  with  such  energy 
and  success  that  in  1880  he  was  elected  prosecut- 
ing attorney,  holding  the  office  until  1889.  At 
the  close  of  his  official  term  he  organized  the  law 
firm  of  Knappen  &  Frost,  and  at  the  end  of  a 
year  another  partner  was  taken  in  and  the  firm 
name  changed  to  Irish,  Knappen  &  Frost.  This 
firm  lasted  three  years,  at  the  end  of  which  it  was 
harmoniously  dissolved  after  which  Mr.  Knappen 
practiced  alone  until  1902,  when  he  formed  a  new 
partnership  with  L.  T.  Flansburg,  with  whom  he 
is  still  associated,  under  the  firm  name  of  Knap- 
pen &  Flansburg.  Since  beginning  his  practice 
Mr.  Knappen  has  given  his  whole  attention  to  his 
profession  with  special  reference  to  the  criminal 
practice.  He  has  succeeded  admirably  and  has  a 
high  position  at  the  bar.  He  was  married  in  1899 
to  Miss  Nina  A.  Ward,  a  native  of  New  York. 
Politically  he  is  a  zealous  and  unwavering  Re- 
publican, and  fraternally  belongs  to  the  Masonic 
order  and  the  Order  of  Elks.  He  has  always 
been  promnent  in  political  affairs  having  held 
various  positions  in  the  Republican  party  and 
was  presidential  elector  in  the  fall  of  1904. 

GEORGE  W.  PARKER. 

The  subject  of  this  notice,  who  is  one  of  the 
leading  and  most  progressive  meat  merchants  of 
Kalamazoo,  was  born  in  the  township  in  which  he 


now  lives  on  April  24,  1844,  and  the  son  of  Isaac 
M.  and  Catherine  (Patterson)  Parker,  the  former 
a  native  of  Ohio  and  the  latter  of  Virginia.  The 
father  was  a  farmer  who  became  a  resident  of 
Michigan  in  1 831,  when  he  was  but  eighteen  years 
of  age.  He  was  a  son  of  James  Parker,  of  whom 
more  extended  mention  is  made  in  the  sketch  of 
James  Parker  on  another  page  of  this  work.  Isaac 
Parker  was  employed  as  a  clerk  and  in  other  ca- 
pacities in  Kalamazoo  until  1834,  when  he  bought 
forty  acres  of  government  land  which  is  now  a 
part  of  the  Brook  farm  owned  by  the  asylum.  He 
cleared  up  this  tract  and  then  bought  two  hun- 
dred acres  additional,  and  lived  on  the  farm  until 
1867,  when  he  sold  it  and  purchased  one  six 
miles  east  of  South  Haven  on  which  he  resided 
until  his  death,  in  1879.  He  was  the  father  of 
two  children,  George  W.  and  a  daughter  who 
died  in  infancy.  The  mother  died  in  1857.  He 
afterward,  in  1865,  married  Catherine  Lull,  and 
two  children  were  born  of  this  union,  one  of 
whom,  their  son  Fred,  is  living,  as  is  also  his 
mother.  Mr.  Parker  of  this  sketch  was  reared  in 
this  township  amid  the  scenes  and  experiences 
usual  to  country  boys  of  the  time  and  place,  at- 
tending the  common  schools  and  working  on  his 
father's  farm  until  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  after 
which  he  was  variously  employed  until  1870,  when 
he  formed  a  partnership  with  C.  H.  Hurd  to 
carry  on  a  butchering  business.  The  partnership 
lasted  three  years,  and  in  the  spring  of  1874  Mr. 
Parker  formed  another  with  Cornelius  Miller  in 
the  same  line  of  trade,  which  lasted  two  years. 
Since  its  dissolution  Mr.  Parker  has  been  alone 
in  business  and  has  remained  in  the  same  shop 
all  the  time.  He  was  married  in  Kalamazoo,  in 
1866,  to  Miss  Laura  A.  Norton,  whose  parents 
came  to  this  county  in  1855.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Parker  have  one  child,  their  son  Herbert  W.,  who 
is  now  assistant  cashier  of  the  City  National 
Bank.  Fraternally,  the  father  is  a  Freemason  of 
the  Knight  Templar  degree.  He  is  widely  known 
as  an  excellent  business  man  and  a  good  citizen, 
and  stands  well  in  the  regards  of  the  people  of 
this  county  and  the  city  of  Kalamazoo  generally. 
He  has  not  been  active  in  political  affairs,  but  he 
supports  the  Republican  party.  In  matters  of 
public  improvement  and  such  as  make  for  the 


226 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


welfare  of  the  city  and  county  of  his  residence,  he 
is  one  of  the  foremost  and  most  active  workers, 
and  his  counsel,  based  on  a  wide  knowledge  of 
affairs,  is  earnestly  sought  and  carefully  heard. 
He  is  a  useful  man  and  is  highly  esteemed  as 
such. 

JACOB  SCHEID. 

Jacob  Scheid,  one  of  the  skillful  carpenters 
and  builders  of  Kalamazoo  until  1889,  when  he 
retired  from  active  work,  has  been  a  resident  of 
the  city  for  fifty-two  years,  having  come  here 
to  live  in  1854.  During  his  residence  here  he 
has  aided  in  the  construction  of  many  of  the 
principal  buildings  in  the  city,  and  always  found 
his  service  in  demand  while  he  was  actively  en- 
gaged at  his  trade  as  a  carpenter  and  builder.  He 
was  born  in  Bavaria,  Germany,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Rhine,  on  December  8,  1830,  and  is  the  son 
of  Nicholas  and  Catherine  (Liegenbueler)  Scheid, 
both  natives  of  the  same  part  of  the  fatherland  as 
himself.  The  father  was  a  carpenter  and  passed 
his  life  working  at  his  trade  in  his  native  land, 
dying  there  at  a  good  old  age,  as  did  the  mother. 
They  had  six  sons  and  seven  daughters,  only  two 
of  whom,  Jacob  and  one  of  his  brothers,  are 
residents  of  this  country.  After  receiving  a  com- 
mon-school education  Jacob  learned  his  trade  as 
a  carpenter  and  worked  at  it  in  his  native  land 
until  1852,  when  he  came  to  the  United  States 
and  located  in  Lorain  county,  Ohio,  where  he  re- 
mained two  years  working  at  his  trade.  On  Sep- 
tember 17,  1854,  he  arrived  at  Kalamazoo,  and 
here  he  has  since  made  his  home.  He  soon  found 
employment  at  his  trade,  and  later  worked  for 
Bush  &  Patterson  thirty  years,  acting  as  their 
foreman.  Since  1889  he  has  lived  retired  from  ac- 
tive pursuits,  enjoying  the  fruits  of  his  labors  and 
cultivating  the  esteem  of  his  large  number  of 
friends.  He  was  married  in  this  city  in  November, 
1856,  to  Miss  Francesco  Hotop,  who,  like  himself, 
is  a  native  of  Germany,  and  came  to  Kalamazoo 
in  1854.  They  have  had  five  children,  August,  Otto, 
Fred  and  Fannie,  who  are  living,  and  Theodore, 
who  is  deceased.  In  church  communion  the  mem- 
bers of  the  family  are  Catholics.  Living  quietly 
and  unostentatiously  amid  the  people  whom  he 


has  faithfully  served  and  the  impressive  works  of 
his  hand  which  he  can  see  on  almost  every  street, 
this  industrious  craftsman,  good  citizen  and  up- 
right man  finds  the  evening  of  his  life  passing 
along  in  peace  and  pleasure,  with  nothing  in  the 
way  of  neglected  duty  or  wrongful  conduct  to 
mar  the  record  of  his  usefulness  or  the  agreeable 
character  of  his  memories. 

JESSE  W.  HAZARD. 

Public  education  in  America  is  the  sheet  an- 
chor on  which  the  ship  of  state  relies  with  con- 
fidence and  hope.  The  fathers  of  the  republic 
proclaimed  it  as  a  necessary  constituent  of  popu- 
lar government,  and  the  experience  of  a  hundred 
years  has  proven  the  wisdom  of  their  contention. 
While  they  exhibited  solicitude  for  the  higher 
halls  of  learning  by  liberal  patronage  of  academies 
and  seminaries,  they  much  more  insisted  on 
schools  for  the  masses,  feeling  well  assured  that 
the  common  sense  of  the  plain  people  might  not 
be  safely  relied  on  for  a  wise  exercise  of  citizen- 
ship without  some  training  for  its  duties.  The 
question  is  no  longer  an  open  one.  Everybodv 
knows  the  immense  value  of  the  public  schools 
and  looks  upon  them  as  among  the  most  im- 
portant features  in  the  life  of  a  community.  What- 
ever else  a  town  may  offer  as  inducements  for 
new  settlers  this  must  not  be  overlooked.  Let  sites 
for  manufactories  be  as  free  as  the  air — let  plant 
be  exempt  from  taxation — let  franchises  he 
thrown  away  with  prodigal  liberality — let  ship- 
ping facilities  be  provided  to  the  widest  limit  at 
the  cheapest  rate — the  question  will  still  arise — 
what  school  advantages  are  available?  Tried 
even  by  this  severe  standard,  Kalamazoo  county 
is  entitled  to  a  high  regard.  Her  public  schools 
are  commensurate  with  her  business  enterprise 
and  the  enlightenment  and  breadth  of  view  of  her 
people,  and  this  is  enough  to  say.  One  evidence 
of  her  enterprise  and  progressiveness  in  this  re- 
gard is  the  fact  that  when  she  find3  a  man  of 
high  capacity  to  have  this  important  interest  in 
charge  she  knows  enough  to  keep  him  in  charge 
and  support  his  management  of  school  affairs. 
Professor    Jesse    W.    Hazard,    the    accomplished 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


227 


and  diligent  commissioner  of  schools  of  the 
county,  has  occupied  the  position  continuously 
since  1897  and  is  now  serving  his  fourth  term.  He 
brought  to  the  discharge  of  his  important  duties 
a  wisdom  gained  in  an  extensive  experience  as 
a  teacher  in  several  different  places  under  a  variety 
of  circumstances,  and  which  ripened  his  scholar- 
ship while  it  energized  and  broadened  the  force 
of  his  mind.  He  is  a  native  of  Wayne  county, 
Ohio,  born  at  West  Salem  in  May,  i860.  His 
parents,  James  and  Mary  (Gable)  Hazard,  were 
natives,  respectively,  of  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania. 
The  father  was  engaged  in  operating  a  large  saw 
mill  in  Ohio  until  1866,  when  he  came  to  Michi- 
gan with  his  family  and  located  on  a  farm  near 
Fulton,  this  county,  on  which  he  died  in  April, 
1904.  His  father,  John  Hazard,  was  born  and 
reared  in  Connecticut.  From  there  he  moved  to 
New  York  and  later  he  became  a  pioneer  in 
Wayne  county,  Ohio.  He  was  an  itinerant 
preacher  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  and 
also  taught  school.  He  died  in  Wayne  county, 
Ohio.  His  father,  the  Professor's  great-grand- 
father, was  a  Revolutionary  soldier.  Professor 
Hazard  was  educated  in  the  district  schools  of 
this  county,  at  Athens  high  school  and  the  Nor- 
mal College  at  Ypsilanti,  spending  four  years  at 
the  institution  last  named.  After  leaving  there 
he  accepted  a  position  as  principal  of  the  schools 
at  Marcellus,  this  state.  He  then  served  one  year 
in  the  same  capacity  at  Prairie  Du  Lac,  Wis., 
at  the  end  of  which  he  returned  to  Kalamazoo 
county,  and  during  the  next  two  years  was  a 
teacher  in  the  schools  at  Fulton.  In  1897  he  was 
elected  commissioner  of  schools  for  the  county,  a 
position  which  he  is  still  filling  acceptably,  serving 
now  his  fourth  term  in  the  office.  He  has  been 
faithful  to  every  requirement  of  his  post  and 
has  the  respect  of  the  teachers  of  the  county  and 
the  people  in  a  marked  degree.  In  1901  he  was 
married  in  this  county  to  Miss  Cora  Lapham,  a 
native  of  the  county.  They  have  three  children, 
all  daughters.  Professor  Hazard,  although  oc- 
cupying a  position  in  which  party  politics  has  no 
proper  place,  is  too  much  a  patriot  and  too  good 
a  citizen  to  be  indifferent  to  public  affairs,  and 
he  gives  them   close  attention  as  a  Republican. 


As  such  he. served  as  supervisor  of  his  township 
prior  to  his  election  as  school  commissioner.  Fra- 
ternally he  is  active  and  zealous  in  the  order  of 
Knights  of  Pythias. 

WILLIAM  G.  HOWARD. 

An  active  practitioner  of  the  law  in  this  state 
since  1870,  William  G.  Howard,  of  Kalamazoo, 
has  risen  to  a  high  rank  in  his  profession  and 
has  had  contact  with  almost  every  phase  of  its 
intricate  and  trying  requirements.  There  is 
scarcely  any  branch  of  legal  work  he  has  not  be- 
come familiar  with  from  actual  experience,  and 
in  all  he  has  sustained  his  high  reputation  for 
legal  learning,  forceful  advocacy,  tact  and  readi- 
ness in  trial  and  unwavering  professional  ethics. 
Mr.  Howard  is  wholly  a  product  of  Michigan. 
He  was  born  on  her  soil,  educated  in  her  schools 
and  prepared  for  his  professional  duties  in  the 
office  of  one  of  her  leading  law  firms.  He  also 
was  married  here  and  has  reared  his  family  in 
the  state ;  and  all  his  commercial  interests  are 
located  among  her  people.  The  life  of  this  promi- 
nent and  eloquent  advocate  began  in  Cass  county, 
Michigan,  on  May  18,  1846,  and  he  is  the  son  of 
George  T.  and  Eliza  (Parsons)  Howard,  na- 
tives of  Delaware,  who  came  to  Michigan  in  1845 
and  settled  on  a  farm  which  they  purchased  in 
Cass  county.  Here  they  passed  the  remainder  of 
their  lives,  the  mother  dying  in  1880  and  the 
father  in  1894.  Their  family  comprised  two 
sons  and  one  daughter.  One  son  has  died  and  the 
sister  is  living  in  Cass  county.  Mr.  Howard's 
grandfather,  Stephen  Howard,  was  born  in  Mary- 
land. He  also  came  to  Michigan  and  died  in 
Cass  county  in  1865,  after  many  years  of  useful 
farming  in  what  was  then  an  entirely  new  country 
to  agricultural  pursuits.  William  G.  Howard  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native  county 
and  at  Kalamazoo  College,  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  1867.  He  began  the  study  of  law  with 
Balch,  Smiley  &  Balch,  of  Kalamazoo,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  of  this  county  in  October, 
1869.  He  began  his  practice  at  Dowagiac,  Cass 
county,  in  partnership  with  James  Sullivan,  with 
whom  he  was  associated  from  1870  to  1873,  when 


228 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


he  came  to  Kalamazoo  and  became  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  Balch,  Howard  &  Balch.  Later  one 
of  the  Balches  retired  and  the  firm  became  Balch 
&  Howard,  and  this  continued  until  1878.  It  was 
then  harmoniously  dissolved  and  the  firm  of 
Brown,  Howard  &  Ross  was  formed.  Two  years 
later  Brown  retired,  then  the  firm  of  Howard  & 
Ross  continued  until  1899,  when  Mr.  Howard 
formed  a  new  partnership  with  his  son,  Harry  C. 
Howard,  under  the  name  of  Howard  &  Howard. 
Through  all  these  changes  of  associates  Mr.  How- 
ard has  gone  steadily  forward  in  his  profession, 
gaining  a  large  and  remunerative  body  of  clients, 
rising  to  influence  and  force  in  his  work  both  as 
an  advocate  and  a  trial  lawyer,  demonstrating  his 
ability  in  every  field  of  professional  activity  and 
winning  golden  opinions  from  all  classes  of  the 
community  in  which  he  lives.  He  has  also  taken 
a  very  active  and  serviceable  interest  in  the  com- 
mercial and  industrial  life  of  his  chosen  city, 
being  a  stockholder  in  the  Kalamazoo  Ice  Com- 
pany and  the  Home  Savings  Bank,  also  in  the 
Kalamazoo  National,  City  National  and  First  Na- 
tional Banks,  the  Lee  Paper  Company  and  the 
Kalamazoo  Corset  Company.  In  political  faith  he 
has  been  from  the  dawn  of  his  manhood  a  staunch 
and  earnest  working  Democrat,  and  as  such  was 
elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  Cass  county  in 
1870  and  mayor  of  Kalamazoo  in  1899.  He  be- 
longs to  the  Odd  Fellows  fraternity.  He  has 
also  served  on  the  school  board  and  the  board  of 
education.  He  was  married  in  St.  Joseph  county 
in  1870  to  Miss  Melissa  A.  Cooper,  of  White 
Pigeon.  They  have  two  sons,  Harry  C.  (see 
sketch  on  another  page)  and  John  A.,  of  Dowa- 
giac,  this  state,  both  of  whom  are  young  men  of 
prominence   and   highly   respected   citizens. 

SHERIDAN  F.  MASTER. 

Prominent  in  Kalamazoo  as  a  lawyer,  publicist 
and  leading  citizen,  and  now  representing  his 
district  in  the  lower  house  of  the  state  legisla- 
ture, Sheridan  F.  Master  has  lived  in  this  com- 
munity to  good  purpose,  making  much  of  his 
opportunities  and  performing  all  the  duties  of  a 
professional  man  and  first-rate  citizen  faithfully. 


wisely  and  diligently.  He  was  born  at  Berlin  in 
the  province  of  Ontario,  Canada,  on  March  7, 
1869,  the  son  of  Levi  and  Mary  (Freid)  Master, 
who  were  also  natives  of  Canada.  The  father  was 
a  clergyman  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
who  came  to  the  United  States  in  1871,  and  for 
many  years  preached  in  various  parts  of  this  state, 
at  one  time  being  stationed  at  Kalamazoo  as  pas- 
tor of  the  church  of  his  denomination  and  later  as 
presiding  elder  of  the  district.  He  died  in  1903 
at  Big  Rapids,  where  he  was  presiding  elder  at 
the  time.  The  mother  is  still  living.  The  grand- 
father, John  Master,  was  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. In  company  with  the  maternal  grand- 
father, Mr.  Freid,  he  established  a  colony  in 
Canada,  going  there  about  the  year  1840.  The 
grandfather,  John  Master,  some  time  afterward 
returned  to  the  United  States  and  tried  to  estab- 
lish another  colony  in  Kansas.  This,  however, 
was  not  a  success  owing  to  successive  droughts 
and  the  ravages  of  the  grasshoppers.  The  elder 
Master  then  returned  to  Berlin,  Canada,  where 
he  died  in  1895.  Sheridan  F.  Master  reached  man- 
hood in  this  state,  and  was  graduated  from  Albion 
College  in  1888.  He  at  once  began  studying  law 
in  the  office  of  Osborn  &  Mills,  of  Kalamazoo, 
and  was  admitted  to  practice  before  the  state  su- 
preme court  in  1891.  He  then  became  a  member 
of  the  firm  of  Osborn,  Mills  &  Master,  and  re- 
mained in  it  until  he  was  elected  county  attorney 
in  1899.  At  the  end  of  his  term  of  four  years 
in  this  office  he  returned  to  his  practice,  which 
he  has  since  conducted  alone.  In  1902  he  was 
elected  to  the  house  of  representatives  of  the 
state  as  a  member  from  the  Kalamazoo  district, 
and  he  is  now  (1904)  .still  serving  the  people  well 
and  wisely  in  that  office.  He  has  been  elected  and 
is  now  serving  as  speaker  of  the  house.  He  is  a 
stockholder  and  director  of  the  Ver  Don  Cigar 
Company,  of  Kalamazoo,  and  has  also  interests 
in  the  farming  industry  and  the  Paw  Paw  Pub- 
lishing Company.  In  1894  he  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Helen  Harrison,  of  Chicago,  and  they 
have  one  child,  their  daughter  Helen.  Politically, 
Mr.  Master  has  been  a  life-long  Republican,  and 
with  his  interest  ever  keen  and  active  in  the  wel- 
fare of  his  party,  he  has  stumped  his  county  and 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


229 


other  portions  of  the  state  in  its  numerous  cam- 
paigns, proving  himself  an  eloquent  and  effective 
advocate  of  the  cause  on  the  hustings,  as  he  is  of 
legal  principles  in  court.  Fraternally  he  is  a 
valued  member  of  the  order  of  Elks  and  the 
Knights  of  Pythias. 

J.  W.  RYDER. 

J.  W.  Ryder,  an  energetic,  enterprising  and 
progressive  wood  and  coal  merchant  of  Kala- 
mazoo, who  has  been  prominently  connected  with 
the  business  interests  of  the  city  for  a  long  time, 
was  born  in  the  city  in  April,  1868.  He  is  the 
son  of  Joseph  M.  and  Catherine  (Rollins)  Ryder, 
who  were  born  and  reared  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  and 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1848.  The  father 
was  a  mason  in  his  native  land,  but  on  his  ar- 
rival in  this  country  entered  mercantile  life  as  a 
dealer  in  wood  and  coal  at  Elmira,  N.  Y., 
where  he  remained  until  1852.  He  then  came  to 
Kalamazoo  ancj  began  dealing  in  real  estate,  pur- 
chasing vacant  lots  and  building  on  them,  then 
selling  the  property,  also  buying  houses  already 
built  which  he  improved  and  sold.  He  prospered 
at  this  business  and  while  advancing  his  own  for- 
tunes he  at  the  same  time  added  to  the  wealth 
and  beauty  of  the  city.  He  was  a  Republican 
in  politics  and  a  hard  worker  for  his  party.  Hold- 
ing membership  in  St.  Luke's  church,  he  took  an 
active  interest  in  its  affairs  and  aided  greatly  in 
promoting  its  progress.  He  died  in  1893  and  his 
wife  in  1896.  Their  son,  J.  W.  Ryder,  was 
their  only  child.  He  was  educated  in  the  schools 
of  Kalamazoo,  being  graduated  from  the  high 
school  in  1886.  He  began  his  business  career  as 
a  clerk  for  Dudgeon  &  Cobb,  with  whom  he  re- 
mained a  short  time,  then  entered  the  employ  of 
Conrad  Miller,  in  1887,  with  whom  he  remained 
1  ntil  1893,  when  he  became  a  member  of  the 
firm,  which  was  then  rebaptized  under  the  name 
of  Miller,  Ryder  &  Winterburn.  The  firm  lasted 
until  Mr.  Ryder  retired  from  it  in  April,  1904, 
and  since  that  time  he  has  been  in  business  alone. 
He  has  a  large  trade  and  conducts  his  business 
with  every  attention  to  details,  including  proper 
consideration  for  the  wants  of  his  customers,  as 


well  as  to  his  own  interest,  and  is  known  through- 
out the  city  as  an  upright  man,  fair  in  his  deal- 
ings and  broad  in  his  views.  He  has  taken  no 
partisan  interest  in  political  matters  and  has  all 
his  life  avoided  public  office.  But  he  omits  no 
duty  of  citizenship  and  usually  votes  the  Repub- 
lican ticket.  It  was  through  his  influence  and 
efforts  mainly  that  the  Michigan  &  Indiana  Retail 
Coal  Dealers'  Association  was  organized,  and 
when  it  was  formed  he  was  elected  its  president 
and  the  chairman  of  its  executive  board.  This 
association  was  organized  in  1895,  and  includes  in 
its  membership  all  the  retail  dealers  in  both 
states.  Mr.  Ryder  was  married  in  1893  to  Miss 
Rose  E.  Kelley,  of  Kalamazoo.  In  fraternal  re- 
lations he  is  connected  with  the  order  of  Elks  and 
the  Knights  of  Pythias.  In  the  latter  fraternity 
he  is  a  charter  member  of  Lodge  No.  170  and 
has  filled  all  its  chairs.  In  business,  in  fraternal 
life,  in  social  circles  and  in  his  civic  relations  he 
meets  every  obligation  in  a  manly  and  straight- 
forward way,  and  contributes  to  the  general  weal 
the  products  of  a  genial  and  companionable  spirit 
and  the  example  of  a  high  toned  and  honorable 
citizen. 

CARNEY  &  YAPLE. 

The  energetic  and  aspiring  young  gentlemen 
who  compose  this,  the  youngest  law  firm  in 
Kalamazoo,  while  of  comparatively  recent  admis- 
sion to  the  bar,  are  sufficiently  far  from  shore  to 
be  under  full  sail  in  their  profession,  and  have 
given  abundant  evidence  of  their  capacity  to  steer 
their  barque  to  its  desired  haven.  Their  story  is 
like  that  of  thousands  of  others  among  us  in  all 
parts  of  our  country,  one  involving  diligent  prep- 
aration for  the  issues  of  life  and  faithful  per- 
formance of  its  duties  after  entering  upon  them, 
working  and  waiting  for  the  reward  of  their 
labors,  and  winning  it  by  steady  progress  through 
attention  to  whatever  comes  to  them  in  their 
chosen  line  of  action.  Claude  S.  Carney,  the 
senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Carney  &  Yaple,  was 
born  at  Schoolcraft,  this  county,  on  the  25th  day 
of  April,  1875,  and  is  the  son  of  Byron  S.  and 
Alice  A.  (Fletcher)  Carney,  also  natives  of  this 
county,  where  the  father  is  a  well  known  and 


230 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


prosperous  farmer,  residing  near  the  town  of 
Schoolcraft.  The  son  was  reared  and  partially 
educated  in  his  native  place,  being  graduated  from 
the  Schoolcraft  high  school.  He  then  pursued  a 
literary  course  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  and 
in  the  law  department  of  the  same  institution  pre- 
pared himself  for  his  professional  work.  He  was 
graduated  from  this  department  in  1896,  and 
before  the  end  of  that  year  came  to  Kalamazoo 
and  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession 
with  Judge  John  W.  Adams,  then  prosecuting  at- 
torney, who  appointed  him  assistant  prosecutor,  a 
post  which  he  held  until  the  end  of  Judge  Adams' 
term  as  prosecutor,  and  his  election  as  judge  of 
the  circuit  court.  Mr.  Carney  then  began  prac- 
ticing alone  and  continued  doing  so  until  1901, 
when  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Edward  L. 
Yaple,  his  present  partner.  In  the  three  years 
which  have  passed  since  this  firm  was  formed 
the  members  of  it  have  steadily  risen  in  public 
esteem  and  the  good  opinion  of  their  professional 
brothers,  and  have  now  a  well  established  position 
at  the  bar  of  this  county  and  a  large  and  increasing 
practice  of  a  representative  clientage.  They  have 
had  many  cases  of  importance  and  intricacy  for 
trial,  and  in  the  management  of  them  have  shown 
wide  and  exact  knowledge  of  the  law,  both  in 
general  principles  and  adjudicated  cases,  and  have 
also  exhibited  tact,  fertility  and  eloquence  in  their 
conduct  of  them.  Mr.  Carney  was  married  in 
1902  to  Miss  Sarah  Westnedge,  a  native  of  this 
state,  and  they  have  one*son,  Herschel  Westnedge 
Carney.  He  was  a  Democrat  in  politics  and  an  Elk 
in  fraternal  life. 

Mr.  Yaple,  the  junior  member  of  the  firm,  is 
also  a  native  of  Michigan.  He  was  born  at  Men- 
don,  St.  Joseph  county,  on  the  7th  day  of  Febru- 
ary, 1874,  and  is  a  son  of  George  L.  Yaple,  cir- 
cuit judge  for  the  fifteenth  judicial  circuit  and  an 
esteemed  citizen.  After  being  graduated  at  the 
Mendon  high  school  Mr.  Yaple  attended  the 
Kalamazoo  College  and  the  Chicago  University, 
being  graduated  at  the  latter  in  the  literary  or 
academic  course  in  1897.  He  then  entered  the 
law  department  of  the  Northwestern  University, 
from  which  he  emerged  in  1899  with  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Laws.     He  began  practicing  at 


Kalamazoo  in  1901,  as  a  member  of  the  firm  to 
which  he  now  belongs  and  with  which  he  has 
ever  since  been  connected.  He  was  married  in 
1902  to  Miss  Charlotte  Willmot,  a  resident  of 
Kalamazoo.  They  have  two  children,  their  daugh- 
ters, Frances  and  Dorothy.  Mr.  Yaple  is  a  Re- 
publican in  political  allegiance  and  fraternally  lie 
belongs  to  the  Freemasons  and  the  Elks. 

H.  BROOKS  MILLER. 

One  of  the  oldest  and  most  extensive  real  es- 
tate dealers  in  Kalamazoo,  H.  Brooks  Miller  has 
done  a  great  deal  in  his  business  to  increase  the 
size,  augment  the  wealth  and  multiply  the  adorn- 
ments of  the  city.  He  has  handled  an  immense 
amount  of  property  and  always  worked  with  a 
view  to  improve  and  beautify  the  town  and  add 
to  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  its  people.  Mr. 
Miller  was  born  in  Essex  county,  N.  Y.,  on 
August  4,  1834,  and  is  the  son  of  Daniel  B.  and 
Caroline  (Randall)  Miller,  both  natives  of  that 
county.  The  father  passed  his  life  as  a  farmer. 
In  1836  he  moved  to  St.  Lawrence  county,  N.  Y., 
where  he  died  in  1899,  in  his  ninetieth 
year.  The  mother  died  in  1879,  aged  sixty-eight. 
The  grandfather  was  Judge  Manoah  Miller,  a 
man  of  great  local  prominence  and  influence  in 
New  York.  He  had  five  sons,  three  of  whom 
were  bankers  and  one  was  a  prominent  railroad 
man.  Mr.  Miller's  parents  had  a  family  of  four 
sons  and  four  daughters,  two  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter of  whom  are  living.  H.  Brooks  Miller  was 
reared  and  educated  in  New  York  and  Vermont, 
attending  for  a  time  a  private  school  at  Addison, 
in  the  latter  state.  After  leaving  school  he  moved 
to  Plattsburg,  in  his  native  state,  and  entered 
the  employ  of  the  G.  W.  &  M.  C.  Railroad,  se- 
curing a  good  berth  in  the  passenger  department 
in  which  he  worked  with  great  success  for  five 
years.  At  the  end  of  that  period  he  turned  his 
attention  to  general  merchandising  at  Plattsburg, 
and  after  five  years  of  successful  operation  in 
that  line  there,  transferred  his  energies  to  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  where  he  was  engaged  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  in  the  furniture  trade,  then  began 
the  manufacture  of  linen  collars,  which  he  carried 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


231 


on  several  years.  In  1880  he  came  to  Kalamazoo, 
where  he  has  ever  since  resided  and  been  active 
in  business.  Soon  after  his  arrival  in  that  city 
he  became  occupied  in  the  manufacture  of  spring 
tooth  harrows  in  the  firm  of  Miller  Bros.,  in 
which  he  remained  until  March  1,  1882.  At  that 
time  he  became  interested  in  the  real  estate  busi- 
ness in  partnership  with  J.  Frank  Cowgill,  un- 
der the  firm  name  of  Cowgill  &  Miller.  This 
partnership  lasted  to  the  death  of  Mr.  Cowgill, 
in  1898,  and  since  then  Mr.  Miller  has  conducted 
the  business  alone.  The  firm  did  an  extensive 
business  in  loans  and  handling  real  estate,  and 
during  its  continuance  an  enormous  amount  of 
property  passed  through  its  hands.  Under  Mr. 
Miller's  personal  and  individual  management  the 
business  has  increased  and  flourished,  and  it  is 
now  accounted  one  of  the  leading  enterprises  of 
its  kind  in  this  part  of  the  country.  Mr.  Miller 
has  been  twice  married.  The  second  marriage 
occurred  at  Troy,  N.  Y.,  in  1864,  when  he 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Marie  Louise 
Cheppu,  a  native  of  that  state.  Mr.  Miller  is  a 
member  of  St.  Luke's  church  and  was  a  pioneer 
member  of  the  Kalamazoo  Club.  He  has  an 
elegant  home  in  Kalamazoo  and  is  held  in  high 
regard  by  a  wide  circle  of  admiring  friends. 

SAMUEL  FOLZ. 

Samuel  Folz,  the  late  mayor  of  Kalamazoo  and 
the  fourth  Democrat  to  hold  that  office  in  the 
history  of  the  city,  has  been  prominent  and  in- 
fluential in  the  mercantile  and  industrial  life  of 
the  city  for  many  years  and  is  one  of  its  best 
known  and  most  highly  esteemed  business  men. 
He  is  connected  with  many  of  its  leading  enter- 
prises and  to  all  he  gives  close  and  careful  at- 
tention, helping  them  by  his  wisdom  in  counsel, 
his  promptness  and  vigor  in  action  and  his  shrewd 
and  discriminating  business  capacity.  He  was 
horn  on  September  18,  1859,  at  Hillsdale,  this 
state,  where  his  parents,  Joseph  and  Esther 
(  Hecht)  Folz,  natives  of  southern  Germany,  set- 
tled in  1856.  They  came  to  this  country  separ- 
ately when  they  were  young  and  were  married 
here.      In    Hillsdale  the  father  engaged    in    the 


clothing  trade  until  i860,  when  he  moved  to  Chi- 
cago and  continued  in  the  business  there  until 
the  great  fire  of  1871.  He  then  returned  to  Michi- 
gan and  located  at  Marshall,  where  he  died  in 
1872.  Samuel  received  his  education  in  the 
schools  of  Chicago  and  at  Marshall,  and  on  the 
death  of  his  father,  when  he  was  himself  but 
thirteen  years  old,  he  found  himself  without 
means  and  obliged  to  shift  for  himself.  He  be- 
gan work  as  a  newsboy  for  the  Detroit  Daily 
News  and  worked  up  a  considerable  circulation 
for  that  journal.  He  also  worked  at  stripping 
tobacco  at  odd  times  and  subsequently  learned  the 
cigarmaker's  trade.  In  1875  ne  came  to  Kalama- 
zoo and  during  the  next  five  years  worked  at  his 
trade.  But  failing  health  obliged  him  to  quit  it, 
and  he  next  found  employment  as  a  clerk  in 
the  clothing  store  of  Stearns  &  Company,  where 
he  remained  three  and  one-half  years.  In  1884 
he  began  business  for  himself  in  the  same  line, 
and  from  a  small  beginning  he  has  built  up  the 
largest  trade  in  clothing  in  the  city.  Until  1887 
he  was  associated  in  the  business  with  Mr.  Frank- 
lin, the  firm  name  being  Franklin  &  Folz.  Then 
Mr.  Folz  purchased  Mr.  Franklin's  interest  and 
he  has  since  carried  on  the  business  himself.  His 
first  entry  into  politics  was  as  a  candidate  for 
mayor  of  the  city  in  1895,  but  he  was  defeated 
by  a  small  majority.  He  was  next  nominated  by 
his  party,  the  Democratic,  for  alderman  of  the 
fourth  ward,  but  was  again  defeated.  In  1900 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  board  of  educa- 
tion and  in  this  position  he  served  three  years  and 
a  half,  when  he  was  again  nominated  for  mayor 
and  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty-nine  votes,  being,  as  has  been  noted, 
the  fourth  Democrat  to  reach  the  position  in  the 
history  of  the  city.  But  while  active  and  zealous 
in  political  matters,  his  chief  occupation  has  been 
promoting  the  business  interests  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  in  this  he  has  been  potential  and  success- 
ful in  a  high  degree.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the 
Kalamazoo  Paper  Box  Company,  the  Puritan 
Corset  Company,  has  been  until  recently  first 
vice-president  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  has 
just  been  elected  as  its  president.  He  is  also  con- 
nected with  the  Merchants'  Publishing  Company, 


232 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


the  A.  L.  Lakey  Company,  handling  paints  and 
oils;  the  Kalamazoo  Beet  Sugar  Company,  the 
Lee  Paper  Company,  of  Vicksburg,  Mich.; 
a  director  and  member  of  the  Excelsior  Medicine 
Company,  and  a  member  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  Kalamazoo  Trust  Company.  Fra- 
ternally he  is  connected  with  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  holding  the  rank  of  past  chancellor  in 
Lodges  No.  25  and  170,  of  which  latter  he  was 
the  founder.  He  also  belongs  to  the  order  of 
Elks  and  is  a  trustee  of  the  local  lodge.  In  his 
own  race  he  is  president  of  the  local  Independent 
Order  of  B'nai  B'rith,  a  Jewish  fraternal  society, 
and  is  past  grand  president  of  the  order  in  district 
No.  6,  and  also  secretary  of  the  local  congregation 
of  B'nai  Israel  and  director  of  the  Cleveland  Or- 
phan Asylum.  In  addition  he  has  served  during 
the  last  ten  years  as  president  of  the  Humane  So- 
ciety. He  was  married  in  1886  to  Miss  Jennie 
Friedman,  of  Kalamazoo,  and  has  three  sons. 

PHILIP  SCHAU. 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  pursuit  of  agri- 
culture, its  independence  and  freedom,  its  pleas- 
ures and  profits,  it  is  a  life  of  toil  and  exaction, 
laying  all  the  resources  of  him  who  follows  it  un- 
der steady  tribute,  and  not  always  bringing  in 
a  recompense  commensurate  with  the  outlay  of 
labor  and  care.  And  there  are  many  well-to-do 
men  engaged  in  it  who  would  be  well  pleased  to 
be  relieved  of  its  burdens,  if,  like  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  they  could  find  an  agreeable  retire- 
ment in  an  interesting  and  busy  city  like  Kalama- 
zoo, where  all  the  activities  of  industrial  and  com- 
mercial life  might  engage  them  as  lookers-on, 
without  involving  them  in  the  stir  and  whirl  as 
active  participants.  Mr.  Schau  has  not,  however, 
abandoned  the  field  of  energetic  labor  without 
having  wrought  his  hours  of  duty,  but  has  meas- 
ured time  for  many  years  with  the  busiest  of  men, 
and  has  reaped  an  abundant  harvest  from  his  dili- 
gence. Philip  Schau  comes  from  a  sturdy  Ger- 
man ancestry,  being  related  on  his  father's  side 
to  Jacob  Dorst,  founder  and  proprietor  of  the 
Mansion  House  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  on  his 
mother's  side  to  the  Pfirrmann-Lugenbeel  fami- 
lies.    His  grand-uncle,  Philip  Pfirrmann,  served 


under  Napoleon  and  was  promoted  for  bravery 
on  the  field  of  battle  to  the  rank  of  general,  after 
which  he  was  made  commander  of  the  provinces 
of  Alsace  and  Loraine.  His  grandfather,  David 
Pfirrmann,  was  a  wine  merchant,  and  owned  the 
ancestral  estates,  consisting  of  large  vineyards. 
Philip  Schau  was  born  in  Cooper  township  of  this 
county  on  June  24,  1885,  and  is  the  son  of  Jacob 
and  Catherine  (Pfirrmann)  Schau,  natives  of 
Germany,  their  lives  having  begun  in  that  country 
on  the  banks  of  the  historic  Rhine,  near  the  no 
less  historic  city  of  Heidelberg.  Here  has  been 
the  ancestral  home  of  the  family  for  many  gen- 
erations, and  its  memory  closely  identified  with 
the  history  of  the  old  Fatherland.  The  father 
was  a  merchant  and  large  land  owner  there,  and 
the  son  of  William  Schau,  a  prominent  man  in 
the  section  and  for  twenty  years  mayor  of  the 
city.  His  son,  the  father  of  Philip  Schau,  re- 
mained in  his  native  land  and  helped  to  manage 
a  portion  of  his  father's  estate  until  1853,  when 
he  brought  his  family,  consisting  of  his  wife  and 
six  sons,  to  this  country.  After  passing  nearly  a 
year  in  New  Yory  city  with  his  brother-in-law, 
he  moved  to  Michigan,  and  joined  another  broth- 
er-in-law, who  owned  one  thousand  forty-seven 
acres  of  land  in  Cooper  township,  this  county.  On 
a  portion  of  this  land  he  settled,  and  in  time 
cleared  one  hundred  acres,  making  it  his  home  for 
six  years.  He  then  moved  two  miles  north  on 
one  hundred  sixteen  acres,  where  he  lived  for 
eight  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  he  sold  this 
tract  to  his  sons,  Jacob  and  William  Schau,  and 
afterward  bought  a  farm  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  township  on  which  he  lived  until  his  death  in 
1898,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one  years.  The 
mother  died  in  1892.  Five  of  their  sons  are  still 
living,  and  all  but  one  are  residents  of  this  state. 
Their  father  was  an  active  man  in  local  affairs, 
and  filled  a  number  of  offices,  holding  a  high 
place  in  the  confidence  of  the  people  as  a  man  of 
strict  integrity  and  great  usefulness.  He  and  his 
wife  were  members  of  the  German  Lutheran 
church.  Their  son  Philip  lived  at  home  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  seventeen,  when  he  went  to 
Cincinnati  to  complete  his  education  at  a  select 
German  school,  and  to  take  a  course  of  instruc- 
tion in  a  business  college.    After  leaving  the  lat- 


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KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


235 


ter,  he  entered  the  business  house  of  his  uncle, 
with  whom  he  remained  more  than  a  year.  He 
then  returned  home,  and  during  the  next  five 
vears  had  charge  of  his  father's  farm.  During 
this  period  he  invented  a  broadcast  grain  seeder, 
and  in  1881  a  wheel  harrow,  entering  into  part- 
nership with  Julius  Schuster,  formerly  of  this 
city.  Soon  afterward  he  helped  to  organize  the 
Wolverine  Harrow  Company  of  Kalamazoo,  and 
for  some  years  was  one  of  its  directors  and  its 
general  manager.  He  next  purchased  a  farm  in 
Cooper  township,  which  he  operated  until  1890, 
when  he  sold  it  and  returned  to  the  paternal 
homestead.  This  he  purchased  on  the  death  of 
his  father  in  1898.  In  1900  his  wife  died,  and  the 
next  year  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo,  where  he  has 
since  resided,  giving  his  attention  to  the  affairs 
of  the  Schau  tire  setter,  invented  by  his  brother 
William,  and  in  which  company  he  has  an  in- 
terest. In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat,  and  as  such 
has  been  chosen  for  a  number  of  local  offices.  He 
was  married  in  1882  to  Miss  Anna  J.  Travis,  a 
daughter  of  Wellington  and  Abigail  (Went- 
worth)  Travis.  Three  children  were  born  to 
them,  all  of  whom  are  living,  Philip  L.,  Edith 
and  Florence  C.  Their  mother  died  in  1900,  as 
has  been  stated.  The  father  is  a  member  of  the 
First  Methodist  church,  and  is  looked  upon  ev- 
erywhere as  a  model  citizen,  and  one  whose  life 
has  been  very  useful  to  the  county  and  city.  On 
the  opposite  page  may  be  seen  a  splendid  like- 
ness of  this  worthy  man,  who  has  worked  so  un- 
tiringly for  the  good  of  his  state. 

LOYD  NICHOLS. 

Tt  is  one  of  the  glories  of  our  country,  and  a 
great  source  of  strength  to  it,  that  while  its  peo- 
ple are  proverbially  fond  of  peaceful  industry, 
and  give  their  attention  almost  wholly  to  the  oper- 
ation and  development  of  its  productive  and  civil- 
izing potencies,  when  the  occasion  demands  it  they 
are  at  once  transformed  into  determined  warriors, 
with  courage  to  assert  and  ability  to  maintain 
all  their  rights  against  all  opposers.  The  citizen 
soldiery  of  the  United  States,  drawn  from  the  pur- 
suits of  quiet  and  fruitful  industries,  and  from  the 
14 


forum,  the  sacred  desk,  the  academic  halls,  and 
even  the  cloister,  have  never  yielded  finally  to  a 
foe  in  war,  but  have  maintained  the  honor  of 
the  country  against  the  trained  veteran  of  other 
lands,  whose  trade  was  carnage,  and  in  every 
contest  of  this  character  have  established  Ameri- 
can valor  at  a  higher  standard.  When  the  Civil 
war  tore  the  land  asunder  and  arrayed  the  sec- 
tions against  each  other  in  deadly  conflict,  this 
element  of  the  national  character  came  forth  in  its 
loftiest  development  and  most  striking  volume. 
Whether  in  that  great  deluge  of  death  its  citizens 
fought  under  the  Star  Spangled  Banner  or  the 
Ronnie  Blue  Flag,  they  proved  foemen  worthy 
of  any  steel  and  gave  the  world  an  exhibition  of 
valor  and  endurance  that  commanded  universal 
admiration.  In  that  war  the  subject  of  this  re- 
view bore  an  honorable  part  and  he  still  carries 
the  marks  of  its  fierceness.  He  was  born  in  Alle- 
gany county,  N.  Y.,  on  June  3,  1843,  anc*  is 
the  son  of  Solon  J.  and  Sophronia  (Griffin)  Nich- 
ols, natives  also  of  that  state  and  born  in  Franklin 
county.  The  father  was  a  blacksmith  and 
wrought  at  his  trade  industriously  thirty  years. 
In  1873  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1884,  then  changed  his  residence  to 
Topeka,  Kan.,  and  there  his  wife  died  in  Jan- 
uary, 1893,  and  he  on  December  30,  1899,  at  tne 
age  of  ninety-four  years.  They  had  three  sons 
and  one  daughter,  all  now  deceased  but  two  of 
the  sons,  Loyd  and  his  brother  Rollin.  Loyd  re- 
mained in  his  native  county  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  eighteen,  obtaining  his  education  in  the 
common  schools  and  a  two-year  course  at  Rush- 
ford  Academy  there.  In  August,  1861,  he  en- 
listed for  the  defense  of  the  Union  in  Company 
F,  Eighty-fifth  New  York  Infantry.  The  regi- 
ment became  a  part  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
and  was  almost  constantly  in  active  service.  Mr. 
Nichols  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Williamsburg 
and  Fair  Oaks,  and  at  the  latter  was  shot  through 
the  right  elbow,  which  disabled  him  for  farther 
service,  and  in  August,  1862,  he  was  discharged 
with  the  rank  of  first  sergeant,  to  which  he  had 
risen  by  meritorious  conduct.  In  1865  he  came 
to  Michigan,  and  a  year  later  moved  to  Kansas. 
He  was  a  prosperous  citizen  of  that  state  for  a 


236 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


number  of  years,  but  suffering  a  serious  accident 
there,  he  returned  to  this  state  in  1888,  and  has 
since  then  lived  in  Kalamazoo  county.  In  the 
year  of  his  return  he  was  married  to  Miss  Sophia 
Humphrey,  a  daughter  of  William  J.  and  Elmira 
(Spear)  Humphrey,  the  father  a  native  of  the 
state  of  New  York  and  the  mother  of  Vermont. 
Both  were  pioneers  in  the  county,  the  father  set- 
tling here  in  1840  and  the  mother  coming  with  her 
parents  in  1833.  On  his  arrival  in  the  state  the 
father  located  in  Barry  county  on  sixty-live  acres 
of  land,  for  which  he  had  paid  his  brother-in-law 
two  hundred  dollars,  money  he  earned  before  at- 
taining his  majority.  As  there  was  no  provision 
for  his  living  on  reaching  his  land,  he  found  it 
necessary  to  go  to  Gull  Corners,  where  he  took 
supper  with  the  family  of  Mr.  Giddings  and  en- 
tered his  employ.  Soon  after  this  he  hired  to  a 
man  named  Jones  for  three  years,  receiving  eleven 
dollars  a  month  the  first  year  and  twelve  the 
second.  The  summer  following  his  term  of  ser- 
vice with  Mr.  Jones  he  worked  a  breaking-plow, 
and  in  the  ensuing  winter  hired  to*  a  Mr.  Smith. 
This  gentleman  wished  to  rent  his  farm  and  Mr. 
Humphrey  took  it  for  two  years.  In  1847  ne 
bought  one  hundred  and  thirty  acres  of  land  of 
Judge  Logan  and  the  next  year  moved  on  this 
land,  on  which,  with  the  assistance  of  Deacon 
Mason,  he  built  a  board  shanty.  Three  months 
later  he  erected  a  frame  dwelling,  and  in  1861  put 
up  the  one  which  now  adorns  the  farm.  In  1844, 
on  March  13th,  he  was  joined  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Elmira  Spear,  of  Richland,  who  had  come 
from  Vermont,  in  1833,  to  this  county  with  her 
father,  who  died  here  in  1876.  The  Humphrey 
farm  now  comprises  four  hundred  and  twenty 
acres,  and  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  in  the  town- 
ship. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Humphrey  were  the  parents 
of  five  children,  Elizabeth  (deceased),  George  L. 
(deceased),  Sophia,  Franklin  M.  and  Charles. 
The  parents  were  devout  Presbyterians.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Nichols  have  two  children,  their  daughter 
Ruth  L.  and  their  son  Ray  L.  Their  father  has 
never  taken  an  active  part  in  politics  and  is  not  a 
partisan.  He  and  his  wife  belong  to  the  Presby- 
terian church,  and  are  among  its  most  zealous  and 
useful  members.     With  fidelity  to  duty  in  every 


line  of  life,  showing  an  abiding  and  serviceable  in- 
terest in  the  welfare  of  his  community,  and  hold- 
ing out  an  open  hand  of  help  to  all  who  need  it 
and  are  worthy,  Mr.  Nichols  is  well  deserving  of 
the  general  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  as  one  of 
the  leading  and  representative  men  of  his  town- 
ship. 

NORMAN  S.  WHITNEY. 

The  story  of  the  early  settlers  of  this  country, 
their  sanguinary  conflicts  with  the  aborigines, 
their  dangers  from  wild  beasts  and  from  the  fury 
of  the  elements,  against  which  they  were  so  inade- 
quately provided,  their  want  of  the  conveniences 
and  often  the  necessaries  of  life,  their  difficulties 
and  sufferings  of  every  kind,  and  their  heroic 
stand  against  them  all,  followed  by  their  bold  and 
rapid  progress,  first  in  material  conquest  over  na- 
ture and  its  brood  of  hostile  forces,  and  after- 
ward in  all  the  forms  of  industrial,  commercial, 
educational  and  refining  greatness,  all  of  which 
bred  in  them  and  stimulated  a  resolute  indepen- 
dence and  self-reliance  that  defied  outside  dicta- 
tion or  control  as  well  as  internal  peril,  which 
thrilled  the  heart,  called  forth  the  sympathy  and 
compelled  the  admiration  of  all  the  older  world 
when  our  country  was  but  a  strip  of  land  along 
the  stormy  Atlantic,  has  been  so  often  repeated  of 
other  sections  of  the  land,  that  it  now  awakens 
little  more  than  passing  interest.  Yet  it  is  every- 
where a  record  of  heroism  and  stern  endurance, 
as  well  as  force  of  character,  that  is  worthy  of 
close  and  continued  attention ;  for  in  it  is  in- 
volved not  only  the  subjugation  of  a  new  world 
to  the  uses  and  benefits  of  mankind,  but  the  crea- 
tion and  development  of  a  new  political  system 
which  recognizes  enlightened  public  opinion  as 
sovereign  and  relies  on  the  moral  forces  engen- 
dered thereby.  And  when  the  story  embodies  a 
repetition  of  its  salient  features  in  several  suc- 
ceeding generations,  as  it  does  in  the  case  of  the 
Whitney  family  to  which  the  subject  of  this  narra- 
tive belongs,  it  is  many  times  multiplied  in  interest 
and  importance.  The  American  progenitor  of 
this  family  was  John  Whitney,  a  native  of  Eng- 
land, who  emigrated  to  America  in  1635  and  set- 
tled at  Watertown,  Mass.,  the  same  year.     His 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


237 


descendants  lived  in  that  state  several  generations, 
diligent  in  labor,  upright  in  manhood  and  zealous 
in  patriotism  in  all  the  various  walks  of  life,  until 
when  Lemuel  Whitney,  a  deacon  in  the  church 
and  otherwise  a  man  of  local  prominence,  moved 
to  Vermont,  locating  in  Windsor  county.  He  was 
a  leader  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  heading  a  party 
of  volunteers  who  captured  a  gathering  of  Tories 
and  stayed  their  destructive  hands  when  they  were 
about  to  burn  Charlestown,  N.  H.,  and 
he  afterward  rendered  valiant  service  in  the 
colonial  army.  From  him  is  descended  the  branch 
of  the  family  to  which  Norman  S.  Whitney,  of 
Richland  Center,  this  county,  belongs.  He  was 
born  in  Windsor  county,  Vt.,  on  December 
28,  1836,  and  is  the  son  of  Norman  K.  and  Mary 
R.  (Pratt)  Whitney,  both  natives  of  that  state. 
The  father  was  born  in  Springfield  in  181 2,  and 
married  there  on  March  30,  1836.  He  was  a  ma- 
chinist and  cast  the  first  cast  iron  stove  made  in 
his  native  place.  He  also  manufactured  fine 
shears  for  shearing  the  nap  off  the  cloth.  He 
brought  his  family  to  Michigan  in  1854  and  took 
up  his  residence  in  Richland  township,  this 
county,  where  he  worked  on  rented  land  ten 
years.  In  1864  he  moved  to  Calhoun  county,  and 
there  bought  a  farm  in  Bedford  township,  on 
which  his  wife  died  in  October,  1876,  and  he  in 
1877.  They  had  five  sons  and  one  daughter,  all 
now  deceased  but  three  of  the  sons.  Two  of  his 
sons  were  Union  soldiers  in  the  Civil  war.  One 
of  them  lost  an  arm  and  the  other  was  killed  in 
the  service.  Norman  S:  is  the  only  member  of 
the  family  living  in  Kalamazoo  county.  He  grew 
to  the  age  of  eighteen  in  his  native  county,  work- 
on  the  home  farm  and  attending  the  district  school 
in  the  neighborhood.  In  1854  he  accompanied  his 
parents  to  this  county,  and  after  working  with  his 
father  a  few  years,  in  1862  bought  his  first  farm. 
He  lias  been  engaged  in  farming  all  his  life  so  far 
and  is  still  in  active  charge  of  a  large  body  of 
land.  At  one  time  he  was  interested  in  a  grain 
elevator  at  Richland,  which  he  and  George  A. 
Knappen  built  and  operated  in  partnership,  but 
S1nce  disposing  of  his  interest  in  that  enterprise 
ne  has  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  farming. 
Carrying  out  the  habit  of  the  family  of  succeed- 


ing at  whatever  they  undertake,  he  has  prospered 
in  his  business  and  is  one  of  the  substantial  citizens 
of  his  township.  He  takes  an  earnest  and  intelli- 
gent interest  in  local  public  affairs  as  a  Republi- 
can, and  has  been  rewarded  for  his  zeal  and  wis- 
dom by  being  chosen  to  office  time  after  time, 
serving  as  township  supervisor  for  nine  consecu- 
tive years  and  township  treasurer  two  years.  In 
the  fraternal  life  of  the  community  he  is  service- 
able as  a  member  of  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows.  On 
September  3,  1861,  he  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Augusta  Nevins,  a  native  of  Middlesex, 
Vt.  She  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  with  her  par- 
ents, Alfred  and  Cinthia  Nevins,  in  1844.  They 
took  up  their  residence  in  Richland  township  and 
there  both  parents  died.  They  were  also  natives 
of  Vermont.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whitney  have  had 
four  children:  Mary,  now  deceased,  who  was 
Mrs.  W.  H.  Bennett  at  the  time  of  her  death ; 
Rose,  the  wife  of  H.  A.  Lamb,  of  Belding,  Mich. ; 
and  Wilber  C.  and  Emma  N.,  who  are  living  at 
home.  It  should  be  stated  of  Mr.  Whitney's 
great-grandfather,  Lemuel  Whitney,  that  he  man- 
ufactured saltpetre  for  the  colonial  army  to  make 
gunpowder  with  during  the  Revolution,  and  that 
he  was  a  man  of  remarkable  endurance  and  en- 
ergy, one  proof  of  which  he  gave  by  walking 
from  Springfield,  Vt.,  to  Spencer,  Mass.,  a  dis- 
tance of  eighty  miles,  in  one  day.  Mr.  Whitney's 
grandfather  was  Cyrus  Whitney,  a  native  of 
Massachusetts  and  a  farmer  in  Vermont,  where 
he  died. 

ORSON  K.  WHITLOCK. 

In  time  of  war  a  valiant  soldier  in  defense  of 
his  country,  and  after  the  restoration  of  peace, 
when  the  vast  armies  of  the  republic  melted  again 
into  the  masses  of  the  people  and  took  their  places 
in  the  productive  industries  of  the  land  a  hardy 
and  determined  pioneer,  waging  against  the 
hostile  forces  of  nature  the  same  quest  he  had 
helped  to  wage  against  the  armed  resistance  to 
the  established  government,  Orson  K.  Whitlock, 
an  industrious  and  progressive  farmer  of  Rich- 
land township,  this  county,  met  the  requirements 
of  his  utmost  duty  in  each  domain  of  activity  and 
won  the  approval  of  his  associates  in  both.     He 


238 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


was  a  native  of  Wayne  county,  N.  Y.,  born  on 
January  13,  1837,  and  the  son  of  Samuel  and 
Mary  (Kelsey)  Whitlock,  also  born  in  the  Em- 
pire state.  They  moved  to  Michigan  in  1839  and 
settled  in  Richland  township,  Kalamazoo  county, 
on  what  is  now  known  as  the  Bear  farm,  and 
which  at  that  time  was  all  wild  land.  On  that 
place  in  1846  the  mother  died  and  then  the  family 
was  broken  up  and  scattered.  The  father  mar- 
ried a  second  wife  in  1869  and  moved  to  Iowa, 
where  some  years  afterward  he  died.  Five  of  his 
sons  grew  to  manhood  in  this  county  and  four  of 
them  were  in  the  Union  army  during  the  Civil 
war,  all  in  Michigan  regiments.  Orson  was 
reared  in  this  county,  Cooper  township,  and  soon 
after  the  death  of  his  mother  was  bound  out  to 
service  to  Lewis  Crane,  with  whom  he  lived  until 
he  came  of  age.  Then  he  began  working  for 
himself  by  the  month,  and  continued  to  do  this 
until  soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  war,  when  he 
enlisted  in  the  Nineteenth  Michigan  Infantry, 
Company  F.  His  regiment  was  one  of  the  fight- 
ing ones  in  the  momentous  conflict  and  he  saw 
active  service  almost  all  of  the  time  while  he  was 
in  the  army.  At  the  close  of  the  long  and  try- 
ing struggle  he  returned  to  his  Michigan  home 
broken  in  health  and  largely  incapacitated  for 
active  work.  But  he  resolutely  resumed  his  farm- 
ing operations  and  continued  them  until  his  death, 
on  February  2,  1886,  giving  close  attention  and 
the  best  energies  at  his  command  to  his  work  and 
making  them  tell  to  his  advantage.  His  farm  was 
well  tilled  and  in  improvement  was  kept  in  good 
condition  and  steady  progress.  On  October  19, 
1870,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Nancy  Hitchcock, 
a  native  of  Schuyler  county,  N.  Y.,  who  came  to 
Michigan  in  early  life  with  one  of  her  uncles. 
They  had  one  child,  their  son  James  B.  Whitlock, 
who  was  born  on  May  11,  1877.  His  life  from 
the  age  of  nine  to  that  of  nineteen  was  passed  in 
the  state  of  New  York,  and  there,  he  obtained  his 
education  and  training  for  life's  duties.  Since  the 
death  of  his  father  he  has  managed  the  home 
farm,  and  it  can  be  truthfully  said,  to  his  credit, 
that  he  has  kept  pace  with  the  march  of  improve- 
ment in  his  vocation  and  continued  on  the  place 
the>  spirit  of  vigorous  husbandry  and  advance- 


ment which  his  father  inaugurated.  On  Decem- 
ber 12,  1900,  he  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Electra  Crane,  a  sister  of  Jay  Crane,  of  Cooper 
township,  a  sketch  of  whom  will  be  found  on  an- 
other page.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whitlock  have  one 
child,  their  daughter  Helen  M.  The  elder  Whit- 
lock was  a  Republican  in  politics,  as  is  his  son, 
and  belonged  to  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows.  The 
family  is  one  of  the  oldest,  best  known  and  most 
generally  respected  in  the  township,  and  is  well 
and  favorably  known  in  other  parts  of  the  county 
and  the  neighboring  country. 

HENRY  KNAPPEN. 

The  late  Henry  Knappen,  who  died  in  Rich- 
land township,  this  county,  on  January  2,  1862, 
was  a  well-known  and  progressive  farmer  of  the 
township  for  many  years,  and  was  reared  from 
the  age  of  thirteen  on  the  farm  on  which  he 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  was  born  at 
Sudbury,  Vt.,  in  1820,  and  was  the  son  of  Mason 
and  Clarissa  (Hutchison)  Knappen,  who  were 
born  and  grew  to  maturity  in  Vermont.  The 
father  was  a  Congregational  minister  and  fol- 
lowed his  sacred  calling  in  his  native  state  until 
1833,  when  he  moved  his  family  to  this  county, 
making  the  journey  from  his  New  England  home 
with  teams  through  Canada  to  Detroit  and  from 
there  to  Gull  Prairie,  where  he  entered  a  tract  of 
four  hundred  acres  of  government  land  in  Rich- 
land township,  which  is  now  owned  by  his  grand- 
sons, Eugene  F.  and  George  A.  It  need  scarcely 
be  said  that  at  the  early  day  of  his  arrival  in  this 
part  of  the  country  it  was  almost  wholly  unset- 
tled and  the  land  he  entered  was  a  virgin  forest  of 
heavy  growth.  He  at  once  began  to  clear  his 
land  and  built  a  log  cabin  for  a  dwelling.  But 
while  devoting  himself  with  ardor  and  continuous 
industry  to  the  improvement  and  cultivation  of 
his  farm,  he  also  found  time  for  much  missionary 
and  other  ministerial  work  among  the  early  set- 
tlers. He  lived  on  the  farm  until  his  death  in 
1862,  having  survived  his  wife  but  six  weeks. 
She  was  his  third  wife  and  the  mother  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review.  There  were  nine  children  in 
his   family,  two  of  whom  are  yet  living,   Mrs. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


239 


Stellman  Jackson,  of  Richland,  and  Rev.  A.  A. 
Knappen,  of  Albion,  this  state,  the  latter  being 
the  father  of  Frank  Knappen,  of  Kalamazoo  (s'ee 
sketh  of  him  on  another  page).  Henry  Knappen 
being  about  thirteen  when  he  became  a  resident  of 
Michigan,  was  at  an  age  when  he  could  appreciate 
the  romance  of  his  adventurous  situation  in  a 
remote  wilderness,  wherein  men,  beasts  and  even 
nature  herself  seemed  armed  against  him,  for  the 
red  man  was  still  present  in  numbers  and  wild 
beasts  abounded  in  the  forest  around  him,  often 
threatening  the  lives  of  the  family  at  the  very 
threshold  of  their  humble  and  inconvenient 
dwelling.  He  had  also  the  New  England  spirit 
of  daring  and  self-reliance,  and  while  the  wild 
life  to  which  he  had  come  gave  him  pleasure,  its 
dangers  did  not  appall  nor  its  toils  dishearten 
him.  He  entered  with  ardor  on  his  appointed 
sphere,  and  gave  abundant  proof  of  his  ability  to 
cope  with  difficulties  and  endure  privations  in  his 
efficient  help  in  clearing  the  farm  and  submitting 
to  the  hard  conditions  the  frontier  laid  upon  him. 
Deprived  of  the  advantages  of  good  and  regular 
schooling,  he  made  the  most  of  the  primitive  facil- 
ities at  hand  for  his  education  in  the  little  log 
schoolhouse  of  the  time,  acquiring  practical 
knowledge  for  his  future  use  in  the  vocation  he 
had  chosen  and  to  which  he  devoted  all  his  subse- 
quent years,  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  When 
his  father  retired  from  its  active  labors  and  con- 
trol he  assumed  charge  of  the  farm,  and  he  man- 
aged its  operations  until  his  death,  continuing  the 
improvements  his  father  had  begun,  enlarging  its 
productive  acreage  and  raising  its  value  steadily 
all  the  time.  He  was  married  on  March  17,  1844, 
to  Miss.Theoda  Spaulding,  a  native  of  Tenbridge, 
Vt.,  the  daughter  of  Charles  W.  and  Lucinda 
(Gilky)  Spaulding,  who  were  born  in  Vermont 
and  moved  to  Michigan  in  1832  as  pioneers. 
They  located  on  Climax  Prairie,  and  three  years 
later  moved  to  Barry  county,  where  they  died 
many  years  afterward.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Knappen 
had  four  children,  all  sons.  Two  of  them  died  in 
childhood  and  Eugene  F.  and  George  A.  are  liv- 
n\g,  as  is  their  mother.  Their  father  was  a  Re- 
publican and  filled  a  number  of  local  offices  from 
time  to  time,  among  them  that  of  township  super- 


visor. He  was  a  member  of  the  order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  in  whose  work  he  took  an  unbroken  and 
useful  interest. 

Eugene  F.  Knappen,  the  younger  of  the  two 
living  sons  of  the  family,  was  born  on  the  home 
farm  on  June  12,  1853,  an(*  was  reared  to  habits 
of  serviceable  industry  amid  its  exacting  labors. 
He  was  educated  in  the  district  schools  and  at 
Olivet  College.  Taught  in  his  early  years  to 
look  upon  the  homestead  as  the  scene  of  his  fu- 
ture activity,  he  took  an  abiding  interest  in  its 
management  and  development,  and  after  the  death 
of  his  father  he  and  his  brother  George  became  its 
owners  and  the  conductors  of  all  its  interests. 
They  farmed  the  place  jointly  for  a  number  of 
years,  then  divided  it  between  them,  each  taking 
charge  of  his  portion.  Eugene  lived  on  his  part 
until  1892,  when  he  moved  to  Richland  Center 
and  started  the  feed,  provision,  live  stock  and 
grain  business  which  he  is  now  carrying  on.  He 
was  married  in  1874  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Brown,  a 
daughter  of  Charles  D.  Brown,  one  of  the  first 
settlers  at  Richland.  They  have  three  children, 
Henry  E.,  who  is  living  on  his  father's  farm,  and 
Theresa  Theoda  and  Charles  B.,  who  are  at 
home.  Their  father  is  an  active  Republican  and 
has  for  some  years  been  chairman  of  the  county 
central  committee  of  his  party.  He  is  widely 
known  in  business  and  political  circles,  and  is  uni- 
versally respected  by  all  classes  of  the  people  of 
his  county. 

NORMAN  C.  JEWETT. 

This  scion  of  old  Puritan  families  who  sought 
religious  freedom  on  the  inhospitable  shore  of 
New  England  in  the  early  colonial  times,  braving 
the  fury  of  the  elements  and  all  the  hostility  of 
untamed  nature  in  man  and  beast  and  climate, 
rather  than  the  rage  of  intolerance  under  the 
guise  and  armed  with  the  weapons  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  in  the  new  world  established  themselves 
and  founded  households  from  which  widening 
streams  of  benefaction  have  flowed  forth  to  en- 
hance the  worth  and  augment  the  power  of  every 
line  of  useful  activity  among  men,  was  born  in 
Bennington  county,  Vt.,  on  September  1,   1836. 


240 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


His  parents,  William  N.  and  Serepta  (Bennett) 
Jewett,  were  also  natives  of  Bennington  county, 
Vt.,  the  father  having  been  born  in  the  same  house 
as  the  son,  it  being  the  family  home  for  genera- 
tions. The  father  was  a  shoemaker  and  wrought 
at  his  trade  to  the  end  of  his  days.  He  moved  to 
Kalamazoo  county  in  1857  an^  located  at  Rich- 
land, where  he  kept  a  hotel  a  number  of  years, 
then  turned  to  his  trade  again  and  worked  at  that 
until  his  death  in  1874.  His  wife  survived  him 
three  years  and  died  in  1877.  They  had  a  family 
of  four  sons  and  four  daughters,  all  of  whom  are 
now  dead  but  three  of  the  sons,  Norman  C, 
George  W.  and  Samuel  P.  One  of  the  sons,  Ed- 
ward M.,  was  a  sharpshooter  in  the  Union  army 
during  the  Civil  war,  attached  to  the  Thirteenth 
Michigan  Infantry,  and  died  in  the  service  at 
Port  Hudson  in  1863.  The  boyhood  and  youth 
of  Norman  were  passed  in  Vermont,  Illinois  and 
Massachusetts.  In  the  state  last  named  he  learned 
the  trade  of  a  carpenter.  He  worked  at  this 
some  years  in  Chicago  and  other  parts  of  the 
West,  and  for  a  time  in  this  county.  He  then 
turned  his  attention  to  farming,  and  this  has  been 
his  occupation  ever  since.  In  all  the  lines  of  ac- 
tive work  which  he  has  followed  he  has  succeeded 
in  making  an  advance  in  his  financial  condition 
and  a  good  record  for  industry  and  capacity. 
The  houses  he  helped  to  build  here  and  elsewhere 
stand  to  his  credit  as  a  cunning  craftsman  and 
his  farm  is  a  silent  but  eloquent  and  convincing 
witness  to  his  sagacity,  diligence  and  enterprise 
as  a  cultivator  of  the  soil,  and  his  knowledge  of 
the  requirements  of  a  comfortable  and  desirable 
home.  In  February,  1867,  he  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Almyra  Buell,  a  daughter  of  Josiah 
Buell,  one  of  the  honored  pioneers  of  this  county. 
Josiah  Bell  was  born  in  New  Hampshire  in 
1802.  He  moved  with  his  parents  when  quite 
young  to  western  New  York  and  there  grew  to 
manhood.  He  came  to  Michigan  when  a  young 
man  and  bought  an  unimproved  tract  of  land 
adjoining  the  present  village  of  Richland,  then 
known  as  Gull  Corners.  This  farm  he  improved 
and  lived  on  until  his  death  in  1885.  He  was 
three  times  married,  first  to  Elmira  Brown,  who 
lived  but  one  year.    He  then  married  Sylvia  John- 


ston, who  bore  him  two  children,  Mrs.  Jewett 
and  Homer  Buell.  She  died  in  1857,  and  he 
then  married  Adeline  Manchester,  of  New  York 
state.  She  bore  two  children,  Addie  M.,  now 
Mrs.  T.  H.  Etter,  of  this  township,  and  Viola  N., 
now  dead.  His  last  wife  died  in  1899.  Mr. 
Buell  was  a  great  worker  in  the  Presby- 
terian church,  and  was  a  deacon  for  many 
years  of  the  church  at  Richland.  He  was 
a  Republican,  but  not  an  office  seeker.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Jewett  have  had  seven  children: 
Elmer  B.,  who  is  a  chemist  in  West  Virginia; 
Nelson  J.,  who  lives  in  Canada;  Harry  M.,  who 
is  a  resident  of  Cleveland,  Ohio;  Ralph  N.,  who 
is  a  mining  engineer;  Dwight  C,  who  has  his 
home  in  Kalamazoo;  Ray,  who  was  drowned  in 
Gull  Lake;  and  Esther,  who  is  living  at  home 
with  her  parents.  Mr.  Jewett  is  a  Republican  in 
politics  and  has  been  a  justice  of  the  peace  for 
many  years.  He  belongs  to  the  order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows and  he  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  church.  In  municipal  affairs  he  has 
long  been  prominent,  serving  as  president  of  the 
village  and  in  other  positions  of  importance  to  the 
community,  and  filling  all  stations  with  credit  to 
himself  and  profit  to  the  people. 

JOHN  F.  GILKEY. 

The  Gilkeys,  who,  father  and  sons,  have  been 
residents  of  Richland  township  almost  from 
its  first  settlement,  are  sprung  from  old 
colonial  families  and  of  Scotch  descent.  The 
American  progenitor  of  the  family  was  John  Gil- 
key,  who  settled  in  Waldo  county,  Maine,  in  1750, 
and  built  a  house  near  what  is  now  known  as 
Gilkey's  Harbor.  This  was  so  well  constructed 
that  in  spite  of  the  storms  of  more  than  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years,  and  the  natural  decay  of  ma- 
terial substances  in  that  length  of  time  it  is  still 
standing  and  in  a  good  state  of  preservation.  He 
had  seven  sons  and  three  daughters'  who,  in  the 
course  of  time,  located  in  various  parts  of  the 
neighboring  states,  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont, 
one  son,  bearing  the  same  name  as  his  father,  tak- 
ing up  his  residence  in  the  latter  state  and  be- 
coming   the  grandfather  of  the  subject  of    this 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


241 


brief  memoir.  This,  the  second  John  Gilkey, 
and  his  son  were  farmers  in  Windsor  county, 
Vt.,  and  it  was  from  there  that  John  F.  Gil- 
key  came  to  Michigan  in  1832  and  bought  land 
in  Richland  township,  this  county,  his  purchase 
being  yet  a  part  of  the  family  estate.  Soon  after 
his  settlement  here  his  parents  and  his  two  broth- 
ers, William  Young  and  Charles  Gilkey,  followed 
him  hither  and  became  permanent  residents  of  the 
county.  With  New  England  thrift  and  energy, 
Mr.  Gilkey  cleared  and  improved  his  farm,  and 
with  true  American  patriotism  he  took  an  ac- 
tive part  in  the  development  of  the  new  region  and 
the  establishment  and  administration  of  its  gov- 
ernment. He  prospered  by  reason  of  his  con- 
tinued and  well-appplied  industry,  and  his  force 
of  character  gave  him  a  potent  voice  in  reference 
to  all  public  affairs  in  the  township  and  made  him 
one  of  its  leading  citizens.  In  February,  1840,  he 
married  with  Miss  Mary  M.  Lovell,  a  daughter 
of  Willard  and  Zerviah  (Taft)  Lovell,  natives, 
respectively,  of  Vermont  and  Massachusetts,  and 
sister  of  Dr.  Lafayette  W.  and  Enos  T.  Lovell, 
distinguished  citizens  of  Climax  township.  She 
died  in  1857,  leaving  four  sons,  Edgar  W.,  Pat- 
rick H.,  George  L.  and  Julian  F.,  all  of  whom 
are  yet  living  but  Edgar  W.,  who  died  a  few 
years  ago  after  a  career  of  more  than  ordinary  in- 
terest and  success  in  farming  and  mercantile  life. 
Like  both  their  parents,  the  sons  all  grew  to  un- 
usual height,  each  being  over  six  feet  tall.  Their 
father  was  not  an  active  politician,  but  through 
life  took  enough  interest  in  political  affairs  to  dis- 
charge his  duty  as  a  citizen,  voting  with  the  Whig 
party  until  its  death  and  with  Republicans  ever 
afterward.  Some  years  after  the  death  of  his  first 
wife  he  was  married  to  Mrs.  Fonda,  a  widow, 
who  died  before  he  did,  his  death  occurring  in 
l&77-  When  he  passed  away  he  owned  valuable 
property  in  several  localities  in  addition  to  his 
home  farm,  leaving  to  his  children  a  comfortable 
estate  as  well  as  an  unblemished  name,  and  a  rec- 
ord of  great  public  and  private  usefulness. 

Patrick  H.  Gilkey,  the  oldest  living  son  of 
John  F.  Gilkey,  and  for  many  years  the  leading 
merchant  of  the  village  of  Richland,  was  born 
in  the  township  of  his  present  residence  on  No- 


vember 15,  1843.  He  received  a  good  scholastic 
and  business  education,  attending  the  common 
schools  and  Prairie  Seminary  for  the  first  and 
Eastman  Business  College  at  P.oughkeepsie,  N. 
Y.,  for  the  latter,  being  graduated  from  this 
institution  in  1865.  On  October  13,  1869,  he  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Adella  Parker,  a  na- 
tive of  this  county,  where  her  parents,  Amasa  S. 
and  Celestia  C.  (Barnes)  Parker,  the  former  born 
at  Washington,  Litchfield  county,  Conn.,  in 
1805,  and  the  latter  at  Camden,  N.  Y.,  in 
181 3.  The  father  came  to  Michigan  in  1830,  and 
for  a  time  thereafter  he  taught  school  at  Beards- 
ley's  Prairie,  Van  Buren  county.  In  June,  1834, 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Celestia  C.  Barnes,  who 
taught  one  of  the  first  schools  in  Richland  town- 
ship, and  her  father  built  the  first  mill  at  York- 
ville  at  the  outlet  of  Gull  Lake.  Early  in  1832 
Mr.  Parker  bought  the  first  land  sold  in  Barry 
county,  and  located  a  farm  there  on  what  was 
then  known  as  Garden  Prairie.  After  his  mar- 
riage he  settled  on  this  land  and  made  his  home 
there  until  1850.  He  then  moved  to  a  farm  which 
he  had  bought  in  Richland  township,  this  county, 
and  lived  on  that  until  1865,  improving  it  to 
great  value  and  high  fertility.  In  the  year  last 
named  he  bought  another  farm  one-half  mile  west 
of  the  Presbyterian  church,  on  which  he  lived  un- 
til his  death  on  September  14,  1878.  In  1834  he 
and  his  wife  joined  the  Presbyterian  church,  and 
for  thirty  years  he  was  its  ruling  elder.  His  wife 
survived  him  a  number  of  years  and  died  in  1898. 
They  had  two  sons  and  three  daughters,  who  sur- 
vived them  both  and  are  yet  living,  with  good 
standing  in  society  and  a  general  public  esteem. 
Patrick  H.  Gilkey  began  his  mercantile  career 
at  Richland  in  1878,  being  a  farmer  until  then. 
He  was  first  in  partnership  with  G.  M.  Evers,  un- 
der the  firm  name  of  G.  M.  Evers  &  Company, 
and  after  the  dissolution  of  this  partnership  he 
was  with  a  Mr.  Parker  and  others,  the  firm  doing 
an  extensive  and  profitable  business  under  the 
style  of  Parker  &  Gilkey.  They  were  associated 
until  1886,  and  after  that  time  Mr.  Gilkey  car- 
ried on  the  business  alone  until  1903,  when  he 
sold  out  and  retired  from  active  pursuits.  In 
addition  to  his  mercantile  interests  he  has  long 


242 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


owned  a  valuable  stock  farm  in  Richland  town- 
ship, and  for  many  years  he  was  engaged  in  rais- 
ing fine  trotting  horses  of  superior  breeds,  having 
at  the  head  of  his  stud  the  noted  stallion  "Bay 
Ambassador/'  sired  by  "Ambassador,"  with  a 
record  of  2 :2i  1-4,  and  sired  by  the  famous 
"George  Wilkes."  The  dam  of  "Bay  Ambassador" 
was  by  "Masterlode,"  the  sire  of  twenty-four 
colts  whose  records  were  2  130  and  under.  A  few 
years  ago  Mr.Gilkey  disposed  of  his  stud  and  quit 
the  raising  of  horses.  He  is  now  living-  quietly 
in  the  enjoyment  of  an  ample  fortune  and  the  uni- 
versal esteem  of  the  people  of  his  county,  which 
is  freely  accorded  to  him  on  his  merits  as  an  ex- 
cellent citizen  and  genial  and  accomplished  gen- 
tleman. He  is  a  director  of  the  Union  Bank  of 
Richland  and  a  stockholder  in  the  Kalamazoo  Na- 
tional Bank,  the  Kalamazoo  Paper  Company  and 
the  Phelps  &  Bigelow  Wind  Mill  Company  of 
Kalamazoo.  In  politics  he  is  an  ardent  and  in- 
fluential Democrat,  one  of  the  leaders  of  his  party 
in  the  county  and  one  of  its  most  effective  work- 
ers. He  has  frequently  been  its  candidate  for  of- 
fices of  trust  and  honor,  and  although  each  time 
leading  a  forlorn  hope,  he  has  nevertheless  made 
a  most  vigorous  and  striking  campaign  in  behalf 
of  his  cause.  In  business,  in  politics  and  in  pri- 
vate life  he  has  lived  to  a  lofty  ideal  of  manhood 
and  citizenship,  and  is  well  worthy  of  the  good 
opinion  of  his  fellow  men  which  he  so  abundantly 
has. 

BUSH  &  PATERSON. 

This  old  and  well  esteemed  firm,  which  was 
one  of  the  pioneer  firms  in  construction  work  in 
Kalamazoo  and  concerned  in  much  of  the  build- 
ing in  the  early  history  of  the  place,  furnished  an 
impressive  illustration  of  the  value  of  harmony 
as  well  as  enterprise  in  business.  The  partners 
were  associated  in  their  business  for  a  period  of 
thirty-six  years,  and  during  the  whole  of  that 
time  they  kept  but  one  pocketbook  between  them 
and  shared  their  profits  and  losses  equally,  with- 
out ever  having  a  word  of  disagreement  over 
anything.  For  some  years  after  they  began  oper- 
ations they  were  obliged  to  take  the  pay  for  their 
work  in  trade  and  merchandise,  cash  being  scarce 
in  the  community.     The  partnership  was  started 


in  May,  1856,  and  while  it  prospered  from  the 
start  the  first  cash  job  it  did  was  the  erection  of 
the  first  fair  buildings  in  1859  on  the  ground 
where  "Flora  Temple"  made  her  great  record  as  a 
trotter.  Mr.  Bush  was  born  in  England  and 
when  he  was  about  five  years  old  the  family  came 
to  this  country  and  located  in  Orange  county,  N. 
Y.,  but  three  years  later,  or  in  1840,  Mr.  Bush, 
then  a  lad  of  eight,  was  brought  to  Kalamazoo  by 
Mr.  Tomlinson,  who  was  in  business  in  that  city, 
and  with  whom  he  remained  about  three  years. 
He  was  then  apprenticed  to  the  trade  of  a  carpen- 
ter under  the  direction  of  A.  Kneer,  and  he  re- 
mained with  him  until  1848.  In  that  year  he  re- 
turned to  New  York  city  and  there  was  employed 
at  his  trade  a  number  of  years,  helping  to  build 
the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel  and  other  imposing  struc- 
tures. After  this  hotel  was  completed  he  passed 
a  year  in  it  as  clerk,  and  in  1855  came  again  to 
Kalamazoo,  and  the  next  May  induced  Mr.  Pater- 
son,  whom  he  had  met  in  New  York,  to  join  him 
in  business  here.  They  put  up  B.  M.  Austin's 
house,  on  the  hill,  the  first  year,  and  then  built  a 
small  shop  for  themselves  on  North  Burdick 
street  where  they  remained  three  years.  They 
were  busily  occupied  all  the  time,  erecting  most 
of  the  principal  buildings  in  those  days.  The  part- 
nership lasted  until  the  death  of  Mr.  Bush  in 
1892,  and  since  then  Mr.  Paterson  has  retired. 
Mr.  Bush  was  married  in  1857  to  Miss  Louisa 
Hines,  a  native  of  this  county.  They  had  three 
children,  Frank,  born  in  1859,  Benjamin  born  in 
t86t,  and  another  who  died  in  infancy.  In  1869 
the  firm  built  the  present  jail  and  also  remodeled 
the  old  court  house.  In  1867  they  added  a  plan- 
ing mill  to  their  plant  and  began  the  manufacture 
of  legs  for  billiard  tables,  which  they  continued 
fivt  years.  Then  they  added  a  factory  for  making 
sash,  doors  and  blinds  and  a  general  lumber  and 
building  material  trade.  The  academy  was  erected 
by  a  stock  company  which  could  not  run  it  suc- 
cessfully, and  Messrs.  Bush  &  Paterson  pur- 
chased the  building,  which  is  now  owned  by  Mr. 
Bush's  son  Benjamin,  and  managed  by  him.  Mr. 
Bush  always  took  an  active  part  in  pushing  for- 
ward the  progress  of  the  city  and  the  surround- 
ing country.  He  was  one  of  the  early  promoters 
and  most  diligent  spirits  in  building  the   Chicago, 


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KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


245 


Kalamazoo  &  Saginaw  Railroad,  and  served  as  its 
president  until  his  death.  He  was  a  stockholder 
in  the  Michigan  National  Bank,  and  the  firm  was 
interested  i'n  the  old  cement  plant  and  operated  it 
for  a  number  of  years.  In  political  faith  Mr. 
Bush  was  a  Republican  and  gave  earnest  attention 
to  public  local  affairs,  serving  as  village  trustee 
before  the  incorporation  of  the  city,  and  at  the 
time  of  his  death  was  mayor.  He  was  on  all  sides 
considered  one  of  Kalamazoo's  best  and  most 
progressive  citizens,  and  when  his  long  record 
of  public  and  private  usefulness  was  ended,  he  was 
laid  to  rest  with  every  demonstration  of  popular 
esteem  and  good  will. 

Thomas  Paterson,  the  senior  member  of  the 
firm,  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1828. 
His  parents  were  Scotch  by  nativity  and  emi- 
grated to  this  country  about  the  year  181 6.  The 
father  was  a  machinist  and  died  of  the  cholera 
in  New  York  in  1832,  when  the  son  was  but  four 
years  old.  The  mother  survived  him  some  years 
and  also  died  in  New  York.  Their  son  Thomas 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
city,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  was  apprenticed  to 
a  carpenter  to  learn  the  trade,  being  bound  to  it 
until  he  reached  his  legal  majority.  He  wrought 
at  his  craft  in  New  York'  until  1856,  when  he 
joined  Mr.  Bush  in  Kalamazoo,  and  from  then 
until  the  death  of  the  latter  they  were  associated 
and  had  everything  in  common  between  them. 
Mr.  Paterson  never  married.  He  has  been  a  life- 
long Democrat  in  political  allegiance,  but  has  not 
sought  or  desired  public  office.  Since  Mr.  Bush's 
death  he  has  lived  retired  from  active  pursuits, 
secure  in  the  possession  of  a  competence  and  en- 
joying in  a  marked  degree  the  confidence  and 
regard  of  the  whole  community. 

THE  KING  PAPER  COMPANY. 

This  highly  appreciated  industry  is  under  the 
direction  of  a  stock  company  formed  in  1901  with 
a  capital  stock  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars.  The  men  who  organized  the  company 
were  F.  M.  Rowley  (now  deceased),  L.  M.  Gates, 
A.  B.  Sheid,  J.  K.  King,  George  O.  Comfort, 
Arthur  Pratt,  George  B.  Davis   (also  deceased) 


and  Charles  B.  Hays,  the  last  named  being  the 
principal  promoter  of  the  enterprise  and  its  finan- 
cier. The  first  officers  were  Arthur  Pratt,  presi- 
dent, George  O.  Comfort,  vice-president,  August 
Sheid,  secretary,  and  John  K.  King,  superintend- 
ent. The  plant  was  erected  in  1902  with  a  capacity 
of  thirty  tons  a  day  and  now  employs  one  hundred 
fifty  to  two  hundred  hands.  A  general  line  of 
book  and  bond  papers  are  made  and  sold  all 
over  this  country  and  in  parts  of  Europe  and  other 
foreign  lands.  The  progress  of  the  business  from 
the  start  has  been  steady  and  the  company  has 
lost  no  ground  that  it  has  once  occupied.  Its 
product  is  well  known  to  the  stationery  trade  in 
several  parts  of  the  world  and  is  highly  esteemed 
wherever  it  is  known.  The  president  of  the  com- 
pany, Arthur  Pratt,  who  has  long  been  one  of  the 
most  prominent  and  successful  business  men  of 
the  city,  is  a  native  of  Cleveland,  Ohio.  He  came 
to  Kalamazoo  in  his  boyhood,  and  here  he  grew 
to  manhood  and  received  his  education.  His  rise 
in  business  was  rapid  and  he  was  recognized  as  a 
potential  business  factor  from  the  time  of  his  en- 
try into  commercial  life.  He  is  a  director  of  the 
First  National  Bank,  and  is  also  the  owner  of  the 
Pratt  block.  He  has  devoted  his  time  mainly  to 
his  mercantile  interests,  eschewing  political  con- 
tentions and  never  indulging  an  ambition  for  pub- 
lic office.  At  the  same  time  he  has  shown  on  all 
occasions  a  deep  and  intelligent  interest  in  the 
progress  of  the  city  and  the  enduring  welfare  of 
its  people.  Finding  his  bent  early  in  life,  he  never 
lost  the  realization  that  his  best  opportunity  for 
serving  the  general  weal  was  in  the  line  of  busi- 
ness, and  with  this  view  ever  in  his  mind,  he  has 
been  quick  to  sell  and  alert  to  grasp  the  chances 
that  have  come  his  way  for  his  form  of  usefulness, 
then  he  has  used  his  opportunities  with  vigor,  in- 
dustry and  breadth  of  view.  He  is  one  of  the 
men,  invaluable  in  any  community,  who  have  the 
capacity  and  the  disposition  to  build  up  great  en- 
terprises and  carry  them  on  with  wisdom  and  suc- 
cess;  and  he  has  won  the  guerdon  of  his  worth 
and  ability,  of  his  energy  and  constancy  of  pur- 
pose, in  the  general  regard  and  good  will  of  his 
fellow7  citizens  and  their  high  appreciation  of  his 
services  to  the  city  and  county. 


246 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


FREDERICK  SHAY. 

Whatever  value  we  may  attach  to  manufactur- 
ing and  commercial  industries,  and  we  can 
scarcely  estimate  them  too  highly,  there  is  no  in- 
terest or  source  of  production  that  can  surpass 
agriculture  in  importance  to  a  great  country  of 
boundless  domain  like  ours,  wherein  all  climates 
and  their  products  are  to  be  found,  and  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  are  engaged  in  bringing  forth 
the  fruits  of  the  soil  and  placing  them  in  the 
channels  of  trade  and  enterprise.  The  earth  is  the 
source  and  sustenance  of  all  animal  life,  and  with- 
out its  yield  in  abundant  measure  all  forms  of 
human  enterprise  would  languish  and  die.  More- 
over, the  vocation  of  the  farmer  is  steadily  be- 
coming more  and  more  an  intellectual  and  expan- 
sive one,  and  the  genius  of  improvement,  through 
the  application  of  the  truths  of  science  to  the 
daily  economies  of  life,  is  all  the  while  elevating 
it  in  tone,  broadening  it  in  scope  and  enlarging 
it  in  function  and  usefulness  and  at  the  same  time 
raising  the  man  who  follows  it  to  the  position  he 
may  and  should  occupy,  that  of  the  master  of  the 
elements,  commanding  them  and  their  forces  to 
his  service,  instead  of  being  as  he  long  has  been 
through  ignorance  and  imperfection  their  slave, 
and  bowing  obediently  to  their  destructive  will.  In 
this  class  of  useful  producers  and  progressive 
workers  is  found  Frederick  Shay,  of  Richland 
township,  this  county,  who  by  close  attention  to 
every  element  of  advancement  in  his  chosen  line 
of  activity  has  become  a  model  farmer  and  is  giv- 
ing an  example  of  high  worth  to  others  who  as- 
pire to  excellence  in  the  same  pursuit.  Mr.  Shay 
is  a  native  of  this  state,  born  in  Allegan  county 
on  April  to,  1844,  and  the  son  of  Harrison  and 
Mary  (Patterson)  Shay,  the  former  born  in  the 
state  of  New  York  and  the  latter  in  Virginia.  The 
father  was  a  fanner  and  came  to  Michigan  in  the 
'30s,  locating  in  Allegan  county  among  its  early 
settlers,  and  there  passing  the  remainder  of  his 
days,  dying  on  the  farm  which  he  redeemed  from 
the  wilderness  and  improved  to  fruitfulness  and 
value,  as  did  his  wife,  after  long  years  of  useful- 
ness. They  had  four  sons  and  three  daughters, 
and  five  of  their  children  are  living.     Frederick 


was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native  county  with 
the  experiences  common  to  country  boys  in  a 
new  section,  working  industriously  on  the  farm  in 
proper  seasons  and  finding  recreation  as  well  as 
profit  in  the  neighboring  district  school  at  other 
times.  On  August  8,  1862,  when  he  was  not  yet 
nineteen,  he  obeyed  the  agonizing  call  for  volun- 
teers to  defend  the  Union  against  its  armed  assail- 
ants, and  enlisted  in  Company  D.  Seventeenth 
Michigan  Infantry.  His  regiment  was  assigned 
to  the  Ninth  Corps  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
and  found  full  use  for  all  its  valor  and  endurance 
in  that  great  fighting  organization.  It  took  part 
in  many  bloody  battles,  the  most  important  at  that 
period  being  those  of  South  Mountain  and  Antie- 
tam  in  Maryland  and  Fredericksburg  in  Virginia. 
Soon  after  the  last  named  it  was  transferred  to 
Newport  News  and  from  there  to  Kentucky,  and 
after  rendering  good  service  to  the  cause  of  the 
Union  in  that  state,  was  sent  to  join  General 
Grant  before  Vicksburg,  The  fall  of  that  city  re- 
leased the  command  from  duty  there  and  it  was 
sent  in  pursuit  of  General  Johnston  through 
Mississippi,  overtaking  and  engaging  him  in  bat- 
tle at  Jackson,  that  state.  Thereafter  its  service 
was  in  Kentucky  and  eastern  Tennessee  for  a 
time,  and  at  the  end  of  that  campaign  it  was  again 
attached  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  having  first, 
however,  helped  to  fight  the  battle  of  Knoxville. 
After  again  reaching  the  center  of  the  war  storm 
the  regiment  suffered  heavily  in  that  deluge  of 
death,  the  seven  days'  battle  of  the  Wilderness, 
and  again  at  Spottsylvania  Courthouse,  where  Mr. 
Shay  and  ninety-seven  other  members  of  it  were 
taken  prisoners  on  May  12th.  They  were  sent  to 
Andersonville,  where  Mr.  Shay  was  confined  un- 
til .  the  following  September,  then  transferred  to 
Florence,  North  Carolinia,  from  there  to  Wil- 
mington, to  Goldsboro,  and  back  to  Wilming- 
ton. At  the  last  named  he  was  exchanged  on 
February  2,  1865,  and  was  obliged,  owing  to  his 
weakened  condition,  to  lie  in  bed  until  March  be- 
fore he  was  able  to  travel,  weighing  at  the  time 
less  than  100  pounds.  He  was  mustered  out  of 
the  service  in  the  ensuing  June.  His  prison  ex- 
perience of  nine  months  was  full  of  the  utmost 
hardship,  privation  and  cruelty,  and  cannot  be  re- 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


247 


called  to  his  mind  now  without  horror.  After  his 
discharge  from  the  army  he  located  at  Kalamazoo, 
and  after  working  in  that  neighborood  for  some 
time,  moved  to  Battle  Creek,  where  he  passed 
twelve  years  in  the  employ  of  the  Nichols  & 
Shepard  Threshing  Company.  In  1886  he  bought 
the  farm  on  which  he  now  lives  and  on  which  he 
has  since  made  his  home,  devoting  his  energies  to 
its  improvement  and  proper  cultivation.  On  May 
1,  1883,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Adeline  Jickling, 
a  daughter  of  Robert  Jickling,  a  sketch  of  whom 
will  be  found  on  another  page.  They  have  one 
child,  their  son,  Harry  F.  Shay,  who  was  born  on 
January  26,  1885.  Mr.  Shay  is  a  Republican  and 
has  served  as  postmaster  and  school  assessor  of 
his  township.  In  fraternal  circles  he  is  an  active 
Freemason  of  the  Knight  Templar  degree,  belong- 
ing to  the  lodge  at  Richland  and  the  chapter  and 
commandery  at  Battle  Creek. 

CHARLES  BELL. 

The  late  Charles  Bell,  one  of  the  leading  mer- 
chants of  Kalamazoo  for  many  years,  and  one  of 
its  best  known  and  most  respected  citizens,  was 
born  at  Hadley,  Mass.,  on  October  24,  1814,  the 
son  of  Reuben  and  Aletha  (Smith)  Bell.  The 
father  was  of  Scotch  ancestry,  was  ja  physician 
and  surgeon,  and  died  at  Hadley,  Mass.,  after  a 
long,  active  and  useful  life  in  the  industrious 
practice  of  his  profession.  His  son  Charles  grew 
to  manhood  in  his  native  town,  and  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  paper  in  Hadley  for  a  few 
years,  when  the  mill  was  destroyed  by  fire.  He 
then  went  to  New  York  city  and  engaged  in  mer- 
chandising in  partnership  with  his  brother,  re- 
maining there  and  in  business  until  1857,  when 
he  came  to  Kalamazoo  and,  in  partnership  with 
Charles  Gibbs,  formed  the  firm  of  Gibbs  &  Bell 
for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  a  grocery  trade. 
At  the  end  of  two  years  he  bought  Mr.  Gibbs  out 
and  from  then  until  1881  conducted  the  business 
alone.  Being  then  well  advanced  in  years  and 
having  borne  the  heat  and  burden  of  his  day  in 
active  effort  and  zealous  attention  to  duty,  acquir- 
ing a  competence  thereby,  he  retired  from  active 
pursuits  and  passed  the  brief  remainder  of  his  life 


in  quiet  enjoyment  suited  to  his  tastes,  among  his 
most  satisfying  pleasures  being  the  manifestations 
of  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  all  classes 
of  the  people  in  the  city.  He  died  on  September 
3,  1894,  at  the  age  of  nearly  eighty  years.  He 
was  married  in  Kalamazoo  on  March  1,  i860,  to 
Miss  Eliza  Phillips,  a  native  of  England,  who 
died  on  April  30,  1904.  They  had  two  sons  and 
two  daughters,  and  all  are  living  but  one  son. 
Edward  L.,  the  living  son,  is  now  farming  in 
Richland  township.  He  was  born  in  1862  and 
received  his  education  in  the  Kalamazoo  public 
schools.  After  leaving  school  he  went  to  farming 
in  Portage  township  and  remained  there  until 
1895.  He  then  came  to  Kalamazoo  and  in  1899 
he  moved  to  the  farm  he  now  occupies,  and  on 
which  he  is  now  living  in  Richland  township,  to 
the  improvement  and  cultivation  of  which  he  has 
since  devoted  his  energies.  In  1889  he  was  mar- 
ried in  this  county  to  Miss  Flora  M.  Snow,  a 
native  of  Alamo  township,  the  daughter  of  Ervin 
C.  and  Mary  (Coshun)  Snow,  early  settlers  of 
that  township.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bell  have  one 
daughter,  Alta  M.  Mr.  Bell  has  worthily  fol- 
lowed in  his  father's  footsteps  in  the  uprightness 
of  his  life,  the  energy  of  his  labor,  the  breadth  of 
his  views  as  to  local  affairs,  and  the  general  eleva- 
tion of  his  citizenship.  Throughout  the  county 
he  is  well  and  favorably  known,  and  in  many  lo- 
calities has  hosts  of  cordial  friends. 

THE  CITIZENS'  MUTUAL   FIRE   INSUR- 
ANCE COMPANY. 

This  admirably  managed  and  well  supported 
company,  which  has  been  one  of  the  bulwarks  of 
the  commercial  and  industrial  interests  of  Kala- 
mazoo, and  has  saved  the  homes  of  hosts  of  the 
citizens  for  them,  is  now  thirty  years  old,  having 
been  organized  on  January  26,  1874,  and  started 
business  with  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  of 
insurance  already  in  force.  Its  original  promo- 
ters and  organizers  were  F.  W.  Curienius,  Rob- 
ert S.  Babcock,  Homer  O.  Hitchcock,  Martin 
Wilson,  E.  O.  Humphrey,  L.  C.  Chapin,  Ben- 
jamin M.  Austin,  Hezekiah  G.  Wells,  Henry 
Bishop,  J.  B.  Wyckoff,  James  B.  Cobb  and  Moses 


248 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


Kingsley.  The  first  officers  were  R.  S.  Babcock, 
president,  and  Moses  Kingsley,  secretary  and 
treasurer.  Mr.  Babcock  served  as  president  until 
1878,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Homer  G. 
Wells,  who  served  several  years.  He  was  fol-. 
lowed  in  the  office  by  E.  O.  Humphrey,  and  at  his 
death  D.  O.  Roberts  became  president  and  served 
a  short  time,  being  succeeded  by  James  B.  Cobb, 
who  continued  as  president  until  his  death,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Otto  Ihling,  who  is  now  filling 
the  position,  A.  M.  Stearns  being  the  present 
vice-president.  Mr.  Kingsley  served  as  secretary 
and  treasurer  until  1886,  except  the  year  1884,  D. 
T.  Allen  serving  as  secretary  that  year,  when  Mr. 
Kingsley  was  succeeded  by  the  present  incumbent 
of  the  office,  George  E.  Curtiss. 

The  company  Has  over  one  million,  four  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  insurance  in  force,  and  has 
paid  many  thousands  of  dollars  in  losses  to  pol- 
icyholders. It  carries  policies  both  in  this  county 
and  in  Van  Buren  county,  its  patrons  being  resi- 
dents in  all  parts  of  each,  and  has  been  able  to 
carry  all  risks  at  a  rate  of  eighteen  cents  per  hun- 
dred dollars.  George  E.  Curtiss,  the  capable  and 
obliging  secretary  and  treasurer,  was  born  in  Liv- 
ingston county,  N.  Y.,  on  May  26,  1831,  and 
came  to  this  state  in  1836  with  his  parents,  Me- 
ckel and  Miranda  C.  (Thayer)  Curtiss,  who  were 
natives  of  Connecticut.  The  father  was  a  con- 
tractor and  builder  and  followed  his  craft  in  his 
native  state  until  1836,  when  the  family  moved  to 
Michigan,  making  the  trip  by  way  of  the  Erie 
canal  to  Buffalo,  thence  by  steamer  to  Detroit, 
and  from  there  with  ox  teams  to  Ypsilanti,  con- 
suming two  days  in  the  journey  from  Detroit. 
For  some  years  the  parents  were  engaged  in 
farming  in  Washtenaw  county,  then  moved  to 
Ypsilanti,  where  they  died.  Their  son  George 
reached  manhood  in  Ypsilanti,  and  was  educated 
there,  attending  the  public  schools  and  Ypsilanti 
Seminary.  He  learned  the  trade  of  a  tinner,  and 
for  a  short  time  was  in  business  there  as  such. 
He  then  moved  to  Niles,  this  state,  and  entered 
the  employ  of  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad,  in 
the  freight  department.  After  some  years  .of 
faithful  service  there  he  was  made  freight  agent 
at  Lake  Station,  serving  two  years  and  a  half, 


being  transferred  to  Kalamazoo  in  the  same  ca- 
pacity in  1864.  Here  he  was  in  charge  of  the 
station  for  some  time  and  was  then  made  di- 
vision superintendent  of  the  South  Haven  branch, 
a  position  which  he  held  for  a  number  of  years. 
After  leaving  the  railroad  service  he  was  in  the 
bakery  business  in  Kalamazoo  until  1886,  when 
he  was  elected  to  the  position  he  now  holds,  as 
secretary  and  treasurer  of  this  company.  Mr. 
Curtiss  was  married  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  in  1854, 
to  Miss  Lydia  C.  Thompkins,  a  native  of  that 
state.  They  have  two  daughters  and  one  son. 
As  a  Republican,  Mr.  Curtiss  has  taken  an  active 
part  in  public  affairs,  serving  as  supervisor  eight 
years  in  the  third  ward.  He  belongs  to  the  Ma- 
sonic order  and  the  National  Union,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Baptist  church. 

DR.   HARRIS   B.   OSBORN. 

Dr.  Harris  B.Osborn,the  leading  physician  of 
Kalamazoo  and  one  of  the  most  eminent  in  this 
part  of  the  country,  has  seen  active  service  in  his 
profession  amid  the  trying  scenes  of  the  Civil 
war,  where  "Carnage  replenished  her  garner- 
house  profound/'  and  also  amid  the  peaceful  pur- 
suits of  productive  labor  after  the  awful  ordeal 
of  sectional  strife  was  over,  and  thus  through 
practical  experience  has  acquired  the  skill  and 
wide  professional  learning  for  which  he  is  noted. 
He  was  born  at  Sherman,  Chautauqua  county, 
N.  Y.,  on  August  11,  1841  ;  and  while  a  man  of 
peace  himself,  came  of  military  ancestry  on  both 
sides  of  his  family.  He  is  the  son  of  Piatt  S. 
and  Mary  A.  (Piatt)  Osborn,  both  natives  of 
New  York  state,  as  their  progenitors  were  for 
several  generations  before  them,  they  being  born 
in  Washington  county,  that  state.  The  father 
was  a  country  merchant  and  tanner,  and  was  the 
son  of  David  and  Lucretia  (Harris)  Osborn,  the 
former  a  merchant  and  a  Revolutionary  soldier, 
as  was  his  father,  David  Osborn,  who  married 
Miss  Mary  Hunting  in  1757.  In  the  struggle 
for  independence  father  and  son  served  in  a  New 
York  regiment,  meeting  the  glittering  steel  and 
scarlet  uniform  of  Great  Britain's  veteran  sol- 
diery on  many  a  hard- fought  field,  but  escaping 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


249 


without  wounds  or  other  disaster  except  the  hard- 
ships and  privations  incident  to  service  in  a  hard- 
worked  and  ill-fed*  army,  whose  very  existence 
was  at  times  at  stake.  The  Doctor's  maternal 
o-randfather,  Joshua  Harris,  was  also  a  soldier  in 
the  Revolution,  and  had  previously  fought  in  the 
French  and  Indian  war.  The  father  of  the  Doc- 
tor, following  the  example  of  his  father  and  his 
grandfather,  promptly  enlisted  in  defense  of  his 
country  in  the  war  of  181 2,  but  the  contest  was 
ended  before  his  company  was  called  into  active 
service  in  the  field.  He  died  in  western  New  York, 
where  he  settled  in  1805.  He  and  his  wife  were 
the  parents  of  ten  children.  The  Doctor  received 
his  early  education  in  the  district  schools  of  his 
native  county,  and  about  the  year  1855  moved  to 
Kane  county,  111.,  where  he  continued  his  attend- 
ance at  school  and  also  sold  goods  on  the  road 
until  i860.  He  then  entered  the  medical  depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Michigan,  having  pre- 
viously read  medicine  for  a  time  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Dr.  Samuel  McNair.  He  remained  at  the 
university  until  the  spring  of  1862,  then  enlisted 
in  the  Union  army  as  a  member  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Thirteenth  Illinois  Infantry,  Company 
G,  entering  the  service  as  a  private  soldier.  His 
first  active  service  was  in  Sherman's  corps  in  the 
Army  of  Tennessee.  He  took  part  in  the  battles 
at  Arkansas  Post,  Haines'  Bluff,  and  those  on  the 
Deer  Creek  expedition ;  the  battles  of  Grand  Gulf, 
Champion  Hills,  Big  Black  and  the  campaigns 
around  Vicksburg.  On  May  19,  1863,  he  was 
commissioned  assistant  surgeon  and  the  next  year 
post  surgeon  at  Vicksburg,  remaining  in  the 
service  until  1866,  and  came  out  with  the  rank 
of  major.  At  Chickasaw  Bayou  he  was  wounded 
by  a  shot  that  passed  through  his  leg.  The  year 
1867  was  passed  by  him  at  Bellevue  Hospital  in 
New'  York,  where  he  received  a  degree,  and  in 
1875  ne  was  graduated  from  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons  in  that  city.  During  the 
next  fourteen  years  he  practiced  in  New  York, 
and  in  1881  he  came  to  Kalamazoo,  where  he  has 
since  resided  and  been  in  active  general  practice. 
At  the  same  time  he  has  mingled  freely  in  the 
commercial  activities  of  the  city  and  county  and 
had  an  influential  connection  with  their  educa- 


tional and  eleemosynary  institutions.  He  is  a  di- 
rector of  the  Kalamazoo  National  Bank  and  a 
trustee  of  the  Insane  Asylum,  appointed  first  by 
Governor  Rich  and  re-appointed  by  Governor 
Bliss.  In  the  organizations  formed  for  the  benefit 
of  his  profession  and  the  increase  of  its  useful- 
ness he  takes  a  zealous  and  helpful  interest,  being 
an  active  member  of  the  Kjalamazoo  Medical 
Academy,  the  County,  State  and  American  Med- 
ical Societies  and  the  Association  of  American 
Railway  Surgeons.  He  is  the  surgeon  at  Kala- 
mazoo of  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern 
Railroad,  and  in  fact,  wherever  his  profession 
has  an  important  bearing  on  the  city's  interests 
he  is  to  be  found  in  a  position  of  commanding 
prominence  and  influence.  Politically  the  Doctor 
is  a  Republican,  fraternally  he  is  a  devoted  Free- 
mason, and  in  church  affiliation  is  connected  with 
the  Congregational  denomination.  In  1878  he 
married  with  Miss  Annette  Ames,  a  native  of 
Rutland,  Vt.  Professionally,  politically,  socially 
and  in  a  business  way  meeting  his  obligations 
with  all  fidelity  and  with  capacity  and  cheerful- 
ness, he  is  an  ornament  to  the  city  of  his  adop- 
tion and  an  honor  to  American  citizenship. 

DR.  ALBERT  B.  CORNELL. 

Having  been  in  the  active  practice  of  medicine 
and  surgery  in  Kalamazoo  for  a  period  of  thirty- 
five  years,  Dr.  Albert  B.  Cornell  is  one  of  the  old- 
est practitioners  in  the  city,  and  he  has  been  one 
of  the  most  energetic  and  successful.  He  is  a  na- 
tive of  the  city,  born  on  June  22,  1843.  His  par- 
ents were  Joseph  R.  and  Content  M.  (Babcock) 
Cornell,  the  former  born  in  Boston,  Mass., 
and  the  latter  at  South  New  Berlin,  N.  Y. 
The  father  was  born  in  1800,  and  received  his 
early  education  in  the  schools  of  his  native  city. 
In  his  young  manhood  he  removed  to  Brattleboro, 
Vt.,  where  he  read  medicine  and  attended  a 
medical  college.  After  his  graduation  he  began 
practicing  at  Clinton,  N.  Y.,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1841,  then  came  to  Kalamazoo,  be- 
ing the  fifth  physician  to  arrive  and  locate  in 
the  city.  Here  he  was  diligent  and  constant  in  his 
practice  until  1867,  riding  through  this  and  ad- 


250 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


joining  counties  in  all  sorts  of  weather  and  at 
all  times  of  the  day  and  night.    The  life  was  full 
of  toil  and  hardship,  as  is  that  of  every  active  phy- 
sician in  a  new  country,  yet  he  gained  from  it 
vigor  of  body  and  elevation  of  spirit,  and  with  all 
its  drawbacks  found  a  great  deal  of  enjoyment  in 
it.    He  rose  to  the  first  rank  in  his  profession  here 
and  was  held  in  the  highest  regard  by  all  classes 
of  the  people.     He  had  six  sons  who  grew  to 
manhood,  Albert  B.  being  the  only  one  who  be- 
came a  physician.     The  grandfather,  Nathaniel 
Cornell,  was  a  sea  captain,  and  after  a  long  life 
of  adventure  in  which  he  saw  many  countries  and 
sailed  all  seas,  he  died  in  Massachusetts,  his  na- 
tive state.     Dr.  Albert  Cornell  secured  his  aca- 
demic education  in  the  public  schools  and  at  Kala- 
mazoo  College.     He    read   medicine    with    Dr. 
Joseph   Sill   for  a  while,  then  entered   Bellevue 
Hospital,  New  York,  in  1867  and  was  graduated 
in   1869  from   the  Hahnemann   Medical   College 
of  Chicago.     He  at  once  began  the  practice  of 
his  profession  at    Kalamazoo  and  in  the    offices 
formerly  occupied  by  his  father ;  and  since  then  he 
has  been  continuously  and  energetically  engaged 
in  the  practice,  enlarging  his  operations  until  they 
cover  a  large  extent  of  the  country,  and  maintain- 
ing by    his  studious    attention    to  the    advanced 
thought  of  the  profession  and  his  skill  in  applying 
the  results  of  his  study  and  observation  every  foot 
of  ground  he  gained  by  his  close  attention  to  busi- 
ness and  his  genial  and  obliging  disposition.  He  is 
president  of  the  Southwestern  Homeopathic  As- 
sociation and  holds    valued    membership   in  the 
State  Medical  Society  and  the  American  Institute 
of  Homeopathy.  He  has  served  the  city  two  terms 
as  health  officer,  and  in  the  discharge  of  his  official 
duties  improved  the  sanitary  conditions  of  large 
districts  in  the  municipality.     He  is  also  surgeon 
for  the  Michigan  Traction  Company  for  Kalama- 
zoo.    In  1877  he  was  married  to  Mrs.  Sarah  E. 
Mabee,  a  native  of  New  York  state.     In  church 
affiliation  they  are  Presbyterians,  and  the  Doctor 
is  a  zealous  member  of  the  Masonic  order.     In 
professional,  in  official  and  in  private  life  he  has 
borne  himself  in  a  worthy  and  manly  manner  and 
has  won  and  holds  the  respect  and  regard  of  the 
entire  community. 


WALTER  HOEK. 

Our   land   of  liberty,   which  has   aptly  been 
called  the  great  charity  of  God  to  the  human  race, 
has  furnished  an  asylum  for  many  races  and  peo- 
ples, who  have  fled  from  the  heavy  hand  of  re- 
ligious   persecution    on    their    native    soil,     and 
among  them  no  company  of  settlers  who  have 
sought  freedom  to  worship  God  according  to  the 
dictates  of  their  own  consciences  under  our  be- 
nign institutions,   is  entitled  to  a  higher  regard 
than  the  colony  that  came  from  Holland  to  Kala- 
mazoo in  1850.     In  this  colony  was  the  interest- 
ing subject  of  this  review,  who  was  then  a  boy 
of  fourteen,  having  been  born  in  southern  Hol- 
land on  October  25,  1836.    He  came  to  this  coun- 
try with  his  parents,  John  and  Martha   (Hou- 
maeter)  Hoek,  who  were  also  natives  of  southern 
Holland,  where  the  father  was  a  dyke  builder. 
There  he  was  associated  for  years  with  Paulus 
Den  Bleyker  (see  sketch  on  another  page)  as  his 
overseer,  and  also  served  in  the  same  company 
with  him  in  the  war  between  Holland  and  Bel- 
gium.    In  this  short,  sharp  and  decisive  contest 
he  saw  much  active  service,  but  escaped  withtmt 
disaster.     In  1850  he  became  one  of  the  colonists 
that  determined  to  leave  their  native  land  and 
seek  the  promised  asylum  from  persecution  in  the 
United    States.      They    numbered    twenty-seven 
persons,  men,  women  and  children,  and  left  Am- 
sterdam on  August  15,  1850,  in  a  sailing  vessel 
for  New  York.    Their  passage  across  the  Atlan- 
tic consumed  thirty-six  days,  but  was  uneventful 
except  for  its  length  and  tediousness.     The  colo- 
nists arrived  at  Kalamazoo  on  October  1st,  and 
within  a  week  thereafter  a  number  of  them  died 
of  the  cholera,  among  the  number  being  the  fa- 
ther of  Mr.   Hoek.     His   death  left  his   widow 
with  four  small  children,  Walter,  aged  thirteen, 
being  the  oldest.     She  was  resolute  and  resource- 
ful, and  found  a  way  to  provide  a  home  for  her- 
self and  family  and  rear  her  children  to  useful- 
ness and  credit.     Her  life  ended  in  Kalamazoo, 
August  23,  1887.     Walter  began,  as  soon  as  he 
was  able,  to  assist  his  mother  in  supporting  the 
family.     At  an  early  age  he  was  apprenticed  to 
the  trade  of  a  wagonmaker,  and  for  forty-five 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


251 


\  ears  after  completing  his  apprenticeship  worked 
at  the  trade.  Prior  to  entering  upon  his  appren- 
ticeship, he  wrought  in  various  places  in  the  city 
at  different  occupations,  and  in  the  surrounding 
country  clearing  up  land  for  cultivation.  He  was 
employed  for  years  by  David  Rurrell  and  by  Bur- 
rell  Brothers,  and  passed  some  time  in  business 
for  himself.  Being  versatile,  as  well  as  persever- 
ing and  industrious,  he  was  successful  from  the 
start,  and  being  long-headed,  as  well  as  handy, 
lie  turned  his  attention  to  various  lines  of  busi- 
ness activity  and  profit.  He  plotted  Hoek's  ad- 
dition to  the  city  and  sold  a  large  number  of  lots 
for  homes.  Accepting  with  cheerfulness  his  des- 
tiny of  toil  and  privation  in  his  youth,  he  entered 
upon  its  requirements  with  alacrity,  and  met  them 
with  manliness,  and  made  them  subservient  to  his 
lasting  good  and  substantial  advancement.  In 
1858  he  was  married  to  Miss  Alice  Vreg,  like 
himself  a  native  of  Holland.  She  came  to  Kala- 
mazoo in  1849.  They  have  had  six  children,  of 
whom  a  daughter  named  Martha  died  and  Anna 
M.,  Nellie,  John,  Margaret  and  Harry  are  liv- 
ing. In  political  faith  Mr.  Hoek  is  a  pronounced 
Democrat  and  as  such  has  served  two  terms  as 
alderman  from  his  ward.  He  was  nominated  for 
the  legislature  in  1904,  but  the  entire  ticket  was 
defeated.  He  belongs  to  the  Christian  Reformed 
church,  of  which  he  has  been  an  elder  during  the 
past  twenty  years.  During  the  last  twenty-five 
years  he  has  been  superintendent  of  its  Sunday 
school.  The  high  character  and  usefulness  of 
his  citizenship  is  universally  conceded,  and  on  all 
sides  he  is  held  in  the  highest  esteem. 

MARTIN  BACON 

After  being  actively  engaged  in  farming  in 
this  county  for  a  period  of  nearly  fifty  years,  in 
which  he  aided  in  clearing  the  paternal  home- 
stead and  bringing  it  to  a  high  state  of  cultiva- 
tion, and  then  pushed  his  operations  forward  on 
a  widening  plane  of  progress  and  improvement, 
Martin  Bacon,  one  of  the  esteemed  pioneers  of 
the  county,  is  living  quietly  in  Kalamazoo,  at  his 
attractive  and  valuable  home  on  Portage  street, 
enjoying  the  calm  and  peaceful  sunset  of  his  life 
amid  the  hosts  of  friends  who  hold  him  in  high 
appreciation   for   his   integrity   of  character,   his 


cheerfulness  of  disposition  and  his  past  useful- 
ness in  this  portion  of  the  state.  Mr.  Bacon  was 
born  on  February  28,  1826,  in  Lincolnshire,  Eng- 
land, where  his  parents,  John  and  Sarah  (Crook- 
ston)  Bacon,  also  first  saw  the  light  of  this 
world.  The  father  was  a  farmer  and  followed  this 
occupation  in  his  native  land  until  April,  1851, 
when  he  brought  his  family,  consisting  of  his 
wife  and  two  sons,  Martin  and  William,  the  lat- 
ter of  whom  is  now  deceased,  to  this  country. 
After  a  residence  of  two  years  at  Medina,  Or- 
leans county,  N.  Y.,  they  all  came  to  Kalamazoo, 
making  the  journey  by  way  of  the  Erie  Canal  to 
Buffalo,  thence  by  steamer  over  Lake  Erie  to 
Detroit,  and  from  there  to  Kalamazoo  by  way  of 
the  Michigan  Central  Railroad.  They  bought  a 
tract  of  unbroken  land  in  section  13,  Portage 
township,  comprising  eighty  acres,  and  this  they 
cleared  and  cultivated  many  years,  the  mother 
dying  on  it  in  July,  1866,  and  the  father  on  Au- 
gust 8,  1886.  Their  son  Martin  reached  the  age 
of  twenty-five  in  his  native  land,  and  after  leav- 
ing school  worked  as  a  shepherd  on  a  farm  there 
until  leaving  for  the  United  States.  He  aided  his 
father  in  clearing  the  new  patrimony  in  this  wil- 
derness, as  it  was  when  they  came  hither,  and  this 
valuable  farm,  which  represents  so  much  of  his 
toil  and  trial  through  his  earlier  manhood,  he 
still  owns.  But  he  had  added  to  its  dimensions 
until  his  place  now  embraces  three  hundred  acres, 
nearly  all  of  which  is  under  advanced  and  vigor- 
ous cultivation.  The  farm  is  now  worked  and 
managed  by  his  son  David.  Mr.  Bacon  was  mar- 
ried in  March,  1861,  to  Miss  Luetina  Harris,  a 
native  of  this  state.  They  had  three  children,  two 
of  whom  are  living,  their  sons  Ellsworth  M.  and 
David  H.  Their  mother  died  in  1885,  and  in 
1886  the  father  was  married  to  Miss  Lydia  J. 
Snow,  a  native  of  Champaign  county,  Ohio.  Her 
parents  were  early  settlers  at  Kalamazoo.  Mrs. 
Bacon  died  March  21,  1905.  Mr.  Bacon  has  been 
a  Republican  from  the  foundation  of  the  party, 
having  voted  for  its  first  presidential  candidate, 
General  Fremont,  and  for  every  one  since  him, 
but  he  has  never  consented  to  accept  a  political 
office  of  any  kind.  He  belongs  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  of  which  he  is  a  regular  at- 
tendant and  a  liberal  supporter. 


252 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


CONRAD  MILLER. 

Since  1882  this*  prominent  and  progressive 
business  man  has  been  closely  connected  with  the 
commercial  interests  of  Kalamazoo,  and  during 
all  of  the  time  has  occupied  an  honored  position 
among  its  citizens.  He  has  conducted  one  of  the 
leading  wood  and  coal  trades  of  the  city,  and  has 
so  conducted  it  as  to  win  and  hold  the  regard  of 
the  business  world  by  his  uprightness,  fore- 
thought, progressive  methods,  and  the  high  ideal 
which  he  has  had  ever  before  him  as  a  business 
man  and  a  citizen.  He  was  the  founder  and  is 
the  president  of  the  Miller,  Ryder  &  Winterburn 
Company,  a  corporation  organized  in  1901  with 
a  capital  stock  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  He  was 
its  first  president,  W.  J.  Ryder  was  vice-president 
and  C.  L.  Miller  was  secretary  and  treasurer.  Mr. 
Ryder  retired  from  the  company  in  1903,  at 
which  time  W.  F.  Winterburn  was  elected  vice- 
president.  The  company  conducts  an  extensive 
trade  in  wood,  coal,  flour  and  feed,  and  also  runs 
a  grist  mill  in  connection  with  the  establishment. 
Mr.  Miller  was  born  near  Hamilton  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Ontario,  Canada,  in  1848.  The  family 
moved  to  New  York  state  in  his  childhood,  and 
in  1862  settled  in  Allegan  county,  this  state,  where, 
the  parents  were  engaged  in  farming  until  the 
end  of  their  lives.  Their  son  Conrad  grew  to 
manhood  in  Michigan,  and  was  educated  in  its 
public  schools.  He  began  life  as  a  farmer  in  Van 
Buren  county,  clearing  a  good  farm  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres,  which  he  still  owns.  He 
continued  farming  on  this  land  until  1882,  when 
he  came  to  Kalamazoo  and  became  a  dealer  in 
wood,  the  next  year  adding  coal  to  his  stock  in 
trade,  for  a  number  of  years  carrying  on  the  busi- 
ness alone.  He  then  formed  a  partnership  witii 
W.  F.  Winterburn  in  the  feed  business,  and  later 
one  with  W.  J.  Ryder  in  the  wood  and  coal  trade. 
Then  in  1901  the  stock  company  was  formed 
which  includes  both  of  these  firms.  This  busi- 
ness has  prospered  and  increased  greatly,  and 
the  company  stands  in  the  first  ranks  of  Kalama- 
zoo's commercial  enterprises.  Mr.  Miller  is  also 
a  stockholder  in  the  Kalamazoo  Corset  Company 
and  the  South  Side  Land  Improvement  Company. 


Although  he  has  the  interests  of  his  city,  county 
and  state  deep  at  heart,  political  contentions  have 
never  claimed  his  attention,  his  business  inter- 
ests and  his  domestic  life  completely  satisfying 
him.  He  was  married  in  1871  to  Miss  Grace  Ma- 
son, a  daughter  of  Cornelius  Mason,  and  grand- 
daughter of  Edwin  Mason,  one  of  the  early  set- 
tlers in  this  county. 

WILLIAM  H.  KESTER. 

Although  born  in  this  county,  William  H. 
Kester,  of  Richland  township,  was  reared  from 
childhood  to  manhood  in  the  state  of  New  York 
in  the  home  of  an  uncle,  and  was  trained  for  life's 
duties  in  an  atmosphere  somewhat  different  from 
that  in  which  he  was  destined  to  live  thereafter. 
But  this  fact  did  not  make  him  less  adaptable  to 
a  change  of  conditions.  It  rather  broadened  his 
vision  and  rendered  his  functions  more  flexible, 
and  was  therein  of  advantage  to  him  and  the  peo- 
ple around  him.  His  life  began  in  Richland  town- 
ship on  March  14,  1857.  His  parents  were  Henry 
and  Harriet  (Bears)  Kester,  natives  of  Onon- 
daga county,  N.  Y.,  who  moved  to  Kalamazoo 
county  soon  after  their  marriage,  when  all  their 
hopes  and  aspirations  pointed  to  a  career  of  use- 
fulness and  credit,  and  they  wisely  chose  a  new 
country  in  which  to  develop  them.  Here  the  con- 
ditions of  life  were  crude  and  unartificial.  A 
sparse  population  throws  every  person  on  his 
own  resources,  and  the  habit  of  supplying  his 
own  needs  educates  the  body  to  wonderful  per- 
formances and  widens  the  mind  to  unsuspected 
possibilities.  Moreover,  close  and  continued  com- 
munion with  nature,  undisturbed  by  the  exactions 
and  restraints  of  social  life  and  its  conventional 
claims,  is  in  itself  a  fountain  of  inspiration  and 
strength.  And  here  in  the  wilderness  Mr.  Kes- 
ter's  parents  grew  and  flourished  by  their  own 
efforts,  winning  a  home  from  the  waste  and  help- 
ing to  build  the  region  into  fruitfulness  and 
beauty.  On  their  arrival  in  the  county  they 
bought  a  partially  improved  tract  of  land  in  Rich- 
land township  which  they  developed  into  a  good 
farm,  and  when  their  life's  work  was  done  they 
surrendered  their  trust  on  th<°  place,  which  was  at 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN: 


253 


once  their  product  and  their  sustenance,  the 
mother  dying  in  1862  and  the  father  in  1864. 
Their  son,  who  was  their  only  child,  was  taken 
to  their  former  home  in  New  York  and  grew  to 
manhood  in  the  family  and  under  the  care  of 
•hi  uncle.  After  receiving  his  education  and 
reaching  his  legal  majority  there,  he  returned  to 
li is  native  place  and  bought  a  farm,  on  which  he 
has  lived  ever  since.  It  has  been  well  improved 
l)\  him  and  carefully  cultivated,  and  stands  forth 
now  to  his  credit  as  a  work  of  merit  wrought  out 
bv  his  own  industry  and  fidelity  to  duty.  In 
1882  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  A.  Peak,  a 
native  of  Richland  township,  and  the  daughter  of 
honored  pioneers  of  the  county.  Two  children 
are  the  fruit  of  the  union,  their  daughter  Hazel 
J',  and  their  son  Fred  H.  The  parents  belong  to 
the  Presbyterian  church,  and  in  its  circles  and 
throughout  the  township  generally,  they  are 
highly  respected.  The  father  is  a  Democrat  in 
political  faith,  and  loyally  supports  his  party  in 
state  and  national  affairs.  But  he  is  not  an  office 
seeker,  and  takes  interest  in  local  matters  as  a 
citizen,  without  regard  to  political  considerations. 

DAVID  R.  CHANDLER. 

It  was  from  the  hardy  yoemanry  of  New  York 
and  New  England  that  southern  Michigan  was 
mainly  settled  and  populated  in  its  earlier  history, 
and  on  its  prolific  soil  the  bold  adventurers,  who 
left  all  the  comforts  and  blandishments  of  civiliza- 
tion behind  them,  produced  a  development,  a  com- 
mercial and  industrial  activity  and  fruitfulness,  a 
social  culture  and  an  educational  system  in  all  re- 
spects equal  and  in  many  superior  to  that  which 
they  had  abandoned  for  the  wilderness.  They  were 
men  of  the  serene  and  lofty  faith  which  endures 
the  burden  and  privation  of  the  present  while 
standing  on  tiptoe  looking  over  the  tides  of  time 
to  see  the  on-coming  glory  of  the  far  future.  The 
subject  of  this  article,  while  not  among  the  first, 
was  one  of  the  early  arrivals  in  this  county,  and 
came  hither  with  his  parents  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
years,  his  young  life  crowded  with  the  beautiful 
hopes  and  aspirations  of  youth,  believing  all 
things,  trusting  all  things,  and  ready  with  daring 
15 


courage   to  ascend   "the   ladder   leaning   on   the 
clouds.' '    That  his  vision  was  soon  depoetized  and 
he  was  made  to  realize  that  life  in  his  new  home 
was  exacting  and  trying  to  the  last  degree,  hap- 
pened soon  enough  to  lead  him  to  vigorous  and 
determined  industry,  and  yet  not  so  effectually  as 
to  destroy  his   confidence   in  ultimate  results  or 
dampen  his  ardor  in  the  effort  to  reach  them.  He 
took  his  place  in  the  working  force  of  the  com- 
munity, and  having  put  on  the  harness  of  honest 
toil  then,  he  has  worn  it  worthily  and  serviceably 
until  now.     Mr.  Chandler  was  born  in  Onondaga 
county,    X.    Y.,    on    December    2,    1834,    and    is 
the  son  of  Michael  and  Fannie  (Shepard)  Chan- 
dler, the  former  a  native  of  New  York  state  and 
the   latter   of   Connecticut.     They   brought   their 
family  to  this  county  and  settled  on  a  tract  of 
wild  land  in  Richland  township  in  1849.     On  that 
land,  which  had  under  his  management  assumed 
the  comeliness  of  a  cultivated  farm  and  the  com- 
forts of  a  good  home,  the  father  died  during  the 
Civil  war.    The  mother  survived  him  many  years, 
dying  on  March  to,  1892,  in  Richland  township 
at  the  home  of  her  daughter,  Mrs.  William  >  Si- 
mons, aged  eighty  years.     Their  son  David  grew 
to  manhood  on  the  paternal  homestead  and  com- 
pleted in  the  country  school  in  the  neighborhood 
the  education  he  had  begun  in  his  native  state.  He 
remained  at  home  working  with  his  father  until 
the  death  of  that  worthy  gentleman,  and  for  a 
few  years  afterward  managed  the  farm  for  his 
mother.     On  October  26,  1865,  ne  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Adeline  J.  Peake,  the  daughter  of 
Ira  and  Sarah    (Miller)    Peake,  early  settlers  in 
this  county,  and  four  years  later  they  located  on 
the  farm  of  two  hundred  acres  in  Richland  town- 
ship  which   was   the   home   of   the   family   until 
1900,  when  Mr.  Chandler  moved  to  the  village  of 
Richland,  selling  the  farm  in  1902.  Mrs.  Chandler 
died   on  June   28,    1881,   leaving  four  children: 
Seth  P.,  Hull  N.,  Ruby  A.,  now  the  wife  of  E.  J. 
Read,  of  Richland,  and  Fannie  L.,  now  a  trained 
nurse  in  Chicago.     In  1895  the  father  contracted 
a  second  marriage,  uniting  him  with  Miss  Emma 
J.  Stetson,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Ezra  Stetson,  who 
became  a  resident  of  Galesburg  in  1836,  and  was 
probably  the  first  physician  to  locate  in  the  county. 


254 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


He  came  from  Otsego  county,  N.  Y.,  having 
been  graduated  in  the  classical  course  at  Hamilton 
College  and  read  medicine  at  Cooperstown,  that 
state.  He  rode  horseback  from  Detroit  to  this 
county,  and  until  1855  he  was  actively  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession  here.  In  that  year 
he  removed  to  Bureau  county.  111.,  where  he 
devoted  his  time  to  farming  and  raising  Percheron 
horses  of  a  high  grade,  and  died  in  1895,  aged 
eighty-four  years.  He  was  married  in  this  county 
to  Miss  Jane  Miller,  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Miller, 
one  of  the  Richland  township  pioneers  of  1834, 
and  a  native  of  Connecticut.  The  Doctor  and 
Mrs.  Stetson  had  five  sons  and  one  daughter,  the 
daughter  being  Mrs.  Chandler.  All  the  sons  are 
living  but  one.  In  politics  Mr.  Chandler  is  a  pro- 
nounced Democrat.  He  has  taken  an  earnest  in- 
terest in  township  affairs  and  served  the  com- 
munity well  as  a  justice  of  the  peace  eight  years 
in  succession.  He  has  also  held  other  local  offices, 
and  at  all  times  has  been  foremost  in  advocacy  and 
support  of  commendable  undertakings  for  the 
benefit  of  the  section.  Fraternally  he  has  long 
been  a  zealous  member  of  the  Masonic  order.  No 
citizen  of  the  township  has  better  deserved  the  re- 
gard and  good  will  of  his  fellow  men,  and  none 
has  secured  it  in  greater  degree. 

THE  GLOBE  CASKET  COMPANY. 

This  active  and  fruitful  manufactory  was  or- 
ganized and  incorporated  in  1870,  and  during  the 
twenty-four  years  of  its  life  it  has  given  employ- 
ment to  many  men  and  kept  in  circulation  in  this 
city  a  vast  amount  of  money.  It  has  been  man- 
aged with  skill  and  enterprise,  steadily  gaining 
in  patronage  and  widening  the  territory  tribu- 
tary to  its  coffers,  until  it  has  the  whole  of  this 
country  for  its  market.  As  it  was  the  first  mer- 
cantile entity  to  make  cloth-covered  caskets  in 
the  world,  so  it  has  kept  pace  with  the  march  of 
progress  in  the  matter  of  its  commodities,  and 
offers  now  to  the  trade  the  best  articles  in  its  line 
to  be  found  anywhere.  The  founders  of  the  com- 
pany were  O.  M.  Allen,  W.  B.  Clarke  and  J. 
P.  Woodbury.  The  patentees  were  M.  F.  Carder 
and  Hosea  Henika.    In  the  course  of  a  few  years, 


the  business  passed  into  the  hands  of  O.  M.  Allen, 
who  owned  it  until  1887.  Then  the  company  was 
reorganized  with  a  capital  stock  of  fifty 
seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  and  the 
following  officers :  O.  M.  Allen,  president ; 
R.  D.  McKinney,  vice-president;  George 
H.  Henshaw,  secretary;  and  J.  Allen, 
treasurer.  Mr.  Allen  continued  as  pres- 
ident until  1899,  when  he  retired  and  Mr.  McKin- 
ney succeeded  him.  At  that  time  C.  A.  and  Hor- 
ace Peck,  Edward  Woodbury,  George  A.  Bar- 
deen  and  G.  L.  Gilkey  became  interested  in  the 
enterprise.  The  factory  was  erected  in  1900,  a 
building  seventy  by  one  hundred  sixty-five  feet, 
five  stories  high.  The  establishment  employs  one 
hundred  persons  and  manufactures  cloth-covered 
caskets,  being  the  pioneer  in  these  forms  of  bur- 
ial furniture  and  never  losing  the  lead  in  the 
quality  of  its  output.  The  products  of  the  factory 
are  shipped  all  over  this  country,  and  the  busi- 
ness is  constantly  on  the  increase.  R.  D.  McKin- 
ney, the  president  and  general  manager  of  the 
company,  is  a  native  of  Hamilton,  Ohio.  He 
came  with  his  parents  to  Michigan,  and  witli 
them  he  settled  at  Lawton,  Van  Buren  county. 
His  father  was  a  Union  soldier  in  the  Civil  war, 
serving  in  the  Sixty-first  Ohio  Infantry ;  and  he 
had  four  brothers  in  the  service  on  the  same  side. 
The  elder  McKinney  was  a  quartermaster.  The 
son,  R.  D.  McKinney,  reached  manhood  at  Law- 
ton,  and  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
that  town,  also  attending  Kalamazoo  College  one 
term.  After  leaving  that  institution  he  entered 
the  employ  of  O.  M.  Allen  in  the  casket  factory, 
beginning  his  service  there  in  1881,  and  bein£ 
connected  with  the  business  continuously  since 
then.  Within  his  observation  and  by  his  aid  the 
business  has  grown  from  a  very  small  beginning 
to  its  present  proportions,  affording  a  strong 
proof  that  the  American  people  are  quick  to  see 
and  diligent  to  use  an  article  of  sterling  merit. 

Mr.  McKinney  is  also  a  stockholder  in  the 
City  National  Bank.  He  is  held  in  high  regard 
in  the  mercantile  world,  and  in  the  fraternal  life 
of  the  community  he  is  a  Freemason  of  the 
Knights  Templar  degree  and  a  Noble  of  the  Mys- 
tic Shrine,  and  also  as  an  Elk. 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


255 


DR.  J.  L.  W.  YOUNG. 

Born  on  February  18,  1849,  m  tne  upper  end 
of  the  Shenandoah  valley,  Virginia,  at  a  time 
when  our  country  was  rapidly  preparing  for  the 
momentous  Civil  war  which  soon  afterward 
plunged  it  into  sanguinary  strife  and  stifled  all 
the  productive  energies  of  his  section,  Dr.  J.  L. 
\V.  Young,  of  Kalamazoo,  began  life  under  un- 
favorable auspices  which  did  not  improve  during 
his  childhood  and  youth.  He  is  the  son  of  John 
K.  and  Mary  M.  (Shank)  Young,  also  natives  of 
Virginia.  The  father  was  a  carpenter,  and,  fer- 
vent in  his  loyalty  to  his  section,  was  among  the 
first  to  enter  the  Confederate  army  at  the  begin- 
ning of  hostilities,  becoming  a  member  of  the 
Second  Virginia  Cavalry  under  command  of  Gen- 
eral Fitzhugh  Lee.  In  that  very  active  fighting  or- 
ganization he  had  ample  opportunity  during  the 
awful  conflict  of  arms  to  see  and  experience  all 
the  horrors  of  the  Civil  war,  and  although  he 
escaped  death,  wounds  and  captivity,  he  suffered 
great  hardships,  encountered  great  dangers  and 
underwent  great  toil  and  privation.  The  Doctor 
was  the  only  son  born  to  his  parents  and  remained 
in  his  native  state  until  he  reached  the  age  of 
twenty  years,  securing  his  academic  education  in 
private  schools  there.  In  1868  he  entered  the 
medical  department  of  the  State  University  of 
Michigan,  and  after  passing  two  years  in  that  in- 
stitution he  completed  his  course  of  professional 
■raining  at  the  Missouri  Medical  College  in  St. 
Louis,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1871.  In  the 
meantime,  in  1870,  his  parents  had  moved  to 
M  untie,  Ind.,  and  he  began  practicing  his  pro- 
fession in  that  state.  But  soon  afterward  changed 
his  residence  to  Big  Rapids,  this  state,  and  in 
1874  settled  at  Cooper,  Kalamazoo  county.  Here 
he  remained  eight  years,  then  moved  to  Lowell 
hi  Kent  county,  where  he  passed  ten  years,  all 
the  while  engaged  in  an  active  general  practice. 
In  the  autumn  of  1892  he  became  a  resident  of 
Kalamazoo,  and  in  that  city  he  has  ever  since  lived 
and  practiced.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Kalamazoo 
Academy  of  Medicine  and  secretary  of  the  Na- 
tional Practice  Association.  In  1872  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Mary  E.  Murdock,  a  native  of  Michi- 


gan. They  have  one  child,  their  daughter  Maud, 
wife  of  Colonel  P.  L.  Abbey.  The  Doctor  has 
given  his  whole  time  and  energy  to  his  profession, 
allowing  nothing  to  come  between  him  and  it,  and 
has  built  up  a  large  and  representative  practice, 
numbering  among  its  patrons  many  of  the  leading 
families  of  the  community,  and  has  also  risen  to 
a  high  rank  in  the  estimation  of  his  professional 
brethren  and  the  public  generally. 

H.  CLAIR  JACKSON. 

H.  Clair  Jackson,  Esq.,  prosecuting  attorney 
of  Kalamazoo  county,  elected  to  the  office  as  a 
Republican  in  the  fall  of  1902,  is  a  native  of  Al- 
legan county,  this  state,  born  on  January  3,  1871, 
and  the  son  of  Herbert  L.  and  Emma  J.  (Heath) 
Jackson,  the  former  born  in  Michigan,  and  the 
latter  in  the  state  of  New  York.  After  a  life  of 
usefulness  as  a  progressive  farmer,  the  father 
died  in  this  county;  the  mother  died  December 
10,  1905.  The  paternal  grandfather,  Henry  Jack- 
son, who  was  born  and  reared  in  Vermont,  came 
to  Michigan  in  about  1849,  and  settled  near  Rich- 
land. He  was  prominent  in  the  local  affairs  of 
his  neighborhood,  and  while  living  in  Allegan 
county,  served  on  the  board  of  supervisors.  The 
prosecuting  attorney  was  partially  educated  in 
the  schools  of  Plainwell,  being  graduated  at  the 
high  school  there  in  1889.  Then  for  two  years 
he  clerked  in  the  mercantile  establishment  of 
Bruen  &  Skinner,  and  at  the  end  of  that  period 
entered  Kalamazoo  College,  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  1896,  paying  his  way  through  the  insti- 
tution by  his  own  earnings.  He  began  the  study 
of  law  in  the  office  of  N.  H.  Stewart,  and  while 
engaged  in  the  study  was  elected  justice  of  the 
peace  in  1898.  He  filled  the  office  one  year,  then 
resigned  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1899. 
Soon  afterward  he  formed  a  partnership  with  A. 
S.  Frost,  which  lasted  until  Mr.  Jackson  assumed 
charge  of  his  present  office  on  January  1,  1903. 
In  political  matters  he  gives  an  ardent  and  serv- 
iceable support  to  the  principles  of  the  Republican 
party.  He  served  the  organization  two  years  as 
chairman  of  the  third  ward  committee,  and  one 
year  as  president  of  the  Republican  Club  of  the 


256 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


county.  He  has  also  rendered  good  service  to  the 
community  as  secretary  of  the  board  of  trustees 
of  Kalamazoo  College.  While  mingling  freely  in 
the  social  life  of  the  community,  in  which  he  is  al- 
ways a  warmly  welcomed  addition  to  the  best 
circles,  and  while  taking  his  place  with  interest 
and  zeal  in  all  matters  of  public  import  touching 
its  general  welfare,  in  which  his  counsel  is  valued 
and  his  industry  is  of  advantage,  he  devotes  him- 
self chiefly  to  his  profession  as  the  matter  of  su- 
preme importance  to  him  at  this  time,  and  in  it 
he  is  winning  his  way  with  a  safe  and  steady 
progress.  On  all  sides  he  enjoys  in  a  marked 
degree  the  regard  and  good  will  of  his  fellow 
men,  and  is  worthy  of  their  esteem. 

JUDGE  LAWRENCE  N.  BURKE. 

This  eminent  citizen  of  Kalamazoo,  the  first 
judge  of  the  municipal  court  of  the  city,  and  for 
many  years  a  leading  member  of  the  bar,  was 
born  in  county  Tipperary,  Ireland,  on  Novem- 
ber 7,  1850,  and  is  the  son  of  James  and  Johanna 
Burke,  who  were  born  and  reared  in  the  same 
county  as  himself.  The  mother  died  when  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  mere  child  and  the 
father  emigrated  to  the  United  States  about  the 
year  1855,  and  settled  near  Syracuse,  N.  Y., 
where  he  died.  The  Judge  grew  to  the 
age  of  nineteen  in  New  York  state,  receiving  a 
preliminary  education  in  the  common  schools  and 
attending  a  good  academy  at  Homer,  where  he 
pursued  a  partial  course  of  instruction.  In  1869 
he  became  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  and  soon 
found  employment  in  the  asylum,  where  he 
worked  two  years.  He  then  attended  the  Par- 
son's Business  College,  and  at  the  end  of  his  term 
in  that  institution  entered  the  law  office  of  J.  W. 
Breese  as  a  student.  Soon  after  his  admission  to 
the  bar  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Judge  W. 
W.  Peck,  which  lasted  three  years.  At  the  end 
of  that  period  the  state  of  his  health  obliged  him 
to  seek  a  milder  climate  and  he  spent  a  year  in  the 
South.  He  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1873  anc^ 
after  his  return  from  the  South  opened  an  office 
by  himself,  and  he  has  been  alone  in  the  practice 
ever  since.     In  1884  ne  was  elected  judge  of  the 


recorder's  court,  serving  a  term  of  four  years.  In 
1 89 1  and  1892  he  was  prosecuting  attorney,  and 
later  for  three  years  was  city  attorney  of  Kala- 
mazoo. He  has  always  been  in  an  active  general 
practice  except  when  he  was  on  the  bench,  and 
has  achieved  success  and  prominence  in  his  pro- 
fession, being  accounted  one  of  the  leading  law- 
yers and  most  representative  citizens  of  the 
county.  He  was  married  at  Kalamazoo,  in  1877, 
to  Mrs.  Mary  Webster,  of  Detroit,  by  whom  he 
had  two  sons  and  one  daughter,  the  sons  being 
now  residents  of  St.  Louis.  The  mother  died  in 
1893,  and  in  1901  the  Judge  married  a  second 
wife,  Miss  Clara  M.  Masch,  of  Kalamazoo.  In 
political  faith  and  allegiance  the  Judge  is  now  a 
Democrat,  but  was  in  his  earlier  life  a  Greelev 
Republican.  He  has  always  taken  an  active  and 
zealous  part  in  the  campaigns  of  his  party  and 
has  rendered  valuable  service  to  its  organization 
as  a  member  of  its  county  and  state  central  com- 
mittees and  chairman  of  the  city  and  county  com- 
mittees. He  was  chairman  of  the  county  com- 
mittee in  the  contest  of  1896,  and  was  at  the  time 
a  candidate  for  the  office  of  probate  judge,  but 
lacked  twenty-nine  votes  of  a  majority  at  the  elec- 
tion. For  many  years  he  has  been  prominent  in 
the  order  of  Odd  Fellows,  serving  at  one  time 
as  grand  master  of  the  order  in  the  state,  the 
youngest  man  who  ever  held  the  position  in  Mich- 
igan. He  also  represented  the  grand  lodge  of 
the  state  in  the  sovereign  grand  lodge  of  the  order 
at  Baltimore  in  1885  and  at  Boston  in  1886.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  of 
the  Elks.  For  some  years  he  was  a  director  and 
the  attorney  of  the  Kalamazoo  Building  Associa- 
tion. His  religious  leaning  is  to  the  Presbyterian 
church,  of  which  he  is  a  regular  attendant.  In 
his  professional  career,  in  official  life  and  in  social 
relations  he  has  won  and  holds  the  esteem  of  all 
his  fellow  citizens  and  numbers  his  friends  by 
the  host. 

EDWARD  A.   BISSELL. 

The  army  of  axmen  in  this  country,  whose 
sharp  blades  and  lusty  strokes  leveled  the  mon- 
archs  of  the  forest  which  for  ages  kept  apart  the 
sunshine   and   the  soil,    and   whose   arduous  toil 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


257 


blazed  the  way  for  the  onward  march  of  civiliza- 
tion, has  been  a  race  of  heroes  at  all  times  in  our 
history  and  in  all  parts  of  our  country,  and  is 
none  the  less  entitled  to  be  sung  as  such  because 
tbrir  undertakings  and  achievements  have  been 
unostentatious  rather  than  showy  and  quiet 
rat  her  than  noisy.  To  this  race  belonged  the  par- 
ents of  Edward  A.  Bissell,  of  Richland  township, 
this  county,  and  in  his  clay  he  was  a  member  of  it 
himself.  They  were  pioneers  in  Portage  county, 
Ohio,  pitching  their  tent  there  almost  on  the  heels 
of  the  retreating  red  man,  and  in  his  turn  he  did 
the  same  here.  History  has  made  the  soldiers  in 
this  army  its  darling  theme  and  poetry  has  painted 
their  picturesque  and  rugged  life  in  its  most  en- 
gaging tints.  But  our  own  electric  age  hurries 
over  their  career  with  heedless  foot,  and  unless 
their  memory  is  repeatedly  recalled,  what  they  ac- 
complished for  our  country  and  the  world  is  likely 
to  he  belittled  or  even  forgotten,  so  little  audience 
does  the  present  give  the  past.  Edward  A.  Bissell 
comes  of  families  who  came  to  this  country  in 
early  colonial  times  and  whose  descendants  have 
been  found  at  every  subsequent  epoch  in  the  fore- 
front of  adventure  and  accomplishment,  of  con- 
test with  nature  and  conquest  over  its  opposing 
forces.  He  was  born  on  August  6,  1823,  in 
Portage  county,  Ohio,  where  his  parents  settled 
at  the  dawn  of  its  civilization,  making  the  trip 
from  their  native  Litchfield,  Conn.,  to  that 
then  almost  trackless  waste  with  teams  to  Buffalo, 
then  by  boat  to  Cleveland,  and  from  there  again 
with  teams  to  their  destination  in  the  heart  of  the 
wilderness.  They  were  Elijah  N.  and  Flora 
(I.oomis)  Bissell,  and  by  their  efforts  and  endur- 
ance built  a  good  home  in  their  new  domain  and 
rose  to  consequence  and  prominence,  among  its 
people.  The  father  cleared  two  good  farms  of 
heavy  timber  land,  and  lived  on  them  until  1844, 
when  he  sold  them  and  moved  to  this  county,  buy- 
lng  a  tract  of  wild  land  on  which  the  widow  of 
his  son  Albertus  now  lives.  Here  he  and  his  wife 
passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives,  hers  ending  in 
1864  and  his  in  1852.  They  had  six  sons  and  three 
daughters.  One  of  the  daughters  died  in  Ohio, 
and  the  rest  of  the  children  in  this  state,  except 
dine  of  the  sons  who  are  living,  two  in  Kalama- 


zoo county  and  one  in  Iowa.  Here,  as  in  Ohio, 
the  father  took  an  active  part  in  the  local  affairs 
of  his  township  and  county,  serving  for  years  as  a 
justice  of  the  peace  and  aiding  in  giving  incite- 
ment and  trend  to  public  opinion.  His  son  Ed- 
ward grew  to  the  age  of  twenty-one  in  his  native 
county,  and  in  the  primitive  country  schools  of 
the  place  and  period  obtained  the  rudiments  of 
an  education.  In  the  fall  of  1844  nc  became  a 
resident  of  this  county,  traveling  to  it  by  stage 
from  Marshall,  in  Calhoun  county.  For  some 
time  he  worked  on  farms  at  ten  dollars  a  month 
and  his  board,  then  bought  eighty  acres  of  his 
present  farm  in  Richland  township,  to  which  he 
has  since  added  sixty-two  acres  by  purchase.  This 
he  has  improved  into  one  of  the  best  farms  in  the 
township,  and  one  of  its  most  comfortable  and  at- 
tractive homes.  He  was  married  in  Illinois  in  1855 
to  Miss  Maryett  Densmore,  a  native  of  New  York 
state,  where  her  parents  were  pioneers.  Three 
children  were  born  of  their  union,  two  of  whom 
are  living,  their  son  Cassius  and  their  daughter 
Flora,  both  dwelling  at  home  with  their  parents* 
Cassius,  th'e  son,  was  married  in  1886  to  Miss 
Georgia  Peak,  a  native  of  Richland  township,  and 
is  taking  the  place  in  the  farm  management  and 
the  local  affairs  of  the  community  his  father  is 
preparing  to  vacate.  He  was  educated  in  the  lo- 
cal schools  and  has  passed  the  whole  of  his  life 
among  the  people  of  this  region.  He  is  there- 
fore well  acquainted  with  their  needs  and  aspira- 
tions and  in  touch  and  full  sympathy  with  their 
loftiest  desires,  and  will  be  able  to  render  them 
good  service  in  any  post  of  trust  and  responsibility 
to  which  he  may  be  called.  He  and  his  wife  are 
the  parents  of  two  sons,  Clark  and  Ernest.  Mr. 
Bissell,  the  elder,  is  a  staunch  and  loyal  Demo- 
crat in  political  faith,  but  he  has  never  had  a 
taste  for  public  life  in  any  capacity,  yet  he  has 
never  withheld  his  due  share  of  the  stimulus  and 
support  necessary  to  carry  forward  the  general 
improvement  and  development  of  this  section  of 
the  state.  Assuming  at  an  early  day  the  burden 
of  a  good  citizen's  portion  in  the  progress  of  his 
neighborhood,  he  has  borne  it  faithfully  until 
now,  and  the  work  of  his  manhood  is  a  creditable 
memorial  to  him.    He  is  one  of  the  few  pioneers 


258 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


left  to  tell  the  tale  of  early  trials  and  dangers,  and 
to  witness  with  increasing  satisfaction  the  grand 
results  to  which  they  have  led. 

GEORGE  M.  EVERS. 

That  "Freedom's  battle,  once  begun,  be- 
queathed from  bleeding  sire  to  son,  though  baffled 
oft  is  ever  won,"  is  happily  illustrated  in  the  ca- 
reer of  the  interesting  subject  of  this  memoir, 
now  the  leading  grain  merchant  of  Richland,  this 
county,  whose  grandfather  was  a  valiant  soldier 
in  the  Revolution,  and  who  was  himself  a  soldier 
for  the  Union  in  the  Civil  war.  And  his  career 
affords  an  equally  striking  illustration  of  the  fact 
that  the  American  people  are  mainly  concerned 
with  the  pursuits  of  peaceful  industry  and  only 
engage  in  war  as  a  necessary  incident  when  some 
sharp  and  momentous  emergency  calls  them  to 
the  field.  Mr.  Evers  is  a  native  of  Warren  county. 
Pa.,  born  on  November  9,  1840,  and  the  son  of 
John  and  Emeline  (Fellows)  Evers,  the  former 
born  in  -Pennsylvania  and  the  latter  in  the  state 
of  New  York.  The  father,  who  was  a  farmer  and 
lumberman,  brought  his  family  to  Michigan  in 
1855,  and  located  at  Prairieville,  Barry  county, 
where  he  purchased  a  tract  of  land  known  as  the 
Slater' farm,  on  which  he  lived  until  1867,  when 
he  sold  it  to  his  son  George  and  moved  to  Gales- 
burg,  this  county.  Some  years  afterward  he 
changed  his  residence  to  the  village  of  Augusta, 
where  he  died  in  1879.  His  widow  is  still  living, 
at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety- two  years.  They 
had  six  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  living  but 
one  son  and  one  daughter,  George  M.  and  his 
sister,  Mrs.  Bissell,  being  the  only  resident  ones 
in  this  county.  The  paternal  grandfather,  An- 
drew Evers,  was  born  on  the  ocean,  while  his  par- 
ents were  emigrating  from  their  native  England 
to  this  country  in  colonial  times.  As  a  young 
man  he  ardently  espoused  the  cause  of  the  colo- 
nies in  their  struggle  for  independence,  and 
served  through  the  Revolutionary  war,  fighting 
valiantly  on  many  a  bloody  field,  enduring  the 
weariness  of  many  a  forced  march  by  day  and 
night,  suffering  the  hardships  and  privations  of 
many  a  winter  camp  like  that  of  Valley  Forge. 


Mr.  Evers  was  fifteen  years  old  when  his  parents 
moved  to  this  state,  and  here  he  grew  to  manhood 
and  completed  his  education  in  the  local  common 
schools.  He  began  life  as  a  farmer  and  con- 
tinued to  follow  that  vocation  until  1870,  ex- 
cept during  the  greater  part  of  the  Civil  war.  In 
1862  he  enlisted  in  Company  D,  Seventeenth 
Michigan  Infantry,  under  the  present  United 
States  Senator  J.  C.  Burrows  as  captain.  The 
regiment  was  assigned  in  turn  to  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  and  the 
Army  of  the  Mississippi,  and  participated  in  the 
following  engagements  of  importance :  The  bat- 
tles of  South  Mountain  and  Antietam,  in  Mary- 
land, Fredericksburg,  Va.,  the  siege  of  Vicks- 
burg  and  Jackson,  Miss.,  the  battle  of  the  Wild- 
erness and  Spottsylvania  Courthouse,  and  the 
siege  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  and  finally  helped  to  re- 
ceive the  surrender  of  Lee  at  Appomattox.  It 
afterward  attended  and  took  part  in  the  Grand 
Review  of  the  Union  forces  at  Washington.  Mr. 
Evers  was  shot  through  the  left  hip  in  the  Wil- 
derness and  was  in  consequence  of  his  wound  out 
of  active  service  five  months.  He  entered  the 
army  as  a  private  and  was  mustered  out  as  a 
first  lieutenant  in  June,  1865.  Returning  then 
to  Michigan,  he  purchased  his  father's  farm,  as 
noted  above,  and  farmed  until  1870,  when  he 
moved  to  Richland  Center  and  started  a  mercan- 
tile enterprise  with  a  branch  store  at  Prairieville, 
which  he  conducted  until  1880.  In  1884  ne  niu^t 
a  grain  elevator  and  from  it  shipped  the  first  car- 
load of  grain  from  Richland  station.  Since  then 
he  has  been  continuously  engaged  in  the  grain 
and  produce  business  at  this  point,  purchasing  all 
kinds  of  farm  products  and  shipping  them  East 
and  elsewhere  to  active  markets.  He  is  also  in- 
terested in  other  lines  of  business,  and  is  one  of 
the  commercial  potencies  of  the  county.  His  trade 
has  steadily  enlarged  and  is  now  of  commanding 
importance  both  in  its  magnitude  and  its  range  of 
benefits  to  the  community.  He  was  married  in 
1867,  in  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  to  Miss  Lucinda 
Addey,  a  native  of  that  county.  They  have  no 
children,  but  make  their  pleasant  home  a  center 
of  sociability  and  gracious  hospitality  to  their 
own  immediate  community  and  the  whole  sur* 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


259 


rounding  country.  In  politics  Mr.  Evers  is  in- 
dependent, loyally  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  his 
county,  state  and  country,  but  not  bound  by  party 
ties.  He  has  been  a  faithful  and  serviceable 
friend  to  the  village  of  Richland,  serving  on  its 
board  of  trustees  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and 
on  all  occasions  giving  his  aid  to  commendable 
projects  for  its  improvement  or  the  comfort  and 
convenience  of  its  people.  In  fraternal  circles  he 
is  prominent  in  the  Masonic  lodge  and  the  lodge 
of  Odd  Fellows  at  Richland,  and  in  the  church 
life  of  the  township  he  takes  an  active  part  as  a 
leading  Presbyterian.  For  nearly  fifty  years  a 
resident  of  the  county,  and  crowned  with  the 
guerdon  of  merit  and  honest  effort  in  his  busi- 
ness, and  the  genuine  esteem  of  his  fellow  men, 
he  is  not  only  one  of  the  patriarchs  of  its  expand- 
ing greatness,  but  as  well  one  of  its  chief  sup- 
ports. 

WILLIAM  H.  BENNETT. 

William  H.  Bennett,  at  present  (1905)  the 
supervisor  of  Richland  township  and  a  resident 
of  Kalamazoo  county  since  he  was  but  one  year 
old,  was  born  at.  Peterborough,  Canada,  on  April 
13,  1856.  He  is  the  son  of  Robert  and  Ann  J. 
(Newell)  Bennett,  both  natives  of  the  Dominion, 
the  former  of  Irish  and  the  latter  of  English  an- 
cestry. The  son  has  inherited  the  best  traits  of 
each  race  and  in  the  happy  combination  which 
they  form  in  his  character  and  make  up,  as  har- 
moniously developed  by  careful  home  training 
under  the  benign  influences  of  American  institu- 
tions, he  presents  the  most  desirable  attributes  of 
good  citizenship,  honesty,  industry,  persistency, 
resourcefulness  and  frugality,  with  progressive- 
ness  of  spirit  and  breadth  of  view.  The  father 
was  a  farmer  in  his  native  land  until  1857,  when 
he  emigrated  to  this  county  and  settled  in  Rich- 
and  township,  on  land  which  he  farmed  until 
1892.  In  that  year  the  parents  moved  to  Marshall, 
Calhoun  county,  where  they  now  reside.  They 
had  four  daughters  and  two  sons,  but  only  two 
of  them  live  in  this  county,  William  H.  and  his 
sister,  Mrs.  George  H.  Cornell,  of  Kalamazoo. 
The  father  is  a  staunch  Republican,  but  has  never 
sought    or    desired    public    office    of    any    kind. 


Reared  in  this  county  and  educated  in  its  district 
schools,  and  all  of  his  life  so  far  engaged  in  till- 
ing its  soil,  William  H.  Bennett  is  not  only  sub- 
stantially one  of  its  products,  but  with  an  earnest 
devotion  to  its  welfare  is  one  of  its  best  and  most 
representative  citizens.  His  farm  is  a  model  of 
thrift  and  skill  in  agriculture,  and  his  public 
life  is  an  incitement  to  laudable  endeavor  and  an 
example  of  excellence  in  administrative  ability. 
In  1855  he  was  joined  in  wedlock  with  Miss  Mary 
C.  Whitney,  a  daughter  of  Norman  S.  and  Au- 
gusta (Nevins)  Whitney  (see  sketch  of  them  on 
another  page).  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bennett  had  six 
children  and  five  of  them  are  living,  Katharine 
A.,  Sidney  H.,  Anna  W.,  Rose  M.,  and  Dorothy 
B.  Their  mother  died  in  1902,  and  on  December 
23,  1903,  the  father  married  again,  being  united 
on  this  occasion  with  Miss  Alice  I.  Clark,  a  na- 
tive of  Calhoun  county,  this  state.  Mr.  Bennett 
is  a  zealous  and  active  Republican  in  political  re- 
lations, and  as  such  has  been  the  supervisor  of 
the  township  since  1902.  He  has  also  served  as 
>  township  treasurer,  holding  this  office  in  1886 
and  1887,  and  in  various  school  offices  for  many 
years.  Fraternally  he  belongs  to  the  order  of  Odd 
Fellows  and  the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees.  Now 
in  the  noonday  of  life,  with  all  his  faculties  in  full 
vigor,  his  manhood  in  business  and  in  public  and 
private  life  well  established,  and  the  regard  and 
good  will  of  his  fellow  citizens  of  the  county  fully 
assured  to  him,  Mr.  Bennett  has  before  him  the 
prospect  of  a  long  and  honorable  career  of  public 
usefulness  and  private  prosperity,  and  can  be 
safely  counted  on  as  one  of  the  wisely  progressive 
and  fruitful  sources  of  good  to  his  community. 

HENRY  A.   HALE. 

While  the  life  story  of  the  hardy  pioneers  in 
any  new  country  is  one  of  continued  and  thrilling 
interest,  and  of  the  greatest  importance  as  show- 
ing the  conditions  surrounding  the  founders  of 
the  commonwealth  and  the  salient  characteristics 
of  mind,  spirit  and  body  with  which  they  were 
endowed,  and  indicating  the  sources  from  which 
any  subsequent  greatness  has  come,  that  of  the 
second  generation,  who  took  up  the  work  where 


260 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


the  trail-blazers  had  laid  it  down  after  they 
had  opened  the  way  to  the  new  civilization  that 
was  to  follow,  is  of  scarcely  less  importance,  as 
showing  that  the  lessons  they  learned  from  their 
parents  were  well  applied,  and  that  the  trust  sur- 
rendered by  the  sires  was  faithfully  kept  by  the 
sons.  To  this  generation  belongs  Henry  A.  Hale, 
one  of  the  successful  and  enterprising  farmers  of 
Richland  township,  this  county,  and  that  he  has 
kept  with  fidelity  the  faith  which  he  inherited  is 
well  shown  by  his  record  in  the  county,  for  he  is 
wholly  a  product  of  the  institutions  which  his 
parents  helped  to  found,  and  has  never  wavered 
in  the  work  of  progress  here  which  they  inaugu- 
rated. He  was  born  in  Cooper  township  on  Jan- 
uary 4,  1859,  and  is  the  son  of  Charles  P.  and 
Frances  L.  (Perdue)  Hale,  the  former  a  native 
of  Vermont  and  the  latter  of  Connecticut.  The 
father  was  reared  by  an  uncle  in  Massachusetts 
and  there  learned  his  trade  as  a  wool  carder,  also 
working  at  times  in  a  cutlery  factory.  In  1849 
he  accompanied  his  uncle  to  California,  where 
they  mined  successfully  two  years.  He  then  re- 
turned to  Massachusetts  and  soon  afterward  was 
married  and  moved  to  Michigan.  He  and  his 
wife  found  their  first  home  in  this  county  in  the 
southern  part  of  Cooper  township,  but  about  the 
close  of  the  Civil  war  changed  their  residence  to 
Richland  township,  where  they  lived  until  1883, 
then  moved  to  Plainwell  and  later  to  Otsego. 
There  the  father  died  in  1899  and  the  mother  is 
still  living.  They  had  three  sons  and  a  daughter, 
all  of  whom  are  living,  Henry  A.  being  the  only 
one  resident  in  this  county.     He  was  reared  and 

•  educated  in  the  county  and  has  been  a  tiller  of  its 
prolific  soil  all  of  his  life  so  far,  improving  and 
developing  the  place  on  which  he  now  lives.  He 
was  also  married  in  this  county,  uniting  in  wed- 
lock with  Miss  Florence  Wilson,  a  native  of 
Barry  county,  on  March  8,  1883.  Her  parents 
still  reside  in  that  county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hale 
have  six  children,  Harry,  Frank,  Clare,  Hobart, 
Nettie  and  Charles  F.  Devoting  himself  wholly 
to  his  farming  interests  and  in  a  general  way  to 
the  interests  of  the  county,  Mr.  Hale  has  stead- 
fastly resisted  the  temptation  to  public  life  of  any 

kind  and  the  importunities  of  his  friends  to  be- 


come a  candidate  for  political  office.  Fraternally 
he  belongs  to  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  takes 
his  part  as  a  good  citizen  in  all  the  local  affairs 
of  his  township  without  regard  to  political  consid- 
erations, and  has  the  regard  and  good  will  of  his 
fellow  citizens  in  a  high  degree,  being  looked 
upon  as  one  of  its  leading  farmers,  strong  pro- 
gressive forces  and  most  worthy  and  representa 
tive  men.  His  parents  were  prominent  members 
of  Spring  Brook  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
which  he  and  his  wife  also  attend. 

JAMES  H.  HOPKINS. 

Becoming  a  resident  of  Michigan  when  he 
was  seven  years  old,  James  H.  Hopkins,  of  Kala- 
mazoo, has  passed  the  subsequent  sixty-nine  years 
of  an  active  life  among  its  people,  earnestly  en- 
gaged in  helping  to  develop  its  resources,  build  up 
its  industries,  expand  its  commercial  activities 
and  plant  on  its  soil  the  religious  and  educational 
agencies  which  make  a  state  great  and  good.  Mr. 
Hopkins  is  still  actively  engaged  in  the  real-estate 
business,  looking  after  his  large  interests  here.  He 
enjoys  the  esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens,  the  cor- 
dial regard  of  his  numerous  friends  and  the  bene- 
fits of  the  civilization  he  aided  materially  to  im- 
bed and  cultivate  in  what  was,  when  he  came,  a 
far  western  wilderness.  His  life  began  in  Ca- 
yuga county,  N.  Y.,  on  November  4,  1828,  where 
his  parents,  Henry  and  Mary  E.  (Casey)  Hop- 
kins, were  then  living.  The  father  was  a  native 
of  Washington,  and  the  mother  of  Dutchess 
county,  that  state.  They  were  farmers,  follow- 
ing the  vocation  of  the  old  patriarchs  in  their  na- 
tive state  until  1835,  tnen  transferring  their  en- 
ergies to  Michigan.  The  grandfather,  David 
Hopkins,  was  born  in  Rhode  Island  and  settled 
in  Washington  county,  N.  Y.,  about  1776.  He  was 
for  a  time  judge  of  the  county  court,  and  for  a 
period  of  twenty-eight  years  represented  his 
county  in  the  state  legislature,  part  of  the  time 
in  the  lower  house  and  part  of  the  time  in  the 
senate.  In  1812  he  departed  this  life  after  a  long 
career  of  usefulness  and  public  renown,  having 
rendered  efficient  service  to  the  cause  of  the  Fed- 
eralists in  politics.     He  was  a  cousin  of  Stephen 


JAMES  H.  HOPKINS. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


263 


Ifopkins,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence.   He  left  a  family  of  seven  sons  and  five 
daughters  who  grew  to  maturity.     In   1835  the 
parents  of  James  Hopkins  removed  their  family 
t.)  Michigan,  making  the  trip  by  way  of  the  Erie 
canal  to  Buffalo  and  from  there  by  steamer  to  De- 
troit, whence  they  journeyed  with  ox  teams  to  the 
vicinity  of  the  present  town  of  Niles  over  the  old 
territory  road.     He  had  very  limited  means,  and 
during  the  first  two  years  of  his  residence  here 
he  worked  land  on  shares.     In  1837  ne  moved  to 
Kalamazoo  county  and  settled  on  a  tract  of  wild 
land  in  Charleston  township,  which  was  named 
for  one  of  his  uncles.    Here  he  cleared  forty  acres 
of  land,  and  afterward  moved  to  Bedford,  Cal- 
houn county,  where  he  cleared  a  good  sized  farm 
on  which  he  and  his  wife  died,  he  in  1865  and  she 
in  1896,  aged  ninety-nine  years.    He  was  a  soldier 
in  the  war  of  18 12  and  fought  in  the  battle  of 
Plattsburg,  N.  Y.     In  politics  he  was  an  active 
Democrat,  but  he  never  sought  public  office  or 
desired  it.     Five  sons  and  three  daughters  were 
born  in  the  family,  of  whom  two  sons  and  one 
daughter  are  living.    James  grew  to  manhood  in 
this  and  Calhoun  counties,  and  in  i860  returned 
to  this  county,  settling  near  Galesburg  on  a  farm 
which  he  bought  and  which  was   his  home  for 
twenty-eight  years.    In  1888  he  sold  his  farm  and 
took  up  his  residence  in  the  city  of  Kalamazoo, 
where  he  has  since  lived,  and  during  a  number  of 
the  subsequent  years  he  has  been  engaged  in  the 
real-estate  business  and   has   furnished  the  capi- 
tal   for   putting   up   more   than    eighty    dwelling 
houses,  which  he  has  sold  to  people  on  the  install- 
ment plan,  thus  adding  to  the  growth  of  the  city 
and  the  welfare  of  its  people.     He  erected  nine 
houses  in  1904  and  two  in  1905.    He  was  married 
in  1861  to  Miss  Jane  McNulty,  who  died  in  1900, 
leaving  one  daughter,  now  Mrs.  Frederick  Shel- 
leto.    Within  the  same  year  the  father  married  a 
second  wife,  Miss  Carry  Bylardt,  a  resident  of 
the  city,  born  in  Illinois.     In  political  affairs  Mr. 
Hopkins  has  been  a  life-long  Democrat,  but  he 
has  never  consented  to  accept  a  public  office  of 
any  kind.     He  has  throughout  his  mature  years 
taken  a  great  and  helpful  interest  in  agriculture 
and  has  been  ever  ready  to  promote  its  welfare  by 


any  proper  means.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  grange  of  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry  at 
Galesburg,  and  during  his  residence  there  was  a 
zealous  participant  in  its  work,  serving  at  its  first 
secretary  and  pushing  its  growth  by  his  influ- 
ence and  enthusiasm.  His  long  and  prominent 
residence  in  the  state  has  made  him  well  known, 
and  his  sterling  worth  as  a  man  and  breadth  of 
view  as  a  citizen  has  won  him  wide  and  enduring 
respect. 

JOHN  G.  HASKINS. 

With  the  business  acumen  and  clearness  of 
vision  in  commercial  transactions  for  which  the 
people  of  his  native  section  of  the  country  are  re- 
nowned, John  G.  Haskins,  of  Cooper  township, 
where  he  is  one  of  the  leading  and  most  progres- 
sive farmers,  on  coming  to  this  county  in  1857,  be- 
gan at  once  to  see  opportunities  for  good  profits  in 
buying  and  selling  land,  and  for  a  number  of 
years  gave  his  attention  to  that  business  much  to 
his  own  advantage  and  the  benefit  of  the  county. 
He  was  born  at  Middletown,  Rutland  county, 
Vt.,  in  October,  1834.  His  parents,  Ezra  and 
Phebe  (Grandy)  Haskins,  were  also  natives  of 
Vermont,  and  for  a  number  of  years  the  father 
farmed  in  that  state,  then  moved  to  Wisconsin, 
where  he  died  some  time  later.  The  mother  died 
in  her  native  state  when  her  son  John  was  ten 
years  old.  They  had  eleven  children,  all  living 
but  two  of  the  daughters.  Five  of  the  sons  were 
Union  soldiers  in  the  Civil  war,  serving  in  Wis- 
consin regiments.  Their  grandfather,  Richard 
Haskins,  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier  and  died 
in  Vermont.  John  G.  Haskins  grew  to  manhood 
in  Vermont  and  New  York,  and  in  1857,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-three,  he  came  to  this  state  and 
for  a  time  worked  on  farms  in  Barry  county. 
Then  he  bought  a  tract  of  wild  land,  and  after 
partially  clearing  it  lost  it.  Soon  afterward  he 
bought  eighty  acres  in  Cooper  township,  this 
county,  and  sowed  thirty  acres  to  wheat.  The 
yield  was  six  hundred  bushels,  which  he  sold  at 
two  dollars  a  bushel,  thus  getting  more  than 
enough  to  pay  -for  his  land  and  his  work  on  it. 
Some  little  while  afterward  he  sold  this  land  for 
one  thousand,  six  hundred  and  and  fifty  dollars, 


264 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


and  after  working  a  month  bought  a  farm  in 
Richland  township  for  two  thousand  dollars, 
which  he  sold  two  years  later  for  three  thousand 
dollars.  He  next  bought  his  present  farm  in 
Cooper  township.  He  has  cleared  up  this  and 
erected  the  buildings  on  it,  and  now  has  a  well 
improved  and  extensive  cultivated  farm  of  two 
hundred  and  twenty  acres  which  is  steadily  grow- 
ing in  value  at  a  rapid  rate.  Mr.  Haskins  was 
married  in  i860  to  Miss  Janet  Hoyt,  a  daughter 
of  Theodore  Hoyt,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Rich- 
land township  who  settled  there  in  1836,  coming 
from  Windsor  county,  Vt.  Some  years  later  he 
moved  to  Cooper  township,  where,  after  clearing 
up  a  good  farm  and  working  it  for  a  number  of 
years,  he  died.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Haskins  have  four 
children,  Lily,  at  home ;  Charles  and  Ira,  farmers ; 
Lizzie,  wife  of  Charles  Brignall,  of  Chicago. 

HON.  CHARLES  E.  FOOTE. 

Hon.  Charles  E.  Foote,  pension  attorney,  of 
Kalamazoo,  who  was  a  soldier  in  the  Civil  war 
and  bears  the  marks  of  its  wounds  in  his  body, 
and  for  years  afterward  a  valued  official  in  the 
service  of  the  United  States  government,  and  who 
was  recently  a  member  of  the  Michigan  legis- 
lature for  two  consecutive  terms,  has  had  an  in- 
teresting career  and  has  seen  in  it  many  forms  of 
life  and  public  service  and  met  many  men  of  dif- 
ferent classes  under  a  great  variety  of  circum- 
stances. He  was  born  on  September  6,  1840,  at 
Franklin,  Delaware  county,  N.  Y.,  and  is  the  son 
of  Stephen  S.  and  Nancy  O.  (Strong)  Foote, 
the  former  a  native  of  Connecticut  and  the  latter 
of  Massachusetts.  The  father  was  a  farmer  who 
moved  with  his  parents  in  1802  to  the  state  of 
New  York,  where  he  grew  to  manhood  and  died 
after  a  life  of  useful  industry  in  1882,  aged 
eighty  years.  He  was  prominent  in  the  local  pub- 
lic life  of  his  section  and  took  an  active  part  in 
suppressing  the  "anti-rent"  war  in  Delaware  and 
other  counties  of  the  state  in  the  early  '50s.  The 
grandfather,  Stephen  Foote,  was  born  in  Connec- 
ticut, and  his  father,  Ichabod  Foote,  was  a  Revo- 
lutionary soldier  in  a  Massachusetts  regiment. 
Hon.  Charles  E.  Foote  was  reared  and  educated  in 


his  native  state.  In  1859  ne  moved  to  Otsego 
county  and  there  began  learning  the  trade  of  a 
carriage  ironer,  working  at  it  until  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  war.  On  August  5,  1861,  he  enlisted 
in  Company  D,  Third  New  York  Cavalry,  and 
was  soon  at  the  front  near  the  historic  Potomac. 
The  first  engagement  between  the  hostile  sec- 
tions in  which  he  took  part  was  the  battle  of 
Ball's  Bluff,  where  General  Baker,  of  Oregon, 
met  his  untimely  death.  He  also  fought  at  Win- 
chester and  Edwards  Ferry,  and  from  that  sec- 
tion was  transferred  to  North  Carolina,  where  he 
was  almost  continually  in  the  field.  At  little 
Washington,  that  state,  he  was  wounded  in  a 
hand-to-hand  fight  with  a  Confederate  soldier. 
His  military  service  covered  three  years,  he  be- 
ing discharged  on  August  11,  1864.  After  his 
return  home  he  finished  his  trade  and  thereafter 
worked  at  it  until  1873,  when  he  engaged  in  busi- 
ness for  himself  in  his  native  state.  In  1878  he 
was  appointed  postmaster  of  Cobleskill,  N.  Y., 
and  this  position  he  held  until  1882.  He  was 
then  appointed  to  a  clerkship  in  the  pension  de- 
partment at  Washington,  D.  C,  and  later  was 
made  a  special  examiner  for  the  department  and 
afterward  assistant  to  the  board  of  appeals.  He 
continued  as  special  examiner  until  1888,  when 
he  was  removed  from  the  office  by  Secretary  of 
Interior  Lamar.  He  first  came  to  Michigan  and 
was  stationed  at  Jackson  as  special  examiner  in 
1883,  remaining  until  July,  1885.  At  that  time 
he  was  transferred  to  Wauseon,  Ohio,  and  in  the 
fall  of  1887  established  his  headquarters  at  To- 
ledo, having  sixteen  counties  in  northwestern 
Ohio  under  his  charge  in  the  official  work  to 
which  he  was  assigned.  In  March,  1888,  he  be- 
came a  resident  of  'Kalamazoo  and  started  his 
present  business,  which  he  has  conducted  with 
ability  and  success.  In  the  fall  of  1895  ne  was 
elected  to  the  state  house  of  representatives  from 
the  first  district  of  this  county.  In  the  ensuing 
session  he  held  a  high  rank  in  the  body  to  which 
he  belonged  and  served  on  important  committees. 
In  1897  he  was  re-elected  and  became  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  railroads  and  also  of  the 
committee  on  fish  and  game.  In  1896  he  was 
appointed    quartermaster   general    of   the   Grand 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


265 


Army  of  the  Republic,  Department  of  Michigan, 
tinder  General  William  Shakespeare,  department 
commander.  On  January  23,  1868,  Mr.  Foote 
was  married  in  New  York  to  Miss  Laura  C.  Gil- 
lett,  a  native  of  that  state.  They  have  two  chil- 
dren living,  their  son  George  E.,  who  is  in  busi- 
ness with  his  father,  and  their  daughter  Cora  A. 
Mr.  Foote  has  been  a  life-long  Republican,  hav- 
ing cast  his  first  vote  for  Lincoln  for  president 
in  1864.  He  has  also  been  a  very  active  member 
of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  since  1873. 
He  organized  a  post  in  this  organization  at  Co- 
bleskill,  N.  Y.,  and  served  two  years  as  its  com- 
mander. In  1886  he  was  transferred  to  Orcutt 
Post  at  Kalamazoo  and  also  served  as  its  com- 
mander. He  belongs  to  the  Congregational 
church  and  to  the  Masonic  order,  holding  his 
membership  in  the  latter  in  Anchor  Lodge  of  S. 
O.,  No.  87.  In  addition  to  being  a  good  business 
man,  a  useful  citizen  and  a  cultivated  and  enter- 
taining gentleman  socially,  Mr.  Foote  is  a  true 
sportsman  and  loyal  to  every  claim  and  feature  of 
the  guild.  For  years  he  has  been  most  active 
himself  and  stimulated  others  in  keeping  the  lakes 
stocked  with  game  fish,  and  in  protecting  them 
and  all  other  game  from  injury  by  improper  or 
unseasonable  pursuit.  He  is,  however,  an  enthu- 
siastic hunter,  making  annual  trips  to  gratify 
this  taste  to  northern  Michigan,  and  has  his  office 
decorated  with  trophies  of  the  chase.  He  was 
one  of  the  original  promoters  of  the  erection  of 
the  Grand  Army  Memorial  Hall  in  Kalamazoo 
and  was  a  valued  member  of  the  building  com- 
mittee. 

CONDON  J.  BROWN. 

Born  and  reared  to  the  age  of  sixteen  in  Wash- 
ington county,  N.  Y.,  then  coming  with  his 
parents  to  Michigan,  and  ever  since  engaged  in 
the  stirring  activities  of  a  new  country  in  which 
everything  in  the  way  of  conquest  over  the  wild 
forces  of  nature  and  the  subjugation  of  an  un- 
tamed soil  to  the  will  of  the  husbandman  was 
yet  to  be  done,  Condon  J.  Brown,  of  Richland 
township,  has  in  the  nearly  seventy  years  of  his 
life  lived  strenuously  and  usefully,  and  seen 
many  phases  of  American  progress  and  develop- 


ment. He  came  into  the  world  on  February  11, 
1825,  and  is  the  son  of  Condon  and  Selva  (Hitch- 
cock) Brown,  the  former  born  in  Rhode  Island 
and  the  latter  in  New  York.  The  father's  life 
began  on  March  13,  1801,  and  while  he  was  yet 
an  infant  his  parents  moved  into  the  eastern  part 
of  New  York,  locating  in  Washington  county, 
where  he  was  reared,  and  where,  after  reaching 
man's  estate,  he  carried  on  a  dairy  with  success 
until  1 84 1.  He  then  gathered  his  household  goods 
about  him  and  set  out  for  a  new  home,  as  his  fa- 
ther had  done  before  him,  and  coming  to  Michigan, 
bought  one  thousand  acres  of  unbroken  land  in 
Eaton  county.  A  year  later  he  moved  to  Calhoun 
county,  where  his  wife  died  in  1863,  and  four 
years  after  this  event  he  took  up  his  residence 
in  Kalamazoo  county,  where  he  died  in  1898.  In 
early  life  he  was  a  Whig,  but  when  that  party 
died  he  became  a  Republican  and  adhered  to  this 
organization  until  his  death.  He  was  never,  how- 
ever, desirous  of  public  office,  although  loyal  and 
devoted  to  his  political  allegiance.  For  many 
years  he  was  a  devout  and  active  Methodist.  His 
family  comprised  two  sons  and  three  daughters, 
all  of  whom  are  living.  Condon  J.  accompanied 
his  parents  to  this  state  in  1841,  when  he  was 
about  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  at  once  took  his 
place  in  the  force  put  to  work  to  clear  the  land  his 
father  purchased  and  bring  it  to  productiveness. 
In  1867  he  became  a  resident  of  this  county,  locat- 
ing in  Richland  township,  where  he  bought  land 
which  he  has  converted  into  a  good  farm  and  on 
which  he  has  continuously  lived  since  his  arrival 
in  the  county.  He  was  married  in  1862  to  Miss 
Frances  H.  Vandewalker,  a  native  of  this  county 
and  a  niece  of  John  Vandewalker  (see  sketch  of 
him  elsewhere  in  this  work).  They  have  four 
living  children,  Morris,  Mattie,  wife  of  Horace 
McGinnis,  John  and  Nellie.  Like  his  father,  Mr. 
Brown  supports  the  Republican  party  in  state  and 
national  issues,  and,  like  that  worthy  gentleman, 
he  eschews  public  office  and  all  prominence  in 
political  affairs.  He  is  cordially  devoted  to  the 
welfare  of  his  state  and  county,  and  omits  no  ef- 
fort to  advance  their  best  interests.  For  a  period 
of  thirty-five  years  he  operated  a  threshing  out- 
fit all  over  this  and  adjoining  counties,  and  thus 


266 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


became  well  and  favorably  known  to  all  classes 
of  people  throughout  a  wide  extent  of  country.  In 
this  work  he  had  many  interesting-  experiences, 
and  his  whole  life  has  been  one  of  incident  and 
adventure.  While  of  the  second  rather  than  of 
the  first  generation  of  Michigan  pioneers,  he  is  by 
no  means  lacking  in  the  knowledge  of  the  hard- 
ships and  dangers  of  frontier  life  gained  in  pass- 
ing through  its  trials  and  exacting  labors,  and 
he  is  therefore  well  qualified  to  enjoy  in  full  meas- 
ure the  splendid  development  and  striking  prog- 
ress of  the  present  day  for  which  the  early  settlers 
opened  the  way. 

JAMES  A.  TAYLOR. 

James  A.  Taylor  is  well  and  favorably  known 
as  one  of  the  most  enterprising  and  prolific  real- 
estate  men  in  Kalamazoo,  owning  now  Taylor's 
and  the  Linden  Park  addition  to  the  city,  and 
improving  his  property  with  commendable  ac- 
tivity and  taste.  He  was  born  in  Roxburgshire, 
Scotland,  at  the  village  of  Kelso.  His  parents, 
George  and  Jane  (Dodds)  Taylor,  were  also 
born  in  that  county,  and  there  the  farther  carried 
on  an  extensive  nursery  until  1855,  when  he 
brought  his  family  to  the  United  States,  com- 
ing direct  to  Kalamazoo,  where  he  then  had  two 
brothers,  Andrew  and  James  Taylor,  in  business. 
He  brought  with  him  a  stock  of  evergreens, 
shrubs,  etc.,  and  started  a  nursery  in  the  West 
End,  conducting  his  business  in  that  portion  of  the 
city  until  1867,  when  he  moved  it  to  a  property 
on  Portage  street,  now  owned  by  his  son  James. 
Here  he  remained  and  flourished  until  his  death, 
in  1892.  He  was  among  the  first  to  raise  celery 
for  market  in  this  neighborhood,  beginning  the 
culture  of  it  in  1856.  He  had  a  struggle  to  get  it 
into  general  use,  but  after  considerable  effort  suc- 
ceeded in  working  up  a  good  trade  and  made 
large  shipments  to  other  points.  He  was  also 
the  pioneer  nurseryman  in  this  region,  and  car- 
ried on  an  extensive  business  in  that  line  for 
his  day.  In  1842  he  was  married  to  Miss  Jane 
Dodds.  They  had  six  children,  four  sons  and  two 
daughters,  of  whom  James  and  one  brother, 
George  D.,  and  a  sister  living  in  California,  are 


all  who  are  living.  The  father  was  an  original 
Republican,  voting  for  General  Fremont  for 
president  in  1856.  He  was  a  strong  abolitionist 
and  an  ardent  worker  in  the  cause.  In  religious 
belief  he  was  a  Presbyterian,  well  known  and 
widely  esteemed  in  church  circles  as  an  active  and 
effective  worker.  The  mother  died  in  i860.  Their 
son  James  grew  to  manhood  in  Kalamazoo,  at- 
tending the  common  schools  and  Parson's  Busi- 
ness College.  After  leaving  school  he  associated 
with  his  father  in  business  and  remained  with 
him  until  his  death  in  1892.  He  then  started 
out  for  himself  in  the  real-estate  trade  and  in 
this  he  has  been  very  successful.  In  the  public 
affairs  of  the  city  he  has  been  active  and  service- 
able, being  a  member  of  the  city  council  for  three 
terms  as  alderman  from  the  fifth  ward.  He 
has  also  been  for  some  years  a  director  of  the 
Citizens'  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company.  In 
political  faith  and  action  he  is  independent,  but 
he  is  ever  at  the  front  in  all  undertakings  for  the 
general  welfare  of  the  city. 

THE      KALAMAZOO      COLD      STORAGE 
COMPANY. 

This  fine  and  enterprising  organization,  which 
conducts  an  enormous  trade  in  all  parts  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  was  founded  in  1891 
with  a  capital  stock  of  twelve  thousand  dollars  as 
a  limited  corporation.  The  first  officers  were: 
J.  N.  Stearns,  president;  F.  C.  Balch,  vice-presi- 
dent ;  A.  C.  Balch,  treasurer,  and  J.  B.  Balch, 
secretary.  The  company  erected  a  plant  on  Walj 
bridge  street,  forty  by  eighty  feet  in  size  and 
three  stories  high,  with  commodious  dry  ware- 
houses for  the  storage  of  non-perishable  merchan- 
dise, and  ample  facilities  for  the  cold  storage  of 
commodities  of  the  other  class.  The  capacity  of 
the  establishment  is  sixty-five  carloads  and  it 
handles  every  kind  of  produce,  being  the  most 
extensive  jobber  in  onions  in  the  state.  The  com- 
pany is  the  pioneer  of  South  Haven  in  carload 
shipments,  and  one  of  the  most  extensive  dealers 
in  this  sort  of  traffic,  having  shipped  in  one  year 
more  than  two  hundred  carloads,  sending  them 
all  over  the  country.     It  was  the  third  company 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


267 


started  in  Michigan  and  is  now  the  third  in  the 
magnitude  of  its  business.  In  1897  a  reorganiza- 
tion was  effected  with  the  same  capital  stock  but 
a  new  directorate,  the  officers  chosen  at  that  time 
rind  still  serving  being  J.  B.  Balch,  president,  and 
}).  E.  Pierce,  secretary,  treasurer  and  manager. 
Mr.  Balch  was  born  in  Allegan  county,  this  state, 
in  September,  1868.  He  is  a  son  of  A.  R.  Balch, 
a  brother  of  the  late  Hon.  Nathaniel  A.  Balch, 
>ne  of  the  leading  lawyers  and  public-spirited  citi- 
zens of  this  county,  whose  forensic  efforts  and 
public  services  won  him  high  renown  throughout 
the  state  and  gave  him  a  high  reputation  far  be- 
yond its  borders.  A.  R.  Balch,  the  father  of  the 
subject  of  this  writing,  was  a  pioneer  of  Allegan 
county  and  owned  large  tracts  of  pine  land  in  that 
county.  He  also  lived  for  a  number  of  years  in 
this  county,  but  died  in  Allegan  county  in  1872. 
Like  his  brother  Nathaniel,  he  was  prominent  in 
politics,  and  to  the  end  of  his  life  was  a  faithful 
and  earnest  Democrat.  He  operated  large  saw 
mills  and  carried  on  an  extensive  lumber  business, 
furnishing  large  quantities  of  pine  lumber  to  the 
industries  in  Kalamazoo.  His  son,  J.  B.  Balch, 
grew  to  manhood  in  Allegan  county  and  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  and  at  the  Kalama- 
zoo Baptist  College.  He  entered  business  as  a 
clerk  for  Robert  R.  W.  Smith  &  Sons,  of  Kala- 
mazoo, with  whom  he  remained  two  years  at  a 
compensation  of  three  dollars  a  week.  Then, 
after  passing  two  years  in  the  employ  of  P.  W. 
Henley,  he  became  a  traveling  salesman  for  the 
Busch  Cattle  Guard  Company,  through  the  South, 
remaining  with  that  company  until  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  cold  storage  company,  of  which  he  is 
now  president.  In  1897  he  married  with  Miss 
Mabel  S.  Severance,  a  daughter  of  Judge  Sever- 
ance (see  sketch  of  the  Judge  on  another  page 
of  this  work).  Mr.  Balch  has  never  taken  an 
active  interest  in  partisan  politics  and  has  never 
accepted  or  desired  public  office  of  any  kind,  be- 
ing well  pleased  to  serve  his  city,  county,  state 
and  country  from  the  honorable  post  of  private 
citizenship  and  with  earnest  attention  to  their 
best  interests  in  every  way  but  through  political 
contention.  He  was  the  candidate  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party   for  secretary  of  state  in   1904,  the 


nomination  being  a  surprise  and  unsolicited  by 
him.  Throughout  southern  Michigan  and  the 
neighboring  territory  he  is  highly  respected  as  a 
leading  and  representative  business  man  and 
citizen. 

THE  SUPERIOR  PAPER  COMPANY. 

The  Superior  Paper  Company,  of  Kalamazoo, 
one  of  the  interesting  and  progressive  industrial 
institutions  of  the  city,  with  a  large  trade  and  en- 
gaged in  the  production  of  a  great  variety  of 
choice  marketable  products,  was  organized  on 
January  11,  1901,  with  a  capital  stock  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  the  stock- 
holders being  nearly  all  local  men.  The  company 
manufactures  high  grade  sized  and  super  calen- 
dared and  machine  finished  book  and  lithograph, 
catalogue,  French  folios  and  other  specialties  in 
paper.  The  officers  are  W.  S.  Hodges,  presi- 
dent and  general  manager,  H.  H.  Everard,  vice- 
president,  Frank  H.  Milham,  secretary,  and  H. 
P.  Kauffer,  ex-president  of  the  Home  Savings 
Bank,  treasurer.  The  company  is  but  three  years 
old,  but  it  has  been  managed  with  vigor  and  en- 
terprise and  has  built  up  a  very  large  trade  with 
patrons  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Mr.  Hodges, 
the  president  and  manager,  is  a  native  of  this 
county,  born  near  Galesburg  in  1855.  His  par- 
ents, George  S.  and  Mary  E.  (Ellis)  Hodges, 
were  born  and  reared  in  the  state  of  New  York. 
The  father  became  a  resident  of  this  county  in 
1844,  taking  up  a  farm  in  South  Comstock  town- 
ship, where  he  farmed  a  number  of  years,  then 
moved  to  Galesburg.  In  1861  he  enlisted  in  de- 
fense of  the  Union  in  Company  I,  Second  Michi- 
gan Cavalry,  and  was  assigned  to  the  Army  of 
the  Cumberland.  He  remained  in  the  service  un- 
til the  close  of  the  war  and  saw  much  active  field 
duty,  participating  in  many  important  engage- 
ments, among  them  the  battles  of  Franklin,  De- 
cember 24,  1863,  Franklin,  January  4,  1863,  and 
Mossy  Creek,  December  29,  1863,  and  the  cam- 
paigns incident  thereto,  with  other  campaigns  of 
his  branch  of  the  service.  He  was  mustered  out 
as  captain  of  his  company.  Returning  then  to 
Kalamazoo,  he  served  two  years  as  sheriff  of  the 


268 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


county,  and  afterward  engaged  in  the  livery  busi- 
ness. He  died  in  1878,  leaving  a  widow  who  is 
still  living.  W.  S.  Hodges  was  their  only  child. 
He  was  educated  at  Galesburg  and  Kalamazoo, 
and  began  life  in  the  service  of  the  United  States 
and  American  Express  Companies,  and  after  some 
years  in  their  employ  became  connected  with  the 
Kalamazoo  Paper  Company  in  1883.  In  1887 
he  went  with  George  E.  Bardeen  to  Otsego,  Alle- 
gan county,  and  helped  to  organize  the  Bardeen 
Paper  Company  there.  He  remained  with  this 
company  until  1899,  and  in  1901  he  united  with 
others  in  founding  the  Superior  Paper  Company, 
which  he  has  managed  ever  since  with  gratifying 
and  pronounced  success.  He  is  also  a  stock- 
holder in  and  director  of  the  Home  Savings  Bank, 
the  Kalamazoo  Paper  Box  Company,  and  the 
Kalamazoo  Railroad  Supply  Company.  Fraternal- 
ly he  is  connected  with  the  Masonic  order  in  lodge, 
chapter  and  commandery,  and  with  the  order  of 
Elks.  In  1882  he  married  Miss  Nettie  Carmer, 
a  daughter  of  Peter  and  Elsie  (Hall)  Carmer, 
early  settlers  of  Galesburg.  They  have  one  child, 
their  son  George  C.  Hodges.  On  the  business 
interests  of  the  city  and  county  Mr.  Hodges  has 
had  a  decidedly  forceful  and  wholesome  influ- 
ence, uniting  in  his  methods  an  enlightened  con- 
servatism with  a  broad-viewed  progressiveness, 
using  every  opportunity  and  means  to  advantage 
yet  not  carried  away  in  chimerical  or  spectacular 
schemes.  His  counsel  is  highly  appreciated  and 
his  energy  is  worthy  of  all  emulation. 

GEORGE  NEUMAIER. 

Born  and  reared  in  Germany,  George  Neu- 
maier,  of  Kalamazoo,  there  learned  the  art  of 
brewing  the  popular  and  palatable  beverage  of  his 
native  land,  which  he  has  so  successfully  prac- 
ticed on  this  side  of  the  water.  His  life  began 
in  Baden  on  April  2J,  1842,  and  he  is  the  son 
of  Christian  and  Frances  (Schaub)  Neumaier, 
also  natives  in  that  country,  where  their  forefa- 
thers lived  for  many  generations.  The  father  was 
a  farmer  and  both  parents  died  in  their  native 
land.  The  father  was  for  years  a  soldier 
in    the    German    army    and    saw    active    serv- 


ice from  time  to  time.  Ten  children  were 
born  in  the  household,  and  of  these  two 
sons  and  one  daughter  came  to  the  United  States. 
The  sister  of  Mr.  Neumaier  lives  in  Kalamazoo 
and  his  brother  at  Adrian,  this  state.  George  re- 
mained in  the  fatherland  until  he  reached  the  age 
of  twenty-four.  When  he  was  seventeen  he  be- 
gan to  learn  the  trade  of  a  cooper  and  also  that 
of  a  brewer.  In  1866  he  emigrated  to  this  coun- 
try, landing  at  New  York  city,  where  he  remained 
three  years  working  in  breweries  and  malt  houses. 
At  the  end  of  that  period  he  moved  to  Michigan, 
in  company  with  his  brother.  They  located  at 
Adrian,  where  he  remained  three  years  as  fore- 
man in  a  brewery.  In  the  fall  of  1872  he  changed 
his  residence  to  Kalamazoo,  and  on  his  arrival  in 
this  city  rented  the  old  steam  brewery  on  Terri- 
tory Road  which  he  operated  six  years  in  partner- 
ship with  Leo  Kinast,  then  in  1878  bought  the 
plant  on  Portage  street  known  as  the  City  Union 
Brewery.  This  he  conducted  until  1896,  when 
he  sold  it  to  his  son  Alfred,  who  is  still  in  charge 
of  it.  Devoting  his  attention  earnestly  to  his 
business,  he  made  it  his  chief  ambition  to  pro- 
duce beer  of  superior  quality  and  purity,  and  by 
doing  so  he  popularized  his  product  and  gave  it 
a  high  and  wide-spread  reputation  which  brought 
him  a  large  and  profitable  trade.  Mr.  Neumaier 
was  married  in  New  York  in  1868  to  Miss  Valen- 
tina  Savert,  like  himself  a  native  of  Germany. 
They  have  had  six  children,  all  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing but  one  daughter.  The  head  of  the  house  is 
independent  in  politics  but  takes  an  earnest  and 
helpful  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  city  and 
county.  He  belongs  to  the  Kalamazoo  Working- 
men's  Society  and  is  a  member  of  the  Catholic 
church.  In  1892  he  visited  his  old  home  and 
passed  three  months  amid  the  scenes  and  associa- 
tions of  his  youth  and  young  manhood ;  but  re- 
turned to  the  United  States  more- than  ever  de- 
voted to  the  institutions  and  its  interests  of  this 
country.  Here  he  has  found  freedom  of  move- 
ment and  opinion  and  amplitude  of  opportunity, 
and  has  found  that  his  thrift  and  industry,  along 
with  his  business  capacity,  have  been  duly  recog- 
nized and  have  won  their  appropriate  reward ; 
also  that  pleasure  in  social  life  and  civic  distinc- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


269 


tion  are  free  from  artificial  restraints,  and  open 
to  the  humblest  whose  merit  entitles  them  to  win 
and  enjoy  such  privileges. 

DORR  O.  FRENCH. 

Dorr  O.  French,  one  of  the  leading  lawyers 
of  Kalamazoo,  is  wholly  a  product  of  Michigan. 
He  was  born  on  her  soil,  educated  in  her  schools, 
acquired  his  professional  training  in  the  office  of 
one  of  her  prominent  attorneys,  was  married  to 
one  of  her  accomplished  ladies,  and  has  won  pro- 
fessional distinction  among  her  people,  in  advo- 
cacy of  their  rights  and  the  protection  and  devel- 
opment of  their  industrial  and  commercial  inter- 
ests. Although  somewhat  a  traveler  and  familiar 
with  other  parts  of  the  country,  his  home  has  been 
his  regular  anchorage  and  the  seat  of  his  useful 
and  successful  labors.  He  was  born  at  Girard, 
Branch  county,  this  state,  on  February  4,  1861, 
and  is  the  son  of  John  and  Alvara  (Butler) 
French,  natives,  respectively,  of  New  York  and 
Michigan.  His  father  was  a  farmer  who  became 
a  resident  of  Branch  county  about  the  year  1852 
and  died  there  in  1902,  and  there  the  mother  is 
still  living.  They  had  five  children,  all  of  whom 
are  living.  Their  son  Dorr  was  reared  in  his 
native  county  and  began  his  education  in  its 
schools,  attending  first  the  common  or  district 
schools  and  afterward  the  Union  City  high  school. 
After  completing  the  course  there  he  matricu- 
lated at  Sherwood  College  and  pursued  a  literary 
and  classical  course  in  that  institution.  Removing 
to  Kalamazoo  in  1884,  ^e  took  a  course  of  com- 
mercial training  at  Parson's  Business  College, 
then  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of 
Thomas  R.  Sherwood.  On  being  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1888  he  formed  a  partnership  for  prac- 
tice with  James  H.  Kinnane,  under  the  style  of 
Kinnane  &  French,  which  lasted  three  years.  At 
the  end  of  that  period  the  partnership  was  har- 
moniously dissolved,  and  since  then  Mr.  French 
has  practiced  alone.  He  has  given  his  time 
wholly  to  his  practice,  in  connection  therewith 
serving  for  a  number  of  years  as  justice  of  the 
peace  and  circuit  court  commissioner,  and  while 
he  has  led  a  busy  professional  life  he  has  been 


well  rewarded  for  its  exactions  by  the  favor  and 
continued  devotion  of  a  large  body  of  representa- 
tive clients  and  the  general  esteem  and  good  will 
of  his  professional  brethren  and  the  people  of  the 
community  in  general.  In  political  allegiance  he 
is  an  unwavering  Republican,  and  while  not  an 
ambitious  partisan  for  his  own  advancement,  is 
deeply  and  continuously  interested  in  the  success 
of  his  party.  He  was  married  in  1890  to  Miss 
Emma  Daryman,  who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania. 
They  have  three  sons,  Robert  L.,  Paul  and  Nor- 
man, and  two  daughters,  Marguerite  and  Louise. 
Fraternally  Mr.  French  is  a  Knight  of  Pythias 
and  a  Knight  of  the  Maccabees.  He  is  widely 
and  favorably  known  throughout  this  and  the 
adjoining  counties,  and  stands  well  with  all  classes 
of  the  people. 

AMERICAN     CARRIAGE    COMPANY    OF 
KALAMAZOO. 

The  business  conducted  by  this  company, 
which  is  one  of  the  largest  producers  in  its  line  and 
one  of  the  most  vigorously  and  successfully  man- 
aged business  undertakings  in  this  part  of  the 
country,  was  started  in  1887  by  a  firm  comprising 
E.  C.  Dayton,  William  R.  Beebe,  E.R.Burnell  and 
James  E.  Doyle.  They  built  a  plant  at  the  junction 
of  Church  street  and  the  Michigan  Central  Rail- 
road and  began  the  manufacture  of  road  carts.  In 
1888  the  present  company  was  organized  and  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  stock  of  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars  and  the  following  officers :  James  E. 
Doyle,  president ;  E.  C.  Dayton,  vice-president ; 
William  R.  Beebe,  secretary  and  treasurer,  and 
E.  R.  Burrell,  manager.  The  directors  were  these 
gentlemen  and  David  Burrell.  They  conducted  the 
business  in  the  old  plant  until  1897,  adding  to 
their  enterprise  the  manufacture  of  road  wagons, 
carriages,  cutters  and  other  vehicles.  In  the  year 
last  named  the  company  was  reorganized  and  the 
capital  stock  increased  to  seventy  thousand  dol- 
lars. The  Newton  Carriage  Company's  plant, 
which  this  company  now  occupies,  was  then  pur- 
chased and  the  business  moved  to  it.  Mr.  Bur- 
nell  retired  from  the  company  at  this  time  and  Mr. 
Doyle  was  made  manager  as  well  as  president,  the 


270 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


other  officers  remaining  the  same.  The  establish- 
ment now  manufactures  an  extensive  line  of  fine 
light  vehicles  of  almost  every  kind,  for  which  it 
finds  a  market  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States.  It 
turns  out  five  thousand  carriages,  wagons,  carts, 
etc.,  and  five  thousand  cutters  a  year,  employing 
one  hundred  persons  besides  traveling  salesmen. 
Its  products  are  recognized  everywhere  as  first 
class  in  all  particulars,  and  it  is  steadily  increas- 
ing its  trade  in  new  territory  while  holding  firmly 
to  the  old.  Mr.  Doyle,  the  president  of  the  com- 
pany, was  born  in  Kalamazoo  in  1856.  In  his 
capacity  as  president  and  manager  of  the  carriage 
company  he  has  displayed  a  high  order  of  ability 
and  great  activity,  and  it,  is  but  just  to  him  to  say 
that  its  prosperity  and  continued  growth  are 
largely  due  to  him.  He  devotes  his  whole  time 
and  energy  to  the  affairs  of  the  company,  and  the 
results  are  commensurate  with  his  efforts.  Politi- 
cal matters  interest  him  only  in  a  general  way, 
but  he  supports  the  Democratic  party  in  national 
and  state  politics.  Among  the  business  men  of 
Kalamazoo  none  has  a  higher  rank. 

GEORGE  FULLER.     * 

Almost  a  generation  of  human  life  has 
passed  away  since,  in  1874,  the  late  George 
Fuller,  who  departed  this  life  on  March  25,  1905, 
in  Kalamazoo,  after  long  years  of  business  suc- 
cess in  that  city,  started  the  livery  business 
which  he  conducted  there  until  his  death,  and 
which  he  had  in  his  ownership  and  under  his  per- 
sonal control  during  all  of  the  intervening  time. 
He  expanded  it  from  a  scope  of  five  horses  and  a 
few  conveyances  to  one  hundred  horses  and  ev- 
ery variety  and  capacity  of  conveyance  known 
to  the  trade,  including  a  line  of  excellent  hacks 
and  cabs.  Mr.  Fuller  was  born  at  Whitehall,  Vt., 
on  January  28,  1833,  and  wa3  the  son  of  Peter 
and  Dorcas  Fuller,  also  natives  of  Vermont. 
The  father  was  a  farmer  and  moved  his  family 
to  Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1835.  Later  in  life 
he  came  to  Michigan,  where  he  died,  the  mother 
passing  away  in  Wisconsin  while  on  a  visit  to 
that  state.  George  grew  to  manhood  in  the  state 
of  New  York,  and  there,  after  leaving  school,  he 


engaged  in  farming,  also  working  at  his  trade  as 
a  cooper.     He  moved  to   Michigan  in   1857  or 
1858,  and  located  in  Alamo  township,  this  county, 
where  he  remained  a  short  time,  then  changed  his 
residence  to  Kalamazoo  and  started  in  business 
as  a  cooper.     He  afterward  became  a  dealer  in 
grain   and  remained   in  that  line  of  trade  until 
1874,  when  he  started  his  livery  business  on  a 
small  scale,  and  to  this  he  steadfastly  adhered  to 
the  end  of  his  life,  in  spite  of  many  promising- 
temptations    to    go    into   other    business.      After 
carrying  on  the  enterprise  for  a  number  of  years 
by  himself,  he  took  his  sons  Horace  and  James 
into  partnership  with  him,  the  firm  being  known 
as  George  Fuller  &  Sons  until  1884,  when  James 
retired  from  the  firm,  selling  his  interest  in  it  to 
his  brother  Horace.     A  line  of  hacks  and  many 
new   rigs   of   various   kinds   were  added  to   the 
equipment  of  the  stables  when  the  sons  became 
members  of  the  firm,   and   every   attention  was 
given  to  meeting  the  requirements  of  a  steadily 
increasing  trade.     The  father  was  a  director  and 
the    vice-president    of    the    Kalamazoo    Hack    & 
Bus    Company,    and    also    dealt    extensively    in 
horses,  handling  a  large  number  every  year.     He 
was  considered  one  of  the  best  judges  of  the  no- 
ble animal  which  he  bought  and  sold  in  numbers 
in  this  part  of  the  world,  and  his  opinion  was 
sought  by  large  numbers  of  prospective  buyers 
throughout   a   wide   scope   of   country.     During 
his  connection  with  the  trade  he  owned  and  sold 
more  than  ten  thousand  horses,  making  sales  in 
all  parts  of  the  United  States  and  parts  of  Can- 
ada.    In  1852  he  was  married  in  New  York  to 
Miss   Hester  A.   Slack,   a  native  of  that  state. 
Their  offspring  numbered  two,  their  sons  Horace 
J.  and  James.    Mr.  Fuller  served  two  terms  as  al- 
derman, being  a  member  of  the  first  board  after 
the  incorporation  of  the  city.     He  was  a  Free- 
mason of  the  Knight  Templar  degree,  and  be- 
longed also  to  the  order  of  Elks.  During  his  long 
residence  of  more  than  forty  years  in  Kalama- 
zoo he  lived  among  his   fellowmen  without  re- 
proach, having  their  unstinted  respect  and  meet- 
ing all  the  duties  of  his  citizenship  with  com- 
mendable fidelity  and  enterprise.     At  his  death, 
on  March  25,  1905,  he  was  laid  away  to  rest  in 


GEORGE  FL'LLER. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


273 


Mountain  Home  cemetery  in  Kalamazoo  with  ev- 
ery demonstration  of  popular  esteem.  His  livery 
business  is  still  in  the  hands  and  under  the  man- 
agement of  his  sons  Horace  J.  and  James  H.  The 
father  took  pride  in  Masonry  and  gave  the  inter- 
ests of  the  order  his  close  attention  and  his  most 
active  and  serviceable  support  throughout  his 
connection  with  it,  and  was  known  as  one  of  the 
brightest  and  most  enthusiastic  members  of  the 
craft  in  this  jurisdiction. 

HONSELMAN   CANDY   COMPANY. 

This  valued  enterprise,  which  is  a  source  of 
pride  and  credit  to  the  city  of  Kalamazoo,  and 
one  of  the  pioneer  manufactories  of  its  kind  in 
this  part  of  the  world,  is  one  of  those  beneficent 
industries,  which,  while  they  do  not  exactly  "min- 
ister to  a  mind  diseased/'  do,  by  their  palatable 
sweets,  help  to  ease  the  cares  and  soften  the  bur- 
dens of  many  a  life,  and  smooth  away  untold  do- 
mestic wrinkles.  The  business  was  founded  on 
February  24,  1880,  by  George  Honselman,  who 
was  born  in  Detroit  and  reared  and  educated 
there.  He  began  his  business  career  as  a  retail 
dealer  in  candies  and  kindred  commodities,  and 
continued  his  undertaking  at  Detroit  until  1880. 
In  that  year  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo  and  engaged 
in  the  same  traffic  here,  which  he  carried  on  until 
1885,  then  began  the  manufacture  of  candies  in 
c,  small  way,  keeping  the  retail  business  going 
also  until  1902.  He  started  manufacturing  can- 
dies in  the  Waterbury  block,  but  by  1896  the 
business  had  grown  to  such  proportions  as  to 
necessitate  more  extensive  accommodations,  and 
accordingly  in  that  year*  he  bought  the  building 
on  East  Main  street  in  which  it  is  now  conducted. 
This  is  a  three-story  and  basement  block  and 
warehouse  forty-five  feet  square.  The  company 
employs  fifty  to  seventy-five  persons  besides  five 
or  six  salesmen  on  the  road.  The  territory  tribu- 
tary to  its  progress  and  success  comprises  Michi- 
gan, Indiana,  Ohio,  Illinois  and  several  adjacent 
states.  The  company  also  handles  large  quanti- 
ties of  peanuts  and  California  walnuts  in  its  prod- 
ucts, and  makes  every  form  of  confection  known 
to  the  trade.  In  addition  to  his  interests  in  this 
16 


concern  Mr.  Honselman  is  well  known  as  holding 
shares  in  other  important  business  enterprises,  he 
being  a  stockholder  in  the  King  Paper  Company 
and  the  Kalamazoo  Paper  Box  Company,  of 
which  he  is  a  director.  He  is  always  alert  to  the 
commercial,  industrial  and  social  life  of  the  city 
and  county,  and  has  great  zeal  for  their  educa- 
tional and  moral  agencies,  but  he  has  never  been 
an  active  partisan  in  political  affairs.  He  is  prom- 
inent also  in  fraternal  circles,  being  a  Freemason 
with  membership  in  the  commandery  of  Knights 
Templar  and  the  Mystic  Shrine.  He  also  be- 
longs to  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  order  of 
Elks.  Without  ostentation  or  self-seeking,  ex- 
cept in  the  line  of  his  business,  the  proprietor  of 
this  industry  has  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  his 
way  as  a  good  citizen,  cheerfully  bearing  his  por- 
tion of  the  burdens  of  good  government  and  pub- 
lic improvement,  and  by  his  integrity,  business 
acumen  and  public  spirit  he  has  won  the  Tasting 
regard  and  good  will  of  the  whole  community, 
and  made  himself  known  throughout  a  very  large 
extent  of  the  surrounding  country  as  one  of  the 
most  capable  business  men  and  best  citizens  of  his 
portion  of  the  state. 

M.  J.  BIGELOW. 

Among  the  manufacturing  industries  which 
have  made  Kalamazoo  well  known  and  promi- 
nent in  business  circles  throughout  the  civilized 
world  none  is  more  important  or  has  higher  title 
to  public  regard  than  the  Phelps  &  Bigelow 
Windmill  Company,  whose  product  is  sold  and 
valued  in  almost  every  land  under  the  sun  where 
modern  methods  are  prevalent.  This  com- 
pany was  organized  in  January,  1876,  and  suc- 
ceeded the  firm  of  Phelps  &  Bigelow,  which  was 
formed  three  years  before.  The  men  composing 
this  firm,  Horace  Phelps  and  M.  J.  Bigelow,  were 
among  the  first  manufacturers  of  wooden  wheel 
mills  in  this  state,  and  from  the  start  of  their 
enterprise  they  found  a  ready  market  and  a  high 
appreciation  for  their  output,  the  demands  on 
their  resources  increasing  to  such  an  extent  that 
when  three  years  had  passed  they  found  it  neces- 
sary to  increase  their  plant  and  equipment  very 


274 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


largely.  To  this  end  they  organized  the  stock 
company  which  they  are  now  in  control  of.  The 
capital  stock  was  at  first  twenty  thousand  dollars, 
but  this  was  soon  found  to  be  inadequate  and  it 
was  increased  to  forty  thousand  dollars.  The 
first  officers  of  the  company  were  I.  D.  Bixby, 
president;  Lorenzo  Bixby,  vice-president;  M.  J. 
Bigelow,  secretary  and  treasurer,  and  Horace 
Phelps,  general  manager.  Two  years  later  Mr. 
Bixby  was  succeeded  as  president  by  J.  P.  Wood- 
bury, who  held  the  office  until  1881,  when  he  re- 
tired in  favor  of  his  son,  Edward  Woodbury,  who 
still  occupies  the  position.  Mr.  Phelps  continued 
to  serve  as  general  manager  until  his  death  in 
1883.  The  business  has  prospered  greatly,  each 
year  witnessing  an  increase  in  the  output  of  the 
factory  and  an  enlargement  of  the  territory  tribu- 
tary to  it.  The  company  employs  thirty  to  fifty 
men  and  the  mills  are  sold  all  over  the  world,  as 
has  been  stated,  there  being  a  large  demand  es- 
pecially in  foreign  countries,  particularly  in  South 
America,  South  Africa  and  Australia.  Mr.  Bige- 
low, who  has  been  the  secretary  and  treasurer  of 
the  company  from  its  organization  and  the  impell- 
ing and  directing  force  of  the  industry,  and 
who  succeeded  Mr.  Phelps  as  general  manager, 
was  born  in  Essex  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1844, 
and  was  reared  and  educated  there.  He  came  to 
Michigan  in  1866  and  located  at  Kalamazoo. 
Here  he  was  variously  occupied  until  the  windmill 
business  was  started  by  him  and  Mr.  Phelps,  and 
since  that  time  he  has  devoted  his  energies  al- 
most exclusively  to  this  enterprise.  He  was,  how- 
ever, instrumental  also  in  founding  the  Kalama- 
zoo National  Bank  in  July,  1884,  and  has  since 
served  as  its  vice-president  and  one  of  its  direc- 
tors. He  is  also  president  of  the  Riverside  Foun- 
dry Company  and  the  Kalamazoo  Galvanized 
Iron  Works.  In  these  diverse  and  exacting  indus- 
trial operations  he  finds  full  scope  for  his  active 
and  fertile  mind,  and  very  profitable  employment 
of  his  time.  So  that,  although  a  firm  Republi- 
can in  political  faith,  he  has  never  had  time  to 
become  an  active  partisan  or  indulge  a  desire  for 
public  office,  the  only  official  trust  he  has  ever  held 
being  membership  on  the  school  board.  In  the 
matter  of  private  institutions   of  benefit  to  the 


community  he  renders  good  service  as  trustee  and 
treasurer  of  the  Mountain  Home  Cemetery  Com- 
pany. The  officers  of  the  windmill  company  at 
present  are  Edward  Woodbury,  president ;  Ira  A. 
Ramson,  vice-president ;  M.  J.  Bigelow,  general 
manager,  and  A.  W.  Brownell,  recording  secre- 
tary and  superintendent.  Mr.  Bigelow  is  one  of 
the  most  highly  esteemed  men  in  the  city. 

B.  F.   PARKER. 

The  late  B.  F.  Parker,  one  of  the  most  exten- 
sive and  enterprising  real-estate  men  of  Kalama- 
zoo, whose  untimely  death,  on  April  1,  1904,  de- 
prived the  city  of  one  of  its  leading  promoters 
and  caused  wide-spread  grief  among  its  people, 
was  born  in  Kalamazoo  county  on  Grand  Prairie 
on  October  30,  1858.  His  parents,  Thomas  R. 
and  Matilda  (Smith)  Parker,  were  natives  of 
England,  the  former  born  in  county  Durham  and 
the  latter  at  Lancashire.  The  father  was  a 
farmer  and  emigrated  to  the  United  States  in 
1855,  settling  at  Kalamazoo,  where  he  was  mar- 
ried. He  returned  with  his  wife  to  England  in 
1859  anc*  soon  afterward  died  there.  The  mother 
came  back  to  this  country  and  until  her  death  she 
made  her  home  with  her  son,  B.  F.  Parker.  He 
grew  to  man's  estate  in  his  native  county  and  was 
educated  in  its  public  schools.  He  began  life  as  a 
farmer  and  later  clerked  in  a  bank  for  Sheldon 
&  Breese  for  a  time.  He  then  studied  law  for  a 
year  and  a  half  in  the  office  of  Dallas  Boudeman, 
but  abandoned  the  profession  to  engage  in  the 
real-estate  business  which  he  followed  twenty-one 
years,  until  his  death.  He  was  also  engaged  in 
farming,  owning  a  fine  farm  of  over  two  hun- 
dred acres.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was  sec- 
retary, treasurer  and  general  manager  of  the  Kala- 
mazoo Land  and  Improvement  Company,  and  in 
that  capacity  added  by  his  enterprise  and  business 
capacity  large  extents  to  the  size  of  the  city, 
platting  for  the  purpose  an  addition  of  forty-two 
acres  belonging  to  the  company,  forty-two  in  the 
Dewing  &  Parker  addition,  and  one  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  in  the  Buckingham  addition,  be- 
sides the  J.  and  A.  Dewing  addition.  He  built 
some  seventy  dwellings  for  new  residents  and  in 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


275 


many  other  ways  gave  an  impetus  to  the  spirit  of 
improvement  here  that  will  continue  to  bring 
forth  good  results  for  many  years  to  come.  He 
was,  moreover,  a  director  of  the  Kalamazoo  Sav- 
ings Bank  and  assisted  in  founding  many  of  the 
largest  and  most  important  manufacturing  en- 
terprises in  the  city.  In  political  thought  and  ac- 
tion he  was  an  ardent  Republican,  but  he  never 
sought  or  desired  public  office  of  any  kind,  his 
mind  being  wholly  absorbed  in  his  business.  In 
1897  he  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Kittie  J. 
Longyear,  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  and  a  teacher 
in  the  public  schools.  They  had  two  children, 
Thomas  O.  and  Marian,, who  survive  their  father. 
Mr.  Parker  was  prominent  in  social  and  fraternal 
circles,  in  the  latter  being  a  zealous  Freemason  in 
lodge  and  chapter.  In  religious  faith  he  was  an 
earnest  Congregationalist.  No  man  in  the  city 
was  better  known  or  more  highly  esteemed,  and 
none  better  de3erved  the  high  regard  in  which  he 
was  held,  whether  measured  by  the  volume  and 
value  of  his  work,  his  sterling  and  upright  man- 
hood or  his  genial  and  entertaining  social  quali- 
ties. He  was  an  excellent  citizen  in  every  sense 
of  the  term. 

HIRAM  A.  KILGORE. 

Although  he  has  not  yet  reached  the  limit  of 
human  life  as  fixed  by  the  psalmist,  Hiram  A.. 
Kilgore,  of  Kalamazoo,  is  one  of  the  early  in- 
habitants of  the  county,  and  the  whole  of  his  life 
so  far  has  been  passed  within  its  borders.  Here 
he  was  born  on  October  16,  1840,  here  he  was 
reared  to  manhood,  and  here  also  he  received  his 
education  in  the  common  schools,  such  as  they 
were  in  his  boyhood.  He  has  seen  this  part  of 
the  country  in  a  state  of  almost  primeval  wilder- 
ness, and  has  witnessed  its  transformation,  under 
the  genius  and  enterprise  of  man  and  the  benign 
influence  of  free  institutions,  to  its  present  state 
of  advanced  development,  blessed  with  all  the 
benignities  and  rich  in  all  the  material  wealth  of 
cultivated  life.  Mr.  Kilgore  is  the  son  of  John 
and  Catherine  (Martin)  Kilgore,  the  former  born 
in  the  north  of  Ireland  and  the  latter  in  the  state 
of  New  York.     At  the  age  of  thirteen,  in  1821, 


the  father  came  to  the  United  States  with  his  par- 
ents and  his  three  brothers  and  one  sister.  The 
family  took  up  their  residence  in  Genesee  county, 
N.  Y.,  and  there  the  parents  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  their  days  engaged  in  the  quiet  pursuit 
of  farming,  and  at  length,  after  long  years  of 
uesful  and  creditable  life,  were  laid  to  rest  in  the 
soil  that  was  hallowed  by  their  labors.  Their 
son,  the  father  of  Hiram,  came  to  Michigan  in 
1835  and  entered  a  tract  of  four  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  of  government  land  south  of  Kala- 
mazoo. He  also  entered  a  tract  in  Cass  county 
and  one  in  Branch  county,  this  state.  The  next 
year  he  took  up  his  residence  in  the  state,  locating 
on  the  land  near  Kalamazoo.  Some  time  after- 
ward he  sold  this  and  bought  another  tract  south 
of  it  which  he  cleared  and  reduced  to  cultivation, 
and  on  which  he  lived  until  his  death  in  1874,  his 
wife  dying  some  time  later.  He  served  as  super- 
visor of  Portage  township,  was  a  zealous  member 
of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  in  other  ways 
took  an  active  and  helpful  interest  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  community  in  which  he  lived.  The 
family  comprised  four  sons  and  two  daughters, 
all  of  whom  are  living  but  the  oldest  son.  Hiram 
A.  Kilgore  remained  under  the  paternal  rooftree 
until  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  then 
bgan  working  about  the  country  as  a  carpenter 
and  millwright,  his  skill  and  industry  contributing 
to  the  erection  of  a  number  of  the  early  mills  in 
this  section  while  yet  the  old  stone  process  of 
grinding  was  generally  in  vogue.  He  also  be- 
came a  miller  and  still  works  at  that  trade  to  some 
extent  although  for  the  most  part  he  has  retired 
from  active  pursuits  and  is  quietly  enjoying  life 
at  his  comfortable  home  on  Vine  street,  in  this 
city.  He  owned  a  grist  mill  in  Kalamazoo  town-; 
ship  which  he  built  in  1876  but  this  mill  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire  in  July  1905,  at  a  loss  of  over  seven 
thousand  dollars.  He  also  owns  a  part  of  the  old 
family  homestead  which  is  operated  by  his  broth- 
er's son.  In  1866  he  was  married  in  this  town- 
ship to  Miss  Anna  M.  McKay,  a  daughter  of 
Joseph  and  Eliza  (Nesbith)  McKay,  early  set- 
tlers on  Prairie  Ronde.  They  have  one  son  liv- 
ing, Robert  N.,  and  one  daughter,  Mary,  the  wife 
of  Thomas  Richmond.     Mrs.  Richmond  died  in 


276 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY  OF 


1902  and  left  two  daughters.  While  always  averse 
to  holding  office,  Mr.  Kilgore  has  served  as  drain 
commissioner.  Fraternally  he  is  a  Freemason  and 
a  United  Workman.  Throughout  the  county  and 
the  surrounding  territory  he  is  well  known  and 
universally  respected. 

WALLACE  B.  NORTH. 

Wallace  B.  North,  one  of  the  leading  lumber 
merchants  of  this  state,  is  president  of  the  North 
&  Coon  Lumber  Company,  an  incorporated  insti- 
tution with  a  capital  stock  of  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars and  doing  an  extensive  business,  whose  pa- 
trons are  in  many  parts  of  the  country.  The  com- 
pany is  the  outgrowth  of  the  old  firm  of  North  & 
Coon,  which  was  formed  in  1888.  This  firm  car- 
ried on  an  extensive  business,  which  increased 
to  such  proportions  that  its  members  concluded  it 
was  best  for  them  to  organize  a  company  to  con- 
duct the  business  and  thus  enlarge  their  resources 
and  augment  their  force.  Accordingly  in  Janu- 
ary, 1904,  the  present  company  was  formed,  with 
Mr.  North  as  president,  H.  C.  Coon  as  vice-presi- 
dent, L.  W.  H.  Jones  as  secretary,  and  A.  C.  Jick- 
ling,  treasurer  and  general  manager.  Mr.  North 
was  born  in  St.  Joseph  county,  this  state,  in  1851. 
His  parents  were  William  T.  and  Emeline  (Cha- 
pin)  North,  the  former  a  native  of  Connecticut 
and  the  latter  of  New  York.  The  father  was  a 
farmer  and  came  to  Michigan  in  1844.  He  set- 
tled on  a  tract  of  wild  land  in  St.  Joseph  county 
which  he  cleared  up  and  made  habitable  and  pro- 
ductive and  on  which  he  lived  for  a  number  of 
years.  Both  he  and  his  wife  died  at  Battle  Creek. 
Their  son  Wallace  was  reared  and  educated  in 
his  native  county,  remaining  at  home  with  his 
parents  until  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty-seven. 
In  1878  he  engaged  in  the  lumber  business  at 
White  Pigeon,  St.  Joseph  county,  where  he  car- 
ried on  a  flourishing  trade  for  a  period  of  seven 
years,  then  moved  to  Vicksburg,  this  county, 
where  he  traded  in  the  same  line  until  the  forma- 
tion of  the  firm  of  North  &  Coon  in  1888.  Dur- 
ing the  next  six  years  this  firm  grew  and  flour- 
ished in  business  and  in  public  regard,  and  at  the 
end  of  that  time  was  transformed  into  the  com- 


pany which  now  contains  the  same  business  ele- 
ments that  created  and  expanded  the  trade  and  is 
under  the  same  controlling  spirit  that  has  inspired 
the  enterprise  from  the  start  and  directed  its 
course  along  the  lines  of  enduring  progress  and 
safety,  the  business  acumen  and  capacity  of  Mr. 
North.  He  united  in  marriage  October  20,  1880, 
with  Miss  Flora  M.  Peck,  a  native  of  Sharon, 
Washtenaw  county,  Mich.  Mrs.  North  is  the 
daughter  of  Waite  and  Lucinda  (Webster)  Peck, 
who  were  early  settlers  in  Washtenaw  county, 
having  come  thither  from  Sharon,  Litchfield 
county,  Conn.,  where  the  father  was  born  on  Oc- 
tober 12,  1807.  He  died  at  Sharon,  Mich.,  in  1897. 
A  pioneer  of  this  state,  and  an  active  worker  for 
the  advancement  of  its  interests  in  every  com- 
mendable way,  he  was  highly  esteemed  by  all  who 
knew  him,  and  especially  by  the  people  of  his  own 
county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  North  have  an  elegant 
home  in  Kalamazoo,  which  is  a  gem  of  architec- 
tural skill,  artistic  adornment  and  refined  taste, 
as  well  as  a  center  of  considerate  and  generous 
hospitality.  Three  children  have  been  born  to 
them,  William  Waite,  who  died  at  the  age  of 
fourteen,  Flora  and  Hubert  L.  Mr.  North  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  order  of  the  Knights 
Templar  degree,  arid  he  and  his  family  are  mem- 
bersof  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  Although 
a  Republican,  firm  in  the  faith  and  zealous  in  de- 
sire for  the  success  of  the  cause,  he  has  never 
taken  an  active  part  in  party  politics.  His  busi- 
ness and  his  domestic  ties,  with  his  church  rela- 
tions have  absorbed  his  time  and  attention,  and 
in  them  he  has  found  congenial  employment, 
profitable  industry  and  peace  of  mind.  Through- 
out the  city  and  county  in  which  he  lives  and  a 
much  larger  extent  of  country,  he  is  esteemed  as 
one  of  Michigan's  best  and  most  serviceable  citi- 
zens. 

FRANK  B.  LAY. 

Frank  B.  Lay,  vice-president  and  treasurer  of 
the  Michigan  Buggy  Company,  of  Kalamazoo,  is 
a  native  of  Allegan  county,  this  state,  born  on 
November  29,  1856.  His  parents,  George  T.  and 
Mary  (Barber)  Lay,  were  natives  of  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania,  respectively.    The  father  in  his 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


277 


boyhood  remained  with  his  parents  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  there  he  grew  to  manhood  and  at- 
tended the  district  schools,  working  on  the  pater- 
nal homestead  until  he  became  of  age.  Then,  in 
1843,  he  came  to  Michigan  and  located  in  Allegan 
county.  He  soon  became  extensively  engaged  in 
lumbering,  rafting  his  product  down  the  Kalama- 
zoo river  to  Lake  Michigan  and  then  shipping 
it  to  Chicago.  He  followed  this  business  for  a 
number  of  years,  and  was  also  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  handling  agricultural  implements.  In 
1883  he  aided  in  organizing  the  Michigan  Buggy 
Company,  and  was  a  director  and  its  vice-presi- 
dent until  his  death,  on  March  13,  1901 .  He  was 
also  a  stockholder  in  the  Comstock  Manufactur- 
ing Company.  An  active  and  enterprising  busi- 
ness man,  and  highly  endowed  with  business  ca- 
pacity of  a  high  order,  he  built  up  a  large  trade 
for  every  enterprise  with  which  he  was  con- 
nected and  accumulated  a  large  fortune  without 
any  capital  to  start  with,  having  all  his  worldly 
effects  in  a  satchel  when  he  reached  Allegan.  At 
the  time  of  his  death  he  owned  more  than  one 
thousand  acres  of  the  best  land  in  Monterey  town- 
ship, that  county,  and  has  besides  much  valuable 
property  elsewhere.  He  was  thorough  in  all  his 
work  and  wise  in  his  methods,  but  his  prosperity 
was  due  not  less  to  patient  industry  than  to  good 
management.  He  was  always  deeply  interested  in 
public  affairs,  but  he  had  no  official  connection 
with  them  because  of  his  consistent  adherence 
to  his  Democratic  faith  in  politics.  He  was  often 
nominated  by  his  party  for  positions  of  promi- 
nence and  great  responsibility,  but  he  failed  of 
election  because  of  the  large  adverse  majority  in 
the  county.  In  religious  faith  he  was  an  Advent- 
ist,  and  he  did  much  for  the  interests  of  his  sect 
both  locally  and  in  its  general  work.  He  was  a 
gentleman  of  kind  heart,  helpful  to  the  deserving, 
and  strict  in  observance  of  his  word  as  well  as  of 
his  bond.  His  offspring  numbered  one  son  and 
fwo  daughters  who  are  living,  Frank  B.  Lay, 
Mrs.  Henry  Lane  and  Mrs.  E.  M.  Brackett.  He 
also-  had  two  adopted  children.  His  wife  died 
when  her  son  Frank  was  a  child,  and  her  father 
married  a  second  wife  who  survives  him.  The 
son  was  reared  in  his  native  county  and  attended 


its  public  schools.  He  afterward  passed  two 
years  in  the  law  department  of  the  Michigan 
University,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1878.  He 
began  business  with  his  father,  and  when  the 
buggy  company  was  organized  he  became  its  sec- 
retary and  treasurer,  serving  as  such  until  1903, 
when  he  was  made  vice-president  and  treasurer. 
He  was  also  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Comstock 
Manufacturing  Company  and  is  now  one  of  its 
directors.  A  few  years  ago  he  and  Mr.  Lane  be^ 
gan  raising  Shetland  ponies,  and  they  carry  on 
this  enterprise  on  the  Riverside  pony  farm,  which 
they  own  and  on  which  they  have  an  average  of 
nearly  two  hundred  ponies.  For  these  they  "have 
a  wide  and  active  market.  Mr.  Lay  is  also  largely 
interested  in  breeding  a  high  grade  of  fine  car- 
riage and  track  horses  on  the  old  homestead  in 
Allegan  county  and  is  the  owner  of  "Strong- 
wood/'  one  of  Michigan's  greatest  sires;  "Note- 
boly,"  "Cashwood,"  ;  2  :oy  1-4 ;  "Elmwood,'' 
2:071-2;  '-The  Puritan, ,r  2:093-4;  "Storm- 
wood,"  2:111-4;  "Verna  Strongwood,"  (3) 
2:121-4;  "Englewood,"  2:123-4,  and  many 
others  with  marks  better  than  2:20. 

Mr.  Lay  was  married  in  Allegan  county  in 
1879,  to  Miss  Mary  Belle  Barclay,  a  native  off 
New  York,  but  who  came  to  Michigan  when  a 
child.  They  have  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 
Mr.  Lay  has  never  been  an  active  partisan.1  Tn 
church  affiliation  he  is  a  Presbyterian. 

M.  HENRY  LANE. 

This  energetic  and  progressive  business  man, 
who  is  president  of  the  Michigan  Buggy  Com- 
pany, and  in  that  has  given  Kalamazoo  one  of 
its  best  industries,  has  had  a  career  of  great  use- 
fulness in  this  community,  and  although  on  two 
separate  occasions  has  been  burned  out  by  disas- 
trous fires,  with  characteristic  pluck  and  energy 
he  has  triumphed  over  all  difficulties  and  kept  his 
industry  going,  to  the  advantage  of  the  city  and 
the  comfort  of  a  large  number  of  men  whom  it 
employs.  He  is  a  native  of  Cayuga  county,  N. 
Y.,  born  in  January,  1849.  ^n  1881  he  came  to 
Kalamazoo  and  organized  the  Kalamazoo  Wagon 
Company,  composed  of  himself,  F.  W.  Myers  and 


278 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


Ira  V.  Hicks.  In  1.883  ne  severed  his  connection 
with  that  company  and  founded  the  Michigan 
Buggy  Company,  with  which  he  has  since  been 
actively  connected.  It  is  a  stock  company,  formed 
with  a  capital  stock  of  seventy-five  thousand  dol- 
lars, which  was  afterward  increased  to  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars.  From  its  start  Mr.  Lane 
has  been  its  president.  The  first  vice-president 
was  George  T.  Lay,  of  Allegan,  and  the  first 
secretary  and  treasurer,  was  F.  B.  Lay.  They 
owned  all  the  stock,  and  started  the  business  in 
a  factory  which  they  built  in  1883  in  the  northern 
part  pf  the  city.  This  was  destroyed  by  fire  in 
1896,  with  a  loss  of  sixty-three  thousand  dollars, 
on  which  they  •  had '  an  insurance  of  only  forty 
thousand  dollars.  They  at  once  enlarged  a  small 
factory  which  they  owned  and  continued  the  busi- 
ness. After  greatly  enlarging  this  plant  and  com- 
pleting its  equipment  with  all  the  most  approved 
machinery  for  their  work  it  was  also  destroyed 
by  fire,  the  loss  on  this  occasion  being  two  hun- 
dred and  forty-nine  thousand  dollars  and  the  in- 
surance eighty  thousand  dollars:  .  The  blow  was 
a  serious  one,  but,  nothing  daunted,  they  began 
immediately  to  rebuild,  erecting  the  present  fac- 
tory along  the  Grand  Rapids  and  Indiana  Rail- 
road south  of  the  city,  where  they  own  a  tract  of 
four  hundred  acres  of  land,  the  greater  part  of 
which  is  platted,  adding  vastly  to  the  growth  and 
wealth  of  the  city.  The  plant  they  now  operate 
is  nearly  twice  as  large  as  the  old  one,  and  they 
turn  out  over  twenty  thousand  buggies  and 
twelve  thousand  cutters  in  a  year,  which  are  sold 
in  all  parts-  of  this  country  and  in  many  foreign 
lands.  Mr.  Lane  is  one  of  the  most  energetic 
business  men  in  the  state,  knowing  no  weariness 
or  cessation  from  toil  in  conducting  his  various 
enterprises.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Comstock 
Manufacturing  Company  and  the  Kalamazoo  Rec- 
reation Park,  and  was  at  one  time  a- stockholder 
in  the  First  National  Bank.  He  is  also  exten- 
sively interested  in  farming,  operating  over  six 
hundred  acres  of  his  own  land  and  five  hundred 
in  company  with  Mr.  Lay.  He  belongs  to  the 
National  Carriage  Builders'  Association  and  has 
served"  as  its  vice-president.  In  political  affairs 
he  takes  a  lively  interest  as  a  Republican,  and 


through  his  zeal  in  all  public  affairs  rendered  very 
effective  and  satisfactory  service  as  a  member  of 
the  World's  Fair  Board  in  1894.  His  home  in 
Kalamazoo  is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  state,  hav- 
ing been  built  at  a  cost  of  over  sixty  thousand 
dollars. 

In  1895  Mr.  Lane  organized  a  company  for 
the  construction  of  the  Chicago  &  Kalamazoo 
Terminal  Railroad.  This  great  enterprise  will 
be  completed  as  a  belt  line  around  the  city  of 
Kalamazoo,  and  will  be  a  great  advantage  to  busi- 
ness and  the  people  of  the  community. 

GARDNER  T.  EAMES. 

This  prominent  and  enterprising  manufacturer 
and  mill  man'  may  almost  be 'said  to  have  been 
born  to  the  purple  in  mechanics,  and  to  have  en- 
tered upon  his  inheritance  in  this  useful  line  of 
productive  industry  in  his  childhood,  as  his  fa- 
ther was  for  many  years'  devoted  to  this  work 
and  made  a  record  of  great  credit  in  it.  Mr. 
Eames,  who  is  the  present  owner  of  the  Eames 
Machine  Shops,  on  Michigan  and  Asylum  ave- 
nues <  in  Kalamazoo,  was  born  in  that  /city .  on 
March  9,  1851,.  and  is  the  son  of  Lovett  and 
Lucy  C.  (Morgan)  Eames,  both  natives  of  Wa- 
tertown,  N.*Y.  The  father  was  an  expert  on 
hydraulics  and  built  the  first  system  in  his  native 
town,  where  he  also  owned  a  saw  mill  and  ma- 
chine shop.  Before  coming  to  this  state  he  became 
a  teacher  in  the  Belleville  Academy  and  continued 
in  that  useful  vocation  a  number  of  years.  In 
1 83 1  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo  county  and  bought 
a  tract  of  land  on  Grand  Prairie  on  which  he  set- 
tled, and  soon  afterward  erected  a  water  power 
on  the  River  road,  where  he  put  up  a  saw  mill 
which  he  conducted  some  time,  then  moved  to  the 
city  of  Kalamazoo.  In  .1844  he  built  a  home  in 
the  city  opposite  the  college,  which  is  still  in  the 
possession  of  his  family.  In  1833  he  erected  the 
Eames  Mill,  which  was  used  in  the  manufacture 
of  linseed  oil,  and  he  had  a  saw  mill  in  connec- 
tion with  the  plant.  Later  he  turned  the  plant 
into  a  machine  shop  and  foundry  and  engaged 
largely  in  the  manufacture  of  saw-mill  machin- 
ery.   He  built  the  first  hydraulic  water  system  in 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


279 


this  part  of  the  country  in   1863,  and  this  sup- 
plied the  State  Fair  Grounds  with  water,  but  soon 
after  its  completion  and  before  the  end  of  that 
year  he  died.     He  was  a  true  born  mechanic  or 
machinist,  and  turned  the  inventive  genius  with 
which  he  was  largely  endowed  to  the  production 
of  labor  saving  and  producing  devices,  inventing 
among  other  things   the  square  auger  which  is 
now  in  general  use  and  which  he  perfected  and 
placed  on  the  market  in   1862.     He  was  exten- 
sively engaged  in  business,  operating  saw  mills 
in  various  parts  of  the  state  and  conducting  other 
enterprises    in   collateral   lines.      At   Watertown, 
N.  Y.,  in  1 831,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Lucy 
Morgan,  a  daughter  of  Elder  Morgan,  a  Baptist 
clergyman.     She  was  for  years  a  teacher  in  the 
Lowville,  N.  Y.,  Academy,  and  had  among  her 
pupils  Hon.   B.   F.  Taylor  and  other  men  who 
afterward  rose  to  distinction.     After  her  arrival 
in  Michigan  she  taught  school   a  year  at   Ann 
Arbor,  living  there  with  her  brother,  Elijah  W. 
Morgan,  a  pioneer  of  that  city.     Her  mind  was 
keenly  alive  to  the  benefits  of  literary  organiza- 
tions and  the  means  of  supplying  them  with  in- 
formation and  stimulus  to  study,  and  in  company 
with  Mrs.  Webster,  Mrs.  Stone,  and  other  ladies 
of  breadth  of  view  and  enterprise,  organized  the 
Ladies'  Library  Association,  of  which  she  was  a 
valued  official 'for  a  long  time.     The  family  com- 
prised six  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  of  these, 
three  of  the  sons  and  the  two  daughters  are  living. 
Their  mother  died  in  June,   1900.     One  of  her 
sons  fought  through  the  Civil  war  as  a  member 
of  the   Second    Michigan    Infantry.      Her    son, 
Gardner  T.  Eames,  the  immediate  subject  of  this 
review,  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Kalama- 
zoo, and  at  the  age  of  thirteen  became  an  appren- 
tice in  the  office  of  the  Kalamazoo  Telegraph. 
He  afterward  became  a  machinist  and  has  fol- 
lowed this  craft  ever  since.    His  first  venture  was 
in  the  manufacture  of  hubs  and  spokes  in  the  old 
factory,  where  he  started  in   1868.     In  1887  ne 
began  the  manufacture  of  wooden  pulleys  and 
sometime  afterward  of  drill  grinders.     He  has 
steadfastly  adhered  to  his  chosen  lines  of  enter- 
prise and  has  made  the  business  profitable  to  him- 
self and  extensively  serviceable  to  his  commu- 


nity, owning  now  one  of  the  leading  and  most 
characteristic  manufacturing  establishments  in 
the  state,  and  ever  maintaining  the  high  standard 
of  excellence  for  which  its  products  are  widely 
renowned.  In  1881  he  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Fannie  Vinton,  a  native  of  Cincinnati.  They 
have  had  one  son,  who  is  deceased.  The  Eames 
family  came  to  New  England  in  early  colonial 
days  and  for  many  generations  they  lived  in  that 
section  of  the  country,  gradually  moving  to  other 
portions  of  the  country  as  they  were  opened  to 
settlement,  until  their  name  and  prominence  is 
recognized  in  many  parts  of  the  West,  and  their 
members  have  dignified  and  adorned  every  walk 
of  life,  bearing  their  part  well'  and  wisely  in  all 
the  duties  of  citizenship  in  peace  and  war,  and 
performing  every  duty  with  skill  and  fidelity.  • 

GILES  CHITTENDEN  BURNHAM. 

The  statement  is  as  true  as  it  is  old,  that  death 
loves  a  shining  mark,  and  it  is  amply  exemplified 
in  the  departure  from  this  life  of  the  late  Giles 
Chittenden  Burnharn,  of  Kalamazoo,  who  was 
one  of  the  best  known  business  men  in  the  city. 
He  was  born  at  Saline,  this  state,  on  August  7, 
1830,  the  son  of  Hiram  G.  and  Minerva  (Chit- 
tenden) Burnham,  both  natives  of  Vermont.  The 
father  was  a  civil  engineer  and  brought  his  fam- 
ily to  Michigan  in  1830,  not  long  before  the  birth 
of  the  son  Giles.  He  settled  at  Saline,  and  soon 
afterward  began  surveying  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  state  where  he  did  "a  great  deal  of  profes^ 
sional  work.  Early  in  the  '50s  he  went  to  Cali- 
fornia and  there  he  died  of  cholera.  The  mother 
died  some  years  later  of  cholera.  They  had  two 
sons  and  one  daughter,  all  now  deceased.  Mr. 
Burnham' s  paternal  grandfather  was  a  soldier 
in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  made  a  good  rec- 
ord in  the  field  and  on  the  march.  Giles  Burn- 
ham  was  reared  and  educated  in  this  state,  re- 
ceiving the  greater  part  of  his  scholastic  training 
in  the  public  schools.  His  first  real  work  in  life 
for  pay  was  as  an  assistant  to  his  father  in  sur- 
veying, and  in  this  he  became  very  familiar  with 
all  northern  Michigan.  He  also  accompanied  his 
father  to  California,  where  he  passed  one  year 


28o 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


working  in  the  mines.  He  then  returned  to  Mich- 
igan and  located  at  Battle  Creek,  where  for  a 
number  of  years  he  was  in  the  employ  of  the 
American  Express  Company.  In  i860  he  re- 
moved to  Detroit,  and  after  remaining  there  six 
years  changed  his  residence  to  Kalamazoo,  and 
here  he  lived  until  his  death,  on  March  1,1900. 
He  took  a  great  and  active  interest  in  the  welfare 
of  the  city,  especially  its  educational  and  religious 
institutions,  and  as  a  prominent  member  and  ves- 
tryman of  St.  Luke's  church  he  was  well  known 
in  church  circles.  He  aided  liberally  in  building 
the  church,  and  to  the  end  of  his  life  he  gave  its 
interests  his  earnest  and  careful  attention.  In 
1864,  when  the  Civilwar  was  nearing  its  close, 
but  when  the  end  was  not  yet  definitely  deter- 
mined, he  enlisted  in  the  Union  army,  but  his 
company  was  never  called  into  service.  The  later 
years  of  his  life  were  passed  in  practical  retire- 
ment from  active  pursuits,  but  in  earnest  consid- 
eration for  the  good  of  others,  who  were  still  in 
the  ardent  struggle  of  business  industry.  In  June, 
1864,  ne  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary 
Horton,  a  daughter  of  Harrison  F.  Hortori,  who 
was  among  the  first  men  to  invest  money  at  Battle 
Creek,  he  building  the  first  residence  and  the  first 
stone  structure  there.  He  was  a  merchant  in 
New  York  city  and  passed  his  time  there  and  in1 
Michigan.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burnham  had  three 
children,  one  son  and  two  daughters.  The  son 
has  died,  but  the  daughters,  Annie  H.  and  Madge 
3VL,  are  living*  and  at  home  with  their  mother. 
.Mrs.  Burnham  is  a  lady  of  well-known  practical 
benevolence,  and  is  particularly  active  in  the  good 
works  instituted  and  conducted  by  St.  Luke's 
church.  Her  contributions  to  the  church  in  all 
factors  of  its  benevolence  have  been  generous  and 
are  highly  appreciated. 

HUNTINGTON  M.  MARVIN. 

The  late  Huntington  M.  Marvin,  of  Augusta, 
this  county,  who  died  in  1896,  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-seven, after  fifty-six  years  of  useful  man- 
hood had  rounded  out  their  full  course  in  his  ca- 
reer, fifty-two  of  them'  in  this  state  and  sixteen 
in    Kalamazoo    county,    was    a    native    of    Erie 


county,  N.  Y.,  born  on  November  17,  1819,  and 
the  son  of  Samuel  and  Abigail  (Bulliss)  Marvin, 
the  place  of  whose  nativity  was  Orange  county, 
in  the  same  state.  True  to  every  requirement  of 
manly  duty,  the  father  was  an  industrious  black- 
smith in  times  of  peace  and  also  a  farmer ;  and 
when  the  war  cloud  darkened  over  the  land  in 
1 81 2,  he  left  his  forge  for  the  camp  and  battle- 
field in  defense  of  his  country,  and  during  the 
short,  but  sharp,  conflict  for  independence  on  the 
seas,  saw  active  service  at  the  front.  His  wife 
died  in  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  early  in  the^  40s. 
and  soon  afterward,  that  is  in  1843,  ne  migrated 
to  Orange  county  with  the  members  of  his  fam- 
ily then  at  home,  making  the  journey  by  ox  team, 
and  from  there  to  Erie  county.  Subsequently  he 
brought  his  family  to  Michigan,  coming  to  Cal- 
houn county,  where  he  lived  until  his  death  at 
Bedford.  He  had  three  sons  and  three  daughters, 
all  of  whom  are  now  dead.  Huntington  M.  Mar- 
vin grew  to  manhood  in  his  native  state  and  there 
received  a  common-school  education.  After 
leaving  school  he  learned  the  blacksmith  trade 
under  the  direction  of  his  father,  and  at  this  he 
wrought  in  New  York  until  1844.  In  that  year 
he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Lucinda  C. 
Riley,  of  Genesee  county,  where  the  marriage  oc- 
curred, and  soon  afterward  came  to  Michigan 
and  bought  a  farm  in  Calhoun  county.  This  he 
cleared  and  improved,  then  sold  it  and  moved  to 
Battle  Creek,  where  he  engaged  in  merchandising 
for  a  number  of  years.  Later  he  erected  a  grist 
mill  at  Bedford  which  he  operated  for  a  period 
of  twenty  years,  after  which  he  built  two  stores 
and  a  hotel  there.  In  1880  he  took  up  his  resi- 
dence at  Augusta,  this  county,  purchasing  a  mill 
there,  which  he  operated  until  his  death  in  1896. 
He  and  his  wife  were  the  parents  of  two  chil- 
dren, one  of  whom  is  living,  their  son  Henry  M., 
a  successful  business  man  of  Augusta  (see  sketch 
of  him  on  another  page) .  Mr.  Marvin  was  a 
Democrat  in  political  allegiance,  but  while  al- 
ways giving  his  party  an  earnest  and  loyal  sup- 
port, he  never  aspired  to  public  office,  being  well 
content  to  serve  his  county  and  state  from  the 
honorable  post  of  private  citizenship,  and  lend 
his  aid  to  local  improvement  without  regard  to 


3jy?rz4-tj 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


283 


party  considerations.  He  was  a  prosperous  and 
substantial  man,  owning  several  farms  in  this  and 
Calhoun  counties,  and  conducting  for  many  years 
a  private  bank  at  Augusta.  The  son  took  his 
nlace  in  business  and  also  in  public  esteem  as  a 
worthy  and  useful  citizen,  showing  at  all  times  an 
honest  zeal  for  the  public  good  and  a  diligent  and 
intelligent  activity  in  promoting  it. 

WILLARD  W.OLIVER. 

This  well  and  favorably  known  early  settler 
in  Cbmstock  township,  this  county,  was  a  na- 
tive of  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  born  on  July 
14,  1836.  His  parents,  William'  and  Esther 
(Myers)  Oliver,  were  also  born  and  reared  irt 
New  York,  and  were  prosperous  farmers  there. 
The  father  "was  also  an  extensive  dealer  in  horses 
and  handled  a  large  number  of  them  each  year. 
Both  parents  died  in  their  native  state.  They  had 
a  family  of  two  sons  and  one  daughter,  all  of 
whom  are  now  dead.  Willard  passed  his  boyhood 
and  youth  at  Leroy,  New  York,  attending  the 
common  schools  in  the  neighborhood  of  his  home 
and  assisting  in  the  work  of  the  farm.  After  leav- 
ing school  he  engaged  in  business  at  Caledonia, 
New  York,  until  1859,  then  came  to  Michigan, 
and  after  a  short  stay  in  Kalamazoo  located  at 
Lawton,  Van  Buren  county,  where  he  lived  sev- 
eral years.  Returning  to  Kalamazoo,  he  remained 
until  1878,  then  purchased  the  farm  in  Comstock 
township  on  which  he  lived  until  his  death,  in 
1899.  He  was  married  in  New  York  on  Septem- 
ber 26,  1859,  to  Miss  Mary  H.  Green,  a  native  of 
Caledonia,  in  that  state.  Her  father,  who  was  a 
native  of  Vermont  and  a  soldier  in  the  war  of 
1812,  came  to  Michigan  many  years  before  his 
death  and  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
Oshtemo  township,  this  county,  where  he  died. 
The  mother  afterward  passed  away  at  the  home  of 
her  daughter,  Mrs.  Oliver.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Oliver 
had  three  children,  all  of  whom  have  died  but 
their  son,  Burton  W.,  who  was  born  iri  Kalama- 
zoo April  15,  1876,  and  was  married  on  June 
25>  1903,  to  Miss  Georgia  Ryder,  a  daughter  of 


Richard  Ryder,  of  this  county.  Willard  W. 
Oliver  had  an  adopted  daughter,  Florence  M., 
now  Mrs.  George  W.  Shafe,  of  Galesburg.  Mr. 
Oliver,  although  he  supported  the  Democratic 
party  in  national  affairs,  was  not  an  active  politi- 
cian and  never  held  or  desired  a  political  office  of 
any  kind.  He  was  an  attendant  of  the  People's 
church,  and  throughout  the  county  he  was  well 
known  and  generally  respected.  For  some  years 
before  his  death  he  was  in  business  in  Chicago, 
where  he  also  had  a  large  circle  of  acquaintances 
and   friends. 

FORD  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY. 

This  company,  which  is  one  of  the  valued  en- 
terprises of  Kalamazoo,  the  only  one  of  its  kind 
in  the  city  and  the  first  to  start  in  this  section  of 
the  state,  is  a  private  corporation  wholly  owned 
by  Charles  B.  Ford.  Its  work  is  the  manufacture 
of  buggy  and  auto  bodies,  fanning  mills  and  wood 
novelties  of  various  kinds.  It  was  founded  in 
May,  1 89 1,  by  Messrs.  Ford  and  Pennington,  and 
was  conducted  by  them  on  Water  street  until 
1896,  when  Mr.  Pennington  died.  Mr.  Ford  then 
purchased  the  whole  business  and  he  has  contin- 
ued it  ever  since  with  an  increasing  volume  of 
trade  and  profit..  In  1899  ne  built  and  moved  to 
his  present  factory  south  of  the  city  on  the  line 
of  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad.  The 
nature  and  variety  of  his  output  enables  him  to 
supply  the  wants  of  the  business  world  and  the 
devotee  of  pleasure  in  several  ways  not  otherwise 
easily  attainable  in  this  part  of  the  country,  and 
he  has  extensive  sales  of  his  products  in  this  and 
adjoining  states.  Mr.  Ford  was  born  June,  1848, 
in  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  and  there  he  grew  to 
manhood  and  learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter. 
In  1872  he  came  to  Michigan  and  located  at  Lan- 
sing, where  he  worked  in  a  sash  and  blind  factory 
seven  years,  then  in  1879  moved  to  Galesburg, 
this  county,  where  he  remained  until  1887.  In 
that  year  he  became  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  and 
four  years  later  founded  the  business  in  which 
he  is  now  engaged.  He  employs  thirty-five  per- 
sons in  his  factory  and  a  number  on  the' road,  and 


284 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


as  he  gives  his  personal  attention  to  every  depart- 
ment of  the  work  nothing  is  wanted  that  the  eye 
and  the .  energy  of  a  master  can  furnish  for  its 
complete  success.  In  politics  he  has  been  a  life- 
long Republican  and  for  many  years  has  belonged 
to  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows.  His  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  the  city,  its  business, interests,  its  edu- 
cational and  moral  life  and  its  substantial  prog- 
ress in  every  commendable  line  of  enterprise,  is 
manifested  by  close  and  intelligent  attention  to 
their  needs  and  active  aid  in  promoting  them.  He 
is  well  esteemed  on  all  sides  as  a  worthy  and  en- 
terprising citizen,  wide-awake  to  his  own  oppor- 
tunities and  the  general  weal,  and  eyer  ready  to 
make  the  most  of  any  opening  for  their  advance- 
ment ;  while  in.  social  and  fraternal, life,  he  has  a 
high  rank  as  an  earnest  and,  serviceable  factor. 


\  LEQNARD  G. JBRAGG. 

To  start  well,  to  ..keep  progressing  in  spite 
of  all  difficulties  and  obstacles,,  to  maintain  the 
pace  with  all  competitors,  surviving  many  and 
lagging  behind  none,  to  attain  such, a  fullness  of 
growth  and  be  established  .on,  so  firm  a .  founda- 
tion as  to  become  almost  a  classic,  so  to  speak, 
in  a  business  way,— if  these  are  not  proofs  of  ex- 
cellence and  worthy  of  the  highest  admiration, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  designate  what  are.  What- 
ever tribute  to  excellence  is  involved  in.  these  con- 
ditions properly  belongs  .to  Leonard  G.  Bragg, 
founder  and  manager,  of  the  Union  Nursery 
Company,  or  more  properly  speaking,,  of  the  firm 
of  Lr  G.  Bragg  &  Company,,  which  owns  and  con- 
ducts one  of  the  leading  nurseries  in  this  part  of 
the  country.  For  nearly  half  a  century  Mr. 
Bragg  has  been  a  leading  business  man  in  or  near 
Kalamazoo,  starting  his  enterprise  at  Paw  Paw 
in  the  adjoining  county  of  Van  Buren  in  1857  and 
moving  it  to  Kalamazoo  in  1869.  The  nursery 
comprises  two*  hundred  and  seventeen  acres  and 
is  particularly  devoted  to  fruit  and  ornamental 
trees  and  shrubs,  which  are  produced  with  the 
greatest  care  both,  as  to  selection  and  growth,  and 
are  sold  by  agents  of  the  company  throughout 
nearly  a  dozen  of  the  surrounding  states.  Eighty 
to  one  hundred  men  are  employed  in  the  business, 


and  through  its  well-directed  efforts  and  unvary- 
ing business  fairness  the  company  enjoys  a  very 
large  trade.  The  beginning  of  this  large  and  well 
established  business  was  small,  but  in  the  passing 
years  no  effort  has  been  spared  to  expand  the  trade 
and  keep  the  products  for  t^ie  market  up  to  the 
highest  standard.  The  head  of  the  company, 
Leonard  G.  Bragg,,  was  born  in  Monroe  county, 
New  York,  on  August  19,  1830,  and  is  the  son  of 
Leonard  and  Philinda  (Gilmore)  Bragg.  His 
father  was  a  farmer,  and  while  the  son  was  in 
his  boyhood  the  family  moved  to  Orleans  county, 
in  his.  native  state.  There  on  the  paternal  home- 
stead he  grew  to  manhood,  assisting  in  the  labors 
of  .the  farm  and  securing  his  education  at  the 
neighboring  district  schools.  .  In  1857  he  came 
to  Michigan  and  located  at  Paw  Paw,  where  he 
started  in  the  nursery  business  in  which  his 
brother,  P. .  I.  Bragg,  was  associated  with  him. 
The  industry  was  wisely  managed  and  it  throve, 
and  in  course  of  time  demanded  a  larger  base  of 
operations.  Accordingly  in  1869  it  was  moved 
to  Kalamazoo,  and  here  its  expansion  and  pros- 
perity, has  been  greatly  enhanced.  In  r887  Mr. 
Bragg  formed  a  partnership  with  W<  C.  Hoyt, 
and  the  firm  name  of  L.  G.  Bragg  &  Company 
was  assumed.  The  business  is  one  of  the  largest 
as  well  as  one  of  the  oldest  of  its  kind  in  the 
middle  West,  and  has  a  standing  throughout  the 
vast  country  under  tribute  to  its  coffers  second  to 
no  other.  Mr.  Bragg  was  married  in  1853  to 
Miss.  Mary  Sherwood,  a  daughter  of  Anson  Sher- 
wood, of  Orleans  county,  New  York.  They  have 
one  child,  their  daughter  Lena,  wife  oL  Charles 
A.  Burton,  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Bragg  owns  con- 
siderable valuable  real  estate  in  the  city  including 
his  beautiful  home  at  Elm  and  West  Main 
streets ;  and  he  also  has  a  fine  farm  of  two  hun- 
dred and  forty  acres,  well  improved  with  first- 
class  buildings  and  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation. 

MEYER  DESENBERG,  Sr. 

That  thrift  and  industry  in  the  careful  con- 
servation of  small  things  until  they  amount  to 
great  ones  in  the  aggregate  and  lead  to  still 
greater  ones  by  the  force  which  they  add  to  a 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


285 


man's  resources,  will  always  succeed  in  this  land 
of  boundless  opportunity,  is  forcibly  illustrated 
in  the  career  of  Meyer  Desenberg,  Sr.,  one  of  the 
pioneer  Hebrew  merchants  of  Kalamazoo,/  who/y 
began  operations  in  this  part  of  the  world  as  a 
foot  pedlar  of  small  wares  and  from  that  labo*»> 
rious  but  interesting  occupation  rose  to  the  rank 
of  a  wholesale  merchant,  successful  miner  and  ex- 
tensive general  business  man.  He  was  born  in 
Prussia  on  February  28,  1834,  and  is  the  son 
of  Levy  and  Adelaide  (Bermann)  Desenberg,  who 
were  born  and  passed  their  lives  in  that  country, 
where  the  father  was  a  merchant  and  small  farmer. 
The  son  was  educated  in  his  native  land,  being 
graduated  from  one  of  its  excellent  high  schools, 
and,  in,  1854,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  gathering  the 
hopes  of  his  dawning  manhood  about  him,  he 
came  to  this  country;  locating  at  once  at  Kala- 
mazoo. Here  he  joined  his  brother,  Bernhard 
L.,  who  had  come  to  this  city  the  year  before  and 
was  employed  as  a  clerk  by  M.  Israel.  .The  new 
arrival  began  work  as  a  pedlar,  walking  through 
the  country  from  farm  to  farm,  carrying  his  tin 
box  and  learning  the  English  language.  After 
ten  months  of  successful  work  in  this  line  he 
passed  a  short  time  clerking  for  Henry  Stern, 
then  in  1856  went  to  California  by  way  of  New 
York  and  the  Isthmus,  arriving  after  a  long 
but  interesting  voyage  at  San  Francisco,  and  he 
soon  afterward  engaged  in  the  cigar  and  fruit 
trade  at  the  mines  northeast  of  the  city.  A  year 
later  he  turned  his  attention  to  placer  mining,  in 
which  he  was  successful  for  three  years.  He  then 
returned  to  Kalamazoo  and  joined  his  brother  in 
a  retail  grocery  trade  under  the  firm  name  of 
Desenberg  &  Brother.  The  firm  was  afterward 
changed  to  B.  Desenberg  &  Company,  and  under 
that  name  is  still  doing  business.  In  the  course 
of  a  few  years  they  began  wholesaling,  and  in 
1868  separated  this  branch  of  the  business  from 
the  retail  branch.  In  1879  Meyer  sold  his  in- 
terest in  the  establishment  and  for  a  short  time 
retired  from  business.  He  next  went  to  Salt 
Lake  City  and  invested  in  mining  properties,  but 
after  two  years  returned  again  to  Kalamazoo  and 
once  more  entered  the  grocery  business,  this  time 
in  partnership  with  Julius  Schuster,  the  style  of 


the  firm  being  Desenberg  &  Schuster.  'The 
founders- of  this  firm  retired  from. the  enterprise 
in  1896.  Since  this  event  Mr,  Desenberg  has 
been  carrying  on  a  small  trade  in  coffees  and  teas. 
He  has  always  been  progressive  and  enterprising, 
full  of  public  spirit  and  eager  for  the  develop- 
ment of  all  the  natural  resources  of  the  section 
in  which  he  lives.  He  was  one  of  the  first  of 
Kalamazoo's  citizens  to  encourage  boring  for 
gas  and  oil  in  the  neighborhood,  and  also  one  of 
the  earliest  stockholders  in  the  Electric  Lighting 
Company,  which >  was  organized  in  the  '8os.  In 
1865  he  was  married,  in*  Kalamazoo,  to  Miss 
Lizzie  Bohm,  a  native  of  Ohio.  They  have  one 
living  child,  their  son  Henry  M.,  who  is  engaged 
in  the  electrical  business  and  has  been. for  nine 
years  connected  with  the  Kalamazoo  Savings 
Bank.  In  political  faith  Mr.  Desenberg  is  a  Re- 
publican, but  he  has  never  sought  or  desired  a 
public  office  for  himself.  Firm  in  his  loyalty  to 
his  race,  he  was  actively  instrumental  about 
thirty-five  years  ago  in  founding  the  Jewish  B'nai- 
Israel  congregation  of  the  city  and  ever  since 
he  has.  been  one  of  its  most  zealous  friends  and 
supporters.  Fraternally  he  has  been  a  blue-lodge 
Mason  since  1863,  and  during  all  of  his  pilgrim- 
age among  the  mystic  symbolism  of  the  order  he 
has  been  an  attentive  and  devout  student  before 
the  triple  lights.  Widely  esteemed  in  the  busi- 
ness world,  and  standing  well  in  social  circles, 
Mr.  Desenberg  is  an  ornament  to  the  city  as  a 
useful  and  patriotic  citizen  of  a  high  type.  He 
is  liberal  in  religious'  views,  visiting  and  con- 
tributing to  any  of  the  Gentile  churches  which 
happens  to  appeal  to  his  taste,  as  he  declares  there 
is  something  good  to  be  obtained  from  any  re- 
ligious assembly. 

ALBERT  L.  CAMPBELL. 

.  The  matter  of  taxation  for  the  support  of  the 
government,  state,  county  or  municipal,  is  one 
that  comes  very  near  to  the;  heart  of  the  Amer- 
ican citizen,  and  while  in  the  main  most  men  are 
willing  to  bear  their  share  of  the  burden  and  do 
it  cheerfully,  they  do  wish  to  know,  that  the  tax 
is  levied f fairly  and. bears  with  equal  force  on  all 


286 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


classes  of  persons  and  property.  This  usually 
happens  when  the  laws  are  just  and  the  officials 
who  administer  them  are  capable  and  honest.  In 
this  respect  the  people  of  Kalamazoo  have  reason 
for  satisfaction  at  least  in  the  person  and  official 
conduct  of  their  city  assessor,  Albert  L.  Camp- 
bell, who  fixes  the  value  of  property  for  taxation, 
whom  they  find  wise  in  judgment  and  square  and 
firm  in  action.  He  has  given  them  three  years 
of  excellent  service  in  his  important  office,  and 
they  appreciate  his  administration  of  its  affairs. 
Mr.  Campbell  was  born  in  Kalamiazoo  county  on 
November  8,  1851,  and  is  the  son  of  Hugh  and 
Mary  (Gilmore)  Campbell,  the  former  a  na- 
tive of  Scotland  and  the  latter  of  Ireland.  The 
father  was  a  baker.  He  came  to  the  United 
States  and  went  direct  to  Kalamazoo  in  1844. 
After  working  at  his  trade  for  years  in  the  city 
he  bought  a  farm  in  Portage  township  which  he 
owned  and  lived  on  until  1865,  then  moved  to 
Texas  township  and  farmed  there  until  1883.  In 
that  year  he  changed  his  residence  to  Schoolcraft, 
where  he  died  soon  afterward.  He  took  an  active 
part  in  local  affairs  as  a  Democrat  and  served  as 
township  treasurer  and  in  other  local  offices.  The 
mother  died  in  1896.  They  had  a  family  of  six 
sons  and  three  daughters.  All  of  the  sons  and 
one  of  the  daughters  are  living.  Albert  gr£w  to 
manhood  on  the  farm  and  was  educated  in  the 
district  schools,  and  after  completing  the  course 
engaged  in  teaching  for  ten  years  and  also 
farmed.  He  then  went  into  business  at  Schoolcraft, 
being  a  grocer  there  six  years  and  postmaster 
two  and  a  half.'  He  was  also  postmaster  at  Texas 
Corners,  in  Texas  township,  and  township  clerk 
and  for  two  terms  township  treasurer  of  School- 
craft township.  In  1899  he  became  a  resident  of 
Kalamazoo  and  here  he  has  since  had  his  home. 
For  six  years  he  traveled,  and  in  1901  was  ap- 
pointed city  assessor,  an  office  which  he  is  still 
filling.  He  was  married  in  1 875  to  Miss"  Ella 
S.  Wagbr,  a  native  of  Texas  township.  They 
have  one  son  arid  one  daughter.  The  son  is  a 
physician  and  is  -  superintendent  at  Newberry 
Asylum,  or  Northern  Peninsular  Hospital  of 
Michigan.  :*  Mr.  Campbell  has  been  a  lifelong 
Democrat  and  has  from  the  dawn  of  his  manh6od 


been  an  active  worker  for  his  party.  Fraternally 
he  belongs  to  the  Masonic  order,  the  order  of  Odd 
Fellows  and  the#  Knights  of  Pythias.  He  and  his 
wife  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  He 
was  successful  in  business,  is  acceptable  in  office 
and  is  highly  esteemed  as  a  citizen. 

KALAMAZOO   SPRING  AND  AXLE 
COMPANY. 

This  enterprise  of  commanding  importance  in 
the  community  was  one  of  the  pioneer  industries 
of  Kalamazoo,  and  was  started  as  a  branch  of 
the  Kimball  &  Austin  Manufacturing  Company. 
At  first  only  buggy  springs  were  made,  but  in 
time  the  line  of  products  was  extended  to  include 
wagon  seat  springs  and  other  commodities  of 
a  similar  character.  Soon  after  the  beginning  of 
the  business  a  stock  company  was  formed  under 
the  name  of  the  Kalamazoo  Spring  Works,  under 
the  leadership  of  L.  Egleston.  This  continued  for 
a  number  of  years  and  was  succeeded  by  the  firm 
of  Eagleston  &"  Wagner,  which  in  1878  erected 
the  present  plant.  In  1879  L.  Egleston  became 
the  sole  proprietor  and  remained  such  until  1884, 
when  the  Kalamazoo  Spring  &  Axle  Company 
was  formed  by  the  late  Senator  Stockbridge  and 
G.  E.  Stockbridge  with  a  capital  stock  of  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  Senator  was 
chosen  president  and  served  the  company  in  that 
capacity  until  his  death.  The  other  officers  were 
G.  E.  Stockbridge,  treasurer,  and  S.  S.  McCamly, 
secretary  and  general  manager.  These  gentle- 
men died  in  1894,  then  J.  L.  Houghteling  was 
made  president  and  Fred  V.  Wicks  vice-presi- 
dent and  treasurer,  with  J.  E.  Bidwell  secretary 
Mr.  Wicks  served  as  general  manager  until  John 
G.  Rumney  was  chosen  to  that  position,  with  the 
office  of  vice-president,  at  which  time  Mr. 
Wicks  became  secretary  and  treasurer.  The  busi- 
ness is  the  pioneer  in  the  manufacture  of  springs 
in  the  West,  and  it  is  now  the  largest  bf  its  kind 
in  that  section  of  the  country.  The  company's 
output  is  more  than  two  thousand  tons  a  year 
and  its  products  are  sold  all  over  the  United 
States.  Tt  employs  regularly  about  one  hundred 
persons  and  is  conducted  with  great  spirit  afld 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


287 


enterprise,  laying  all  markets  under  tribute  to  its 
trade  and  keeping  the  reputation  of  its  work  and 
materials  up  to  the  highest  standard.  Fred  V. 
V.'icks,  the  treasurer,  is  a  native  of  Kalamazoo, 
born  in  i860,  and  the  son  of  Edward  S.  and 
Mary  (Vail)  Wicks.  His  father  was  a  pros- 
perous farmer  of  Cooper  township  who  came  to 
the  county  in  the  early  days.  The  son  grew  to 
manhood  in  the  county  and  received  his  education 
in  its  schools.  Here  also  his  business  career  was 
started  and  here  it  has  been  worked  out.  He  be- 
gan  working  for  the  Kalamazoo  Springs  Com- 
pany in  1879,  and  he  continued  his  association 
only  with  that  establishment  and  its  successors 
until  1903,  when  he  became  secretary  and  treas- 
urer of  the  French  Garment  Company,  a  stock 
company  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  French 
garments  for  ladies,  another  business  enterprise 
in  which  his  capacity  and  genius  for  successful 
management  finds  congenial  occupation.  Through- 
out the  business  world  of  southern  Michigan  he* 
is  well  and  favorably  known  as  a  leading  busi- 
ness man,  and  has  a  firmly  fixed  reputation  for 
turning  everything  he  touches  to  success.  In 
social  life  he  is  also  well  esteemed  and  in  all 
undertakings  for  the  general  good  of  the  com- 
munity he  is  everywhere  recognized  as  wise  in 
counsel  and  prompt  and  energetic  in  action.  Fra- 
ternally he  is  connected  with  the  Masonic  order 
and  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 

FIDELITY  BUILDING  AND  LOAN 
ASSOCIATION. 

The  Fidelity  Building  and  Loan  Association, 
of  Kalamazoo,  which  is  one  of  the  city's  most  use- 
ful and  stable  fiscal  institutions,  was  organized 
as  a  stock  company  in  September,  1897,  with  a 
capital  stock  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
which  was  increased  in  April,  1898,  to  five  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  and  on  August  8,  1900,  to 
one  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The 
first  officers  were  James  H.  Hatfield,  president, 
Otto  Ihling,  vice-president,  Willis  J.  Burdick, 
secretary,  John  Pyl,  treasurer,  and  George  P. 
Hopkins,  attorney.  The  present  officers  are  the 
same  with  the  exception  of  the  treasurer,   Mr. 


Pyl  having  been  succeeded  in  this  office  by  Sirk 
Wykkel.  Directors  in  addition  to  the  men 
named  are  H.  G.  Colman,  wholesale  and  retail 
druggist,  and  Clarence  B.  Hayes,  manager  of 
the  Imperial  Wheel  Company  of  Jackson  and 
Flint.  The  company  offers  to  investors  an  invest- 
ment that  is  safe,  profitable  and  quickly  available 
in  time  of  need,  and  for  borrowers  it  provides 
loans  on  easy  monthly  payments,  at  moderate 
rates  of  interest  and  on  liberal  and  flexible  terms 
of  repayment.  This  policy  brought  it  an  enor- 
mous patronage  and  enabled  it  to  build  up  one 
of  the  most  extensive  and  profitable  businesses  in 
the  city,  one  that  is  profitable  alike  to  the  com- 
pany and  the  city  itself,  it  having  enabled  a 
large  number  of  wage  earners  to  build  homes 
of  their  own  and  thus  add  to  the  extent  and 
wealth  of  the  city.  The  company  has  a  member- 
ship of  over  seven  hundred,  the  greater  part 
of  them  being  residents  of  Kalamazoo,  although 
some  live  in  other  cities  and  states.  Willis  J. 
Burdick,  the  man  principally  concerned  in  or- 
ganizing the  company,  and  from  its  start  its  ef- 
ficient secretary  and  general  manager,  was  born, 
reared  and  educated  in  Calhoun  county,  this  state, 
and  passed  his  early  life  on  a  farm.  Desiring  a 
business  career,  he  traveled  for  a  commercial 
house  and  also  clerked  in  a  drug  store  at  Climax. 
In  1885  he  located  in  Kalamazoo  and  after  at- 
tending the  Parson's  Business  College  through  a 
course  of  business  instruction  accepted  a  position 
as  bookkeeper  with  the  Zoa  Phora  Medicine  Com- 
pany, with  which  he  remained  two  years.  The 
next  two  years  he  spent  at  Charlotte,  and  on  his 
return  to  Kalamazoo  entered  the  employ  of  A. 
Lakey  &  Co.,  remaining  in  their  service  five  years. 
His  next  engagement  was  with  the  Kalamazoo 
County  Building  and  Loan  Association,  and  he 
remained  with  that  company  until  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Fidelity.  In  this  he  has  found  proper 
scope  for  his  fiscal  ability  and  business  capacity 
and  through  his  enterprise,  energy,  force  of  char- 
acter and  general  knowledge,  he  has  built  up  for 
it  its  great  business  and  won  its  pronounced  suc- 
cess and  wide  reputation  for  skillful  manage- 
ment. He  is  a  trustee  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional church  and    has    been    treasurer    of    the 


288 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


church,  a  post  of  responsibility  in  which  he  has 
served  nearly  seven  years.  He  is  also  a  director 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  The 
general  interests  of  the  community  have  his 
earnest  and  helpful  attention,  but  political  con- 
tentions have  never  been  to  his  ,taste  and  he  has 
taken  no  part  in  them. 

DOUBLEDAY  BROS!  &  CO. 

The  original  of  this  flourishing  and  enter- 
prising corporation  was  founded  in  1844  by  the 
gentlemen  owning  and  conducting  the  Kalamazoo 
Telegraph,  and  for  a  number  of  years  was  known 
as  the  Kalamazoo  Publishing  Company.  It  1898 
it  was  merged  in  the  present  company,  which  was 
formed  by  Capt.  A.  D.  Doubleday  and  his  sons, 
Ward  F.  and  Fred  U.  Doubleday,  and  since  the 
death  of  their  father,  on  November  20,  1903,  the 
sons  have  controlled  and  managed  the  business. 
The  company  manufactures  blank  books,  printers' 
supplies  and  a  general  line  of  fine  stationery,  and 
does  an  extensive  business  in  county,  city  and 
bank  work,  its  chief  concern  being  to  keep  its  out- 
put up  to  a  high  standard  of  excellence  and  meet 
all  demands  promptly  and  in  the  spirit  of  the 
utmost  business  fairness  and  enterprise.  The 
concern  is  one  of  the  leading  high-grade  estab- 
lishments of  its  kind  in  this  part  of  the  country, 
and  enjoys  an  excellent  reputation  throughout  the 
trade,  laying  all  of  Michigan,  Indiana  and  Wis- 
consin under  tribute  to  its  business  and  having 
a  large  trade  as  well  in  other  states. 

The  real  founder  of  the  present  house,  Capt. 
Abner  D.  Doubleday,  was  a  valiant  soldier  on  the 
Union  .side  in  the  Civil  war,  and  after  a  military 
record  which  was  highly  creditable  to  him,  be- 
came an  honored  citizen  of  Kalamazoo,  where  he 
and  his  estimable  wife  held  an  exalted  place  in 
the  regard  of  the  community,  to  which  they  were 
well  entitled  by  their  nobility  of  character  and 
their  general  social  qualities.  Captain  Doubleday 
was  born  in  Otsego  county,  New  York,  on  March 
9,  1829,  and  was  the  son  of  Demas  A.  and  Sally 
,( Calkins)  Doubleday.  His  grandfather  was  a 
Revolutionary  patriot  and,  with  five  brothers, 
fought  under  Washington  at  Bunker  Hill ;  and 


his  cousin,  Gen.  Abner  Doubleday,  served  gal- 
lantly in  our  war  with  Mexico,  and  throughout 
the  Civil  war  with  distinction,  firing  the  first  gun 
on  the  Confederate  forces  at  Fort  Sumter,  com- 
manding a  division  at  the  deluge  of  death 
at  Antietanr  and  taking  the  place  of 
the  lamented  Reynolds  at  Gettysburg 
when  that  hero  sealed  his  devotion  to  his 
country  with  his  life.  After  receiving  a  common- 
school  education  Captain  Doubleday  began  teach- 
ing school  at  the  age  of  seventeen  and  was  so 
employed  for  a  period  of  five  years.  He  then 
entered  Oberlin  College,  Ohio,  and  after  studying 
there  some  time,  returned  to  New  York  and  fol- 
lowed mercantile  life  for  seven  years,  doing  busi- 
ness in  New  York  city.  Failing  health  induced 
him  to  seek  an  outdoor  life  and  he  was  a  farmer 
until  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  war.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  that  momentous  conflict  he  assumed 
charge  of  his  mother  and  sisters  in  addition  to 
that  of  his  own  family,  his  brother,  Ulysses  F., 
entering  the  Union  army  as  first  lieutenant.  By 
the  death  of  his  superior  he  was  promoted  captain 
and  served  in  that  capacity  until  his  death  on  the 
field  of  Fredericksburg  in  1863.  After  this 
event  Abner  disposed  of  his  business  interests 
and  his  farm,  and,  taking  up  the  sword  his 
brother  had  worn  so  valiantly,  he  also  entered 
the  Union  army  in  Company  L,  Second  New  York 
Heavy  Artillery.  After  serving  six  months  as  a 
private  he  was  promoted  for  meritorious  service 
to  the  rank  of  second  lieutenant  on  June  10,  1864, 
at  Cold  Harbor,  Va.  During  the  continuous  fight- 
ing at  Petersburg,  his  superior  officers  being 
killed,  he  acted  as  captain  and  adjutant  on  the 
same  day.  On  August  15,  1864,  he  was  disabled 
by  a  sunstroke  and  sent  to  the  field  hospital,  later 
being  transferred  by  four  successive  moves  to 
Washington,  where  the  surgeons  decided  that  he 
was  no  longer  able  to  endure  field  service.  He  ac- 
cordingly resigned,  but  his  resignation  was  not 
accepted  until  1865.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he 
came  to  Michigan  and  located  on  a  farm  of  two 
hundred  acres  in  Alamo  township,  this  county, 
which  his  father  had  bought  from  the  government 
and  which  he  purchased  of  his  father  in  1853.  He 
afterward  sold  this  farm  and  bought  a  small  one 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


289 


adjacent  to  Kalamazoo,  which  in  1883  he  divided 
into  town  lots,  forming  Doubleday's  addition  to 
the  city,  which  is  now  all  built  on  and  is  one  of 
the  most  attractive  subdivisions  of  the  town.  The 
Captain  was  married  on  January  1,  1857,  to  Miss 
Maria  R.  Casler,  a  native  of  Springfield,  Otsego 
county,  New  York,  and  the  daughter  of  John  I. 
and  Hannah  (Simmons)  Casler,  the  former  a 
native  of  New  York  and  the  latter  of  Rhode 
Island.  The  father  was  a  farmer  and  served  in 
the  war  of  181 2  in  a  New  York  regiment,  being 
but  eighteen  years  old  and  just  married  when  he 
entered  the  service.  He  died  in  his  native  state. 
He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Republican 
party,  voting  for  General  Fremont,  its  first  pres- 
idential candidate.  His  ancestry  was  German  and 
that  of  his  wife  was  Scotch-English.  Captain 
Doubleday's  father  was  a  native  of  Connecticut 
who  moved  to  New  York  in  his  young  manhood 
and  to  Michigan  in  1835,  dying  in  this  state 
about  1862.  The  Captain  was  a  Baptist  in  church 
affiliation  and  independent  in  politics. 

JEREMIAH  P.  WOODBURY. 

In  many  parts  of  our  country  nature  has  been 
prodigal  in  her  gifts  of  resources  for  the  enter- 
prise of  man  through  which  they  may  have  count- 
less and  almost  immeasurable  benefits.  Fertile 
fields,  vast  forests,  great  mineral  wealth  and 
mighty  water  ways  wherewith  to  work  up  the  raw 
material  and  transport  the  products  to  other  places 
are  bestowed  with  lavish  hand.  But  whatever 
the  bounty  of  our  mother  earth  in  these  respects, 
she  puts  upon  it  the  inevitable  price  of  human 
industry,  enterprise  and  skill  to  make  them  avail- 
able. No  measure  of  her  benefaction  avails  for 
usefulness  until  the  man  who  can  develop  it  and 
transform  it  into  marketable  produce  is  at  hand. 
Kalamazoo  county  is  one  of  the  favored  sections, 
having  within  its  boundaries  almost  every  form  of 
material  wealth  and  many  channels  of  natural 
power  to  make  it  serviceable.  And  yet  for  ages 
it  all  lay  dormant  because  there  was  nobody  with 
the  requisite  ability  and  skill  to  develop  it  into 
well  favored  money-making  results.  There  came 
to  this  region,  however,  in  the  course  of  time  a 


people  full  of  the  proper  spirit  and  the  needed 
capacity,  and  they  transformed  it  into  one  of  the 
most  prolific  and  fruitful  sections  of  our  land, 
using  with  good  judgment  and  forceful  energy  all 
its  natural  advantages,  and  subduing  to  their 
needs  every  obdurate  condition.  Among  this  peo- 
ple few  if  any  exhibited  more  capacity  or  energy, 
or  rendered  the  section  more  signal  service  than 
the  late  Jeremiah  P.  Woodbury,  whose  long  and 
productive  life  in  the  community  was  a  positive 
blessing  to  its  citizens,  aiding  in  the  development 
and  sustenance  of  almost  every  form  of  industrial 
and  commercial  activity.  Mr.  Woodbury  was 
born  at  Charlton,  Mass.,  on  February  7,  1805. 
His  parents,  Caleb  and  Salina  (King)  Woodbury, 
were  also  natives  of  Massachusetts,  in  which  the 
ancestors  of  both  lived  for  many  generations, 
the  mother  being  a  member  of  the  renowned 
Dwight  family  of  that  state.  The  father  was  a 
merchant  and  a  politician,  or  rather  a  man  deeply 
interested  in  public  affairs  and  gave  his  county 
good  service  in  the  state  legislature  of  which  he 
was  several  times  an  honored  member.  They  had 
a  family  of  ten  children,  all  sons,  nine  of  whom 
grew  to  maturity  and  two  of  them,  Jeremiah  and 
his  brother  Caleb,  became  citizens  of  Michigan. 
They  were  reared  and  educated  in  their  native 
state,  and  there  were  thoroughly  indoctrinated  in 
the  spirit  of  industry  and  thrift  characteristic  of 
the  New  England  people  They  came  to  Mich- 
igan in  1836  and  engaged  in  merchandising  at 
Bellevue,  Eaton  county.  The  partnership  lasted 
until  1847,  and  when  it  was  then  harmoniously 
dissolved  Jeremiah  moved  to  'Kalamazoo  and 
formed  another  with  Jonathan  Parsons  in  the  dry- 
goods  trade.  Afterward  he  entered  into  partner- 
ship with  Hon.  Allen  Potter  in  an  extensive  hard- 
ware business  and  together  they  also  erected  a 
blast  furnace  on  the  Kalamazoo  river.  They  were 
associated  in  these  enterprises  a  number  of  years 
and  built  up  a  large  business  in  each.  In  1858,  in 
association  with  Messrs.  Potter  and  Walters  and 
others,  Mr.  Woodbury  organized  the  Kalamazoo 
Gas  Company,  he  being  president  of  the  company 
and  holding  a  leading  interest  in  it  until  his  death. 
In  1865,  in  company  with  Messrs.  Potter,  Wood 
and  Wm.  Grant,  he  organized  a  banking  house 


290 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


which  afterward  became  the  Michigan  National 
Bank,  of  which  also  he  was  president.  Mr. 
Woodbury  was  married  at  South  Lansing,  New 
York,  in  1833,  to  Miss  Malinda  Knettles,  a  native 
of  the  state  in  which  the  marriage  occurred.  They 
had  five  children,  one  of  whom  died  in  infancy, 
four  grew  to  maturity  and  three  are  now  living, 
Mrs.  Ramson,  Mrs.  Curtenius  and  Edward,  and 
they  all  reside  in  Kalamazoo.  Mr.  Woodbury 
was  a  liberal  supporter  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  and  of  all  other  religious  and  educational 
institutions.  He  made  a  donation -of  ten  thousand 
dollars  toward  the  erection  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  hall,  which  was  paid  after 
his  death.  This  sad  event  was  the  result  of  his 
being  thrown  from  a  carriage  in  November,  1887, 
and  caused  general  sorrow  throughout  the  city 
and  the  surrounding  country.  For  although  he 
was  then  nearly  eighty-three  years  of  age,  all  his 
faculties  were  in  vigor  and  his  life  was  still  of 
great  service  to  the  community.  Besides,  he  was 
endeared  to  its  people  by  his  long  career  of  useful- 
ness and  his  sterling  manhood.  It  should  be  men- 
tioned that  among  the  important  enterprises  with 
which  Mr.  Woodbury  was  connected  was  the  first 
paper  mill  in  the  city,  of  which  he  was  the  origi- 
nator and  for  many  years  the  directing  influence. 

LUTHER  H.  TRASK. 

The  county  of  Kalamazoo*  owes  much  to  those 
men  who,  like  Luther  H.  Trask,  came  from  New 
England  in  the  early  days  to  establish  homes  in 
this  county  and  who,  by  their  sturdy  inde- 
pendence, perseverance  and  good  sense  brought 
profit  not  only  to  themselves  but  to  the  county. 
The  Trask  family  was  descended  from  three 
brothers  who  came  to  this  country  in  the  colonial 
days  from  England.  One  of  them,  Captain  Trask, 
who  settled  at  Salem,  was  the  direct  ancestor  of 
Luther  Trask,  who  was  born  February  15,  1807, 
in  Millbury,  Mass.  His  parents  were  Aaron 
and  Betsey  (Goodell)  Trask.  He  was  educated 
at  the  common  schools  and  the  Munson  Academy 
until  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  when  he  en- 
gaged in  manufacturing  for  five  years,  at  the  end 
of  which  time  he  turned  his  attention  to  farming. 


He  was  married  in  October,  1828,  to  Miss  Louisa 
Fay,  of  Southboro,  Mass.    Two  children,  George, 
who  died  in  1875,  and  Hannah,  now  Mrs.  Han- 
nah L.  Cornell,  of  Kalamazoo,  were  born  to  them. 
In  1834  Mr.  Trask  made  an  exploring  expedition 
into   the   western   wild  of   Michigan,   and,   being 
much  pleased   with  the  country,   returned  home 
and  brought  his  wife  and  children  to  the  West 
with  him.    They  settled  in  Kalamazoo,  where  Mr. 
Trask  was  a  surveyor  and  civil  engineer  for  sev- 
eral years.     Being  a  natural  mechanic,  he  built  a 
number  of  stores  and  houses,  which  he  sold,  and 
built   also  his    family   residence,   which   was   the 
first  brick  house  erected  in  Kalamazoo.     He  was 
a  man  of  strong  religious  views,  and  did  all  in 
his   power  to   promote   Christianity,   teaching  in 
the  first  Sunday  school  that  was  established  in 
the  village.     He  was  an  earnest  supporter  of  Mr. 
Robe,   the   Methodist  minister,  and  later  of  the 
Rev.  Silas  Woodbury,  the  first  Presbyterian  min- 
ister in  Kalamazoo.     In  1836  he  was  one  of  the 
six  men  that  formed  a  stock  company  to  build 
the  First  Presbyterian  church,  this  church  being 
their  individual  property.     He  became  one  of  the 
prominent  members  of  the  session  of  the  First 
Presbyterian, church,  serving  as  an  elder  for  over 
forty  years.     In  1839  he  was  clerk  of  the  circuit 
court  of  Kalamazoo  county,  and  in  1842  he  was 
made  receiver  of  the  United  States  land  office. 
In  1855  ne  was  inspector  of  the  State  Prison,  and 
in  1858  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  Michigan  Insane  Asylum,  and  was 
president  of  the  board  until  1878.     His  interest 
in  and  love  for  education  made  him  active  in  pub- 
lic school  work,  and  he  was  one  of  the  founders 
and  members  of  the  executive  board  of  the  Michi- 
gan Female  Seminary.    Being  originally  a  Whig, 
his  sympathies  were  with  the  Republican  party 
when  it  was  formed.    His  son,  George  L.  Trask, 
was  graduated  from  Union  College  in  1852,  hav- 
ing taken  a  partial  course  of  study  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan.    He  was  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile pursuits  in  New  York  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1875,  in  New  Orleans.     Luther  H. 
Trask  was  one  of  the  prominent  men  in  devel- 
oping the  summer  resort  at  Little  Traverse  bay, 
where  he  owned  a  cottage.    He  died  on  Novem- 


LUTHER  H.  TRASK. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


293 


ber  14,  1888,  in  Kalamazoo,  and  his  death  was  a 
cause  for  deep  grief  not  only  to  his  family  and 
church,  but  to  the  social  and  business  world  as 
well.  His  wife  died  three  years  later,  in  1891. 
Mr.  Trask's  work  as  a  pioneer,  and  as  a  friend 
and  loyal  supporter  of  all  public  institutions 
added  greatly  to  the  development  of  Kalamazoo  in 
every  way.  He  was  proficient  in  a  large  and  va- 
ried field  of  usefulness,  possessing  good  sense,  a 
strong  will,  a  deep  moral  sense  and  a  markedly 
religious  nature.  He  gained  the  good  will  and 
confidence  of  all  who  knew  him  by  his  ever  help- 
ing heart  and  hand,  his  earnest  and  independent 
spirit,  and  his  noble  character. 

TAMES  A.  KENT. 

James  A.  Kent,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of 
Kalamazoo  and  one  of  the  city's  best  known 
citizens  and  business  men,'  was  born  near  East 
Palmyra,  Wayne  county,  New  York,  on  March 
17,  1835.  His  parents  were  Lawrence  and  Rachael 
(Campbell)  Kent,  the  former  a  native  of  New 
York  and  the  latter  of  Pennsylvania.  The  father 
was  a  farmer  and  passed  his  life  in  Wayne 
county,  New  York.  The  family  was  of  English 
descent,  Mr.  Kent's  grandfather,  Simeon  Kent, 
having  been  born  in  England  and  come  to  this 
country  about  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war. 
He  enlisted  in  the  United  States  army  for  the  war 
of  1812,  but  was  not  called  into  active  service. 
:ames  A.  Kent  is  one  of  four  sons  and  four 
(laughters  born  to  his  parents,  all  yet  living,  but 
none  except  himself  in  Kalamazoo.  He  grew  to 
manhood  and  was  educated  in  his  native  county, 
and  after  leaving  school  was  apprenticed  to  a 
carpenter,  serving  an  apprenticeship  of  four 
years.  In  the  fall  of  1856  he  became  a  resident  of 
Kalamazoo  and  went  to  work  at  his  trade  for 
Dewing  &  Scudder.  At  the  end  of  a  year  in  their 
employ,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr. 
Dewing  under  the  name  of  Dewing  &  Kent, 
which  lasted  fifteen  years.  He  then  began  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account  by  superintending  the 
erection  of  many  of  the  best  residences  in  Kala- 
mazoo, Jackson  and  other  cities  to  which  he  was 
called  for  similar  work,  and  he  kept  at  this  line 
17 


of  duty  until  1900,  when  he  retired  from  active 
pursuits.  In  1861  he  was  married  in  Kalamazoo 
to  Miss  Charlotte  Wolcott,  a  daughter  of  William 
Wolcott.  a  pioneer  of  Lewanee  county.  They 
had  one  son  and  three  daughters.  Their  mother 
died  in  1871,  and  in  June,  1877,  Mr.  Kent  mar- 
ried her  sister,  Miss  Mary  J.  Wolcott,  whose 
father  came  to  this  county  from  Lewanee  county 
in  1857.  He  located  there  in  1835  an(^  was  tne 
first  Presbyterian  clergyman  at  Adrian.  He  was 
born  at  Stow,  Mass.,  and  died  at  Kalamazoo.  Mr. 
Kent  and  his  second  wife  have  one  child,  their 
son  Charles.  In  political  allegiance  Mr.  Kent  is 
a  Republican,  but  he  has  never  been  an  active  par- 
tisan or  desired  public  office.  Mrs.  Kent's  grand- 
father, William  Wolcott,  served  in  the  Revolu- 
tion. Her  mother  was  Mary  A.  Penninen,  of 
English  ancestry,  her  progenitors  having  come  to 
the  United  States  in  1630  and  located  at  Boston. 
They  were  prominent  in  the  early  history  of  New 
England.  Mrs.  Kent's  grandfather  was  a  tea 
merchant  and  made  large  importations  of  tea 
every  year  for  a  long  time.  He  rose  to  a  position 
of  commanding  influence  in  the  trade.  Mr.  Kent 
is  a  Unitarian  in  church  affiliation.  He  is  one  of 
the  early  settlers  here  still  left  among  the  living, 
and  has  a  lively  recollection  of  the  early  days. 

EDWARD  HAWLEY. 

This  old  citizen  and  typical  pioneer,  who  is  one 
of  the  few  early  settlers  of  Kalamazoo  yet  left 
among  its  people,  has  been  a  resident  of  the  place 
for  seventy  years  (1905),  having  come  here  with 
his  parents  in  1835.  He  was  born  at  Middlebury, 
Vt.,  on  November  13,  1824,  and  is  the  son  of 
Emmor  and  Caroline  (Conant)  Hawley,  the  for- 
mer born  at  Windsor  and  the  latter  at  Mansfield, 
Conn.  The  father  passed  his  life  as  a  harness 
maker  and  hotelkeeper.  In  1825  he  moved  his 
family  to  Michigan  and  located  at  Detroit,  where 
he  followed  his  trade  as  a  harnessmaker  for  about 
six  years,  after  which  he  moved  to  Dearborn,  near 
Detroit,  and  there  kept  a  tavern  while  the  fort 
was  building.  In  the  spring  of  1835  t"ie  fam^y 
located  at  Kalamazoo  and  here  the  parents  took 
charge  of  the  old  Kalamazoo  House.     They  en- 


294 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY. OF 


larged  the  building  and  in  it  kept  a  good  hotel 
until  1840,  when  the  father  retired  and  moved  to 
the  home  now  occupied  by  his  son  Edward  on 
West  North  street.  Here  he  took  up  a  tract  of 
state  school  land  and  operated  a  small  farm  of 
forty-one  acres  until  his  death,  on  January  13, 
1870.  His  wife  died  in  1884,  aged  eighty-six 
years.  They  were  the  parents  of  four  sons  and 
four  daughters,  all  now  deceased  except  their  son 
Edward.  He  grew  to  manhood  in  Kalamazoo 
and  was  educated  in  private  schools  which  then 
flourished  in  the  town.  He  began  early  to  assist 
his  parents  by  buying  produce  and  other  supplies, 
and  soon  became  familiar  with  the  surrounding 
country  by  driving  over  the  Indian  trails  to  make 
his  purchases.  Some  time  afterward  he  began 
to  work  by  the  month  cutting  wood  and  getting 
out  timber  for  the  old  State  Railroad,  which  after- 
ward became  the  Michigan  Central.  His  wages 
for  this  work  were  ten  dollars  a  month  in  state 
scrip,  worth  about  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar.  He 
also  worked  at  teaming  at  times  and  did  what- 
ever else  he  could  find  to  do.  His  recollections 
of  the  early  days  in  Kalamazoo  are  full  of  interest. 
He  well  remembers  numbers  of  Indians  and  was 
well  acquainted  with  many  of  them.  He  was 
present  when  the  first  locomotive  came  into  the 
town.  This  was  on  a  Sunday  and  the  churches 
were  empty,  the  people  being  busy  clearing  out 
the  snow  from  the  cuts  east  of  the  city.  Later  he 
engaged  in  the  livery  business  in  partnership 
with  his  brothers,  and  afterward  gave  his  atten- 
tion to  farming  on  land  belonging  to  them.  In 
the  course  of  time  he  platted  this  land  and  has 
disposed  of  all  of  it  but  about  ten  acres.  He  was 
married  in  1888  to  Mrs.  Sarah  Pratt,  a  widow, 
who  died  in  1890.  Two  years  later  he  married  a 
second  wife,  Miss  Eveline  Colbath,  a  native  of 
Maine,  born  on  the  Penobscot  river.  Mr.  Hawley 
has  never  taken  any  active  interest  in  partisan 
politics,  but  he  showed  his  devotion  to  his  country 
by  enlisting  in  the  Union  army  in  1862  as  a  mem- 
ber of  Company  L,  Fifth  Michigan  Cavalry.  He 
was  assigned  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and 
saw  much  active  service  under  Generals  Custer, 
Kilpatrick  and  Sheridan.  He  was  in  all  the 
Shenandoah  valley  campaigns  and  fought  through 


Georgia  and  other  parts  of  the  South,  beino- 
present  at  the  surrender  of  General  Lee.  He  was 
not  wounded  or  taken  prisoner  during  the  war 
and  came  out  with  the  rank  of  sergeant. 

THE  KALAMAZOO  GAZETTE. 

This  valuable  journal,  which  is  one  of  the 
leading  newspapers  of  southern  Michigan,  and 
has  a  very  extensive  circulation  in  that  part  of 
the  state  and  throughout  northern  Indiana,  being- 
recognized  as  a  potential  force  in  the  direction 
and  concentration  of  public  opinion,  and  as  a 
party  organ  of  great  influence  and  high  standing, 
was  founded  at  Penn  Yan,  N.  Y.,  on  June  19, 
1832,  as  the  Western  Star,  and  on  December  31, 
!833,  became  the  Michigan  Statesman,  of  White 
Pigeon,  this  state.  On  June  28,  1834,  the  name 
was  changed  to  the  St.  Joseph  Chronicle^  but  the 
publication  was  continued  at  White  Pigeon  until 
October  2,  1835,  when  the  plant  was  moved  to 
Kalamazoo,  then  the  village  of  Bronson.  On 
September  23,  1837,  tne  name  was  changed  to  the 
Kalamazoo  Gazette,  and  under  that  name  the 
paper  had  a  varied  existence  of  prosperity  and 
adversity  until  March  20,  1900,  when  by  consoli- 
dation with  the  Kalamazoo  News  it  became  the 
Gazette-News,  under  which  name  it  was  issued 
until  January  1,  1904,  when  it  once  more  became 
the  Kalamazoo  Gazette,  as  it  is  now  called.  F. 
F.  Rowe,  the  general  manager,  through  whose  ef- 
forts it  has  been  built  up  to  its  present  condition 
of  prosperity  and  influence,  is  a  native  of  Min- 
eral Point,  Wis.,  born  on  March  19,  1862,  and 
after  receiving  his  preliminary  education  in  the 
district  schools,  attended  Beloit  College  at  Beloit, 
Wis.  His  father,  Francis  James  Rowe,  pub- 
lished the  first  paper  issued  at  Dodgeville,  Iowa 
county,  Wis.  The  son  has  been  connected  with 
newspaper  work  ever  since  leaving  college,  his 
principal  field  of  operation  in  this  line  for  many 
years  being  with  the  Register-Gazette  of  Rock- 
ford,  111.  He  came  to  Kalamazoo  in  1899  and 
bought  the  Gazette,  and  in  the  following  March 
purchased  the  News  of  the  Kalamazoo  News 
Company,  whereupon  he  consolidated  the  two  pa- 
pers, and  from  that  time  until  January  1,  i9°4' 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


295 


his  issue  was  known  as  the  Gazette-News.  On 
the  date  last  mentioned  he  once  more  adopted  the 
old  name  of  the  Kalamazoo  Gazette,  and  the  pa- 
per has  flourished  under  that  name  ever  since. 
When  he  took  hold  of  it  it  had  but  six  hundred 
and  eighty-nine  subscribers,  whereas  it  now  has  a 
circulation  of  over  twelve  thousand,  and  covers 
in  its  beneficent  work  of  information  to  the  pub- 
lic the  whole  of  southern  Michigan  and  nearly 
all  of  northern  Indiana,  while  its  advertising  pat- 
ronage has  grown  to  great  proportions.  This 
striking  increase  in  business  is  a  high  tribute  to 
the  capacity  and  business  acumen  of  Mr.  Rowe, 
to  whose  efforts  it  is  almost  wholly  due,  and  sig- 
nalizes him  as  a  newspaper  man  of  a  high  order, 
up-to-date  in  all  branches  of  the  work,  quick  to 
see  and  alert  to  seize  the  trend  of  public  opinion, 
and  at  the  same  time  vigilant  and  forceful  to  di- 
rect its  activity  through  healthful  and  productive 
channels  of  enduring  benefit  and  substantial  serv- 
ice to  the  communities  in  which  his  efforts  are 
made.  In  keeping  pace  with  the  march  of  prog- 
ress and  improvement,  he  has  held  his  office 
equipment  up  to  the  highest  standard,  installing 
new  and  improved  presses  and  linotype  machines 
as  needed,  and  always  having  his  facilities  equal 
to  the  most  urgent  demands.  While  pursuing  in 
his  columns  the  policy  of  supporting  the  Demo- 
cratic party  as  the  one  of  his  faith,  and  the  one 
holding,  in  his  opinion,  the  best  theory  of  popular 
government,  he  has  been  diligent  in  exploiting 
every  phase  of  the  multiform  activity  and  devel- 
opment of  his  section  of  the  country,  and  in  so 
doing  has  made  his  paper  a  favorite  family  and 
business  journal  as  well  as  a  leading  party  organ. 
Moreover,  he  has  taken  an  active  and  helpful  in- 
terest in  other  forms  of  business  enterprise,  being 
a  stockholder  in  the  Kalamazoo  Trust  Company 
<md  the  Rowe  College  of  Shorthand,  whose  spe- 
cialty  is  a  new  system  of  stenography  with  its 
kindred  teachings,  and  in  other  enterprises  of 
great  benefit  and  advantage  to  the  community. 
]Ic  was  married  in  1886  to  Miss  Mary  L.  Frost, 
of  Rockford,  111.,  and  they  have  one  child  living, 
tbeir  son  Everett  R,  and  one  daughter  deceased. 
^r.  Rowe  is  a  member  of  the  Michigan  Press 
Association,  and  fraternally  he  is  an  enthusiastic 


Freemason,  an  Elk  and  a  Knight  of  Pythias.  In 
his  journalistic  work  he  has  been  unusually  suc- 
cessful and  has  shown  ability  of  a  high  order, 
with  abundant  honey  for  his  editorial  quill  in  ref- 
erence to  all  matters  worthy  of  commendation, 
and  plenty  of  wormwood  for  those  that  require 
condemnation. 

CORNELIUS  VAN  HALST. 

This  popular  and  skillful  practitioner  in  the 
melancholy  but  needful  business  of  properly  bury- 
ing the  dead,  who  is  highly  esteemed  as  one  of 
Kalamazoo's  most  enterprising  and  upright  busi- 
ness men,  was  born  on  August  8,  1853,  at  Roches- 
ter, N.  Y.  His  parents,  Cornelius  and  Sarah 
(Hendricks)  Van  Halst,  were  natives  of  Sluis, 
Holland,  where  the  father  was  a  gardener.  They 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1850  and  located  at 
Rochester,  N.  Y.  Two  years  later  they  moved  to 
this  county,  taking  up  their  residence  in  Kalama- 
zoo, where  the  father  remained  until  his  death  in 
1893  and  the  mother  is  still  living,  making  her 
home  with  her  daughter.  Before  leaving  his 
native  land  the  father  served  his  time  in  the  army 
of  Holland,  but  ever  after  coming  to  this  country 
he  was  engaged  in  the  peaceful  pursuit  of  his 
chosen  vocation,  being  accounted  skillful  at  the 
work  of  enjoying  a  gratifying  prosperity  at  the 
fruit  of  his  labors.  Their  family  consisted  of  three 
sons  and  four  daughters,  all  of  whom  are  now 
deceased  except  their  son  Cornelius  and  one 
daughter,  who  is  now  Mrs.  Van  Dixhorn.  Cor- 
nelius grew  to  manhood  and  was  educated  in 
Kalamazoo.  After  leaving  school  he  learned  the 
trade  of  a  metal  worker  in  a  show-case  factory, 
and  later  learned  that  of  making  caskets.  He 
worked  at  the  latter  three  years,  then  passed  an 
equal  period  traveling  through  portions  of  the 
West.  Returning  to  'Kalamazoo,  he  associated 
himself  with  J.  C.  Goodale  in  the  business  of  a 
funeral  director,  remaining  with  him  eight  years. 
In  1884  ne  started  a  similar  enterprise  for  him- 
self, and  this  he  has  conducted  without  interrup- 
tion ever  since.  He  has  built  up  a  large  and  prof- 
itable business  and  is  held  in  high  esteen  both  in 
his  craft  and  as  a  citizen  of  progressiveness,  pub- 


296 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


lie  spirit  and  breadth  of  view.  On  October  28, 
1878,  he  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Belle 
Woodworth,  a  native  of  St.  Joseph  county,  Mich- 
igan, where  her  parents  were  early  settlers.  They 
have  two  children,  their  son  Fred  and  their 
daughter  Sadie.  Mr.  Van  Halst  takes  great 
interest  in  the  fraternal  life  of  the  community  as 
a  member  of  the  United  Workmen,  the  Red  Cross, 
the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the  Odd  Fellows  and  the 
Foresters.  While  not  an  active  partisan,  and  has 
never  desired  public  office,  he  is  keenly  alive  to 
the  interests  of  his  city  and  county  and  gives  close 
and  careful  attention  to  local  affairs  with  a  view 
to  aiding  in  promoting  the  enduring  welfare  of 
the  community  and  its  people.  Although  he  has 
seen  many  parts  of  this  country  and  has  looked 
with  favor  on  a  number  of  different  localities  as 
places  of  business  or  residence,  he  is  well  pleased 
with  Kalamazoo,  finding  its  enterprise  and  the 
progressive  spirit  of  its  people  entirely  to  his 
taste  and  seeing  in  it  a  good  field  for  his  own 
energies  and  business  capacity.  It  is  such  men 
as  he  that  have  built  up  this  and  many  another 
American  community  and  developed  their  re- 
sources along  lines  of  wholesome  and  enduring 
progress. 

GEORGE  W.  CROOKS. 

This  enterprising  gentleman,  who  is  the  jun- 
ior member  of  the  firm  of  Winslow  &  Crooks, 
dealers  in  granite,  marble  and  building  stone  and 
makers  of  tombstones,  monuments  and  other 
ornamental  work  in  their  line,  is  one  of  the  pio- 
neer business  men  of  Kalamazoo,  and  is  univer- 
sally esteemed  as  an  excellent  citizen  throughout 
this  and  neighboring  counties.  He  was  born  at 
Richmond,  Ontario  county,  N.  Y.,  on  January  7, 
1834,  and  is  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Abigail  R. 
(Short)  Crooks,  both  of  the  same  nativity  as 
himself,  the  father  born  in  1802  and  the  mother 
in  1808.  The  father  was  a  farmer  and  the  family 
moved  to  Kalamazoo  county  permanently  in  1839. 
In  1834  the  father  came  to  the  county  and  entered 
eighty  acres  of  wild  land  in  the  vicinity  and  a 
little  west  of  Schoolcraft  in  Prairie  Ronde  town- 
ship, on  which  he  built  a  little  log  shack.  This 
property  he  soon   afterward   sold  and   then   re- 


turned to  New  York.  On  his  second  arrival  here 
he  brought  his  family  by  team  to  Buffalo,  and 
from  there  by  steamer  across  the  lake  to  Detroit. 
From  the  latter  city  they  made  the  trip  by  means 
of  teams  to  Indian  Field,  this  county,  and  as  there 
were  no  roads  the  journey  was  tedious  and  diffi- 
cult to  .the  last  degree,  the  rugged  condition  of 
the  ground  making  almost  every  hour  full  of 
peril,  toil  and  the  most  exacting  endurance.  The 
father  purchased  a  tract  of  wild  land  which  lie 
cleared  up  and  reduced  to  cultivation  with  great 
labor  and  difficulty  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
transforming  it  by  continued  effort  into  a  hand- 
some and  fruitful  farm  on  which  he  died  in  1881, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-nine.  He  became  an  active 
and  important  man  in  the  progress  and  develop- 
ment of  the  region  at  once,  leading  the  way  and 
stimulating  others  by  his  industry,  influence  and 
example.  He  started  the  first  school  in  the  local- 
ity, hiring  the  teacher,  Norman  Chamberlain,  and 
paying  him  for  his  services  by  breaking  wild  land 
for  him.  Later  he  gave  the  ground  for  the  first 
school  house  and  built  on  it  the  old  log  house  of 
blessed  memory  in  which  many  of  the  young  men 
and  maidens  of  the  township  were  first  made  ac- 
quainted with  the  rudiments  of  learning  and 
began  the  first  romances  of  their  lives.  The  first 
school  in  this  house  was  taught  by  John  F. 
Oliver.  Mr.  Crooks  was  also  an  active  worker 
in  the  interest  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  church, 
and  assisted  in  organizing  the  first  congregation 
of  that  creed  and  the  first  of  any  in  his  neighbor- 
hood and  building  the  church  in  which  it  wor- 
shiped. The  later  years  of  his  life  were  passed 
in  full  communion  with  the  Congregational 
church.  His  widow  survived  him  nineteen  years, 
dying  in  1900.  In  political  faith  he  was  an  earn- 
est working  abolitionist  before  the  war,  making 
his  faith  good  by  zealous  assistance  in  conducting 
the  "Underground  Railroad"  for  the  aid  of  slaves 
escaping  from  the  South.  And  when  the  hour 
was  ripe  for  the  enterprise,  and  the  faithful  met 
"Under  the  Oaks"  at  Jackson,  this  state,  to  organ- 
ize the  Republican  party  he  was  there  and  took 
an  active  part  in  the  formation  of  the  new  political 
entity.  To  this  party  he  adhered  with  unfailing 
loyalty  to  the  end  of  his  days.    He  was  for  many 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


297 


vcars  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  was  widely  re- 
spected for  the  uniform  wisdom  and  justice  in 
administering  his  duties.  There  were  four  sons 
and  three  daughters  in  the  family  who  grew  to 
maturity,  and  of  these  two  of  the  sons  and  three 
daughters  are"  living.  Two  sons  were  killed  in 
the  Civil  war,  finding  death  on  the  bloody  battle- 
field, s  of  that  momentous  conflict  in  defending  the 
Union.  They  were  members  respectively  of  the 
Fourth  Kansas  Cavalry  and  the  Twenty-fifth 
[Michigan  Infantry.  George  W.  Crooks  passed 
his  boyhood  from  the  age  of  five  and  his  youth  in 
this  county,  and  like  others  of  his  class  attended 
the  old  log  school  house  for  instruction  and  at  an 
earlv  age  began  taking  part  in  the  work  of  devel- 
oping the  section  which  then  called  into  requi- 
sition every  able  hand.  He  wrought  on  his 
father's  farm  with  industry  and  ability,  at  times 
driving  a  breaking  team  of  ten  yoke  of  oxen,  also 
hauling  lumber  in  the  winter,  drawing  the  tim- 
bers for  the  first  steam  grist  mill  at  Kalamazoo. 
He  followed  farming  until  1870,  then  moved  to 
the  city  and  during  the  next  seven  years  was 
engaged  in  the  implement  trade.  In  1880  he  pur- 
chased a  one-half  interest  in  the  George  C.  Wins- 
low  Marble  Works,  with  which  he  has  since  been 
connected,  the  firm  being  known  as  Winslow,  & 
Crooks.  The  business  was  started  in  1848,  and 
from  its  start  has  had  a  steady  and  healthy  prog- 
ress and  growth.  It  is  extensive  in  monumental 
and  building  stone  work  throughout  the  county. 
Mr.  Crooks  is  also  a  stockholder  in  the  Comstock 
Manufacturing  Company.  In  politics  he  is  a 
Republican  and  has  served  as  supervisor  of  Port- 
age township.  Fraternally  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  order.  Mr.  Crooks  was  married  January 
22,  1869,  to  Miss  Anna  Wagar,  a  native  of  this 
county,  a  daughter  of  Hector  Wagar,  a  pioneer  of 
this  county.  They  have  one  daughter,  Carrie  A., 
now  Mrs.  W.  O.  Agnew. 

JOEL  WATERBURY. 

Among  the  highly  respected  citizens  and  pro- 
gressive and  successful  business  men  of  Kalama- 
zoo, Mich.,  is  Joel  Waterbury,  the  second  livery- 
man in  'Kalamazoo  in  length  of  service,  having 


ministered  since  1877,  when  he  bought  the  livery 
business  of  Captain  Hodges  on  North  Burdick 
street,  which  at  the  time  comprised  seven  horses 
and  a  corresponding  number  of  conveyances  of 
various  kinds,  and  which  he  has  enlarged  until  it 
now  comprises  thirty  horses  and  the  most  com- 
plete and  modern  equipment  in  every  way  and  in 
good  style  for  its  work.  Mr.  Waterbury  was  the 
first  man  to  use  an  automobile  in  the  livery  busi- 
ness, adding  that  feature  in  1905.  To  this  enter- 
prise, which  is  still  an  expanding  one  and  has 
always  been  a  busy  one,  Mr.  Woodbury  has  added 
a  coal  and  wood  trade  which  is  also  large  and 
active.  He  was  born  in  Steuben  county,  N.  Y., 
on  February  28,  1843,  and  is  the  son  of  Salmon 
and  Harriet  (Collier)  Waterbury,  both  natives 
of  that  state.  The  father  was  a  tanner  and  also 
operated  a  sawmill.  He  passed  almost  the  whole 
of  his  life  in  his  native  state,  but  when  the 
shadows  of  its  evening  began  to  darken  around 
him,  he  sought  a  home  with  his  son  in  Kalamazoo, 
where  he  died  a  year  later.  In  his  home  near 
Watertown,  N.  Y.,  he  was  a  man  of  local  promi- 
nence and  valued  public  service,  being  the  super- 
visor of  his  township  several  terms.  The  mother 
died  at  the  old  New  York  home.  The  father  was 
twice  married,  there  being  borji  of  the  first  union 
three  sons  and  three  daughters,  one  living,  Mrs. 
Myron  Powers,  of  South  Haven,  Mich.,  being 
the  only  one  living.  Joel  was  the  only  child  of  the 
second  marriage.  He  reached  man's  estate  in 
New  York,  attending  the  district  schools  and 
working  for  his  father  in  the  tannery  and  at  the 
mill,  and  when  he  started  out  in  life  for  himself 
farmed  for  a  while,  then  worked  in  a  shingle  mill 
until  1873,  when  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo  and 
found  employment  in  the  City  Hotel,  on  North 
Burdick  street,  for  a  short  time.  In  1877  he  pur- 
chased the  livery  business  of  Captain  Hodges  on 
that  street,  which  he  has  since  owned  and  magni- 
fied to  its  present  proportions,  adding  some  time 
afterward  the  coal  and  wood  trade  which  he  is 
conducting.  He  was  married  in  1875  to  Miss 
Rachel  Rockafeller,  a  native  of  New  York.  The 
fraternal  life  of  the  city  and  state  has  interested 
him  and  enlisted  his  helpful  attention  as  a  Free- 
mason through  all  gradations  of  the  order  to  and 


298 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


including  the  thirty-second  degree  of  the  Scottish 
rite,  the  Knights  Templar  and  the  Mystic  Shrine. 
He  has  served  as  worshipful  master  of  the  local 
blue  lodge,  No.  87,  and  high  priest  of  -Kalama- 
zoo Chapter,  No.  13.  In  the  public  affairs  of  the 
community  he  is  active  and  serviceable  as  a  good 
citizen,  but  has  never  been  an  earnest  partisan  in 
politics.  Throughout  the  city  he  is  highly  re- 
spected for  his  genuine  worth  and  the  correctness 
and  uprightness  of  his  life. 

THE  P.  L.  ABBEY  COMPANY. 

This  company,  which  is  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  medicines  on  a  large  scale  and  is  one 
of  the  widely  known  and  representative  industries 
of  Kalamazoo,  is  a  private  corporation  formed  by 
Perley  L.  Abbey  in  1887.  It  started  business  in 
a  small  way  with  the  manufacture  of  preparations 
of  celery  and  was  first  known  as  the  Celery  Med- 
icine Company,  bearing  that  name  until  1897, 
when  it  was  transformed  into  the  P.  L.  Abbey 
Co.  It  manufactures  celery  preparations,  and  a 
general  line  of  pharmaceutical  preparations,  which 
have  a  high  reputation  in  the  medical  world  and 
the  trade,  and  are  sold  all  over  the  country.  Mr. 
Abbey,  the  founder,  of  the  company,  was  born  at 
White  Pigeon,  Mich.,  on  July  2,  1865,  and  is 
the  son  of  Lewis  C.  and  Nellie  (Loring)  Abbey. 
The  father  was  for  many  years  a  leading  pho- 
tographer and  is  now  a  highly  respected  citizen  of 
Kalamazoo.  The  son  was  nine  years  old  when 
he  became  a  resident  of  the  city,  and  he  received 
his  education  here.  He  began  business  as  a  drug 
clerk  for  Brown  &  Berge,  with  whom  he  remained 
three  years,  then  passed  a  number  of  years  in  the 
employ  of  J.  A.  Hoedamaker  in  the  same  capacity. 
In  1886  he  began  business  for  himself  as  a  manu- 
facturing pharmacist,  and  he  has  been  successful 
from  the  start.  He  has  also  taken  an  active  and 
serviceable  interest  in  the  Michigan  National 
Guard,  in  which  he  is  now  a  colonel,  having  be- 
come a  member  of  the  Kalamazoo  Light  Guards 
more  than  sixteen  years  ago.  He  went  to  the 
Spanish-American  war  as  major  in  his  regiment, 
and  was  with  his  command  at  Tampa.  In  1903 
he  was  elected  colonel  of  the  regiment,  a  position 


in  which  he  has  rendered  excellent  service  to  the 
organization.  Fraternally  he  belongs  to  the  Ma- 
sonic order  through  lodge,  charter  and  com- 
mandery,  and  also  to  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and 
the  order  of  Elks.  In  1898  he  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Maude  Young,  of  Kalamazoo.  Both 
are  members  of  St.  Luke's  church,  and  are  highly 
appreciated  members  of  the  best  social  circles  in 
the  city.  Their  home,  is  a  center  of  refined  and 
gracious  hospitality,  where  their  hosts  of  friends 
always  find  intelligent  and  profitable  entertain- 
ment. 

CALVIN  FORBES. 

Successful  and  prominent  in  business,  stand- 
ing high  in  the  social  life  of  the  city  and  county, 
prominent  as  a  promoter  of  the  city's  best  inter- 
ests, and  having  by  his  enterprise  and  breadth  of 
view  added  greatly  to  the  wealth,  beauty  and 
commercial  importance  of  the  place,  Calvin 
Forbes,  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  extensive  real- 
estate  dealers  in  Kalamazoo,  is  wholly  a  product 
of  the  community  in  which  he  lives,  and  has  given 
his  best  energies  to  its  service.  He  was  born  in 
this  township  on  April  22,  1847,  was  educated  in 
its  common  and  high  schools,  prepared  himself 
for  business  at  one  of  its  commercial  colleges,  and 
started  and  has  continued  his  business  career 
among  its  people.  His  parents,  James  P.  and 
Amanda  E.  (Bennett)  Forbes,  were  born,  re- 
spectively, in  Connecticut  and  New  York.  The 
father  was  a  contractor  and  builder  who  became 
la  resident  of  Kalamazoo  county  in  1837,  coming 
hither  with  ox  teams  from  Detroit.  He  bought 
a  farm  on  Grand  Prairie  and  gave  due  attention 
to  improving  and  cultivating  it  for  fourteen  years, 
but  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  time  working  at 
his  trade.  He  moved  to  Kalamazoo  in  185 1,  and 
passed  several  years  there,  then  returned  to  his 
farm,  on  which  he  lived  during  the  next  twelve. 
He  then  once  more  located  in  the  city  in  1864,  and 
resided  there  continuously  until  recently,  when 
he  moved  to  Lawton,  where  he  died  in  April 
1905.  The  son  reached  manhood  on  the  farm  and 
received  his  education  in  the  public  schools,  at- 
tending the  common  schools  until  he  was  ready 
for  the  high  school,  then  taking  a  course  there. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


299 


Afterward  he  pursued  a  course  of  business  train- 
ing" at  Parson's  Business  College  in  the  city.  He 
learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter  and  followed  it 
for  a  number  of  years.  Soon  after  reaching  his 
legal  majority  he  began  contracting  and  building, 
which  he  continued  for  years,  buying  his  lumber 
and  other  supplies  in  carload  lots.  His  father 
joined  him  in  the  business  after  a  time  and  re- 
mained in  association  with  him  five  years.  The 
son  then  turned  his  attention  to  the  manufacture 
of  fork  and  broom  handles,  and  other  products 
of  wood.  In  this  enterprise  he  moved  to  Petoskey 
and  carried  on  a  flourishing  business  in  the  manu- 
facture of  these  commodities  and  general  wooden- 
ware  for  a  period  of  four  years,  when  the  factory 
was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  he  returned  to  Kalama- 
zoo and  again  engaged  in  buying  and  improving 
citv  lots,  opening  in  his  operations  Douglas  ave- 
nue, Forbes  street  west  of  that  thoroughfare, 
Denner  street,  Hilbert  street  and  Prospect  Place. 
He  also  built  a  large  terrace  on  Pine  street,  and  in 
addition  has  handled  many  tracts  which  were 
plotted  for  building  purposes.  He  now  has  charge 
of  Pleasant  View  Park,  which  is  a  Forbes  addi- 
tion to  the  city,  His  improvements  have  been 
made  mainly  at  the  west  end  of  the  city,  and 
there  he  has  put  up  a  great  many  residences  and 
other  buildings.  Some  years  ago  he  organized 
the  Kalamazoo  Casket  Company,  which  was 
started  as  a  private  firm  but  was  afterward 
changed  into  a  stock  company.  A  few  years  later 
he  sold  his  stock  in  the  company  and  not  long 
afterward  it  went  out  of  business.  Among  the 
most  imposing  and  substantial  business  blocks  he 
has  added  to  the  city  is  the  Lawrence  &  Chapin 
building,  on  North  Rose  street.  While  support- 
ing with  loyalty  the  principles  of  the  Republican 
party,  Mr.  Forbes  has  never  been  active  in  polit- 
ical affairs.  He  was  married  m  Kalamazoo,  in 
1868,  to  Miss  Bertha  Hilbert,  and  they  have  had 
seven  children,  all  of  whom  are  now  deceased 
except  three  daughters.  All  the  members  of  the 
family  are  accomplished  musicians  and  at  one  time 
they  traveled  extensively  giving  concerts  and 
other  musical  entertainments  in  this  state,  Indiana 
and  Ohio,  in  which  they  won  renown  and  wide 
popularity.    Mr.  Forbes  affiliates  in  fraternal  rela- 


tions with  the  United  Workmen  and  the  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America.  He  was  president  of.  the 
National  Union  four  terms. 

HON.  ALFRED  J.  MILLS. 

Hon.  Alfred  J.  Mills,  of  the  firm  of  Osborn  & 
Mills,  lawyers,  of  Kalamazoo,  and  former  judge 
of  the  circuit  court  of  this  circuit,  is  a  native  of 
Bedfordshire,  England.  His  parents,  Alfred  and 
Caroline  (Webster)  Mills,  also  were  natives  of 
England,  where  they  passed  their  lives.  The 
father  was  a  dry-goods  merchant.  The  Judge 
was  educated  in  private  schools,  at  King  Edward 
VFs  Grammar  School  and  at  Cambridge,  where 
he  studied  law.  He  came  to  this  continent  in 
1870,  when  he  was  under  eighteen  years  of  age, 
and  after  spending  a  few  weeks  in  Canada  moved 
to  Kalamazoo.  Here  he  soon  found  employment 
in  the  law  offices  of  Arthur  Brown,  under  whose 
direction  he  continued  his  legal  studies  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1874.  In  the  following 
January  he  went  to  Paw  Paw  and  formed  a  part- 
nership with  Judge  Richards,  the  firm  name  being 
Richards  &  Mills,  which  lasted  until  he  was 
elected  probate  judge  of  Van  Buren  county  in 
1876.  At  the  end  of  his  term  of  four  years  he  was 
renominated  for  that  office  by  acclamation,  but 
declined  to  accept  the  nomination.  In  1881  he 
was  elected  circuit  judge  and  two  years  later 
again  took  up  his  residence  at  Kalamazoo.  He 
completed  his  six-years  term  on  the  bench  of  the 
circuit  court  and  declined  to  be  a  candidate  for  a 
second  term.  In  1888  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  James  W.  Osborn  and  the  firm  of  Osborn  & 
Mills  is  still  actively  engaged  in  business,  and 
has  a  large  practice.  In  addition  to  the  offices  he 
has  held  in  the  line  of  his  profession,  the  Judge 
served  six  years  as  a  member  of  the  school  board, 
during  four  of  which  he  was  president.  He  has 
been  eleven  years  a  trustee  of  the  asylum  and 
four  of  them  president  of  the  board.  He  was  re- 
appointed for  a  term  of  six  years  by  Gov.  Warner 
and  re-served  as  president  of  the  board.  He  was 
mayor  of  Kalamazoo  two  terms  and  was  for 
several  years  a  trustee  of  the  Michigan  Female 
Seminary.     While  his  practice  occupies  the  most 


300 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


of  his  time,  he  is  still  connected  with  the  business 
interests  of  the  city  in  a  prominent  way,  being  a 
director  of  the  C.  H.  Dutton  Company  and  the 
Puritan  Corset  Company.  He  has  for  several 
years  been  general  attorney  for  the  Michigan 
Traction  Company.  In  1874  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Florence  G.  Balch,  a  native  of  this  state. 
They  have  four  children,  three  daughters  and  one 
son.  Fraternally  the  head  of  the  house  is  a  Master 
Mason,  a  'Knight  Templar,  an  Elk  and  a  Knight 
of  Pythias.  Although  born  and  reared  in  a  for- 
eign land,  Judge  Mills  is  thoroughly  conversant 
with  and  devoted  to  American  institutions.  He 
is  a  Republican  in  politics  and  gives  active  and 
effective  support  to  the  principles  and  candidates 
of  his  party. 

SMITH  SOUTHERLAND. 

A  pioneer  of  this  county  and  reared  to  the  age 
of  seventeen  in  the  interior  of  New  York  state 
where  the  conditions  of  life  were  at  the  time  of  his 
birth  not  far  removed  from  what  he  found  in 
Michigan  when  he  came  here,  Smith  Souther- 
land  has  seen  frontier  life  in  two  great  states  now 
teeming  with  the  industries  and  the  products  of 
high  development  and  continued  progress,  and 
has  witnessed  and  aided  in  bringing  about  the 
changes  in  each.  He  was  born  in  Broome  county, 
N.  Y.,  on  December  14,  1820,  the  son  of  Lot  and 
Lydia  (Bliss)  Southerland,  who  were  also  na- 
tive in  the  Empire  state.  The  father  was  a  farmer 
and  busily  followed  the  business  in  his  native 
state  until  1837,  when  he  moved  his  family  to 
Michigan,  making  the  long  and  trying  trip  with 
teams  by  way  of  Detroit,  consuming  many  weary 
weeks  in  the  journey  and  enduring  almost  insuf- 
ferable hardships  on  the  way,  often  being  obliged 
to  cut  his  own  road  through  the  woods  or  build  it 
over  swamps,  but  persevering  steadily  until  he 
reached  his  desired  goal,  where  he  found  still 
greater  difficulties  to  overcome  before  substantial 
comfort  was  attainable.  They  reached  this  county 
in  the  spring  of  the  year  and  at  once  rented  a  tract 
of  land  on  Genesee  Prairie  which  they  farmed  for 
a  number  of  years.  The  father  then  purchased 
land  near  Benton  Harbor,  on  which  he  passed  the 


remainder  of  his  life.  The  mother  died  on  Gene- 
see Prairie,  leaving  five  sons  and  three  daughters, 
three  of  whom  are  living,  Smith  and  one  of  his 
brothers  and  one  sister.  Smith  Southerland  was 
seventeen  years  of  age  when  the  family  came  to 
this  state,  and  had  received  a  limited  education  in 
the  common  schools  of  his  former  home.  He 
made  a  vigorous  hand  from  the  time  of  his  ar- 
rival in  the  work  of  the  farm,  arduous  and  unre- 
munerative  as  it  often  was  on  new  ground,  and  in 
addition  frequently  worked  on  other  farms,  earn- 
ing the  princely  revenue  of  ten  to  fourteen  dollars 
a  month.  In  1848  he  bought  the  land  on  which 
he  now  lives  in  section  30,  Kalamazoo  township, 
of  which  he  has  made  a  model  farm.  When  he 
settled  on  this  land  it  abounded  in  the  wild 
growth  of  centuries,  and  was  still  the  home  of  the 
Indian  and  the  savage  beast.  Game  was  plentiful 
and,  unused  to  man's  ravages  in  its  ranks,  was 
ignorantly  daring  in  its  approaches  to  the  dwell- 
ings of  the  dawning  civilization  of  the  region.  In 
the  years  in  which  he  purchased  his  farm  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Jeannettie  D.  Gibbs,  a  daughter 
of  John  and  Miranda  (Kinne)  Gibbs,  the  former 
-a  native  of  Otsego  county,  N.  Y.,  and  the  latter 
of  Braintrem,  Pa.,  who  became  residents  of  Kala- 
mazoo township  in  1832.  The  father  belonged 
to  a  family  of  pioneers,  his  grandfather  having 
been  an  early  settler  in  Cherry  Valley,  N.  Y., 
where  at  the  time  of  the  massacre  on  November 
11,  1778,  he  saw  his  wife  killed  and  scalped  by 
the  Indians  under  the  half-breed  Brant.  Mr. 
Gibbs  remained  on  his  father's  farm  until  he 
reached  manhood.  He  learned  the  trade  of  a 
carpenter  and  joiner  and  also  that  of  a  millwright 
and  worked  at  them  until  old  age  obliged  him  to 
discontinue.  In  October,  1832,  in  company  with 
his  brothers,  Isaac  and  Chester,  he  came  to  this 
county,  and  few  men  have  done  more  toward  its 
development  and  progress  then  he.  His  services 
as  a  mechanic  were  in  continual  requisition  and 
were  always  fruitful  of  good  results.  He  raised 
the  third  frame  house  built-in  Kalamazoo,  and 
built  the  first  three  barns  on  Grand,  Genesee  and 
Dry  prairies.  He  also  aided  in  building  many  of 
the  early  mills  in  the  county,  being  always  suc- 
cessful in  making  a  dam  stand  when  others  had 


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KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


303 


railed,  and  when  the  railroad  reached  Kalamazoo 
he  assisted  in  building  the  first  bridge  over  the 
Kalamazoo  river.  In  1850  he  fitted  out  a  team  of 
horses  and  a  wagon  with  a  large  supply  of  pro- 
visions and  went  to  California.  The  party  was 
months  on  the  way  and  suffered  many  hardships. 
They  passed  three  years  in  the  new  Eldorado 
engaged  in  mining  and  returned  home  by  water. 
In  1859,  still  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  pio- 
neer and  the  love  of  adventure,  accompanied  by 
his  second  son,  John,  he  visited  Colorado  ;  and 
lie  made  another  visit  to  that  state  in  i860  in 
company  with  his  son  Willard.  In  1861  he  re- 
turned to  his  home  and  there  he  remained  to  the 
end  of  his  life.  When  he  first  came  to  Kalama- 
zoo with  his  family,  they  stopped  with  John  Has- 
call.  Mr.  Gibbs  selected  a  building  site,  and  then 
hung  his  hat  on  a  bush  to  show  his  wife  where 
her  future  home  was  to  be.  In  building  some  of 
the  first  saw  mills  in  the  county  he  was  obliged  to 
carry  on  his  back  the  iron  used  in  them.  In  poli- 
tics he  was  always  a  Democrat,  but  never  an  ac- 
tive partisan.  On  June  29,  1824,  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Miranda  Kinne ;  they  had  thirteen  chil- 
dren, nine  of  whom  were  born  in  Kalamazoo.  Of 
the  thirteen,  four  sons  and  four  daughters  are 
living.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Southerland  have  had  three 
children,  two  of  whom  are  living,  Lydia  M.,  wife 
of  D.  C.  Williams,  living  on  the  home  farm,  and 
John  S.,  a  resident  of  Benton  Harbor.  Their 
mother  died  in  1885.  Mr.  Southerland  is  now 
one  of  the  oldest  citizens  of  the  county,  and  one 
of  the  few  of  its  earliest  settlers  left  to  tell  the 
story  of  its  infant  clays ;  and  he  is  held  in  general 
veneration  as  a  patriarch. 

HON.  JOHN  W.  ADAMS. 

From  the  time  of  his  admission  to  practice  in 
1889  Judge  John  W.  Adams,  of  Kalamazoo,  has 
devoted  himself  exclusively  to  his  profession,  and 
the  rewards  of  his  devotion  at  his  chosen  shrine 
have  been  commensurate  with  the  ardor  of  his 
worship.  He  has  risen  to  the  head  of  his  profes- 
sion, and  although  not  desirous  of  public  office 
for  itself,  and  seeking  no  advancement  in  public 
life  as  a  politician,  he  has  been  found  worthy  of 


choice  by  his  fellow  citizens  to  places  within  the 
range  of  his  calling  and  has  accepted  them  mainly 
because  they  were.  He  is  a  native  of  Clinton 
county,  Pa.,  born  at  Lockhaven  on  November  30, 
1859,  and  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Eliza  (Miller) 
Adams,  also  native  of  that  state.  The  father  was 
a  prominent  physician  and  surgeon,  a  graduate 
of  the  celebrated  Jefferson  Medical  College  of 
Philadelphia,  and  an  active  practitioner  of  his  pro- 
fession in  his  native  state  until  1869.  He  then 
removed  to  Three  Rivers,  Mich.,  where  he  re- 
mained ten  years,  and  in  1879  changed  his  resi- 
dence to  Belmont,  Iowa.  There  he  rose  to  dis- 
tinction as  a  medical  man  and  remained  until  his 
death  in  1894.  His  widow  is*  still  living.  They 
were  the  parents  of  one  son  and  three  daughters, 
all  now  dead  but  the  Judge  and  his  one  sister 
who  lives  in  Iowa.  The  paternal  grandfather, 
Peter  Adams,  was  a  farmer  in  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  was  born,  living  a  useful  life,  and  at  a 
good  old  age  was  laid  to  rest  in  his  natal  soil. 
The  Judge  began  his  education  in  the  public 
schools  of  this  state,  being  graduated  at  the  high 
school  in  Three  Rivers  in  1879,  a^ter  which  he 
entered  Union  College  at  Schenectady,  N.  Y., 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  the  scientific 
course  in  1883.  While  in  college  the  Judge  was, 
on  account  of  his  high  standing,  one  of  ten 
allowed  to  compete  for  the  B  latch  ford  oratorical 
prize,  which  he  won,  as  he  also  did  the  Allen 
essay  prize.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Greek- 
letter  society,  Eta  Theta  Ti.  Upon  the  completion 
of  his  collegiate  training  he  joined  his  father  in 
Iowa  and  spent  some  time  farming.  In  1884  he 
was  appointed  postmaster  at  Belmond,  and  at  the 
end  of  his  term  in  1887  moved  to  Kalamazoo  and 
began  the  study  of  law  under  the  direction  of 
Dallis  Boudeman,  Esq.,  being  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1889.  The  next  year  he  formed  a  partnership 
for  the  practice  with  his  preceptor,  Mr.  Boude- 
man, with  whom  he  remained  until  his  election  to 
the  circuit  judgeship,  the  position  which  he  is 
now  filling  with  so  much  capability  and  such  satis- 
faction to  the  people  of  the  circuit  generally.  In 
1896  he  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  for  a 
term  of  two  years.  In  1899,  by  a  large  majority, 
of  the  electors  in  the  circuit  he  was  elevated  to  the 


3<H 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


office  of  circuit  judge,  and  is  now  occupying  that 
highly  honorable  and  important  position,  having 
been,  in  November,  1904,  re-elected  to  that  posi- 
tion for  the  term  of  six  years.  The  life  of  a  cir- 
cuit judge  is  in  the  main  only  a  continuous  per- 
formance of  important  duties,  without  the  spec- 
tacular and  striking  features  of  official  life  often 
found  in  other  posts  of  prominence ;  and  it  is  per- 
haps one  of  the  best  proofs  of  his  worth  and  merit 
that  he  introduces  no  such  features  into  his  offi- 
cial round  himself.  This  has  been  the  course  of 
Judge  Adams.  Faithfully  meeting  the  require- 
ments of  his  daily  routine,  with  continuous  dili- 
gence and  always  with  a  high  sense  of  his  re- 
sponsibility, he  has  rendered  signal  service  to  his 
community  and  the  personal  and  material  interests 
of  the  people  therein,  and  has  won  the  guerdon  of 
his  ability  and  fidelity  in  their  lasting  esteem, 
regard  and  approval.  He  was  married  in  1885 
to  Miss  Laura  E.  Wilcox,  a  native  of  Three 
Rivers,  who  bore  him  one  child,  their  son  Edward 
W.  Adams.  The  mother  died  in  July,  1888,  and 
in  June,  1893,  the  Judge  celebrated  a  second  mar- 
riage in  which  he  was  united  with  Miss  Anna 
Humphrey,  who  was  born  in  Canada.  The  fruit  of 
this  union  also  was  one  son,  John  H.  Adams.  In 
political  faith  Judge  Adams  has  been  a  life-long 
Democrat  and  a  firm  believer  in  the  principles  of 
his  party,  which  he  has  ardently  supported  on  all 
occasions.  At  the  same  time  he  is  enough  of  a 
wise  and  broad-minded  citizen  to  aid  in  the 
growth  and  improvement  of  his  home  city  and 
county  by  actively  endorsing  and  helping  along 
every  commendable  project  in  which  the  enduring 
welfare  of  their  people  is  involved  without  regard 
to  party  considerations.  In  the  fraternal  life  of 
the  community  he  has  for  many  years  taken  an 
earnest  interest  as  a  Knight  of  Pythias  and  a 
Freemason  through  the  symbolic,  capitular,  cryp- 
tic and  chivalric  degrees. 

DELEVAN  ARNOLD. 

This  capable  and  energetic  business  man  and 
most  worthy  citizen  of  Kalamazoo,  who  has  done 
much  to  build  up  and  enlarge  the  patronage  of  the 
Farmers'   Mutual   Insurance   Company  of  Kala- 


mazoo county,  of  which  he  has  been  secretary  and 
treasurer  during  the  last  four  years,  was  born  in 
this  county  on  January  25,  1839, tne  son  °f  Hiram 
and  Betsey  (Massey)  Arnold,  natives  of  Jeffer- 
son county,  N.  Y.,  where  they  were  married  in 
1 83 1.  The  father  was  a  merchant's  clerk  for 
some  years  in  his  native  state,  and  afterwards  a 
merchant  there  himself.  In  1837  the  family 
moved  to  Michigan  -and  located  at  Schoolcraft 
for  a  year,  changing  their  residence  to  Kalamazoo 
in  1838,  the  father  coming  to  this  country  to  dis- 
pose of  a  damaged  stock  of  goods  which  he  had 
for  sale.  Soon  afterward  he  associated  himself  in 
business  with  Isaac  Moffet  as  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Moffet  &  Arnold,  which  lasted  a  number 
of  years.  Then  Prentice  Cobb  became  a  member 
of  the  firm  and  the  name  was  changed  to  I.  Mof- 
fet &  Company.  These  gentlemen  were  the  first 
cash  wheat  buyers  in  the  city  or  county,  and 
shipped  their  grain  to  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  by  way  of 
St.  Joseph.  They  also  operated  a  large  distillery 
on  North  Burdick  street.  When  Mr.  Moffet  re- 
tired from  the  firm  after  a  few  years  of  active 
business  it  became  Arnold  &  Cobb,  and  so  con- 
tinued until  1859,  when  Mr.  Arnold  retired  and 
turned  his  attention  to  farming  and  keeping  a 
private  banking  house  for  a  few  years.  He  con- 
tinued to  farm  until  his  death,  in  1892,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-four  years.  He  was  a  Democrat  polit- 
ically but  not  an  active  partisan.  His  wife  died 
in  1882,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one.  They  were  the 
parents  of  four  sons  and  four  daughters,  all  now 
deceased  but  the  subject  of  this  memoir  and  three 
of  his  sisters.  The  parents  were  members  of  St. 
Luke's  church.  The  Arnold  family  originally 
settled  in  colonial  times  in  Rhode  Island,  but  the 
grandfather  of  Ivlr.  Arnold  died  in  St.  Jo- 
seph county,  this  state.  Delevan  Arnold 
was  reared  in  this  county  and  received 
his  education  here  and  at  the  Jefferson 
County  (N.  Y.)  Institute.  He  remained  on 
the  home  farm  with  his  parents  until  1861, 
when  he  enlisted  in  the  Union  army  for  the  Civil 
war  as  a  member  of  Company  I,  First  Michigan 
Cavalry.  His  command  was  attached  to  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  and  saw  much  of  the  active  serv- 
ice in  which  that  great  fighting  organization  par- 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


305 


ticipated.  Mr.  Arnold  took  part -in  the  battle  of 
Winchester  and  the  rest  of  the  Shenandoah  Valley 
campaigns.  He  was  wounded  in  front  of  Wash- 
ington in  1863,  and  at  Cedar  Mountain  had  a 
horse  shot  under  him,  which  fell  on  him,  injuring 
him  seriously.  In  1864  he  was  promoted  second 
lieutenant  of  the  Ninth  Cavalry,  but  was  unable 
to  accept  the  position  because  of  the  state  of  his 
health  which  disabled  him  for  further  active  serv- 
ice. After  leaving  the  army  he  worked  two  years 
as  a  bookkeeper  in  Detroit,  then  returned  to  Kala- 
mazoo, where  he  remained  until  1869.  In  that 
year  he  married  Miss  Ida  W.  White,  a  native  of 
New  York,  and  thereafter  he  was  engaged  in 
fruit  culture  until  1891.  Then  he  once  more  be- 
came a  resident  of  Kalamazoo,  which  has  since 
been  his  home.  During  the  next  ten  years  he  was 
engaged  in  the  implement  trade  as  a  bookkeeper, 
and  in  1900  was  elected  secretary  and  treasurer 
of  the  Farmers'  Mutual  Insurance  Company  of 
Kalamazoo  County,  a  post  in  which  he  is  still 
rendering  good  and  faithful  service.  This  com- 
pany was  organized  in  1863  with  John  Milham  as 
president  and  Moses  F.  Kingsley  as  secretary  and 
treasurer.  Mr.  Kingsley  was  the  organizer  of 
the  company  and  also  of  the  Citizens'  Mutual  In- 
surance Company.  The  Farmers'  has  prospered 
steadily  and  now  has  3,100  members  and 
$6,368,000  of  risks  in  this  county  alone,  its  aver- 
age gain  in  membership  being  nearly  one  hundred 
a  year.  The  officers  of  the  company  at  this  time 
(1904)  are:  W.  F.  Montague,  president;  Delevan 
Arnold,  secretary  and  treasurer;  and  with  these, 
Malachi  Cox,  David  R.  Chandler  and  W.  W. 
Morrison,  directors.  It  is  managed  with  vigor 
and  success  and  has  a  firm  hold  on  the  confidence 
and  regard  of  the  people.  Mr.  Arnold  was  a 
Democrat  in  politics  until  1896.  Since  then  he 
has  been  a  Republican,  and  has  from  time  to  time 
taken  an  active  and  serviceable  part  in  the  cam- 
paigns. He  was  at  one  time  his  party's  candidate 
for  the  office  of  county  clerk.  Fraternally  he 
belongs  to  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and 
has  filled  all  the  offices  in  his  post.  He  was  also 
secretary  of  the  Soldiers'  Relief  Committee  for  a 
number  of  years.  No  man  in  the  county  is  better 
known  or  more  highly  esteemed. 


GEORGE  W.  HARRINGTON. 

The  late  George  W.  Harrington,  one  of  the 
pioneer  undertakers  of  Kalamazoo,  had  an  inter- 
esting and  eventful  career  in  the  military  service 
of  the  United  States  and  in  his  person  bore  many 
marks  of  its  burdens  and  hardships.  He  was  born 
at  Waterloo,  N.  Y.,  in  1836,  the  son  o£  Samuel 
Harrington,  also  native  of  New  York.  The  father 
was  a  carpenter  and  leading  builder,  erecting 
many  of  the  best  buildings  at  Waterloo  and  in-  the 
surrounding  country.  He  died  at  Waterloo, 
leaving  two  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  now 
deceased.  His  son  George  grew  to  manhood  in 
his  native  town  and  received  his  education  there. 
There  also  he  learned  the  trade  of  a  cabinetmaker, 
which  he  worked  at  in  company  with  his  father. 
In  his  young  manhood  he  enlisted  in  the  United 
States  army  and  for  a  time  served  as  a  recruiting 
officer  in  the  state  of  New  York.  Later  he  crossed 
the  plains  in  the  command  of  Gen.  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston  and  took  part  in  the  Mormon  war  and 
the  Indian  wars  of  the  period.  In  fighting  Indians 
he  received  numerous  arrow  wounds  and  suffered 
great  pain  and  privation  at  times.  After  the  close 
of  those  campaigns  he  remained  in  the  military 
service  and  when  the  Civil  war  began  became  a 
member  of  Troop  E,  Second  United  States  Cav- 
alry. He  was  in  the  thick  of  the  conflict  almost 
from  the  beginning  and  was  several  times  badly 
wounded.  At  Malvern  Hill  he  was  shot  through 
the  mouth  and  was  also  taken  prisoner,  being  con- 
fined to  Libby  prison,  from  which  he  escaped  with 
a  number  of  other  prisoners.  At  Gettysburg  he 
was  shot  through  the  left  lung  and  was  left  as 
dead.  He  lay  in  the  trenches  two  days  there  and 
was  finally  rescued  by  Sisters  of  Mercy  who 
nursed  him  back  to  health.  After  the  war  he 
traveled  some  years  for  a  commercial  house  and 
afterward  sold  caskets.  In  1874  he  came  to  live 
at  Kalamazoo,  and  for  a  short  time  was  in  busi- 
ness as  an  undertaker  in  partnership  with  Mr. 
Olmstead  and  also  with  Mr.  Cornell.  Disposing 
of  his  interest  in  this  business,  he  again  became  a 
commercial  traveler  arid  followed  that  line  of  work 
until  1894,  when  he  once  more  became  a  resident 
of  Kalamazoo  and  engaged    in    undertaking    in 


3o6 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


partnership  with  his  son,  George  S.  Harrington, 
the  firm  being  G.  W.  Harrington  &  Company. 
This  firm  lasted  until  his  death,  in  1896.  He  was 
married  in  1871  to  Miss  Frances  E.  Sherwood, 
who  was  born  in  New  York  state,  the  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Frances  (Baker)  Sherwood,  who 
settled  in  this  county  in  early  days,  arriving  in 
1865.  He  bought  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres,  two  miles  east  of  the  city,  on  which 
he  lived  until  November,  1874,  when  he  moved 
to  Kalamazoo  and  there  lived  retired  until  his 
death,  on  October  15,  1887.  He  was  an  enthu- 
siastic farmer,  largely  interested  in  agricultural 
associations,  and  although  not  an  active  partisan, 
was  first  a  Whig  and  afterward  a  Republican. 
Mrs.  Sherwood  was  born  on  "The  Pinnacle,"  at 
Pompey  Hill,  N.  Y.  Her  father,  Samuel  Baker, 
was  a  merchant  there  before  Syracuse  was  started, 
and  her  grandfather,  who  was  a  native  of  Long 
Island,  was  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  in  that 
portion  of  the  state.  Her  mother,  Philena  Hascall, 
was  a  native  of  Connecticut  and  the  daughter  of 
Joseph  Hascall,  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812.  A 
cousin  of  Mrs.  Sherwood,  Frank  Stetson,  was  a 
law  partner  of  President  Cleveland.  To  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Harrington  were  born  five  children,  of 
whom  three  died  in  infancy,  those  living  being 
George  S.  and  Hascall  S.,  the  latter  now  living  in 
Detroit.  Fraternally  Mr.  Harrington  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  the 
Order  of  Elks.  His  widow  is  still  living.  The 
business  which  he  founded  in  connection  with 
his  son  is  now  conducted  by  the  latter,  George  S. 
Harrington,  who  is  a  native  of  'Kalamazoo  and 
was  reared  and  educated  in  the  city.  Since  leav- 
ing school  he  has  given  close  and  intelligent  at- 
tention to  his  business,  and  as  a  preparation  for 
the  best  work  in  his  line  he  has  taken  courses  of 
instruction  and  received  diplomas  at  several 
embalming  schools,  and  has  also  kept  himself  in 
touch  with  the  most  advanced  thought  and  discov- 
eries in  the  business.  He  belongs  to  the  Michi- 
gan Funeral  Directors  and  Embalmers'  Associa- 
tion and  the  United  States  Embalming  Associa- 
tion. Fraternally  he  is  connected  with  the  Order 
of  Elks,  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Masonic 
order  in  the  Knights  Templar  degree.     He  was 


married  in  1896  to  Miss  Fidelia  E.  Hardy,  a 
daughter  of  Capt.  R.  B.  Hardy,  a  prominent 
journalist  of  Kalamazoo,  connected  for  many 
years  with  the  Telegraph  and  later  with  the 
News  and  Gazette.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Har- 
rington have  two  children,  their  son  Robert  H. 
and  their  daughter  Georgia  M. 

EDWIN  W.  VOSBURG. 

Since  he  was  but  one  year  old  the  present 
capable  and  popular  county  clerk  of  Kalamazoo 
county,  Edwin  W.  Vosburg,  has  been  a  resident 
of  the  county,  and  from  his  boyhood  has  mingled 
freely  in  its  social  life  and  taken  an  active  part  in 
its  industries.  He  was  born  in  Onondaga  county, 
N.  Y.,  on  November  28,  1865,  and  is  the  son  of 
William  B.  Vosburg,  former  sheriff  of  the  county, 
a  sketch  of  whom  will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this 
volume.  In  1866  he  was  brought  by  his  parents 
from  their  New  York  home  to  this  county,  and 
here  he  was  reared  and  educated,  attending  the 
public  schools  and  Parson's  Business  College. 
After  leaving  school  he  began  life  for  himself  as 
a  farmer,  and  as  such  he  has  passed  the  whole  of 
his  subsequent  life  except  the  time  devoted  to  offi- 
cial business,  serving  from  1893  to  1897  as  under 
sheriff  under  his  father,  from  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  to  that  of  twenty-six  as  township  clerk,  and 
from  the  time  of  his  election  in  1904  in  his  present 
office.  In  connection  with  his  farming  operations 
he  has  given  special  attention  to  breeding  high 
grades  of  Jersey  cattle,  Poland-China  hogs  and 
Plymouth  Rock  chickens.  He  has  been  signally 
successful  in  his  business  undertakings,  by  giving 
them  his  close  and  diligent  attention,  and  applying 
to  them  wide-awake  intelligence  and  foresight. 
In  official  life  he  has  met  all  the  requirements  of 
an  exacting  public  sentiment  in  a  masterful  way, 
and  has  won  commendations  from  all  classes  of 
the  people,  and  socially  he  has  been  one  of  the 
esteemed  younger  men  of  the  county.  On  April 
3,  1889,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Geneva  R.  Vail,  a 
native  of  Plymouth,  Ind.  They  have  two  chil- 
dren, Allen  E.  and  Gladys  M.  Politically  Mr. 
Vosburg  is  a  Republican,  and  fraternally  an  Odd 
Fellow,  an  Elk  and  a  Knight  of  the  Maccabees ; 
his  church  relations  are  with  the  Presbyterians. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


307 


ASHLEY  CLAPP. 

The  old  Greek  idea  of  a  euthanasia,  a  peace- 
ful, painless  death,  least  foreseen  and  soonest 
over,  has  much  in  it  to  commend  it  to  human 
reason,  notwithstanding  all  that  poets  have  sung 
and  human  sympathy  has  felt  in  favor  of  the 
presence  at  the  last  moment  of  "some  fond 
breast"  on  which  "the  parting  soul  relies/'  And 
when  such  an  end  comes  to  close  a  record 
lustrious  with  triumph  in  the  service  of  others, 
and  a  life  of  continued  and  unwavering  fidelity 
to  duty  and  the  highest  integrity,  it  must  seem 
to  the  judicious  as  one  of  the  kindnesses  of  fate. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  past  but  what  is  com- 
mendable, and  nothing  in  the  future  but  what  is 
promising,  and  the  shorter  the  step  over  the 
chasm  which  divides  them,  the  better  for  the  de- 
parting soul.  Such  was  the  fate  of  the  subject 
of  this  brief  review,  and  such  were  the  circum- 
stances attending  his  demise.  Suddenly,  without 
the  slightest  warning  that  the  end  was  so  near, 
Ashley  Clapp,  then  county  clerk  of  Kalamazoo 
county,  passed  away  about  11  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  November  14,  1904.  At  the  time  of 
his  death  he  was  seated  in  an  easy  chair  in  the 
public  portion  of  his  office,  engaged  in  a  pleasant 
conversation  with  friends,  and  had  expressed 
himself  as  feeling  unusually  well.  Suddenly  he 
drew  a  quick  breath,  settled  back  in  his  chair, 
and  peacefully  passed  away.  He  had  been  more 
or  less  unwell  for  several  months,  and  it  was  with 
difficulty,  at  times,  that  he  performed  his  official 
duties.  But  while  it  was  known  that  he  was  of 
necessity  careful  of  himself,  those  who  were 
nearest  to  him  and  best  knew  his  condition  had 
no  thought  of  immediate  danger.  Mr.  Clapp  Was 
one  of  the  most  widely  known  and  most  highly 
respected  citizens  of  the  county.  In  fact  his 
name  was  a  household  word  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts where  his  work  for  years  called  him  in 
connection  with  the  schools  of  the  county.  For, 
although  he  was  the  county  clerk  at  the  time  of 
his  death,  he  is  most  widely  remembered  as  one 
of  the  best  county  school  commissioners  that  ever 
served  in  Michigan.  For  twenty  years  he  held 
this  office  to  the  undying  credit  of  himself  and 


the  great  and  lasting  good  of  Kalamazoo  county. 
Taking  hold  of  the  district  schools  in  their  for- 
mative state,  he  guided  them  through  that  dan- 
gerous period,  with  a  hand  that  was  kind  as  well 
as  skillful,  and  when  he  resigned  his  office,  seven 
years  before  his  death,  the  fruits  of  his  untiring 
labors  were  apparent  in  the  fact  that  Kalamazoo 
had  schools  equal  in  merit  and  efficiency  to  those 
of  any  other  county  in  the  state,  and  superior  to 
those  of  many.  His  success  in  this  line  of  work 
was  that  by  his  kindly  and  helpful  nature  he 
always  won  the  esteem  and  co-operation  of  those 
who  worked  under  him.  He  was  "long"  on  sys- 
tem and  a  firm  believer  in  teaching  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  learning  to  all  school  chil- 
dren instead  of.  much  that  is  more  of  show  than 
substance.  His  work  in  the  school  system  took 
him  out  among  the  people,  and  made  him  a  fa- 
miliar and  welcome  guest  at  almost  every  fire- 
side, and  he  sometimes  laughingly  asserted  that 
he  had  slept  and  eaten  in  nearly  every  house  in 
the  rural  districts,  and  that  he  knew  every  farmer 
and  his  family,  old  and  young.  So  his  memory 
will  be  cherished  through  his  work  as  an  edu- 
cator so  long  as  the  public  school  is.  the  pillar  of 
strength  in  the  American  Republic..  -His  service 
of  six  years  as  county  clerk  also  brought  him 
high  commendations  and  won  him  new  friends, 
while  it  established  him  more  firmly  in  the  regard 
of  the  old  ones.  Mr.  Clapp  was  born  at  Syra- 
cuse, N.Y.,  on  September  1,  1844,  and  was  thus 
a  little  over  sixty  years  old  when  he  died,  ,  In 
1864  he  enlisted  in  Company  H,  One  Hundred 
and  Eighty-fourth  New  York  Infantry,  and  with 
his  command  he  fought  through  the  Virginia 
campaigns  before  Richmond.  He  was  honorably 
discharged  in  1865,  and  then  located  in  Kala- 
mazoo county,  where  he  worked  for  a  year  at  his 
trade  as  a  carpenter,  and  clerked  in  a  store  for 
another.  In  1867  he  began  his  work  in  the 
county  schools,  taking  a  position  as  teacher  in 
Oshtemo  district,  where  he  taught  six  years,  at 
the  same  time  doing  some  special  work  at  Kala- 
mazoo College.  He  then  went  to  Vicksburg, 
where  he  lived  six  years,  and  acted  as  superin- 
tendent of  the  public  schools  there.  In  1881  he 
was  made  county  secretary  of  schools,  a  position 


3o8 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


he  filled  continuously  twenty  years,  during  the 
last  ten  his  official  designation  being  county 
school  commissioner.  He  was  elected  county 
clerk  in  1898,  1900  and  again  in  1902,  as  the  Re- 
publican candidate,  and  received  a  large  majority 
of  the  votes  cast  each  time.  In  1869  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Frances  V.  Drummond,  of  Osh- 
temo,  and  she  and  their  three  children  survive 
him.  The  children  are  Mrs.  Charles  Eassom, 
Miss*  Leah  Clapp  and  Wesley  Clapp.  One  other 
son,  Burt  G.,  died  September  2,  1899,  aged 
twenty-seven  years.  Mr.  Clapp  was  connected 
fraternally  with  the  Masons,  the  Odd  Fellows, 
the  Elks,  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and 
the  Union  Veterans'  Union.  In  the  last  he  was 
a  member  of  the  department  staff. 

BENJAMIN  DRAKE,  Jr. 

The  late  Benjamin  Drake,  Jr.,  who  died  while 
on  a  visit  to  Kalamazoo  in  1880,  and  who  had 
been  many  years  before  that  time  one  of  the  best 
known  and  most  esteemed  business  men  of  this 
county,  was  born  in  St.  Clair  county,  Mich.,  in 
1830.  He  was  a  son  of  Benjamin  Drake,  Sr.,  and 
Maria  (Ogden)  Drake,  the  former  a  native  of 
New  Jersey  and  the  latter  of  Canada,  accounts 
of  whose  lives  will  be  found  in  the  sketches  of 
their  sons,  Francis  and  George  1ST.  Drake,  on 
other  pages  of  this  work.  The  younger  Benja- 
min grew  to  manhood  in  this  county  and  received 
his  education  in  the  public  schools.  In  1850, 
under  the  impulse  of  the  excitement  over  the  dis- 
covery of  gold  in  California,  he  joined  a  party  in 
a  trip  to  that  state,  and  there  he  spent  four  years 
engaged  in  packing  supplies  to  the  mining  camps. 
Returning  then  to  Kalamazoo,  he  operated  a 
livery  barn  for  a  number  of  years,  then  farmed 
in  this  county  until  1870,  when  he  went  again  to 
California,  where  he  remained  ten  years.  At  the 
end  of  that  period  he  made  another  visit  to  his 
old  home  and  died  while  it  was  in  progress  in 
Kalamazoo.  On  May  27,  1857,  he  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Miss  Soledad  De  La  Vega,  a  step- 
daughter of  Henry  Breese,  a  well  known  pioneer 
of  Schoolcraft,  this  county.  She  was  a  native 
of  Matamoras,  Mexico,  her  father  having  been 


born  in  Spain  and  her  mother  in  Stafford  county, 
Va.  They  had  four  children,  William  H.,  Ella, 
wife  of  W.  H.  Brown,  of  Kalamazoo,  Jane  I., 
wife  of  M.  M.  Sessions,  of  Marietta,  Ga.,  and 
Charles  A.,  now  of  New  York  city.  Mr.  Drake 
was  not  an  active  partisan  in  politics.  Frater- 
nally he  belonged  to  the  Masonic  order. 

FRANCIS  DRAKE. 

The  late  Francis  Drake,  a  native  of  this 
county,  who  died  in  California  in  1894,  after  a 
residence  of  more  than  forty-three  years  in  that 
and  adjoining  states,  was  the  son  of  Benjamin 
Drake,  one  of  the  honored  pioneer  farmers  of 
Kalamazoo  county,  where  he  lived  on  a  fine  farm 
three  miles  from  the  city  of  Kalamazoo.  Ben- 
jamin Drake  was  born  in  Sussex  county,  N.  J., 
on  January  10,  1787,  and  on  reaching  his  ma- 
jority started  in  life  for  himself.  Going  to  the 
headwaters  of  the  Delaware  river,  he  engaged  in 
lumbering  and  in  the  course  of  several  years  of 
active  industry  made  what  was  estimated  a  for- 
tune in  those  days.  Unfortunate  speculation  in 
land  during  and  after  the  war  of  181 2  swept 
away  his  accumulations,  and  for  a  number  of 
years  thereafter  he  worked  for  other  men  for 
wages.  Getting  a  new  start  by  this  means,  he 
moved  his  family  to  Ohio  and  settled  on  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  ten  miles  from 
Sandusky,  where  the  Sandusky  plaster  beds  now 
are.  The  location  was  unhealthy  and  he  sold  out 
there  and  moved  to  Newport,  St.  Clair  county, 
Mich.,  where  he  lived  six  years  engaged  in  buy- 
ing and  selling  cattle  and  working  a  farm  on 
shares.  On  September  1,  1830,  he  became  a  resi- 
dent of  this  county,  locating  on  section  13,  Osh- 
temo  township.  The  land  on  which  he  settled 
was  not  yet  in  the  market  and  was  still  inhabited 
by  Indians.  The  next  year  the  government 
offered  it  for  sale  and  he  bought  it,  and'  with  the 
aid  of  the  Indians  built  a  rude  log  cabin  for  his 
dwelling.  The  Indians  were  almost  wholly 
friendly,  but  he  occasionally  had  a  little  trouble 
with  them  and  on  one  occasion  was  in  great  dan- 
ger of  his  life  at  the  hands  of  two  who  had  been 
offended  by  a  white  man  and  were  determined 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


309 


to  be  avenged  on  the  first  man  of  that  color  whom 
they  met,  and  this  happened  to  be  Mr.  Drake. 
He  escaped,  however,  by  the  timely  arrival  and 
assistance  of  a  Mr.  Campeau,  an  Indian  trader  at 
Grand  Rapids.  His  land  was  wholly  wild  and 
the  country  was  unsettled,  and  it  was  only  by  the 
most  persistent  and  systematic  industry  that  he 
was  enabled  to  redeem  it  from  the  wilderness 
and  make  it  what  it  became  before  the  close  of 
his  long  life  of  usefulness  in  this  county,  one  of 
the  best  farms  in  this  part  of  the  state.  His  son 
Francis  grew  to  manhood  in  this  county  and  was " 
educated  at  a  school  established  by  his  father. 
He  assisted  in  clearing  and  cultivating  the  home 
farm,  remaining  with  his  parents  until  1850, 
when  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Goodridge, 
a  daughter  of  Isaiah  and  Susan  Goodridge,  also 
pioneers  of  Kalamazoo  county.  The  next  year 
Mr.  Drake  left  his  young  family  and  went  to 
California  in  quest  of  gold,  making  the  trip 
across  the  plains  with  ox  teams  and  suffering  un- 
told hardships  on  the  way.  For  a  number  of 
years  he  mined  in  California  and  Arizona  with 
indifferent  success,  then  went  to  packing  sup- 
plies to  Marysville  and  Placerville  with  two  pack 
teams  which  he  owned.  In  this  venture  he  pros- 
pered, doing  a  profitable  business.  The  last 
years  of  his  life  he  passed  as  a  private  detective 
for  the  Wells-Fargo  Express  Company.  He  also 
served  as  sheriff  of  two  California  counties.  He 
died  in  California  in  1894  and  his  remains  were 
buried  in  California,  where  he  had  lived.  His 
wife  died  in  1853,  two  years  after  he  went  to 
California.  One  child  was  born  to  them,  their 
daughter  Mary  F.,  who  is  living  in  Kalamazoo. 
The  father  was  with  General  Crook  in  his  In- 
dian campaigns  and  had  a  life  of  adventure  well 
worthy  of  record. 

JAMES  PARKER. 

The  spirit  of  the  American  pioneer  has  ever 
been  one  of  restless  activity  and  insatiable  de- 
sire for  adventure  and  conquest.  It  frequently 
descended  from  sire  to  son,  so  that  after  one 
generation  camped  in  the  wilderness  and  re- 
mained there  until  a  civilized  community  grew 


up  around  it,  the  next  found  the  conditions  in- 
tolerable and  took  another  flight  in  the  wake  of 
the  setting  sun,  repeating  on  a  farther  western 
meridian  the  story  of  its  ancestry  on  theirs.  The 
congenial  associates  of  this  spirit  have  been  the 
denizens  of  the  untrodden  wilds,  its  inspiration 
has  been  danger,  privation  and  the  companion- 
ship of  nature  in  her  untamed  luxuriance,  and 
its  lust  for  conquest  has  found  gratification  only 
in  opening  new  lands  to  settlement  and  brirrging 
their  undeveloped  resources  to  the  knowledge  of 
mankind.  It  was  this  spirit  that  moved  the  par- 
ents of  James  Parker,  of  Kalamazoo  township, 
this  county,  from  their  native  Pennsylvania  to  the 
wilds  of  Ohio  while  yet  the  red  man  inhabited 
that  now  great  state  and  much  of  its  prolific 
soil  was  virgin  to  the  plow.  And  it  was  the 
same  spirit  that  impelled  him  to  seek  a  home  for 
himself  in  his  young-  manhood  in  the  wilds  of 
Michigan,  where  the  same  conditions  then  ob- 
tained. Mr.  Parker  was  born  in  Champaign 
county,  Ohio,  on  February  10,  1810,  and  was  the 
son  of  James  and  Elizabeth  (McBride)  Parker, 
who  were  born  and  reared  in  Pennsylvania  and 
moved  to  that  portion  of  Ohio  about  the  year 
1800.  The  father  was  a  farmer  and  also  a  re- 
nowned hunter  and  Indian  fighter,  and  he  found 
the  conditions  of  his  new  home  entirely  to  his 
taste.  They  furnished  a  wide  and  fruitful  field 
for  his  enterprise,  and  lived  there  until  183 1,  then 
with  his  son  James,  who  had  just  reached  his 
legal  majority,  sought  relief  from  the  insipidity 
to  which  he  had  helped  to  reduce  life  in  Ohio, 
in  the  repetition  of  his  early  career  in  this  county 
which  was  at  that  time  in  a  state  of  almost  pri- 
meval wilderness.  They  journeyed  hither  by 
way  of  Toledo  and  the  Black  Swamp  with  teams 
and  passed  their  first  winter  in  what  is  now  Port- 
age township.  In  the  spring  ensuing  they  settled 
on  Grand  Prairie,  taking  up  a  tract  of  school 
land  on  which  they  built  a  log  cabin  and  then 
brought  out  the  rest  of  the  family.  There  were 
five  sons  and  three  daughters  in. the  household, 
all  of  whom  assisted  in  converting  their  wild  do- 
main into  a  productive  farm  and  comfortable 
home.  The  family  lived  on  that  tract  until  1849, 
when  they  sold  it  to  Mr.  Fletcher  and  bought 


3io 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


a  tract  adjoining  the  farm  now  owned  by  the 
elder  Parker's  grandsons.    On  the  new  purchase 
there  was  a  saw  mill  which  they  operated   for 
fifty  years,  it  being  the  first  steam  mill  in  this 
county.      On    this   farm  the  parents    died,    the 
mother  in  1852,  and  the  father  in  1861.    The  fa- 
ther served  in  the  war  of  181 2  in  an  Ohio  regi- 
ment, and  both  before  and  after  that  contest  saw 
much  active  service  in  fighting  Indians.     He  was 
with  General  Harrison  in  the  Maumee  valley  and 
elsewhere,  and  participated  in  all  the  trials  and 
triumphs  of  that  renowned  warrior.     He  was  a 
strong  abolitionist  and  Union  man,  and  made  his 
faith  manifest   in   active   support   of  his   convic- 
tions.    All  of  his  children  are  now  deceased  ex- 
cept his  son  Solomon,  who  lives  in  Cooper  town- 
ship, this  county.    The  son  James,  who  is  the  im- 
mediate subject  of  this  memoir,  grew  to  manhood 
amid  the  usual  conditions  of  the  frontier,  imbib- 
ing manly  self-reliance  and  love  of  independence 
from  nature  and  the  habits  incident  to  his  situa- 
tion, and  with  but  meager  opportunities  for  edu- 
cation     in      the      schools.      After      coming     to 
Michigan     with     his     father,     he     was     married 
in     1835     to     Miss     Eliza     Coats,     a     daughter 
of     Aquila     Coats,     who     became     a     resident 
of    Kalamazoo    township    in    1832,    locating    on 
the  farm  owned  by  Mr.  Parker  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  in  1852.     Mrs.  Parker  was  an  only  child, 
and   after   her   marriage    she   and    her   husband 
came  to  her  old  home  to  live,  and  in  time  inher- 
ited the  place.     Her  father  cleared  this  farm  and 
enlarged  his  original  entry  until  he  owned  two 
hundred  and  ten  acres,  on  which  he  died  in  1852. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Parker  had  six  children,  Elizabeth, 
wife  of  Andrew  Trisket,  of  Kalamazoo ;  Lydia, 
deceased ;    George,    living    on    the    home    farm ; 
Mattie,  also  resident  there;  James,  still  at  home, 
and  Moses,  deceased.     Their  mother  lived  until 
1 90 1,  when  she  died  at  the  age  of  ninety  years. 
The  Parkers  have  been  among  the  leading  farm- 
ers and  developers  of  this  county,  and  have  al- 
ways enjoyed  in  a  high  degree  the  respect  and 
good  will  of  its  people.     The  old  homestead  is 
still  in  their  possession,  and  each  generation  of 
them  has  maintained  the  position  in  public  esteem 
held  by  its  predecessor. 


WILLIAM  M.  BURTT. 

The    late    William    M.    Burtt,    a    prominent 
foundryman     and     iron     manufacturer     of    this 
county,  was  a  native  of  Connecticut,  born  on  No- 
vember  13,    1820,   and  the  son  of  William  and 
Adele  (Stephens)  Burtt,  also  natives  of  that  state. 
The  father  was  a  furnace  man  and  anchorsmith 
and  filled  some  very  high  and  responsible  posi- 
tions in  his  craft  at  Clintonville,  N.  Y.,  receiving 
for  a  number  of  years  a  compensation  of  three 
thousand  dollars  a  year  for  his  services.     About 
the  year  1854  he  came  to  this  state  in  company 
with  his  son,  .William  M.  Burtt,  and  started  an 
iron  industry  which  became  a  leading  enterprise 
in  Kalamazoo  and  the  surrounding  country  and 
grew  to  large  proportions.     His  history  is  told  at 
some  length  in  the  sketch  of  his  grandson,  Frank 
Burtt,    president    of    the    Burtt    Manufacturing 
Company  of  Kalamazoo,   which  appears  on  an- 
other page  of  this  volume.     He  died  during  the 
Civil  war,  leaving  two  sons  and  three  daughters 
all  now  dead  but  one  daughter.     His  son  William 
M.   grew  to  manhood  in  New  York  and  when 
about  thirty-four  years  of  age  accompanied  his 
father  to  Michigan  and  engaged  in  business  with 
him,    founding-  the   first   blast   furnace  and   iron 
factory  in  this  part  of  the  state,  in  which  both 
were  interested  until  the  death  of  the  father.     In 
1 86 1  Mr.  Burtt  bought  a  farm  south  of  Kalama- 
zoo on  which  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life, 
dying  there  on  September   16,    1895.     His  wife 
died   in   Kalamazoo    in    1861.      On   January    13, 
1847,  ne  was  married  to  Miss  Martha  L.  Thorn,  a 
native  of  Vermont,  who  bore  him  three  sons  and 
one  daughter,  all  of  whom  are  living.     They  are 
Charles  T.  Burtt,  now  living  in  Seattle,  Wash., 
James  M.  Burtt;  now  living  on  the  home  farm, 
Frank  Burtt,  of  Kalamazoo,  and  Helen  Martha 
Burtt,  who  lives  at  the  old  home  with  her  brother 
James.     Politically  the  father  was  a  Democrat, 
and  in  business  and  social  circles  he  was  well 
known  and  highly  esteemed.     He  and  his  father 
opened  up  a  new  industry  in  this  section,  bring- 
ing forth  out  of  the  earth  a  vast  amount  of  raw 
material  and  fashioning  it  into  marketable  com- 
modities, thus  quickening  and  enlarging  the  cur- 


WILLIAM   .M.   l'.L'RTT. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


313 


rents  of  commercial  life  in  this  region  and  giving 
employment  to  a  large  number  of  persons.  Their 
enterprise  was  successful  and  prosperous  from  the 
start,  and  turned  out  to  be  a  source  of  great  pros- 
perity and  benefit  to  the  city  in  which  it  was  con- 
ducted. In  all  the  relations  of  life  both  were  true 
to  the  best  traditions  and  models  of  American 
manhood,  thus  honoring  the  community  in  which 
they  lived  and  stimulating  by  their  examples  the 
development  of  the  same  qualities  in  others.  While 
thev  brought  with  them  to  Michigan  a  capital  of 
twenty  thousand  dollars  in  gold  and  skill  in  their 
craft,  this  was  not  their  best  endowment  for  the 
work  they  undertook  here.  That  was  found  in 
their  sterling  manhood,  their  commanding  enter- 
prise and  their  accurate  business  knowledge  and 
fine  public  spirit. 

HULBERT  SHERWOOD. 

On  June  19,  1900,  ended  the  life  of  this  es- 
timable citizen  and  enterprising  farmer,  sixty- 
seven  years  of  which  were  passed  in  this  state, 
and  forty-eight  of  them  on  the  farm  in  Cooper 
township  on  which  he  died  and  which  he  settled 
in  1852.  He  was  born  in  Monroe  county, 
N.  Y.,  on  February  11,  1822,  and  remained  there 
until  he  reached  the  age  of  eleven  years.  Then,  in 
1833,  ne  came  with  his  parents,  Labearce  and 
Sophia  (Noble)  Sherwood,  also  natives  of  New 
York,  to  Michigan,  making  the  trip  by  water  to 
Detroit.  There  ox  teams  were  purchased  and  the 
journey  was  completed  overland.  Along  this  try- 
ing portion  of  the  trip  Indians  and  deer  were  fre- 
quently seen  and  the  howl  of  the  wolf  often  heard. 
Man\'  miles  of  it  was  through  the  trackless  wil- 
derness, and  the  little  party  was  obliged  to  literally 
hew  its  way  through.  The  family  settled  in  Alle- 
gan county,  where  two  years  later  the  father  died. 
This  said  event  deprived  the  son  of  further  op- 
portunity for  schooling,  and  he  was  obliged  to  go 
on  with  almost  no  supplement  in  the  way  of  edu- 
cation to  the  elementary  training  he  had  received 
in  the  common  schools  of  his  native  state.  He 
assisted  his  older  brothers  in  clearing  the  home- 
stead until  he  was  twenty-two,  when  .he  began 
farming  for  himself  three  and  one-half  miles  west 
18 


of  the  village  of  Otsego,  he  having  a  few  years 
before  purchased  there  one  hundred  and  twenty 
acres  of  wild  land  on,  which  he  built  a  log  house. 
Here  he  remained  until  1849,  when  he  sold  the 
place  and  moved  to  his  final  home  in  Cooper 
township,  which  he  bought  three  years  later. 
When  he  took  up  his  residence  on  this  land  only 
ten  acres  of  it  had  been  cleared,  but  before  his 
death  he  cleared  all  the  rest  and  brought  the 
whole  tract  under  vigorous  cultivation.  He  also 
replaced  the  old  log  cabin  with  a  spacious  and 
comfortable  frame  dwelling  and  surrounded  it 
with  all  the  necessary  accessories  of  modern  farm 
life,  all  built  and  arranged  for  comfort  and  con- 
venience and  with  good  taste.  In  1844  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Philena  Drew,  a  native  of  Can- 
ada, who  died  three  years  later.  He  contracted  a 
second  marriage  with  Sarah  Spencer,  who 
died  in  the  same  year  and  in  1849  ne 
married  Miss  Annie  Crawford,  of  Canada, 
a  daughter  of  Robert  and  Cynthia  (Brown) 
Crawford,  the  former  born  in  Massachu- 
setts and  the  latter  in  New  York.  Mr.  Craw- 
ford, who  was  a  farmer,  located  at  an  early  day 
in  Canada  just  over  the  border  from  Vermont. 
Afterward  he  moved  to  Lawrence,  New  York, 
and  from  there  in  1849  to  Michigan.  He  died 
when  fifty  years  old  and  his  wife  passed  away  in 
Cooper  township  at  the  age  of  fifty-two.  Only 
one  of  their  nine  children  is  now  living.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Sherwood  were  the  parents  of  three 
children,  Viola,  wife  of  Charles  Newton,  of  South 
Haven ;  Caliste,  wife  of  John  Travis,  of  Ann  Ar- 
bor, and  Kirk,  who  lives  on  the  homestead.  Po- 
litically Mr.  Sherwood  was  a  Democrat,  but  he 
was  never  an  active  partisan.  He  and  his  wife 
were  attendants  of  the  Congregational  church  at 
Cooper  and  prominently  connected  with  the  best 
social  circles  of  the  community.  For  thirty-three 
years  he  was  an  earnest  and  enthusiastic  Mason. 
Kirk  N.  Sherwood,  the  only  son  of  Hulbert 
and  Annie  (Crawford)  Sherwood,  was  born  on 
the  home  farm,  which  he  now  operates,  on  De- 
cember 6,  1859.  He  was  reared  and  educated  in 
this  county  and  has  passed  the  whole  of  his  life 
so  far  on  the  place  of  his  present  residence,  and 
this  farm  he  has  worked  and  managed  from  his 


3H 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


young  manhood.  He  was  married  in  1882  to  Miss 
Nettie  McGregor,  also  a  native  of  Cooper  town- 
ship, who  died  in  1895,  leaving  one  child,  their 
son  Lloyd,  born  February  28,  1885.  The  father 
was  again  married  on  December  23,  1897,  choos- 
ing on  this  occasion  as  his  wife  Miss  Laura  De- 
lano, daughter  of  William  Delano,  now  dead. 
They  have  two  children,  their  son  Hulbert  A., 
born  October  30,  1901,  and  Viola  M.,  born  July 
31,  1905.  Mr.  Sherwood  has  filled  several  local 
offices,  among  them  that  of  justice  of  the  peace, 
which  he  has  administered  a  number  of  years  with s 
credit  to  himself  and  benefit  to  the  community. 
He  is  a  model  farmer  and  has  a  model  farm,  ap- 
plying to  his  work  on  it  the  results  of  his  exten- 
sive reading  and  close  observation  on  agricultural 
subjects,  studying  the  nature  of  his  soil  and  gen- 
erously meeting  its  requirements.  In  the  com- 
munity he  stands  well  on  -his  own  merits  inde- 
pendently of  the  high  standing  of  his  father,  and 
is  one  of  the  most  respected  citizens  of  the 
township. 

ANDREW  SNYDER. 

Andrew  Snyder,  one  of  the  best  known  and 
most  generally  esteemed  farmers  of  Cooper 
township,  this  county,  and  whose  home  is  on  the 
farm  on  which  he  settled  on  coming  to  the  county 
in  1864,  and  in  the  best  modern  brick  dwelling  in 
the  township,  which  he  built  when  he  moved 
here,  was  born  in  Columbia  county,  N.  Y.,  on 
September  29,  1829.  His  parents,  Henry  P.  and 
Catherine  (Diedrich)  Snyder,  were  also  natives 
of  Columbia  county,  N.  Y.,  and  of  German  an- 
cestry. They  were  farmers;  and  their  son  An- 
drew was  born  and  reared  on  the  paternal  home- 
stead. The  father  was  a  man  of  local  conse- 
quence and  intimately  acquainted  with  many  of 
the  leading  New  York  politicians  of  his  day.  He 
was  a  close  friend  of  President  Martin  Van  Bu- 
ren,  and  enjoyed  his  confidence  in  a  large  meas- 
ure. In  about  1846  the  family  moved  to  On- 
tario county,  N.  Y.  The  father  died  at  the  age 
of  sixty-eight  in  Orleans  county,  N.  Y.,  and  the 
mother  at  that  of  sixty-three  years.  They  had 
a  family  of  four  sons  and  six  daughters,  Andrew 
being  the  only  one  resident  in  this  county.  He  was 


reared  to  habits  of  useful  industry  on  the  home 
farm  and  received  a  country  boy's  usual  educa- 
tion in  the  district  schools.  In  his  native  stale 
he  farmed  until  1859,  then  became  a  resident  of 
Michigan,  locating  for  five  years  in  Washtenaw 
county.  At  the  end  of  that  period  he  moved  to 
Kalamazoo  county  and  settled  on  the  farm  which 
is  now  his  home  in  Cooper  township,  on  which 
he  erected  new  buildings  and  made  other  exten- 
sive and  valuable  improvements,  building  the 
best  brick  dwelling  and  making  his  farm  one  of 
the  most  attractive  in  the  township.  He  was 
married  in  1855,  in  New  York,  to  Miss  Marv 
C.  Huff,  of  Orleans  county.  They  have  one 
child,  their  son  Fred  E.  Snyder,  who  is  working 
the  farm.  True  to  their  German  ancestry  and 
the  busy  section  of  country  in  which  they 
were  bred,  the  Snyders  have  shown  great 
thrift  and  enterprise  in  their  life  work  here, 
being  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  the 
best  results  attainable  in  their  situation  and 
making  every  proper  effort  to  secure  them. 
Their  farm  is  a  model  of  high  cultivation  and 
skillful  management  and  its  improvements  are 
examples  of  good  taste  and  progressive  ideas 
well  worked  out.  In  their  devotion  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  section  in  which  they  live  they  have 
given  a  stimulus  to  every  phase  of  local  advance- 
ment and  substantial  contributions  of  time,  en- 
ergy, counsel  and  material  aid  to  promote  it 
Throughout  the  township  they  are  held  in  high 
esteem  as  worthy  and  representative  citizens  who 
have  made  much  of  their  conditions  and  aided 
others  to  do  the  same. 

CHARLES  G.  CROOKS. 

Among  the  early  settlers  of  Kalamazoo 
county,  the  men  of  its  heroic  age,  who  waged  the 
first  battle  in  its  conquest  from  the  wilderness, 
were  George,  Chester  and  Samuel  Crooks,  of 
Ontario  county,  N.  Y.,  who  came  hither  in  1833 
and  prospected  for  sites  for  future  homes  in 
Comstock  township.  The  first  named  was  a  na- 
tive of  Livingston  county,  N.  Y.,  and  his  wife 
was  Martha  (Johnson)  Crooks,  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont.   He  came  into  the  county  in  1832  and  en- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


3i5 


tered  a  tract  of  government  land  in  Portage 
township  near  Indian  Fields.  The  next  year  he 
brought  his  family  by  water  to  Detroit  and  with 
teams  of  oxen  through  the  dense  forest  and  over 
the  untrodden  swamps,  often  making  their  road 
as  they  advanced,  and  settled  them  on  the  land 
he  had  entered.  This  he  cleared  and  made  into 
a  good  farm,  after  which  he  moved  to  Comstock 
township,  and  there  repeated  his  performance, 
holding  the  plow  in  breaking  up  more  than  four 
hundred  acres  in  all.  He  and  his  wife  died  in 
Kalamazoo  township,  he  passing  away  about  the 
vear  1884,  and  his  wife  some  years  earlier.  They 
had  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  now  de- 
ceased but  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  One  of 
the  living  sons,  William  Crooks,  was  born  in  this 
county,  and  is  still  living  here,  pleasantly  located 
on  a  farm  in  Kalamazoo  township,  which  he  pur- 
chased many  years  ago.  He  was  reared  in  the 
county,  and  has  been  connected  with  its  farming 
industry  from  his  birth,  and  received  all  of  his 
scholastic  training  in  its  district  schools.  He  re- 
mained with  his  father  until  the  death  of  the  lat- 
ter, then  settled  on  the  land  which  is  now  his 
home.  His  wife  was  Miss  Fannie  Burdick  be- 
fore her  marriage,  and  she  is  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont. They  were  married  in  this  county,  and 
have  three  sons  and  one  daughter,  all  residents 
of  the  county  except  one  son.  Two  of  the  fa- 
ther's brothers  fought  for  the  Union  in  the  Civil 
war,  being  members  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Michi- 
gan Infantry.  His  son  Charles  G.  Crooks,  the 
immediate  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in 
Kalamazoo  township  on  October  4,  1864,  and  re- 
mained at  home  until  he  reached  the  age  of  thir- 
ty-five years,  then  moved  to  where  he  now  lives, 
in  Comstock  township.  This  property  he  has 
greatly  improved  and  wisely  cultivated,  and  has 
found  in  his  profitable  labors  on  it  both  pecuniary 
reward  and  the  gratification  of  his  taste  for  ad- 
vanced agricultural  pursuits.  He  was  married  in 
1890  to  Miss  Carrie  Farley,  a  daughter  of  John 
and  Sarah  (Richfield)  Farley,  both  natives  of 
this  county.  Their  parents  settled  here  about 
J840  and  were  among  the  pioneers.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Charles  Crooks  have  four  children,  Lela, 
Gale,  Walter  and  Zell.     A  few  years  ago  Mr. 


Crooks  was  elected  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  he 
is  still  filling  the  office  with  credit  to  himself  and 
satisfaction  to  the  people.  Politically  he  is  a  Re- 
publican, but  he  has  never  been  an  active  parti- 
san. As  an  independent,  upright  and  highminded 
citizen,  he  is  well  esteemed,  and  as  a  public  offi- 
cial he  is  regarded  as  capable,  careful  and 
straightforward. 

JOHN  P.  CAMPBELL. 

While  we  can  not  deny  that  circumstances 
have  much  to  do  with  the  formation  of  character 
in  a  man  and  shaping  his  destiny,  it  is  equally  true 
that  heredity  is  a  potent  factor  in  the  case,  and 
that  one  inherits  from  his  ancestors  much  of 
what  he  is  and  is  capable  of.  When  a  long  line 
of  forceful  and  distinguished  forefathers,  reach- 
ing back  almost  beyond  legitimate  history  into 
the  twilight  of  fable,  stands  to  the  credit  of  a 
man,  he  is  almost  sure  to  exhibit  in  his  make-up 
and  career  many  of  their  salient  characteristics, 
and  himself  achieve,  in  any  environment,  the 
mastership  in  his  day  which  they  won  in  theirs. 
The  late  John  P.  Campbell,  of  Comstock  town- 
ship, this  county,  is  a  striking  illustration  of  this 
fact.  He  could  trace  his  ancestry  back  in  an 
unbroken  line  to  the  renowned  Dun  Tron  family 
in  the  clan  of  the  Campbells  of  Scotland,  and  was 
himself  born  on  the  soil  they  made  famous  in 
the  Scottish  wars,  coming  into  the  world  on  Feb- 
ruary 18,  181 1.  And,  although  he  had  none  of 
the  favors  of  fortune  at  his  command,  and  was 
obliged  to  make  his  own  way  in  the  world  from 
an  early  age,  he  showed  throughout  his  enter- 
prising and  useful  life  the  qualities  for  which 
they  were  renowned — prudence,  strength  of  will 
and  purpose,  courage  for  every  trial,  constancy 
in  every  difficulty,  methodical  business  habits, 
and  a  positive  self-reliance  under  all  circum- 
stances— making  weapons  and  wings  for  his 
progress  out  of  all  retarding  forces,  realizing  al- 
ways the  force  of  his  family  history,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  significance  of  the  individual,  the 
grandeur  of  duty  and  the  power  of  character. 
His  parents  were  Peter  and  Elizabeth  (McAr- 
thur)    Campbell,  both  natives   of  Scotland,  the 


316 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


latter  born  in  Perthshire,  where  her  family  lived 
for  many  generations.  The  father  was  a  farmer 
and  also  a  cabinetmaker.  He  died  in  his  native 
place  at  the  age  of  fifty  years.  One  of  his  broth- 
ers, John  Campbell,  was  a  captain  in  the  British 
army  during  the  American  Revolution,  and  bore 
himself  gallantly  in  the  contest  with  the  revolting 
colonies.  Peter  Campbell  and  his  wife  were 
the  parents  of  seven  children,  six  of  whom  grew 
to  maturity  and  lived  to  good  old  ages,  Donald, 
who  died  at  eighty-four ;  Grace,  at  seventy-eight ; 
Duncan,  at  seventy-six ;  Catherine,  at  seventy- 
seven;  Christina,  at  seventy-six;  and  John  P., 
the  fifth  in  the  order  of  birth,  at  eighty-nine, 
passing  away  on  April  29,  1900.  His  remains 
were  buried  in  Riverside  cemetery,  Kalamazoo. 
At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  went  to  live  with  an 
uncle  in  his  native  land,  and  six  years  later  be- 
gan business  for  himself,  buying  and  selling  cat- 
tle, and  renting  two  farms  as  a  further  venture. 
He  was  occupied  in  farming  and  the  cattle  in- 
dustry in  Scotland  until  1850,  when  he  crossed 
the  Atlantic  to  this  continent,  and  after  spending 
two  years  at  Montreal,  Canada,  he  moved  to 
Caledonia,  N.  Y.,  where  he  lived  three  years.  In 
1855  he  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  and  bought 
a  farm  in  Comstock  township. on  which  he  passed 
the  rest  of  his  life.  His  farm  comprised  four 
hundred  and  ninety-three  acres  of  well-improved 
land,  and  was  fully  stocked  with  horses,  cat- 
tle and  sheep  of  the  finest  breeds.  In  addition  to 
this  farm  he  had,  at  his  death,  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  choice  land  in  Sheriden  township, 
Newaygo  county,  and  both  were  managed  with 
the  utmost  skill  and  vigor,  and  improved  with 
good  taste  and  considerable  cost.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  Richland  township,  this  county,  on  De- 
cember 29,  1862,  to  Miss  Jeannette  Redpath,  a 
daughter  of  Robert  and  Christina  (Purvis)  Red- 
path,  and  a  native  of  Roxburgshire,  Scotland, 
born  on  July  27,  1840,  the  third  daughter  and 
sixth  child  of  her  parents.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Camp- 
bell had  two  children,  their  daughter  Elizabeth 
R.  and  their  son  Peter  J.  The  latter  is 
now  in  charge  of  the  home  farm,  and  was 
prepared  for  life's  duties  by  a  district-school 
education     and     a     course     at     Parson's     Busi- 


ness College  in  Kalamazoo.  He  has  given 
his  attention  to  farming  since  leaving  school, 
and  is  conducting  the  business  with  the  force 
and  good  judgment  for  which  his  father  was 
noted.  He  has  taken  an  interest  in  the  cause 
of  public  education.  On  September  28,  1904,  he 
married  Miss  Mary  Louise  Schlobohm,  of  Kala- 
mazoo township,  this  county,  and  they  have  one 
daughter.  The  mother  still  has  her  home  on  the 
farm.  She  has  long  been  a  resident  of  the 
county,  coming  to  Richland  township  with  her 
parents  in  1858.  They  died  some  years  ago,  but 
three  of  their  sons  and  one  daughter  are  living. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Campbell  united  with  the  Presby- 
terian church  many  years  ago.  Mr.  Campbell 
was  a  devoutly  religious  man,  and  performed 
one  part  of  his  duties  in  this  regard  by  reading 
the  Bible  through  once  every  year.  He  was 
highly  respected  in  life  and  deeply  mourned  in 
death.  His  son  has  succeeded  to  the  esteem 
which  he  enjoyed  in  the  community,  and  is  one 
of  the  rising  young  men  of  the  township. 

HENRY  CHENERY. 

This  well  known  and  highly  respected  farmer 
of  Comstock  township  is  a  product  of  "merrie 
England,"  where  he  was  born  in  1825,  and  where 
his  parents,  John  and  Mary  (Mison)  Chenery, 
were  also  native.  They  came  to  the  United 
States  about  1844,  and  located  in  New  Hamp- 
shire. Ten  years  later  they  moved  to  Kalama- 
zoo county,  where  they  lived  usefully  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  and  then  laid  down  their  labors 
with  the  assurance  that  they  had  performed  with 
diligence  and  fidelity  the  tasks  allotted  to  them, 
and  left  no  blemish  on  their  fair  names.  Their 
son  Henry  remained  in  his  native  land  until  1847, 
working  at  his  trade  as  a  wool  comber,  after  ob- 
taining his  education  at  the  common  schools.  In 
the  year  last  named  he  followed  his  parents  to 
this  country  and  joined  them  in  New  Hampshire. 
In  1851  the  song  of  the  golden  siren  of  Califor- 
nia lured  him  to  that  state,  to  which  he  took  the 
isthmus  route,  and  in  which  he  remained  two 
years  engaged  in  mining.  Returning  at  the  end 
of  that  period  to  New  Hampshire  he  lived  there 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


3i7 


until  1854,  then  came  to  this  county,  and,  in 
company  with  his  brothers,  bought  a  farm  of 
w;id  and  densely  covered  timber  land.  They 
cleared  this  and  cultivated  and  improved  it  into 
a  line  farm,  and  Mr.  Chenery  lived  on  it  until 
1878  or  1879,  when  he  bought  his  present  farm, 
which  was  at  the  time  also  in  a  state  of  unbroken 
nature  and  covered  with  the  growth  of  ages.  He 
has  cleared  all  his  land  and  made  it  valuable 
with  good  buildings  and  other  improvements, 
and  the  high  condition  of  fertility  and  produc- 
tiveness to  which  he  has  brought  it.  Content 
with  his  chosen  vocation  and  the  returns  he  has 
received  from  it,  he  has  taken  no  active  part  in 
political  contentions,  but  he  has  never  withheld 
his  interest  or  shirked  his  duty  in  reference  to 
local  affairs  of  general  public  concern.  He  has 
reached  an  advanced  age  among  this  people,  by 
all  of  whom  he  is  well  esteemed,  and  the  fifty 
years  of  his  active  life  he  has  passed  among 
them  have  ministered  to  their  benefit  and  won 
their  warm  approval  of  his  worth  and  usefulness. 
Now,  on  the  verge  of  four-score  years,  he  is  ven- 
erated as  one  of  the  patriarchs  of  the  section 
whose  force  of  character  and  unvarying  interest 
in  every  element  of  growth  and  improvement 
have  been  of  very  material  aid  in  making  it  what 
it  is.  He  saw  the  region  in  the  early  morning  of 
its  civilization,  and  sees  it  now  in  the  high  noon 
of  its  progress,  an  enduring  memorial  to  the 
wisdom,  breadth  of  view  and  enterprise  of  its 
founders  and  builders,  with  the  pleasing  assur- 
ance of  having  done  his  part  toward  securing  the 
result.  He  was  married  in  New  Hampshire,  in 
1849,  to  Miss  Ann  Rayner,  a  native  of  York- 
shire, England,  who  died  on  February  4,  1904, 
leaving  three  children,  their  daughter  Mary  E., 
and  their  sons  Samuel  and  Albert,  all  of  whom 
are  yet  living  as  worthy  followers  of  the  good 
example  given  them  by  their  parents. 

GEORGE  CLARK. 

George  Clark,  one  of  the  oldest  citizens  of 
Kalamazoo  county,  and  one  whose  fellow  citizens 
esteem  with  a  cordial  regard  for  his  personal 
worth  and  his  excellent  citizenship  and  services 


to  his  country  in  peace  and  war,  is  a  native  of 
the  county,  born  in  Richland  township  on  June 
2,  1845.  His  parents  were  George  and  Clarissa 
C.  (Bogardus)  Clark,  the  father  a  native  of  Eng- 
land and  the  mother  of  Pennsylvania.  The  father 
came  to  the  United  States  a  young  man  and  set- 
tled in  this  county  late  in  the  '30s,  buying  eighty 
acres  of  wild  land  in  Richland  township  when 
there  were  but  few  settlers  in  that  region.  On 
this  farm  he  and  his  wife  lived  until  death  ended 
their  labors,  he  dying  in  1847  an(i  she  one  year 
later.  They  had  a  family  of  three  sons  and  one 
daughter,  all  of  whom  are  living  but  one  of  the 
sons.  Their  son  George  reached  man's  estate  in 
his  native  township  with  his  home  on  the  paternal 
estate,  and  was  educated  at  the  district  schools, 
primitive  in  character,  meager  in  equipment  and 
widely  scattered  in  his  day.  He  began  life  for 
himself  as  a  farmer  and  followed  this  vocation 
until  October,  1863,  when  he  joined  the  vol- 
unteers defending  the  Union  as  a  member 
of  Company  D,  Eleventh  Michigan  Cavalry. 
His  regiment  became  a  part  of  the  Army 
of  the  Cumberland,  and  was  at  once  plunged 
in  the  thick  of  the  fight,  participating  in 
many  notable  engagements,  and  sharing  the 
common  fate  of  war,  alternate  victory  and  de- 
feat. Among  the  battles  in  which  Mr.  Clark  took 
part  were  those  at  Pound  Gap,  Mount  Sterling, 
Lexington  and  Georgetown,  Ky.,  the  various 
conflicts  incident  to  Morgan's  raid,  the  fights 
at  Saltville,  Morristown,  Wytheville  and  Chris- 
tianburg,  Va. ;  Clinch  River,  Tenn.,  and  Yadkin 
River,  Salisbury,  Morgantown  and  Asheville, 
N.  C.  He  was  mustered  out  of  the  service 
in  September,  1865,  with  the  rank  of  cor- 
poral. Returning  then  to  this  county,  he 
farmed  here  two  years,  then  went  to  Iowa  and 
there  engaged  in  the  same  pursuit  for  a  similar 
period.  At  the  end  of  that  time  he  again  re- 
turned to  this  county  and  took  charge  of  the 
home  farm.  Some  little  time  afterward  he  en- 
tered the  employ  of  the  Grand  Rapids-&  Indiana 
Railroad  in  the  engineering  department,  where 
he  served  two  years.  After  that  he  became  more 
closely  associated  with  the  road  and  ran  summer 
trains  for  a  while,  then  aided  in  building  a  con- 


3i8 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


siderable  part  of  its  branch  lines  in  northern 
Michigan.  When  he  quit  the  railroad  service  he 
bought  the  Lardner  farm  and  after  working  it 
until  1899  sold  it  and  purchased  his  present 
home  just  east  of  the  city.  He  was  married  in 
this  county  in  1874  to  Miss  Annie  M.  Stacy.  They 
have  three  children,  George  W.,  Roy  W.  and  May 
A.  Their  mother  died  in  1889.  Her  parents  came 
from  Canada  and  her  father  was  for  many  years 
the  leader  of  the  Kalamazoo  band.  In  1892  Mr. 
Clark  married  a  second  wife,  Mrs.  Amelia  M. 
Huntley,  a  native  of  Ohio.  Politically  he  supports 
the  Republican  party,  but  he  has  never  been  an 
active  politician.  Fraternally  he  belongs  only 
to  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  in  church 
affiliation  he  and  his  wife  are  Methodists. 

WILLIAM  B.  VOSBURG. 

Ex-sheriff  and  well  known  as  a  leading  and 
progressive  citizen  of  Kalamazoo  county,  Wil- 
liam B.  Vosburg,  in  his  residence  of  nearly  forty 
years  in  this  community,  well  sustained  the  repu- 
tation of  his  ancestors  for  uprightness  and  force- 
ful manhood  and  that  of  the  region  in  which  he 
was  born  and  reared  for  enterprise  and  success- 
ful grappling  with  the  problems  of  life.  He  is  a 
native  of  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  born  on  Sep- 
tember 17,  1843,  and  the  son  of  Henry  and  Sarah 
A.  (Lyboult)  Vosburg,  also  born  in  the  state  of 
New  York.  His  father  was  for  many  years  a 
farmer,  and  in  later  life  a  grocer  at  Nine  Mile 
Lock,  west  of  Syracuse,  and  afterward  at  New- 
port, in  his  native  state.  He  died  at  Newport  in 
1850  and  his  wife  at  Syracuse  in  1902.  They  had 
a  family  of  four  daughters  and  two  sons,  William 
being  the  only  one  of  the  six  resident  in  this 
county.  His  grandfather  emigrated  to  this  coun- 
try from  Holland  and  settled  in  New  York  state, 
where  he  and  his  wife  passed  the  rest  of  their 
lives.  His  name  was  Cobas  Vosburg,  and  he  is 
well  remembered  in  the  neighborhood  of  Syra- 
cuse as  a  man  of  high  character,  fine  mental  de- 
velopment and  patriotic  devotion  to  the  land  of 
his  adoption.  William  B.  Vosburg  was  reared 
and  educated  in  his  native  state,  and  re- 
mained   there    until    1865,    when    he    came    to 


Michigan  and  located  at  Kalamazoo.  Here 
he  found  employment  in  various  lines  from 
time  to  time,  and  being  handy  and  ca- 
pable, and  withal  willing  to  work  at  whatever 
was  upright  and  renumerative,  was  never  with- 
out a  job  of  some  worthy  kind.  He  was  employed 
for  a  time  by  Thomas  Sherwood  and  afterward 
by  many  other  men,  sometimes  in  farm  work  and 
oftener  in  other  occupations.  For  a  number  of 
years  he  was  engaged  in  farming  for  himself  un- 
til 1892,  when  he  was  elected  sheriff  of  the 
county,  and  at  the  end  of  his  term  in  1894  he  was 
re-elected,  serving  four  years  in  all.  Prior  to 
this  he  had  served  two  years  as  township  treas- 
urer. He  was  married  in  1865, before  leaving  New 
York,  to  Miss  Margaret  Brown,  of  the  same  na- 
tivity as  himself,  a  daughter  of  John  Brown,  of 
Onondaga  county.  They  have  had  three  children, 
two  of  whom  are  living,  Edwin  W.,  of  Kalamazoo 
township,  and  Jessie  M.,  wife  of  C.  W.  Hudson, 
also  of  this  township.  Recently  Mr.  Vosburg 
disposed  of  his  farm  here  and  moved  to  Los  An- 
geles, Calif.,  expecting  to  make  that  his  future 
home.  He  has  been  a  life-long  Republican,  and 
has  given  to  the  success  of  his  party  on  all  occa- 
sions a  close  attention  and  serviceable  aid.  In  the 
local  affairs  of  the  county  he  was  energetic  and 
potential  for  good ;  in  his  fraternal  life  he  took 
an  active  part  as  a  Freemason  and  an  Elk ;  and 
in  social  circles  he  was  popular  and  well  esteemed 
as  a  genial  and  companionable  gentleman,  with 
a  large  fund  of  pleasing  and  profitable  general 
information  and  entertaining  powers  of  a  high 
order. 

ALLEN    C.    TRIPP. 

One  of  the  retired  farmers  of  Pavilion  town- 
ship, this  county,  whose  name  is  a  household 
word  throughout  the  county,  and  in  all  parts  of 
which  he  is  highly  respected,  Allen  C.  Tripp,  who 
now  lives  on  Portage  street,  in  Kalamazoo,  has 
had  a  long  and  eventful  life  in  this  county,  coming 
here  in  the  early  days  when  the  wilderness  was 
still  unpeopled,  and  becoming  a  pioneer  in  both 
Portage  and  Pavilion  townships,  then  taking  an 
active  part  in  building  up  the  section  and  re- 
ducing it  to  civilization  and  fruitfulness.    He  was 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


319 


born  in  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  on  July 
2,  1842,  and  is  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Lucretia 
(Robinson)  Tripp,  natives  of  Massachusetts.  The 
fattier  was  a  farmer  and  moved  with  his  parents 
in  early  life  to  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y., 
where  they  cleared  a  farm  in  the  frontier  regions 
of  the  state.  William  Tripp,  the  grandfather, 
afterward  came  to  Michigan  and  bought  a  large 
tract  of  land,  but  ere  long  returned  to  his  New 
York  home,  where  he  died,  as  did  his  son  Samuel, 
the  father  of  Allen  C.  There  were  three  sons  and 
three  daughters  in  the  family  of  Samuel,  all  of 
whom  are  living  but  two,  Allen  being  the  only 
member  of  the  family  resident  in  this  state.  He 
was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native  state,  and 
there  learned  his  trade  as  a  cooper,  working  at  it 
and  farming  there. for  a  number  of  years.  In 
1 86 1  he  came  to  Kalamazoo  and  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  Merrill  &  Chase,  taking  a  contract  to  fur- 
nish all  the  flour  barrels  they  used.  While  work- 
ing for  them  he  bought  land  in  Pavilion  town- 
ship, which  was  partially  improved  at  the  time 
of  his  purchase,  and  which  he  still  owns  and 
has  greatly  improved  since.  He  moved  to  this 
farm  and  lived  on  it  until  1901,  when  he  de- 
termined to  retire  from  active  work,  and  to  this 
end  bought  a  pleasant  home  in  Kalamazoo,  at 
which  he  now  lives.  He  put  up  all  the  buildings 
on  his  farm,  which  is  one  of  the  best  and  most 
highly  improved  in  the  county.  In  1862  he  was 
married,  in  Kalamazoo,  to  Miss  Sarah  Kilgore, 
a  sister  of  Hiram  Kilgore,  a  sketch  of  whom  will 
he  found  on  another  page.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tripp 
have  had  four  children,  two  of  whom  are  living, 
their  son,  Lewis  J.,  a  resident  of  northern  Michi- 
gan, who  is  married  and  has  two  children,  and 
their  son  Joseph,  who  is  also  married  and  has 
two  children,  and  resides  on  the  home  farm.  Mr. 
IVipp  is  a  Democrat  in  politics,  and  has  often 
been  nominated  for  local  offices,  but  as  he  lived  in 
a  Republican  stronghold,  he  has  not  always  been 
successful  at  the  polls.  His  life  in  the  county 
spans  the  period  between  the  early  days  of  wild 
frontier  life  and  the  present  state  of  advancement, 
and  he  has  done  his  share  in  helping  to  bring 
about  the  gratifying  changes  he  has  witnessed.  As 
a  good  citizen,  always  ready  to  aid  in  every  laud- 


able undertaking  for  the  substantial  good  of  his 
township  and  the  county,  he  enjoys  the  respect 
of  the  people  everywhere. 

IRA  M.  PEAKE. 

The  section  of  country  in  which  this  enter- 
prising and  prosperous  farmer  was  born,  on  June 
3,  1850,  was  literally  a  howling  wilderness,  its 
virgin  forests  of  many  centuries  standing  having 
never  yet  felt  the  keen  edge  of  the  woodman's 
ax,  and  their  deep  shades  still  resounding  with 
the  appalling  outcries  of  beasts  of  prey  alternated 
at  times  with  the  war-whoop  of  the  savage  red 
man.  The  place  of  his  nativity  was  Richland 
township,  this  county,  and  although  its  settlement 
had  begun  some  twenty  years  before,  but  only 
slight  indentations  has  been  made  in  the  wild 
woods  and  blooming  prairies,  and  all  that  civiliza- 
tion covets  and  the  genius  of  man  accomplishes 
was  practically  yet  to  be  brought  forth  in  this 
now  beautiful  and  prolific  region.  His  parents, 
Ira  and  Sarah  (Miller)  Peake,  the  former  a  na- 
tive of  Vermont  and  the  latter  of  Cennecticut,  had 
come  to  this  wilderness  from  their  New  England 
home  a  few  years  previously,  and  had  established 
themselves  in  such  comfort  as  circumstances  al- 
lowed on  two  hundred  and  ten  acres  of  land  on 
which  they  found  an  old  log  cabin  the  only 
monument  of  a  white  man's  earlier  presence.  They 
were  prepared,  however,  for  hard  conditions  and 
great  privations,  and  journeyed  to  their  new 
home  in  a  manner  which  proved  that  they  had 
the  spirit  to  confront  and  conquer  them,  making 
the  long  and  trying  trip  most  of  the  way  across 
one-third  of  the  continent  with  ox  teams.  The 
father  cleared  his  land  and  in  time  provided  it 
with  good  and  sufficient  buildings  and  other 
structures  for  his  purpose,  meanwhile  winning  it 
with  patient  and  persevering  industry  to  produc- 
tiveness and  beauty  as  a  home.  Here  the  mother 
died  in  i860,  and  of  her  two  sons  and  five  daugh- 
ters all  are  yet  living  but  three  of  the  daughters. 
The  father  married  as  his  second  wife  Mrs.  Caro- 
line Smith.  He  died  at  Richland  in  1884,  and 
she  in  September,  1904,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
seven.    The  father  was  of  Quaker  parentage  and 


320 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


throughout  his  life  he  practiced  the  benign  and 
peaceful  tenets  of  that  sect,  securing  the  regard  of 
all  who  knew  him,  and  taking  rank  as  one  of  the 
leading  citizens  of  the  township  by  his  active  ef- 
forts to  promote  its  enduring  welfare.  The  son 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  the  town- 
ship and  at  Prairie  Seminary,  passing  his  sum- 
mers in  useful  labor  on  the  farm  and  aiding  with 
all  his  powers  to  make  it  what  it  is.  The  efforts 
thus  early  begun  he  has  continued  until  now,  and 
every  year  has  shown  substantial  improvement  in 
the  character  and  value  of  the  place.  He  was 
married  in  1872  to  Miss  Jean  Thompson,  a  native 
of  Portage  county,  Ohio.  They  have  no  children. 
Mr.  Peake  has  never  been  an  active  partisan  in 
political  affairs,  and  has  never  sought  public  office 
of  any  kind.  But  his  well  known  fitness  and  a 
determined  demand  from  his  fellow  citizens 
obliged  him  to  «ccept  the  position  of  township 
treasurer  for  one  term  of  two  years  and  that  of 
highway  commissioner  on  another  occasion.  He 
takes  an  active  interest  in  the  general  advance- 
ment of  the  township,  and  in  aid  of  its 
business  interests  he  was  ,a  stockholder  in  the 
Richland  Bank  and  one  of  its  directors.  His  retro- 
spect of  the  region  covers  the  whole  period  from 
the  dawn  of  its  civilization  to  its  present  advanced 
development,  and  many  thrilling  episodes  of  great 
interest.  In  bringing  about  the  change  he  has 
borne  his  full  share  of  toil  and  trial,  and  now 
finds  that  his  labors  have  not  been  for  naught. 

NEHEMIAH    CHASE. 

One  of  the  highly  respected  citizens  of  Kala- 
mazoo, who  has  for  many  years  been  actively 
engaged  in  the  promotion  of  its  industrial  and 
commercial  life,  Nehemiah  Chase,  is  a  native  of 
Washtenaw  county,  N.  Y.,  born  on  February  18, 
1833.  His  parents  were  David  and  Eliza 
^ Leonard)  Chase,  also  natives  of  the  Empire 
state  and  members  of  the  society  of  Friends.  The 
father  was  a  farmer  and  came  alone  to  Michigan 
about  the  year  1830,  leaving  his  family  at  their 
New  York  home.  He  purchased  a  tract  of  wild 
land  near  Ann  Arbor  on  which  he  settled  and 
went  to  work.     In   1836  the  rest  of  the  family 


came  to  this  state  and,  joining  in  his  efforts  to 
clear  the  land  and  make  it  productive,  they  soon 
had  a  comfortable  home  in  the  wilderness  and  one 
full  of  promise  for  future  fertility  and  increasing 
value.  In  1852  they  moved  to  Kalamazoo  and 
the  following  year  to  Allegan  county,  where  they 
had  bought  another  farm.  There  the  parents 
died.  They  had  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 
Of  these  only  Mr.  Chase  of  this  sketch  and  one  of 
his  sisters  are  living.  He  grew  to  maturity  in  this 
state  and  in  its  schools,  primitive  and  of  narrow 
scope  in  his  day,  received  a  limited  education.  He 
labored  hard  and  diligently  in  the  interest  of  his 
parents,  clearing  up  and  cultivating  the  farm, 
enduring  patiently  many  hardships  and  privations 
incident  to  frontier  life.  In  1852  he  moved  to 
Kalamazoo  and  entered  the  employ  of  a  firm  man- 
ufacturing agricultural  implements,  remaining 
with  the  establishment  two  years  as  salesman  in 
this  state.  In  1858  he  started  an  enterprise  of  his 
own  in  the  manufacture  of  fanning  mills,  milk 
safes  and  straw  cutters,  and  the  next  year  he  came 
to  Kalamazoo  and  built  a  small  factory  for  the 
purpose.  Tne  business  grew  gradually  into  larger 
proportions,  '  necessitating  a  corresponding  in- 
crease in  the  factory  and  its  equipment,  and  was 
continued  until  1888,  during  a  part  of  the  time 
Dewing  &  Sons  being  in  partnership  with  him. 
He  was  also  interested  with  Messrs.  Taylor  & 
Henry  in  the  manufacture  of  spring-tooth  har- 
rows and  steel  goods,  a  line  in  which  he  continued 
some  years.  He  is  now  interested  in  the  Corn- 
stock  Manufacturing  Company,  makers  of  steam 
engines,  he  being  president  of  the  company.  In 
other  enterprises  of  great  value  to  the  community 
and  vitally  affecting  its  commercial  welfare  he 
has  been  very  serviceable,  being  a  director  of  the 
First  National,  the  Kalamazoo  National  and  the 
Home  Savings  banks.  In  1890  Mr.  Chase  erected 
the  Chase  block  on  the  corner  of  Rose  and  Main 
streets,  which  has  a  frontage  of  eighty-three  feet 
by  one  hundred  and  thirty-three,  five  stories  high, 
devoted  to  offices  and  business  rooms.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1856,  he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Sarah  Baird,  a  native  of  Wayne  county,  N.  Y., 
daughter  of  Josiah  W.  and  Mary  (Allen)  Baird, 
natives  of  New  York  who  came  to  Michigan  in 


NEHEMIAH    CHASE. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


323 


1844  and  settled  in  Allegan  county,  where  they 
both  died.  They  were  farmers.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Chase  have  had  nine  children,  six  of  whom  are 
living:  Almeda,  wife  of  V.  T.  Barker,  of  Kala- 
mazoo; Jennie  E.,  wife  of  E.  E.  Ford,  now  of 
Detroit;  Alice  D.,  wife  of  E.  F.  Hawkins,  of  Cali- 
fornia; James  B.,  Edwin  W.  and  Jay  G.,  all  of 
Kalamazoo,  James  B.  and  Jay  G.  being  in  busi- 
ness with  their  father.  Mr.  Chase  is  a  Republi- 
can in  politics,  an  Odd  Fellow  in  fraternal  life 
;uul  he  and  his  wife  are  Presbyterians  in  church 
membership. 

DR.  JOHN  M.  RANKIN. 

This  eminent  physician  and  well  known 
druggist  of  Richland,  this  county,  is  a  native  of 
the  rich  and  progressive  county  of  Franklin,  Pa., 
where  he  was  born  on  February  12,  1833,  and 
has  applied  in  his  professional  and  mercantile  ca- 
reer the  lessons  of  thrift,  industry  and  enterprise 
which  he  learned  in  the  great  hive  of  labor  of  his 
nativity.  He  is  the  son  of  James  H.  and  "Mar- 
garet (McCurdy)  Rankin,  who  were  also  natives 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  were  life-long  residents  of 
that  state.  They  had  four  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters, all  now  deceased  but  three  of  the  sons  and 
one  daughter,  the  Doctor  being  the  only  one  liv- 
ing in  this  state.  His  scholastic  training  was  se- 
cured in  the  district  schools  and  at  Millnwood 
Academy.  For  a  few  years  after  leaving  this  in- 
stitution he  was  occupied  in  farming,  but  in  1855 
began  reading  medicine  and  some  time  later  en- 
tered Jefferson  Medical  College  in  Philadelphia, 
where  he  spent  the  winters  of  1855  anc^  I^5^.  In 
1858  he  moved  to  Illinois,  and  until  1863  he  prac- 
ticed his  profession  in  that  state,  when  he  re- 
turned to  Pennsylvania.  The  winter  of  1862-3 
was  passed  by  him  at  Rush  Medical  College  in 
Chicago,  and'  he  was  graduated  from  that  insti- 
tution in  the  spring  of  1863.  From  then  until 
February,  1865,  he  practiced  in  Clarion  county, 
Pa.,  and  on  the  date  last  given  he  enlisted  as  as- 
sistant surgeon  in  the  Eleventh  Pennsylvania  In- 
fantry. He  was  six  months  in  the  Civil  war,  with 
the  Fifth  Army  Corps  in  Virginia,  and  was  at  the 
battles  of  Hatcher's  Run  and  Five  Forks  and  the 


surrender  at  Appomattox.  Soon  after  the  close 
of  the  war  he  left  Pennsylvania  and  returned  to 
Areola,  Douglas  county,  111.,  where  he  remained 
until  1870,  then  moved  to  Plainwell,  Mich.,  and 
there  he  was  engaged  in  the  drug  trade  until 
1872.  In  that  year  he  located  at  Richland,  where 
he  has  since  lived,  actively  practicing  medicine 
until  1898  and  carrying  on  a  prosperous  drug 
business  during  the  last  twenty  years.  In  1858 
he  was  married  in  his  native  state  to  Miss  Har- 
riet Sharp,  who  died  in  1871,  leaving  three  sons, 
Edmund,  Charles  and  James.  His  second  mar- 
riage occurred  in  1873  an(I  united  him  with  Miss 
Susan  Rankin1,  by  whom  he  had  one  son,  John 
M.,  who  -died  in  1900,  his  mother  having  passed 
away  in  1879.  In  J88i  the  Doctor  contracted  a 
third  marriage,  his  choice  on  this  occasion  being 
Miss  Martha  A.  McClelland.  They  have  two 
children,  their  sons  William  W.  and  Harry  M. 
In  political  faith  the  Doctor  is  a  Republican,  and 
while  not  often  an  active  party  worker,  has  an 
abiding  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  organiza- 
tion to  which  he  belongs.  He  served  as  presi- 
dent of  the  village  three  years  and  his  adminis- 
tration of  its  affairs  was  generally  and  highly 
commended.  His  religious  affiliation  is  with  the 
Presbyterian  church  at  Richland.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Kalamazoo  Academy  of  Medicine  and 
of  the  State  Medical  Association.  His  active 
practice  for  so  many  years  brought  him  into  in- 
timate acquaintance  with  a  great  number  of  the 
people,  and  his  skill  and  industry  as  a  physician 
and  elevated  and  genial  character  as  a  man  won 
him  their  lasting  regard. 

GEORGE  F.  READ. 

The  great  glory  of  our  country,  next  to  the 
political  and  religious  freedom  it  has  ordained 
and  the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law  it  has 
established,  is  that  it  has  opened  the  way  to  the 
aspirations  of  strong,  penetrating  and  healthy 
men  in  the  less  noticeable  walks  of  life,  and 
brought  the  sunlight  of  genius  to  bear  on  the 
common  ways — has  dignified  the  sphere  as  well 
as  facilitated  the  operations  of  the  useful  arts — 
has  hallowed  and  exalted  the  pathway  of  honest, 


3^4 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


unpretending  industry.  With  its  vast  domain  of 
farming  lands,  its  boundless  wealth  of  mineral 
deposits,  and  its  enormous  powers  and  materials 
for  manufactures,  it  has  revolutionized  every 
sphere  of  active  usefulness,  and  has  made  all  the 
gigantic  and  far-reaching  resources  of  mind,  of 
genius  and  science  practically  and  intimately  sub- 
servient to  agriculture,  the  mechanic  arts,  and  all 
the  once  rude  and  simple  processes  of  day-labor. 
Especially  in  the  domain  of  agriculture  have  the 
mighty  empires  of  the  Mississippi  valley  and  the 
farther  West  enlarged  the  operations,  multiplied 
the  opportunities  and  augmented  the  rewards  of 
industry,  energy  and  skill,  raising  the  farmer  to 
commanding  independence  and  crowning  him  a 
very  king  in  the  social  economy  of  the  time.  It 
was  therefore  no  idle  aspiration  or  even  urgent 
necessity  that  generations  ago  started  a  conquer- # 
ing  army  of  millions  westward  over  the  unoccu- 
pied territory  of  the  land  basking  idly  beneath 
the  firmament  for  ages,  to  become  zealous  tillers 
of  the  soil,  braving  all  the  dangers,  daring  all  the 
difficulties,  and  cheerfully  enduring  all  the  priva- 
tions of  a  really  hard  and  very  trying  experience. 
Among  the  volunteers  in  this  great  army  were  the- 
late  George  F.  Read,  of  Richland  township,  this 
county,  and  his  parents,  Rufus  and  Rhoda  (Dean) 
Read,  all  natives  of  Vermont,  the  son  being  born 
near  Rutland,  that  state,  on  October  24,  1820. 
The  father  was  a  minister  and  also  a  farmer.  On 
his  arrival  in  this  county  he  bought  a  tract  of 
land  in  Richland  township  on  which  he  lived 
three  years,  clearing  the  greater  part  of  it  and 
breaking  it  up  for  cultivation.  At  the  end  of  that 
period  he  moved  to  Ohio  and  died  in  Cincinnati 
in  about  1862,  his  wife  passing  away  here  in 
1 87 1.  The  son  was  reared  and  educated  in  his 
native  state  and  from  the  age  of  fourteen  earned 
his  own  living  working  on  farms.  In  about  1845 
he  became  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  county,  travel- 
ing by  team  to  Buffalo,  by  steamboat  from  there 
to  Detroit,  and  again  by  team  to  his  destination. 
He  purchased  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of 
school  land  on  section  21,  Richland  township, 
on  which  he  built  a  frame  dwelling  and  at  once 
began  the  arduous  work  of  clearing  and  breaking 
up  the  ground.    He  lived  to  get  the  whole  of  the 


tract  cleared  and  make  a  good  farm  of  it,  dying 
there  in  1874.  He  was  married  at  Richland,  Kala- 
mazoo county,  in  1853,  to  Miss  Caroline  Fisher, 
a  native  of  the  state  of  New  York.  Her  parents 
were  Humphrey  and  Elizabeth  (Francisco) 
Fisher,  the  former  born  in  1784  and  the  latter  in 
1793.  They  moved  to  this  county  in  1845  and 
settled  two  miles  west  of  Kalamazoo.  Some  time 
afterward  they  changed  their  residence  to  Barry 
county,  where  the  mother  died  in  1851  and  the 
father  in  1873.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Read  had  seven 
children,  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  of  whom 
two  of  the  sons  and  two  of  the  daughters  are 
living.  Their  mother  is  also  living  and  makes  her 
home  at  Richland.  All  the  family  belong  to  the 
Presbyterian  church.  The  father  was  a  promi- 
nent man  in  his  township,  and  was  held  in  high 
regard  by  its  people  for  his  sterling  worth  and  his 
earnest  and  intelligent  attention  to  all  matters  of 
local  improvement.  The  old  homestead  is  owned 
by  his  son,  Edward  G.  Read,  who  was  born  on 
it  on  September  3,  1864,  and  grew  to  manhood 
amid  its  stirring  activities  in  which  he  took  an  in- 
dustrious part  as  soon  as  he  was  able.  He  began 
his  education  in  the  common  schools,  continued 
it  at  the  Richland  high  school  and  completed  it 
at  the  Baptist  College  and  Parson's  Business  Col- 
lege in  Kalamazoo.  He  has  had  control  of  the 
farm  since  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  and  has 
managed  it  with  vigor  and  success,  showing  al- 
ways a  progressive  spirit  and  an  ardent  deter- 
mination to  improve  it  to  the  highest  degree.  On 
November  14,  1894,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Ruba 
Ann  Chandler,  a  daughter  of  D.  R.  Chandler. 
They  have  three  children,  their  sons  George  S., 
Edward  C.  and  Howard.  The  parents  are  active 
in  the  public  and  social  life  of  the  township  and 
have  hosts  of  friends  in  every  part  of  it. 

ROBERT  R,   TELFER. 

Inheriting  from  a  long  line  of  Scottish  ances- 
try the  indomitable  courage  and  perseverance  of 
the  race,  Robert  R.  Telfer,  of  Richland  town- 
ship, one  of  the  enterprising  and  progressive 
farmers  of  Kalamazoo  county,  has  well  main- 
tained in  his  career  of  industry  and  fruitfulness 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


325 


the  traditions  of  his  family,  and  at  the  same  time 
met  in  a  manly  and  commendable  way  the  claims 
of  an  elevated  and  elevating  American  citizen- 
ship. Although  his  parents,  George  arid  Elizabeth 
(Redpath)  Telfer,  were  born,  reared  and  married 
in  Scotland,  he  is  himself  wholly  a  product  of 
this  county.  He  was  born  on  the  farm  which  is 
now  his  home  on  January  22,  1858,  was  educated 
in  the  common  schools  and  at  Prairie  Seminary  in 
his  native  township,  began  life  as  a  tiller  of  its 
benignant  soil,  and  has  passed  the  whole  of  his 
life  so  far  in  aiding  to  build  up  and  improve  its 
agricultural  industry  and  the  elements  of  wealth 
and  comfort  incident  thereto.  His  parents  emi- 
grated to  this  country  in  1855,  and  made  their 
early  home  in  this  country  in  Allegan  county, 
this  state.  Not  long  afterward  they  moved  to  this 
county  and  settled  on  a  tract  of  forty  acres  of  wild 
land  in  Richland  township,  which  is  a  part  of  the 
farm  on  which  their  son  Robert  now  lives.  The 
father  followed  railroading  in  his  native  land,  but, 
although  that  industry  was  of  magnitude  in  this 
country  at  the  time  of  his  arrival,  and  surpassing 
in  the  rapidity  of  its  growth  its  development  in 
every  other  land,  he  turned  to  the  more  inviting 
field  of  agriculture  as  the  source  of  expanding  his 
fortunes,  and  gave  his  energies  and  his  pro- 
nounced capacity  to  the  improvement  of  whatever 
he  could  get  of  the  wilderness  into  well  developed 
and  productive  farming  land.  In  the  course  of 
time  he  owned,  in  company  with  his  sons,  five 
hundred  and  fifty  acres,  and  all  of  it  responded 
graciously  to  his  commands  and  came  forth  un- 
der his  skillful  hand  and  theirs  clad  in  the  vest- 
ments of  comeliness  and  abundance,  smiling  on 
them  all  with  ready  acquiescence  to  service  and 
spreading  their  pathway  with  flowers  and  their 
table  with  plenty.  The  mother  did  not  live  to 
see  the  desired  result  of  their  venture  in  the  new 
world  fully  realized,  but  died  in  the  midst  of  their 
early  struggles  in  1864.  The  father  survived 
her  thirty-six  years,  passing  away  on  May  22, 
1900.  Two  years  after  her  death,  in  1866,  he 
married  a  second  wife,  Miss  Eliza  Correll.  The 
five  children  born  to  him  were  all  of  the  first 
marriage  and  four  of  them  are  living,  all  resi- 
dents of  this  county.  They  are  John,  of  Comstock 


township;  Robert  R.,  the  immediate  subject  of 
this  article ;  James,  also  of  Richland  township ; 
and  Ellen,  wife  of  Edward  DeWolf,  of  Kalama- 
zoo. The  father  was  a  leading  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  chvirch.  In  politics  he  was  a  firm  and 
loyal  Republican,  and  as  such  filled  a  number 
of  local  offices.  After  completing  his  three-years 
course  at  Prairie  Seminary,  Robert  Telfer  turned 
his  attention  to  farming,  for  which  he  had  been 
well  trained  in  his  boyhood  and  youth,  and  to  this 
vocation  he  has  adhered  steadfastly  ever  since, 
giving  but  little  attention  to  public  affairs  out- 
side of  school  offices,  but  rendering  efficient  ser- 
vice to  the  common  weal  in  these  for  many  years, 
supporting,  however,  the  Republican  party  in  all 
state  and  national  contests.  He  was  married  in 
1866  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Abbott,  a  native  of  Lan- 
sing, Mich.,  whose  father,  after  an  honorable 
career  as  a  professor  in  Albion  College,  entered  the 
Christian  ministry  and  served  as  such  many  years. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Telfer  have  had  two  children,  but 
only  one  of  them  is  living,  their  son  Harry  R. 
The  father  was  also  for  years  a  trustee  and  elder 
in  his  church. 

GEORGE  A.  BARBER. 

Well  fixed  on  his  excellent  farm  of  three  hun- 
dred and  sixteen  acres  in  Richland  township,  this 
county,  which  is  in  a  high  state  of  productiveness 
and  supplied  with  all  the  essentials  and  many  of 
the  luxuries  of  a  comfortable  home,  all  being  the 
result  of  his  energy,  thrift  and  capacity,  George 
A.  Barber  might  laugh  a  siege  of  adversities  to 
scorn.  He  was  born  in  Erie  county,  Pa., 
on  November  7,  1839,  the  son  of  Alpheus  and 
Betsey  (Dennis)  Barber,  the  former  a  native  of 
Massachusetts  and  the  latter  of  Maine.  When 
he  was  seven  years  old  the  family  moved  to  this 
county,  journeying  overland  by  teams  from  their 
Pennsylvania  home  and  stopping  a  year  in  Ohio 
on  the  way.  After  their  arrival  in  Kalamazoo 
county  they  lived  two  years  in  Prairie  Ronde 
township,  then  moved  to  Richland  township.  A 
number  of  years  afterward  the  parents  took  up 
their  residence  in  Barry  county,  where  both  died 
at  advanced  ages.     They  had  nine  children,  of 


326 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


whom  their  sons  George  A.  and  Philip  are  living". 
George  grew  to  manhood  amid  the  pioneer  scenes 
of  the  locality  of  his  present  home  and  performed 
his  share  of  the  labor  of  redeeming  the  homestead 
from  the  wilderness  and  transforming  it  to  fer- 
tility and  beauty.  It  was  in  the  dawn  of  the 
civilization  of  the  region  when  he  came,  and  the 
habitations  of  the  white  man  were  few  and  it  was 
far  between  them,  while  wild  beasts  and  Indians 
.  were  plentiful  and  for  the  most  part  either  ac- 
tively or  passively  hostile  to  the  new  comers,  the 
former  looking  upon  everything  available  as  law- 
ful prey,  and  the  latter  hearing  from  the  ax  of 
the  woodsman  the  knell  of  their  dying  race. 
School  facilities  were  few  and  meager,  and  the 
boys  and  girls  of  the  day  were  dependent  on  the 
tuitions  of  nature  and  experience  in  large  meas- 
ure for  their  training  in  mind  and  character.  The 
school  was  rugged  and  the  discipline  stern,  but 
it  developed  toughness  and  flexibility  of  fiber,  and 
gave  a  force  and  resourcefulness  not  often  the 
product  of  conditions  of  abundance  wherein 
everything  is  ready  to  the  hand  of  the  learner. 
Mr.  Barber  had  by  nature  an  inquiring  mind  and 
even  through  the  difficulties  of  his  situation  he 
found  a  means  of  gratifying  its  cravings  in  gen- 
eral and  extended  reading,  which  has  made  him 
an  unusually  wise  and  well  informed  man.  On 
April  21,  1862,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Anna 
Peake,  the  daughter  of  Ira  and  Sarah  (Miller) 
Peake,  the  father  born  in  Vermont  and  the  mother 
in  Connecticut.  They  were  among  the  early  set- 
tlers in  the  township  and  prominent  in  all  phases 
of  its  civil  and  social  life  in  their  day.  Mrs.  Bar- 
ber was  in  her  third  year  when  the  family  moved 
to  Michigan,  in  1845,  and  when  she  was  seven- 
teen she  lost  her  mother  by  death,  the  father  dy- 
ing at  Richland  village  in  1887.  He  was  twice 
married  and  the  father  of  seven  children,  Oliver, 
Ira,  Francis  and  Mary  surviving  him,  and  all 
living  now  but  Francis  and  Mrs.  Barber,  who 
died  October  30,  1904.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barber 
^  also  have  had  seven  children,  of  whom  five  are 
living,  Oliver  L.,  of  Richland;  Francis,  of  De- 
troit ;  Carrie,  living  at  home  and  teaching  school 
at  Hastings ;  Edith,  the  widow  of  F.  J.  Adams, 
and  Bertha.     Politically  Mr.  Barber  is  a  stanch 


and  active  Republican,  zealous  in  the  service  and 
high  in  the  councils  of  his  party.  He  liberally 
supports  the  Presbyterian  church,  of  which  his 
wife  was  a  prominent  member,  but  at  the  same 
time  gives  freely  to  other  denominations.  Fra- 
ternally he  belongs  to  the  Odd  Fellows  lodge  at 
Richland,  and  has  long  been  active  in  promoting 
its  best  interests.  He  is  progressive  and  public- 
spirited,  well  known  and  generally  esteemed. 

SILAS   HUBBARD. 

This  hardy  frontiersman,  who  ventured  into 
the  wilds  of  Michigan  in  1836,  taking  his  life  in 
his  hands  because  the  whole  country  was  then 
yet  infested  with  the  wild  beasts  and  wilder  men 
of  the  forest  and  both  they  and  nature  herself 
seemed  armed  against  the  advancing  footsteps  of 
civilization,  and  who  lived  to  see  the  section  in 
which  he  settled  transformed  into  a  garden  of 
fertility  abounding  in  all  the  grateful  products 
of  cultivated  life  and  crowned  with  marts  of  com- 
merce and  manufactures,  was  born  at  Gorton, 
Tompkins  county,  N.  Y.,  on  July  29,  1812,  and 
was  the  son  of  Jonathan  and  Huldah  (Andrews) 
Hubbard,  the  former  a  native  of  Massachusetts 
and  the  latter  of  Connecticut.  The  mother  died 
on  the  home  farm  in  Tompkins  county,  N.  Y.,  in 
1830,  and  six  years  later  the  father  moved  to  the 
village  of  Cortland,  in  the  adjoining  county  of  the 
same  name,  where  he  died  at  the  age  of  eighty 
years.  About  the  same  time  his  son  Silas,  then 
twenty-four  years  old,  started  out  in  life  for  him- 
self, and  coming  to  Michigan,  located  in  Washte- 
naw county,  where  he  lived  two  years.  In  May, 
1838,  he  moved  to  'Kalamazoo,  then  a  hamlet  of 
small  population  and  in  the  midst  of  a  territory 
still  abounding  in  Indians.  He  passed  the  ensu- 
ing winter  as  teacher  of  the  village  school,  and 
the  next  year  started  an  enterprise  in  handling 
real  estate,  which  he  continued  until  1870. 
Through  his  efforts  the  Kalamazoo  Paper  Com- 
pany was  organized  in  1868,  and  from  then  until 
his  death,  on  September  9,  1894,  he  was  con- 
nected with  it  and  vitally  interested  in  its  wel- 
fare. He  became  an  extensive  property  holder, 
owning  several  valuable  farms,  houses  and  lots 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


327 


in  Kalamazoo,  and  a  large  block  of  stock  in  the 
paper  mill  at  Otsego  in  addition  to  his  interests 
in  the  Kalamazoo  paper  mill.  In  October,  1854, 
he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary 
lx>omis,  of  Hudson,  Mich.,  the  daughter  of  Dan- 
iel and  Caroline  (Seelye)  Loofnis,  and  that  union 
was  blessed  with  three  daughters,  Caroline  L, 
now  the  wife  of  Carl  G.  Kleinstueck;  Mary  H., 
the  deceased  wife  of  H.  B.  Hoyt,  both  of  Kala- 
mazoo, and  Frances  L,  who  was  the  wife  of  R.  D. 
Kuhn,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  died  on  Febru- 
ary 1,  1892.  Mr.  Hubbard  assisted  in  the  found- 
ing of  the  Republican  party  "Under  the  Oaks"  at 
Jackson,  this  state,  in  1854,  whose  fiftieth  anni- 
versary was  recently  (1904)  celebrated  with  im- 
posing ceremonies,  and  he  steadfastly  adhered  to 
the  party, to  the  end  of  his  life.  He  rendered 
good  service  to  the  county  as  supervisor  and  as- 
sessor and  in  other  positions  of  honor  and  re- 
sponsibility from  time  to  time,  but  was  never  an 
office  seeker.  He  also  aided  in  founding  the 
People's  church.  His  wife  died  in  1899,  having 
survived  him  five  years. 

Carl  G.  Kleinstueck,  the  son-in-law  of 
Mr.  Hubbard,  interested  in  the  manufacture  of 
peat  bricks  for  fuel,  was  the  first  man  to  adapt 
it  to  domestic  use  in  Michigan.  He  is  a  native 
of  Saxony,  was  educated  there  and  passed  officer's 
examination  in  the  army  in  that  country.  He  first 
visited  the  United  States  in  1874,  and  six  years 
later  came  here  to  live,  locating  at  Kalamazoo. 
He  had  experience  in  the  use  of  peat  for  fuel  in 
bis  native  land,  and  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Mich- 
igan was  impressed  with  the  abundance  of  the 
material  in  this  section  and  began  to  experiment 
in  preparing  it  for  use.  He  discovered  that  all 
the  lands  devoted  to  growing  celery  were  in  fact 
peat  bogs,  and  that  the  peat  was  superior  to  that 
of  foreign  countries,  and  he  began  at  once  ac- 
quiring the  ownership  of  such  land,  of  which  he 
now  has  one  thousand  acres  in  this  and  adjoin- 
ing counties.  In  1885  he  began  using  this  form  of 
fuel  in  his  own  home  and  business,  and  in  1903  he 
built  a  factory  for  its  extensive  manufacture  at 
Gun  Marsh,  Allegan  county.  The  equipment  is 
of  the  German  pattern  and  made  known  as  the 
Dolberg    Peat    Machine,    and    of    these    he    has 


enough  in  his  factory  to  turn  out  eighty  thousand 
bricks  a  day,  each  six  inches  long,  three  inches 
wide  and  two  inches  thick.  After  being  dried  in 
the  sun  the  bricks  are  ready  for  fuel.  As  their 
manufacture  is  not  costly,  and  the  raw  material 
is  practically  inexhaustible  in  this  region,  he 
hopes  to  be  soon  supplying  a  large  demand  at  a 
cost  of  three  dollars  a  ton.  In  1891  he  visited  the 
peat-using  countries  of  the  old  world  and  made 
a  thorough  study  of  the  subject.  This  is  a  new 
industry  in  this  country  and  promises  great  re- 
sults to  its  people  and  its  other  industries  in 
cheapening  fuel  and  increasing  the  supply.  Mr. 
Kleinstueck  is  also  connected  with  other  institu- 
tions in  manufacturing,  being  a  director  of  the 
Kalamazoo  Paper  Company,  the  Comstock  Manu- 
facturing Company  and  others.  He  is  a  Repub- 
lican in  politics  but  never  seeks  or  desires  public 
office.  He  is  a  member  of  the  German  Working- 
men's  Society  and  the  German  and  Austrian  Peat 
Societies,  and  is  organizing  a  society  of  the  latter 
class  in  this  country.  He  was  married  on  May 
3,  1883,  to  Miss  Caroline  I.  Hubbard,  and  they 
have  four  children,  their  son,  C  Hubbard,  and 
their  daughters,  Irene  M.,  Frieda  and  Pauline. 
While  an  enthusiast  over  his  new  industry,  MrA 
Kleinstueck  applies  to  its  development  and  the 
discussion  of  its  merits  the  wisdom1  and  intelli- 
gence gained  by  a  thorough  examination  of  its 
possibilities  and  a  full  knowledge  of  all  its  phases. 
His  undertaking  is  watched  with  interest  by  the 
coal  producers  and  men  engaged  in  every  line  of 
industrial .  production,  as  well  as  by  the  people 
generally  who  are  interested  in  cheap  and  con- 
venient fuel  for  domestic  and  other  purposes. 

JOHN   J.   LAWLER. 

John  J.  Lawler,  manager  of  the  Union  Real 
Estate  &  Loan  Company  of  Kalamazoo,  and  a 
resident  of  Augusta,  Ross  township,  is  a  native  of 
this  county,  born  in  Charleston  township  on  Jan- 
uary 31,  1856.  He  was  reared  and  educated  on' 
the  soil  of  his  nativity,  and  from  his  childhood  has 
been  connected  with  and  interested  in  the  busi- 
ness interests,  civil  institutions  and  social  life  of 
the   county.      His     parents,     James    and     Maria 


328 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


(Chase)  Lawler,  were  natives  of  the  state  of  New- 
York  and  came  to  Michigan  in  1840.    The  Law- 
ler family  is  of  Irish  origin,  the  American  pro- 
genitor of  its   numerous   members   having  come 
from  that  country  to  Connecticut  in  early  colonial 
days.     As   the  tide   of  emigration   flowed   west- 
ward from  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  they  kept  pace 
with  it,  and  are  now  found  in  almost  every  state 
in  the  west.     Early  representatives  of  it  halted 
in  New  York  when  its  interior  was  the  outpost  of 
civilization,  and  it  is  this  branch  that  John  L. 
Lawler  is  descended  from.     On  arriving  in  this 
county  his  father  bought  a  tract  of  unimproved 
land  two  miles  and  a  half   south   of   Augusta, 
which  he  cleared  up  and  lived  on  most  of  his  re- 
maining days,  dying  there  on  June  4,  1886.    He 
was  a  man  of  unusual  ability  and  gave  earnest 
and  intelligent  attention  to  the  public  affairs  of 
his  township  for  many  years,  serving  a  number 
of  consecutive  terms  as   township   clerk   and  in 
other  positions  of  importance.    He  was  deeply  in- 
terested  in   the   cause   of   public   education,   and 
looked  after  its  interests  in  an  influential  and  ser- 
viceable way  many  years  as  a  member  of  the  local 
school  board.     His  marriage  occurred  at  Battle 
Creek,  this  state,  in  1850,  and  he  and  his  wife  be- 
came the  parents  of  four  sons  and  one  daughter. 
Of  these,  three  sons  and  the  daughter  grew  to 
maturity  and  are  still'  living,  as  is  their  mother. 
She  is  an  active  worker  in  the  Baptist  church  in- 
terests, as  her  husband  was  in  his  lifetime,  an 
ornament  to  the  best  social  circles,  and  one  of 
the  matrons  in  her  locality  who  are  held  in  the 
highest  esteem.    The  son,  John  J.  Lawler,  worked 
on  his  father's  farm  while  attending  school,  and 
after  reaching  his  legal  majority  engaged  in  busi- 
ness as  an   undertaker  and   furniture  dealer  at 
Augusta  until  1893,  when  he  came  to  Kalamazoo 
to  take  charge  of  the  Kalamazoo  Casket  Company, 
whose  interests  he  managed  five  and  a  half  years. 
At  the  end  of  that  period  he  was  appointed  man- 
ager of  the  Union  Real  Estate  &  Loan  Company, 
and  he  has  conducted  its  affairs  ever  since.     He 
has  been  very  successful  in  his  operations  in  this 
line,  building  up  a  large  and  profitable  trade  for 
the  company  and  rising  to  a  high  place  in  the 
public  regard  as  a  capable  and  far-seeing  busi- 


ness man,  a  knowing  and  judicious  counselor  and 
an  agreeable  and  obliging  gentleman.  The  trade 
in  which  he  is  engaged  is  congenial  to  him  and 
he'  has  a  special  aptitude  for  its  management. 
With  tireless  energy  in  developing  it  along  lines 
of  wholesome  and  enduring  progress,  and  great 
clearness  of  vision  in  seeing  opportunities  and 
alertness  in  seizing  them  and  using  them  to  good 
advantage,  he  has  demonstrated  that  the  affairs  of 
the  company  could  scarcely  be  in  more  capable 
hands.  He  was  married  in  1887  to  Miss  Florence 
Rorabeck,  a  sister  of  Charles  Rorabeck,  one  of 
the  leading  business  men  of  Augusta.  Although 
doing  business  in  Kalamazoo,  Mr.  Lawler  still 
maintains  his  home  at  Augusta,  and  it  is  one  of 
the  most  attractive  and  complete  domestic  estab- 
lishments in  that  town.  Fraternally  he  is  con- 
nected with  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  in  poli- 
tics is  a  Republican,  zealous  for  his  party's  suc- 
cess, but  seeking  no  office  for  himself. 

REV.  JOHN  GRAY,  D.  D. 

This  devout  ecclesiastic,  profound  scholar  and 
fine    gentleman,  who    since    1900    has  been  the 
president     of     Michigan     Female  Seminary     in 
Kalamazoo,    and   whose   labors    in   that   capacity 
have  brought  to  the  institution  a  largely  increased 
patronage     and     a     widely     augmented     reputa- 
tion, is  a  native  of  Toronto,  Canada.     His  par- 
ents, John  and  Annie  (Corley)  Gray,  were  born, 
respectively,    in    Scotland   and    Dublin,    Ireland, 
and   emigrated  to  Canada  about  the  year   1820. 
They  took  up   their   residence  at  Toronto,   and 
there  they  passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives. 
The  father  was  a  miller  and  lumber  merchant, 
prosperous   in  his  business,   faithful   in  his  citi- 
zenship, and  true  to  his  manhood  in  every  relation 
of   life.      The    son   was   educated   in   the  public 
schools,  at  Toronto  Collegiate  Institute,  in  Uni- 
versity College  and  in  the  theological  department 
of  Knox  College.     Soon  after  leaving  the  theo- 
logical school  he  became  the  pastor  of  St.  An- 
drew's church  at  Windsor,  Ontario,  where  he  re- 
mained  twenty-two   years,   actively   engaged   in 
ministerial   and   pastoral   work,   and   achieved   a 
high  reputation  for  the  breadth  and  accuracy  of 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


329 


his  learning,  the  eloquence  and  impressive  power 
of  his  oratory  and  the  benignity  and  sympathetic 
nature  of  his  character,  and  also  won  high  com- 
mendations for  his  skill  and  acumen  in  managing 
the  business  affairs  of  the  church.  At  the  end  of 
the  period  mentioned  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  pas- 
torate of  the  First  Presbyterian  church  of  Kala- 
mazoo, and  took  charge  of  its  interests  in  1893. 
In  this  important  position  he  was  occupied  until 
April,  1900,  when  he  became  president  of  the 
seminary.  While  ministerial  and  pastoral  duties 
were  almost  always  agreeable  to  him,  and  were 
well  suited  to  his  character  and  capacity,  he  soon 
found,  after  assuming  those  of  his  new  field,  that 
they  were  congenial  although  at  times  trying,  and 
furnished  scope  for  the  exercise  of  all  his  best  and 
most  useful  faculties.  They  are  most  important 
and  responsible,  but  he  has  discharged  them  with 
a  fidelity,  an  ability  and  a  comprehensive  breadth 
of  view  that  have  met  every  requirement  and  es- 
tablished him  in  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the 
patrons  of  the  institution  firmly  and  lastingly. 
The  Doctor  was  married  in  his  native  province 
in  1871  to  Miss  Bessie  S.  Sutherland,  a  daughter 
of  Donald  Sutherland,  of  Newmarket,  Ontario. 
They  have  two  daughters,  Gertrude  S.  and  Mu- 
riel G.  Gray,  who  are  accomplished  ladies  of  the 
highest  social  rank.  Unostentatious  and  modest 
in  manner  and  disposition,  and  not  covetous  of 
titles  or  distinctions  in  the  way  of  the  world,  this 
eminent  divine  felt  it  his  duty  for  the  benefit  of 
the  work  in  which  he  was  engaged  to  accept  the 
honorary  title  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  when  it  was 
conferred  upon  him  by  Alma  College,  Michigan, 
in  1893.  Mrs.  Gray  is  a  sister  of  Hon.  R.  F. 
Sutherland,  of  Canada,  member  of  parliament  for 
Windsor,  and  King's  Counsel  of  Ontario,  and 
speaker  of  the  Dominion  house  of  commons. 

THE  HOME  SAVINGS  BANK. 

This  serviceable  and  highly  valued  institu- 
tion, which  has  enabled  hundreds  of  the  wage 
earners  of  Kalamazoo  to  save  their  earnings  and 
acquire  homes  of  their  own,  was  organized  in 
^93  with  a  capital  stock  of  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars, which  still  remains  the  same.    Its  first  presi- 


dent was  Hudson  B.  Coleman,  with  Frank  Orcott 
as  vice-president.  Mr.  Coleman  served  as  presi- 
dent until  January,  1895,  and  was  then  succeeded 
by  Hale  P.  KaufTer,  who  served  until  January 
1,  1905,  and  was  succeeded  by  V.  T.  Booker. 
Some  little  time  after  the  organization  W.  G. 
Howard  was  chosen  vice-president  and  attor- 
ney. The  institution  does  a  general  banking  busi- 
ness, with  special  attention  to  the  savings  fea- 
ture, and  enjoys  in  a  marked  degree  the  confi- 
dence of  the  community  and  a  large  share  of  its 
patronage.  It  is  considered  one  of  the  soundest 
and  safest  savings  banks  in  this  part  of  the 
state,  and  this  opinion  is  justified  by  the  wisdom 
and  conservatism  of  its  management.  Mr.  Kauf- 
fer,  who  was  its  impelling  and  directing  power, 
is  a  native  of  Lawrence,  Mass.,  born  on  January 
1,  1840.  He  was  reared  in  New  Hampshire,  go- 
ing to  Manchester,  that  state,  when  he  was  a 
child.  He  secured  his  education  in  the  public 
schools  of  that  city,  and  began  life  as  a  news- 
boy. Afterward  he  worked  in  a  cotton  mill  for 
a  short  time,  then  in  1857  he  moved  to  Fitch- 
burg,  Mass.,  where  he  passed  some  time  as  clerk 
in  a  grocery  store.  From  that  occupation  he 
turned  his  attention  to  manufacturing  curtain 
fixtures  and  mechanics,  and  a  little  later  went  to 
wrork  as  clerk  in  an  iron  foundry.  In  this  he 
rose  by  merit  to  the  position  of  manager  and  re- 
mained until  1 87 1,  except  that  during  the  Civil 
war  he  was  in  the  service  of  the  government  in 
the  forage  department  operating  in  Virginia.  In 
1873  he  became  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  and 
started  an  enterprise  in  the  tin  and  sheet  iron 
trade  with  twenty  wagons  in  the  field  dispensing 
his  goods  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  In 
1 88 1  he  became  interested  in  the  handle  factory 
with  K.  W.  Page,  and  they  conducted  it  to- 
gether until  Mr.  Page  died  in  1887,  after  which 
time  Mr.  KaufTer  carried  the  business  on  alone 
until  1893,  when  he  organized  the  Kalamazoo 
Sled  Company,  of  which  he  is  president.  This 
is  a  close  corporation  in  its  organization,  but  it 
is  wide  open  and  up-to-date  in  its  business  meth- 
ods and  its  spirit  of  enterprise.  Mr.  KaufTer  was 
also  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Bryant  Paper 
Company  and  is  its  vice-president,  holding  the 


33° 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


same  office  in  the  Superior  Paper  Company, 
which  he  helped  to  organize,  as  he  did  the  Kala- 
mazoo Corset  Company  and  the  Kalamazoo 
Hack  and  Bus  Company.  He  is  not  now  con- 
nected with  the  last  named  corporation.  In  1890 
he  was  chairman  of  the  discount  committee  of  the 
First  National  Bank,  and  for  a  number  of  years 
was  one  of  its  supervising  directors.  He  is  also 
a  stockholder  in  the  Imperial  Coating  Company. 
He  has  never  held  a  public  office  or  taken  an  ac- 
tive interest  in  partisan  politics.  He  was  married 
at  Manchester,  N.  H.,  to  Miss  Henrietta  St. 
Clair,  a  native  of  Vermont.  They  have  one  child, 
their  daughter  Helen.  Mr.  Kauffer  shows  his 
interest  in  the  fraternal  life  of  the  community 
by  an  active  and  valued  membership  in  the  order 
of  Elks. 

JARVIS  H.  SKINNER. 

Tried  by  several  changes  of  fortune  and  a  va- 
riety of  pursuits  in  many  different  places,  Jarvis 
H.  Skinner,  of  Cooper  township,  one  of  the  sub- 
stantial and  progressive  farmers  of  that  section, 
has  made  steady  progress  in  the  struggle  for  su- 
premacy among  men,  holding  always  every  foot 
of  his  advance  and  finding  strength  in  his  very 
difficulties  for  new  and  greater  efforts.  His  par- 
ents, William  and  Hannah  (Tabor)  Skinner, 
were  among  the  earliest  settlers  in  Cooper  town- 
ship, locating  here  about  the  year  1839.  The 
father  was  a  man  of  original  force  of  character 
and  conquered  adverse  circumstances  as  he  ad- 
vanced in  life  by  determined  and  dogged  persist- 
ency. He  was  born  in  Saratoga  county,  N.  Y., 
on  December  10,  1805,  and  died  in  Cooper 
township,  this  county,  in  1885.  He  was  educated 
in  the  district  schools  and  at  Gaines  Academy  in 
his  native  county,  and  there  for  a  number  of  years 
he  taught  school  in  the  winter  and  farmed  in  the 
summer.  In  the  autumn  of  1833  he  came  to 
Michigan  and  during  the  next  two  years  he  taught 
school  in  the  vicinity  of  Ann  Arbor.  In  1835  he 
returned  to  New  York  and  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Hannah  Tabor,  who  was  of  the  same 
nativity  as  himself,  and  born  on  December  15, 
181 7,  the  daughter  of  Peleg  and  Rebecca  (Hicks) 
Tabor.    They  passed  the  first  four  years  of  their 


married  life  in  New  York,  then  the  family,  con- 
sisting of  the  parents  and  one  child,  moved  to 
Michigan  and  settled  in  Cooper  township  where 
the  father  bought  eighty  acres  of  land  in  section 
16.  It  was  heavily  timbered  and  altogether  un- 
improved. A  small  log  dwelling  was  put  up  and 
the  breaking  up  and  cultivation  of  the  land  was 
begun.  During  his  long  residence  of  forty-six 
years  on  the  farm  he  greatly  improved  it  with 
commodious  and  comfortable  buildings,  good 
fences  and  other  structures  and  added  to  its  ex- 
tent until  it  comprised  three  hundred  and  fifteen 
acres.  He  also  took  a  deep  and  earnest  interest 
and  a  leading  part  in  local  politics  as  a  Jacksonian 
Democrat,  his  first  presidential  vote  having  been 
cast  for  "Old  Hickory/'  and  he  never  after  that 
having  missed  an  election.  He  served  as  town- 
ship supervisor  one  term,  clerk  four  terms,  treas- 
urer one  term  and  school  inspector  a  number  of 
terms,  holding  the  last  named  office  long  after  he 
had  passed  the  age  of  three  score  years  and  ten. 
A  very  unusual  circumstance  in  his  case  was 
that  he  was  never  obliged  to  use  spectacles,  but 
could  read  the  finest  print  by  lamplight  even  in 
his  last  years.  He  was  one  of  the  best  read  and 
most  intelligent  men  in  the  township,  and  one  of 
the  most  generally  and  highly  esteemed.  He  was 
married  four  times,  first  to  Miss  Hannah  Tabor, 
who  bore  him  six  children,  and  died  on  Septem- 
ber 16,  1850;  second  to  Miss  Harriet  Wadsworth, 
who  had  by  him  two  children,  and  died  on  July 
3,  1854;  third  to  Miss  Alice  Ann  Athey,  who 
died  on  May  7,  1861,  leaving  three  children;  and 
fourth  to  Mrs.  Ellen  W.  Mosher,  who  died  in 
April,  1898.  Jarvis  H.  Skinner,  the  third  child 
of  the  first  marriage,  was  born  in  Cooper  town- 
ship on  May  27,  1842,  and  grew  to  manhood  on 
the  farm,  assisting  in  its  labors  from  an  early  age 
and  attending  the  district  schools  in  the  neighbor- 
hood when  he  had  opportunity.  During  the  Civil 
war  he  was  in  the  employ  of  the  government  two 
years  transporting  supplies  to  military  posts  in 
Kansas,  Nebraska,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  New 
Mexico  and  other  places.  He  then  passed  some 
years  in  Colorado  and  elsewhere  mining,  garden- 
ing and  doing  carpenter  work.  In  1874  he  returned 
to  this  county  and  Cooper  township  and  has  since 


WILLIAM    SKIXXER. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


333 


been  engaged  in  farming  here.     In  1875  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Annetta  Hackley,  a  daughter  of 
Julius  and  Dorothy  (Fox)   Hackley,  pioneers  of 
Alamo  township,  where  they  settled  in  1837.    The 
father  had  made  several  trips  to  this  region  pre- 
viously and  bought  large  quantities  of  land,  at 
oil';*  time  owning  one  thousand,   seven   hundred 
and  sixty  acres  in  the  township.    He  and  his  bride 
made  their  wedding  trip  from  New  York,  where 
the  \"  were  married,  to  their  new  home  with  an  ox 
team   and    brought   their   household    goods    with 
them.    They  erected  a  shanty  on  their  land  and  as 
soon  as  it  was  completed  moved  into  it.     At  that 
time  settlers  were   few  and  it  was   far  between 
them,   but    Indians    were    still   numerous    in   the 
neighborhood  and  did  not  hesitate  to  levy  on  the 
new  comers  for  food  and  other  supplies,  although 
the  Hackleys  suffered  no  direct  violence  at  their 
hands.     One  morning,  when  Mrs.   Hackley  was 
alone,    five    stalwart    Indians    appeared    and    de- 
manded breakfast.     She  prepared  a  meal  for  them 
in  great  fear,  but  they  partook  of  it  quietly,  and 
then,  after  paying  her  twenty-five   cents  apiece 
in  silver,  left  the  house  without  farther  trouble. 
On   another   occasion   she   had   a   similar    fright, 
but  on  seeing  her  visitors  kneel  and  offer  thanks 
before  eating  their  food,  her  fears  were  dispelled. 
These   Indians    had   been    Christianized   and   be- 
longed  to   the   Selkrig  mission   in   an  adjoining 
county.      Mr.    Skinner    is    a   Democrat   and   has 
served  as  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  a  number  of 
years.     He  and  his  wife  belong  to  the  Congre- 
gational church.     They  have  four  children,  Jay 
H.,  Edna  L.,  Bernerd  W.  and  Orlo  G. 

HENRY  BECKWITH. 

On  July  10,  1905,  death  claimed  for  his  own 
Henry  Beckwith,  one  of  the  hardy  and  respected 
pioneers  of  the  county,  who  took  up  his  abode 
here  at  the  age  of  six  years,  when  the  land  was 
little  more  than  an  unbroken  wilderness  still  in- 
habited by  its  savage  denizens,  and  much  of  it 
as  yet  virgin  to  the  plow.  His  life  was  spent 
in  this  community,  where  he  was  well  known 
for  his  sterling  qualities  of  mind  and  character, 
and  respected  by  all  with  whom  he  was  associated 
19 


in  any  walk  of  life.    Henry  Beckwith  was  born  on 
November  2.7,  1830,  at  Alexander,  N.  Y.,  in  that 
part  of  Wyoming  county  which  is  now  Genesee 
county.     His  parents   were  Warren  and   Marv 
(Terrell)  Beckwith,  natives  of  the  Empire  state, 
where  the  father  worked  at  the  trade  of  a  black- 
smith until  1836,  when  he  moved  his  family  to 
Michigan.    The  trip  was  made  by  steamer  to  De- 
troit, and  from  there  by  teams  of  oxen  to  this 
county,  being  on  the  way   from  Detroit  eleven 
days.    He  first  settled  at  Root's  Sawmill,  in  Port- 
age township,  which  property  has  never  been  out 
of  the  family.    The  father  built  a  blacksmith  shop 
at  Root's  sawmill,  in  which  he  worked  until  it 
was  destroyed  by  fire  two  years  later.     He  then 
moved  to  his  farm,  where  he  spent  the  remainder 
of  his  life,  except  four  years,  when  he  lived  at 
Kalamazoo  and  worked  at  his  trade.    He  died  on 
his  farm  on  April  3,  1836,  and  his  wife  on  Janu- 
ary 28,   1898,  leaving  three  daughters  and  twe 
sons.    The  father  was  a  man  of  prominence  and 
influence  in  the  early  days  of  the  county's  history, 
serving  as  supervisor,  and  leading  in  the  steady 
development  of  the  region  in  which  he  lived.    His 
father,  David  Beckwith,  a  native  of  Lyme,  Conn., 
born  in  1752,  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier  in  Mil- 
ler's Company,  DeVaas'  Regiment  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts line.     He  was  wounded  in  battle  in  the 
war,  but,  nothing  daunted  by  this  disaster,  when 
the  call  to  arms  came  for  the  war  of  1812,  he 
promptly   responded,   and,   in  company   with  his 
son   Joseph,  again   took   the  field.     Joseph   was 
killed,  and  his  father  received  a  wound  at  the 
battle  of  Black  Rock,  near  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and 
died    at   Attica   in    1834.     He   married   Abigail 
Whitney,  and  they  had  a  large  family.     Henry 
Beckwith  grew  to  manhood  in  this  county,  as- 
sisting his  parents  in  clearing  the  old  homestead 
and    attending,    when    he   had    opportunity,    the 
primitive  country  school  in  the  neighborhood  of 
his  home.  He  was  familiar  with  all  the  hardships  of 
frontier  life,  and  was  thankful  to  have  lived  to 
see  the  country  he  loved  so  well  smiling  in  all 
the  blessings  of  development  and  advanced  civil- 
ization.   He  attended  for  a  short  time  the  branch 
of  the  old  State  University  at  Kalamazoo.    From 
his  youth  he  was  a  farmer,  following  this  occupa- 


334 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


tion  with  commendable  industry  and  gratifying 
success,  managing  at  one  time  the  largest  farm  in 
the  county.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Farmers'  Mutual  Insurance  Company, 
which  by  his  energy  and  tact  he  aided  greatly  in 
growth  and  progress.  He  was  a  stockholder  in 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Kalamazoo.  In  po- 
litical faith  he  was  a  Democrat,  never  seeking  or 
holding  public  office.  In  1853  ne  was  married  to 
Miss  Hannah  Tabor,  a  native  of  New  York,  who 
died  on  March  10,  i860,  leaving  one  child,  Ray, 
who  now  manages  the  farm.  In  1864,  Henry 
Beckwith  married  a  second  wife,  Miss  Mary  J. 
Milham,  who  was  born  in  Columbia  county. 
N.  Y.  Both  were  earnest  workers  in  the  Congre- 
gational church.  The  parents  of  Mrs.  Beckwith, 
John  and  Almyra  (Rathbone)  Milham,  settled  in 
this  county  in  1845,  on  a  farm  three  miles  south 
of  Kalamazoo,  where  they  died  after  many  years 
of  useful  industry. 

HOSEA  HENIKA. 

It  was  a  hardy  race  of  men  that  came  from 
New  York  state  in  the  '30s  and  '40s  to  settle 
southern  Michigan  and  carve  out  of  the  wilder- 
ness a  new  commonwealth.  Many  of  them  were 
inured  to  toil  and  danger,  having  settled  already 
one  frontier  and  made  it  "blossom  as  the  rose," 
and  all  were  of  large  mold,  resolute  in  daring, 
persistent  in  effort,  following  and  faithful  to  lofty 
ideals,  and  conscious  of  their  mastery  in  moral 
attributes  and  physical  endurance.  Experience  had 
sharpened  their  vision  to  discern  and  fortified 
their  faculties  to  bring  forth  the  latent  and  re- 
luctant resources  of  this  new  land,  and  with  the 
conquest  assured  in  advance  because  it  was  so 
positively  willed,  they  set  to  work  in  radiant  con- 
fidence to  make  their  faith  practical.  Among 
them,  few  if  any,  were  men  of  greater  determina- 
tion and  resourcefulness  than  the  father  of  the  late 
Hosea  Henika,  John  Henika,  who,  with  his  wife, 
Hannah  (Overlocker)  Henika,  and  their  young 
family  came  hither  from  their  native  state  in 
1833  and  purchased  a  tract  of  land  in  what  is  now 
Portage  township,  this  county — the  farm  now 
owned  and  occupied  by  William  Milham.    It  was 


the  virgin  forest  in  which  they  cast  their  lot,  and 
knowing  beforehand  the  possibilities  of  the  coun- 
try, they  began  at  once  to  develop  those  of  their 
new  possession  and  continued  in  this  laudable 
work  until  it  had  almost  totally  changed  the 
habiliments  of  its  barbaric  splendor  for  the  more 
comely  and  profitable  garb  of  cultivated  life  and 
fruitfulness.  On  this  farm  the  mother  died,  and 
some  little  time  afterward  the  father  moved  to 
Kalamazoo,  where  his  final  summons  came.  He 
was  a  devoted  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church,  and  his  house  was  the  place  of  meeting 
for  this  sect  for  a  number  of  years,  before  it  had 
a  church  building  in  the  county.  He  was  also 
a  strong  abolitionist  and  gave  liberally  of  his 
means  and  his  energy  to  the  cause  of  freedom  for 
the  slaves.  In  political  faith  he  was  an  ardent  Re- 
publican from  the  organization  of  the  party,  and 
made  his  faith  practical  in  good  works  in  behalf 
of  his  convictions.  His  ancestors  were  from  Hol- 
land, his  grandfather  settling  in  this  country  in 
early  days.  His  son  Hosea,  who  was  born  in 
Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.,  on  September  1,  1833, 
and  was  but  a  few  weeks  old  when  he  was 
brought  to  this  county  in  his  mother's  arms,  was 
reared  and  educated  here,  acquiring  a  meager 
knowledge  of  books  in  the  primitive  district 
schools  and  a  larger  knowledge  of  himself  and  his 
fellows  in  the  more  rugged  school  of  experience. 
He  aided  his  parents  in  clearing,  breaking  up  and 
cultivating  the  farm,  remaining  with  them  until 
he  reached  the  age  of  twenty-four.  He  then  came 
to  Kalamazoo  and  entered  the  employ  of  E.  A. 
Carder,  of  whom  he  learned  cabinetmaking,  which 
he  followed  for  a  number  of  years.  Later  he  be- 
came interested  in  the  Globe  Casket  Company 
and  was  connected  with  it  for  some  years.  He 
then  formed  a  partnership  with  M.  F.  Carder  in 
furniture  and  undertaking,  which  lasted  until 
about  two  years  before  his  death,  on  February  1, 
1 901.  He  was  also  a  director  and  first  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Rose  Street  Improvement  Company 
and  a  stockholder  in  the  Kalamazoo  Corset  Com- 
pany. A  great  student  of  political  affairs,  he  was 
a  stanch  Republican  and  earnestly  active  in  the 
support  of  his  party.  In  early  life  he  married  with 
Miss  Ruth  Wright,  of  this  county.    She  bore  him 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


335 


one  child,  their  son,  John  H.  Henika,  who  lives 
at  Jacksonville,  Fla.  He  was  married  a  second 
time  in  1878,  being  united  on  this  occasion  with 
Miss  Josephine  Judson,  a  native  of  Washtenaw 
county,  Michigan,  where  her  parents  were  early 
settlers,  and  where  both  died.  Of  this  union  no 
children  were  born.  Mr.  Henika  was  a  regular 
and  interested  attendant  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal church,  and  in  its  fold  and  without  throughout 
the  county  he  was  held  in  high  respect. 

JOSEPH  B.  CORNELL. 

Among  the  pioneers  of  Kalamazoo  county 
was  Joseph  B.  Cornell,  a  prominent  and  success- 
ful business  man  of  Kalamazoo,  who  was  greatly 
respected  and  loved  for  his  fine  qualities  of  mind 
and  heart.  Joseph  Cornell  was  born  in  Clinton, 
\T.  Y.,  on  January  25,  1829,  the  son  of  Dr.  Jo- 
seph Cornell,  a  prominent  physician,  who  re- 
moved to  Kalamazoo  in  1840.  Mrs.  Cornell,  who 
was  Dr.  Cornell's  first  wife,  died  when  Joseph  was 
a  child,  and  was  survived  by  her  husband,  Joseph, 
and  his  two  sisters,  Minerva,  wife  of  George  Bur- 
rell,  and  Abigail,  wife  of  Lewis  Starkey.  He  re- 
turned to  New  York,  and  learned  the  carriage- 
making  trade,  which  he  always  practiced,  becoming 
one  of  the  foremost  carriage  manufacturers  in  the 
state.  He  carried  on  the  largest  business  in  that 
line  in  Kalamazoo,  and  at  a  time  when  machinery 
was  not  so  extensively  used,  most  of  the  work  be- 
ing done  by  hand.  His  factory  was  located  at 
the  northeast  corner  of  Rose  and  Eleanor  streets, 
where  he  built  up  a  splendid  business,  and  where 
at  his  death  he  was  succeeded  by  the  firm  of 
Cornell  Brothers.  Mr.  Cornell  was  one  of  the 
trustees  of  the  village  of  Kalamazoo,  and  held 
the  position  of  chief  of  the  fire  department.  Al- 
though he  never  sought  to  hold  public  office,  he 
was  the  recipient  of  many  positions  of  responsi- 
bility and  trust.  On  September  17,  1856,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Hannah  L.  Trask,  daughter  of 
L.  H.  and  Louisa  (Fay)  Trask.  By  his  father's 
second  marriage  several  sons  were  born,  whom 
Joseph  Cornell  assisted  in  various  ways  to  get 
a  start  in  life.  He  was  a  prominent  member  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  church,  to  which  institu- 


tion he  gave  freely.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Masons,  in  which  society  he  attained  the  degree 
of  Knight  Templar  and  Scottish  Rite.  In  poli- 
tics he  was  a  Democrat,  and  was  exceedingly 
loyal  to  his  party,  with  whom  he  always  cast  his 
vote.  In  1872,  his  health  rapidly  failing  him,  he 
was  compelled  to  retire  from  business.  He  then 
spent  some  time  in  travel  in  Bermuda  and  other 
points,  returning  to  his  home.  He  died  five  years 
later,,  in  1877,  at  his  home  in  Kalamazoo.  He 
is  survived  by  his  widow,  Mrs.  Hannah  L.  Cor- 
nell, who  resides  in  the  Cornell  home  on  South 
Rose  street,  opposite  Bronson  Park.  Mr.  Cor- 
nell was  a  man  who  won  the  love  of  all  who  knew 
him,  and  his  death  was  deeply  mourned  by  many 
loving  friends. 

WILLIAM  SHAKESPEARE. 

William  Shakespeare,  one  of  the  prominent 
men  of  Kalamazoo  county,  is  a  man  who  has 
been  engaged  in  various  activities  and  has  been 
successful  in  all  of  them,  a  fact  which  bespeaks 
his  perseverance  and  unusual  business  ability.  He 
was  born  in  Paris,  Ohio,  April  7,  1844,  his  par- 
ents settling  in  Kalamazoo  county  the  following 
year.  He  attended  the  public  schools  of  Kala- 
mazoo until  he  was  twelve  years  old,  when  he  en- 
tered the  Telegraph  printing  office.  Later  he  be- 
came an  apprentice  in  the  office  of  the  Kalamazoo 
Gazette,  at  the  same  time  devoting  himself  to  the 
study  of  bookkeeping,  which  he  completed  at 
Barnard's  Academy  at  Medina,  Ohio.  He  gradu- 
ated from  here  in  1859,  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  He 
then  clerked  in  a  store  for  a  short  time,  and  was 
only  seventeen  when  he  enlisted  in  Company  K, 
Second  Michigan  Infantry,  on  April  12,  1861, 
and  was  mustered  into  the  United  States  service 
on  May  25.  After  more  than  three  years  of  hard 
service  he  was  mustered  out  on  account  of  wounds 
received  in  service.  He  was  shot  in  the  charge 
at  Jackson,  Miss.,  and  both  thighs  were  broken. 
Not  until  he  reached  the  hospital  at  Cincin- 
nati, thirty-three  days  later,  did  these  terrible 
wounds  receive  attention.  Returning  home  after 
recuperation,  he  was  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  pro- 
vost-marshal until  the  close  of  the  war.     At  the 


336 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


youthful  age  of  twenty-one  he  was  editor  and  pro- 
prietor of  the  Kalamazoo  Gazette.  He  entered 
into  the  mercantile  business  in  1867,  but  he  had 
not  yet  found  his  right  sphere — his  ambition  was 
to  be  a  lawyer.  He  put  in  his  spare  time  to  the 
study  of  law  with  such  good  results  that  in  1878 
he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  one  of  Michigan's  foremost  lawyers,  the 
Hon.  N.  A.  Balch.  In  August,  1867,  he  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Lydia  A.  Duel- 
Markham.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Shakespeare  are  the 
parents  of  four  children,  Andrew,  William,  Jr., 
Mrs.  Cora  E.  Leech  and  Edith,  all  of  whom  are 
living  in  Kalamazoo.  The  political  world  also 
held  attractions  for  Mr.  Shakespeare,  and  he  re- 
ceived several  nominations  at  the  hands  of  his 
party.  In  1881  he  was  appointed  brigadier-gen- 
eral and  quartermaster-general  of  the  Michigan 
state  troops.  He  is  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  Orcutt  Post,  the 
Michigan  Society  of  Political  Science  and  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  served  as 
department  commander  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic  in  1896,  and  is  at  present  serving  as  a 
member  of  the  pension  committee  of  its  national 
encampment  of  that  body.  In  May,  1896,  he 
established  the  Central  Bank  of  Kalamazoo,  of 
which  he  was  owner  and  president  for  a  number 
of  years.  In  the  fall  of  1899  ne  decided  to  re- 
tire from  active  practice  of  the  law  and  gave  his 
splendid  law  library  of  about  thirteen  hundred  vol- 
umes to  the  Kalamazoo  County  Law  Library.  Mr. 
Shakespeare  is  also  vice-president  of  the  Kala- 
mazoo County  Bar  Association.  He  is  also  a  part 
owner  of  the  Shakespeare  and  Stier  additions  to 
the  city  of  Kalamazoo  on  South  West  street.  Now 
that  he  has  retired  from  active  business,  he  can 
look  back  on  his  life  with  the  satisfaction  that  it 
has  been  well  spent  and  that  he  availed  himself  of 
every  opportunity.  Mr.  Shakespeare's  parents, 
John  L.  and  Lydia  (Pennell)  Shakespeare,  na- 
tives of  Pennsylvania,  came  to  Kalamazoo  county 
on  May  5,  1845,  an<^  settled  at  Yorkville,  where 
the  father  worked  at  his  trade,  that  of  a  carpenter 
and  joiner.  He  later  came  to  Kalamazoo  and 
died  in  1847,  tne  mother  died  about  1900.  The 
paternal  grand father,  William  Shakespeare,  was 


a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and  came  to  Kalamazoo 
in  1846.  He  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  which  he 
followed  at  Yorkville  and  Kalamazoo  and  died  in 
this  city.  He  served  in  the  war  of  1812  with  a 
Pennsylvania  regiment  and  was  wounded  at  the 
battle  of  Plattsburg. 

HON.  JAMES  M.  DAVIS. 

Since  1870  this  distinguished  citizen  of  Kala- 
mazoo county  has  been  a  regular  resident  of 
Michigan  and  during  the  greater  part  of  the  time 
one  of  the  leading  lights  in  his  profession  in  this 
part  of  the  country.  He  is  a  native  of  Lake 
county,  Ind.,  born  at  Orchard  Grove  on  Septem- 
ber 11,  1844.  His  parents  were  Samuel  C.  and 
Margaret  J.  (McSperren)  Davis,  the  former  a 
native  of  Ohio  and  the  latter  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  father  was  a  farmer,  and  made  his  way  on 
foot  from  Ohio  to  Indiana  in  the  early  days  of 
its  territorial  history.  He  there  entered  govern- 
ment land,  on  which  he  and  his  wife  lived  until 
death  ended  their  labors.  His  family  was  of  Eng- 
lish origin,  its  American  progenitors  being  early 
settlers  of  New  York,  whence  members  of  the 
family  moved  to  Pennsylvania,  then  to  Ohio,  and 
later  to  Indiana.  Mr.  Davis  of  this  sketch  was 
one  of  five  sons  born  to  his  parents,  three  of  whom 
are  living,  he  being  the  only  one  resident  in  this 
state.  He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools,  at 
Crown  Point  Academy,  Valparaiso  College  and 
Asbury  (now  De  Pauw)  University,  being  grad- 
uated from  the  latter  in  1868.  In  1869  and  1870 
he  attended  the  law  department  of  the  university 
at  Ann  Arbor,  and  in  the  year  last  named  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  Van  Buren  county,  this 
state.  He  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  the 
same  year  in  Kalamazoo,  and  has  been  engaged  in 
it  actively  and  successfully  ever  since  except  dur- 
ing portions  of  the  time  when  he  occupied  offi- 
cial positions.  He  served  three  terms  as  a  jus- 
tice of  the  peace,  and  then  two  terms  as  circuit 
court  commissioner,  and  was  appointed  United 
State  circuit  court  commissioner  by  Judge 
Withey,  holding  the  position  five  or  six  years, 
then  resigning  it  to  accept  the  office  of  probate 
judge  in  1889.     This  ne  filled  eight  years,  and 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


337 


at  the  end  of  that  period  was  elected  to  the  lower 
house  of  the  state  legislature.  In  the  session  fol- 
lowing he  was  on  the  committees  on  the  judiciary, 
rules,  joint  rules  and  the  school  of  mines,  and 
also  on  the  special  committee  on  the  message  of 
Governor  Pingree  on  the  general  tax  bill.  Since 
then  he  has  given  his  attention  to  his  active  gen- 
eral practice  and  to  farming,  owning  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  of  excellent  land  in  Kalamazoo 
township,  this  county,  which  he  devotes  to  general 
farming  and  dairy  products.  In  1867  the  Judge 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Estella  L.  El- 
dred,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  B.  Eldred,  one  of 
the  esteemed  pioneers  of  Climax  township.  They 
have  three  children,  Dora,  Thomas  E.  and  Percy 
L.  The  last  two  named  are  at  home.  The  daugh- 
ter is  vice-principal  of  the  American  Girls'  School, 
at  Lovetch,  Bulgaria,  a  missionary  school  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church.  In  politics  the 
Judge  has  been  a  life-long  Republican,  and  a  lead- 
ing worker  in  the  affairs  of  his  party.  Frater- 
nally he  is  a  Knight  of  Pythias  and  a  member  of 
the  Phi  Gamma  Delta  college  fraternity,  of  which 
the  late  gifted  General  Lew  Wallace  was  a  mem- 
ber. His  church  affiliation  is  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal,  and  he  holds  his  membership  with  the 
Daman  congregation  in  the  township  of 
Kalamazoo. 

DR.  ANDREW  J.  HOLMES. 

This  pioneer  dentist  of  Kalamazoo,  who  is 
now  retired  from  active  professional  work,  is  a 
native  of  Lake  county,  Ohio,  born  at  Kirkland, 
on  August  18,  1834.  His  parents,  Ezra  and 
Maria  (Pelton)  Holmes,  were  natives  of  the 
state  of  New  York,  where  they  were  prosperous 
farmers,  and  from  where  they  removed  to  Lake 
county,  Ohio,  and  became  early  settlers  in  that 
then  new  country.  There  they  had  a  family  of 
sateen  children,  seven  of  whom  are  living,  and 
there  ended  their  days,  highly  esteemed  through- 
out the  county  they  had  helped  materially  to  set- 
tle and  civilize.  The  Doctor  is  the  only  one  of 
their  children  residing  in  Michigan.  His  an- 
cestry was  English,  and  he  typifies  strongly  the 
sterling  qualities  of  his  race.    He  was  reared  and 


educated  in  Ohio,  finishing  his  academic  course 
at  Kirtland  Academy.  He  followed  farming  un- 
til 1862,  then  entered  the  office  of  one  of  his 
brothers,  a  practicing  dentist,  and  remained  with 
him  three  years.  At  the  same  time  he  and  his 
brother  operated  a  flouring  mill.  He  engaged  in 
the  oil  business  at  Pithole,  Pa.,  after  quitting  the 
office  of  his  brother,  also  running  a  refinery  there, 
and  was  very  successful  in  the  venture  for  a  time, 
but  later  lost  all  he  had  accumulated  in  drilling 
new  wells.  In  1867  he  came  to  Michigan  and  lo- 
cated at  Battle  Creek,  joining  his  brother,  who 
was  practicing  dentistry  there.  After  remaining 
there  a  year  he  removed  to  South  Haven,  and.  in 
1870,  a  year  and  a  half  later,  changed  his  resi- 
dence to  Kalamazoo,  where  he  was  in  active 
practice  until  1904.  In  1861  he  enlisted  in  the 
Union  army  and  passed  two  weeks  at  Cleveland, 
.Ohio;  but  his  command  was  never  mustered  into 
service.  He,  however,  had  two  brothers  in  the 
army  through  that  terrible  war.  In  1866  he  was 
married  in  Ohio  to  Miss  Victoria  Wood,  who  died 
one  year  later.  In  1868  the  Doctor  married  a 
second  wife,  Miss  Marian  E.  Webster,  with 
whom  he  was  wedded  in  Iowa.  She  was  born 
in  Lake  county,  Ohio.  They  have  one  child, 
their  son  Frank  W.,  who  is  now  practicing  den- 
tistry in  Chicago.  The  Doctor  is  a  member  of 
the  West  Michigan  Dental  Society  and  the  State 
Dental  Society.  He  belongs  to  the  People's 
church,  is  widely  known  throughout  the  county, 
and  everywhere  is  highly  respected. 

JOHN  GILCHRIST. 

More  than  half  a  century  ago  this  respected 
pioneer  set  foot  on  the  soil  of  this  county,  and 
although  since  then  he  has  not  continuously  re- 
sided in  it,  no  matter  where  he  went  or  how  long 
he  remained  away,  he  always  looked  upon  this 
region  as  his  permanent  home,  and  in  time  re- 
turned to  it,  until  he  finally  settled  here  to  roam 
no  more.  He  has  been  prominently  connected  with 
the  history  of  the  county  much  of  the  time  since 
his  first  arrival  here,  and  in  all  movements  for  the 
development  of  its  resources  and  the  advancement 
of  its  interests  he  has  been  an  ardent  and  intelli- 


33« 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


gent  help.  He  is  a  native  of  Barnet,  Caledonia 
county,  Vt,  born  on  April  28,  1835,  and  the 
son  of  John  and  Jane  (Duncan)  Gilchrist,  na- 
tives of  the  same  county  as  himself.  The  father 
was  a  lumberman  with  an  extensive  trade  in  both 
New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,  his  sawmills  being 
located  on  the  boundary  line  between  the  two 
states.  He  died  in  New  Hampshire  in  1843,  aged 
forty-seven  years.  In  political  contests  he  sup- 
ported the  Whig  party,  but  his  local  patriotism 
was  beyond  the  control  of  party  ties,  as  he  valued 
the  interests  of  his  section  above  the  claims  of  his 
party.  The  mother  was  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Betsey  (Putman)  Duncan,  who  were  among  the 
well  known  families  of  New  Hampshire.  The 
Duncans,  like  the  Gilchrists,  as  the  name  suggests, 
had  their  origin  in  Scotland,  but  the  branch  of 
the  family  to  which  the  Michigan  Duncans  be- 
longed migrated  from  their  native  land  to  London- 
derry, Ireland,  whence  George  Duncan,  the  Amer- 
ican progenitor  of  the  race,  came  to  New  England 
in  1742,  and  settled  at  Londonderry,  N.  H.,  a  town 
named  in  honor  of  his  native  city  across  the  sea. 
More  extended  mention  of  the  family  will  be 
found  in  the  sketch  of  Delamore  Duncan  on  an- 
other page  of  this  work.  Mr.  Gilchrist's  grand- 
father was  John  Gilchrist,  a  native  of  Scotland, 
reared  in  Glasgow,  and  a  weaver  by  trade.  He 
came  to  America  in  1796  and  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  Vermont,  and  from  him  the  Gilchrist 
family  in  this  country  is  descended.  He  died  at 
Mclndoe  Falls,  Vt.,  after  working  at  his  trade 
there  many  years.  It  should  be  stated,  how- 
ever, that  his  father,  James  Gilchrist,  was  the 
first  of  the  family  to  arrive  in  this  country,  com- 
ing to  Vermont  in  1773,  and  locating  where  his 
sons  afterward  settled,  and  being  among  the  first 
settlers  in  that  part  of  the  state.  Mr.  Gilchrist 
of  this  sketch  had  two  brothers.  One  of  them  is 
dead  and  the  other,  George  Gilchrist,  is  a  resi- 
dent of  this  county.  John  Gilchrist,  the  third,  of 
whom  these  paragraphs  are  written  more  espe- 
cially, passed  his  early  life  in  Vermont  and  New 
Hampshire,  and  was  educated  at  the  St.  Johns- 
burg  Academy  in  the  former  state.  In  1854  he 
came  to  Kalamazoo  county  and  located  in  Prairie 
Roride  township.     Three  years  later  he  went  to 


Missouri,  where  he  remained  until  August,  1861. 
He  then  returned  to  this  state,  and  in  July,  1862, 
enlisted  in  the  Union  army  as  a  member  of  Com- 
pany D,  Twenty-fifth  Michigan  Volunteer  In- 
fantry. His  regiment  was  assigned  to  the  Army 
of  the  Ohio  and  took  part  in  many  important  en-. 
gagements  in  the  war,  among  them  the  battles  of 
Tibbs'  Bend,  Ky. ;  Resaca  and  Buzzard's  Roost, 
Ga. ;  the  siege  of  Atlanta  and  all  the  engage- 
ments incident  to  Sherman's  march  to  the 
sea.  It  then  went  to  Nashville  and  did  its  part 
of  the  terrible  fighting  at  and  around  that  city, 
and  in  what  followed  in  western  Tennessee  and 
eastern  North  Carolina.  Mr.  Gilchrist  was  dis- 
charged from  the  service  in  July,  1865,  with  the 
rank  of  captain.  He  returned  to  Kalamazoo 
county  and  two  years  later  moved  to  Allegan 
county,  where  he  remained  eight  years,  then  lived 
two  years  at  Big  Rapids,  Mecosta  county,  and 
twelve  in  northern  Michigan,  all  the  while  en- 
gaged in  the  lumber  trade.  After  passing  a  year 
in  Louisiana  he  again  returned  to  this  county,  and 
in  1 891  took  up  his  residence  at  Schoolcraft, 
where  he  has  ever  since  lived.  He  was  married 
at  Muskegon,  Mich.,  in  1897,  to  Miss  Olivia 
Bedell,  a  native  of  New  Hampshire.  In  his  long 
life  of  industry  and  frugality  Mr.  Gilchrist  has 
acquired  a  large  amount  of  valuable  land,  and  he 
is  now  actively  connected  with  some  of  the  lead- 
ing industries  of  the  county,  being  a  stockholder 
in  some  of  them.  He  is  a  zealous  member  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  full  of  loyalty 
to  the  cause  and  the  memories  it  is  designed  to 
perpetuate. 

LEROY  NICHOLS. 

Comfortably  located  on  a  fine  and  well  im- 
proved farm  of  ninety  acres  in  the  township  of 
Prairie  Ronde,  which  he  has  acquired  by  his  own 
assiduous  industry  and  attention  to  business,  Le- 
roy  Nichols,  one  of  the  prosperous  and  progres- 
sive farmers  of  this  county,  can  laugh  a  siege  of 
adversity  to  scorn,  and  feel  secure  against  the 
attacks  of  ill-fortune,  having  at  the  same  time 
the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  as  he  has  known 
how  to  win  his  way  in  the  world  he  also  knows 
how  to  maintain  his  place.     He  is  a  native  oi 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


339 


his  township,  born  there  on  July  19,  1852,  and 
the  son  of  Orson  and  Eliza  (Felt)  Nichols,  who 
were  born  and  reared  in  Madison  county,  N.  Y. 
The  father  was  a  farmer  and  came  to  this  county 
in  1846.  Soon  after  his  arrival  he  bought  a 
quarter  section  of  land  which  is  now  owned  by 
Levi  Luce,  of  Prairie  Ronde  township.  On  this 
land  the  elder  Mr.  Nichols  lived  until  1856,  when 
he  moved  to  Galesburg,  111.,  and  during  the  next 
seven  or  eight  years  kept  a  hotel  there.  He  then 
went  to  California,  making  the  trip  overland  in 
company  with  George  Ferris,  the  father  of  the 
inventor  of  the  great  Ferris  wheel,  which  was 
one  of  the  leading  attractions  at  the  Columbian 
Exposition  held  in  Chicago  in  1893.  Before  go- 
ing to  California,  however,  he  enlisted  in  the 
Thirty-third  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry  as  a  fife 
major,  under  Gen.  John  A.  Logan,  and  served 
in  the  Civil  war  a  year  and  a  half,  taking  part  in 
the  capture  of  Fort  Donelson,  Fort  Henry,  Bel- 
mont and  Shiloh,  and  several  minor  engage- 
ments. He  remained  in  California  about  three 
years,  then  returned  home  by  water,  and  after 
a  short  residence  at  Galesburg,  came  to  Kalama- 
zoo county  once  more.  But  not  having  recovered 
fully  from  the  attack  of  western  fever,  which  had 
taken  him  to  the  Pacific  coast,  he  again  turned 
his  face  toward  the  setting  sun  and  took  up  his 
residence  in  Kansas,  where  he  remained  until  his 
death,  in  1876.  His  wife  died  in  this  county  in 
1854.  They  had  four  children,  three  of  them 
living,  Leroy,  Mrs.  William  Cobb,  of  School- 
craft, and  Mrs.  H.  H.  Willsie,  of  Galesburg,  111. 
The  father  married  for  his  second  wife  Miss  Eu- 
nice Simmons,  of  Madison  county,  N.  Y.  She 
^  dead,  as  is  her  one  child.  The  father  was  a 
strong  Republican,  but  although  an  active  and 
serviceable  party  worker,  he  was  never  an  office 
seeker.  Leroy  Nichols  passed  his  boyhood  and 
youth  in  this  county,  at  Galesburg,  111.,  and  in 
Madison  county,  N.  Y.  He  began  life  for  him- 
self as  a  farmer,  working  some  time  by  the 
month  for  other  people,  then  bought  a  farm  of 
his  own,  the  one  on  which  he  now  lives,  and  on 
this  he  has  passed  all  of  his  subsequent'  life  ex- 
cept seven  years  during  which  he  lived  at  School- 
craft.    His  farm  comprises  ninety  acres  of  first- 


rate  land,  and  is  well  improved  and  skillfully 
cultivated.  He  was  married  in  1875  to  Miss 
Mary  E.  Franckboner,  a  daughter  of  William 
and  a  sister  of  George  Franckboner.  Mrs.  Nich- 
ols died  June  14,  1905.  For  more  extended  men- 
tion of  the  parents  see  sketch  of  George  Franck- 
boner, on  another  page.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nichols 
have  had  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  living, 
their  daughter  Gertrude  and  their  son  Ben  H. 
Like  his  father,  Mr.  Nichols  is  a  Republican,  but 
he  has  never  desired  office  and  has  sought  no 
political  honors.  Fraternally  he  is  a  member  of 
the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees. 

JEROME  T.  COBB. 

Although  for  many  years  an  active  and  pros- 
perous farmer  in  Schoolcraft  township,  this 
county,  the  late  Jerome  T.  Cobb  is  best  known 
and  most  widely  esteemed  throughout  this  state 
and  others  by  his  work  in  connection  with  the 
State  Grange  of  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry  and 
his  masterful  editorship  and  management  of  its 
published  organ,  the  Grange  Visitor,  of  which 
he  had  charge  for  a  period  of  fourteen  years.  Mr. 
Cobb  was  born  at  Goshen,  Litchfield  county, 
Conn.,  on  December  29,  1821,  the  son  of  Nathan 
and  Sally  (Thompson)  Cobb,  natives  of  Connec- 
ticut, the  Cobb  ancestry  in  America  being  origi- 
nally from  Wales.  Jerome  was  a  boy  of  nine 
when  the  family  came  to  this  country  in  the  fall 
of  1830,  and  grew  to  manhood  on  the  farm  his 
father  entered  from  the  government,  northeast  of 
the  village  of  Schoolcraft,  in  the  township  of 
the  same  name.  There  he  had  his  home  until  he 
removed  to  Schoolcraft  in  1865,  where  he  lived 
until  his  death  on  November  15,  1893.  He  fol- 
lowed farming  and  also  manufactured  staves  and 
headings  to  some  extent  until  1873,  conducting 
the  latter  business  in  conjunction  with  his  only 
son,  William  B.  Cobb,  under  the  style  of  J.  T. 
Cobb  &  Son.  His  educational  advantages  were 
limited  to  the  opportunities  presented  by  a  little 
country  school  taught  by  his  oldest  sister,  "Mary 
Ann  Cobb,  and  two  months'  attendance  at  the  old 
"Branch"  in  'Kalamazoo.  But  he  improved  them 
so   diligently   and  wisely   that  after   leaving   the 


34° 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


"Branch"  he  taught  successfully  during  the  next 
four  winters  in  the  good  old  days  of  "boarding 
"round."  In  February,  1873,  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  Schoolcraft  Grange,  Patrons  of  Husbandry, 
and  in  April  following  was  elected  secretary  of 
the  State  Grange  of  the  order.  From  then  until 
1890  he  gave  his  attention  wholly  to  the  duties 
of  this  office  in  connection  with  the  publication 
of  the  Grange  Visitor,  which  was  established  in 
1876,  and  which  he  edited  and  managed  success- 
fully during  the  next  fourteen  years,  building  it 
up  to  a  large  circulation  and  influence,  and 
through  its  columns  doing  excellent  work  for  the 
cause  of  agriculture  and  the  benefit  of  those  en- 
gaged in  it.  He  was  also  prominent  and  influen- 
tial in  the  public  life  of  his  village  and  county, 
serving  in  a  number  of  important  offices  for  a 
long  time,  being  county  superintendent  of  the 
poor  for  a  period  of  twenty-five  years,  oil  in- 
spector for  four  years,  county  agent  for  twelve 
years,  and  supervisor  of  Schoolcraft  township 
several  terms,  besides  occupying  other  local  of- 
fices from  time  to  time.  In  political  affairs  he 
always  took  an  active  part,  bu,t  as  an  independent 
Republican.  As  a  tribute  to  his  worth  and  the 
valuable  services  he  was  rendering  the  state 
Grange,  that  organization,  at  its  annual  meeting 
in  Lansing,  in  December,  1891,  through  ex-Gov- 
ernor Luce,  presented  him  with  a  beautiful  gold- 
headed  cane,  which  he  always  afterward  esteemed 
as  among  his  most  pleasing  possessions.  Mr. 
Cobb  was  first  married  in  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y., 
to  Miss  Julianne  Benton,  and  they  became  the 
parents  of  two  children,  only  one  of  whom  is  liv- 
ing, their  son  William  B.  Cobb.  The  mother  died 
on  September  20,  1850,  and  on  April  22,  1852, 
the  father  married  Miss  Harriet  Felt,  a  native  of 
Chenango  county,  N.  Y.  She  died  on  December 
12,  1892. 

William  B.  Cobb,  the  only  son  of  Jerome  T. 
Cobb,  was  born  on  the  old  home  farm  in  School- 
craft township  on  December  1,  1847.  He  ob- 
tained his  early  education  in  the  common  schools, 
then  -attended  the  Schoolcraft  high  school  and 
passed  one  year  at  the  State  Agricultural  College, 
finishing  his  preparation  for  the*  business  of  life 
by  a  course  of  special  training  in  the  Poughkeep- 


sie,  (N.  Y.)  Business  College,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  in  1861.  He  then  returned  to  this 
county,  and  for  a  time  was  associated  with  his 
father  in  the  manufacture  of  staves  and  headings 
until  the  explosion  of  the  engine  in  the  factory 
destroyed  the  property  and  killed  the  engineer. 
Since  then  he  has  steadfastly  adhered  to  the 
work  of  farming,  in  which  he  has  been  eminently 
successful,  and  is  now  managing  more  than  six 
hundred  acres  of  excellent  land.  In  connection 
with  this  he  has  been  an  extensive  and  progressive 
sheep  grower  and  feeder,  handling  on  an  average 
one  thousand  to  one  thousand  five  hundred  a 
year.  On  December  15,  1869,  he  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Louisa  Nichols,  a  native  of  New 
York  state  and  daughter  of  Orson  Nichols,  a 
well  known  pioneer  of  the  township,  who  is  now 
deceased.  They  have  three  children,  Hattie,  wife 
of  Lewis  F.  Anderson,  a  professor  in  the  State 
Normal  School  at  Marquette;  Delia,  wife  of  Dr. 
Carl  Felt,  of  Philadelphia;  and  Roy  J.,  who  is 
living  at  home.  The  older  daughter  is  a  graduate 
of  Oberlin  College,  Ohio,  and  the  younger  of  the 
New  England  Conservatory  of  Fine  Arts  at  Bos- 
ton, Mass.  The  son  is  a  student  at  the  State  Agri- 
cultural College  at  Lansing.  The  father  has  been 
a  life-long  Republican,  and  has  served  sixteen 
consecutive  years  as  supervisor  of  his  township, 
a  portion  of  the  period  as  chairman  of  the  board. 
He  is  a  Freemason  of  the  Knights  Templar  de- 
gree, with  membership  in  the  commandery  at 
Three  Rivers.  Well  and  favorably  known  in  all 
parts  of  the  county,  he  is  one  of  its  leading  citi- 
zens, an  honor  to  the  section  and  an  example 
worthy  of  all  emulation  by  its  people  of  every 
class. 

ORRIN  SNOW. 

This  honored  pioneer,  who  was  well  known 
and  esteemed  throughout  the  county  and  all  the 
surrounding  territory,  came  with  his  parents  to 
Michigan  in  March,  1837,  their  journey  hither 
being  one  of  unusual  features  and  uncommon  in- 
terest. They  came  from  Oswego  county,  N.  Y.. 
traveling  in  sleighs  to  Detroit  and  from  there  to 
Jackson,  where  the  sleighs  were  abandoned.  Font- 
weeks  were  consumed  in  the  trip,  and  while  it  was 


Unioji  S|lver  Candidate  for  Congress. 


(OAt*-. 


'Al^Y^  JJ/ft^J/s — ' 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


343 


fraught  with  some  hardships  and  danger,  it  was 
also  full  of  incident  and  excitement.  Mr.  Snow 
was  eight  years  old  at  the  time,  but  he  remembers 
the  long  ride  with  vivid  clearness,  and  was  wont 
t(,  recount  its  many  picturesque  phases  with  en- 
thusiasm. He  was  born  in  Oswego  county,  N.  Y., 
on  September  27,  1829,  and  was  the  son  of  An- 
sel and  Arbelia  (Wilmouth)  Snow,  natives  of 
Massachusetts,  the  former  born  in  1784  and  the 
latter  in  1795,  and  both  of  English  ancestry.  On 
their  arrival  in  this  county,  they  located  on 
(] rand  Prairie,  four  miles  northwest  of  Kalama- 
zoo, but  two  or  three  years  afterward  removed 
to  Oshtemo  township,  where  one  of  the  daughters 
of  the  family  had  settled  after  her  marriage  a 
few  months  before.  Their  land  was  in  the  "Open- 
ings/' about  which  James  Fenimore  Cooper  has 
written  in  his  "Oak  Openings."  When  they  took 
possession  of  this  land,  it  was  all  wild  and  new. 
The  father  was  an  invalid,  and  the  management 
of  the  farm  devolved  on  the  sons  as  soon  as  they 
were  able  to  take  charge  of  it,  so  that  the  oppor- 
tunities they  had  for  attending  school  were  few 
and  irregular.  They  were,  however,  boys  of  na- 
tive force  and  strong  spirit,  and  have  never  found 
themselves  without  a  resource  in  the  battle  of  life. 
Their  father  died  on  October  15,  1864,  on  the 
farm,  and  the  mother  in  August,  1880,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-five  years,  passing  away  in  Missouri, 
where  she  had  removed  to  pass  her  remaining 
years  with  her  sons,  Orson  and  Orlie.  The  fam- 
ily comprised  three  sons  and  four  daughters,  who 
^rew  to  maturity.  The  daughters  are  all  dead, 
but  the  sons  are  all  living,  except  Orrin,  on  whom 
the  grim  hand  of  death  descended  on  the  9th  of 
November,  1904.  Orrin  remained  at  home  until  he 
was  twenty-four  years  old,  and  bought  a  farm 
west  of  the  old  home  place,  on  which  he  lived 
until  1889,  when  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo.  Taking 
his  land  as  nature  gave  it  to  him,  he  cleared  it  all 
and  brought  its  fertile  acres  to  an  advanced  state 
of  cultivation,  improving  the  place  with  attrac- 
tive buildings,  and  making  it  a  productive  and 
valuable  farm.  In  the  spring  of  1901  he  changed 
his  residence  to  the  village  of  Richland,  where 
he  lived  until  his  death.  Before  beginning  farm- 
ing for  himself  in  this  country  he  went  to  Cali- 


fornia in  1853,  making  the  trip  overland  with 
teams,  having  eight  companions  and  being  six 
months  on  the  way.  The  journey  was  full  of  ad- 
venture, the  way  beset  with  danger,  the  days  and 
nights  frightful  in  hardships  and  privation,  and 
the  lengthening  miles  seemed  endless.  Yet  the 
wild  life  of  the  small  party  in  an  unknown  coun- 
try, surrounded  by  nature's  primeval  solitude, 
broken  only  by  the  voices  of  her  wild  brood  of 
bird  and  beast  and  savage  men,  had  a  zest  and 
piquancy  that  can  fully  be  enjoyed  in  the  exper- 
ience, but  never  adequately  depicted  in  the  narra- 
tion. After  a  year  and  a  half  of  unsuccessful 
mining  in  the  promised  eldorado,  Mr.  Snow  re- 
turned to  this  county,  and  settled  down  to  the 
quiet  life  of  a  farmer,  and  to  this  he  devoted  his 
energies  until  advancing  years  gave  him  a  well- 
earned  release.  On  April  16,  1865,  he  was  joined 
in  wedlock  with  Miss  Catherine  M.  Hill,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Augustus  H.  and  Catherine  (Chandler) 
Hill,  who  were  born  and  reared  in  the  state  of 
New  York,  and  come  to  this  county  in  1837,  set- 
tling first  in  Oshtemo  township,  and  after  clear- 
ing and  improving  a  farm  there,  moved  to  Alamo 
township,  where  they  cleared  and  improved  an- 
other, on  which  they  lived  many  years.  From 
this  farm  they  moved  to  Plainwell,  and  there, 
in  the  fullness  of  years  and  crowned  with  general 
respect  throughout  the  county,  they  died.  The 
father  was  a  leading  politician,  belonging  to  the 
Whig  party  until  it  was  superseded  by  the  Re- 
publican, and  after  that  supporting  the  new 
party  loyally  until  his  death.  Throughout  his 
life  he  was  an  ardent  abolitionist  and  a  forcible 
advocate  of  his  faith  in  this  respect.  He  was  also 
prominent  in  the  councils  of  the  Christian  church. 
Four  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Snow. 
Two  of  them  are  now  living,  their  son  Milo  A., 
a  prominent  farmer  of  Richland  township,  and 
their  daughter  Katharine,  wife  of  F.  W.  Hen- 
drick,  of  Kalamazoo.  Their  father  was  influential 
in  the  public  life  of  the  county,  serving  many 
years  as  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  township  su- 
pervisor and  treasurer.  In  politics  he  supported 
the  Republican  party,  and  fraternally  belonged 
to  the  Masonic  order.  He  was  one  of  the  few  of 
the  early  pioneers  left  to  recount  the  trials  and 


344 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


triumphs  of  the  founders  of  the  county,  and  was 
everywhere  regarded  and  revered  as  a  patriarch 
in  this  Israel,  who  with  others  builded  more  wise- 
ly than  they  knew,  meeting  every  requirement  of 
an  exalted  and  exacting  duty,  and  handing  down 
to  posterity  a  firm  and  enduring  fabric  of  excel- 
lence in  material  and  workmanship  in  the  civili- 
zation they  planted  and  the  institutions  they  bap- 
tized into  being.  Mrs.  Snow,  the  widow  of  the 
noble  man  whose  portrait  appears  on  the  oppo- 
site page,  is  still  living  in  Richland. 

JOSEPH  S.  THOMAS. 

The  late  Joseph  S.  Thomas,  of  Schoolcraft 
township,  this  county,  who  died  on  March  20, 
1882,  at  the  age  of  sixty-two,  and  after  a  resi- 
dence in  this  state  and  that  township  of  forty-one 
years,  during  all  of  which  he  took  an  active  and 
serviceable  part  in  building  up  the  county  and  de- 
veloping its  resources,  and  in  every  phase  of  its 
educational,  social  and  moral  life,  was  a  native  of 
Mt.  Pleasant,  Ohio,  born  on  January  30,  1820. 
He  was  a  brother  of  Dr.  Nathan  M.  Thomas,  an 
honored  citizen  and  professional  man  of  this 
county,  a  sketch  of  whom,  containing  extended 
notice  of  the  parents  of  the  family,  will  be  found 
elsewmere  in  this  volume.  Mr.  Thomas  grew  to 
manhood  in  his  native  town  and  was  educated  in 
private  schools  there.  .  He  studied  surveying  and 
followed  it  as  his  profession  until  he  came  to 
Michigan  in  1841.  Then,  purchasing  a  farm  of 
eighty  acres  in  Schoolcraft  township  which  was 
partially  cleared  and  improved,  he  turned  his  at- 
tention to  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  in  which  he 
was  engaged  until  his  death,  adding  to  his  farm 
until  he  owned  two  hundred  acres  of  excellent 
land.  He  prospered  in  his  undertaking  and  ba- 
came  a  prominent  and  influential  citizen  of  the 
township.  On  October  8,  185 1,  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Minerva  A.  Robb,  a  native  of  Ohio,  their 
nuptials  being  solemnized  at  Bellefontaine,  that 
state.  Three  sons  and  two  daughters  blessed 
their  union.  Of  these  four  are  living,  Lois,  Mary 
A.,  Alvan  Stanton,  who  resides  on  the  home 
farm,  and  Walter  J.,  who  is  engaged  in  the  grain 
and    coal   business.      The   mother    survived    her 


husband  eleven  years,  passing  away  on  Novem- 
ber 4,  1893.  The  father  was  a  Freesoiler  when 
that  party  was  organized  and  continued  to  sup- 
port its  principles  until  the  birth  of  the  Republi- 
can party,  when  he  became  one  of  the  most  earn- 
est members  of  the  new  organization,  which  he 
supported  with  ardor  and  enthusiasm  during  the 
remainder  of  his  life.  He  was  a  strong  aboli- 
tionist throughout  his  manhood,  and  for  years 
was  an  active  and  effective  worker  in  the  "Un- 
derground Railroad,"  which  helped  fugitive 
slaves  from  the  South  into  Canada.  In  fraternal 
relations  he  was  an  energetic  and  influential 
member  of  the  order  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry. 
No  citizen  of  the  county  ever  more  fully  pos- 
sessed or  more  justly  deserved  the  regard  and 
esteem  of  its  people. 

DR.  WILSON  A.  RUSSELL. 

The  life  of  a  country  physician,  whether  the 
country  around  him  be  sparsely  or  thickly  popu- 
lated, is  by  no  means  a  "flowery  bed  of  ease."  He 
must  be  every  ready  for  immediate  service  at 
whatever  cost  of  personal  comfort  and  whatever 
the  conditions  of  time  and  season.  And  the  range 
of  demands  upon  him  is  as  wide  and  comprehen- 
sive as  the  sweep  of  human  attributes.  It  is  re- 
quired of  him  that  he  furnish  society  in  solitude, 
sympathy  in  sorrow,  counsel  in  trouble,  relief  in 
sickness,  and  even  consolation  in  death.  The  good 
men  devoted  to  the  profession  are  always  minis- 
ters to  human  needs  although  unostentatious  in 
their  work,  and  most  frequently  not  actively  ap- 
preciated for  its  benefits.  Like  the  air  we  breathe, 
they  are  so  habitually  at  our  command,  and  seem- 
ingly, so  much  a  portion  of  our  being,  that  their 
value  is  not  felt  until  they  are  beyond  our  reach. 
To  this  beneficial  destiny,  by  his  own  choice,  the 
subject  of  this  brief  review  has  devoted  himself, 
and  in  working  it  out  he  has  already  won  a 
firm  footing  in  the  community  at  and  around 
Richland  Center,  although  he  has  been  practicing 
there  but  a  few  years.  Having  shown  himself  to 
be  capable  and  masterful  in  his  professional  work, 
and  companionable  and  genial  in  his  disposition, 
the  community  has  accepted  him  as  a  benefaction, 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


345 


and  is  employing  him  in  its  needs  with  a  steadily 
increasing  demand ;  and  by  using  with  diligence 
and  fidelity  the  benefits  of  his  earnest  study  and 
his  close  and  judicious  observation,  he  is  meeting 
the  growing  requisition  to  his  own  advantage  and 
the  general  benefit  of  all  around  him.  Dr.  Russell 
was  born  in  Comstock  township,  Kalamazoo 
county,  on  May  23,  1872,  and  is  the  son  of  Dar- 
win J.  and  Alpsie  (Adams)  Russell,  natives  of 
Ohio.  The  father  was  a  farmer  and  came  to  Michi- 
gan to  live  in  1865,  after  the  close  of  the  Civil 
war,  in  which  he  served  on  the  Union  side  as  a 
member  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-eighth 
Ohio  Infantry,  on  detached  duty  as  a  recruiting 
officer  and  provost  marshal,  and  also  in  guarding 
prisoners  on  Johnston's  Island  and  in  the  secret 
service.  After  farming  in  Comstock  township  for 
a  number  of  years  he  moved  to  Galesburg,  where 
he  and  his  wife  have  since  had  their  home.  They 
have  two  children,  the  Doctor  and  his  sister  Kate, 
who  is  teaching  school  in  Chicago.  The  Doctor 
was  educated  in  the  common  schools  in  this 
county  and  at  Galesburg  high  school,  of  which 
lie  is  a  graduate.  He  also  attended  Kalamazoo 
College.  After  leaving  school  he  taught  two  win- 
ters, and  for  a  time  traveled  portions  of  the  coun- 
try selling  agricultural  implements.  He  began 
the  study  of  medicine  in  the  office  of  Dr.  McBeth 
at  Galesburg,  and  in  1894  entered  the  Homeo- 
pathic School  of  the  medical  department  of  the 
State  University  at  Ann  Arbor,  where  he  re- 
mained one  year,  and  then  matriculated  at  the  Chi- 
cago Homeopathic  Medical  College,  from  which 
he  was  graduated  in  1897.  He  at  once  began 
practicing  at  Ludington,  where  he  remained  from 
1897  to  1901,  and  then  came  to  Richland  and  has 
been  here  continuously  ever  since  except  while 
he  was  pursuing  a  post-graduate  course  of  in- 
struction at  the  Detroit  Post-Graduate  Medical 
School.  He  was  married  at  Ludington,  Mason 
county,  on  January  1,  1900,  to  Miss  Jennie  E. 
Calkins,  a  native  of  Ohio.  They  have  one  child, 
their  daughter,  Marian  J.  In  politics  the  Doctor 
is  a  Republican,  and  as  such  was  elected  county 
coroner  in  1904.  While  living  at  Ludington 
he  was  city  physician  and  also  coroner.  Frater- 
nally he  belongs  to  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and 


in  church  affiliation  is  a  Congregatiorialist.  He 
has  a  large  practice  which  is  steadily  on  the  in- 
crease and  he  is  highly  esteemed  all  over  the 
county. 

CHARLES  W.  JONES. 

Passing  by  more  than  a  full  year  the  limit  of 
human  life  as  fixed  by  the  sacred  writer,  and 
rounding  out  a  complete  and  shapely  career  of 
usefulness  to  his  kins,  although  following 
through  life  the  quiet  and  unostentatious  voca- 
tion of  the  old  patriarchs,  the  late  Charles  W. 
Jones,  of  Richland  township,  this  county,  gave  to 
those  around  him  an  example  of  diligence  and 
frugality,  of  fidelity  to  duty,  under  often  trying 
circumstances,  and  of  elevated  and  serviceable 
citizenship  that  is  well  worthy  of  emulation. 
Coming  to  the  county  in  the  early  period  of  its 
history,  he  accepted  the  conditions  of  life  as  he 
found  them,  determined  to  not  only  endure  their 
hardships  and  difficulties  with  cheerfulness  and 
courage,  but  to  make  the  most  of  them  for  the 
benefit  of  himself  and  the  rest  of  the  community. 
Mr.  Jones  was  born  at  Kingsborough,  Fulton 
county,  N.  Y.,  on  March  1,  1825.  His  parents, 
Ephraim  and  Desire  (Williams)  Jones,  were  also 
natives  of  the  Empire  state,  and  on  its  soil  their 
son  grew  to  manhood,  acquiring  habits  of  useful 
industry  on  his  father's  farm,  and  the  rudiments 
of  an  education  in  the  district  schools  near  his 
home,  supplementing  the  latter  with  good  and 
extended  courses  of  study  at  Kingsborough  and 
Johnstown  academies  in  his  native  state,  where 
he  also  taught  school  five  years.  In  1847  ne  came 
to  this  county  and  located  in  Richland  township, 
where  he  maintained  his  home  until  his  death,  on 
March  5,  1896.  During  all  of  his  residence  here 
he  was  devoted  to  farming  and  raising  fine  stock 
of  superior  breeds,  doing  in  all  things  his  ut- 
most in  care  and  energy  to  secure  the  best  re- 
sults, and  never  failing  in  the  attainment  of  his 
object  in  this  respect.  He  also  for  a  time  dealt 
in  live  stock  on  an  extensive  scale  and  with  good 
profits ;  and  for  more  than  thirty  years  was  the 
local  agent,  and  more  than  twenty  the  state  agent 
of  a  Lowell,  Mass.,  firm  in  the  purchase  of  wool. 
He  always  took  an  active  and  helpful  part  in  lo- 


346 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


cal  affairs,  serving  as  township  treasurer  two 
terms  and  in  other  official  and  semi-official,  posi- 
tions from  time  to  time.  His  church  affiliation 
was  with  the  Presbyterians,  and  his  fraternal  re- 
lations were  with  the  Masonic  order,  in  both  of 
which  organizations  he  was  an  appreciated 
worker  for  many  years.  On  April  5,  1848,  he 
married  with  Miss  Eunice  M.  Nevins,  a  native 
of  Orange  county,  Vt.,  born  on  August  4,  1830, 
and  a  daughter  of  Alfred  and  Cynthia  (Morse) 
Nevins,  of  old  New  England  families.  In  1844 
the  family  moved  to  this  county  and  settled  in 
Richland  township,  where  the  father  died  in 
1858,  and  the  mother  in  1883.  Mrs.  Jones  was 
one  of  nine  children,  four  of  whom  are  living, 
she  and  her  sisters,  Cynthia  O.  (Mrs.  S.  W.  Hale, 
of  Bedford,  Mich.),  Sarah  M.  (Mrs.  Marcus 
Riker,  of  Hastings,  Mich.),  and  Augusta  M. 
(Mrs.  Stebbins  Whitney,  of  Richland,  Mich.) 
•In  the  Jones  household  five  children  were  born, 
three  of  whom  are  living,  Alfred  W.,  Charles  E. 
and  Cynthia  D.  Alfred  W.  is  the  general  man- 
ager of  the  Equitable  Fire  Insurance  Company 
of  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  and  is  widely  and  favorably 
known  throughout  the  Northwest.  Charles  E., 
the  son  remaining  in  Kalamazoo  county,  who  is 
living  on  the  paternal  homestead,  which  he  has 
managed  since  he  was  sixteen  years  old,  was 
born  on  the  farm  on  February  2,  1868,  and  was 
reared  and  educated  in  the  township,  attending 
the  common  schools  for  his  scholastic  training 
and  Parson's  Business  College  in  Kalamazoo  for 
business  knowledge.  His  life  has  been  devoted 
to  farming  and  in  that  branch  of  productive  in- 
dustry he  has  attained  a  high  rank  in  the  county 
for  the  wisdom  of  his  operations  and  the  vigor  of 
their  management.  On  October  26,  1892,  he  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary  E.  Foster,  a 
resident  of  Richland  township  and  a  native  of 
this  county,  the  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Clara 
(Bradley)  Foster.  Six  children  have  been  born 
to  their  union,  Loyal  Charles,  Leland  B.,  and 
twins,  Edwin  S.  and  Eveline  C,  born  July  5, 
1905,  who  are  living,  and  two  who  have  died. 
Neither  political  activities  nor  fraternal  associa- 
tions have  interested  Mr.  Jones.  On  his  farm 
and  in  his   family  he  finds   full  occupation  and 


enjoyment,  and  devotes  himself  wholly  to  them, 
except  where  the  general  interests  and  enduring 
welfare  of  the  community  engage  his  attention, 
and  to  them  he  is  ever  cordially  and  helpfully 
responsive.  His  father  kept  a  diary  for  many 
years,  carefully  recording  local  events  and  mat- 
ters of  moment  and  the  narrative  is  one  of  en 
grossing  interest  and  great  importance,  being  a 
faithful  portrayal  of  the  passing  life  of  the  com- 
munity through  its  various  stages  of  early  and 
later  development.  His  prominence  and  general 
acquaintance  in  the  county  gave  him  good  op- 
portunities for  full  and  accurate  knowledge  of 
men  and  occurrences,  and  the  record  he  has  left 
is  in  brief  a  graphic  history  of  the  section  in 
which  he  lived,  the  progress  which  he  aided  and 
the  men  he  knew. 

JOHN  WHEELER. 

A  wide  expanse  of  plain  and  woodland,  the 
forest  filled  with  ferocious  beasts  and  the  whole 
country  yet  under  the  dominion  of  the  wild  red 
man  with  a  disposition  to  stubbornly  contest 
every  foot  of  advance  made  by  the  whites,  the 
ground  reveling  in  the  unpruned  luxuriance  of 
centuries  and  untouched  by  the  hand  of  system- 
atic cultivation,  the  conveniences  of  life  distant  in 
space  and  difficult  of  attainment — these  were  the 
conditions  which  confronted  John  Wheeler,  one 
of  the  pioneers  of  Alamo  township,  this  county, 
when  he  first  set  foot  on  the  soil  of  this  now  pro- 
lific and  highly  favored  region  at  the  age  of 
eleven  years,  in  1837.  I*  ls  difficult  for  an  im- 
agination tutored  in  the  experiences  of  the  pres- 
ent conditions,  which  are  so  obtrusively  and  im- 
pressively present  that  they  seem  to  have  always 
existed,  to  picture  the  state  of  the  country  at  that 
early  day  and  the  hardships,  unremitting  toil  and 
burdensome  privations,  as  well  as  the  ever  pres- 
ent dangers,  that  it  involved.  And  that  even  the 
memory  of  it  is  dim  and  vague,  and  its  reproduc- 
tion in  fancy  is  almost  impossible,  because  of  the 
advance  that  has  been  made  in  the  comparatively 
short  period  which  has  elapsed,  is  a  source  of 
great  credit  to  the  early  workers  and  their  imme- 
diate descendants  in  that  they  have  so  changed  the 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


347 


character  of  the  section  and  all  the  conditions  of 
life  by  their  lofty  courage  and  all-conquering  in- 
dustry and  skill.  Mr.  Wheeler  was  born  at  Wood- 
house,  Norfolk  county,  province  of  Ontario,  Can- 
ada, on  March  12,  1826.  His  parents  were  John 
B.  and  Joanna  (Walker)  Wheeler,  the  former  a 
native  of  New  Hampshire  and  the  latter  of  Can- 
ada. The  father  was  a  carpenter  and  moved 
to  Canada  when  a  young  man.  There  he  was 
married  in  181 7,  and  in  1836  he  came  to  this 
county  and  bought  a  tract  of  wild  land  in  Alamo 
township.  On  this  he  built  a  small  log  shanty, 
and  the  next  year  he  brought  his  family -hither  to 
help  him  make  a  new  home  in  the  wilderness, 
lie  cleared  and  improved  his  land  and  lived  on 
it  until  his  death,  in  1878,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
four,  he  having  been  born  in  1794.  His  wife, 
who  was  born  in  1799,  died  in  1876,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-seven.  He  served  with  a  New  Hamp- 
shire regiment  in  the  war  of  181 2,  and  made  a 
good  record  for  valor  and  endurance  in  that 
short  but  sharp  and  sanguinary  contest.  He  was 
twice  married,  his  second  wife  being  Miss  Char- 
lotte Austin,  who  was  born  in  1807,  married  in 
1826,  and  died  in  1879.  By  the  first  marriage 
he  had  three  daughters  and  one  son,  all  now  de- 
ceased;  and  by  the  second  marriage  three  sons, 
two  of  whom  are  living,  and  two  daugh- 
ters, who  have  died.  He  served  many  years 
as  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  several  as 
township  treasurer,  and  was  an  active  and  earn- 
est member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
always  deeply  interested  in  the  welfare  of  his 
sect  and  helping  to  build  its  first  house  of  wor- 
ship in  the  township.  His  son  John  grew  to  man- 
hood on  the  farm  where  he  died  and  passed  all 
of  his  life  after  coming  to  Michigan.  He  was 
educated  in  the  primitive  and  illy  supplied  schools 
of  the  early  days,  attending  a  few  months  in  the 
winters,  and  worked  on  the  farm  from  his  boy- 
hood. He  was  married  on  August  8,  1852,  to 
Miss  Apolona  C.  Carpenter,  a  daughter  of  Thomas 
(■*.  and  Lydia  (James)  Carpenter,  who  came 
from  Orleans  county,  N.  Y.,  to  this  county  and 
located  in  Alamo  township  in  May,  1837,  pur- 
chasing eighty  acres  of  land  in  section  12  on 
which  they  passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives. 


Mr.  Carpenter  brought  three  horses  with  him  and 
reached  his  destination  without  serious  trouble, 
but  after  his  arrival  here  his  difficulties  were 
many  and  formidable.  In  the  effort  to  provide 
for  his  family  he  was  obliged  to  walk  ten  miles 
every  morning  to  his  daily  toil  and  back  at  night, 
carrying  on  his  back  his  day's  earnings  to  supply 
their  wants.  Once  for  three  weeks  before  harvest 
they  were  without  bread,  living  mainly  on  meat 
and  potatoes,  and  at  another  time  he  worked 
eight  days  on  the  plains,  receiving  as  compensa- 
tion a  bushel  of  potatoes  a  day.  All  the  fero- 
cious beasts  peculiar  to  the  section  were  plentiful, 
the  wolves  being  especially  threatening  and  ob- 
trusive, and  often  making  night  hideous  with 
their  howling  at  his  very  door.  Notwithstand- 
ing their  hardships  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carpenter 
lived  to  advanced  ages  in  good  health  and  cheer- 
fulness. By  marriage  Mr.  Wheeler  became  the 
father  of  one  child,  his  daughter  Lydia,  who  died 
in  infancy.  Her  father  died  on  October  23, 
1902,  and  the  management  of  the  farm  has  since 
been  in  the  hands  of  his  widow  who  is  still  living 
on  it  and  carrying  on  its  operations  with  vigor 
and  success.  Mr.  Wheeler  was  one  of  the  lead- 
ing farmers  and  best  known  citizens  of  the  town- 
ship, and  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  all  its 
people. 

G.  VAN  BOCHONE  &  BROTHER. 

This  energetic,  wide-awake  and  far-seeing 
firm  is  composed  of  Garrett  and  John  R.  Van.Bo- 
chone,  both  natives  of  Kalamazoo,  who  for  a 
number  of  years  were  extensively  engaged  in 
raising  celery  prior  to  1884,  when  their  present 
enterprise  was  started  in  a  small  way  in  a  house 
on  Third  street,  twenty  by  eighty  feet  in  dimen- 
sions. They  have  enlarged  their  business  until 
their  green  houses  now  number  twenty-four  and 
cover  two  acres  of  ground.  Here  they  handle 
everything  in  hot  house  plants,  cut  flowers  and 
kindred  products,  and  carry  on  a  large  wholesale 
and  retail  business,  their  output  being  the  most 
extensive  in  Kalamazoo  and  one  of  the  greatest 
of  their  kind  in  southern  Michigan.  Their  ship- 
ments extend  over  a  wide  scope  of  country,  and 


348 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


include  nothing  but  the  best  quality  of  goods. 
Their  name  is  at  the  top  of  the  market  in  their 
wares,  and  their  business  methods  are  found  to 
be  satisfactory  to  their  extended  and  growing  list 
of  patrons.  They  are  the  sons  of  Richard  Van 
Bochone,  of  Kalamazoo,  a  native  of  Holland, 
extended  mention  of  whom  will  be  found  else- 
where in  this  work.  He  has  been  a  resident  of 
the  city  since  1854,  and  has  long  been  promi- 
nent in  its  business  life.  The  brothers  own  large 
and  valuable  property  interests  in  Kalamazoo, 
and  are  recognized  as  among  its  most  worthy  and 
estimable  citizens.  They  are  Republicans  in  poli- 
tics, and  John  R.  has  served  as  chairman  of  the 
ward  committee  of  his  party.  Fraternally  he 
belongs  to  the  Knights  of  Pythias.  The  business 
of  which  they  are  the  head  was  among  the  first 
in  its  line  started  in  the  city,  and  is  now  not  only 
the  leader  here,  but,  as  has  been  stated,  one  of  the 
most  extensive  in  this  part  of  the  state.  In  the 
spring  of  1905  they  purchased  thirty  acres  of  land 
on  the  south  side  of  the  city  on  which  they  erected 
greenhouses  300  x  27  wide.  Five  were  erected 
in  November,  1905,  equipped  with  all  the  latest 
improvements  and  are  devoted  to  the  culture  of 
roses  and  carnations,  and  in  which  will  be  pro- 
duced over  one  million  blooms  annually.  The 
business  has  steadily  increased  and  they  are  now 
considered  the  leading  florists  of  southern 
Michigan. 

DR.  FRANK  H.  TYLER. 

For  a  period  of  thirteen  years  Dr.  Frank  H. 
Tyler  has  been  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo,  actively 
engaged  in  a  large  and  growing  practice  and 
meeting  with  its  requirements,  tiresome  and  ex- 
acting as  they  often  are,  with  diligence  and  fidel- 
ity, seeking  only  to  perform  his  whole  duty  as  a 
doctor  and  a  citizen  and  deserve  the  respect  and 
good  will  of  the  people  among  whom  he  lives  and 
labors,  which  he  enjoys  in  a  marked  degree.  He 
was  born  in  St.  Joseph  county,  this  state,  on 
August  28,  1855.  His  parents,  Ansel  and  Harriet 
(Foote)  Tyler,  were  natives  of  New  York,  where 
the  father  was  an  industrious  farmer.  He  came 
to  Michigan  in  1833  with  his  parents,  who  settled 
on  the  farm  on  which  the  Doctor  was  born,  and 


on  which  his  parents  are  still  living.  He  received 
his  early  education  in  the  district  schools  of  his 
native  county,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  entered 
the  Northwestern  University  at  Evanston,  HI 
where  he  spent  three  years.  He  then  matricu- 
lated in  the  literary  department  of  the  University 
of  Michigan,  and  there  he  passed  one  year,  at  the 
end  of  which  he  began  the  study  of  medicine  in 
the  same  institution  from  which  he  received  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  in  1880.  He  began 
his  practice  at  Sturgis,  St.  Joseph  county,  this 
state,  and  two  years  later  moved  to  Mount  Pleas- 
ant, Isabella  county.  Here  he  remained  nine 
years,  then  came  to  Kalamazoo,  where  he  has 
since  resided.  After  his  graduation  at  Ann 
Arbor  he  passed  a  year  in  the  hospital  there.  In 
1891  he  took  a  post-graduate  course  at  the  New 
York  Polyclinic  and  in  1902  one  at  the  Post- 
Graduate  School  in  New  York.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  State  Homeopathic  Medical  Society.  It 
will  be  seen  that  his  preparation  for  his  profes- 
sional duties  has  been  ample  in  scope  and  judi- 
cious in  means,  and  that  he  is  keeping  abreast  of 
the  science  of  medicine  by  studious  attention  to 
the  available  sources  of  instruction  and  inspira- 
tion. This  would  be  sufficient  explanation,  if  any 
were  needed  beyond  his  daily  walk  and  elevated 
personal  and  professional  character,  for  the  mas- 
tery of  the  science  and  the  skill  in  its  practice 
which  he  exhibits,  and  also  for  his  high  rank  in 
the  estimation  of  his  professional  brethren  and 
the  general  public.  His  practice  is  large  and 
lucrative  and  embraces  many  of  the  leading  fami- 
lies of  the  city  and  the  surrounding  country,  and 
it  makes  no  draft  on  his  time  and  energies  that 
is  not  promptly  and  fully  honored.  ,  The  J^octor 
was  married  in  1885  to  Miss  Bather  GJufflotte,  a 
native  of  Michigan.  They  have  three  children, 
their  sons  Guy  G.,  Harold  E.  and  Raymond  E. 
In  the  fraternal  life  of  the  community  the  Doctor 
mingles  freely  as  a  Master  Mason  and  a  Knight 
of  Pythias.  In  religious  affiliation  he  is  a  mem- 
ber and  vestryman  of  St.  Luke's  church  and  in 
the  political  activities  of  the  country  he  trains  with 
the  Republican  party,  to  which  he  gives  an  active 
and  zealous  support  without  desiring  any  of  its 
honors  or  emoluments  for  himself. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


349 


JOHN  C.  GOODALE. 

The  subject  of  this  review,  who  is  a  pioneer 
of  Kalamazoo,  having  lived  in  the  city  for  nearly 
all  of  fifty-three  years,  and  has  long  been  one  of 
the  prominent  and  progressive  business  men  of 
the  community,  was  born  in  Washtenaw  county, 
this  state,  on  July  15,  1837.  He  passed  the  first 
fourteen  years  of  his  life  with  his  parents, 
Leonard  C.  and  Phoebe  (Crandale)  Goodale,  na- 
tives of  Chenango  county,  N.  Y.,  who  came  to 
Michigan  in  the  early  '30s,  making  the  trip  from 
Detroit  with  an  ox  team,  and  settling  on  a  farm 
for  a  short  time,  then  moved  to  Ann  Arbor,  where 
the  father,  who  was  a  surveyor  by  profession, 
founded  the  Washtenaw  Whig,  one  of  the  first 
newspapers  published  in  southern  Michigan.  He 
was  afterward  clerk  of  the  county  and  at  times 
filled  other  official  positions.  He  died  at  Ann 
Arbor  about  1842.  His  father,  Soloman  Goodale, 
was  a  Baptist  clergyman  and  died  in  the  state  of 
New  York  at  the  age  of  ninety  years.  Mr.  Good- 
ale came  to  Kalamazoo  when  he  was  fourteen 
years  of  age  and  began  learning  the  trade  of  a 
cabinetmaker  with  his  brother.  He  worked  at 
his  trade  as  a  journeyman  for  a  number  of  years, 
then  remodeled  a  factory  on  Elenor  street  which 
he  conducted  until  1861.  Some  little  time  later 
he  engaged  in  the  furniture  trade  in  partnership 
with  O.  M.  Allen  and  others,  remaining  in  the 
firm  several  years.  Then  selling  his  interest  there, 
he  became  a  manufacturer  of  furniture  and  en- 
joyed an  extensive  business,  making  the  first  fur- 
niture used  in  the  Kalamazoo  asylum.  Selling 
his  furniture  business  and  establishment  some 
years  later,  he  moved  to  Battle  Creek,  where  he 
remained  during  the  Civil  war  in  business  as  an 
undertaker  and  furniture  dealer.  On  his  return 
to  Kalamazoo  be  began  the  manufacture  of  show 
cases  and  started  another  undertaking  business. 
He  conducted  these  enterprises  jointly  for  a  few 
years,  then  determined  to  give  his  whole  attention 
to  undertaking,  in  which  he  has  since  been  exclu- 
sively engaged.  In  1900  Mr.  Goodale  took  as  a 
partner  his  eldest  son,  Edward  L.,  who  was  born 
in  this  city  and  who  assisted  his  father  for  years  in 
the  business   before  becoming   a  partner.     The 


firm  is  now  known  as  J.  C.  Goodale  &  Son.  He 
was  married  in  Kalamazoo  in  1861  to  Miss  Ellen 
G.  Sterling,  a  daughter  of  Oliver  Sterling.  They 
have  had  ten  children,  four  of  whom  have  died. 
Mr.  Goodale  is  a  Republican  in  politics  and  has 
been  from  the  foundation  of  the  party,  but  he  has 
never  taken  a  very  active  part  in  political  cam- 
paign work  and  has  never  sought  a  public  office 
of  any  kind.  He  and  his  wife  belong  to  the  Con- 
gregational church.  Coming  to  Kalamazoo  in  its 
infancy,  he  found  it  crude,  undeveloped,  and 
primitive,  but  full  of  promise,  with  his  ear  of 
faith  attuned  to  the  voice  of  its  approaching  great- 
ness, and  in  this  faith  he  has  not  been  disap- 
pointed. He  has  witnessed  its  steady  and  sub- 
stantial progress  as  its  industries  have  been 
organized  and  built  up,  and  can  scarcely  recall  in 
the  bustling  city  with  its  thousand  engineers  of 
industrial  activity,  the  little  hamlet  in  which  he 
set  foot  in  his  boyhood.  Such  as  this  is  the  story 
of  many  an  American  community,  for  nature  has 
been  prodigal  in  this  country  and  men  have  been 
industrious  and  resourceful. 

ARTHUR  TIFFANY. 

This  valued  supervisor  of  Pavilion  township 
and  chairman  of  the  board  of  county  supervisors 
of  Kalamazoo  county  (1905),  is  a  native  of  the 
county,  born  in  Brady  township  on  November  20, 
i860.  His  parents,  Chester  P.  and  Margaret 
(Best)  Tiffany,  were  natives  of  the  state  of  New 
York,  the  father  born  in  Livingston  county  and 
the  mother  in  Schoharie.  The  father  was  a  son 
of  Truman  Tiffany,  a  pioneer  of  this  county  who 
died  here.  His  son,  the  father  of  Arthur,  grew 
to  manhood  in  New  York  and  remained  there 
until  1844,  when  he  became  a  resident  of  Kala- 
mazoo county  and  during  the  first  winter  of  his 
residence  in  the  county  taught  school  in  Brady 
township.  He  then  bought  a  tract  of  wild  land 
on  which  he  built  a  small  log  house  and  began 
the  work  of  clearing  and  making  a  farm  of  the 
tract.  He  lived  in  Brady  township  until  1875, 
then  moved  to  Pavilion  township,  but  died  in 
Brady  at  the  home  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Dent 
Porter.     He  was   twice  married,   his   first  wife 


35° 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


bearing  him  one  child,  who  has  since  died,  as  the 
mother  did,  passing  away  in  the  county.  His 
second  wife,  the  mother  of  Arthur,  survived  her 
husband  two  years.  She  had  three  children  by 
him,  Mrs.  Vauda  Hampton,  of  Pavilion,  Mrs. 
Dent  Porter,  of  Brady,  and  Arthur.  The  father 
served  as  highway  commissioner,  and  was  a  lead- 
ing Republican  in  political  affiliation.  Arthur 
Tiffany  was  reared  and  educated  in  Kalamazoo 
county,  and  remained  at  home  until  1887,  when 
he  rented  a  farm  and  later  bought  the  place  on 
which  he  now  lives.  He  was  married  in  1881  to 
Miss  Harriet  Lyon,  whose  father  was  a  Union 
soldier  in  the  Civil  war,  serving  in  a  Michigan 
regiment.  She  was  a  native  of  Steuben  county, 
N.  Y.,  and  a  daughter  of  Hiram  and  Ruth 
(Waters)  Lyons,  who  came  to  this  country  in 
1863  and  settled  at  Vicksburg.  The  father  died 
in  1893,  and  the  mother  is  living.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Tiffany  have  two  children,  John  L.  and  Lynn  A. 
Mr.  Tiffany  has  taken  an  active  part  in  the  public 
life  of  his  township,  serving  as  highway  commis- 
sioner for  two  terms,  and  as  supervisor  five  years. 
Fraternally  he  is  connected  with  the  order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  with  membership  in  the  lodge  at  Vicks- 
burg, and  also  the  Grange  and  Ancient  Order  of 
Gleaners. 

THOMAS  B.  FINLAY. 

Coming  to  Kalamazoo  county  in  his  child- 
hood more  than  sixty  years  ago,  and  passing 
nearly  the  whole  of  his  subsequent  life  on  its  soil, 
contributing  to  its  development  and  improve- 
ment, helping  to  build  up  its  industries  and  its 
educational  and  moral  agencies,  Thomas  B.  Fin- 
lay,,  of  Schoolcraft  township,  now  living  retired 
at  Vicksburg,  is  entitled  to  all  the  honor  a  grate- 
ful posterity  bestows  on  a  worthy  pioneer  of  its 
achievements,  and  enjoys  in  a  high  degree  the 
respect  and  esteem  which  are  the  rewards  of  long, 
useful  and  upright  citizenship.  As  with  his  par- 
ents he  was  among  the  earliest  settlers  in  the 
county,  and  is  now  one  of  the  few  survivors  of 
our  heroic  age  of  struggle  and  planting,  his  life 
in  the  midst  of  this  people  is  almost  co-extensive 
with  the  history  of  the  county  since  the  dawn  of 
civilization  within  its  borders,  so  that  he  em- 
braces, in  the  sweep  of  a  single  human  vision, ' 


the  transformation  of  a  goodly  domain  from  its 
state  of  primeval  wilderness  to  that  of  high  de- 
velopment and  accentuated  progress  which  marks 
it  now;  and  he  has  done  well  and  faithfully  his 
full  share  of  the  labor  and  borne  cheerfully  and 
manfully  his  full  portion  of  the  burden  of  win- 
ning the  mighty  triumphs  of  human  power,  pa- 
tience and  ingenuity  which  mark  the  record  of 
white  dominion  in  this  section.     Mr.  Finlay  was 
born  in  the  city  of  Boston,  Mass.,  on  October 
7,  1829,  and  is  the  son  of  Hugh  and  Jane  (Boyd) 
Finlay,  of  that  city,  a  more  extended  notice  of 
whom  will  be  found  in  the  sketch  of  his  older 
brother,  Arch  Finlay,   on  another  page  of  this 
work.     In  1834  he  accompanied  his  parents  and 
the  other  eight  children  of  the  family  from  their 
far-away  New  England  home  to  Michigan,  then 
on  the  wild  Western  frontier,  making  the  trip 
from  Detroit  with  teams,  along  Indian  trails  and 
trackless  wilds,  to  Three  Rivers,  and  from  there 
to    Schoolcraft  township,   where   some   of   their 
former  Massachusetts  neighbors  were  already  liv- 
ing.    The  father  bought  a  lot  in  the  village  of 
Schoolcraft  and  built  a  small  dwelling  on  it,  and 
there  the  family  lived  three  years,  then  moved 
to  a  farm  of  eighty  acres  of  unimproved  land 
southeast  of  the  village.    Here  Mr.  Finlay  grew 
to  manhood,  and  in  this  locality  he  received  his 
education.     But  this  was  mainly  secured  under 
the  blue  sky,  among  the  beauties  of  the  forest  and 
its  hazards,  rather  than  in  the  schools.     In  1850, 
at  the  very  dawn  of  his  manhood,  yielding  to  the 
spirit   of  adventure   which   had   been   quickened 
into  vigorous  activity  by  his  already  wild  life  on 
the  frontier,  and  perhaps  was  in  part  inherited 
from  his  parents,  and  moved  also  by  the  glowing 
accounts  of  the  recent  discovery  of  gold  in  Cali- 
fornia and  the  possibilities  of  rapid  rise  to  for- 
tune it  promised  those  who  were  hardy  and  cour- 
ageous enough  to  brave  the  dangers  incident  to 
seeking  it,  in  company  with  his  brothers  James 
and  William  he  journey  to  the  new  eldorado, 
leaving  his  home  in  March  and  arriving  at  Placer- 
ville,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  north- 
east of  San  Francisco,  in  July  of  the  same  year, 
making  the  trip  overland  by  way  of  the  Platte 
river    and    Sublett's    Cut-Off.     The   train    with 
which  he  traveled  comprised  about  a  dozen  wag- 


o 


L 


»-# 


IK*  # 


^* 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


353 


0ns,  and  while  it  met  with  plenty  of  incidents 
and  adventure,  it  was  not  molested  by  the  terrors 
of  the  plains,   roving  bands  of  hostile  Indians. 
j  he  Finlay  boys  mined  at  Placerville  until  the 
following   August,   when   James,    the   oldest    of 
them,  died  there.     William  and  Thomas  contin- 
ued their  operations  until  January  following  this 
sad   event,   then  returned  to   Michigan  by   way 
of  the  isthmus  and  New  Orleans,  reaching  home 
in  April.     The   western   fever  and   the  love  of 
mining  were  now  firmly  planted  and  well  devel- 
oped in  the  daring  argonaut,  and  after  two  years 
Ox*  quiet  life   at  home  he  again  started,   in  the 
spring  of  1852,  for  the  Pacific  coast  region,  ac- 
companied by  his  twin  brother  Hugh  and  a  num- 
h?'  ^f  other  persons.    Once  more  he  crossed  the 
plains   with   teams   and   once   more   engaged   in 
mining  at  Placerville,  seeking  his  Michigan  home 
again  by  water  after  eighteen  months  of  arduous 
and  partially  successful  effort  in  the  gold  fields. 
The  next  two  years  he  clerked  in  his  father's 
store   at  Vicksburg,   then,   in    1854,   bought  the 
business,  and  during  the  next  four  years  he  con- 
ducted  it   with   vigor   and   close   attention.      In 
1858  his  roving  disposition  again  got  the  better 
v    him,  and,  selling  out  his  store,  he  went  to 
Kansas   overland.     But  not  being  pleased  with 
the  outlook  in  that  state,  he  came  back  to  Michi- 
gan and  purchased  a  small  farm  in  Brady  town- 
ship, this  county,  which  he  afterward  enlarged 
z   i  on  which  he  lived  until  1897.    Since  then  he 
has  made  his  home  in  Vicksburg.     He  was  mar- 
ried on  May  5,  1855,  to  Miss  Adelaide  C.  Can- 
non, a  New  Yorker  by  nativity,   who  came  to 
Michigan  in  childhood  with  her  stepfather,  James 
Wilson,   and  who  died   on   February    12,    1899, 
leaving  no  offspring.     Politically  Mr.  Finlay  is 
a  Jacksonian  Democrat  with  loyal  and  unwaver- 
ing devotion  to  his  party.     He  has  filled  a  num- 
ber of  local  offices,  among  them  membership  on 
the  village  board  of  Vicksburg  and  village  as- 
sessor. 

JONATHAN  PARSONS. 

Left  an  orphan  by  the  death  of  his  father 
when  the  son  was  but  five  years  old,  the  late 
Jonathan  Parsons,  of  Kalamazoo,  was  thrown  on 
20 


his  own  resources  at  an  early  age ;  and  coming  to 
Michigan  as  a  young  man  and  passing  the  rest  of 
his  life  amid  the   stirring  pursuits   of  the  new 
state,  or  territory  as  it  was  then,  he  was  of  sub- 
stantial benefit  in  developing  its  industries  and 
builing  up  its  commercial,  educational  and  moral 
institutions,  his  bright  and  active  mind  finding 
here  proper  scope  for  its  energies  and  abundant 
opportunities  for  the  employment  of  all  its  fac- 
ulties.    He  was  born  at  West  Springfield,  Mass., 
on   October   7,    1821,   the  son   of  Jonathan  and 
Graty  (Leonard)  Parsons,  natives  of  Massachu- 
setts and  belonging  to  families  resident  and  prom- 
inent in  that  state  from  the  earliest  colonial  times, 
the  Parsons  family  having  been  founded  there  in 
1630    by     Benjamin    Parsons,    who    settled    at 
Springfield  and  became  a  prominent  man  in  his 
time.     From  then  on  through  all  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  colony  and  state  the  family  was 
prominent  in  many  walks  of  life  and  always  de- 
voted   to    the    interests    of    the  commonwealth 
through  every  phase  of  its  life.    The  same  is  true 
of  the  Leonards  from  the  time  when  they  were 
first  planted  on  American  soil.     The  grandfather 
of  Mr.  Parsons  of  this  sketch,  also  Jonathan  Par- 
sons, was  a  well-known  citizen  of  the  state,  a 
soldier  in  the  Revolution,  and  thereafter  a  man  of 
great  local  influence  in  the  affairs  of  his  section. 
His  son,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir, 
was  a   farmer  and   lived  on  the  old  homestead 
which  has  been  in  the  family  for  over  two  hun- 
dren  years,  and  on  which  he  died  in  1825.     He 
also  was  a  military  man,  being  a  captain  in  the 
state  militia.     Jonathan  Parsons  was  educated  in 
the  district  schools  of  his  native  state,  also  a  boys' 
school  in  New  York  state,  and  soon  after  leaving 
them  he  became  a  resident  of  Michigan,  locating 
at  Marshall  and  later  at  Bellevue,  Eaton  county, 
where  he  was  employed  as  a  clerk  by  the  late  J.  P. 
Woodbury.     In   1840  he  became  a   resident  of 
Kalamazoo  and  engaged  in  the  dry-goods  busi- 
ness in  partnership  with  William  A.  Wood.  Later 
he  was  associated  with  the  late  Hon.  Allen  Potter 
and  Henry  Gale  in  the  hardware  trade.    In  i860 
he  formed  a  partnership  with  Henry  Wood  in  the 
hardware  business,  which  lasted  until  March  1, 
1888,  when  he  retired  from  active  pursuits.     In 


354 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


politics  he  was  a  stanch  Republican  and  three 
times  he  represented  his  county  in  the  legislature. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  committee  that  built  the 
present  state  capitol  and  a  member  of  the  first 
legislature  that  sat  in  the  building  after  its  com- 
pletion. He  also  served  at  times  as  a  member  of 
the  village  council  of  Kalamazoo  and  a  member 
of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Female  Semi- 
nary in  that  city,  of  which  he  was  treas- 
urer. He  was  a  director  of  the  Michigan 
National  Bank  and  a  heavy  stockholder  in  the 
Kalamazoo  Paper  Mill  Company  and  in  the  Par- 
sons Paper  Company,  of  Holyoke,  Mass.  An 
earnest  and  zealous  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  he  was  an  active  worker  in  its  councils 
and  benevolences,  being  a  member  of  the  session 
and  clerk  of  the  board  at  his  death.  On  October 
4,  1847,  ne  was  married  at  Hinsdale,  Mass.,  to 
Miss  Mary  B.  Colt,  a  daughter  of  Oliver  P.  and 
Mary  (Brewer)  Colt,  who  belonged  to  old  fam- 
ilies in  the  state.  Three  sons  and  three  daughters 
blessed  their  union,  all  of  whom  are  living  but 
one  son,  Allen  W.  Parsons.  The  living  children 
are  Mrs.  C.  M.  Phelps,  of  Massachusetts,  Miss 
Mary  A.  Adelle  Parsons,  of  Kalamazoo,  Mrs. 
Edward  P.  Bagg,  of  Massachusetts],  and  E.  C. 
Parsons  and  George  S.  Parsons,  of  Kalamazoo. 
Their  father  died  on  August  15,  1892,  and  their 
mother  April  6,  1904.  In  business,  political  and 
social  circles  Mr.  Parsons  was  a  prominent  and 
helpful  man  in  the  state  of  his  adoption;  to  her 
educational  and  moral  agencies  he  gave  valuable 
and  substantial  aid  on  all  occasions ;  in  her  indus- 
trial and  general  activities  his  influence  was  felt 
as  a  potential  and  serviceable  force  for  good ;  and 
thus  having  met  with  fidelity  every  duty  that  was 
intrusted  to  him,  he  went  to  his  long  rest  full  of 
honors  and  well  established  in  the  lasting  regard 
and  good  will  of  his  fellow  men  wherever  he  was 
known. 

REED  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY. 

This  was  one  of  the  latest  if  not  the  last  of 
the  many  manufacturing  companies  organized 
and  conducted  by  the  late  Heber  C.  Reed,  whose 
untimely  death,  in  his  private  apartments  in  the 


American  House  in  Kalamazoo  on  Friday,  April 
J7>  I9°3^  °f  typhoid  fever,  was  universally  la- 
mented. It  removed  from  the  business  activities 
of  the  city  one  of  their  most  prominent  and  useful 
promoters  and  from  its  citizenship  one  of  the 
most  highly  esteemed,  useful  and  ornamental 
men.  For  two  months  prior  to  his  death  he  was 
in  poor  health,  and  in  an  effort  to  regain  his  for- 
mer vigor  he  made  a  trip  to  West  Baden.  Soon 
after  his  return  he  was  stricken  with  the  malady 
which  proved  fatal,  and  such  were  the  complica- 
tions that  in  spite  of  all  that  medical  skill  could 
do  he  passed  away  after  ten  days'  confinement. 
A  career  like  that  of  Mr.  Reed  is  an  inspiration  to 
the  young  and  an  enjoyment  to  the  old  to  con- 
template. He  was  a  remarkable  man  in  many 
ways  and  all  the  resources  of  his  active  and  versa- 
tile mind  were  continually  in  play  in  the  develop- 
ment of  industrial  enterprises  of  magnitude  and 
importance  to  the  community;  while  his  genial 
nature,  ever-ready  wit  and  great  and  generous 
heart  made  him  universally  beloved.  He  was 
born  at  Climax,  Mich.,  about  the  year  1852,  and 
came  to  Kalamazoo  when  about  ten  years  old. 
When  nineteen  he  was  made  teller  of  the  first  Na- 
tional Bank  and  later  cashier.  In  1878  he  turned 
from  fiscal  to  industrial  engagements  and  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  of  spring-tooth  har- 
rows in  company  with  his  father.  For  more  than 
twenty  years  thereafter  he  was  secretary,  treas- 
urer and  general  manager  of  D.  C.  &  H.  C.  Reed 
&  Company,  originators  and  makers  of  spring- 
tooth  harrows  and  other  agricultural  implements, 
who  owned  the  original  patents  on  the  spring 
tooth  for  harrows  and  for  many  years  all  the 
harrows  of  this  type  were  made  by  this  company 
or  under  licenses  granted  by  it.  The  great  de- 
mand for  the  harrows  caused  many  infringe- 
ments on  the  patents  and  led  to  numerous  suits 
therefor,  all  of  which,  as  well  as  the  general  man- 
agement of  the  business,  passed  under  the  per- 
sonal supervision  of  Mr.  Reed,  and  it  was  largely 
through  his  skill  and  management  that  damages 
were  secured  by  the  company  in  every  case.  The 
business  was  sold  to  the  Standard  Harrow  Com- 
pany, of  Utica,  N.  Y.,  in  1895.  Mr.  Reed  then 
became  connected   with   numerous   other   manu- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


355 


facturing  institutions  in  this  city  and  began  mak- 
ing corn  cultivators,  riding-harrows,  hay  presses 
aiul  broad-cast  grain  seeders,  and  other  useful 
implements  of  husbandry,  carrying  on  the  busi- 
ness in  the  old  Reed  factory  under  the  name  of 
H.  C.  Reed  &  Company.  In  December,  1900, 
the  Reed  Manufacturing  Company  was  organized 
to  take  charge  of  and  conduct  the  business,  the 
capital  stock  being  twenty-five  thousand  dollars, 
and  Mr.  Reed  was  made  president  of  it.  At  his 
death  he  was  succeeded  by  Joseph  E.  Brown  as 
president,  with  B.  W.  Raseman  as  vice-president 
and  J.  E.  Welborn  as  secretary  and  treasurer. 
The  business  of  the  establishment  is  prosperous 
and  expanding,  and  the  manufactory  is  one  of 
the  useful  and  wealth  distributing  ones  of  the  first 
rank  in  the  great  industrial  hive  in  which  it  is 
located.  Mr.  Welborn,  the  secretary  and  treas- 
urer of  the  company,  was  associated  with  Mr. 
Reed  in  business  for  more  than  ten  years,  and 
while  imbibing  his  spirit  found  in  the  association 
ample  opportunity  for  the  development  and  use- 
ful employment  of  his  own  capacities,  which  are 
of  a  high  order.  It  is  but  just  to  him  to  say  that 
the  business  founded  by  Mr.  Reed  is  in  most 
capable  and  efficient  hands,  and  that  the  same 
spirit  of  liberality,  enterprise  and  progressive- 
11  ess  that  has  marked  its  management  in  the  past 
will  characterize  it  in  the  future.  Its  products 
are  in  great  demand  in  all  parts  of  the  Central, 
Eastern  and  Southwestern  states,  and  is  steadily 
on  the  increase.  They  are  also  doing  a  large 
export  trade,  reaching  Mexico,  Japan,  Russia, 
Sweden,  Norway  and  South  America  and  other 
foreign  countries. 

FRANK  HENDERSON. 

The  late  Frank  Henderson,  of  Kalamazoo, 
whose  death,  at  the  early  age  of  fifty-eight  years, 
011  January  4,  1899,  was  generally  deplored  as  a 
great  public  loss,  he  having  been  in  his  lifetime 
one  of  the  best  known  and  most  highly  esteemed 
business  men  of  the  city,  was  born  at  Syracuse, 
N»  Y.,  on  October  9,  1841,  his  parents  also  being 
natives  of  that  state.  The  father  was  a  farmer, 
and  about  185 1   moved  his  family  to  Michigan, 


settling  in  Cass  county,  where  he  followed  farm- 
ing a  number  of  years.  The  last  few  years  of  his 
life  were  passed  at  Dowagiac,  where  he  served 
as  village  marshal  and  where  he  died  about  the 
year  1869.  The  family  comprised  three  sons  and 
two  daughters,  all  now  deceased  but  one  sister 
at  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  Frank  passed  his  early  life 
in  Dowagiac,  where  he  attended  the  public  schools 
and  also  clerked  for  a  number  of  years.  In  i860 
he  moved  to  Kalamazoo  and  found  employment 
in  the  Walker  hardware  store,  where  he  was  a 
clerk  until  1866.  He  then  formed  the  firm  of 
Henderson  &  Brown,  which  carried  on  an  ex- 
tensive trade  in  saddlery  and  hardware,  Mr. 
Brown  retiring  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  and 
Mr.  Henderson  becoming  thereby  the  sole  owner 
of  the  business.  In  1868  he  began  the  manu- 
facture of  uniforms  for  Knights  Templar  in  a 
small  way  in  connection  with  his  other  business, 
and  by  1872  this  enterprise  had  grown  to  such 
proportions  that  he  gave  his  whole  attention  to 
it,  abandoning  the  hardware  business.  He  con- 
tinued to  expand  his  trade  and  increase  his  out- 
put until  1893,  when  he  consolidated  with  the 
Chicago  branch  of  the  Ames  Sword  Company, 
of  Chicopee,  Mass.,  he  taking  the  name  of  the 
Henderson-Ames  Company,  of  Kalamazoo.  Of 
this  company  he  was  president  until  his  death,  on 
Jauary  4,  1899.  In  1901  the  present  factory,  in 
which  five  hundred  persons  are  employed,  was 
erected.  Mr.  Henderson  took  a  very  active  and 
helpful  interest  in  the  commercial  affairs  and  in- 
stitutions of  the  city,  and  gave  them  close  and 
careful  attention  where  he  had  the  right  to  do 
so.  He  was  a  director  of  the  City  National 
Bank,  and  a  stockholder  in  the  Bardeen  Paper 
Company,  the  American  Playing  Card  Company, 
the  Kalamazoo  Corset  Company,  and  others  of 
the  city's  best  and  most  important  enterprises. 
He  was  also  treasurer  of  the  Kalamazoo  Natural 
Gas  and  Fuel  Company.  In  political  affairs  he 
never  took  an  active  interest  and  acknowledged 
no  allegiance  to  any  particular  party,  but  was  a 
Republican  in  national  affairs,  and  at  one  time  he 
served  as  a  member  of  the  village  council  for  the 
general  good.  Fraternally  he  was  a  thirty-third- 
degree  Freemason,  a  Knight  of  Pythias,  an  Odd 


356 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


Fellow,  and  an  Elk;  and  he  also  belonged  to  a 
number  of  insurance  orders.  In  Masonry  he  was 
enthusiastic  and  rose  to  high  honors,  being  at  one 
time  grand  commander  of  Knights  Templar  for 
the  state.  On  May  27,  1868,  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Mary  Taylor,  a  native  of  Kalamazoo  and 
daughter  of  James  Taylor,  one  of  the  city's  most 
respected  pioneers,  he  having  come  to  Michigan 
about  1835.  For  many  years  he  farmed  land  ad- 
joining the  city  and  owned  the  site  of  Mr.  Hen- 
derson's home  where  Mrs.  Henderson  now  lives. 
In  church  affairs  Mr.  Henderson  was  affiliated 
with  the  Presbyterians  and  for  many  years  was 
treasurer  of  the  church  organization  of  that  de- 
nomination in  the  city.  He  was  always  ready* 
to  give  substantial  aid  to  any  commendable 
project  for  advancing  the  interests  of  the  church, 
and  among  its  members,  as  elsewhere,  he  was 
held  in  the  highest  esteem. 

THE  HENDERSON-AMES  COMPANY. 

This  very  progressive  and  enterprising  cor- 
poration, which  has  grown  to  large  proportions 
from  a  small  beginning,  was  incorporated  in  1893, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars,  with  Frank  Henderson  as  president, 
O.  M.  Allen  as  vice-president,  and  J.  W.  Wood- 
worth  as  secretary  and  treasurer.  Mr.  Hender- 
son continued  to  serve  as  president  until  his  death 
in  1899,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  John  R.  Hun- 
ter. These  officers,  with  Otto  Schling  and  J.  A. 
Pitkin,  compose  the  directorate.  The  business 
was  founded  by  Mr.  Henderson  and  T.  M.  Gid- 
dings,  who  formed  a  partnership  for  the  purpose 
of  manufacturing  Knights  Templar  uniforms. 
Mr.  Giddirigs  soon  afterward  retired  and  Mr. 
Henderson  conducted  the  business  alone  until  the 
organization  of  the  company,  by'  consolidation 
with  the  Chicago  branch  of  the  Ames  Sword 
Company  of  Chicopee,  Mass.  In  190 1  the  five- 
story  factory,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  by  one 
hundred  and  seventy  feet,  was  erected  and  now 
the  establishment  gives  employment  to  five  hun- 
dred persons,  two-thirds  of  them  women  and 
girls.  Uniforms  of  all  kinds,  from  liveries  to 
military  requirements,  are  manufactured,  and  the 


dress  used  by  all  kinds  of  secret  societies.  More 
than  one-half  of  all  the  lodge  uniforms  used  in 
the  United  States  are  made  at  this  factory,  which 
also  manufactures  blanks,  books  and  other  re- 
quisites for  such  lodges.  Here  also  are  made  the 
uniforms  of  many  regiments  of  the  National 
Guard  in  different  states  and  a  considerable  body 
for  the  United  States  government,  especially  for 
troops  in  the  Philippines.  Masonic,  Odd  Fellows 
and  other  society  uniforms  are  shipped  to  Aus- 
tralia, and  catalogues  are  sent  to  all  parts  of  the 
world.  The  annual  output  of  the  factory 
amounts  to  at  least  twelve  thousand  uniforms, 
besides  all  the  lodge  costumes,  robes  and  general 
lodge  supplies.  It  will  easily  be  seen  that  the 
firm  is  one  of  the  largest  in  the  United  States 
and  by  common  consent  it  and  its  work  is  in  the 
front  rank  of  excellence.  The  company  has 
branches  in  Boston,  Philadelphia  and  Kansas 
City.  The  capital  stock  of  this  great  industry  is 
all  held  by  Kalamazoo  people  and  its  officers  are 
all  Kalamazoo  men. 

MICHIGAN  NURSERY  AND  ORCHARD 
COMPANY. 

This  enterprising  and  prominent  concern  was 
organized  and  is  managed  by  Charles  A.  Maxson, 
one  of  the  best  known  nurserymen  in  the  United 
States,  having  been  identified  with  the  growth 
of  the  nursery  trade  in  Michigan  since  1877, 
when  he  came  from  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  to  accept 
a  position  in  the  office  of  J.  Frank  McCrea  & 
Company,  at  that  time  the  largest  jobbers  in  the 
west.  They  packed  their  goods  at  Ellwanger  & 
Barry's  nursery  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  the  pioneer 
nurseries  of  America.  Mr.  Maxson  was  born 
near  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  his  experience  covers 
every  department  of  the  nursery  business,  includ- 
ing the  propagation  of  fruit  and  ornamental  trees, 
shrubs,  roses,  grape  vines  and  small  fruits,  as 
well  as  greenhouse  products.  He  has  filled  the 
office  of  vice-president  of  the  National  Associa- 
tion of  Nurserymen,  member  of  the  American 
Protective  and  American  Retail  Protective  As- 
sociation of  Nurserymen.  In  1883  he  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary  Cone,  of  Detroit, 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


357 


ami  has  one  daughter,  Miss  Ethel,  aged  nine- 
teen. Mr.  Maxson  is  widely  known  throughout 
southern  Michigan  among  the  business  men  and 
especially  among  the  fruit  growers  of  the  state, 
with  whom  he  is  popular  and  enjoys  their  con- 
fidence to  a  high  degree.  His  business,  which 
has  engaged  his  attention  almost  exclusively  for 
vears,  is  thoroughly  understood  by  him  and  he 
conducts  it  with  a  master  mind. 

JOHN  A.  LAMB. 

This  widely-known  and  highly  esteemed  citi- 
zen of  Kalamazoo,  who  has  made  substantial  con- 
tributions to  the  welfare  of  the  city  in  various 
official  stations,  and  who  until  1903  was  one  of 
its  progressive  and  enterprising  business  men, 
was  born  at  Frenchtown,  Monroe  county,  Mich., 
on  December  19,  1835.  His  parents  were  Peter 
and  Mary  (Preston)  Lamb,  the  former  born  in 
county  Louth,  Ireland,  and  the  latter  in  this  state. 
The  father,  whose  life  began  in  1800,  grew  to 
maturity  in  his  native  land,  and  there  learned  the 
trade  of  a  miller.  He  followed  this  and  farming 
through  life.  Emigrating  to  the  United  States 
in  about  1825,  he  first  located  at  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
but  soon  afterward  came  to  Monroe  county,  this 
state,  where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  days, 
dying  there  in  1861.  In  political  faith  he  was  an 
unwavering  Democrat,  but  he  never  sought  or 
filled  public  office.  His  wife's  death  occurred 
some  years  prior  to  his  own.  They  had  four  sons 
and  four  daughters,  all  now  deceased  except 
John  and  one  of  his  brothers.  John  A.  Lamb 
reached  manhood  in  his  native  county  and  re- 
ceived his  education  in  its  public  schools.  He 
followed  farming  there  until  1861  and  then 
entered  the  freight  department  of  the  Lake  Shore 
&  Michigan  Southern  Railroad  at  Toledo,  where 
be  remained  until  the  death  of  his  father,  when 
be  returned  home  and  had  charge  of  the  farm 
utit.il  1864.  In  the  spring  of  that  year  he  en- 
listed in  the  Union  army  as  a  member  and  second 
lieutenant  of  Company  D,  Eleventh  Michigan  In- 
fantry. His  regiment  became  a  part  of  the  Army 
of  the  Cumberland  and  saw  hard  service  in  Ten- 
nessee and  Georgia,  taking  part  in  a  number  of 


battles,  among  them  those  at  Buzzard  Roost  and 
the  siege  of  Atlanta.  In  the  fall  of  1864  he  was 
made  first  lieutenant  of  Company  A,  and  he 
served  as  such  until  his  discharge  in  the  fall  of 
1865.  Returning  to  his  Michigan  home,  he  oper- 
ated the  farm  for  a  year  and  then  engaged  in 
contracting  at  Monroe  until  1869.  That  year 
was  passed  at  Constance,  and  the  next  he  moved 
to  Kalamazoo  and  began  building  fences  along 
the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  Railroad 
under  contract,  continuing  in  this  occupation  two 
years  and  building  most  of  the  fencing  along  the 
line  of  the  road  between  White  Pigeon  and  Grand 
Rapids.  During  the  next  eight  years  he  was  a 
member  of  the  police  force  of  Kalamazoo.  In 
1887  he  started  a  furniture  business,  which  he 
conducted  until  1903,  retiring  from  it  in  July  of 
that  year.  Always  being  active  and  serviceable 
in  public  local  affairs,  he  was  elected  in  1900 
alderman  from  the  first  ward  of  the  city,  and  in 
that  position  won  general  commendation  for  his 
prudence  and  fidelity  to  the  interests  of  the  mu- 
nicipality. On  June  10,  1866,  he  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Margaret  McGovern,  a  native  of 
Lenawee  county,  this  state,  where  her  parents 
were  early  settlers.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lamb  have 
four  daughters,  three  of  whom  are  Sisters  of 
Nazareth  Academy.  Mr.  Lamb  is  a  faithful 
Democrat  in  political  affiliation,  but,  although  he 
has  served  in  the  city  council,  he  has  never  been 
desirous  of  public  office.  He  and  his  family  be- 
long to  the  Catholic  church. 

MINER  C.  TAFT. 

This  accomplished  professional  man  and 
prominent  citizen  of  Kalamazoo,  who  has  been 
actively  connected  with  works  of  improvement 
in  various  lines  of  construction  from  his  early 
manhood,  and  who  is  now  the  city  engineer  of 
Kalamazoo,  was  born  in  Wood  county,  Ohio,  on 
July  19,  1862.  The  Taft  family  came  to  Massa-  * 
chusetts  in  1670,  the  founder  of  the  family  in 
this  country,  being  Robert  Taft,  a  carpenter  by 
trade.  He  entered  a  large  tract  of  wild  land  near 
Mendon,  Mass.,  but  they  had  trouble  with 
the    Indians  and  were  driven  from  their  land. 


358 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


Robert  Taft  was  a  Scotch  Puritan  who  came  to 
this  country  to  escape  persecution.  He  was  a 
man  of  some  prominence  and  held  local  town 
office.  During  the  Revolutionary  period  two  of 
his  great-grandchildren,  Aaron  and  Henry,  emi- 
grated to  Vermont  and  from  Henry  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  is  descended.  From  Aaron  is  de- 
scended Governor  (now  secretary  of  state)  Taft. 
The  subject's  grandfather,  Amos  Taft,  came  to 
Fulton  county,  Ohio,  in  1844,  and  there  followed 
farming.  In  his  last  years  he  removed  to  Iowa, 
where  he  died,  but  is  buried  in  Ohio.  The  Cole 
family,  from  which  sprang  the  subject's  mother, 
are  direct  descendants  of  Stephen  Hopkins  and 
Elder  William  Brewster,  who  came  to  Massa- 
chusetts on  the  "Mayflower"  and  were  leaders 
in  the-  Plymouth  Rock  colony.  Great-great- 
grandfather Cole  served  in  the  Revolutionary 
war  and  Daniel  Cole  in  the  war  of  1812.  Miner 
C.  Taft's  parents,  Rev.  Howard  B.  and  Harriet 
C.  (Cole)  Taft,  were  natives,  respectively,  of 
New  York  state  and  Ohio.  The  father  was  a 
Baptist  minister,  and  first  came  to  Kalamazoo 
from  his  Ohio  home  as  a  student  at  the  college, 
being  graduated  from  the  collegiate  department 
in  1859,  and  from  the  theological  department  in 
1861.  He  then  preached  in  Ohio  two  years,  and 
in  the  winter  of  1864-5  again  came  to  this  state 
and  located  at  Salem,  Washtenaw  county,  for  a 
time,  after  which  he  was  stationed  at  different 
places  during  many  years  of  continuous  service 
in  the  ministry.  He,  is  now  living  retired  in 
Lenawee  county,  and  has  been  a  trustee  of  the 
college  four  years.  The  mother  died  when  her 
son  was  but  five  years  old.  He  was  reared  and 
educated  in  Michigan,  being  graduated  from 
Kalamazoo  College  in  1885  with  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts.  Soon  afterward  he  entered  the 
office  of  the  city  engineer,  and  after  a  service  of 
some  years  there  became  a  student  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
in  1889.  Some  time  was  next  passed  in  Ohio 
and  Illinois  on  canal,  railroad  and  sewer  con- 
struction work  in  connection  with  George  S. 
Pierson,  M.  Am.  Soc.  C.  E.  In  1891  Mr.  Taft 
returned  to  Kalamazoo  and  became  assistant  city 
engineer,    the    next    year    being    appointed    city 


engineer,  an  office  he  held  at  that  time  six  years. 
When  he  retired  from  this  office  he  engaged  in 
railroad  construction  work,  building  the  road  to 
Pavilion.  He  also  served  at  times  as  clerk  and 
at  times  as  assistant  city  engineer,  and  did  other 
general  construction  work  in  different  parts  of  the 
state.  In  1903  he  was  again  appointed  city  en- 
gineer and  he  is  still  filling  the  office  with  pro- 
nounced satisfaction  to  the  people,  benefit  to  the 
city  and  credit  to  himself.  During  his  tenure 
of  the  office  many  of  the  public  improvements  of 
the  more  important  character  have  been  made, 
such  as  the  heavy  grading  and  paving,  the  sewer- 
age improvements  and  similar  work  of  magni- 
tude. In  1892  he  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Mary  J.  Hogg,  a  native  of  Scotland.  They 
have  three  children  living,  all  daughters.  Mr. 
Taft  is  a  member  of  the  Michigan  Engineering 
Society,  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America  and 
the  Baptist  church,  being  a  trustee  of  the  last. 
He  has  always  taken  an  active,  earnest  and  in- 
telligent interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  city,  and 
in  his  daily  walk  and  demeanor  has  ever  shown 
the  best  attributes  of  an  elevated  American  citi- 
zenship. 

JAMES  TALLMAN. 

James  Tallman,  an  early  settler  of  Alamo 
township,  was  born  in  Geneva,  Ontario  county, 
N.  Y.,  in  1796.  His  father,  Henry  Tallman,  born 
in  1754,  was  for  many  years  a  prosperous  farmer 
in  the  state  of  New  York.  In  1837  James  Tall- 
man, with  his  family,  became  a  resident  of 
Washtenaw  county,  Mich.,  and  two  years  later 
located  in  Alamo,  where  he  bought  of  Mr.  God- 
fry  five  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  wild  land,  on 
sections  20  and  21,  an  unbroken  wilderness  with 
no  road  leading  to  it.  The  family,  consisting  of 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  (Veddar)  Tallman,  a  native  of 
New  York,  and  six  children,  two  daughters  and 
four  sons,  came  from  Detroit  with  Mr.  Tallman 
in  wagons  containing  their  household  goods  also. 
They  found  hospitable  shelter  in  the  home  of 
Daniel  Ball,  one  of  the  few  residents  of  the  town- 
ship. In  two  weeks  a  comparatively  comfortable 
cabin  was  erected,  they  taking  immediate  posses- 
sion.   About  two  years  later  a  school  house  was 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


359 


built  at  Alamo  Center,  where  the  children  at- 
tended school  a  few  months  each  year,  the  sons 
working  with  and  for  their  father  until  they  were 
oi  age.  Mr.  Tallman  was  a  Whig  and  later  a 
Republican,  he  with  his  wife  being  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  for  many  years.  Mrs. 
Tallman  died  in  1863  and  five  years  later  Mr. 
Tallman  married  Mrs.  Martha  Whipple,  of 
Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  who  survived  him,  his 
death  occurring  in  1874. 

Esther,  the  older  daughter,  married  George 
Kendall,  of  Vermont,  settling  in  Grand  Rapids, 
Mich.,  in  the  early  '50s,  where  they  lived  to  a 
good  old  age.  Agness,  referred  to  elsewhere  in 
this  history  as  the  wife  of  Charles  W.  Barber, 
spent  a  long  and  useful  life  on  the  farm  adjoining 
her  father's  homestead  on  the  east.  The  sons, 
John  Veddar,  Easton  and  Henry  A.,  owned  and 
occupied  the  three  farms  adjoining  the  home- 
stead on  the  west,  making  of  them,  by  thrift  and 
industry,  comfortable  and  pleasant  homes.  John 
V.  Tallman,  oldest  son  of  James  Tallman,  born 
February  12,  1824,  came  to  Alamo,  when  fifteen 
years  old.  When  twenty-three  years  of  age  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Charlotte,  daughter  of 
George  and  Sarah  (Spratt)  Piper,  natives  of 
England.  Six  children  were  born  to  them,  Sarah, 
who  died  in  1879,  Horace  Jay,  whose  death  oc- 
curred in  1873,  Esther  Ellen,  Mary  C,  who  died 
in  1876,  and  two  sons  dying  in  infancy.  Mrs. 
Tallman  died  in  1885  and  three  years  later  Mr. 
Tallman  married  Miss  Lizzie,  daughter  of  Nicho- 
las and  Ann  Elizabeth  Miller,  natives  of  Ger- 
many. Mrs.  Tallman  now  owns  and  occupies 
the  old  home,  Mr.  Tallman  having  died  in  1900. 
Haston  Tallman,  second  son  of  James  Tallman, 
born  in  1827,  came  to  Alamo  when  twelve  years 
of  age,  beginning  life  for  himself  when  twenty- 
one  years  old,  on  eighty  acres  of  land  just  east 
of  his  father's  farm.  Two  or  three  years  later  he 
n*oved  to  his  present  home.  In  1855  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Helen  S.,  daughter  of  John  G.  and 
Louisa  Tarbell,  natives  of  New  York.  To  them 
were  born  five  children,  John,  Nellie,  Mary, 
Frances  and  Esther.  Mrs.  Tallman  died  in  1880 
and  Nellie  did  not  long  survive.  Mr.  Tallman, 
now  seventy-eight  years  old,  a  good  Republican, 


active  and  energetic,  is  buying  and  shipping  stock 
in  addition  to  caring  for  his  farm.  Aaron  Tall- 
man and  Agness,  "the  twins,"  were  born  Septem- 
ber 26,  1830,  coming  to  Alamo  when  nine  years 
old.  On  reaching  his  majority  Aaron  began  life 
for  himself  on  what  is  now  known  as  the  Henry 
Tallman  farm.  In  1852  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Sarah,  daughter  of  George  and  Sarah  (Spratt) 
Piper,  natives  of  England,  and  in  1855  tneY  ex~ 
changed  farms,  returning  to  the  homestead  where 
they  remained.  Two  daughters,  Caroline  D. 
and  Anna  B.,  came  to  them.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tall- 
man, now  seventy-five  and  seventy-two  years  of 
age,  are  active,  useful  members  of  the  community, 
interested  and  helpful  in  the  Congregational 
church,  of  which  Mrs.  Tallman  has  been  an  efficient 
member  since  its  organization  in  1867.  Mr.  Tail- 
man  sent  a  substitute  to  the  Civil  war  and  gave 
freely  of  both  time  and  money  securing  recruits. 
Since  then  he  has  engaged  in  threshing  grain  and 
lumbering  in  various  ways,  in  addition  to  the 
management  of  his  farm,  where  he  raised  stand- 
ard-bred road  horses  for  market.  A  good  Re- 
publican always,  casting  his  first  vote  for  Presi- 
dent in  1856.  A  public-spirited  citizen,  especially 
active  in  securing  a  railroad  through  the  town 
and  a  helpful  man  in  practical  ways.  The  public 
will  long  be  reminded  of  him  by  the  fine  maple 
trees  shading  the  highway ;  these  he  brought 
from  the  woods  and  planted  in  i860.  "They  will 
make  a  shade  for  some  one,"  long  after  the  pleas- 
ant, comfortable  old  home  passes  into  other 
hands.  Henry  A.  Tallman,  born  in  1833,  became 
a  resident  of  Alamo  at  six  years  of  age.  On  Feb- 
ruary 26,  1854,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Pheby, 
daughter  of  Pheby  and  Garrett  Vanarsdale,  na- 
tives of  New  York.  Three  children  were  born  to 
them:  James  G.,  Lizzie  and  Martha  W.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Tallman  sold  their  home  in  1905,  going 
to  Boise,  Idaho. 

CHARLES  RORABECK. 

This  well-known  live-stock  dealer  of  Au- 
gusta, this  county,  while  not  among  the  first  set- 
tlers here,  was  an  early  resident  of  this  state, 
coming  hither  with  his  parents  in  i860  when  he 


360 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


was  but  thirteen  years  old,  and  at  a  time  when 
there  was  yet  a  large  amount  of  uncleared  land 
and  plenty  to  do  in  redeeming  the  wilderness  to 
fertility  and  transforming  its  long,  undisturbed 
expanse  to  comfortable  and  productive  homes. 
He  was  born  in  Allegany  county,  N.  Y.,  on  April 
17,  1847,  and  is  the  son  of  Orin  and  Betsey  (Mc- 
Elhaney)  Rorabeck,  both  natives  of  New  York, 
the  father  born  in  Madison  and  the  mother  in 
Yates  county.  The  father  represented  for  many, 
years  a  manufactory  of  gloves  and  mittens  at 
Gloversville,  in  Ijiis  native  state,  traveling  over 
the  country  and  making  his  sales  from  a  wagon. 
He  also  manufactured  on  a  small  scale  the  com- 
modities he  handled.  He  came  to  Michigan  in 
i860,  as  noted  above,  and  bought  land  in  Barry 
county,  which  was  then  almost  unbroken  and  the 
greater  part  of  it  covered  with  a  dense  forest.  On 
this  place  he  lived  until  about  1884,  then  moved 
to  Hastings  and  built  the  Farmers'  Sheds,  which 
he  managed  until  his  death,  on  February  11," 
1897.  The  mother  was  killed  in  the  destruction 
of  their  dwelling  by  a  cyclone  in  1882.  They  had 
five  sons  and  three  daughters,  of  whom  four  of 
the  sons  and  one  of  the  daughters  are  living, 
three  of  the  sons  in  this  county.  The  father  was 
a  leading  Democrat  in  his  locality  and  took  an  ac- 
tive part  in  local  affairs,  rising  to  prominence  and 
influence  in  the  councils  of  his  party  and  render- 
ing it  good  service  in  many  a  hard-fought  cam- 
paign, but  not  aspiring  to  public  office,  his  party 
loyalty  and  zeal  being  inspired  by  earnest  convic- 
tion and  not  by  a  desire  for  personal  honors  or 
aggrandizement.  The  grandfather,  George  Rora- 
beck, was  a  worthy  and  esteemed  shoemaker  and 
farmer  in  Allegany  county,  N.  Y.,  where  he  died 
at  a  good  old  age  after  a  long  career  of  estimable 
citizenship  and  usefulness.  Charles  Rorabeck 
passed  the  first  thirteen  years  of  his  life  in  his  na- 
tive county,  and  then  accompanied  his  parents  to 
this  state.  He  assisted  in  clearing  the  land  his 
father  bought  and  located  on,  wielding  the  axe 
in  felling  the  forest  and  holding  a  breaking  plow 
in  opening  up  the  soil  for  cultivation.  He  also 
split  thousands  of  rails  for  fencing  in  the  farm, 
and  did  all  other  kinds  of  work  required  in  a 
new  country  in  the  first  stages  of  its  transforma- 


tion from  the  haunt  of  the  red  man  and  the  lair 
of  the  wild  beast  to  the  home  of  the  husbandman 
and  the  center  of  civilization,  the  time  being  with- 
out modern  machinery  in  its  stupendous  devel- 
opment of  today  and  dependent  on  manly  muscle 
for  its  work,  and  the  habit  of  supplying  his  own 
needs  educating  the  body  to  every  man  to  won- 
derful performances.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one 
he  set  out  for  himself  as  a  farm  hand,  and  soon 
afterward  passed  some  little  time  at  clerking  in  a 
store  at  Hickory  Corners.  His  mind  was,  how- 
ever, attuned  to  farming,  and  he  soon  quit  mer- 
cantile life  and  rented  a  farm  on  which  he  lived 
and  labored  ten  years.  He  then  moved  to  Au- 
gusta, and  began  buying  and  selling  live  stock 
and  wool  for  shipment  to  Eastern  markets,  and 
now  handles  over  one  hundred  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  these  commodities  a  year.  He  has  an 
extensive  trade  and  is  widely  and  favorably 
known  in  business  circles  from  his  home  to  the 
Atlantic  coast.  On  September  13,  1874,  he  was 
joined  in  marriage  with  Miss  Maria  Elliott,  a  na- 
tive of  Hickory  Corners,  Barry  county,  where 
her  parents,  Adam  and  Katharine  (Malloch)  El- 
liott, settled  in  the  days  of  the  earliest  pioneers 
when  the  whole  region  was  virgin  to  the  plow 
and  almost  untrodden  by  the  white  man.  The  fa- 
ther died  some  years  ago,  but  the  mother  is  liv- 
ing, in  the  midst  of  the  development  she  helped 
to  start,  but  still  not  unmindful  of  the  early  hard- 
ships and  struggles  which  founded  it.  Mr.  Rora- 
beck is  well  known  as  a  leading  Democrat  in  po- 
litical affairs,  with  an  earnest  interest  always  in 
the  welfare  of  his  party,  which  he  always  helps 
to  promote,  and  as  an  enterprising,  wide-awake 
and  far-seeing  citizen,  with  patriotic  devotion  to 
his  county  and  state,  and  a  commendable  energy 
and  zeal  in  leading  and  concentrating  public  sen- 
timent in  behalf  of  their  best  interests. 

EDWIN  MASON. 

Foremost  among  the  early  settlers  of  Richland 
and  in  this  country  is  Edwin  Mason,  who  cour- 
ageously braved  the  dangers  and  endured  the 
hardships  of  frontier  life,  being  a  renowned 
hunter  of  the  wild  game  with  which  the  forest 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


363 


about  him  then  abounded.  During  all  the  hard- 
ships and  vicissitudes  of  his  early  frontier  life 
he  never  once  swerved  from  his  high  principles 
of  living,  but  clung  tenaciously  to  his  own  con- 
victions. He  not  only  believed  his  creed,  but 
what  is  far  nobler,  he  lived  it. 

Edwin  Mason  was  born  at  Litchfield,  Conn., 
on  August  17,  1803,  one  of  twelve  chil- 
dren. His  father,  Elisha  Mason,  served  for 
three  years  in  the  Revolutionary  war  and 
was  at  West  Point  when  Arnold  planned  its 
surrender  to  the  British.  He  was  also  present 
at  the  execution  of  Major  Andre.  He  united 
with  the  Congregational  church  in  Litchfield, 
then  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  in 
1824. 

On  December  13,  1826,  he  married  Miss 
Clarissa  Johnson,  of  Morris,  Conn.  Six  years  later 
he  became  a  resident  of  Richland  township,  in 
Kalamazoo  county,  where  he  passed  the  rest  of  his 
life.  After  his  arrival  in  this  country  he  joined 
the  Presbyterian  church,  and  for  many  years  held 
the  office  of  deacon  and  ruling  elder. 

Edwin  Mason  lived  in  peace  with  all  men,  per- 
forming every  duty  of  citizenship  with  fidelity 
and  energy.  He  was  accompanied  to  this  state 
by  his  wife  and  three  children,  Maria,  deceased, 
Cornelius,  and  Laura,  deceased.  Five  children 
were  afterwards  born  in  the  family,  of  whom, 
Cornelius  Mason  died  in  infancy.  Betsy  Ann 
and  Cornelia  are  still  living.  Mrs.  Conrad  Mil- 
ler's grandfather  was  the  well  known  Rev. 
Leonard  Slater,  who  was  one  of  the  most  prom- 
inent pioneers  of  the  state. 

THOMAS  ANDERTON. 

The  late  Thomas  Anderton,  of  Ross  town- 
ship, was  a  Kalamazoo  county  pioneer  of  1852, 
and  from  that  year  until  his  death  lived  in  the 
township  and  gave  intelligent  and  energetic .  at- 
tention to  its  development  and  progress.  He  be- 
came one  of  its  leading  farmers  and  public  men, 
and  by  the  geniality  and  cordiality  of  his  man- 
ners and  his  obliging  disposition,  one  of  its  most 
popular  citizens.  He  was  born  in  Lancashire, 
England,  on  April  7,  1822,  the  son  of  William 


and  Ann  (Summers)   Anderton,  who  were  also 
natives  of  that  county.     The  mother  died  there, 
and  soon  afterward,  in  1849,  tne  father  came  to 
this  country  and  went  to  California,  then  ablaze 
with    enthusiasm    over   the    recent    discovery    of 
gold.     He  was  successful  in  his  mining  opera- 
tions, and  after  accumulating  a  considerable  for- 
tune in  the  precious  metal,  was  killed  and  robbed 
of  all  he  had.     The  family  comprised  four  sons 
and  one  daughter,  all  now   deceased.     Thomas 
was  reared  to  the  age  of  eighteen  in  his  native 
land,   and  there  received  a  good  education  and 
served    seven    years  as  apprentice  to    a    cotton 
bleacher,  mastering  the  trade  thoroughly  in  all 
its  details.     Thus  prepared  for  usefulness  in  al- 
most any  emergency,  he  barkened  to  the  persua- 
sive voice  of  the  New  World,  and  made  ready  to 
accept  the  advantages  it  offered  to  young  men  of 
enterprise  and  skill.     He  sailed  from  Liverpool 
on  an  American-bound  steamer  in  1841,  and  in 
due    time    found  himself  at  Providence,    R.    I., 
where  he  passed  ten  years  or  more  working  at  his 
trade.     He  then  came  to  this  county  and  bought 
a  farm  of  eighty  acres  in  Ross  township.  Four- 
teen acres  of  the  tract  were  in  a  state  of  inchoate 
cultivation    and    improved   with   a    little    frame 
house.    Moving  on  the  farm,  he  began  to  develop 
it,  and  as  he  got  that  tract  cleared  and  under  cul- 
tivation, bought  additional  land  until  he  owned 
nearly  five  hundred  acres,  which  he  worked  until 
his  death  on  November  26,  1892,  and  which  he 
made  in  time  one  of  the  best  farms  in  the  county. 
«He  replaced  the  little  frame  cabin  of  early  days 
with  a  commodious  brick  dwelling  in  1885,  which 
is  one  of  the  impressive  landmarks  of  progress 
in  the  township,  and  also  erected,  prior  and  sub- 
sequent to  that  time,  other  necessary  buildings, 
providing  his  farm  with  all  the  required  equip- 
ment of  a  first-rate  rural  home,  and  all  the  needed 
appliances  for  carrying  on  his  farming  operations 
on  a  large  scale  and  in  a  thoroughly  up-to-date 
manner.     And  there  he  wrought  and  prospered, 
as  the  years  went  by,  greatly  to  his  own  advan- 
tage and  the  benefit  of  the  community  around 
him.      On    April  16,   1848,  he  was    married    at 
Providence,  R.  I.,  to  Miss  Ann  Craven,  a  native 
of  Lancashire,  England,  the  daughter  of  Thomas 


364 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


and  Anna  (Thorp)  Craven,  also  of  that  nativity. 
She  emigrated  to  this  country  the  same  year  that 
Mr.  Anderton  did,  but  they  were  not  then  ac- 
quainted. Six  children  were  born  to  them.  Of 
these,  Mary  A.  is  now  Mrs.  William  Brewer,  of 
Kalamazoo,  and  they  have  six  children,  George 
H.,Willard  A.,  Laura  A.,  Mary,  Eva  M.,  and  Lib- 
bie;  Esther  is  now  Mrs.  William  Robinson,  of 
Yorkville,  and  a  widow;  Annie  is  now  Mrs.  Mat- 
thew Genton,  and  they  have  one  child,  Mary  A., 
William,  John  and  a  son  who  died  in  infancy  are 
dead.  Their  mother  died  September  14,  1905,  in 
Ross  township,  aged  eighty-two  years.  Mrs.  Rob- 
inson was  formerly  Mrs.  Porter  Smith,  and  by  her 
first  marriage  had  three  children,  Edna  A.,  the  wife 
of  Clifford  Flower,  of  Ross  township,  Charles  A. 
and  John  W.,  the  last  some  years  deceased.  Mr. 
Anderton  was  a  Republican  politically.  He  served 
as  township  supervisor,  highway  commissioner 
and  road  overseer,  holding  the  office  last  named 
more  than  thirty  years.  Fraternally  he  was  an 
Odd  Fellow,  and  in  religious  affiliation  was  con- 
nected with  the  church  of  England.  He  made 
two  trips  to  his  native  land  after  leaving  it,  one 
in  1859  and  the  other  in  1882.  In  the  latter  his 
wife  accompanied  him. 

HENRY  M.  MARVIN. 

Henry  M.  Marvin,  of  Augusta,  one  of  the 
best  known  and  most  progressive  business  men  of 
his  township,  was  born  at  Bedford,  Calhoun 
county,  this  state,  in  1859,  and  is  the  son  of  Hunt- 
ington M.  and  Lucinda  (Riley)  Marvin,  natives 
of  Orange  county,  N.  Y.,  who  settled  in  this  state 
in  1844,  and  a  sketch  of  whom  will  be  found  on 
another  page  of  this  work.  He  was  reared  in  his 
native  county  and  educated  at  Olivet,  Mich.,  in 
the  common  schools  and  at  Olivet  College.  Un- 
der the  instruction  of  his  father  he  learned  his 
trade  as  a  miller,  remaining  at  home  until  1881, 
when  he  moved  to  Augusta,  and  at  that  place 
was  associated  in  business  with  his  father  until 
the  death  of  that  worthy  gentleman  and  ener- 
getic commercial  and  industrial  promoter.  Then 
taking  up  the  burden  of  the  various  enterprises 
where  the  father  laid  it  down,  he  has  ever  since 


steadily  kept  all  in  motion  and  enlarged  their 
scope,  until  he  has  become  one  of  the  most  exten- 
sive lumber  merchants  and  business  men  in  other 
lines  in  the  village  which  has  the  benefit  of  his 
useful  and  inspiring  citizenship.  In  1902,  desir- 
ing to  confine  his  operations  specifically  to  lum- 
bering, and  the  trade  incident  thereto,  he  sold 
his  mill  at  Augusta  to  the  Hubbard  Food  Com- 
pany, but  in  addition  to  his  large  and  exacting 
lumber  interests  he  conducts  a  private  bank 
which  is  one  of  the  stable,  serviceable  and  appre- 
ciated fiscal  institutions  of  the  place.  In  the  pub- 
lic life  of  the  community  he  takes  an  active  and 
helpful  interest  as  a  broad-minded  and  public- 
spirited  citizen,  and  in  political  affairs  in  the  state 
and  nation  as  a  stanch  and  loyal  Democrat.  In 
fraternal  circles  he  is  an  enthusiastic  member  of 
the  order  of  Elks,  with  membership  in  Kalama- 
zoo Lodge,  No.  50,  of  the  order.  In  1880  he  was 
married  in  the  state  of  Ohio  to  Miss  Florence 
Cooper,  a  native  of  that  state.  They  have  four 
children,  Harry  C,  Fred,  Bessie  and  Elizabeth. 
Trained  for  business  under  the  eye  of  a  careful 
father,  who  was  himself  an  energetic,  accom- 
plished and  resourceful  business  man,  and  a  suc- 
cessful one,  Mr.  Marvin  has  met  every  require- 
ment of  his  duty  in  a  manly  and  straightforward 
manner,  applying  with  skill  and  sagacitv  the  les- 
sons of  his  tutor  and  following  ever  his  example, 
thus  giving  the  community,  which  is  the  scene  of 
his  activity,  the  same  high  tone  in  business  meth- 
ods and  citizenship  in  the  second  generation 
which  it  had  from  his  father  in  the  first.  And 
while  starting  with  the  family  name  well  estab- 
lished in  the  esteem  of  the  mercantile  and  social 
world  around  him,  he  has  kept  it  up  to  the  stand- 
ard it  attained  before  him,  and  abated  naught  of 
its  force  as  a  synonym  for  integrity  in  trade,  en- 
terprise in  behalf  of  the  public  weal,  and  potency 
in  every  form  of  useful  effort,  mercantile,  indus- 
trial, social  and  civic. 

HON.  SIMPSON  HOWLAND. 

The  parents  of  Hon.  Simpson  Howland,  Ed- 
ward K.,  and  Margaret  (Simpson)  Howland, 
were  among  the  earliest  pioneers  of  Ross  town- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


365 


ship,  this  county,  having  come  to  the  county  in 
1836,  from  Stillwater,  Saratoga  county,  N.  Y., 
where  their  son  was  born  on  May  18,  1822.  Both 
parents  were  of  English  ancestry,  whose  Ameri- 
can progenitors  became  residents  of  the  United 
States  in  colonial  times,  three  brothers  I lowland, 
on  the  one  side,  settling  at  New  Bedford,  Mass., 
before  the  Revolutionary  war.  On  their  arrival 
in  this  county  the  family  located  on  a  tract  of  land 
in  Ross  township,  and  on  this  land  the  son  now 
resides,  living  retired  from  active  pursuits  after 
nearly  seventy  years  of  active  usefulness  in  pro- 
moting the  development  and  progress  of  the  sec- 
tion and  the  substantial  welfare  of  its  people.  The 
land  when  they  took  possession  of  it  was  in  its 
state  of  natural  wildness,  and  lay  in  the  midst  of 
a  vast  wilderness  wherein  the  foot  of  the  white 
man  had  seldom  trodden,  and  the  dawn  of  civili- 
zation was  just  at  hand.  The  children  of  the 
household,  now  all  deceased  but  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  and  one  sister,  Margaret,  who  resides 
with  our  subject,  were  obliged  to  undergo  all  the 
privations,  dangers  and  hardships  of  the  wildest 
frontier  life,  and  grew  to  maturity  amid  scenes 
of  toil  and  peril,  without  the  conveniences  of 
comfortable  living,  receiving  meager  scholastic 
training  at  the  primitive  country  schools  around, 
them,  and  securing  the  greater  and  most  valuable 
part  of  their  education  from  actual  experience 
in  the  duties  of  life,  overcoming  its  difficulties, 
meeting  with  sturdy  will  and  ready  hands  its  ar- 
duous requirements,  and  depending  on  their  own 
resources  for  every  step  of  their  advancement. 
The  many-voiced  forces  of  nature  were  their  tu- 
tors, and  the  exactions  of  every  hour  of  strenuous 
life  their  stimulants  to  earnest  endeavor.  So  they 
became  men  and  women,  with  hearts  attuned  to 
the  simple  life  of  the  frontier,  and  hands  skilled 
in  its  necessary  labors,  ready  for  any  emergency, 
fortified  against  any  disaster,  and  equal  to  any  re- 
quirement, rather  than  prodigies  of  scholastic  at- 
tainments or  social  graces.  At  the  same  time,  the 
very  alertness  and  breadth  of  view  begotten  of 
their  circumstances,  made  them  studious, and  gave 
them  a  wide  range  and  considerable  store  of  use- 
ful general  information.  Their  father  died  in 
1881  and  their  mother  in  1848,  both  seeing  the 


end  of  life  on  the  old  homestead,  which  they  had 
redeemed  from  the  waste  and  transformed  into 
a  comfortable  and  productive  farm.  Of  their  six 
children  three  grew  to  maturity,  Simpson,  Mary, 
the  wife  of  H.  D.  Palmer,  and  Margaret,  the  wife 
of  L.  H.  Martin.  One  daughter  died  some  years 
ago,  leaving  their  brother,  Simpson,  and  sister, 
Margaret,  the  only  surviving  members  of  the 
family.  Almost  as  soon  as  he  became  of  age 
Simpson  took  charge  of  the  home  farm,  and  he 
has  ever  since  conducted  its  operations,  keeping 
up  the  spirit  of  enterprise  and  improvement  which 
his  father  had  inaugurated,  and  seeking  ever  to 
bring  the  place  to  its  highest  development  and  ut- 
most fruitfulness.  On  March  9,  1848,  he  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Sarah  Berger,  a 
native  of  New  York  state.  They  had  three  chil- 
dren, DeWitt,  Alice  V.,  now  the  wife  of  James 
Spier,  and  Albert  O.  The  sons  are  deceased, 
Dewitt  having  died  many  years  ago,  and  Albert 
on  August  11,  1896.  Their  mother  is  a  daughter 
of  Henry  and  Hannah  (King)  Berger,  honored 
pioneers  of  Calhoun  county,  this  state.  Mr.  How- 
land's  father  built  and  operated  the  pioneer  grist 
mill  in  this  section,  and  also  the  pioneer  saw  mill, 
and  was  prominent  in  the  business  circles  of  the 
early  days.  '  The  grist  mill  is  still  standing  and 
doing  good  service  on  the  old  place.  The  son 
has  also  been  prominent  and  active  in  public  af- 
fairs, serving  for  years  as  a  justice  of  the  peace 
and  as  supervisor  and  treasurer  of  Ross  town- 
ship. He  was  elected  to  the  legislature  in  1875, 
and  again  in  1877,  and  served  in  the  body  with 
distinction  to  himself  and  advantage  to  his  con- 
stituents, occupying  the  important  positions  of 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  fisheries  and  of  the 
committee  on  municipal  corporations.  He  owns 
a  large  farm,  and  has  been  more  than  ordinarily 
successful  in  all  his  undertakings.  He  is  virtually 
a  self-made  man ;  and  his  vast  possessions  are  the 
result  of  his  thrift,  enterprise  and  business  ca- 
pacity. In  early  life  he  was  a  Whig  in  politics, 
but  since  the  organization  of  the  Republican 
party  he  has  been  affiliated  with  it.  Although  not 
a  member  of  any  particular  religious  denomina- 
tion, he  is  a  liberal  and  cheerful  contributor  to 
all,  and  an  ardent  friend  to  all  movements  for  the 


366 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


elevation  and  advancement  of  his  community.  No 
citizen  of  his  township  is  more  highly  respected, 
and  none  deserves  to  be. 

VICTOR  G.  BURDICK. 

For  four  years  postmaster  and  since  then  as- 
sistant postmaster  with  active  control  of  the  office 
at  Augusta,  this  county,  also  now  village  clerk 
and  hitherto  village  president,  clerk  and  treas- 
urer and  justice  of  the  peace,  Victor  G.  Burdick 
is  an  important  man  in  Ross  township,  and  one  of 
the  leading  citizens  of  that  part  of  the  county.  He 
is  a  native  of  the  adjoining  township  of  Charles- 
ton, born  on  January  9,  1859,  an<^  the  son  °f  Har- 
low M.  and  Sarah  N.  (Miller)  Burdick,  the 
former  a  native  of  Connecticut,  and  the  latter  of 
New  York.  The  father  was  taken  to  Madison 
county,  N.  Y.,  when  he  was  five  years  old,  by  his 
father,  Sandford  Burdick,  who  was  a  farmer, 
and  who  came  from  there  to  Michigan  in  1834, 
when  he  settled  in  Charleston  township,  this 
county.  He  soon  afterward  moved  to  Calhoun 
county,  where  he  died  in  1837  or  1838.  His  son, 
Harlow  Burdick,  came  into  the  world  in  18 14, 
and  lived  in  the  state  of  New  York  from  the  age 
of  five  years  until  1833,  and  there  received  what 
education  he  was  able  to  get  in  his  few  and  ir- 
regular opportunities  for  attendance  upon  the 
common  schools.  In  the  year  last  named  he  came 
to  Michigan  with  an  uncle,  traveling  by  way  of 
the  Erie  canal  and  Lake  Erie  to  Detroit,  and 
thence  across  the  wild  unbroken  country  with 
ox  teams  to  Kalamazoo.  After  living  a  year 
with  his  uncle  after  their  arrival  on  what  was 
then  the  frontier,  he  took  up  land  in  Charleston 
township,  which  he  sold  after  partially  clearing 
and  improving  it.  Finding  then  a  great  demand 
for  lime  for  building  purposes,  he  turned  his  at- 
tention to  burning  this  valuable  and  indispensable 
commodity,  in  which  he  was  engaged  with  great 
activity  for  many  years.  He  furnished  all  the 
lime  used  in  the  construction  of  all  the  earlier 
houses  in  his  portion  of  the  county  and  many  in 
Kalamazoo  and  Battle  Creek.  He  also  took  an 
interest  in  real  estate  and  acquired  by  his  thrift 
and  business  capacity  the  ownership  of  a  number 


of  farms  in  the  county,  clearing  up  a  large  bodv 
of  land  and  making  it  habitable  and  productive. 
In  1866  he  moved  to  Augusta  and  there  he  lived 
until  his  death  in  1896,  keeping  a  large  and  serv- 
iceable grocery  store  for  a  period  of  more  than 
twenty  years.  He  also  became  a  leading  man  in 
political  and  public  life,  serving  as  a  justice  of  the 
peace  twelve  years,  and  as  township  clerk  and 
treasurer  and  in  other  local  offices  for  a  long 
time.  He  assisted  in  organizing  Leroy  township, 
Calhoun  county,  and  was  its  first  justice  of  the 
peace.  In  political  affiliation  he  was  a  Democrat 
with  an  ardent  party  spirit  that  found  expression 
in  good  and  continual  service  to  his  party,  in 
which,  however,  his  patriotism  dominated  his 
partisanship,  and  his  zeal  for  the  general  good 
overbore  all  party  considerations  in  local  affairs. 
In  1836  he  was  married  in  this  county,  and  he 
and  his  wife  became  the  parents  of  three  sons  and 
four  daughters.  Two  of  the  sons  and  two  of  the 
daughters  are  living.  The  oldest  son,  Bruce  R., 
was  laid  as  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  the  Un- 
ion, being  killed  in  the  battle  of  Kenesaw  Moun- 
tain in  July,  1864,  while  fighting  under  the  gal- 
lant Sherman.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Fifth 
Iowa  Infantry.  The  mother  died  in  1892.  Vic- 
tor G.  Burdick  grew  to  manhood  at  Augusta  and 
was  educated  in  the  village  schools  and  at  Kala- 
mazoo high  school.  He  began  life  as  a  clerk  in 
Kalamazoo,  and  afterward  he  was  on  the  road 
seven  years  selling  fanning  mills  for  a  local  man- 
ufactory. In  1893  he  was  appointed  postmaster 
at  Augusta,  and  at  the  end  of  his  term  of  four 
years,  he  became  the  assistant  postmaster,  a  po- 
sition which  he  filled  with  active  charge  of  the 
affairs  of  the  office,  retiring  January  1,  1905.  He 
also  served  as  president  of  the  village  four  years 
and  as  township  clerk  and  township  treasurer 
several  terms.  He  was  married  at  Augusta  in 
1898  to  Mrs.  Mary  (Ridley)  Sprague,  a  widow 
with  two  daughters.  Mr.  Burdick  is  a  Demo- 
crat in  his  political  allegiance,  not  now  and  then, 
but  every  day  in  the  year,  and  to  the  cause  of  his 
party  he  gives  on  all  occasions  earnest  and  effect- 
ive support.  He  also  takes  a  leading  part  in  all 
commendable  undertakings  for  the  advancement 
or  improvement  of  the  community,  and  is  loyally 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


367 


devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  his  county  and 
state.  With  a  breadth  of  view  and  a  public  spirit 
that  is  productive  of  wisdom  in  counsel  and  effi- 
ciency in  action  in  behalf  of  all  good  projects; 
and  with  a  genial  and  obliging  manner,  which 
wins  him  friends  wherever  he  is,  he  has  been  of 
great  service  to  his  section,  and  is  one  of  its  most 
representative  and  highly  esteemed  citizens. 

DR.  CHARLES  E.  DOYLE. 

Dr.  Charles  E.  Doyle,  the  oldest  physician  in 
continuous  practice  at  Augusta,  and  one  of  the 
leading  representative  citizens  of  the  township, 
is  a  native  of  this  state,  born  at  Grand  Rapids  on 
August  25,  1862,  and  has  lived  all  his  days  so 
far  in  the  state.  His  parents,  Richard  and  Al- 
tana  (Lamphere)  Doyle,  were  born  in  the  state 
of  New  York,  Genesee  county.  The  father  came 
to  Michigan  with  his  parents  when  he  was  but 
five  years  old;  his  parents,  Darby  and  Mary 
Doyle,  located  at  Yankee  Springs,  Barry  county, 
in  1842,  and  there  the  father  had  a  blacksmith 
shop  and  wrought  at  his  trade  many  years.  Both 
parents  died  there,  and  their  son,  Richard  Doyle, 
grew  to  manhood  at  that  place,  attending  the  dis- 
trict schools,  and  working  at  the  forge  with  his 
father,  and  also  did  lumbering  in  the  woods  dur- 
ing a  number  of  winters.  After  reaching  man- 
hood he  moved  to  Kent  county,  and  soon  after- 
ward to  Barry  county,  where  he  is  now  a  pros- 
perous farmer  in  the  neighborhood  of  Middle- 
ville.  The  mother  is  also  living.  They  have  two 
children,  both  sons,  the  Doctor's  brother  being  a 
farmer  in  this  county.  The  Doctor  received  his 
scholastic  training  in  the  public  school  at  Hast- 
ings, and  then  taught  school  eight  years.  He  be- 
gan the  study  of  medicine  in  the  office  of  Dr.  Fer- 
guson at  Middleville,  and  in  the  fall  of  1890  en- 
tered the  Detroit  College  of  Medicine,  where  he 
was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Med- 
icine in  the  spring  of  1893.  He  at  once  located  at 
Augusta  and  began  practicing  his  profession,  and 
»■'■  this  laudable  work  he  has  since  been  continu- 
ously engaged  at  that  village.  While  his  practice 
has  steadily  increased  in  magnitude  and  demands 
°n  his  time,  he  has  kept  up  his  professional  stu- 


dies diligently,  noting  all  the  while  the  most  ad- 
vanced thought  and  discoveries,  and  applying  the 
results  of  his  reading  and  observation  with  dis- 
crimination and  good  judgment,. and  retaining  his 
position  abreast  with  the  times  in  all  departments 
of  his  useful  labor.  He  is  also  an  earnest  and  ef- 
fective worker  in  the  organizations  formed  for 
the  benefit  of  the  science  to  which  he  is  devoted 
and  its  practitioners,  being  an  active  and  serv- 
iceable member  of  the  Calhoun  County  Medical 
Society,  the  State  Medical  Society,  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association  and  the  Kalamazoo 
Academy  of  Medicine.  In  fraternal  life  he  is  a 
Freemason  of  the  Knight  Templar  degree.  In 
1886  he  was  married  to  Miss  Nettie  Marshall,  a 
native  of  Barry  county,  where  her  parents  were 
pioneers.  Of  this  union  four  children  have  been 
born,  Nina,  Bessie,  Fred  M.,  and  Richard  F. 
Living  in  this  community  and  mingling  freely 
with  the  people  for  a  period  of  more  than  ten 
years,  the  Doctor  has  not  been  indifferent  to  the 
general  welfare  of  the  section,  but  has  borne 
faithfully  his  full  share  in  all  commendable  en- 
terprises as  one  of  the  progressive  forces  in  mat- 
ters of  public  interest,  and  one  of  the  bright  ex- 
amples of  good  citizenship.  His  voice  is  potential 
in  directing  public  opinion,  and  his  work  in  mov- 
ing it  to  good  results  is  always  effective  and  on 
the  right  side.  He  has  intelligence  to  see  the 
right  direction,  courage  to  follow  it  and  influ- 
ence to  lead  others  the  same  way.  And  as  his 
counsel  and  example  have  been  found  trust- 
worthy on  all  occasions,  he  has  the  confidence 
and  regard  of  the  community  in  an  unusual 
degree. 

HENRY  A.  HALL. 

Reversing  the  usual  order  of  precedence, 
Henry  A.  Hall,  one  of  the  leading  farmers  of 
Ross  township,  -Kalamazoo  county,  now  living 
retired  at  Augusta,  but  from  there  still  oversee- 
ing the  work  on  his  farm,  was  a  pioneer  in  this 
county  before  his  father,  and  blazed  the  way  for 
the  approach  of  the  latter  to  his  final  earthly 
home  in  Ross  township.  The  son  was  born  on 
January  29,  1832,  in  Elba  township,  Genesee 
county,  N.  Y.,  where  his  grandparents  settled 


368 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


about  i8i7or  1818,  moving  there  from  Connecti- 
cut, where  the  family  had  long  been  domesti- 
cated. The  grandfather  bought  a  tract  of  wild 
government  land,  which  he  cleared  and  trans- 
formed into  a  good  farm  on  which  he  lived  to 
the  end  of  his  days.  He  was  a  valiant  soldier  in 
the  war  of  181 2,  and  a  man  of  local  prominence 
and  influence.  His  son,  Henry  A.  Hall,  father  of 
the  immediate  subject  of  this  review,  grew  to 
manhood  and  was  educated  in  the  state  of  New 
York,  and  remained  there  until  1862,  when  he 
moved  to  Kalamazoo  county,  purchased  a  farm 
in  Ross  township,  and  settled  on  it  for  perma- 
nent occupancy.  He  devoted  the  remaining 
years  of  his  life  to  its  improvement  and  cultiva- 
tion, and  in  1891  passed  away  at  the  home  of  the 
subject  in  Augusta,  amid  the  fruits  of  his  in- 
dustry and  the  changes  it  had  wrought  in  the 
waste.  His  wife  was  Miss  Rebecca  Brown,  a 
native  of  Rhode  Island,  who  accompanied  him 
to  Michigan  in  1862,  and  died  on  the  farm  in 
Ross  township  in  1869.  They  had  two  sons  and 
seven  daughters,  all  of  whom  have  died,  but  their 
son,  Henry  A.,  and  one  of  his  sisters.  Henry  A. 
Hall,  Jr.,  reached  man's  estate  and  received  his 
education  in  his  native  county,  and  after  leaving 
school  bought  a  farm  there  which  he  worked  un- 
til i860.  He  then  came  to  Michigan  and  located 
for  a  short  time  at  Battle  Creek.  Purchasing  a 
farm  in  Ross  township,  this  county,  soon  after- 
ward, he  moved  on  it,  and  there  he  made  his 
home  until  1886,  when  he  built  a  house  at  Au- 
gusta in  which  he  has  since  resided.  Forty  acres 
of  his  land  were  partially  improved  and  under 
cultivation  when  he  purchased  the  place.  He  has 
since  cleared  and  improved  the  rest,  and  bought 
additions  until  he  now  owns  two  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-five acres,  and  has  all  in  an  advanced  state 
of  development  and  productiveness,  and  provided 
with  good  buildings  and  other  necessary  im- 
provements.  His  estate  represents  forty  years  of 
his  useful  labor,  and  is  a  creditable  outcome  of 
his  efforts,  while  the  general  esteem  in  which  he 
is  held  furnishes  a  gratifying  proof  of  the  excel- 
lence and  usefulness  of  his  citizenship.  In  1846 
he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Sarah 
Baker,  a  native  of  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.    They 


have  had  nine  children,  eight  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing: Emma  A.,  wife  of  T.  W.  Will,  of  Barn- 
county,  Mich. ;  Jennie,  wife  of  Frank  Blood,  of 
Charlotte,  Mich.;  Olivia  A.,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.; 
Lilly,  wife  of  W.  P.  Thompson,  of  Arkansas ;  Dr. 
Charles  E.,  of  Atlanta,  Ga. ;  Henry  A.,  of  Battle 
Creek,  Mich. ;  Samuel,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa. ;  and 
Sadie  E.,  a  resident  of  Arkansas.  A  son  named 
James  C.  died  a  number  of  years  ago.  The 
mother  died  in  1882,  and  in  1885  the  father  mar- 
ried a  second  wife,  Amanda  Pettit,  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Ontario,  Canada.  Politically  Mr.  Hall 
is  a  Republican,  with  a  commanding  influence  in 
the  affairs  of  his  party,  but  without  political  am- 
bition for  himself.  Fraternally  he  belongs  to  the 
Masonic  order,  and  is  a  charter  member  of  the 
lodge  at  Hickory  Corners,  Barry  county,  this 
state. 

NATHAN  F.  POOL. 

Of  the  men  and  women  of  the  heroic  age  of 
the  pioneer,  those  who  saw  the  wide  expanse  of 
this  county  in  its  state  of  virgin  nature,  over- 
spread with  mighty  forests  of  changing  garni- 
ture, the  wild  red  man  its  lord  and  master,  and 
savage  beasts  its  most  numerous  and  omnipresent 
denizens,  and  now  behold  it  clothed  with  the  ha- 
biliments of  civilized  life  and  productive  useful- 
ness, the  smoke  of  the  wigwam  replaced  by  the 
home  of  prosperous  and  industrious  people,  and 
the  Indian's  war  whoop  and  the  panther's  shriek 
succeeded  by  the  low  of  the  herd  and  the  hus- 
bandman's song — those  interesting  links  in  the 
chain  of  human  existence  which  connect  the  elec- 
trical present  with  the  arduous  and  exacting  past 
in  which  the  foundations  of  the  commonwealth 
were  laid — there  are  but  few  left,  and  the  few 
who  are  have  all  the  more  a  cordial  enshrinement 
in  popular  regard  because  they  are  so  few,  and 
in  their  day  wrought  so  well.  Among  the  num- 
ber is  Nathan  F.  Pool,  a  retired  farmer,  who  was 
the  postmaster  of  Augusta  in  Ross  township  up 
to  1905,  and  who  became  a  resident  of  the  state 
in  1847  and  of  the  county  in  1854,  and  has  lived 
here  in  active  usefulness  ever  since.  He  was 
born  in  Geauga  county,  Ohio,  on  January  it. 
1840,  the  son  of  Abijah  and  Lucy  (Foster)  Pool, 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


369 


the  former  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  lat- 
ter of  the  state  of  New  York.     The  father  was 
but  a  boy  when  his  parents  moved  to  New  York 
all(l  took  up  their  residence  near  Hamilton,  Mad- 
ison county.     In  1836,  following  his  father's  ex- 
ample, he  strode  into  the  wilderness  to  build  for 
himself  a  home  and  make  a  name,  migrating  to 
Geauga  county,  where  he  lived  until  1847,  wnen 
he    again   sought  the   frontier  and  brought    his 
family  to  Michigan,  locating  on  land  which  he 
purchased  in  Kent  county.     He  bought  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  there,  and  was  so  much  more 
fortunate  than  the  other  settlers  as  to  own  the 
only  team  of  horses  in  the  township  (Caledonia), 
but  was  obliged  to  pay  for  this  distinction  by  do- 
ing all  the  marketing   for  the  neighborhood   at 
Grand  Rapids,  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  away.     He 
eleared  his  land  in  that  county  and  lived  on  it 
until   1854,  when  he  sold  it  and  moved  to  Au- 
gusta, this  county,  and  there  opened  a  shoe  store 
which  he  kept  a  few'  years,  then  bought  a  farm 
one  mile  west  of  the  village,  on  which  he  lived  a 
number    of    years.      Advancing    age    determined 
him  at  length  to  give  up  farming,  and  he  moved 
back  to  Augusta,  where  he  died  on  May  11,  1868, 
and  his  wife  on  December  29,  1876.  He  was  born 
in  1796,  and  she  in  1800.     They  had  seven  sons 
and  three  daughters,  all  dead  now  but   Nathan 
and  his  brother,  H.  D.  Pool,  of  Benton  Harbor, 
this  state.     The  father  was  a  leader  in  the  Con- 
gregational church,  and  helped  to' build  the  first 
house  of  worship  for  that  sect  at  Augusta.     He 
was  an  officer  in  the  congregation  there  for  many 
years.     His    son    Nathan   passed   the   first    seven 
years  of  his  life  in  Ohio,  and  accompanied  him 
to  this  state  in   1847.     He  attended  the   district 
schools  near  his  home,  and  learned  farming  un- 
der difficulties  on  the  new  and  uncleared  land  of 
the  paternal  homestead.     He  began  life  for  him- 
self as  a  farmer,  and  was  so  occupied  until  Au- 
gust, 1862,  when  he  enlisted  in  Company  D,  Sev- 
enteenth Michigan  Infantry,  for  the  Union  army 
under  Ca'ptain  J.  C.  Burrows,  now  United  States 
senator  from  this  state.     The  regiment  became 
a  part  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  later  of 
the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  and  was  in  active 
service  at  the  front  of  each  in  its  most  strenuous 


and  deadly  campaigns.  Mr.  Pool  took  part  in  the 
battle  of  Antietam  and  a  number  of  minor  en- 
gagements, and  also  in  the  siege  of  Vicksburg. 
His  health  failed  and  he  was  discharged  from  the 
service  in  1864  with  the  rank  of  corporal,  having 
enlisted  as  a  private.  Returning  to  Augusta,  he 
started  a  carriage  building  and  general  black- 
smithing  enterprise,  which  he  conducted  for  a 
period  of  over  thirty  years.  He  was  then  in  the 
hardware  trade  two  years.  During  the  last  few 
years  he  has  been  engaged  in  farming,  and  in 
1897  was  appointed  postmaster  at  Augusta,  a  po- 
sition he  has  held  continuously  since  that  time. 
He  has  also  served  from  time  to  time  in  various 
school  offices  and  on  the  board  of  village  trustees. 
On  October  11,  1864,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Sarah  Kendall,  a  native  of  Wisconsin.  They 
have  two  children,  their  son,  Jay  F.,  now  residing 
in  Detroit,  and  their  daughter,  Clara  Belle,  who 
is  living  at  home.  Mr.  Pool  has  been  a  zealous 
Republican  from  the  dawn  of  his  manhood,  and 
has  ever  been  active  in  the  service  of  his  party. 
He  is  now  the  second  citizen  of  Augusta  in  length 
of  residence  there,  and  is  second  to  none  in  public 
esteem  and  general  regard  among  the  people. 

T.  C.  WOOD. 

The  late  T.  C.  Wood,  whose  active  business 
career  in  this  county  for  a  period  of  over  thirty 
years  gave  him  a  strong  hold  on  the  confidence 
and  a  high  place  in  the  regard  of  the  commercial 
world  of  the  county,  and  whose  genial  and  engag- 
ing manners  endeared  him  to  hosts  of  his  patrons, 
was  a  native  of  the  state  of  New  York,  and  was 
reared  to  the  age  of  eighteen  in  Canada.     His 

parents,  Stephen  and ■ (Clement)  Wood, 

were  also  born  in  New  York,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  after  their  marriage  carried  on  farming 
in  that  state.  In  1858  they  came  to  Michigan  and 
located  at  Grass  Lake.  There  on  a  farm  which 
they  bought  they  lived  and  labored  until  death 
called  them  to  their  long  rest,  the  father  dying  at 
the  age  of  eighty-nine  and  the  mother  at  that  of 
seventy-five.  Their  son,  T.  C.  Wood,  arrived  in 
this  county  about  the  year  1857  or  1858,  and  tak- 
ing up  his  residence  at  Augusta,  was  employed 


370 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


in  various  ways  until  1863.  He  then  turned  his 
attention  to  merchandising  and  carried  on  an  ex- 
tensive business  in  the  store  he  first  occupied 
until  it  was  destroyed  by  fire.  After  that  event 
he  built,  in  1868,  the  business  block  now  occupied 
by  his  sons  and  continued  his  enterprise  in  that 
until  his  death  in  1889.  His  marriage  occurred 
in  Kent  county,  Mich.,  and  united  him  with 
Miss  Thirza  Pool,  a  native  of  Cattaraugus  county, 
N.  Y.,  who  came  to  Michigan  in  1847  w*tn  ner 
parents,  Abijah  and  Lucy  (Foster)  Pool,  locating 
first  in  Kent  county  and  afterward  moving  to 
Augusta,  this  county,  where  they  died.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Wood  had  four  children,  two  of  whom  are 
living,  their  sons  Charles  C.  and  William  A.,  who 
succeeded  to  their  father's  business  and  are  still 
conducting  it  on  the  elevated  plane  of  strict  integ- 
rity, wide-awake  progressiveness  and  close  study 
of  the  needs  of  the  community  on  which  he  left 
it.  Their  mother  died  in  1887.  The  father  was  a 
man  of  prominence  and  usefulness  in  local  affairs, 
serving  acceptably  as  president  of  the  village  and 
in  other  neighborhood  or  township  offices.  He 
was  a  Republican  in  politics,  but  was  never  an 
active  or  self-seeking  partisan,  devoting  his  at- 
tention mainly  to  his  business  and  finding  in  it 
full  scope  for  all  his  energies  and  aspirations  save 
as  the  general  demands  ^of  the  community  gave 
them  a  different  trend  and  engagement,  and  in 
these  he  was  always  active,  wise  and  helpful. 
Though  high  praise,  it  is  but  a  just  tribute  to 
merit  to  say  of  the  sons  that  they  are  exemplars  of 
the  thrift,  progressiveness,  and  public  spirit  which 
he  exhibited  in  a  high  degree,  and  are  worthy 
followers  of  his  excellent  example.  Their  trade 
is  extensive  and  they  meet  all  its  requirements; 
their  stock  of  goods  is  large  and  varied,  and  they 
keep  it  up-to-date  in  every  respect;  the  commu- 
nity is  cultivated  and.  critical,  and  they  cater  to 
its  most  exacting  taste,  as  well  as  supply  its  less 
pretentious  wants  in  their  lines. 

REV.    LEONARD    SLATER. 

Perhaps  no  pioneer  of  the  Wolverine  state 
is  remembered  with  as  much  love  and  gratitude 
as  the  Rev.  Leonard  Slater.     His  memory  will 


always  be  held  dear  and  justly  so,  for  here  was 
a  man  with  a  fine  sense  of  duty  and  honor  coupled 
with  physical  energy  and  faithful  perseverance. 
When  his  spirit  left  this  mortal  life  the  people 
for  miles  around  mourned  the  loss  of  a  great  man, 
who  had  striven  to  live  worthily  and  had  left 
behind  him  an  everlasting  example  of  steadfast- 
ness and  self-sacrifice.  Michigan  is  still  proud 
to  claim  this  noble  man  as  one  of  her  sons,  and 
still  holds  up  his  life  as  a  glorious  example  to 
her  many  other  sons.  The  Rev.  Leonard  Slater 
was  a  native  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  where  he  was 
born  in  1802.  He  learned  the  trade  of  rope- 
making  and  worked  at  it  until  he  became  of  age. 
Shortly  before  reaching  his  majority  he  began 
studying  for  the  ministry,  under  the  able  di- 
rection of  Rev.  Jonathan  Going.  He  proved  him- 
self an  able  and  willing  pupil  and  progressed 
rapidly  at  his  chosen  work.  He  married  Miss 
Mary  Ide,  of  Vermont,  and  in  the  autumn  of  the 
same  year  removed  to  the  Carey  Mission  at 
Niles,  Mich.  Here  he  remained  assisting 
the  Rev.  McCoy,  the  pioneer  Baptist  missionary 
of  the  West,  until  the  spring  of  1827,  when  he 
was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Thomas  Mission  at 
Grand  Rapids.  This  well  known  mission  was 
one  that  had  been  established  by  the  Rev.  McCoy 
in  the  preceding  fall.  The  Rev.  Leonad  Slater 
remained  a  missionary  for  ten  years  and  teacher 
to  the  Ottawa  Indians,  by  whom  he  was  sincerely 
loved  and  respected.  In  1836  he  bought  eighty 
acres  of  land  in  Barry  county,  where  he  estab- 
lished an  Indian  mission  and  school,  known  as 
Slater  Station.  He  was  always  very  much  inter- 
ested in  the  welfare  of  the  Indians  and  labored 
long  and  faithfully  to  convert  them  to  this  re- 
ligion that  he  loved  so  well,  and  they  in  turn 
reverenced  him  as  their  chief.  In  1852  he  moved 
to  Kalamazoo,  where  he  died  on  April  27,  1866. 
The  greater  part  of  this  good  man's  life  was 
devoted  to  the  education  of  the  Indians,  who  at 
that  time  were  the  kings  of  the  forest.  He  was 
buried  near  the  spot  now  in  Riverside  cemetery  in 
which  he  had  seen  his  first  view  of  the  beautiful 
Kalamazoo  valley  in  the  autumn  of  1826.  For 
many  years  prior  to  his  death  he  preached  reg- 
ularly to  his  devoted  Indians  at  Slater  Station, 


x 


O 
X 


r 

C 

r 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


373 


riding  there  on  Saturday  and  returning  on  the 
following  Monday.  His  wife  died  on  June  7, 
1851.  The  Slater  family  was  of  English  origin 
on  the  father's  side  and  Scotch  origin  on  the 
mother's   side. 

GEORGE  WEEKS. 

To  conduct  a  business  which  provides  for  the 
immediate  and  urgent  needs  of  a  community  in 
pressing  emergencies,  however  personal  may  be 
the  motive,  is  to  be  a  public  benefactor ;  and  when 
this  occurs  in  a  new  country  in  which  other  means 
of  supplying  the  need  are  distant  and  difficult  of 
attainment,  if  not  impossible,  the  benefaction  is 
greatly  increased  in  magnitude  and  real  service. 
Such  a  benefactor  was  the  late  George  Weeks,  of 
Augusta,  this  county,  for  many  years  the  only 
druggist  at  the  village  and  within  a  large  extent 
of  country  around  it.  The  amount  of  human  suf- 
fering his  ready  presence  and  ministrations  re- 
lieved in  the  long  course  of  his  successful  and  ap- 
preciated business  there  it  would  be  idle  to  guess 
at,  but  that  he  was  always  ready  on  demand  with 
the  required  relief,  and  tendered  it  with  a  grace 
and  sympathy  of  manner  that  added  to  its  value, 
is  well  established  in  the  recollection  of  the  people 
to  whom  he  ministered,  and  is  manifested  in  the 
cordial  regard  with  which  his  memory  is  cher- 
ished in  the  community.  Mr.  Weeks  was  born  in 
Greene  county,  N.  Y.,  at  the  town  of  Coxsackie, 
on  December  25,  1835.  His  parents,  Moses  and 
Jane  (Hollister)  Weeks,  were  also  natives  of  that 
state  and  passed  their  lives  in  it,  industrious  and 
well-to-do  farmers.  The  father  was  a  man  of 
local  prominence  and  influence  and  filled  a  num- 
ber of  township  and  village  offices.  They  had 
eight  children,  all  now  dead  but  two  sons  and  one 
daughter  who  are  residents  of  their  native  state. 
There  they  reared  their  son  George  and  educated 
him  in  the  district  schools.  He  began  life  for 
himself  as  a  clerk  in  a  drug  store  at  Catskill,  in 
his  native  county,  and  after  thoroughly  learning 
the  business  and  passing  a  number  of  years  in 
conducting  it  there,  he  came  to  Kalamazoo  county 
in  1867,  and  opened  a  drug  store  at  Augusta  in 
partnership  with  Dr.  J.  A.  Dean,  the  firm  being 

21 


known  as  Weeks  &  Dean.  Some  years  later  he 
bought  the  interest  of  Dr.  Dean,  and  from  that 
time  until  his  death,  on  August  8,  1903,  carried 
on  the  business  alone.  It  suffered  no  diminution 
in  attention  or  enterprise,  for  he  had  sole  charge 
of  it  from  the  beginning.  He  kept  a  good  stock 
of  drugs  and  was  skillful  and  careful  in  com- 
pounding them,  and  thus  he  had  the  confidence 
and  esteem  of  the  community  throughout  his  busi- 
ness career  at  this  place.  In  1875  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Charlotte  Eaton,  a  native  of  Alle- 
gany county,  N.  Y.,  and  daughter  of  Marenus 
and  Laura  (Scott)  Eaton.  Two  children  were 
born  of  their  union,  their  daughter  Elizabeth  and 
their  son  Robert  E.  The  latter  is  now  a  practic- 
ing physician  at  Augusta,  having  been  graduated 
from  the  Detroit  College  of  Medicine  in  1904. 
He  also  conducts  the  drug  business  founded  by 
his  father.  The  father  was  a  leading  citizen  of 
the  village  and  served  a  number  of  years  on  its 
board  of  trustees  and  in  various  school  offices.  He 
belonged  to  the  Masonic  order  in  lodge  and  Royal 
Arch  chapter,  holding  his  membership  in  the 
bodies  of  the  order  at  Galesburg. 

LORENZO  F.  BROWN. 

At  a  time  in  the  history  of  this  country  when 
hosts  of  adventurous  men  were  flocking  by  every 
route  and  conveyance  to  the  gold  fields  of  Cali- 
fornia, lured  thither  by  the  recent  discovery  of 
the  precious  metals  in  great  quantity  there,  and 
the  hope  of  securing  fabulous  fortunes  in  a  short 
time,  the  parents  of  Lorenzo  F.  Brown,  one  of 
the  prosperous  and  enterprising  merchants  of 
Augusta,  this  county,  followed  the  spirit  of  ad- 
venture into  this  state,  seeking  an  improvement 
in  their  condition,  which  they  knew  could  be 
achieved  only  by  long  continued  and  arduous 
labor  and  a  life  of  privation  and  stern  endurance. 
But  their  courage  was  as  high  and  their  deter- 
mination as  resolute  as  those  of  any  of  the  "forty- 
niners,"  who  braved  the  dangers  of  the  plains  on 
their  way  to  the  golden  shores  of  the  Pacific 
coast,  for  they  confronted  equal  perils  and  pri- 
vations, and  without  the  chance  of  as  speedy  re- 
turns for  their  daring.    They  were  William  and 


374 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


Susanna  (Crossman)  Brown,  natives  of  the  state 
of  New  York,  and  prosperous  farmers  there.  But 
in  1849,  finding  the  offers  of  Michigan  to  new 
settlers  full  of  promise  and  practically  irresistible, 
they  sold  out  their  holdings  in  the  land  of  their 
birth,  and  through  many  tribulations  and  over 
great  difficulties,  made  their  way  to  this  state, 
where  they  purchased  a  tract  of  wild  land  in  Cal- 
houn county,  which  they  cleared  up  and  lived  on 
until  the  death  of  the  father  in  1867,  the  mother 
afterward  dying  at  the  home  of  her  son,  Lorenzo, 
in  1872.  They  had  a  family  of  four  sons  and  two 
daughters,  and  of  these  two  of  the  sons  and  one 
of  the  daughters  are  living,  Lorenzo  and  his  sis- 
ter Mary  E.  being  residents  of  Augusta.  Lo- 
renzo reached  man's  estate  on  the  Calhoun 
county  farm;  and  in  the  neighboring  common 
schools  received  his  education.  He  remained 
with  his  parents,  working  on  the  farm,  until  1867. 
Then  removing  to  Augusta,  he  engaged  in  the 
sale  of  farming  implements  for  a  number  of 
years.  At  the  end  of  this  period  he  became  a 
traveling  salesman,  handling  the  B.  S.  Williams 
&  Company  wind  mill.  In  this  engagement  his 
work  was  hard,  but  his  success  was  gratifying 
and  creditable.  His  territory  covered  seventeen 
states,  and  as  he  was  offering  a  much-needed  and 
popular  commodity,  his  sales  were  commensurate 
with  his  efforts.  In  1894  he  started  a  grain  busi- 
ness of  his  own,  in  which  he  has  since  been  con- 
tinuously engaged  and  with  great  success.  Mean- 
while he  has  given  close  and  intelligent  attention 
to  all  the  duties  of  citizenship  and  performed  with 
fidelity  his  part  in  building  up  his  village  and 
township.  He  has  served  as  township  treasurer 
and  filled  several  village  offices ;  has  been  an  in- 
fluential force  in  business  and  social  circles,  and 
on  all  occasions  has  shown  a  commendable  en- 
terprise in  behalf  of  the  improvement  of  his  sec- 
tion and  the  promotion  of  its  best  interests.  Hav- 
ing come  to  Augusta  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine 
and  lived  in  the  village  now  thirty-eight  years,  he 
has  devoted  the  best  years  and  energies  of  his  life 
to  this  community,  and  his  services  have  been  of 
great  and  well-recognized  value.  He  is  held  in 
the  highest  esteem  by  all  classes  of  the  people  as 
one  of  their  leading  and  most  representative  men. 


WILLIAM  STRONG. 

Starting  in  life  as  a  farmer  in  his  young  man- 
hood, William  Strong,  of  Kalamazoo  township, 
this  county,  has  steadfastly  withstood  all  tempta- 
tions to  engage  in  other  pursuits  and  adhered  to 
the  vocation  of  the  old  patriarchs,  and  he  has 
thereby  risen  to  consequence  in  a  worldly  way 
and  gained  the  lasting  esteem  and  good  will  of  his 
large  circle  of  friends  and  acquaintances  and  the 
general  public  in  his  county.  He  was  born  in 
Geauga  county,  Ohio,  on  December  3,  1838,  the 
son  of  Tertius  and  Mariette  (Baker)  Strong, 
natives  of  Hampshire  county,  Mass.  The  father 
was  a  Congregational  minister  and  devoted  many 
years  of  his  life  to  the  sacred  work  in  his  native 
state.  In  1836  he  started  with  his  family  to  Mich- 
igan, but  they  halted  at  Huntsburg,  Geauga 
county,  Ohio,  Where  the  father  assisted  in  build- 
ing a  church.  In  1839  the  family,  consisting  of 
the  parents  and  two  sons,  came  to  Kalamazoo 
county  and  located  on  the  farm  now  owned  and 
occupied  by  William.  It  was  then  all  wild  and 
unbroken,  and  they  had  before  them  the  arduous 
duty  of  reducing  it  to  cultivation  and  making  a 
home  of  it.  The  father  was  without  means  and 
at  first  squatted  on  the  land,  which  was  school 
land  and  which  he  afterward  purchased.  The 
first  plow  had  a  wooden  mouldboard  covered  with 
sheet  iron.  Here  he  resided  until  his  death  in 
1898,  his  wife  having  died  some  years  before  that 
time.  The  family  then  comprised  five  sons  and 
one  daughter,  and  of  these  four  of  the  sons  are 
living.  Prior  to  the  Civil  war  the  father  was  a 
pronounced  abolitionist  and  was  active  in  support 
of  the  "Underground  Railway"  for  the  aid  of 
fugitive  slaves.  He  also  took  an  active  part  in 
the  church  work  of  the  early  days  in  the  county, 
and  was  in  many  respects  one  of  the  most  use- 
ful of  our  pioneer  citizens.  His  father,  Paul 
Strong,  grandfather  of  William,  was  a  soldier  in 
the  war  of  181 2,  and  for  years  after  that  event 
conducted  a  hotel  on  the  top  of  Mount  Holyoke. 
The  city  of  Florence  now  stands  on  his  old  farm. 
William  Strong  grew  to  manhood  and  was  edu- 
cated in  this  township,  attending  the  district 
schools  and  the   Baptist  College  in  Kalamazoo. 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


375 


He  began  life  as  a  farmer,  purchasing  a  tract  of 
land  adjoining  the  old  homestead  which  he  has 
since  bought,  in  addition  to  his  own.  Here  he 
has  developed  his  property  and  made  a  steady 
advance  in  prosperity  and  public  esteem.  He  is 
a  Republican  in  political  faith,  but  he  has  never 
been  an  active  partisan  or  an  office  seeker.  In 
]<S6o  he  was  married  to  Miss  Sarah  L.  Scott,  who 
died  in  1878,  leaving  three  children,  Ella  C,  wife 
of  Willis  Anderson,  of  this  county,  Charles  F.,  a 
resident  of  'Kalamazoo  township,  and  Helen,  wife 
of  George  L.  Smith.  On  September  15,  1881, 
Mr.  Strong  married  a  second  wife,  Mrs.  Sarah 
A.  Briggs,  a  native  of  Allegan  county  and  the 
widow  of  a  Union  soldier  in  the  Civil  war.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Strong  are  active  church  workers,  and 
have  a  prominent  place  in  all  the  benevolent  un- 
dertakings around  them.  Mr.  Strong  edited  the 
agricultural  department  of  the  Kalamazoo  Tele- 
graph for  a  number  of  years  and  was  later  con- 
nected with  the  News  in  the  same  capacity. 

EDWARD  STRONG. 

Edward  Strong,  a  highly  respected  pioneer  of 
Kalamazoo  county  and  now  serving  his  thirty- 
seventh  consecutive  year  as  its  accomplished  and 
highly  serviceable  surveyor,  was  born  near  Mt. 
Holyoke,  Mass.,  on  December  31,  1836.  He 
is  a  brother  of  William  Strong,  of  this  county, 
in  whose  sketch,  found  elsewhere  in  this  work, 
an  account  of  the  history  of  their  parents  is 
given.  In  his  childhood  Mr.  Strong  moved  with 
his  parents  to  Geauga  county,  Ohio,  and  after  a 
residence  of  three  years  there  came  with  them  to 
Michigan,  making  the  journey  by  way  of  the 
old  canal  to  Detroit,  and  from  there  through  the 
almost  trackless  wilderness  by  teams  to  Kala- 
mazoo, then  a  frontier  hamlet,  surrounded  by 
wild  woods  and  untamed  Indians.  In  the  midst 
of  this  almost  primeval  solitude,  he  passed  his 
boyhood  and  youth,  his  playmates  being  young 
Indians  and  the  very  few  white  children  then 
living  in  this  neighborhood.  The  development 
°f  his  mind  was  directed  in  the  primitive  schools 
of  the  day,  kept  in  the  uncanny  and  uncomfort- 
able   log  school   houses    scattered  through    the 


wilds  at  long  intervals,  but  being  of  a  studious 
nature  he  persevered  in  his  efforts  to  acquire  an 
education,  and  was  rewarded  for  his  persistency 
with  a  course  at  Kalamazoo  College,  from  which 
he  was  graduated  in  1859.  He  then  passed  a  year 
in  the  self-developing  vocation  of  teaching  a 
country  school,  and  devoted  his  spare  time  to  the 
study  of  surveying.  He  mastered  the  science 
completely,  and  also  became  a  man  of  wide  read- 
ing and  extensive  general  information.  The 
school  he  taught  was  at  Charleston,  111.,  and  at 
•  the  close  of  his  term  he  returned  to  this  county 
and  engaged  in  farming,  a  pursuit  he  has  steadily 
adhered  to  ever  since.  In  1867  he  was  elected 
county  surveyor,  and  he  has  been  chosen  to  this 
office  at  every  election  since  then,  excepting  some 
years  as  deputy  under  Mr.  Hodgman.  He  has 
also  served  Allegan  county  two  years  in  the  same 
capacity.  In  his  long  official  course  he  has  done 
much  work  of  importance,  and  the  excellence  of 
his  service  has  been  universally  admitted  with 
high  commendation  from  every  source  of  popu- 
lar approval.  In  i860  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Phebe  J.  Chapman,  a  native  of  the  state  of  New 
York,  and  at  the  time  of  her  marriage  engaged 
in  teaching  school,  she  having  been  educated  at 
Kalamazoo  College.  In  political  allegiance  Mr. 
Strong  is  a  stanch  Republican,  serving  at  times 
as  chairman  of  the  township  organization  of  the 
party.  He  has  also  served  two  terms  as  drain- 
age commissioner.  Pursuing  peacefully  and 
without  ostentation  his  chosen  work  in  cultivat- 
ing the  soil,  and  doing  valuable  work  in  the  two 
offices  he  has  held,  both  of  which  are  in  the  line 
of  his  profession,  he  has  witnessed  the  growing 
wealth  and  development  of  the  county  around 
him,  participating  helpfully  in  bringing  about  the 
almost  phenomenal  results  he  has  witnessed,  and 
rejoicing  in  the  progress  and  his  opportunity  to 
contribute  to  it.  The  transformation,  although 
marvelous,  has  been  so  steady  and  normal  and 
natural  that  it  has  gone  on  almost  unnoticed  save 
by  such  old-timers  as  he  who  saw  the  country  in 
its  original  condition.  His  recital  of  the  changes 
time  has  wrought  would  read  like  a  romance, 
and  would  be  startling  if  it  were  not  like  so  many 
similar  cases  in  American  history,  especially  in: 


376 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


the  West.  It  would  prove  what  has  been  well 
said  of  our  country,  that  it  was  the  great  charity 
of  God  to  the  human  race. 

EDWARD  F.  CURTENIUS. 

This  active  and  progressive  farmer  and  pub 
lie  spirit,  to  whom  prominence  has  come  through 
merit  in  his  young  manhood,  who  is  now  serving 
as  supervisor  of  Kalamazoo  township,  was  torn 
in  the  township  on  August  22,  1865.  His  par- 
ents, Charles  C.  and  Phebe  (Smith)  Curtenius, 
were  born  at  Glens  Falls,  Warren  county,  N.  Y., 
and  in  Derbyshire,  England,  respectively.  The 
paternal  grandfather  was  Col.  F.  W.  Curtenius, 
a  sketch  of  whom  will  be  found  in  another  place  in 
this  work.  Charles  C.  Curtenius,  father  of  Ed- 
ward, came  to  Kalamazoo  county  with  his  parents 
when  he  was  but  one  year  old,  and  he  grew  to 
manhood  on  the  farm  on  which  his  son  now  lives 
and  was  born.  He  began  his  education  in  the  dis- 
trict schools  and  later  attended  the  Baptist  College 
in  Kalamazoo  and  a  college  at  Spring  Arbor. 
After  leaving  college  he  returned  to  the  farm  and 
lived  there  until  the  spring  of  1890,  when  he  took 
up  his  residence  in  Kalamazoo,  where  he  lived  un- 
til his  death  on  July  15,  1902,  and  where  his 
widow  is  now  living.  She  was  born  in  Yorkshire, 
England,  and  came  to  this  county  when  fifteen 
years  of  age,  and  here  she  grew  to  womanhood 
and  was  married,  the  marriage  taking  place  in 
1862.  They  had  two  children,  their  son  Ed- 
ward and  their  daughter  Elizabeth,  who  lives 
with  her  mother  in  the  city.  During  all  of  his 
mature  life  the  father  was  a  leader  in  political 
affairs  as  a  Republican,  and  he  was  chosen  to 
a  number  of  important  offices.  He  served  nine 
years  as  highway  commissioner  of  the  village 
and  township  of  Kalamazoo  and  five  as  super- 
visor. He  was  also  for  ten  years  a  member 
of  the  city  council,  being  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  streets  and  bridges,  and  for  a  time 
street  commissioner  of  the  city.  His  church  af- 
filiation was  with  the  Presbyterians  and  he  was  a 
liberal  supporter  of  his  sect.  He  also  belonged  to 
the  First  Light  Guard  and  the  Prize  Drill  Com- 
pany.    In  all  the  relations  of  life  and  in  every 


official  station  he  bore  himself  creditably,  winning 
commendation  for  his  public  spirit  and  breadth 
of  view  and  for  his  fidelity  to  duty  on  all  occa- 
sions. His  son  Edward  was  reared  on  the  pater- 
nal farm  and  received  his  scholastic  training  in 
the  public  schools  and  at  the  Baptist  College.  He 
also  took  a  special  course  at  Parson's  Business 
College.  After  finishing  his  education,  like  his 
father  he  returned  to  the  home  farm  and  he  has 
had  charge  of  it  ever  since.  In  1892  he  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Ellen  McLaughlin,  a 
native  of  this  county.  They  have  one  child,  their 
daughter  Alice  M.  Mr.  Curtenius  has  served  as 
township  supervisor  since  1899,  and  has  also 
served  two  years  as  township  treasurer.  Almost 
from  the  dawn  of  his  manhood  he  has  been  promi- 
nent and  influential  in  the  councils  of  his  political 
party,  the  Republican,  and  has  on  many  occasions 
been  sent  as  a  delegate  to  its  county  and  state  con- 
ventions. In  his  representative  capacities,  both  as 
a  delegate  to  the  conventions  of  his  party  and  in 
the  offices  he  has  filled,  he  has  won  the  approval 
and  good  will  of  the  people,  who  find  in  him  a 
wise,  capable  and  energetic  man  of  high  charac- 
ter and  unusual  promise. 

WILLIAM  F.  MONTAGUE. 

Having  come  to  live  in  Kalamazoo  county  in 
1858,  when  he  was  but  nine  years  old,  and  having 
lived  here  continuously  during  the  forty-six 
years  that  have  passed  since  then,  with  his  life 
flowing  in  a  constant  stream  of  active  service  to 
the  county  and  its  people,  William  F.  Montague 
is  now  one  of  the  oldest  remaining  settlers  of  the 
county,  and  is  justly  esteemed  as  one  of  its  most 
useful  citizens.  He  is  now  living  on  a  fine  farm 
in  Kalamazoo  township,  which  shows  on  every 
hand  the  benefits  of  his  well  applied  industry, 
and  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  mature  powers  of  man 
hood  is  peaceably  conducting  the  business  to 
which  he  is  devoted,  and  looking  forward  to  the 
evening  of  his  day  with  the  consciousness  that  he 
has  "such  things  as  should  accompany  old  age, 
as  honor,  love,  obedience  and  troops  of  friends, 
which  his  modesty  would  forbid  him  to  think  but 
which  his  numerous  acquaintances  and  neighbors 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


377 


say  he  richly  deserves.  Mr.  Montague  was  born 
on  August  6,  1849,  m  Hampshire  county,  Mass., 
at  the  town  of  Hadley.  His  parents,  Stephen  F. 
and  Lucy  W.  (Kellogg  ) Montague,  were  born 
and  reared  in  the  same  place  as  himself,  and  re- 
moved from  there  to  the  state  of  New  York, 
where  the  father  engaged  in  railroading,  being  a 
conductor  on  the  old  Albany  &  Northern  Rail- 
road until  1858.  The  family  then  came  to  Michi- 
gan, and  located  in  this  county,  the  father  pur- 
chasing the  old  Eames  farm  on  Grand  Prairie, 
on  which  his  parents  passed  the  remainder  of 
their  days,  the  father  dying  in  June,  1885,  and  the 
mother  in  1886.  Their  only  child  was  their  son, 
William.  He  grew  to  manhood  on  the  home- 
stead, and  was  educated  in  the  common  and  high 
schools  of  this  county.  He  remained  at  home  as- 
sisting his  parents  on  the  farm  until  1876,  when 
he  was  appointed  under  sheriff  of  the  county  by 
Sheriff  Charles  Gibbs,  and  at  the  close  of  his  term 
he  was  reappointed  by  Mr.  Gibbs'  successor, 
John  Galligan.  He  also  served  as  assistant  post- 
master under  A.  J.  Shakespeare  for  one  year.  In 
1886  he  was  elected  sheriff  for  a  term  of  two 
years,  and  at  its  close  he  returned  to  his  farm, 
on  which  he  has  lived  ever  since.  In  addition  to 
the  offices  above  named,  he  has  served  as  super- 
visor of  his  township  and  as  township  treasurer. 
Mr.  Montague  is  now  serving  his  third  year  as 
president  of  its  Farmers'  Mutual  Insurance  Com- 
pany. On  May  9,  1876,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Susan  A.  Latta,  a  daughter  of  Albert  and  Lois 
(Orton)  Latta,  pioneers  of  this  county.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Montague  have  three  children,  Lucy 
Charles  F.  and  Ida.  In  politics  the  head  of  the 
house  is  an  unwavering  Democrat,  and  has  high 
rank  and  considerable  influence  in  the  councils 
of  his  party.  Fraternally  he  is  a  Knight  of  the 
Maccabees  and  a  Knight  of  Pythias.  With  an 
abiding  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  section  and 
a  thorough  adaptability  to  its  people  and  its  in- 
stitutions, although  inheriting  the  traditions  of  an 
older  portion  of  the  country,  he  has  sedulously 
devoted  himself  to  the  performance  of  every  pub- 
lic and  private  duty,  and  in  so  doing  has  con- 
tributed essentially  and  substantially  to  the 
progress   and    improvement    of   his   county   and 


state.  Kalamazoo  county  has  no  more  worthy 
citizen,  and  none  who  is  held  in  more  general 
esteem. 

GEORGE  N.  DRAKE. 

George  N.  Drake,  of  Kalamazoo  county,  al- 
though the  son  of  the  first  settlers  in  Oshtemo 
township,  was  born  in  the  county  on  February  7, 
1835.  His  father,  Benjamin  Drake,  the  son  of  a 
sea  captain  who  died  when  the  son  was  a  child, 
was  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  born  in  1787.  The 
story  of  his  life  is  told  at  some  length  in  the 
sketch  of  his  son,  Francis  Drake,  to  be  found 
elsewhere  in  this  work.  After  making  a  fortune 
in  the  lumber  business  on  the  Delaware  river,  he 
lost  his  all  through  the  war  of  1812  and  was 
obliged  to  make  a  new  start,  which  he  did  by 
working  on  farms  for  a  time  in  his  native  state. 
He  then  moved  to  Ohio,  and  after  living  there  a 
short  time  moved  to  Michigan,  locating  at  New- 
port, St.  Clair  county,  where  he  passed  six  years 
buying  and  selling  cattle,  and  working  a  farm  on 
shares.  The  summer  of  1835  ne  spent  traveling 
over  northern  Indiana,  looking  for  a  location  in 
which  he  could  have  timber,  prairie  and  water  in 
a  suitable  proportion.  He  then  walked  from  Kal- 
amazoo to  White  Pigeon  to  enter  his  land,  which 
was  not  then  in  the  market  but  still  contained  a 
village  of  three  hundred  Pottawatomie  Indians. 
The  site  he  selected  was  section  13,  Oshtemo 
township,  and  in  1831,  one  year  after  he  settled 
on  it,  he  secured  a  title  from  the  government, 
and  this  wild  land  he  improved  and  cultivated 
until  he  made  it  during  his  life  one  of  the  best 
farms  in  the  state.  He  had  but  little  trouble  with 
the  Indians,  his  life  being  threatened  by  two  of 
them  but  once,  and  in  their  friendly  spirit  they 
helped  him  to  build  a  small  house  as  a  dwelling 
for  his  family.  The  elder  Drake  was  an  influ- 
ential and  respected  man  and  lived  in  the  com- 
munity he  chose  as  his  home  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  ninety-six,  dying  on  his  farm  in  Septem- 
ber, 1883,  his  wife  dying  three  years  later,  aged 
eighty-nine.  Their  family  comprised  four  sons 
and  four  daughters,  all  of  whom  are  now  de- 
ceased except  George  M.,  the  subject  of  this  re- 
view.   He  was  reared  on  the  home  farm,  and  re^ 


378 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


mained  under  the  parental  roof  until  reaching 
his  majority.  He  then  engaged  in  shipping  live 
stock  in  the  winter  and  farming  in  the  summer, 
purchasing  of  his  father  two  hundred  and  four 
acres  of  land,  on  which  he  still  makes  his  home, 
and  on  which  he  has  made  all  the  improvements, 
transforming  a  tract  of  uncultivated  land  into  a 
splendid  and  well  developed  farm.  In  addition 
to  his  farming  in  a  general  way,  he  has  been  an 
extensive  dealer  in  live  stock,  and  in  both  has 
been  very  successful.  In  politics  he  supports  the 
Republican  party;  but  he  has  never  been  an  ac- 
tive partisan,  or  sought  public  office.  Frater-. 
nally  he  is  a  Master  Mason,  holding  his  member- 
ship in  Kalamazoo  Lodge,  No.  22.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools  and  the  seminary  at 
Kalamazoo.  For  some  years  before  the  Civil 
war  he  was  a  member  of  the  state  militia,  but 
when  the  war  began  he  furnished  a  substitute  to 
serve  for  him  as  he  was  unable  to  leave  home  on 
account  of  the  care  required  for  his  father,  and 
his  large  business  interests.  On  December  16, 
1892,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Nettie  Allen,  a  na- 
tive of  Barry  county,  this  state.  They  have  two 
children,  George  O.  and  Elizabeth,  both  living. 
The  Drake  family  is  of  English  ancestry,  and  has 
been  resident  in  this  country  from  early  colonial 
times.  In  Kalamazoo  county  they  have  been 
prominent  and  very  influential  for  good. 

THE   KALAMAZOO   SANITARIUM. 

This  excellent  and  widely  useful  institution, 
the  first  of  its  kind  in  Kalamazoo  county  and  one 
of  the  most  successful  to  be  found  anywhere,  was 
founded  in  1893  with  a  long  list  of  progressive, 
broad-minded  and  public-spirited  medical  men  as 
its  founders,  among  whom  were  Doctors  C.  A. 
Fletcher,  J.  H.  McKibben,  A.  L.  Lake,  Joseph  S. 
Ayers,  R.  P.  Beebe,  M.  L.  Towsley,  R.  Pengelry, 
N.  E.  Leighton,  A.  W.  Hendricks,  F.  C.  Myers, 
J.  L.  W.  Young,  Ed  A.  Bolyett,  J.  M.  Ayers,  M. 
B.  McKinney,  L.  H.  B.  Pierce,  W.  H.  Sherman, 
N.  B.  Sherman,  W.  B.  Southard  and  Frank  H. 
Tyler,  all  of  them  residents  of  Kalamazoo.  Un- 
der the  liberal  policy  on  which  it  was  founded 
and  the  wisdom  that  has  distinguished  its  man- 


agement the  institution  has  flourished  and  its 
great  services  to  suffering  humanity  and  the  com- 
munity in  which  it  is  located  can  be  better  im- 
agined that  set  forth  in  specific  terms.  Dr.  C.  A. 
Fletcher,  the  leading  spirit  in  founding  it  and 
from  its  organization  its  directing  and  inspiring 
force,  is  a  native  of  Kalamazoo  county,  born  in 
1 86 1  on  a  farm  six  miles  southeast  of  the  city. 
He  is  the  son  of  Charles  M.  and  Phebe  C.  (Cox) 
Fletcher,  the  former  born  in  Vermont  and  the 
latter  in  New  York.  The  father,  a  merchant,  came 
to  Michigan  in  1840  and  settled  at  Comstock,  this 
county,  where  he  was  engaged  in  the  grocery 
trade  for  many  years.  Late  in  his  life  he  moved 
to  Kalamazoo,  and  here  he  died  in  1900.  While 
taking  no  special  interest  in  partisan  politics,  such 
was  his  influence  and  force  of  character,  and  so 
widely  and  highly  was  he  esteemed,  that  he  was 
frequently  chosen  to  local  offices  of  importance, 
and  in  all  he  justified  the  confidence  of  those  who 
advocated  his  election.  The  mother  is  still  living. 
Their  family  comprised  one  son  and  one  daugh- 
ter, both  of  whom  are  residents  of  Kalamazoo. 
The  Doctor  began  his  scholastic  training  in  the 
city  public  schools  and  finished  it  at  Kalamazoo 
College,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1883.  He  be- 
gan the  study  of  medicine  under  direction  of 
Doctor  Hitchcock,  and  in  1884  entered  the  scien- 
tific department  of  the  State  University  at  Ann 
Arbor,  where  he  secured  the  degree  of  Master  of 
Science  in  1885  an<^  tnat  °f  Doctor  of  Medicine 
in  1888.  After  practicing  a  year  in  Wisconsin 
he  went  to  Chicago  and  entered  the  Rush  Medi- 
cal College  and  the  Cook  County  Hospital,  also 
taking  a  course  in  homeopathy  in  the  Chicago 
Medical  College.  In  1890  he  returned  to  Kala- 
mazoo and  engaged  in  general  practice  until  the 
organization  of  the  sanitarium,  since  when  he  has 
been  actively  connected  with  this  institution.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Tri-State  Medical  Society,  the 
Roentgen  X-Ray  Association,  and  the  National 
and  American  Microscopical  Associations.  He  is 
also  a  prominent  member  of  the  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science.  Deeply  and  intelli- 
gently interested  in  the  welfare  of  his  home  city, 
he  has  consented  at  considerable  personal  sacri- 
fice to  serve  as  alderman,  and  finding  pleasure 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


379 


and  profit  of  an  intellectual  and  social  character 
in  fraternal  life,  he  has  long  been  an  active  Free- 
mason of  the  Knight  Templar  degree  and  also  a 
Knight  of  Pythias.  He  was  married  in  Wiscon- 
sin, on  September  13,  1888,  to  Miss  Alice  M.  Al- 
bert, a  native  of  Illinois.  They  have  one  son  and 
erne  daughter. 

THOMAS   WILSON   BARNARD. 

The  late  Thomas  Wilson  Barnard,  who  died 
in  1876,  after  living  forty-four  years  in  this 
county  and  assisting  in  its  development  and  im- 
provement, was  a  native  of  Rockingham  county, 
K.  H.,  born  in  1810.  His  parents,  Moses  and 
Nancy  (Wilson)  Barnard,  were  also  natives  of 
New  Hampshire,  where  they  farmed  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  then  in  18 16  moved  to  Allegany 
county,  N.  Y.,  where  they  remained  engaged  in 
the  same  pursuit  until  1833,  then  came  to  Michi- 
gan, where  they  died  many  years  afterward.  Mr. 
Barnard's  grandfather,  Moses  Barnard,  was  a 
native  of  England,  who  came  to  this  county  prior 
to  the  Revolution.  In  the  contest  between  the 
mother  country  and  her  colonies  he  espoused 
warmly  the  cause  of  the  latter,  and  made  good  his 
faith  by  shouldering  his  musket  and  joining  the 
colonial  armies  in  the  field.  He  became  a  large 
landholder  in  New  Hampshire  and  Maine,  and 
was  to  the  end  of  his  days  always  called  Colonel 
Barnard,  a  title  he  gained  in  his  gallant  military 
service.  The  maternal  grandfather  Wilson  was 
also  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  and  made  a  good 
record  in  the  war.  Both  died  in  New  Hamp- 
shire. Thomas  Wilson  Barnard  was  reared  and 
educated  in  the  state  of  New  York,  going  there 
with  his  parents  when  he  was  but  six  years  old, 
imd  after  leaving  school  farmed  in  that  state  until 
1832,  when  he  started  with  a  company  of  emi- 
grants for  Michigan.  They  made  the  trip  with 
ox  teams  by  the  way  of  Detroit  in  true  pioneer 
style,  and  on  arriving  in  this  county  •  Mr.  Barn- 
ard, being  without  means,  found  employment  in 
helping  to  raise  and  build  the  old  Kalamazoo 
Hotel.  Soon  afterward  he  secured  the  farm  now 
owned  by  his  daughter,  Miss  Marian,  and  built 
a  little  log  dwelling  on  it,  then  sent  for  the  rest 


of  the  family,  his  father  having  already  joined 
him  here.  He  went  to  work  vigorously  to  clear 
his  farm  and  make  it  productive,  and  he  lived  on 
it  until  his  death,  in  1876,  constantly  improving 
it  and  increasing  its  value  and  the  volume  of  its 
products.  In  about  1840  Mr.  Barnard  began 
making  lime  on  his  farm  on  the  banks  of  Lime 
Kiln  Lake,  and  which  was  undoubtedly  the  first 
made  in  this  part  of  Michigan.  He  conducted 
it  for  some  years  successfully.  He  was  married 
in  this  county  in  1838  to  Miss  Lazetta  Souther- 
land,  a  native  of  New  York  state.  They  had  a 
family  of  eight  children,  five  sons  and  three 
daughters.  The  sons  all  died  in  infancy,  except 
one,  Charles,  who  grew  to  manhood  but  is  now 
dead,  and  the  daughters  are  all  living.  They 
are:  Mrs.  Jessie  French,  of  Kalamazoo  town- 
ship ;  Mrs.  Harriet  Reed,  of  Portage  township ; 
and  Miss  Marion  Barnard,  who  lives  on  the  home 
farm.  Mr.  Barnard  was  never  an  active  politi- 
cian, although  in  national  affairs  he  gave  his  sup- 
port to  the  Democratic  party,  and  he  never  al- 
lowed the  use  of  his  name  as  a  candidate  for  a 
political  office.  Throughout  his  life  he  was  an 
industrious  and  contented  farmer;  and  by  his 
activity  in  local  improvements  and  his  gen- 
eral 'excellence  as  a  citizen  and  a  man,  en- 
deared himself  to  his  whole  community.  He  was 
highly  respected  in  life,  and  his  death  was  uni- 
versally regretted.  In  addition  to  considerable 
property,  he  left  to  his  children  the  priceless  her- 
itage of  a  good  name  and  an  inspiring  example. 

ALBERT  R.  WHITE. 

This  well  known  farmer  of  Kalamazoo  town- 
ship, this  county,  is  a  native  of  Cayuga  county, 
N.  Y.,  born  on  February  17,  1840.  His  parents. 
James  M.  and  Fannie  M.  (Pickard)  White,  who 
were  born  in  Massachusetts  and  New  York,  re- 
spectfully, became  residents  of  Michigan  in 
1863.  The  father,  who  was  a  lineal  descendant 
of  Peregrine  White,  the  first  child  of  English 
parents  born  in  New  England,  was  born  on  May 
22,  1815,  and  a  year  later  moved  with  his  parents 
to  the  state  of  New  York.  He  was  one  of  twelve 
children,  and  had  three  uncles,  who  each  reared 


38o 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


the  same  number.  He  grew  to  manhood  on  his 
father's  farm  in  Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.,  and  after 
the  death  of  his  father  managed  the  farm  for 
seventeen  years.  On  March  22,  1837,  ne  married 
with  Miss  Fannie  M.  Pickard,  a  daughter  of 
Abram  Pickard,  a  prominent  member  and  dea- 
con of  the  Baptist  church.  In  his  childhood  he 
and  his  mother  were  captured  by  the  Indians  and 
taken  to  their  camp  where  they  were  recognized 
by  Colonel  Brandt,  the  half-breed  chief,  who  res- 
cued them  and  sent  them  to  their  home.  This 
was  during  the  Revolutionary  war.  She  and 
her  husband  became  the  parents  of  six  children. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  White  had  the  following  children : 
George  C,  Albert  R.,  Henry  L.,  Ida,  Effie  and 
Jay  M.  Of  these  the  subject,  Mrs.  Devan  Ar- 
nold and  Jay  M.  are  now  living.  On  arriving  in 
this  state  the  father  bought  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-six acres  of  land,  a  large  part  of  which  he 
cleared  and  transformed  into  a  fine  farm.  Of  this 
tract  he  owned  one  hundred  and  forty-six  acres 
at  the  time  of  his  death.  In  politics  he  was  a 
stanch  Republican  from  the  foundation  of  that 
party,  and  in  fraternal  life  a  Freemason  of  the 
Royal  Arch  degree,  and  an  Odd  Fellow.  He  died 
on  January  9,  1894,  and  his  wife  in  1896.  As  an 
evidence  of  the  antiquity  of  the  family  in  known 
chronology,  it  should  be  stated  that  there  is  in  its 
possession  a  bamboo  cane  mounted  with  an  ivory 
whale's  tooth  inlaid  with  silver,  made  in  the  East 
Indies  by  George  Cadman,  the  father  of  the 
great-great-great-grandmother  of  Albert  White, 
and  bearing  his  name  and  the  date  of  September 
3,  1698,  carved  on  it  by  himself.  Albert  R.  White 
reached  man's  estate  in  his  native  county  and 
was  educated  at  Aurora  Academy  located  there, 
being  graduated  from  that  institution  in  i860. 
When  he  had  been  three  years  out  of  school  he 
came  to  Michigan  with  the  family,  and  since 
then  he  has  farmed  in  this  county  continuously. 
He  is  now  living  on  and  operating  the  old  home 
farm.  In  1870  he  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Lottie  Hindes,  who  was  born  on  Genesee 
Prairie,  this  county,  and  is  the  daughter  of  Neil 
and  Euphemia  E.  (Sargent)  Hindes,  natives  of 
New  Jersey,  the  former  born  on  June  21,  1798, 
and  the  latter  on  December  8,  1806.  Mr.  Hindes's 


father  owned  a  farm  two  miles  from  the  city  of 
Elizabeth,  in  his  native  state,  and  on  this  place 
the  son  lived  until  he  reached  the  age  of  fifteen, 
when  he  went  to  the  city  and  worked  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  at  the  tinner's  trade.  After  his 
marriage  on  February  2,  1824,  he  settled  at 
Tompkinsville,  on  Staten  Island,  where  for  eleven 
years  he  was  successfully  engaged  in  the  hard- 
ware business.  In  1835  he  sold  out  there  and 
came  to  this  county  and  bought  three  hundred 
acres  of  land  on  and  near  Genesee  Prairie.  The 
next  July  he  moved  his  family  to  this  farm, 
which  was  partly  timber  ground,  with  no 
buildings  on  it  but  a  little  log  house  and  almost 
wholly  unimproved  by  cultivation.  He  devoted 
himself  industriously  to  the  development  of  his 
purchase  and  at  his  death,  on  August  22,  1874, 
he  had  made  of  it  a  fine  farm  with  many  valu- 
able buildings  and  other  improvements  on  it. 
Politically  he  was  an  old-time  Whig  and  later  a 
Republican,  but  he  was  never  an  active  partisan. 
He  paid  earnest  attention  to  school  matters,  how- 
ever, as  did  most  of  the  early  settlers  of  the 
state.  For  nearly  forty  years  he  was  a  resident 
of  this  county,  and  at  his  death,  at  the  advanced 
age  of  seventy-six,  there  was  none  who  did  not 
do  him  reverence.  His  wife  died  in  1882.  They 
had  a  family  of  eleven  children,  five  born  011 
Staten  Island  and  six  in  this  county.  Of  the 
eleven,  two  sons  and  two  daughters  are  living. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  White  have  three  children,  their 
daughters  Belle,  wife  of  Clement  Nicholson,  of 
Kalamazoo,  and  Louise  and  Eva.  living  at  home. 
Mr.  White  is  an  active  Republican  in  political 
affairs  and  has  served  as  justice  of  the  peace  and 
highway  commissioner.  He  is  one  of  the  best 
known  and  most  respected  citizens  of  the  county. 

JOHN   C.    BAILEY. 

Born  and  reared  in  Sullivan  county,  N.  H., 
in  the  region  surrounding  Sunapee  lake,  that 
wonderful  body  of  water  which  lies  a  thousand  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea  and  invites  the  atten- 
tion of  the  tourist  by  this  phenomenal  fact  as 
well  as  by  its  picturesque  environment,  John  C 
Bailey,  a  farmer  of  Cornstock  township,  in  this 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


383 


county,  and  later  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo,  had 
the  awakening  imagination  of  his  youth  quick- 
ened by  nature's  beauties  and  wonders,  and  as 
he  became  a  resident  of  this  county  while  much 
of  it  was  yet  in  the  state  of  primeval  wilderness, 
his  more  mature  fancy  had  an  abundance  of  the 
same  enjoyment.  His  life  began  November  2, 1883, 
his  parents  being  Samuel  and  Abigail  (Chase) 
Bailey,  the  former  a  native  of  Massachusetts  and 
the  latter  of  New  Hampshire.  Both  belonged 
to  old  New  England  families  whose  members 
were  prominent  in  the  history  of  that  section 
from  colonial  times,  their  names  adorning  every 
useful  walk  of  life.  The  father  was  a  contractor 
in  the  construction  of  roads  and  other  works  of 
public  utility.  Both  he  and  his  wife  passed  the 
vears  of  their  maturity  in  New  Hampshire,  and 
at  the  end  of  their  lives  were  laid  to  rest  beneath 
the  soil  from  which  they  had  drawn  their  stature 
and  their  strength.  They  had  four  sons  and 
three  daughters,  all  of  whom  are  still  living,  ex- 
cept the  oldest  daughter  and  John,  whose  death, 
after  a  life  of  great  usefulness,  was  universally 
mourned  on  January  16,  1905.  After  receiving 
a  common-school  education,  he  began  his  career 
in  life  as  a  farmer  and  a  contractor  for  threshing 
grain  on  a  large  scale,  following  both  pursuits 
in  his  native  state  until  1866,  when  he  moved 
to  Michigan  and  located  in  Corn-stock,  Kalamazoo 
county.  For  a  year  and  a  half  he  worked  the 
Dr.  Chase  farm,  and  then  bought  the  L.  N.  Gates 
place,  which  he  owned  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  He  lived  on  and  cultivated  this  farm 
until  1896,  and  then  retired  from  active  work 
and  moved  to  Kalamazoo,  which  was  his  last  abid- 
ing place  on  earth.  He  was  married  on  Novem- 
ber 14,  1856,  to  Miss  Eliza  Young,  a  native  of 
New  Hampshire,  the  daughter  of  Esek  and  Har- 
riet (Woodard)  Young,  the  father  born  in  New 
Hampshire  and  the  mother  in  Vermont. 

They  are  now  living  in  Kalamazoo  township, 
this  county,  and  have  reached  the  advanced  age  of 
eighty-six  years.  Through  life  they  have  been 
useful  and  industrious  members  of  society,  and 
wherever  they  have  lived  have  won  the  respect 
and  admiration  of  hosts  of  friends.  Mr.  Bailey 
never  took  an  active  interest  in  political  contests, 


but  was  a  man  of  firm  convictions  and  voted 
according  to  his  faith.  The  glamor  of  public 
office  and  political  notoriety  never  attracted  him, 
but  all  the  elements  of  good  citizenship  had  an 
active  and  productive  life  within  himself  and  his 
commendation  when  he  saw  them  in  others.  When 
in  the  evening  of  his  life,  with  its  mild  and  mellow 
glory  around  him,  he  enjoyed  in  a  marked  degree 
the  esteem  and  confidence  of  his  fellow  men,  and 
might  well  contemplate  with  well  justified  satis- 
faction the  retrospect  of  his  life,  all  of  which  had 
been  devoted  to  useful  pursuits  and  duties  bene- 
ficial to  others.  An  excellent  likeness  of  this 
well  known  pioneer  is  presented  on  the  opposite 
page. 

WILLIAM  R.  B.  WHITE. 

This  well  known  and  respected  farmer  of 
Comstock  township,  this  county,  was  born  and 
reared  far  from  the  scenes  of  his  present  labors  and 
has  seen  service  in  life's  activities  in  a  number  of 
places  and  occupations.  He  came  into  the  world 
at  Newport,  N.  H.,  on  November  11,  1840,  and  is 
the  son  of  Henry  and  Olive  (Stearns)  White,  also 
natives  of  New  Hampshire  and  belonging  to  fam- 
ilies which  trace  their  ancestry  back  in  unbroken 
lines  to  early  colonial  times  in  New  England.  The 
grandfather  White  was  born  in  Massachusetts  and 
lived  in  that  state  a  long  time.  He  was  a  minute 
man  in  the  Revolution  and  among  the  determined 
men  whose  musketry  at  Concord  on  April  19, 
1775,  started  echoes  that  reverberated  around  the 
world.  He  died  in  New  Hampshire,  full  of  years 
and  crowned  with  public  esteem.  His  son  Henry, 
the  father  of  William,  was  a  farmer,  and  he  and 
his  wife  passed  their  lives  in  New  Hampshire  and 
Vermont,  dying  in  the  latter  state  at  good  old 
ages.  Their  only  offspring  was  their  son  William, 
who  was  reared  and  educated  at  Millsfalls,  Vt. 
After  leaving  school  he  went  to  New  York  city 
and  during  the  Civil  war  was  engaged  there  in 
grading  wool.  In  1867  he  moved  to  Johnstown, 
Pa.,  where  he  started  a  woolen  mill,  which  he  op- 
erated thirteen  years.  Then  impelled  by  failing 
health,  he  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  in  1880  and 
purchased  a  farm  in  Comstock  township,  in  which 
he  lived  a  number  of  years.  Tiring  of  active  work 


3»4 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


on  the  farm,  he  moved  to  'Kalamazoo  and  engaged 
in  the  real-estate  business,  and  at  the  same  time 
represented  his  ward  in  the  city  council.  He 
later  returned  to  his  farm  in  Comstock  township 
and  on  this  he  has  since  resided  and  in  its  man- 
agement has  been  busily  occupied.  He  was  mar- 
ried at  Johnstown,  Pa.,  in  1878,  to  Miss  Emma 
Heslop,  a  native  of  that  state.  They  have  one 
child,  their  daughter  Minnie,  now  the  wife  of 
Fred  Daily,  of  Comstock.  In  politics  the  father 
is  a  Democrat,  but  is  not  regularly  bound  by  party 
considerations,  being  independent  in  his  suffrage 
and  general  in  his  devotion  to  the  public  interests 
of  his  community.  In  the  promotion  of  these  he 
has  borne  an  earnest  and  honorable  part,  both 
in  giving  wise  counsel  to  their  advocates  and  fur- 
nishing material  support  to  their  efforts.  He  is 
universally  regarded  as  a  citizen  of  fine  public 
spirit,  with  an  intelligent  progressiveness  which 
is  guided  and  restrained  by  a  judicious  conserva- 
tism, furnishing  at  once  a  stimulus  to  the  laggard 
and  a  check  to  the  visionary.  As  a  farmer  he  has 
a  high  rank,  owning  a  good  farm  and  working  it 
according  to  the  most  approved  methods  and  se- 
curing- from  it  the  largest  returns  in  quantity  and 
quality  of  products. 

WILLIAM  A.  GLEASON. 

All  history,  local  and  general,  resolves  itself 
easily  into  the  biography  of  a  few  stout  and  earn- 
est persons,  especially  the  history  of  the  founding 
and  settlement  of  new  regions  of  a  country,  in 
which  courageous  and  determined  men  and  pa- 
tient and  enduring  women  lay  the  foundations  of 
the  civilization  that  is  to  follow  and  blaze  the  way 
for  its  approach,  and  through  their  days  of  sim- 
plicity in  life  and  iron  seriousness  of  purpose 
leave  lessons  of  lasting  value  to  the  hurried  ages 
that  come  after  them.  Therefore  it  is  that  the 
life-story  of  the  pioneers  of  Kalamazoo  county 
have  an  important  and  perpetual  interest  for  their 
descendants,  and  can  scarcely  be  told  too  often 
or  too  forcibly.  Of  these  pioneers  was  the  late 
William  A.  Gleason,  of  Comstock,  one  of  the  well 
known  farmers  of  that  township  and  one  of  the 
early  workers  for  its  advancement  and  develop- 


ment. He  was  born  in  Lewis  county,  N.  Y.,  on 
January  9,  1819,  and  died  at  Comstock  on  August 
5,  1878,  and  although  but  fifty-nine  years  old  at 
the  time  of  his  departure  from  the  scenes  of 
earthly  activity,  had  crowded  as  much  of  incident 
and  adventure,  of  effort  and  service  to  his  kind, 
into  his  half  century  of  earnest  experience  as 
many  a  man  does  in  his  full  three  score  years  and 
ten.  He  sprang  from  a  race  of  pioneers,  his  par- 
ents, Isaac  and  Mary  (Rice)  Gleason,  being  pio- 
neers in  Lewis  county,  N.  Y.,  as  some  of  their 
ancestors  were  in  the  section  from  which  they 
came,  although  they  were  themselves  born  and 
reared  in  the  state  of  New  York.  The  father  was 
a  farmer  and  took  up  a  tract  of  wild  land  in  Lewis 
county  in  his  young  manhood,  and  by  strenuous 
and  continued  effort  cleared  it  and  made  an  ex- 
cellent farm  of  it.  On  that  farm  the  mother  died 
on  October  11,  1838,  and  not  long  after  her 
demise,  the  father,  with  his  mind  still  attuned  to 
the  untaught  and  rugged  music  of  the  frontier, 
came  to  Michigan,  where  he  died  in  October, 
i860.  They  had  four  sons  and  one  daughter,  all 
now  deceased.  Their  son  William  grew  to  man- 
hood in  his  native  state  and  was  educated  in  the 
district  schools  in  the  vicinity  of  his  home.  He 
followed  farming  and  other  occupations  there 
until  he  emigrated  to  Michigan  and  located  in 
Jackson  county.  Here  he  was  soon  afterward 
prostrated  by  a  serious  illness  which  compelled  his 
return  to  New  York.  After  the  restoration  of 
his  health  he  again  came  to  this  state  and  took  up 
his  residence  in  Kalamazoo  county  in  1849.  The 
next  spring,  in  company  with  Dr.  Sager  and  two 
other  young  men,  he  went  to  California,  traveling 
overland  with  horse  teams  and  reaching  his  desti- 
nation in  July,  1850.  He  followed  mining  two 
years  successfully  at  Placerville,  and  then  re- 
turning to  this  county,  bought  two  hundred  acres 
of  good  land  on  which  his  widow  now  lives.  He 
lived  to  clear  this  tract  and  improve  it  with  good 
buildings  and  other  needed  structures,  bringing  it 
to  a  high  state  of  cultivation  and  making  an  excel- 
lent farm  of  it,  and  then  passed  away,  leaving  his 
work  and  its  results  as  a  lasting  memorial  to  his  in- 
dustry and  skill.  He  was  an  earnest  Democrat  in 
political  faith,  and  also  left  a  memorial  of  his  inter- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


385 


est  in  and  capacity  for  public  usefulness  by  making 
a  first-rate  record  in  a  number  of  local  offices  to 
which  he  was  chosen  by  the  people  of  his  town- 
ship. On  January  9,  1848,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Henrietta  E.  H.  Hodgeman,  a  native  of  England 
who  came  to  this  country  with  her  parents  when 
she  was  but  three  years  old.  They  were  Henry 
and  Elizabeth  (Epsley)  Hodgeman,  and  lived  on 
a  farm  which  they  owned  near  Elyria,  Ohio,  a 
number  of  years,  then  moved  to  Kalamazoo, 
where  they  died  several  years  afterward.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Gleason  had  five  children  and  four  of  them 
are  living :  Alice,  wife  of  E.  T.  Hunt,  a  Comstock 
township  farmer;  Frank  H.,  a  resident  of  the 
village  of  Com'Stock;  Sarah  E.,  wife  of  George 
Allen,  of  Comstock ;  and  William  Gleason,  Jr., 
who  is  living  on  the  old  home  farm.  The  last 
named  was  born  on  that  place  on  April  22,  1861, 
and  has  passed  all  his  life  so  far  on  it.  He  re- 
ceived his  education  in  the  neighboring  common 
schools,  and  beginning  in  his  boyhood  by  active 
industry  in  the  labors  of  the  farm,  has  learned  his 
chosen  occupation  thoroughly  by  personal  atten- 
tion to  all  its  details  in  every  branch.  He  has  de- 
voted his  life  to  the  calling  and  has  made  a  very 
creditable  record  in  it.  On  April  27,  1898,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Sadie  Peer,  a  native  of  Com- 
stock. They  are  the  parents  of  two  children,  their 
sons  Perry  and  Dale. 

HENRY  J.  LUTTENTON. 

A  text  of  heroism,  a  name  and  narrative  of 
courage,  always  kindle  the  imagination  and  in- 
spire the  soul  of  one  who  is  properly  attuned  to 
their  martial  music,  and  such  are  furnished  in 
the  life-story  of  Henry  J.  Luttenton,  an  honored 
pioneer  of  Comtock  township,  Kalamazoo  county, 
and  one  of  the  few  bold  invaders  and  van- 
quishers of  the  wilderness  yet  left  among,  us  to 
tell  over  the  tales  of  the  morning  of  our  history, 
who  is  also  a  veteran  of  the  Civil  war  that  be- 
held and  fought  on  its  fields  of  carnage  where 
American  valor  was  put  to  its  severest  test  and 
most  gloriously  vindicated  its  right  to  all  the 
encomiums  bestowed  upon  it  in  song  and  story. 
Contending  here  in  our  early  days  with  all  the 


hostile  forces  of  nature,  and  then,  when  the 
triumph  was  won,  going  forth  to  battle  for  the 
salvation  of  the  Union  and  again  confronting  a 
foeman  worthy  of  his  steel,  he  bore  himself 
bravely  in  either  contest,  and  now  modestly  wears 
the  laurels  won  in  both.  Mr.  Luttenton  was  born 
in  the  state,  at  Plymouth,  Wayne  county,  on  May 
25,  1 83 1.  When  he  was  five  years  old  his  parents, 
Jared  and  Sarah  (Dunn)  Luttenton,  moved  to 
this  county,  and  here  he  has  ever  since  had  his 
home.  His  father  was  a  farmer  born  in  the 
state  of  New  York,  and  in  his  young  manhood 
moved  to  Ohio,  where  he  became  acquainted  with 
and  married  his  wife,  a  native  of  that  state.  In 
1830  they  journeyed  over  the  intervening  wilds 
to  Michigan  and  located  in  Wayne  county,  six 
years  later  moving  to  Kalamazoo  county  and 
purchasing  a  tract  of  over  two  hundred  acres  of 
wild  land  in  Comstock  township.  On  this  they 
passed  the  remainder  of  their  days,  the  father 
dying  in  1857  and  the  mother  in  1881.  In  the 
twenty-one  years  of  his  life  on  this  farm  the 
father  succeeded  in  clearing  his  land,  providing 
it  with  good  buildings  and  other  improvements, 
and  bringing  it  to  the  high  state  of  cultivation 
suggested  by  its  natural  fertility.  He  also 
bought  an  additional  tract  of  eighty  acres,  which 
he  also  cleared  and  reduced  to  productiveness. 
The  family  comprises  six  sons  and  six  daughters, 
all  of  whom  are  now  dead  but  Henry  and  three 
of  his  sisters,  the  remains  of  all  the  deceased 
being  buried  in  the  family  burial  ground  on  the 
farm.  On  this  farm  Henry  Luttenton  grew  to 
manhood,  his  mind  being  trained  in  the  primitive 
schools  of  the  frontier,  his  muscles  developed  and 
sinews  toughened  by  the  strenuous  labors  of  fell- 
ing trees,  breaking  new  ground  and  tilling  the 
soil,  and  his  spirit  enlarged  and  ennobled  by  the 
voices  of  nature  in  their  untutored  wilderness.  The 
playmates  of  his  childhood  were  Indian  boys  and 
girls,  and  with  the  former  he  had  many  a  boyish 
scrap  which  gave  him  skill  and  courage  in  self- 
defense  ;  and  one  of  the  amusements  of  his  youth 
and  early  manhood  was  tracking  the  wild  beasts 
of  the  forest  to  their  lair,  which  taught  him  self- 
reliance,  the  sleight  of  woodcraft  and  boldness 
in  the  face  of  danger.     In   1864  he  enlisted  in 


386 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


Company  B,  Tenth  Michigan  Cavalry,  and  to  the 
close  of  the  Civil  war  fought  under  General  Sher- 
man in  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  other  Southern 
states,  doing  duty  as  a  scout,  quitting  the  service 
only  after  the  last  Confederate  flag  was  furled  in 
everlasting  defeat.  He  had  a  brother  also  in  the 
Union  service  in  the  Thirteenth  Michigan  In- 
fantry, Home  Guard.  After  the  close  of  the  war 
he  returned  to  the  farm,  and  since  then  he  has 
devoted  himself  to  its  duties.  Mr.  Luttenton  was 
married  in  1856  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Babcock,  who 
was  born  at  Plymouth,  Wayne  county,  Mich., 
and  they  have  had  six  children.  Four  of  these 
are  living:  Alice,  the  wife  of  Charles  Garnet,  of 
Kalamazoo;  George  S.,  who  is  working  the  home 
farm;  Mary  E.,  the  wife  of  Lewis  Blanchard, 
also  of  Kalamazoo;  and  Ida  E.,  the  wife  of  R. 
Rice,  of  Galesburg.  The  father  is  a  Republican 
in  politics,  but  he  has  but  little  to  do  with  bitter 
partisan  contests  and  has  never  sought  or  desired 
public  office  of  any  kind.  Fraternally  he  is  a 
member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  His 
grandfather  was  stolen  in  childhood  by  Indians 
and  held  in  captivity  by  them  a  number  of  years. 
He  was  then  rescued  and  adopted  by  a  French 
Canadian  trader  by  the  name  of  Luttenton,  who 
reared  and  educated  him,  and  whose  name  he 
took,  being  too  young  when  he  was  carried  into 
capacity  to  know  his  own  or  where  the  tragedy 
occurred,  and  never  afterward  finding  any  trace 
of  his  parents  or  former  residence. 

LUCAS  STRATTON. 

The  conquest  of  a  man  over  nature  in  this 
country,  which  is  an  inspiring  theme  for  thought 
and  writing  where  space  and  fitness  allow  its  ex- 
tended narration,  has  been  like  "Freedom's  battle, 
once  begun,  bequeathed  by  (struggling)  sire  to 
son,  though  baffled  often  ever  won."  It  finds  a 
stirring  suggestion  in  the  career  of  the  interesting 
subject  of  this  memoir  who,  although  not  strictly 
a  pioneer  of  Michigan,  was  an  early  settler  in  this 
state  and  helped  to  push  forward  its  progress 
from  an  incomplete  condition  to  a  splendid  devel- 
opment, and  was  besides  a  pioneer  in  Portage 
county,  Ohio,  where  he  settled  with  his  parents  in 


1836,  when  he  was  but  seven  years  old.  He  was 
born  in  Wyoming  county,  N.  Y.,  on  November 
8,  1829,  and  was  a  son  of  Joseph  and  Ruth  (Olin) 
Stratton,  natives  of  Vermont,  where  the  father 
was  born  in  1800  and  the  mother  in  1804.  Early 
in  life  and  in  the  history  of  the  region  they  located 
at  or  near  Perry  in  Wyoming  county,  N.  Y.  They 
were  married  in  1824  and  became  the  parents  of 
eleven  children,  ten  of  whom  are  living.  In  1836 
they  took  another  journey  in  the  wake  of  the  set- 
ting sun,  making  their  home  in  Portage  county, 
Ohio,  where  they  were  on  the  veritable  frontier 
of  that  day,  and  where  they  redeemed  from  the 
wilderness  and  improved  a  good  farm.  The 
mother  died  in  that  county  in  1878,  and  some 
time  afterward  the  father  chose  as  his  second  wife 
-Miss  Martha  A.  Munsel,  whom  he  survived  only  a 
few  months,  dying  at  his  Ohio  home  in  July,  1887. 
His  son  Lucas  grew  to  manhood  amid  the  scenes 
of  toil  and  danger  of  the  Ohio  farm,  in  a  region 
wherein  then  every  force  was  required  to  make  a 
living  for  the  family  and  but  slender  opportuni- 
ties were  afforded  for  intellectual  training,  so  far 
did  physical  necessities  overbear  loftier  aspira- 
tions. Like  other  boys  of  his  day  and  condition, 
he  was  obliged  to  be  content  with  brief  and  irreg- 
ular terms  at  the  country  schools  and  depend  on 
his  native  force  and  the  stern  discipline  of  experi- 
ence for  his  equipment  for  the  battle  of  life.  He 
remained  at  home  some  years  after  attaining  his 
maturity,  and  then  bought  a  farm  for  himself  in 
the  neighborhood.  In  1876  he  came  to  Kalamazoo 
county  and  soon  after  his  arrival  settled  on  a  farm 
on  Gum  Prairie,  Allegan  county,  which  he 
bought.  After  living  there  a  number  of  years  he 
made  a  tour  of  inspection  through  Nebraska  and 
Kansas,  but  not  finding  a  location  that  suited  him 
better,  on  his  return  to  this  state  in  1882  he  bought 
land  in  Comstock  township,  this  county,  on  which 
he  afterward  lived.  This  he  improved  and  re- 
duced to  cultivation  with  gratifying  results,  and 
had  one  of  the  choice  farms  in  the  township.  On 
September  11,  1853,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Clarinda  Frazier,  a  native  of  Portage  county, 
Ohio.  They  have  had  five  children,  and  three  of 
them  are  living,  Ella  L.,  wife  of  Christopher 
West,  of  Galesburg,  William  B.,  at  home,  and 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


387 


Ina  D.,  wife  of  George  E.  Walker.  Mr.  Stratton 
was  prominent  in  all  enterprises  for  the  benefit  of 
his  section  and  zealous  in  every  duty  of  good  citi- 
zenship. His  death  occurred  on  August  16, 
1905.  He  was  a  Mason,  belonging  to  the  blue 
lodge  at  Galesburg. 

WARREN  MEREDITH. 

Warren  Meredith,  who  was  born  in  Genesee 
county,  N.  Y.,  on  September  14,  1840,  and  has 
lived  in  Kalamazoo  county  from  the  time  when 
he  was  but  three  years  old,  enjoys  in  an  unusual 
degree  the  confidence  and  regard  of  his  fellow 
citizens  of  the  county,  and  has  deserved  their  good 
will  by  his  industrious  and  upright  life.  His  par- 
ents were  David  and  Mary  (Hawkins)  Meredith, 
the  father  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and  the 
mother  of  New  York.  A  more  extended  account 
of  their  lives  is  given  in  the  sketch  of  the  late 
Evans  Meredith  on  another  page  of  this  work. 
They  became  residents  of  this  county  in  1843, 
making  the  trip  from  their  New  York  home  with 
teams,  and  locating  on  a  tract  of  uncultivated  and 
unbroken  land  in  Pavilion  township  on  their  ar- 
rival here,  and  living  on  that  farm  until  they  had 
made  extensive  and  valuable  improvements,  then 
moving  to  another  farm  they  bought  in  Portage 
township,  the  one  on  which  Mr.  Meredith  now 
lives.  This  had  at  the  time  when  they  took  pos- 
session of  it  a  small  log  house  and  about  forty 
acres  of  cleared  land.  The  family  lived  in  the 
little  log  house  a  number  of  years,  then  built  the 
comfortable  dwelling  in  which  the  son  at  this 
time  makes  his  home,  and  the  other  buildings  with 
which  the  place  is  improved.  Here  the  mother 
died  in  1861  and  the  father  in  1880.  They  had 
four  sons  and  one  daughter,  all  now  dead  but 
Warren  and  his  twin  brother  Walter,  who  lives  in 
Allegan  county.  The  father  was  a  Republican, 
but  although  earnest  in  the  support  of  his  convic- 
tions, never  sought  or  held  public  office.  Warren 
Meredith  received  his  education  in  the  common 
schools  of  this  county,  and  here  he  has  passed  all 
of  his  life  since  1843.  While  yet  a  mere  boy  he 
assisted  in  clearing  the  farm  and  bringing  it  under 
cultivation,  and  it  has  ever  since  been  his  home. 


Through  the  efforts  of  his  parents  in  their  day, 
and  the  rest  of  the  family,  it  came  into  his  posses- 
sion in  a  state  of  good  development,  but  he  has 
made  it  much  better,  more  productive  and  more 
highly  improved  since  he  has  owned  it,  and  it 
now  is  considered  one  of  the  first-rate  farms  in 
the  township.  He  farms  it  well  and  vigorously 
and  adds  to  its  equipment  as  his  needs  require, 
always  keeping  its  fruitfulness  up  to  a  high  stand- 
ard and  its.  appliances  up-to-date.  In  1872  Mr. 
Meredith  was  married  in  this  county  to  Miss 
Lucy  Rosier,  who  was  born  and  reared  in  the 
county,  her  parents  being  early  settlers  here.  Five 
children  have  been  born  in  the  Meredith  house- 
hold and  all  are  living.  They  are  Grace,  wife  of 
George  B.  Stebbings,  of  Kalamazoo,  Myrtle,  a  res- 
ident of  Ohio,  Margaret,  Eugene  and  Benjamin. 
In  political  affairs  Mr.  Meredith  supports  the 
principles  and  candidates  of  the  Republican  party. 

EDWIN  J.  COOLEY. 

This  well  known  and  esteemed  farmer  of 
Portage  township  was  one  of  the  early  products 
of  cultivated  life  in  that  now  highly  favored  re- 
gion, he  having  been  born  there  on  June  22,  1834, 
not  more  than  two  or  three  years  after  the  first 
habitation  of  the  white  man  was  erected  on  its 
soil.  He  is  the  son  of  Thomas  and  Augusta 
(Stratton)  Cooley,  the  father  a  native  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  the  mother  of  the  state  of  New  York. 
He  was  a  farmer  in  New  York,  and  in  1831  trav- 
eled by  water  to  Detroit  and  from  there  with 
teams  to  this  county.  In  partnership  with  his 
brother  Aaron  he  entered  a  tract  of  three  hundred 
and  twenty  acres  of  government  land  on  Dry 
Prairie.  He  lived  there  until  1836,  then  built  a 
flour  mill  on  Little  Portage  creek  on  the  edge  of 
Kalamazoo  township,  which  was  the  first  of  its 
kind  in  the  county.  There  had  been  a  corn  mill 
there,  built  by  a  Mr.  Barber.  He  operated  this 
mill  until  1850,  when  he  sold  it  to  Messrs.  Stone 
&  Ransom  and  bought  a  farm  in  Portage  town- 
ship on  which  he  lived  until  1869,  then  moved  to 
Porter  township,  Van  Buren  county,  where  he 
lived  ten  years.  At  the  end  of  that  period  he  re- 
turned   to    this    county  and    Portage    township, 


388 


1 

BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


where  he  died  in  1880.  The  mother  died  in  1840, 
and  he  married  Miss  Caroline  Newton  for  his 
second  wife.  She  died  in  1878.  Politically  he  was 
a  Whig  in  early  life  and  later  a  Republican  for  a 
number  of  years,  then  became  a  Democrat,  but  he 
never  consented  to  take  a  political  office.  He  had 
two  sons  and  four  daughters,  all  living  but  two  of 
the  daughters.  The  Cooley  family  is  of  the  old 
Puritan  stock.  The  grandfather,  Reuben  Cooley, 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution,  serving  in  a 
Massachusetts  regiment.  He  was  born  in  1755. 
Edwin  J.  Cooley,  after  reaching  the  age  of  twen- 
ty-five on  his  father's  farm,  began  life  for  himself 
as  a  farmer  and  followed  that  vocation  in  this 
county  until  1859,  when  he  went  to  Pike's  Peak, 
crossing  the  plains  with  ox  teams.  The  party 
numbered  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  when  it 
started  and  but  three  of  this  number  went  through 
to  the  Peak.  Mr.  Cooley  began  mining  on  Clear 
creek,  near  Denver,  and  passed  the  first  winter 
there,  then  in  the  spring  of  i860,  with  a  party  of 
twenty-seven  men  besides  himself,  he  moved  to 
the  headwaters  of  the  Arkansas,  this  being  the 
first  party  that  went  into  that  region.  He  remained 
there  until  1861,  mining  and  carrying  on  a  gro- 
cery trade,  then  returned  to  this  county  and  here 
he  has  since  resided,  purchasing  his  present  farm 
in  1866.  In  that  year  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Alvira  Chubb,  a  daughter  of  Miles  Chubb,  a 
pioneer  of  this  county.  They  had  two  children, 
their  son  Fred  T.  and  another  who  died  some 
years  ago.  Their  mother  died  in  February,  1904. 
Mr.  Cooley  has  been  township  treasurer  three 
terms.  He  is  a  faithful  Democrat  in  political 
affairs,  but  has  never  sought  office.  He  has  lived 
through  very  interesting  periods  in  the  history  of 
the  county,  and  has  done  his  part  to  advance  its 
progress.  He  is  very  entertaining  in  conversa- 
tion with  reminiscences  of  the  past  when  he  is  in 
the  mood  for  talking,  and  enjoys  in  a  high  degree 
the  respect  and  good  will  of  the  people. 

JOHN  A.  MILHAM. 

This  prosperous  and  progressive  farmer,  who 
is  altogether  modern  in  his  farming  operations 
and  applies  to  them  the  results  of  close  study  and 


exhaustive  reading,  has  lived  in  Kalamazoo  town- 
ship since  his  birth,  which  occurred  here  on  bis 
father's  farm  in  1848.  He  is  the  son  of  the  late 
Hon.  John  Milham  (see  sketch  of  R.  E.  Milham  on 
another  page  of  this  volume)  and  was  educated 
in  the  district  schools  of  this  township  and  at 
Kalamazoo  College.  He  remained  on  the  home 
place  until  1884,  and  when  in  that  year  the  place 
was  divided,  he  removed  to  the  farm  on  which  he 
now  lives.  Here  he  raises  berries  and  other 
small  fruits  in  great  abundance  and  variety,  and 
for  his  product  he  finds  a  ready  and  remunerative 
market  in  Kalamazoo  and  elsewhere,  the  quality 
of  his  output  having  a  high  rank  as  it  is  produced 
with  every  attention  to  detail  and  every  effort  to 
secure  the  best  results.  He  is  a  stockholder  in 
the  Bardeen  Paper  Company,  of  Otsego,  and  con- 
nected with  other  industrial  and  commercial  insti- 
tutions. Mr.  Milham  is  the  only  member  of  a 
large  and  prominent  family  who  has  never  mar- 
ried. But  in  other  respects  he  has  held  up  the 
high  standard  of  the  family  and  won  for  himself 
on  his  own  merits  an  honored  name  in  his  com- 
munity, where  he  is  universally  recognized  as  an 
enterprising  and  broad-minded  farmer  and  busi- 
ness man  and  a  worthy  and  useful  citizen.  Giving 
his  attention  especially  early  in  his  experience  to 
fruit  culture  and  making  a  study  of  the  business, 
he  has  wrought  a  good  work  in  this  line  in  this 
section  and  is  one  of  its  most  capable  and  knowing 
representatives.  He  has  mingled  little  in  public 
affairs  except  as  a  promoter  of  the  best  interests 
of  his  community  and  county,  to  which  he  has 
given  active  and  helpful  attention. 

HEBER  C.  REED. 

When  a  man  has  been  connected  in  a  leading 
way  with  many  of  the  productive  enterprises  of  a 
community,  and  has  demonstrated  the  excellence 
and  value  of  his  citizenship  in  a  long  course  oi 
upright  and  serviceable  living,  it  is  not  a  matter  of 
surprise  that  his  death,  when  it  comes,  is  felt  to 
be  a  public  calamity  and  reduces  the  whole  people 
to  grief.  This  was  the  experience  of  the  late 
Heber  C.  Reed,  of  Kalamazoo,  whose  untimely 
death  on  April  17,  1903,  at  the  early  age  of  fifty- 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


389 


one  years,  cast  a  gloom  over  the  city  which  it 
robbed  of  one  of  its  most  representative,  progres- 
sive and  energetic  business  men.  Mr.  Reed  was 
born  on  March  12,  1852,  at  Climax,  this  state, 
whither  his  parents  moved  from  New  York  state. 
The  father,  Dewitt  Clinton  Reed,  was  a  native  of 
Oakfield,  N.  Y.,  and  the  mother  bore  the  maiden 
name  of  Eliza  Mumm.  They  were  reared,  educated 
and  married  in  the  state  of  New  York,  where  they 
were  engaged  in  farming  until  their  removal  to 
Michigan.  On  arriving  in  this  state  they  pur- 
chased a  large  tract  of  farm  land  near  Climax,  and 
on  that  they  lived  until  1863,  when  they  moved 
to  Kalamazoo,  and  here  the  father  lived  until  his 
death,  in  October,  1893.  He  aided  in  founding 
the  D.  C.  &  H.  C.  Reed  Company,  a  manufac- 
turing enterprise  which  built  up  an  extensive 
trade  in  spring-tooth  harrows,  which  it  made  in 
large  quantities  and  of  superior  quality.  The 
elder  Reed  was  also  interested  in  the  First  Na- 
tional bank  and  several  other  leading  'Kalamazoo 
business  enterprises.  He  was  descended  from 
old  English  families  long  resident  in  this  coun- 
try, his  American  progenitors  having  settled  in 
Simsbury,  Conn.,  as  early  as  1635.  His  wife 
died  in  1877.  They  had  two  sons  and  a  daughter, 
all  now  deceased  except  the  daughter  who  lives  in 
Kentucky.  Their  son  Heber  was  reared  in  his 
native  county  and  educated  at  the  public  schools. 
At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  was  made  paying  teller 
of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Kalamazoo,  and  later 
became  cashier  of  that  institution,  a  position 
which  he  has  rilled  acceptably  three  years.  He 
then  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  KaufTer  in 
the  oil  business,  an  undertaking  they  afterward 
sold  to  the  Standard  Oil  Company.  In  1880  he 
became  a  member  of  the  D.  C.  &  H.  C.  Reed 
Company,  manufacturers  of  spring-tooth  nar- 
rows, as  has  been  stated,  and  to  the  interests  of 
that  company  he  gave  the  most  of  his  time  and 
energy  during  the  rest  of  his  life,  aiding  in  build- 
ing" its  trade  up  to  enormous  proportions  and  win- 
ning a  reputation  for  it  and  its  products  second  to 
none  of  the  kind  in  the  country.  But  large  and 
exacting  as  this  business  became,  it  did  not  absorb 
the  whole  force  of  his  active  mind  or  all  the 
tnne    of    his    useful    and    industrious    life.     At 


the  time  of  his  death  he  was  actively  inter- 
ested in  many  other  commercial  and  industrial 
undertakings  in  and  about  the  city,  being  presi- 
dent of  the  Imperial  Coating  Mills  and  of  the 
Kalamazoo  Railroad  Supply  Company,  in  addi- 
tion to  being  president  of  the  Reed  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  and  also  treasurer  of  the  Bryant 
Paper  Company,  and  a  director  of  the  Home 
Savings  Bank  of  the  city  and  of  the  Illinois  En- 
velope Company.  In  addition  he  aided  in  starting 
and  conducting  the  Southside  Improvement  Com- 
pany and  several  other  real-estate  movements 
greatly  to  the  benefit  of  the  city's  growth  and 
development.  In  political  relations  he  was  a  Re- 
publican, but  he  was  never  an  office-seeker  or  an 
active  partisan.  Fraternally  he  belonged  to  the 
order  of  Elks.  From  business  cares  and  worry 
he  found  relief  in  the  love  and  ownership  of  fine 
horses,  of  which  he  had  a  number  in  which  he 
took  a  great  and  just  pride.  On  April  19,  1876, 
he  united  marriage  with  Miss  Emma  Cameron,  a 
daughter  of  Hon.  Alexander  Cameron,  a  native 
of  Oneida  county,  N.  Y.,  born  of  Scotch  parent- 
age. He  came  to  Michigan  in  1834,  and  after  land- 
ing at  Detroit  started  on  foot  and  alone  for  the 
interior  of  the  state,  passing  through  a  veritable 
wilderness  and  arriving  at  'Kalamazoo,  then  a 
frontier  hamlet  known  as  Bronson,  and  for  a  time 
served  as  a  clerk  in  the  land  office.  He  was  mar- 
ried on  March  14,  1838,  to  Miss  Sarah  Paul, 
whom  he  had  known  in  New  York,  and  who  was 
the  first  school  teacher  in  Barry  county,  their 
marriage  being  the  first  one  celebrated  there.  He 
became  one  of  the  principal  business  men  and 
leading  citizens  of  Kalamazoo  county,  serving  as 
school  inspector  and  as  a  member  of  the  legis- 
lature. He  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  influ- 
ential advocates  of  the  advanced  education  of 
women,  and  is  entitled  to  much  credit  for  the  high 
position  taken  by  the  state  on  that  subject.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  lower  house  and  framed  the 
bill  and  after  a  hard  fight  succeeded  in  having  it 
passed.  For  more  than  forty-five  years  he  was 
an  ardent  Odd  Fellow,  filling  each  of  the  offices 
in  his  lodge  and  being  frequently  sent  to  repre- 
sent it  in  the  grand  lodge.  He  was  also  a  charter 
member  of  the  Kalamazoo  County  Pioneer  Soci- 


39o 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


ety  and  served  as  supervisor  of  the  county.  In 
every  position  to  which  he  was  called  he  dis- 
charged his  duties  with  fidelity  and  intelligence, 
winning  the  praise  of  all  classes  of  his  fellow 
citizens,  holding  throughout  his  life  here  an  ex- 
alted position  won  on  his  well  demonstrated 
merits.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Reed  left  at  their  death 
one  child,  their  daughter  Constance,  who  is  now 
the  wife  of  Joseph  E.  Brown,  of  Atlanta,  Ga. 
Mrs.  Reed  died  on  October  7,  1902,  and  Mr. 
Reed  on  April  17,  1903,  death  coming  to  him  at 
an  age  when  his  faculties  seemed  in  full  vigor  and 
promised  him  yet  many  years  oL  usefulness  and 
productice  life  for  the  advantage  of  the  city 
which  was  the  scene  of  his  labors  and  his  enter- 
prise and  whose  people  he  loved  with  a  patriotic 
devotion  which  was  ever  on  the  watch  for  the 
promotion  of  their  best  interests. 

LYMAN  M.  GATES. 

The  death  of  Lyman  M.  Gates,  one  of  the 
county's  most  respected  and  honored  pioneers 
and  one  of  Kalamazoo's  best  citizens,  was  sin- 
cerely mourned  by  a  host  of  loving  friends  and 
admirers  of  this  man's  lofty  character  when  the 
sad  news  was  learned  on  the  15th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1905.  His  death  was  very  sudden  and  oc- 
curred while  he  and  his  wife  were  spending  the 
summer  at  Wequetonsing.  Mr.  Gates  was  an 
exceptionally  public-spirited  man  and  one  who 
never  lost  an  opportunity  of  doing  something  for 
the  advancement  of  the  county  or  city  in  which 
he  lived.  Having  retired  from  active  pursuits, 
he  spent  the  evening  of  his  life  of  toil  and  tri- 
umph in  peace  and  comfort  and  had  in  the  retro- 
spection of  his  career  the  agreeable  reflection  that 
his  time  had  been  well  employed,  and  his  efforts 
for  his  own  advancement  and  for  the  good  of  oth- 
ers had  wrought  out  substantial  results  of  en- 
during value.  He  came  into  this  world  at  Men- 
don,  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  on  January  7,  1833, 
and  was  the  son  of  Reynold  Marvin  and  Clarissa 
(Parnelle)  Gates,  both  born  in  Ontario  county, 
N.  Y.  The  father  was  a  farmer  through  life. 
He  died  in  1891,  having  survived  by  nearly  forty 
years  his  good  wife,  who  passed  away  in  1852. 


He  served  in  various  local  offices  in  his  time,  and 
was  a  man  of  force  and  influence  in  his  com- 
munity.    There  were  three  children  born  in  the 
family,  all  sons,  and  all  living  except  Lyman  M. 
One  is  in  Chicago  and  one  in  this  county.     The 
brother  of  Mr.  Gates  living  in  this  county  was 
a  Union  soldier  in  the  Civil  war,  serving  in  the 
One  Hundred  and  Eighth  New  York  Infantry. 
He  received  an  ugly  wound  at  the  battle  of  An- 
tietam,  that  deluge  of  death  where  "carnage  re- 
plenished  her   garnerhouse   profound."      Lyman 
M.  Gates  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
his  native  county  and  at  Genesee  College  and 
Seminary.     He  left  New  York  in  the  spring  of 
1854  and  moved  to  Lagrange  county,  Ind.,  where 
he  remained  a  year,  then  came  to  Kalamazoo. 
He  purchased  a  piece  of  school  land  not  far  from 
this  city,  and  after  farming  it  four  years  and  a 
half  he  taught  the  Galesburg  school  for  thirteen 
terms.    After  that  he  conducted  a  hardware  store 
at   Galesburg  eight  years,   selling  out   in   1870, 
when  he  was  elected  sheriff  of  the  county.     He 
filled  the  office  continuously  four  years,  and  was 
chosen  to  it  again  after  an  interval  during  which 
he    successfully    ran   the    Kalamazoo    Telegraph, 
which    he   afterward    reorganized    into   the  Kal- 
amazoo   Publishing    Company,    which    he    man- 
aged    a     short     time,     holding     the     office     of 
sheriff    until    1881,    except    during     this    inter- 
val.    In  the  year  last  named  he  was  appointed 
postmaster  of  the  city  and  served  four  years,  and 
was  then  chief  of  police  two  years.     In  1891  he 
organized  the  C.  H.  Dutton  Boiler  Company,  of 
which   he   was   president   and   general   manager 
until  succeeded  by  his  son  in  this  position,  which 
the  son  still  holds.    In  1894  he  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  First  National  Bank,  a  position  which 
he  filled  with  ability  and  general  commendation 
for  a  period  of  nine  years.    He  also,  in  1902,  or- 
ganized the  King  Paper  Company  and  was  its 
president  for  some  time.    In  March,  1854,  he  was 
married,  in  the  state  of  New  York,  to  Miss  Mary 
E.  Williams,  a  native  of  Ohio,  born  at  Newburg, 
which  is  now  a  part  of  Cleveland.     They  had 
one  child,  a  son,  Alber  M.,  a  highly  respected 
citizen  of  Kalamazoo.    Mr.  Gates  was  a  life-long 
Republican  and  a  member  of  the  Congregational 


LYMAN  M.  (iATES. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


393 


church  since  1859.  An  especially  good  portrait 
of  Mr.  Gates,  taken  during  the  later  years  of  his 
life,  is  shown  on  the  page  opposite. 

HENRY  P.  SHUTT. 

This  highly  esteemed  citizen  of  Kalamazoo 
county,  who  for  six  years  rilled  the  office  of 
register  of  deeds  for  the  county,  and  gave  the 
people  excellent  service  in  a  number  of  other 
official  stations,  and  who  is  one  of  the  best  known 
and  most  respected  men  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  state,  has  had  an  active  career  from  his  youth, 
living  in  many  places  and  dealing  with  men  of 
widely  differing  characteristics,  in  variou-s  lines 
of  activity  in  war  and  peace,  and  he  is  now  living 
retired  from  active  pursuits  at  the  village  of 
Alamo  after  many  years  of  interesting  eventful- 
ness.  He  was  born  in  Ashland  county,  Ohio,  on 
July  23,  1844.  His  parents  were  John  and  Eliza- 
beth (Yearick)  Shutt,  and  were  born  in  Center 
county,  Pa.  The  father  was  a  farmer  and  learned 
his  occupation  in  all  its  details  on  the  rich  soil 
of  Ohio,  where  he  was  taken  by  his  parents  in 
1827,  when  he  was  but  five  years  old.  His  father, 
Philip  Shutt,  grandfather  of  Henry  P.  Shutt, 
bought  a  tract  of  unbroken  and  unimproved  land 
in  Ashland  county,  then  a  part  of  Wayne,  and 
this  he  transformed  into  a  good  farm  and  lived 
on  it  until  wTithin  a  few  years  of  his  death.  The 
great-grandfather  of  Mr.  Shutt,  John  P.  Schott, 
as  he  spelled  his  name,  was  a  native  of  Germany 
who  came  to  this  country  prior  to  the  Revolution 
and,  ardently  espousing  the  cause  of  the  colonies, 
became  a  soldier  in  that  long  and  trying  struggle. 
John  Shutt  grew  to  manhood  in  Ohio  and  fol- 
lowed farming  there  until  his  death,  in  1876. 
His  widow  survived  him  fourteen  years,  passing 
away  in  1890.  They  had  three  children  who 
reached  maturity,  their  son  Henry  and  two  of 
his  sisters,  who  now  live  in  Eaton  county,  this 
state.  Henry  remained  at  home  attending  the 
district  schools  and  working  on  the  farm  until 
he  reached  the  age  of  sixteen.  Then  in  May, 
*86i,  he  enlisted  as  a  Union  soldier  in  Company 
G,  Twenty-third  Ohio  Infantry,  and  was '•soon 
afterward    assigned    with    his    regiment   to   the 

22 


Army  of  West  Virginia  and  the  Potomac.  In 
this  great  fighting  organization  he  saw  abundant 
service  of  the  most  dangerous  and  trying  kind, 
participating  in  the  following  battles:  Carnifax 
Ferry,  Cotton  Mountain,  Packs  Ferry,  Giles 
Courthouse  or  Parkersburg,  W.  Va.,  second  Bull 
Run,  Frederick  City,  South  Mountain  and  Antie- 
tam,  Md.,  Cloyd  Mountain,  W.  Va.,  and  a  num- 
ber of  minor  engagements,  including  New  River 
Bridge  in  Virginia  and  the  capture  of  Morgan  in 
Columbiana  county,  Ohio.  At  Cloyd  Mountain 
he  was  taken  prisoner  by  a  Confederate  soldier, 
but  he  a  little  while  afterward  captured  his  cap- 
tor and  brought  him  a  prisoner  into  the  Union 
camp.  He  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  with 
the  rank  of  sergeant  in  August,  1864,  and  re- 
turned to  his  Ohio  home,  where  he  remained 
until  1877.  He  then  came  to  Kalamazoo  county 
and  bought  a  farm  in  Alamo  township  which  has 
since  been  his  home.  During  fourteen  years  of 
his  active  life  he  traveled  in  the  interest  of  the 
Champion  Reaper  and  Mower  Company,  with 
headquarters  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  and  covering  the 
Southern  and  Eastern  states  in  his  work.  After 
that  he  was  a  dealer  in  farming  implements  in 
Kalamazoo  six  years.  In  1896  he  was  elected 
register  of  deeds  for  this  county,  receiving  a 
large  majority  of  the  votes  cast,  and  he  was  twice 
re-elected  to  this  office,  serving  six  years  in  all. 
He  also  served  as  township  clerk,  six  years  on  the 
soldiers'  relief  committee  of  the  county  and 
seventeen  as  a  notary  public.  He  organized  and 
for  three  years  commanded  a  local  military  com- 
pany at  Alamo.  On  November  24,  1863,  he  was 
married  in  Ohio  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Powers,  a  na- 
tive of  that  state,  born  in  Wayne  county.  They 
have  three  children,  their  daughter  Lilly,  wife  of 
R.  Hoskins,  of  the  state  of  Washington,  who 
served  three  years  as  deputy  register  of  deeds 
under  her  father ;  Minnie,  wife  of  W.  N.  Aldrich, 
of  Alamo ;  and  Bertha  E.,  wife  of  W.  H.  Ward, 
also  of  Alamo.  Their  mother  died  in  October, 
1904.  Mr.  Shutt  has  been  a  Republican  from 
the  dawn  of  his  manhood.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  has  filled  all 
the  offices  of  importance  in  his  local  post.  He 
also  belonged  to  the  Union  Veterans'  Union  and 


394 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


was  its  first  corqmander  in  Kalamazoo.  He  is  a 
Knight  of  Pythias,  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a  Free- 
mason of  the  Knight  Templar  degree,  and  is  now 
captain  general  of  the  commandery  at  Kalamazoo, 
which  he  has  also  served  as  treasurer  and  re- 
corder. He  has  long  been  a  member  of  the  Con- 
gregational church,  and  for  thirteen  years  was 
superintendent  of  its  Sunday  school.  Whether 
soldier  or  civilian,  official  or  plain  citizen,  push- 
ing a  business  enterprise  with  all  his  ardor  or 
entertaining  a  social  circle  with  his  genial  humor 
and  fund  of  reminiscences,  Mr.  Shutt  has  always 
been  masterful  and  popular.  He  numbers  his 
friends  by  the  legion  and  can  measure  their  re- 
gard in  the  loftiest  degrees  of  esteem. 

GEORGE  PRINDLE. 

The  late  George  Prindle,  of  Kalamazoo,  was 
for  many  years  one  of  the  city's  leading  and  most 
representative  business  men  and  was  connected 
with  some  of  its  most  important  industries.  He 
gave  the  community  a  high  example  of  exclusive 
devotion  to  his  business  affairs  and  won  the 
esteem  of  all  its  citizens  by  his  strictness  of 
method,  fairness  of  dealing  and  general  upright- 
ness of  life.  He  was  born  at  Byron,  N.  Y.,  in 
November,  1833,  the  son  of  William  Prindle,  a 
native  of  New  York.  The  father  was  for  many 
years  engaged  in  the  livery  business  at  Marshall, 
this  state,  where  he  settled  in  1836' or  1837,  and 
there  both  he  and  his  wife  died  well  advanced  in 
life.  Their  son  George  reached  man's  estate  at 
Marshall  and  received  his  education  in  the  public 
schools  there  and  at  Albion  College.  He  came  to 
Kalamazoo  a  young  man  and  entered  the  employ 
of  Parsons,  Wood  &  Co.,  in  whose  establishment 
he  learned  the  tinner's  trade.  This  he  followed  in 
the  city  some  years,  working  as  a  journeyman, 
then  opened  a  business  in  that  line  for  himself 
which  he  disposed  of  soon  afterward,  removing 
to  Wellington,  111.,  where  he  was  in  business  four- 
teen years.  At  the  end  of  that  period  he  returned 
to  'Kalamazoo,  and,  in  partnership  with  G.  F. 
Lanard,  purchased  the  hardware  establishment  of 
Mr.  Dudley.  The  firm  name  was  Prindle  &  Lan- 
ard, and  the  partnership  continued  to  the  death  of 


Mr.  Prindle  on  February  15,  1901.  The  firm  flour- 
ished and  the  business  grew  to  large  proportions 
under  the  vigorous  management  of  Mr.  Prindle, 
who  gave  it  his  whole  and  undivided  attention, and 
became  one  of  the  leading  mercantile  institutions 
of  the  city.  Mr.  Prindle  was  married  at  Kalamazoo 
in  January,  1855,  to  Miss  Christine  Turner,  a 
daughter  of  Martin  and  Clarissa  (Whitcomb) 
Turner,  who  were  born  in  Massachusetts.  The 
father  came  to  Kalamazoo  in  1839  after  having 
lived  a  number  of  years  on  a  farm  near  Galesburg. 
In  Kalamazoo  he  conducted  the  old  foundry  on 
the  river  and  also  engaged  in  building  to  some 
extent.  Later  he  operated  a  machine  shop  on 
Water  street  which  was  destroyed  by  fire  while 
he  was  in  charge  of  it,  entailing  on  him  a  consid- 
erable loss.  Still  he  continued  in  business  many 
'years  and  then  retired  with  a  competence.  He 
and  his  wife  died  in  Kalamazoo.  All  of  the  fam- 
ily are  now  deceased  but  Mrs.  Prindle  and  one 
of  her  brothers,  Frank  Turner,  of  Battle  Creek. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Prindle  had  two  children,  their  sons 
William  M.,  of  Duluth,  and  Edward  M.,  of  Bos- 
ton. Although  not  an  active  partisan  and  not 
desirous  of  official  station  of  any  kind,  Mr.  Prin- 
dle served  two  terms  as  city  treasurer  of  Kala- 
mazoo and  gave  the  people  good  service.  He  was 
held  in  the  highest  respect  by  all  classes  of  the 
people  and  his  death  was  widely  mourned.  To 
his  family  he  left  the  priceless  legacy  of  a  good 
name  and  a  high  reputation  for  integrity  and 
fidelity  to  duty,  and  to  his  city  the  glowing  exam- 
ple of  excellent  citizenship  in  every  sense  of  the 
term.  Throughout  their  married  life  Mrs.  Prin- 
dle was  an  inspiration  and  a  help  to  him,  entering 
with  interest  into  all  his  aspirations  and  giving 
him  the  aid  of  her  encouragement  and  her  wise 
counsel.  She  stands  high  in  the  community  as  a 
lady  of  cultivation,  sincerity  and  great  benevo- 
lence. 

JESSE  M.  VAN  DUZER. 

This  enterprising,  progressive  and  successful 
farmer  of  Prairie  Ronde  township,  this  county, 
represents  the  second  generation  of  his  family 
native  to  the  soil  and  born  in  that  township.  His 
life  began  there  on  January  1,  1867,  and  his  par- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


395 


ents,  Martin  and  Harriet  A.  (Harrison)  Van 
Duzer,  also  were  born  there,  the  father  in  1838 
and  the  mother  in  1839.  The  grandfather,  Alonzo 
Van  Duzer,  was  a  native  of  New  York  state,  a 
cooper  and  farmer,  and  came  to  this  county  in 
about  1835  and  located  on  government  land  on  the 
northwest  corner  of  Prairie  Ronde  township, 
where  he  operated  as  a  cooper,  supplying  the  early 
inhabitants  with  barrels  and  kindred  commodi- 
ties. He  also  cleared  and  farmed  some  of  his  land, 
dying  on  his  farm  in  1846,  of  the  measles.  His 
wife  lived  many  years  after  his  death  and  was 
afterward  twice  married.  He  left  one  son  and 
three  daughters.  The  daughters  are  still  living, 
two  of  them  in  Kalamazoo  county.  The  father 
was  reared  and  educated  in  this  county  and  fol- 
lowed farming  and  threshing,  owning  and  operat- 
ing one  of  the  first  steam  threshers  in  the  county. 
He  was  engaged  in  threshing  on  a  large  scale  for 
a  period  of  eighteen  years.  He  was  also  exten- 
sively engaged  in  raising  Jersey  cattle,  Poland- 
China  hogs  and  Oxford-down  sheep.  He  was 
married  about  1862  to  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Bazel 
Harrison,  who  is  more  extensively  mentioned  in 
the  sketch  of  George  F.  Harrison  on  another  page. 
They  had  three  children,  Alonzo,  now  residing  in 
Schoolcraft,  Jesse  M.  and  Harriet  A.,  now  Mrs. 
Alvin  Rosen,  of  Battle  Creek.  The  father  was  a 
Republican,  but  not  an  active  partisan,  and  never 
sought  office.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  Freemason 
and  considered  the  best  posted  and  brightest  mem- 
ber of  the  craft  in  this  section.  The  mother  died 
in  1892  and  he  in  December,  1902.  Their  son 
Jesse  was  born  on  the  home  farm  and  reared  in 
this  county,  obtaining  his  scholastic  training  in  the 
district  schools  and  his  business  education  at  Par- 
sou's  Business  College  in  Kalamazoo.  He  clerked 
one  year  at  Schoolcraft  and  since  then  has  fol- 
lowed farming,  being  interested  also  in  the  cream- 
ery company,  of  which  he  is  a  director.  He  has 
recently  disposed  of  the  farm  and  is  at  present 
looking  for  a  location  in  the  west.  In  1893  he 
married  Miss  Nellie  E.  Wagar,  a  daughter  of 
Albert  Wagar,  of  Prairie  Ronde  township.  They 
have  two  children,  Norma  A.  and  Freda  M.  Mr. 
Van  Duzer  has  never  sought  office  or  taken  an 
active  part  in  political  contests,  but  he  has  served 


as  school  inspector  and  on  the  board  of  review. 
In  fraternal  relations  he  is  a  Freemason,  a  Knight 
of  the  Maccabees  and  a  member  of  the  National 
Protective  Legion.  His  township  has  no  better 
citizen  and  none  who  is  more  generally  respected. 

JAMES  SHIELDS. 

Although  born  and  raised  to  the  age  of  twelve 
years  in  a  county  renowned  throughout  the  world 
for  its  prolific  growth  of  vegetation  and  its  great 
fertility,  the  subject  of  this  memoir  found  in  this 
county  a  region  almost  as  prolific,  as  impressive 
in  verdure  and  as  full  of  natural  beauty,  and  far 
more  abundant  in  opportunity  for  a  man  of  thrift 
and  industry  as  he  was.  He  was  born  in  county 
Antrim,  Ireland,  on  August  26,  1841,  and  was  the 
son  of  Arthur  and  Roseanna  (Hughes)  Shields, 
who  were  also  natives  of  that  county  and  de- 
scended from  families  long  resident  there.  The 
father  was  a  stone  mason  and  also  a  butcher  in 
his  native  land  and  during  the  earlier  years  of  his 
residence  in  this  country.  After  coming  to  Mich- 
igan he  became  a  farmer.  In  1853  the  family 
emigrated  to  the  United  States  and  located  in 
Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  where  the  father  devoted 
his  attention  to  building  stone  fences,  mills,  etc. 
In  1863  they  all  came  to  Kalamazoo  county,  and 
after  a  residence  of  a  few  months  on  Gull  Prairie, 
purchased  the  land  on  which  Mr.  Shields  of  this 
sketch  died.  It  was  partially  improved  and  they 
found  plenty  of  hard  work  in  its  further  devel- 
opment and  cultivation.  The  father  remained  on 
this  farm  a  number  of  years,  then  moved  to  Kala- 
mazoo, where  he  died,  the  mother  also  passing 
awray  in  this  county.  They  were  devout  members 
of  the  Catholic  church  and  reared  a  family  of  ten 
children,  six  sons  and  four  daughters.  Three  of 
the  sons  are  now  dead.  James  reached  manhood 
in  the  state  of  New  York.  He  accompanied  his 
parents  to  Michigan  and  became  a  fanner  here, 
following  this  occupation  all  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  He  became  the  owner  of  the  homestead  in 
time,  and  on  it  he  died  on  August  28,  1901.  He 
united  in  marriage  in  1868  with  Miss  Anne  Mc- 
Hugh,  a  native  of  Ireland  who  came  to  this 
country  when  she  was  nineteen  years  old.    Theirs 


396 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


was  the  last  marriage  celebrated  in  the  old  Catho- 
lic church  by  Father  LaBelle.  Eight  of  their 
twelve  children  grew  to  maturity,  Rose  A.,  Ed  A., 
John  P.,  Mary  E.,  Martena  J.,  Arthur  P.,  James 
C.  and  Anna  A.  Edward  A.  enlisted  for  the 
Spanish-American  war  when  nearing  manhood 
and  died  at  Tampa,  Fla.  All  the  family  belong  to 
the  Catholic  church.  Mr.  Shields  was  a  well- 
known  and  widely  respected  man,  and  was  well 
worthy  of  the  public  esteem  which  he  enjoyed. 

GEORGE  GILCHRIST. 

This  widely  known  and  highly  esteemed 
farmer  of  Prairie  Ronde  township,  who  is  pass- 
ing the  later  years  of  his  useful  life  retired  from 
active  pursuits  at  Schoolcraft,  is  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont, born  near  Mclndoe  Falls  in  July,  1839. 
His  parents,  John  and  Jane  (Durkin)  Gilchrist, 
were  born  and  reared  in  Scotland.  The  son 
passed  the  first  twelve  years  of  his  life  in  his  na- 
tive state,  and  in  1851  came  to  Kalamazoo  county 
with  his  uncle  and  aunt  Fisher,  who  took  up  their 
residence  in  Prairie  Ronde  township,  where  the 
aunt  died  the  next  year.  The  nephew  then  began 
to  earn  his  own  living,  remaining  in  the  township 
until  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty,  when  he  went 
to  Missouri,  remaining  one  year.  In  1861  he  re- 
turned to  this  county  and  bought  land  in  Prairie 
Ronde  township.  The  land  was  partially  improved 
and  he  devoted  his  energies  to  its  further  im- 
provement and  development,  making  an  excellent 
farm  of  it  and  living  on  it  until  1896,  when  he 
retired  and  took  up  his  residence  at  Schoolcraft. 
He  owned  and  worked  over  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land.  In  April,  1866,  he  was  mar- 
ried in  this  county  to  Miss  Frances  J.  Clark,  a 
daughter  of  Philo  and  Sarah  (Henshaw)  Clark, 
whose  father  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  in  1830 
and  settled  in  Prairie  Ronde  township  on  the 
shore  of  Harrison  lake.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gilchrist 
had  four  children,  one  of  whom  is  living,  their 
son  John  L.,  who  lives  at  Schoolcraft.  The 
father  has  been  a  leading  Republican  in  his  town- 
ship and  has  served  as  treasurer  two  years  and 
supervisor  eight  years.  In  1880  he  was  elected 
county  treasurer,  holding  the  office   four  years. 


He  has  also  served  as  trustee  of  Schoolcraft  and 
has  represented  his  district  in  many  conventions 
of  his  party.  He  is  a  Freemason  of  the  Royal 
Arch  degree. 

Clark  D.  Gilchrist,  son  of  George  and 
Frances  J.  (Clark)  Gilchrist,  and  who  died  on 
the  25th  of  February,  1905,  was  born  in  Prairie 
Ronde  township,  this  county,  on  February  14, 
1867.  He  was  reared  in  his  native  township  and 
attended  the  district  schools  there  and  School- 
craft high  school.  After  leaving  school  he  was 
continuously  engaged  in  farming.  In  1891,  in 
the  month  of  December,  he  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Alice  L.  Davis,  a  daughter  of 
W.  L.  Davis  (see  sketch  of  him  on  another 
page).  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gilchrist  was  born  one 
child,  their  son  George,  now  twelve  years  old.  In 
politics  Mr.  Gilchrist  was  a  Republican,  and 
served  his  township  as  treasurer  in  1902  and  1903, 
and  then  filled  the  unexpired  term  of  Wallace 
Kinney  as  supervisor,  being  elected  to  the  office 
for  a  full  term  in  1904.  He  also  served  as  chair- 
man of  the  township  committee  of  his  party.  Fra- 
ternally he  was  an  active  Freemason,  with  mem- 
bership in  the  lodge  of  the  order  at  Schoolcraft, 
and  a  Knight  of  the  Maccabees.  He  was  the 
youngest  member  of  the  county  board  of  super- 
visors, but  demonstrated  his  capacity  and  fitness 
for  the  office  by  faithful  and  valued  service  in 
several  other  important  positions.  Throughout 
the  county  he  was  well  and  favorably  known  as  a 
good  citizen,  an  excellent  official  and  a  progressive 
and  upright  man.  His  widow  is  now  engaged  at 
teaching  school  in  Prairie  Ronde  township. 

WILLIAM  L.  DAVIS. 

William  L.  Davis,  a  brother-in-law  of  Jon- 
athan C.  Hoyt,  one  of  the  leading  farmers  of 
Prairie  Ronde  township,  a  sketch  of  whom  ap- 
pears on  another  page  of  this  work,  and  himself 
one  of  the  progressive  and  successful  farmers  of 
the  township,  owning  and  managing  a  farm  of 
one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  acres  of  first-rate 
land  located  on  section  23,  was  born  in  Center 
county,  Pa.,  on  December  20,  1842.  His  parents, 
also  natives  of  Pennsylvania,  were  Alexander  V  • 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


397 


and  Elizabeth  B.  (Livingston)  Davis,  and  after 
the  death  of  the  mother,  which  occurred  in  her 
native  state,  the  father  came  west  to  Illinois, 
and  for  eight  years  made  his  home  in  Will 
county,  moving  from  there  to  this  county  in  1862, 
and  died  here  in  1882  mourned  by  a  large  circle 
of  acquaintances.  William  L.  passed  his  child- 
hood in  the  Keystone  state  and  came  with  his 
father  to  Will  county,  111.,  when  he  was  about 
eleven  years  old.  In  February,  1862,  he  came 
to  Prairie  Ronde  township,  this  county,  and  here 
he  has  ever  since  lived.  On  January  1,  1867,  he 
was  married  at  Lawton,  Mich.,  to  Miss  Mary  C. 
Hovt,  a  daughter  of  the  late  Ransford  C.  and 
Harriet  (Bair)  Hoyt,  an  account  of  whose  lives 
will  be  found  on  another  page.  She  was  born  on 
September  2,  1850,  in  the  township  which  is  now 
her  home,  and  is  highly  esteemed  by  the  people 
among  whom  the  whole  of  her  life  so  far  has 
been  passed.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davis  have  two  chil- 
dren, their  daughter  Alice  L.,  who  is  the  wife  of 
Clark  D.  Gilchrist,  and  their  son  Willard  H. 
Mr.  Davis  has  been  too  closely  occupied  with  his 
farming  interests  to  devote  any  considerable  at- 
tention to  political  matters,  and  is  neither  an 
active  partisan  nor  an  office  seeker,  but  he  sup- 
ports the  Democratic  party  in  national  issues.  He 
quietly  pursues  the  even  tenor  of  a  useful  daily 
life,  and  enjoys  the  respect  of  the  people  who 
know  him. 

ISAAC  G.  MUNGER. 

Isaac  G.  Munger,  one  of  the  best  known 
pioneers  of  Prairie  Ronde  township,  was  born  at 
Ithaca,  Tompkins  county,  N.  Y.,  on  April  19, 
1833,  and  has  lived  in  this  county  since  1854.  He 
is  the  son  of  Christian  and  Mary  (Coddington) 
Munger,  who  also  were  natives  of  New  York, 
the  father  born  in  Dutchess  county  on  March  3, 
1 80 1,  and  the  mother  in  Tompkins  county  in  1800. 
They  were  reared  in  the  state  of  New  York  and 
married  there.  The  father  was  a  carpenter  and 
wrought  at  his  trade  in  his  native  state  until  he 
moved  to  Millersburg,  Holmes  county,  Ohio,  and 
from  there  not  long  afterward  to  Lima,  Ohio.  In 
J%$4  the  family  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  and 
located    in    Prairie    Ronde    township,    where   his 


three  sons  bought  the  farm  on  which  his  son 
Isaac  now  lives.  On  this  farm  the  mother  died 
in  November,  1869,  and  the  father  on  June  30, 
1870.  They  were  the  parents  of  six  sons  and 
four  daughters,  of  whom  the  following  are  liv- 
ing :  David  and  Isaac,  of  this  county ;  George, 
who  was  a  Union  soldier  in  the  Civil  war,  serv- 
ing in  the  Fourth  Michigan  Cavalry;  Jane,  now 
Mrs.  Niles  Kinney,  of  Benton,  Iowa ;  Ann,  now 
Mrs.  Albert  Wagar,  of  this  county;  and  Ange- 
line,  now  Mrs.  Delidle,  of  Schoolcraft.  Three 
others  of  the  sons,  who  are  now  deceased,  were 
Union  soldiers  in  the  Civil  war,  David,  who 
served  in  the  Ninth  Michigan  Cavalry,  Smith, 
who  served  in  the  First,  and  Henry,  also  in  the 
First.  The  father,  always  a  pronounced  aboli- 
tionist, was  first  a  Whig  and  afterward  a  Re- 
publican, and  filled  a  number  of  local  offices. 
Both  parents  belonged  to  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal church.  Isaac  G.  grew  to  manhood  in  Ohio, 
where  he  attended  the  common  schools  and 
learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter,  which  he  fol- 
lowed until  coming  to  Michigan  in  1854,  and 
since  then  he  has  been  continuously  engaged  in 
farming.  On  December  30,  1869,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Phidelia  Clark,  a  daughter  of  Justin 
Clark.  Justin  Clark  was  a  native  of  Vermont 
and  moved  from  there  to  Huron  county,  Ohio, 
and  in  1829  came  to  this  county  in  company 
with  Delamore  Duncan,  Sr.,  and  settled  on  the 
west  side  of  Prairie  Ronde  township.  There  he 
entered  a  tract  of  government  land  and  passed  his 
life  there,  dying  on  January  27,  1854.  Mr.  Mun- 
ger has  been  a  life-long  Republican,  that  is,  since 
the  organization  of  the  party,  but  has  never 
sought  office.  He  has  also  been  an  Odd  Fellow 
and  a  Granger.  He  and  his  wife  are  now  among 
the  few  old  settlers  left  in  the  county,  and  they 
are  held  in  respect  commensurate  with  the  extent 
and  importance  of  their  labors  in  helping  to  build 
up  and  develop  this  portion  of  the  state. 

HENRY  YETTER. 

It  is  fifty-five  years  since  this  revered  pioneer 
and  esteemed  citizen  of  Prairie  Ronde  township 
took  up  his  residence  in  this  county,  at  a  time 


398 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


when  the  country  all  around  him  was  yet  wild 
and  numerously  populated  with  the  savage  deni- 
zens of  the  forest,  man  and  beast,  and  began  his 
long  and  useful  work  in  promoting  the  develop- 
ment and  improvement  of  the  section.  He  was 
born  on  November  6,  1829,  in  Tompkins  county, 
N.  Y.,  whither  his  parents,  Daniel  and  Katherine 
(Johnson)  Yetter,  moved  from  their  native 
county  of  Northumberland,  Pa.  The  father  was 
a  blacksmith  and  wrought  at  his  trade  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  New  York  until  1849,  when  he 
moved  to  this  county  and  located  temporarily  at 
the  village  of  Schoolcraft,  soon  afterward  rent- 
ing a  farm  southeast  of  the  village.  In  1855  he 
bought  a  farm  of  eighty  acres  in  the  northwest- 
ern corner  of  the  township,  on  which  he  lived  a 
number  of  years,  then  moved  to  South  Haven 
township  in  Van  Buren  county,  where  he  and  his 
wife  died  some  years  later.  They  were  the  par- 
ents of  four  daughters  and  three  sons  who  grew 
to  maturity.  Of  these  two  of  the  sons  and  one 
of  the  daughters  are  living,  Henry  being  the  only 
one  resident  in  this  county.  The  father  was  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  1812.  The  grandparents 
on  both  sides  of  the  house  were  natives  of  Ger- 
many and  died  in  Pennsylvania.  The  paternal 
grandfather  rendered  gallant  service  to  the 
American  cause  in  the  Revolution.  Henry  Yetter 
grew  to  manhood  and  was  educated  in  his  native 
state,  coming  to  Michigan  in  1850,  and  locating 
in  Prairie  Ronde  township,  this  county.  He 
worked  the  first  summer  on  a  farm,  then  went 
to  work  at  his  trade  as  a  carpenter,  which  he 
followed  for  a  number  of  years.  In  1872  he 
bought  the  farm  on  which  he  now  lives,  and 
which  he  cleared  and  improved,  putting  up  all 
the  buildings  on  it  and  making  all  the  other  im- 
provements. In  1854  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Uretta  M.  Shaver,  a  daughter  of  Abram  I.  and 
Sarah  (Bishop)  Shaver,  early  settlers  and  widely 
known  residents  of  this  county.  Of  the  father 
the  chronicles  of  this  section  record  that  he  was 
the  father  of  the  first  white  child  born  in  the 
county,  now  Mrs.  Calista  Hicks,  of  Prairie 
Ronde,  that  he  plowed  the  first  furrow  turned  in 
the  county,  in  April,  1829,  with  a  plow  that  had 
a  wooden  mold-board,   and  with  which   during 


that  season  he  plowed  for  himself  and  others 
eighty-two  acres,  that  the  first  township  meeting 
was  held  at  his  house,  and  that  in  1830  he  was 
elected  one  of  the  first  school  commissioners  in 
the  county.  He  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  the 
county,  and  was  prominently  associated  with 
many  of  the  initial  events  in  its  history.  The 
place  of  his  nativity  was  the  state  of  New  Jersey, 
and  there  he  was  born  on  March  2,  1796.  He 
was  married  in  Crawford  county,  Ohio,  in  1823, 
and  settled  on  Prairie  Ronde,  this  county,  on 
Christmas  day,  1828.  His  first  work  was  to  build 
a  log  cabin  fourteen  by  twenty-eight  feet,  a  fire 
place  in  each  end,  as  he  said,  "to  hit  the  wind 
Dy  a  change  from  one  to  the  other."  In  all  the 
early  trials  incident  to  the  settlement  of  a  new 
country,  none  took  a  more  active  part  than  he; 
and  no  name  stands  out  more  conspicuously  in 
the  early  history  of  Prairie  Ronde  township  than 
his.  Of  his  wife  one  who  knew  her  well  spoke 
of  her  "as  the  best  pattern  of  a  pioneer  woman 
he  ever  became  acquainted  with.  She  spun,  wove 
and  made  the  clothing  for  both  the  male  and 
female  portions  of  the  family — was  always  at 
home  and  always  at  work,  and  ever  ready  to 
share  what  she  had  with  her  more  needy  neigh- 
bors." They  reared  a  family  of  eight  children. 
Mr.  Shaver  died  on  September  10,  1872,  and  his 
wife  on  January  23,  1877.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Yetter 
have  three  children,  Abram  H.,  now  a  resident  of 
Flowerfield,  St.  Joseph  county,  Mich.,  who  is 
married  and  has  two  daughters ;  Claude  B.,  of 
Minneapolis,  Minn.,  who  is  married  and 
has  a  son  and  a  daughter;  and  Lee  L., 
who  lives  on  the  old  farm.  In  political  action 
Mr.  Yetter  is  independent,  but  so  highly  is  he 
esteemed  that  he  has  been  chosen  to  several 
local  offices,  among  them  that  of  highway  com- 
missioner, a  position  in  which  he  served  three 
years.  In  1901  he  began  growing  grapes,  and 
he  now  has  a  vineyard  of  ten  acres  which  annu- 
ally yields  large  returns  for  his  labor  expended  011 
the  enterprise.  Now  among:  the  few  old  settlers 
left  in  the  county  who  saw  the  beginnings  of 
civilization  in  this  region  and  have  witnessed  the 
steady  progress  and  improvement  here,  which 
they  have  been  of  material  assistance  in  helping 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


399 


along,  he  is  approaching  the  sunset  of  life  serene 
in  the  consciousness  of  having  well  performed  the 
ditties  allotted  him,  and  lived  to  witness  the  fruits 
0f  his  fidelity  and  enjoy  in  peace  and  comfort 
the  results  of  his  industry  and  frugality,  at  the 
same  time  holding  without  question  his  high  place 
in  the  regard  and  good  will  of  his  fellow  citi- 
zens. 

EBENEZER  W.  MONROE. 

During  nearly  all  of  the  sixty-five  years  he 
has  lived,  this  well  known,  widely  esteemed  and 
useful  farmer  and  progressive  citizen  of  Prairie 
Ronde  township  has  been  a  resident  of  this  state. 
He  was  born  in  Van  Buren  county  on  March  9, 
1840,  and  is  the  son  of  Moses  and  Harriet 
(Wade)  Monroe,  the  former  born  in  New  Hamp- 
shire and  the  latter  in  New  York.  The  father 
was  a  carpenter  and  farmer.  He  lived  in  New 
York  and  Ohio  until  1836,  then  came  to  Michigan 
and  bought  a  tract  of  land  in  Porter  township, 
Van  Ruren  county,  one  mile  from  the  county 
line.  The  land  was  unbroken  and  heavily  tim- 
bered, and  the  Indians  were  numerous  in  the 
neighborhood.  He  cleared  his  farm  and  worked 
at  his  trade,  building  many  of  the  early  barns 
and  dwellings  in  the  neighborhood,  some  of 
which  are  still  standing.  He  passed  the  remain- 
der of  his  days  in  Van  Buren  county,  dying  there 
in  1872  and  his  wife  in  1881.  They  had  two  sons 
and  seven  daughters,  all  now  deceased  but 
Kbenezer  and  two  of  his  sisters.  While  living  in 
New  York  and  Ohio  the  father  was  a  captain  in 
the  militia,  and  was  a  well-drilled  soldier.  The 
mother  was  a  devout  member  of  the  Methodist 
church,  and  both  were  highly  respected.  Their 
son  Ebenezer  was  reared  in  Van  Buren  county 
and  obtained  his  education  in  the  district  schools. 
At  an  early  age  he  went  to  work  clearing  land, 
that  of  his  father  and  other  persons  in  the 
vicinity,  remaining  at  home  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  nineteen.  He  bought  his  own  first  land 
at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  after  making  some  im- 
provements sold  it.  In  September,  1861,  he  en- 
listed in  Company  C,  Third  Michigan  Cavalry, 
under  Captain  Hudson,  of  Paw  Paw.  His  com- 
mand was  assigned  to  the  Army  of  the  Cumber- 


land and  took  part  in  the  siege  of  New  Madrid, 
Island  No.  10,  and  Corinth,  Miss.,  being  one 
of  the  first  regiments  inside  the  works  of  de- 
fense. It  then  saw  service  in  various  parts  of 
that  section  until  the  winter  of  1863,  when  it  was 
transferred  to  Arkansas,  and  in  the  fall  of  1864 
was  discharged,  Mr.  Monroe  coming  out  as  a  cor- 
poral and  acting  sergeant.  He  came  home  and 
at  once  went  to  work  clearing  his  land.  After- 
ward he  moved  to  Washtenaw  county,  where  he 
lived  ten  years,  at  the  end  of  that  period  return- 
ing to  this  county  and  buying  his  present  farm 
on  sections  7  and  18,  of  Prairie  Ronde  township. 
In  1868  he  was  married  to  Miss  Escalala  Shaffer, 
a  daughter  of  Jesse  Shaffer,  of  Washtenaw 
county.  They  have  three  children,  Eliza,' Minnie 
E.,  now  the  wife  of  A.  Bates,  and  Bertha.  Their 
mother  died  in  1895.  Mr.  Monroe  has  served  as 
highway  commissioner,  and  in  politics  is  a  lead- 
ing and  active  Republican.  Fraternally  he  is 
affiliated  with  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 

JOHN  O.  LEE. 

There  are  names  which  run  through  the  warp 
and  woof  of  American  history  from  the  earliest 
colonial  times  to  the  present  commercial  age  like 
veritable  threads  of  gold,  belonging  to  lordly  men 
and  lofty  ladies  who  have  dignified  and  adorned 
every  walk  of  life,  and  have  bravely  borne  their 
part  in  all  elements  of  our  conglomerate  and  mul- 
tiform existence  in  peace  and  war,  and  of  these 
the  name  of  Lee  is  one  of  the  most  conspicuous. 
The  early  seat  of  the  family  was  in  Virginia,  and 
the  annals  of  the  Old  Dominion  are  replete  with 
accounts  of  the  manly  achievements  of  its  mem- 
bers. From  there  branches  of  the  family  were 
established  in  other  states,  one  of  them  in  Penn- 
sylvania, and  from  this  branch  sprang  John  O. 
Lee,  of  Prairie  Ronde  township,  this  county.  He 
was  *born  in  McKean  county,  Pa.,  on  May  21, 
1832,  and  is  the  son  of  John  and  Maria  (Smith) 
Lee,  the  former  a  native  of  Wyoming  county,  Pa., 
and  the  latter  of  Rhode  Island.  After  their  mar- 
riage they  migrated  to  this  county  in  1844,  and 
located  on  Gourdneck  Prairie,  where  the  father 
died  on  December  20,  1845,  tne  mother  passing 


400 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


away  a  few  years  later,  on  March  17,  1850,  in 
Porter  township,  Van  Buren  county.    They  were 
the  parents  of  seven  children,  of  whom  John  O. 
was  the  third  born.     At  the  age  of  eleven  years 
he  came  with  his  parents  to  Michigan,  and  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  years  spent  in  California, 
has  lived  in  this  county  ever  since.     He  has  been 
to  California  three  times,  making  the  trip  once  by 
water  and  over  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  twice 
by  rail.     In  California  he  engaged  in  mining  in 
Nevada   county   in    1853,    operating    on    Brush 
creek  mainly,  but  also  on  Feather  river  and  at 
Marysville,  spending  four  years  in  the  industry 
and  cleaning  up  four  thousand  dollars  and  selling 
his  claims  for  three  thousand  six  hundred  dollars 
additional.     On  April  29,  1858,  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Harriet,  a  daughter  of  Jonathan  and  Ann 
(Wall)  Wood,  the  former  born  in  England  and 
the  latter  in  Ohio.     They  were  married  in  Ohio 
and  came  to  Michigan  in  1845,  locating  in  Prairie 
Ronde  township,  where  Mr.  Wood  died  in  1856 
and   his   widow   on   November    11,    1881.     They 
were  the  parents  of  six  children,  of  whom  Mrs. 
Lee  was  next  to  the  oldest.     She  was  born  at 
Little  York,  Ohio,  on  November  5,  1843,  and  was 
married  in  Prairie  Ronde  township,  this  county. 
She   and    her   husband   have    had   five    children, 
Franklin  J.,   who    married    Miss    Kate   Reiter; 
Justin   H.,   who   died   in  childhood;   Charles   H., 
who  married  Miss  Sarah  Schrum;  and  John  D. 
and  Hattie  C.     In  politics  Mr.  Lee  is  a  stanch 
Democrat,  and  as  such  he  has  filled  a  number  of 
township  offices,  among  them  those  of  drainage 
commissioner  and  school  offices.     The  duties  of 
all  were  performed  by  him  with  fidelity  and  abil- 
ity, and  in  a  manner  which  was  of  great  benefit 
to  the  interests  he  had  in  charge.    His  farm  until 
a   few  years  ago  comprised   four  hundred  and 
eighty  acres  of  excellent  land  and  made  him  one 
of  the  heaviest  tax-payers  in  the  township.     He 
deeded  eighty  acres  some  years  ago  to  one  of  his 
sons,  and  still  owns  four  hundred  acres  of  the  best 
and  most  highly  improved   farming  land  in  his 
neighborhood.      Fraternally   he   is   a   Freemason 
and  an  Odd  Fellow.    His  success  in  life  has  been 
won  by  his  own  efforts,  his   early  opportunities 
for  education  and  his  capital  for  a  start  in  life 


having  been  very  limited.  He  is  esteemed  as  one 
of  the  leading  and  most  representative  men  in  his 
community. 

WALLACE  W.  BALDWIN. 

Like    many  others  of  the  leading    business, 
professional  and  public  men  of  southern  Michi- 
gan,  the  subject  of  this   review  is   a  native  of 
the  state  of  New  York,  and  was  born  in  Essex 
county,  that  state,  on  February  7,  1842.     He  is  a 
son  of  Levi  and   Ruth  •  (White)    Baldwin,   who 
were    born    in    Vermont    and    moved    to    Essex 
county,   N.  Y.,  in   1827.     They  were  well-to-do 
farmers  and  lived  to  advanced  old  age,  the  father 
dying  in   1899,  a&ed  ninety-one  years.     He  was 
married  in  1832  and  soon  afterward  settled  on  a 
tract  of  unbroken  wilderness  on  what  was  then 
the  frontier,  and  on  it  he  and  his  wife  passed  the 
remainder  of  their  days.     They  were  active  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  prom- 
inent in  the  public  life   of  their  county,   useful 
and  productive  in  their  citizenship  and  held  in 
high  esteem  by  all  who  knew  them.  They  were  the 
parents  of  six  sons  and  five  daughters.    Of  these, 
five  of  the  sons  and  a  daughter  are  living  in  the 
East.     Wallace   Baldwin   was   reared  to  the  age 
of   eighteen   and   educated   in  his   native   county, 
attending  the  common  schools  and  the  academy 
at  Keeseville.     After  leaving  school  and  clerking 
for  a  year  and  a  half  he  moved  to  Clinton  county, 
where   he   remained   until   July,    1862,   when   he 
enlisted  in  the  Union  army  as  a  member  of  Com- 
pany K,  One  Hundred  and  Eighteenth  New  York 
Infantry.     His  regiment  soon  afterward  became 
a  part  of  the  Army  of  the  James  and  later  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  as  it  was  in  active 
service  his  comrades  in  Company  K  saw  a  great 
deal  of  hard  and  trying  service.     He  was,  how- 
ever, soon  placed  on  detached  service,  and  passed 
nearly  the  whole  period  of  the  war  at  Norfolk, 
Va.     After  the  close  of  the  war  in  1865  he  re- 
mained .the  rest  of  the  year  in  North  Carolina 
engaged  in  merchandising.     In  the  early  part  of 
1866  he  returned  to  his  New  York  home,  and  in 
the   ensuing   October   came   to  Kalamazoo   with 
relatives.    Here  he  began  his  career  in  the  employ 


WALLACE  W.  BALDWIN. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


403 


0f  M.  J.  Bigelow,  for  whom  he  worked  several 
months.  In  1867  he  opened  a  small  store  in  the 
abandoned  barroom  of  the  hotel.  His  venture 
prospered  from  the  first,  and  as  it  grew  he  en- 
larged his  operations  and  expanded  his  accommo- 
dations for  his  increasing  stock  until  he  now  has 
the  most  extensive  and  comprehensive  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Comstock.  One  of  his  leading  industries 
is  shipping  celery  to  distant  markets,  and  his  trade 
in  this  toothsome  vegetable  is  very  large.  In 
k;04  his  shipments  amounted  to  a  value  of  twenty 
1  thousand  dollars,  and  there  are  many  indications 
that  they  will  aggregate  a  still  larger  sum  this 
year  (1905).  He  also  controls  large  bodies  of 
productive  and  well  improved  farm  land  and  is 
one  of  the  substantial  as  well  as  one  of  the  pro- 
gressive men  of  his  township.  In  1869  he  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Cordelia  Huff,  a  native 
of  Genesee  county.  They  had  one  child,  their 
daughter  Blanch,  now  the  wife  of  Dr.  Parmenter, 
of  Lake  Forest,  111.  Her  mother  died  in  1874,  and 
two  years  later  her  father  married  a  second  wife, 
Miss  Elsie  L.  Bailey,  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Eliza  (Young)  Bailey  (see  sketch  of  them  on 
another  page).  Mr.  and  the  present  Mrs.  Bald- 
win have  one  child,  their  daughter  Mabel  B. 
Mr.  Baldwin  has  always  been  a  vigorous  and  ener- 
getic promotor  of  the  welfare  of  his  township, 
taking  an  active  part  in  its  public  affairs  and 
aiding  by  every  proper  means  all  worthy  enter- 
prises for  the  good  of  its  people.  He  served  five 
years  as  township  treasurer,  and  also  a  number 
as  justice  of  the  peace  and  in  various  school 
oirices.  In  politics  he  is  a  Republican,  and  fra- 
ternally is  connected  with  the  United  Workmen, 
the  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  church  since  his  sixteenth  year, 
and  has  always  taken  a  zealous  interest  in  reli- 
gious affairs.  When  he  became  a  resident  of 
Comstock  this  denomination  had  no  established 
organization  in  the  neighborhood,  and  he  was  in- 
strumental in  helping  to  form  one.  Mr.  Bigelow 
at  that  time  gave  a  building  to  hold  meetings  in 
which  was  used  for  a  number  of  years,  until  it 
was  superseded  by  the  present  brick  structure 
belonging  to  the  congregation.     This  edifice  Mr. 


Baldwin  helped  to  build,  and  he  makes  a  liberal 
contribution  each  year  to  the  funds  of  the  church, 
and  serves  in  one  of  its  important  offices. 

WILLIAM  B.  SOUTHARD,  M.  D. 

The  late  Dr.  William  B.  Southard,  for  many 
years  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Kalamazoo, 
who,  on  February  21,  1904,  surrendered  his 
earthly  trust  and  passed  over  to  the  activities  that 
know  no  weariness,  was  born  at  Clyde,  Wayne 
county,  N.  Y.,  on  August  10,  1822,  and  was  the 
son  of  Henry  and  Susan  (Carle)  Southard,  na- 
tives of  New  Jersey.  His  ancestors  were  among 
the  early  colonial  settlers  of  this  country,  locating 
on  Long  Island,  and  many  members  of  the  fam- 
ily in  succeeding  generations  became  prominent 
in  the  public  affairs  of  the  nation,  the  greater 
number  of  them  being  distinguished  in  forensic 
life  in  the  lofty  forums  of  the  United  States  con- 
gress, and  others  walked  with  dignity  and  com- 
manding influence  in  the  pathway  of  scientific 
and  professional  activity.  The  family  is  of 
Scotch  origin,  the  patronymic  having  been  for- 
merly Southworth,  and  throughout  its  history  in 
this  country  it  has  displayed  on  every  theatre  of 
action  the  sterling  and  fruitful  traits  of  the 
energetic  race  from  which  it  sprang.  Hon.  Henry 
Southard,  M.  C  the  great-grandfather  of  the 
Doctor,  was  born  on  Long  Island  in  1749.  The 
family  moved  to  Basking  Ridge,  N.  J.,  in  1757, 
and  there  he  died  on  June  2,  1842.  He  was  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  181 2,  served  nine  years  in 
the  state,  legislature,  and  was  a  member  of  con- 
gress from  1 80 1  to  181 1,  and  again  from  1815 
to  1 82 1.  He  possessed  a  remarkable  memory, 
and  until  he  passed  into  his  ninetieth  year  never 
wore  glasses  or  used  a  cane.  One  of  his  sons, 
Samuel  Lewis  Southard,  LL.  D.,  was  graduated 
from  Princeton  College  in  1804,  and  later  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  Virginia.  He  became  law 
reporter  for  the  state  of  New  Jersey  in  1814, 
and  the  next  year  associate  justice  of  the  state 
supreme  court.  In  1820  he  was  a  presidential 
elector,  and  in  182 1  was  appointed  United  States 
senator  to  fill  a  vacancy,  filling  the  office  two 
years.     In  the  first  year  of  his  service  he  met  his 


404 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


father  on  a  joint  committee  of  the  senate  and 
house  of  representatives,  and  together  they  voted 
for  the  Missouri  Compromise.  He  held  the  navy 
portfolio  in  the  President's  cabinet  from  1823  to 
March  23,  1829,  and  during  this  period  served  at 
times  as  secretary  of  the  treasury  and  secretary 
of  war.  In  1829  he  became  attorney  general  of 
New  Jersey,  and  in  1832  was  elected  governor. 
In  1833  ne  was  elected  to  the  United  States  sen- 
ate and  he  remained  a  member  of  that  body  until 
May  3,  1842.  When  Vice-President  Tyler  be- 
came President,  Senator  Southard  was  chosen 
president  of  the  senate.  He  died  at  Fredericks- 
burg, Va.,  on  June  26,  1842.  The  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred  upon  him  by  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1833.  He  was  a 
graceful  and  forcible  writer  and  speaker,  and 
published  "Reports  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New 
Jersey,"  "Washington's  Centennial  Address"  and 
"A  Discourse  on  William  Wirt."  Another  dis- 
tinguished member  of  the  family  was  his  son, 
Samuel  Lewis  Southard,  who  was  graduated  from 
Princeton  in  1836,  and  became  a  prominent 
minister  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church.  He 
was  well  known  as  the  author  of  "The  Mystery 
of  Godliness."  The  Doctor's  father  was  Henry 
Southard,  Jr.,  and  his  grandfather  was  Lott 
Southard.  Both  were  men  of  prominence  and 
success  in  life,  and  left  to  their  descendant,  who 
is  the  immediate  subject  of  this  sketch,  untar- 
nished names  and  excellent  examples  of  manli- 
ness as  his  imperishable  heritage.  The  Doctor 
was  the  youngest  of  the  children  of  his  parents, 
who  numbered  four.  His  mother  died  when  he 
was  very  young,  and  thereupon  the  Doctor  be- 
came domesticated  in  the  family  of  a  friend  of 
his  father  named  Blakeman,  by  whom,  however, 
he  was  not  adopted.  When  he  was  but  five  years 
old  his  father  died,  and  he  therefore  continued 
his  residence  with  the  Blakemans  until  .  he 
reached  his  sixteenth  year,  meanwhile  receiving 
a  good  common-school  education.  He  then  left 
the  home  which  had  sheltered  him  so  generously, 
and  going  to  New  York  city,  sought  employment 
as  a  clerk  in  a  store.  But  soon  afterward  visit- 
ing his  grandfather  at  Basking  Ridge,  N.  J.,  he 
was  persuaded  to  enter  an  academy,  where  he  re- 


mained a  year  and  a  half,  making  rapid  progress 
and  an  excellent  record  in  his  studies.  Then  turn 
ing  his  attention  to  mercantile  life,  he  passed 
eighteen  months  in  a  store  at  Elizabethtown,  N. 
J.  At  the  end  of  that  period  he  began  his  pro- 
fessional studies,  and  returning  to  the  scenes  and 
friends  of  his  childhood  and  youth,  became  a 
medical  student  in  the  office  of  Drs.  N.  P.  Col- 
vin  &  Son,  at  Clyde,  N.  Y.  After  a  course  of 
lectures  at  the  Geneva  Medical  College,  he 
entered  the  medical  department  of  the  University 
of  Buffalo,  and  he  was  graduated  therefrom  in 
1850.  He  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at 
Angola,  Ind.,  where  he  remained  three  years,  then 
moved  to  Albion,  Mich.,  and  passed  five  years 
busily  and  acceptably  ministering  to  the  ailing  of 
that  city.  In  1858  he  returned  to  New  Jersey, 
and  during  the  ensuing  four  years  built  up  an  ex- 
tensive and  lucrative  practice  in  Newark.  Find- 
ing that  his  health  was  suffering  from  the  excess 
of  salt  in  the  atmosphere,  he  once  more  sought 
the  more  congenial  climate  of  this  state,  and  ac- 
cordingly came  to  Kalamazoo,  where  he  soon  re- 
gained his  usual  sturdiness  and  vigor.  Here  he 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  useful  life,  rising  to 
the  first  rank  in  his  profession,  and  to  prominence 
and  influence  in  public  and  social  life.  He  was 
an  active  member  and  for  years  president  of  the 
Kalamazoo  Academy  of  Medicine.  He  was  also 
a  prominent  and  zealous  member  of  the  Order  of 
Chosen  Friends,  in  which  he  filled  for  long  terms 
the  offices  of  past  counselor,  treasurer  and  medi- 
cal examiner  in  the  order.  His  professional  ac- 
tivity, skill  and  learning  gave  him  high  standing 
in  his  chosen  work,  and  his  business  acumen  won 
him  considerable  worldly  wealth.  He  owned  a 
valuable  farm  three  miles  from  Kalamazoo, 
where  he  made  specialties  of  bee  culture  and  rais- 
ing fruit,  having  some  two  hundred  colonies  of 
well  bred  bees  and  fine  orchards  of  apples,  pears 
and  peaches,  as  well  as  extensive  vineyards.  On 
March  26,  1845,  ne  was  niarried  to  Miss  Hulda 
A.  Jones,  a  native  of  Wayne  county,  N.  Y.,  born 
on  September  23,  1826.  They  had  four  children, 
Augusta  H.,  now  Mrs.  John  C.  Bloom,  Mary  E.. 
now  Mrs.  Dr.  O.  B.  Ranney,  Ida  D.,  now  Mrs. 
John  McKee,  Jr.,  and  Dr.  Eugene  C,  all  of  whom 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


405 


arc  living  excepting  the  last  named,  and  are  resi- 
dents of  Kalamazoo.  Dr.  Eugene  C.  Southard 
was  graduated  from  the  Rush  Medical  College  of 
Chicago  in  1880.  As  a  fitting  conclusion  to  the 
memorial  sketch  of  the  elder  Dr.  Southard,  we 
extract  as  follows  from  a  resolution  passed  by 
the  Kalamazoo  Academy  of  Medicine  on  March 
1,  1904: 

"William  B.  Southard,  M.  D.,  an  incorporator 
of  the  Kalamazoo  Academy  of  Medicine,  one  of 
its  most  earnest  and  faithful  members,  and  its 
one-time  president,  died  at  his  home  in  this  city 
after  a  brief  illness,  on  the  afternoon  of  Febru- 
ary 21,  1904.  He  was  ripe  in  years  and  in  ex- 
perience, and  his  beautiful  life  may  well  be  taken 
as  an  example  of  quiet,  unobtrusive  devotion  to 
the  relief  of  distressed  humanity,  for  he  followed 
the  mitigation  of  pain  and  disease  with  a  diligence 
and  singleness  of  purpose  that  in  another  sphere 
would  have  won  the  plaudits  of  men,  but  had  none 
the  less  its  rewards  in  the  calm,  affectionate 
gratitude  of  those  relieved  and  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  life's  duty  well  and  faithfully  done.  He 
gave  freely  and  most  unselfishly  of  his  ability  and 
tireless  energy  to  his  patients.  We  can  not  record 
his  cheerful,  hopeful  manner,  his  courteous, 
gentlemanly  intercourse,  not  only  with  the  mem- 
bers of  our  profession,  but  with  all  with  whom 
he  came  into  contact  in  the  daily  routine  of  his 
life ;  but  these  qualities,  nevertheless,  will  not  be 
forgotten.  Dr.  Southard's  one  aim  and  ambition 
was  to  serve  well,  faithfully,  and  to  the  best  of 
his  ability  those  whose  lives  and  welfare  were 
placed  in  his  hands,  and  we  hope  the  ennobling 
example  of  his  latent  energy  to  stimulate  us  to 
renewed  endeavors  for  the  relief  of  human  dis- 
tress." 

ALBERT  CARPENTER. 

Born  of  a  race  of  pioneers,  and  passing  his 
own  childhood  and  youth  on  the  frontier  in  this 
county,  Albert  Carpenter,  of  Prairie  Ronde  town- 
ship, is  entitled  to  all  the  distinction  which  be- 
longs to  the  early  settlers  of  the  county,  as  well 
as  that  belonging  to  their  descendants  who  have 
so  bravely,  so  vigorously  and  so  successfully  car- 
ried on  the  work  which  they  began  here.    He  was 


born  in  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  on  January  4, 
1830,  and  is  the  son  of  Ira  and  Serepta  (Buck- 
man)  Carpenter,  natives  of  the  state  of  New 
York  and  pioneers  in  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  as 
well  as  in  this  county.  The  father  was  a  carpen- 
ter by  trade.  He  was  married  in  Ashtabula 
county,  Ohio,  and  in  1833  moved  his  family  to 
Kalamazoo  county,  after  a  short  residence  near 
Springfield,  111.,  from  whence  they  were  obliged 
to  move  on  account  of  the  hostility  of  the  Indians. 
On  coming  to  this  county,  however,  they  did  not 
wholly  escape  their  savage  foes,  for  at  the  time  of 
their  arrival  here  the  Indians  were  still  numerous 
in  the  county.  Wild  beasts  of  prey  were  also 
present  in  great  numbers,  and  all  kinds  of  wild 
game  was  abundant.  The  father  bought  eighty 
acres  of  government  land  on  the  west  side  of 
Prairie  Ronde.  This  he  cleared  in  part,  and  on  it 
he  lived  a  few  years,  then  moved  to  New  Lisbon, 
Wis.,  near  Milwaukee,  where  he  and  his  wife 
died.  They  had  five  sons  and  two  daughters.  All 
the  sons  and  one  of  the  daughters  are  living, 
Albert  being  the  only  member  of  the  family  now 
living  in  Kalamazoo  county.  The  father  enlisted 
for  the  Black  Hawk  war  in  a  Michigan  company 
of  volunteers,  but  the  short  and  decisive  struggle 
with  the  renowned  chief  was  over  before  he  was 
called  into  active  service,  and  he  got  no  farther 
toward  the  seat  of  war  than  Niles  in  this  state.  In 
his  early  manhood  he  was  a  Whig  in  politics  but 
later  became  a  Republican.  His  son  Albert  grew 
to  manhood  in  this  county  and  was  educated  in 
the  district  schools.  He  began  to  earn  his  own 
living  at  the  age  of  twelve  by  working  by  the 
month,  and  also  assisted  his  father  in  clearing 
the  homestead.  He  had  intimate  association  with 
the  Indians  in  his  boyhood  and  early  manhood, 
and  found  the  wild  beasts  of  the  forest  often  alto- 
gether too  familiar  for  his  comfort  and  safety. 
Living  on  the  frontier  where  wild  game  was  plen- 
tiful, he  of  course  became  somewhat  of  a  hunter, 
and  brought  home  from  time  to  time  many  tro- 
phies of  the  chase.  In  1852  he  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Sarah  E.  Munger,  a  daughter  of  Rus- 
sell and  Eliza  (Spear)  Munger,  the  former  born 
in  Pennsylvania  and  the  latter  in  the  state  of  New 
York.      They   were    married    in    Huron    county, 


406 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


Ohio,  and  in  1835  came  to  this  county,  where  the 
father  bought  the  farm  on  which  Mr.  Carpenter 
now  lives.  This  farm  they  improved  and  lived 
on  until  death.  Their  family  comprised  six  sons 
and  six  daughters.  Of  these,  three  of  the  daugh- 
ters and  two  of  the  sons  are  living.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Carpenter  have  two  children,  their  sons  Crowell 
E.,  of  Marcellus,  and  Irving  A.,  who  works  the 
farm.  Both  are  married,  and  the  older  has  three 
children.  Mr.  Carpenter  is  a  Republican  and  has 
served  as  a  justice  of  the  peace,  township  treas- 
urer and  path  master.  His  fraternal  relations  are 
with  the  Masonic  order,  he  being  a  member  of  the 
lodge  at  Schoolcraft  and  the  commandery  of 
Knights  Templar  at  Three  Rivers. 

JOHN  S.  HARRISON. 

This  venerable  pioneer  of  Schoolcraft  town- 
ship, this  county,  where  he  has  lived  seventy- 
seven  years,  is  a  native  of  Clark  county,  Ohio, 
born  on  March  9,  1820,  and  the  last  survivor  of 
his  father's  family  of  seventeen  children,  all  but 
one  of  whom  grew  to  maturity,  and  are  now  dead 
excepting  the  subject.  His  parents  were  the  late 
Judge  Bazel  and  Martha  (Stillwell)  Harrison, 
the  former  a  native  of  Frederick  county,  Md., 
and  the  latter  of  Franklin  county,  Pa.,  who  were 
the  first  settlers  in  Kalamazoo  county,  locating 
on  November  22,  1828,  on  the  shore  of  Harrison 
Lake  on  Prairie  Ronde.  The  father  was  born, 
according  to  the  preponderance  of  family  testi- 
mony, on  March  15,  1771,  and  the  mother  some 
.three  years  later.  They  were  married  by  stealth 
over  the  opposition  of  the  bride's  mother  and 
with  the  aid  of  her  father,  the  shoes  worn  by  the 
young  bride  of  sixteen  at  the  ceremony  being 
made  by  a  neighboring  shoemaker  the  night  be- 
fore the  wedding  and  keeping  him  busy  more 
than  half  the  night  to  complete  them.  Judge 
Harrison  was  one  of  twenty-three  children  born 
to  his  parents,  sixteen  of  whom  grew  to  maturity. 
His  father,  William  Harrison,  was  a  brother  of 
Benjamin  Harrison,  of  Virginia,  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
the  Judge  was  therefore  a  cousin  of  two  of  our 
distinguished    Presidents,    the   hero   of   Tippeca- 


noe and  his  grandson,  the  late  Benjamin  Harri 
son,  of  Indiana.  The  Judge's  parents  lived  in 
Frederick  county,  Md.,  until  he  was  about  nine 
years  old,  then  moved  to  Virginia,  settling  on  a 
farm  near  Winchester  in  that  part  of  Frederick 
county  in  the  old  Dominion  which  is  now  Hamp- 
shire county,  W.  Va.  Five  years  later  they 
changed  their  residence  to  Greencastle,  Franklin 
county,  Pa.,  about  five  miles  north  of  the  Mary- 
land line.  Bazel  was  then  fourteen  years  old,  and 
after  helping  his  father  for  a  short  time  on  the 
farm  he  rented,  he  went  to  work  in  a  distillery, 
an  occupation  he  followed  as  long  as  he  lived  in 
Pennsylvania.  It  was  here  also  that  he  cast  his 
first  vote  for  a  President  of  the  United  States, 
voting  for  Washington  at  his  second  election  in 
1792  and  he  voted  at  every  subsequent  presiden- 
tial election  except  that  of  1828,  when  he  was 
making  his  way  through  forest  and  swamp  from 
his  home  in  Ohio  to  the  new  one  in  this  country, 
and  that  of  1872,  when  he  was  too  ill  to  go  to  the 
polls,  although,  as  he  said,  he  especially  desired 
to  "vote  once  more  for  Grant."  In  1810,  with 
his  family,  he  moved  to  Kentucky,  just  opposite 
Cincinnati,  and  while  in  this  city  he  visited  his 
distinguished  cousin,  Gen.  William  Henry  Harri- 
son, who,  after  his  victory  over  the  Indian 
Prophet  at  Tippecanoe,  engaged  him  to  take  care 
of  his  Millbrook  farm  below  the  city  when  the 
General  took  command  of  the  Northwest  fron- 
tier. In  the  meantime  the  Judge  was  distilling 
in  Kentucky.  At  the  close  of  the  war  of  18 12  he 
bought  a  farm  of  three  hundred  acres  twelve 
miles  east  of  Springfield,  Ohio,  in  Clark  county, 
which  was  then  a  wilderness.  Here  he  remained 
until  the  summer  of  1827,  and  while  living  on  the 
land  paid  for  it  three  times  owing  to  defects  in 
his  title ;  but  when  a  fourth  claimant  appeared,  he 
determined  to  give  it  up,  and  selling  off  what  he 
could  not  take  with  him  of  his  household  goods, 
he  packed  the  rest  in  wagons,  and  with  his  chil- 
dren, and  their  wives,  husbands  and  grandchil- 
dren, nineteen  persons  in  all,  he  came  to  Michi- 
gan, locating  on  Prairie  Ronde,  the  first  settler 
on  that  fertile  plain  and  hence  the  first  in  Kala- 
mazoo county,  arriving  there  on  November  22, 
1827.     The  Indians  guided  him  to  the  shore  of 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


407 


Harrison  Lake,  and  here  he  took  up  land  and 
built  a  log  cabin  for  the  accommodation  of  his 
family,  the  Indians  helping  in  the  work.  In  the 
ensuing  spring  they  broke  up  some  of  the  land 
and  raised  vegetables  and  seed  corn  on  it.  In  time 
President  Jackson  gave  him  a  title  to  three  tracts 
of  eighty  acres  each,  for  which  he  paid  one  dol- 
lar and  a  quarter  an  acre ;  and  on  this  farm  he 
and  his  wife  lived  until  the  end  of  their  days,  the 
mother  dying  on  June  7,  1857,  after  sixty-seven 
years  of  wedded  life,  and  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
three  years,  and  the  Judge  on  August  30,  1874, 
at  the  age  of  more  than  one  hundred  and  three. 
Judge  Harrison  was  early  commissioned  by  Gov- 
ernor Cass  as  an  associate  judge  of  the  county 
court,  and  thus  received  the  title  which  he  wore 
so  long  and  so  worthily.  He  was  also  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  a  justice  of  the  peace.  In  both  po- 
sitions he  was  impartial  and  humane,  striving 
by  his  influence  and  learning  to  settle  disputes 
among  his  neighbors  rather  than  prolong  them. 
When  he  was  buried  more  than  one  thousand 
persons  attended  the  funeral,  six  of  the  oldest 
citizens  in  the  vicinity  being  his  pall-bearers.  The 
oldest  of  these  was  eighty-four  and  the  youngest 
sixty-nine,  the  sum  of  their  ages  being  four  hun- 
dred sixty-six  years.  After  the  formation  of  par- 
ties in  this  country  the  Judge  warmly  espoused 
the  Democratic  cause,  and  this  he  supported  with 
ardor  until  the  issue  of  slavery  became  a  menace 
to  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union,  when  he  became  a 
Republican,  continuing  in  that  faith  until  his 
death.  He  was  declared  many  times  to  be  the 
original  of  "Ben  Boden,"  the  principal  charac- 
ter in  Fennimore  Cooper's  famous  novel  of  "Oak 
<  )penings,  or  The  Bee  Hunter,"  the  author  of  the 
novel  saying  so  on  more  than  one  occasion. 
Judge  Harrison  was  a  very  prominent  man  in  the 
early  history  of  this  county.  He  helped  to  or- 
ganize it  and  also  the  township  in  which  he  lived, 
aiding  in  forming  its  youthful  government  and 
administering  many  of  its  important  trusts,  es- 
tablishing its  schools,  building  its  churches  and 
founding  its  industries.  He  and  his  wife  were  de- 
vout members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church 
and  donated  the  land  on  which  the  first  house  of 
worship  for  that  denomination  was  built  in  this 


section.  The  Judge  was  a  man  of  unusual  im- 
pressiveness  in  his  physical  appearance  and  bear- 
ing, and  was  also  thoroughly  generous  in  his  na- 
ture. The  Indians  admired  him  greatly  for  these 
qualities,  and  the  whites  revered  him  long  as  a 
leader  and  later  as  a  sage.  It  was  his  good  for- 
tune to  go  through  his  long  life  without  exciting 
the  enmity  of  any  of  his  fellowmen  against  him, 
and  to  have  his  life  so  lengthened  that  he  became 
the  partriarch  of  his  section  and  lived  many  years 
amid  the  plaudits  of  his  people.  Like  Sir  Condy 
Rackrent  in  Miss  Edgeworth's  story,  he  outlived 
his  own  wake,  so  to  speak,  and  overheard  the 
judgment  of  posterity,  and  it  was  all  to  his  credit. 

"And  strangers,  passing,  paid  the  meed 
Of  reverence  to  his  life's  long  span; 
But  honored  less,  by  word  and  deed, 
The  aged  Pilgrim  than  the  man. 

So  free  his  life  had  been  from  blame, 
So  manly  through  the  world  his  tread, 

A  fragrance  lingered  round  his  name, 
His  white  locks  honor  him  shed." 

— From  "In  Memoriam,"  by  Mrs.  Lydia  B.  Fletcher, 
after  the  death  of  Judge  Harrison. 

His  son,  John  S.  Harrison,  the  immediate 
subject  of  this  memoir,  now  himself  a  patriarch, 
was  reared  amid  the  scenes  and  incidents  of  the 
frontier,  and  even  in  boyhood  took  his  place  in  its 
stirring  activities.  His  educational  advantages 
were  limited  to  the  schools  taught  in  the  different 
homes  of  the  pioneers,  and  were  therefore  very 
meager.  He  knew  almost  nothing  from  child- 
hood but  the  arduous  work  of  breaking  up  new 
land  and  reducing  it  to  fruitfulness,  and  what 
was  to  be  learned  of  woodcraft  by  association 
with  the  Indians,  who  were  his  playmates  in  boy- 
hood and  his  tutors  in  the  wild  life  of  the  forest 
in  later  years.  He  remained  on  the  home  farm 
until  the  death  of  his  father,  and  then  became  its 
owner.  It  is  now  the  property  of  his  son  Owen. 
On  this  farm  the  venerable  man  has  passed  sev- 
enty-seven of  the  eighty-five  years  of  his  life, 
working  faithfully  at  whatever  his  hand  found  to 
do,  showing  by  good  and  intelligent  service  to  its 
people  his  unwavering  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
his  community,  conducting  his  daily  walk  and 
conversation  so  as  to  win  the  respect  of  all  his 


4o8 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


fellows,  and  seeing  what  he  first  beheld  and  in- 
habited as  a  howling  wilderness  growing  into 
grace,  beauty  and  power  under  the  benign  in- 
fluence of  advancing  civilization.  And  now,  as 
the  evening  shades  of  his  long  day  of  toil  and  tri- 
umph are  closing  round  him,  he  rests  from  his 
labors  and  enjoys  in  full  measure  the  esteem  and 
affection  of  the  region  he  has  helped  so  mate- 
rially to  bless  and  develop.  He  was  married  in 
1842  to  Miss  Louisa  Baker,  a  native  of  Ohio, 
whose  parents  became  residents  of  Kalamazoo 
county  in  1841.  Ten  children  blessed  their  union, 
seven  of  whom  are  living:  William  H.,  of 
Texas  township ;  Martha,  of  Schoolcraft ;  Ellen 
and  Esther,  at  home;  James  B.,  a  merchant  at 
Schoolcraft ;  Emeline,  at  home ;  and  Owen,  who 
owns  and  operates  the  farm.  Their  mother  died 
on  February  5,  1901.  Mr.  Harrison  has  been  a 
leading  Republican  from  the  organization  of  the 
party.  He  has  been  prominent  in  local  affairs  as 
a  promoter  rather  than  a  politician,  as  he  has 
never  sought  or  desired  public  office  of  any  kind. 
Following  in  his  father's  footsteps,  he  has  walked 
uprightly  among  his  fellows,  and  now  there  is 
not  one  who  does  not  do  him  reverence. 

OWEN  W.  HARRISON. 

Owen  W.  Harrison  is  the  youngest  son  of 
John  S.  Harrison,  the  oldest  settler  of  Kalamazoo 
county.  He  is  a  native  of  the  county,  born  in 
Prairie  Ronde  township  on  October  8,  1868,  and 
was  reared  and  educated  in  the  county,  attending 
school  at  Schoolcraft  and  the  college  in  Kalama- 
zoo. After  leaving  school  he  took  charge  of  the 
old  homestead  on  which  his  grandfather  located 
in  1827.  This  farm  he  now  owns,  and  it  is  one 
of  the  best  in  the  county.  In  1902  he  built  a  new 
dwelling,  the  old  one  having  been  destroyed  by 
fire.  The  new  house  is  modern  in  every  respect, 
and  in  keeping  both  with  his  own  advanced  taste 
and  prosperity  and  the  spirit  of  the  time  and  lo- 
cality. On  December  20,  1893,  Mr.  Harrison  was 
married  to  Miss  Ida  F.  Shirley,  a  daughter  of 
John  Shirley,  who  was  born  in  England  and  set- 
tled in  Kalamazoo  county  in  1839.  He  died  here  in 
the  spring  of  1904  on  his  farm  in  Texas  township, 


which  he  bought  after  reaching  years  of  matu- 
rity, having  come  here  with  his  parents  in  boy- 
hood, and  passed  his  early  life  on  Grand  Prairie, 
where  they  took  up  their  residence  on  their  ar- 
rival in  the  county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harrison  had 
two  children,  their  son  Paul  C,  who  was  born  in 
1896,  and  another  who  died  a  number  of  years 
ago.  In  fraternal  relations  Mr.  Harrison  be- 
longs to  the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees.  He  is  a 
vigorous  and  skillful  farmer,  an  excellent  citi- 
zen with  breadth  of  view  and  enterprise  in  regard 
to  public  affairs,  and  one  of  the  most  esteemed 
citizens  of  the  county.  The  representative  of  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  families  of  the  county, 
who  have  borne  a  leading  part  in  all  phases  of  its 
progress  and  development  from  early  pioneer 
days,  he  well  sustains  the  teachings  and  examples 
of  his  house  in  every  manly  and  worthy  wray. 

NEWTON  LUCE. 

This  well-known  farmer  of  Prairie  Ronde 
township,  whose  untimely  death  in  1880,  at  the 
early  age  of  forty-five  years,  was  felt  to  be  a 
great  loss  to  the  agricultural  and  industrial  life 
of  his  township,  was  a  native  of  the  county,  born 
in  Texas  township  on  March  16,  1835,  and  was 
therefore  one  of  the  first  of  the  offspring  of  the 
hardy  pioneers  in  the  county,  who  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  its  present  development  and  prosper- 
ity and  aided  in  starting  it  along  the  pathway  of 
greatness  and  progress  it  has  steadily  pursued 
ever  since  they  blazed  the  way  for  the  oncoming 
hosts  of  subsequent  settlers.  He  also  bore  a 
manly  part  in  the  arduous  labors  and  faced  with 
courage  the  dangers  of  frontier  life  in  what  was  in 
his  boyhood  and  youth  literally  a  howling  wilder- 
ness, filled  with  ferocious  beasts  of  prey  and  the 
wild  men  of  the  woods  who  were  not  always 
friendly,  or  tolerant  of  intruders.  Mr.  Luce  was 
the  son  of  Levi  and  Lydia  (Stanley)  Luce,  the 
former  born  on  Martha's  Vineyard,  Mass.,  and 
the  latter  in  Washington  county,  N.  Y.  (For 
further  mention  of  the  parents,  see  sketch  of 
Frederick  Luce,  of  Portage  township,  on  another 
page.)  Newton  Luce  was  reared  in  this  county 
and  attended  the  district  schools  and  the  graded 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


409 


school  at  Schoolcraft.  When  he  became  of  age 
he  bought  one  hundred  acres  of  land  which  were 
partially  improved  and  located  in  Texas  town- 
ship, and  on  this  farm  he  lived  until  his  death, 
clearing  it  and  advancing  it  to  excellent  product- 
iveness, and  enriching  it  with  good  improve- 
ments. He  was  married  on  February  21,  i860, 
to  Miss  Sarah  Smith,  a  daughter  of  Martin  and 
Mary  (Miller)  Smith,  natives  of  Pennsylvania 
and  early  pioneers  of  this  county.  After  their 
marriage  they  moved  to  Wyoming  county,  N.  Y., 
where  they  lived  until  1855,  tnen  came  to  Kala- 
mazoo county,  and  here  the  father  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life,  dying  in  Prairie  Ronde  town- 
ship in  March,  1881.  The  mother  of  Mrs.  Luce 
died  at  Casselton,  N.  D.  They  had  five  sons  and 
three  daughters,  and  of  these  children  five  are  liv- 
ing, Mrs.  Luce  being  the  only  one  residing  in 
this  county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Luce  were  the  par- 
ents of  four  children :  Levi  A. ;  Lisette,  now 
Mrs.  L.  J.  Henderson,  of  this  county ;  Helen,  now 
Mrs.  Fred  Welch,  of  Kalamazoo,  and  O.  K.,  who 
is  living  at  home.  The  oldest  son  has  charge  of 
the  farm,  and  is  now  supervisor  of  his  township, 
being  elected  in  the  spring  of  1905.  Mr.  Luce 
was  an  earnest  and  zealous  working  Democrat 
and  a  leader  of  his  party.  Fraternally  he  be- 
longed to  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  was 
well  known  in  all  parts  of  the  county,  and  was 
held  in  high  respect  on  all  sides,  as  a  good  citi- 
zen, a  useful  and  progressive  man,  and  an  ex- 
cellent farmer. 

WASHINGTON  R.  HUNT. 

This  well  known  farmer  of  Prairie  Ronde 
township,  this  county,  has  been  a  resident  of  the 
county  and  actively  engaged  in  its  profitable  and 
inspiring  industries  since  he  was  thirteen  years 
old,  coming  here  with  his  parents  in  1865.  He 
was  born  in  Whitley  county,  Ind.,  on  August  4, 
1852,  the  son  of  Truman  and  Mary  L.  (Mitchell) 
Hunt,  the  former  a  native  of  Connecticut  and  the 
latter  of  Maryland.  The  father  was  born  on  Jan- 
uary 2,  1809,  near  Roxbury,  Conn.,  a  son  of  Wil- 
liam Hunt,  also  a  native  of  Connecticut,  and  a 
farmer,  who  moved  to  the  state  of  New  York, 


where  he  died  some  years  later.  His  son  Tru- 
man followed  various  occupations,  being  a  miller, 
stonemason  and  farmer.  He  came  to  northern 
Indiana  about  1842,  and  entered  a  tract  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  government  land  in 
the  heavy  timber  of  that  state.  This  land  he 
cleared  and  added  to  it  until  he  owned  over  five 
hundred  acres.  He  also  put  up  a  grist  mill  and 
saw  mill,  which  he  operated  a  number  of  years. 
In  1863  he  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  and 
bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land,  on 
which  his  son,  Washington,  now  lives,  and  in 
1865  moved  his  family  to  this  land  and  began 
the  work  of  clearing  it  and  bringing  it  under  cul- 
tivation. He  lived  in  this  county  until  his  death 
in  1900,  his  wife  passing  away  here  in  1895.  They 
had  three  daughters  and  two  sons,  four  of  whom 
are  living,  Washington  being  the  only  one  resi- 
dent in  this  county.  The  father  was  a  Whig  until 
the  death  of  that  party,  and  then  became  a  Re- 
publican. Both  before  and  during  the  Civil  war 
he  was  a  pronounced  and  active  abolitionist.  He 
filled  a  number  of  local  offices  in  Indiana  and  was 
prominent  and  influential  in  this  county.  The 
son  was  reared  to  manhood  in  this  county,  at- 
tending the  district  schools  and  Notre  Dame 
Academy  at  South  Bend,  Ind.  He  has  been  pros- 
perously engaged  in  various  business  enterprises, 
including  keeping  hotel,  milling  and  farming.  He 
was  married  in  St.  Joseph  county,  Mich.,  in  1876, 
to  Miss  Alva  Metcalf,  a  native  of  Ohio.  She  died 
in  1877,  and  in  February,  1891,  he  married  Miss 
Adela  M.  Cole,  a  native  of  Indiana.  They  have 
three  children  living,  Mary,  Rebecca  and  Cecil. 
Few  men  in  the  county  are  better  known  than 
Mr.  Hunt,  and  none  is  more  highly  or  more  gen- 
erally respected. 

LEWIS  S.  BURDICK. 

This  pioneer  settler  of  Texas  township  is  a  na- 
tive of  Madison  county,  N.  Y.,  born  on  February 
11,  1820,  and  the  son  of  Sanford  and  Abigail 
(Lee)  Burdick,  the  former  born  in  Rhode  Island 
and  the  latter  in  Connecticut.  The  father's  life 
began  in  1789.  He  was  a  farmer  and  moved  to 
Madison  county,  N.  Y.,  when  it  was  a  new  coun- 


4io 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


try,  and  there  he  lived  until  1834.  Then,  the  spirit 
of  enterprise  and  conquest  that  had  impelled  him 
to  his  first  move  to  the  frontier  brought  him  and 
his  family  to  the  wilds  of  Michigan,  they  making 
the  journey  by  way  of  the  Erie  canal  to  Buffalo, 
and  from  there  by  steamer  to  Detroit.    In  the  last 
named  place  they  were  met  by  an  ox  team  with  a 
horse  ahead,   sent  out  by  Mr.   Burdick's  uncle, 
Robert  Burdick    (see  sketch  of  Victor  Burdick 
on  another  page) ,  and  seven  long  and  trying  days 
were  consumed  in  the  trip  from  Detroit  to  what 
is  now  Charleston  township,  this  county,  where 
the  family  located.    In  1835  the  mother  died  here 
and  in  1838  the  father  also  passed  away.     They 
had  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  now  de- 
ceased but  Lewis  and  one  of  his  ^sisters,  Mrs.  Cor- 
ner, of  Battle  Creek.     When  the  family  came  to 
Michigan  Lewis  was  a  youth  of  fourteen.   He  had 
attended  school  in  his  native  state,  and  after  his 
arrival  went  one  winter  in  Michigan.    At  the  age 
of  eighteen  he  was  left  alone  in  the  world  by  the 
death  of  his  father,  and  for  two  years  thereafter 
he  worked  by  the  month  on  farms  in  Charleston 
township,  clearing  land  and  teaming.     He  then 
bought  a  tract  of  eighty  acres  of  wild  land  on 
which  he  built  a  log  house  and  part  of  which  he 
cleared.     Afterward,  until  1848,  he  was  engaged 
in  manufacturing  lime  in  the  township,  and  in 
the  year  last  mentioned  he  sold  his  outfit  in  this 
business  and  bought  the  farm  of  two  hundred  and 
forty-eight  acres  in  Texas  township,  on  which  he 
now  lives,  but  a  small  part  of  which  had  been 
cleared  at  the  time  of  his  purchase.     This  he  has 
cleared  and  improved  with  good  buildings,  mak- 
ing it  a  farm  of  the  first  rank  and  in  keeping  with 
his   surroundings   in   that  progressive   township. 
He  married  in  1842  with  Miss  Mary  Towers,  a 
native  of  Vermont  and  daughter  of  Albert  Tow- 
ers, a  pioneer  of  the  township.    She  died  in  1881, 
and  in  1882  Mr.  Burdick  married  a  second  wife, 
Mrs.  Laura  M.  Voke,  a  widow  with  four  children. 
They  have  no  children  of  their  own,  but  have 
reared  two  whom  they  adopted.     One  of  Mrs. 
Burdick's  sons  by  her  first  marriage,  Charles  H. 
Voke,  now  works  the  Burdick  farm.  His  mother's 
maiden  name  was  Tanner.    She  came  to  Michigan 
in  1843,  locating  in  Van  Buren  county.    In  poli- 


tics Mr.  Burdick  has  been  a  Greenbacker  and  a 
Republican,  but  he  is  now  a  Democrat.  He  never 
takes  an  active  part  in  political  contests,  however, 
but  has  served  as  supervisor,  justice  of  the  peace, 
treasurer  and  clerk.  He  came  to  Michigan  a 
poor  boy,  and  has  had  many  a  hard  struggle,  but 
by  industry  and  economy  he  has  accumulated  a 
competence,  and  his  .worth  has  won  him  the  re- 
spect and  regard  of  all  classes  of  the  people  in 
the  county.  He  was  the  first  postmaster  in  Texas 
township,  getting  an  office  at  his  home  in  1873 
and  having  charge  of  it  three  years. 

WARREN  W.  HILL. 

Warren  W.  Hill,  of  Texas  township,  Kala- 
mazoo county,  one  of  the  citizens  best  known  and 
most  highly  esteemed  throughout  the  county, 
whose  private  life  and  public  services  in  various 
townships  and  county  offices  have  been  a  credit 
to  the  county  and  state,  is  a  native  of  Kalamazoo 
county,  born  on  the  farm  on  which  he  now  lives, 
and  educated  in  the  district  schools  of  the  neigh- 
borhood of  his  home.  His  life  began  on  August 
19,  1848,  and  the  whole  of  it  has  been  passed 
amid  the  people  around  him  and  in  the  active  pro- 
motion of  every  good  enterprise  which  they  have 
undertaken.  He  is  the  son  of  Amos  B.  and  Sally 
(Ryan)  Hill,  natives  of  Madison  county,  N.  Y. 
The  father  was  a  wagonmaker,  and  in  1847  came 
to  Michigan  and  bought  a  tract  of  two  hundred 
acres  of  wild  land  in  Texas  township,  this  county, 
on  which  he  located  and  remained  until  death, 
passing  away  in  1903,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one, 
his  wife  dying  in  August,  1898.  They  had  five 
sons  and  two  daughters,  of  whom  the  daughters 
and  three  of  the  sons  are  living.  The  father  was 
a  man  of  influence  and  prominence  and  served  in 
a  number  of  township  offices.  His  father,  John 
Hill,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution,  serving 
from  Rhode  Island  as  a  member  of  the  Coast 
Guard.  He  was  also  a  Baptist  minister,  and  died 
in  the  state  of  New  York.  The  maternal  grand- 
father of  Mr.  Hill,  Michael  Ryan,  was  a  soldier 
in  the  war  of  1812,  and  was  wounded  at  the  battle 
of  Black  Rock.  Warren  W.  Hill  reached  man's 
estate  on  his  father's  farm,  obtained  his  education 


o 

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KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


413 


in  the  neighboring  district  schools,  and  has  fol- 
lowed farming  on  this  place  all  his  life.  He  as- 
sisted in  clearing  and  breaking  up  a  great  deal  of 
the  surrounding  land,  and  helped  to  make  it 
fruitful  and  productive.  He  was  marreid  in  1872 
to  Miss  Julia  A.  Munson,  a  daughter  of  William 
D.  Munson,  who  came  to  this  county  in  1855,  an(^ 
died  in  Texas  township  after  serving  as  a  justice 
of  the  peace  many  years.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Warren 
Hill  have  had  eight  children,  Herman  J.,  James 
B.  (deceased),  Nellie,  wife  of  N.  H.  Steel,  H. 
Everal,  wife  of  Frank  Parsons,  Lulu  L.,  wife  of 
a  Mr.  Burdick,  Bessie  J.,  Louis  D.  and  Edna,  all 
living  at  home.  Politically  Mr.  Hill  is  an  ardent 
Democrat,  and  for  years  has  been  one  of  the  lead- 
ers of  his  party.  He  served  as  township  clerk  one 
year,  justice  of  the  peace  two  years  and  super- 
visor four  years.  Fraternally  he  belongs  to  the 
Knights  of  the  Maccabees.  He  is  now  one  of  the 
oldest  residents  of  the  township,  and  throughout 
the  county  he  is  well  and  favorably  known  and 
highly  esteemed. 

FRANK  J.  PARSONS. 

It  is  much  in  the  favor  of  a  community  when 
those  who  have  charge  of  its  public  utilities  and 
special  local  features  of  government  have  been 
born  and  bred  amid  its  people,  and  are  therefore 
in  close  touch  with  every  phase  of  its  life.  This 
is  the  case  with  Texas  township,  this  county,  the 
supervisor  of  which,  Frank  J.  Parsons,  is  not 
only  a  representative  citizen  of  the  township,  but 
is  wholly  a  product  of  it  and  its  institutions.  He 
was  born  in  the  township  he  is  now  serving  so 
faithfully  and  with  such  capacity  on  August  6, 
1879,  and  was  educated  in  the  district  schools  of 
the  township  and  at  the  Schoolcraft  high  school. 
He  is  the  son  of  Elmer  and  Serena  V.  (Stuyhart) 
Parsons,  natives  of  New  York,  who  came  to 
Michigan  with  their  parents.  The  father  re- 
mained in  his  native  state  until  he  became  a 
young  man,  then  accompanied  his  parents,  Ly- 
man and  Lucinda  Parsons,  to  this  state,  where 
his  grandfather  bought  the  land  on  which  the 
grandson  now  lives.  The  place  was  partially  im- 
proved with  some  buildings,  and  was  in  part  un- 
23 


der  cultivation.  Here  the  grandfather  passed 
the  remainder  of  his  life,  and  kept  up  the  spirit  of 
improvement  the  pioneers  had  started,  and  at  his 
death  had  a  well-developed  and  very  productive 
farm.  The  grandmother  also  died  here.  All  the 
sons  of  the  family  located  in  Texas  township  but 
one,  who  migrated  to  Minnesota.  The  father  of 
Frank  J.  Parsons  bought  the  interest  of  the  other 
heirs  in  the  homestead,  and  passed  the  rest  of 
his  life  on  the  place  also,  dying  in  1889.  His 
widow  still  lives  in  the  township.  They  had 
two  children,  their  sons,  Frank  and  Nelson,  the 
latter  dying  in  infancy.  The  surviving  son, 
Frank  J.,  after  leaving  school,  began  working  on 
the  home  farm  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  and  has 
had  charge  of  it  continuously  since  then.  He  was 
married  in  June,  1893,  to  Miss  H.  Everil  Hill,  a 
daughter  of  Warren  W.  Hill,  further  mention  of 
whom  is  made  elsewhere  in  this  volume.  In  po- 
litical faith  Mr.  Parsons  has  been  a  life-long  Re- 
publican, and  as  such  has  taken  an  intelligent 
and  helpful  interest  in  the  public  affairs  of  the 
township.  He  was  elected  supervisor  in  the 
spring  of  1905,  and  is  the  youngest  member  of 
the  board.  But  in  the  care  of  his  father's  farm  he 
had  already  demonstrated  his  fitness  for  adminis- 
trative duties ;  and  his  deep  abiding  interest  in 
the  welfare  of  the  township  put  an  edge  on  his 
ability  that  has  made  it  very  serviceable  to  the 
people.  Fraternally  he  is  a  Knight  of  the  Macca- 
bees, and  in  all  the  social  and  business  relations 
of  his  section  he  is  active  and  potent  in  helping  to 
push  forward  the  car  of  progress  in  the  township 
and  secure  for  its  residents  the  best  possible  re- 
sults of  their  well-placed  and  productive  energy. 

LEVI   B.   FISHER. 

The  review  of  a  life  like  the  one  under  pres- 
ent consideration,  however  often  and  with  what- 
ever variations  it  may  be  repeated,  must  always 
be  full  of  suggestiveness  and  stimulus  to  the 
young  and  of  comfort  to  the  more  mature  who  are 
interested  in  their  country's  welfare  and  the  high- 
est and  most  sterling  expression  of  its  citizenship. 
Levi  B.  Fisher,  well  and  favorably  known 
throughout  Kalamazoo  county  as  a  builder,  former 


414 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


and  dealer  in  live  stock,  is  essentially  a  self-made 
man.  He  started  out  to  make  his  own  way  in  the 
world  when  fifteen  years  of. age,  and  he  has  done 
it  with  unusual  success,  and  without  aid  from 
friends  or  the  favors  of  fortune.  He  had  but  few 
educational  advantages,  but  was  endowed  by  na- 
ture with  indomitable  will  and  pluck,  a  keen  eye 
for  business  opportunities  and  the  wisdom  which 
seizes  and  converts  them  into  tangible  and  sub- 
stantial results.  His  success  in  his  various  ven- 
tures has  been  continuous,  but  is  not  surprising 
to  those  who  know  the  man.  The  germ  of  this 
spreading  oak  was  in  the  tough  acorn  from  which 
it  sprang.  Given  the  original  qualities  of  the  boy, 
all  that  has  followed  was  plainly  deducible  there- 
from, unless  prevented  by  death  or  some  supreme 
calamity.  Mr.  Fisher  was  born  at  Lexington, 
Stark  county,  Ohio,  on  August  17,  1825,  and  is 
the  son  of  Reuben  Fisher,  a  farmer  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  the  grandson  of  Lanta  Fisher,  an  Eng- 
lishman who  settled  on  the  banks  of  the  James 
river  in  Virginia,  and  afterward  removed  to 
Crawford  county,  Pa.  Reuben  Fisher,  after  his 
marriage,  went  to  Stark  county,  Ohio,  where 
he  was  one  of  the  early  settlers.  Pie 
settled  in  Macomb  county,  this  state,  in 
1840,  and  died  there  in  185 1.  He  mar- 
ried with  Miss  Lovina  Knox,  a  daughter  of  John 
Knox,  and  granddaughter  of  General  Henry 
Knox,  the  first  secretary  of  war  in  the  United 
States.  She  bore  her  husband  eight  children, 
and  after  his  death  married  Mr.  Shakespeare, 
the  grandfather  of  General  William  Shakespeare, 
of  Kalamazoo.  She  died  in  1858'.  After  leaving 
school  Levi  Fisher  learned  the  trade  of  a  carpen- 
ter and  worked  at  it  in  his  native  state  until  he 
came  to  Michigan  in  1846,  and  during  the  five 
years  after  coming  here  erected  many  of  the  first 
buildings  of  importance  in  Cooper  and  the  ad- 
joining townships.  In  February,  1847,  ne  bought 
his  farm  in  Cooper  township,  which  was  then 
little  more  than  a  wilderness,  and  this  he  has  en- 
riched with  good  buildings  and  so  improved  by 
wise  husbandry  that  he  has  one  of  the  finest 
properties  in  the  township.  He  also  owns  an 
eighty-acre  tract  of  land  in  Van  Buren  county. 
In  addition  to  his  farming  operations  he  has  dealt 


extensively  in  live  stock  and  conducted  a  butch- 
ering business  in  Kalamazoo,  Englewood  and 
Chicago.  In  185 1  he  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Louisa  Chamberlain,  who  was  born  at  Lew- 
iston,  Niagara  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1830.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Luther  and  Martha  (Bemer)  Cham- 
berlain, the  former  a  native  of  Massachusetts  and 
the  latter  of  Canada.  They  came  to  Michigan  in 
1835  and  after  passing  a  few  months  at  Niles,  lo- 
cated on  a  tract  of  government  land  which  thev 
entered  in  Cooper  township.  They  passed  from 
this  life  aged  respectively  eighty-six  and  sixty- 
two  years.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fisher  have  had  three 
children,  Waldo  L.,  deceased,  Ida  A.,  wife  of  Jay 
Skinner,  and  Frank  B.  The  father  was  originally 
a  Whig  and  later  became  a  Republican.  Since 
1884,  however,  he  has  voted  with  the  Prohibition- 
ists. He  has  served  as  highway  commissioner  for 
his  township  and  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace, 
but  for  this  office  he  did  not  qualify.  For  forty- 
three  years  he  has  been  an  active  and  influential 
member  of  the  Congregational  church,  to  which 
his  wife  also  belongs,  and  was  superintendent  of 
the  Sunday  school  for  many  years,  as  well  as  a 
deacon  of  the  church.  In  addition  he  served 
some  time  as  a  member  of  the  county  Sunday 
school  executive  committee.  Always  energetic 
in  good  works,  he  has  a  long  record  of  great  use- 
fulness to  his  credit,  and  enjoys  in  an  unusual 
degree  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  whole 
people  of  the  county. 

MACE  S.  BORDEN. 

The  history  of  this  valued  pioneer  of  Cooper 
township  is  not  unlike  that  of  many  others  of 
the  sturdy  people  who  settled  southern  Michigan 
and  laid  the  foundations  of  that  prosperity  and 
greatness,  that  commercial  wealth,  industrial  ac- 
tivity, moral  elevation  and  educational  zeal  for 
which  the  state  is  distinguished  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land.  His  parents. 
Mace  S.  and  Nancy  M.  (Fish)  Borden,  were  na- 
tives of  New  York,  who  moved  to  Ohio  in  the  early 
'30s  and  remained  there  until  1836,  then  came 
to  Michigan  and  entered  a  tract  of  government 
land  in  Cooper  tpwnship.     The  tract  comprised 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


415 


.me  hundred  and  seven  acres  and  is  in  sections  9 
aml  10.  On  February  11,  1836,  not  long  before 
ilit*  family  left  Ohio,  the  subject  of  this  review- 
was  born,  so  that  he  came  into  this  state  an  in- 
fant, and  almost  the  whole  of  his  life  has  been 
passed  in  this  county.  The  township  had  been 
entered  by  the  daring  pioneer  scarcely  more  than 
1  wo  years  before  this  family  came  hither,  and  the 
land  on  which  they  settled  was  in  the  midst  of  a 
vast  forest  and  heavily  timbered.  To  it  and 
through  it  the  father  was  obliged  to  cut  his  own 
roads,  and  for  some  years  after  locating  here 
his  axe  was  kept  warm  in  clearing  his  land  and 
preparing  it  for  cultivation.  His  first  work  was 
to  put  up  a  log  cabin  with  a  bark  roof,  and  in  that 
the  family  lived  a  number  of  years.  There  has 
been  one  transfer  of  the  land  since  he  entered  it, 
and  that  was  from  him  to  his  son.  On  this  farm 
the  parents  lived  and  labored  to  the  end  of  their 
days,  the  mother  dying  in  1874,  and  the  father 
in  1888.  They  had  two  sons  who  grew  to  man- 
hood, Mace  S.  and  his  brother,  John  C,  who  lives 
at  Waverly,  Neb.  The  parents  were  Congrega- 
tionalists  and  helped  to  erect  the  first  church 
building  belonging  to  that  sect  in  the  township. 
Air.  Borden's  paternal  grandfather  was  a  native 
of  Rhode  Island  and  a  sailor.  After  following 
the  sea  for  many  years  and  meeting  with  all  kinds 
of  adventures  and  thrilling  experiences,  he  came 
to  Michigan  to  pass  the  remainder  of  his  life  in- 
peace  and  quiet,  arriving  here  soon  after  the  rest 
of  the  family.  He  died  at  Athens,  in  Calhoun 
county.  Mace  S.  Borden,  the  younger,  grew  to 
manhood  on  the  Cooper  township  farm,  on  which 
he  now  lives,  with  Indian  boys  for  playmates,  the 
wild  exuberance  of  nature  for  inspiration  and  the 
laborious  duties  of  rural  life  in  a  new  country 
as  his  training  school,  which  was  very  moderately 
supplemented  by  the  elementary  instruction  given 
in  primitive  conditions  and  with  rude  appliances 
in  the  schools  of  his  boyhood.  Deer,  bear  and 
turkeys  in  abundance  invited  the  sport  of  his 
nfle ;  and  the  voracious  predatory  wolf  often 
made  its  use  necessary.  He  was  married  on  Jan- 
uary 20,  1864,  to  Miss  Rhuba  A.  Barto,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Orin  M.  Barto,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the 
county,  an  account  of  whose  life  will  be  found  in 


the  sketch  of  another  son-in-law,  Cyrus  E.  Tra- 
vis. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Borden  have  one  child,  their 
son,  George  S.,  who  resides  on  the  home  farm 
with  his  parents.  Mr.  Borden  is  a  Republican, 
but  he  has  never  filled  or  sought  office.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  lodge  at  Cooper  Center, 
and  he  and  his  wife  belong  to  the  Congregational 
church.  As  they  are  among  the  oldest  citizens 
of  the  county,  so  are  they  among  the  most  widely 
and  highly  respected. 

WALLACE  VICKERY. 

This  son  of  one  of  the  early  pioneers  of  this 
county  and  representative  of  a  family  prominent 
and  very  serviceable  in  the  early  days,  was  born 
on  April  2,  1839,  on  ,tne  farm  in  Schoolcraft 
township  on  which  he  died  on  January  29,  1887, 
and  on  which  he  passed  the  whole  of  his  life,  ex- 
cept three  years,  during  which  he  lived  at  School- 
craft. His  parents  were  Stephen  and  Zila  (Stan- 
ley) Vickery,  early  arrivals  in  the  county.  The 
father  was  a  surveyor,  who  located  on  the  west 
side  of  Prairie  Ronde  township  in  the  fall  of 
1829  or  1830,  and  in  the  following  winter  he 
taught  school  at  Insley's  Corners.  He  was  the 
first  clerk  of  Kalamazoo  county,  and  while  hold- 
ing that  office  he  lived  at  Bronson,  now  Kalama- 
zoo. Afterward  he  moved  to  the  farm  in  School- 
craft township,  on  Gourd-neck  Prairie,  which 
was  the  last  home  of  his  son  Wallace.  He  did 
much  surveying  in  the  western  part  of  the  state ; 
and  was  a  prominent  Whig  politician.  He  repre- 
sented the  county  several  times  in  the  legislature, 
and  was  once  a  candidate  for  governor,  but  was 
defeated  owing  to  the  hopeless  minority  of  the 
Whig  party  in  the  state.  He  was  twice  married, 
his  children  being  the  fruit  of  the  second  union. 
In  the  spring  of  1857  he  took  up  his  residence  in 
the  village  of  Schoolcraft,  which  he  had  sur- 
veyed in  1 83 1  for  the  proprietor,  Lucius  Lyon. 
His  death  occurred  at  Schoolcraft  on  December 
12,  1857.  He  was  possessed  of  a  remarkable 
memory,  and  his  mind  was  stored  with  the  treas- 
ures of  many  volumes  which  he  had  read.  Mrs. 
Vickery,  his  wife,  was  a  sister  to  Mervin  Stan- 
ley, an  early  settler  in  the  Shaver  neighborhood 


416 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


on  Prairie  Ronde.  She  came  with  her  father, 
Elisha  Stanley,  to  this  state  when  she  was  twen- 
ty-two years  of  age,  and  lived  with  him  on  White 
Pigeon  Prairie.  They  were  natives  of  New 
York.  She  died  at  Schoolcraft  on  September 
21,  1894,  and  there  is  no  living  member  of  the 
earlier  generations  of  the  family  in  the  county. 
Wallace  Vickery  grew  to  manhood  in  this  county 
and  was  educated  in  the  schools  at  Schoolcraft. 
He  began  in  boyhood  working  on  the  old  home- 
stead, and  on  it  he  lived,  nearly  the  whole  of  his 
life.  On  December  29,  1859,  ne  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Jeannette  Coykondall,  who  was 
born  in  Livingston  county,  N.  Y.  Her  parents, 
Daniel  and  Louisa  (Strowbridge)  Coykondall, 
also  natives  of  New  York,  came  to  Jackson 
county,  Mich.,  in  1847,  and  died  there.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Wallace  Vickery  had  two  children:  Hattie 
L.,  now  Mrs.  Robert  J.  Gilmore,  who  lives  on  the 
home  farm  and  has  three  children,  Vickery  J., 
Maynard  R.  and  Jeannette  E. ;  and  Addie  L.,  now 
Mrs.  Charles  E.  Mohney,  of  Vicksburg.  In  poli- 
tics Mr.  Vickery  was  a  leading  Democrat  and 
served  as  supervisor  and  treasurer  of  his  town- 
ship. He  was  well  known  throughout  the  county 
and  everywhere  was  highly  respected,  being  a 
progressive  man  and  a  liberal  supporter  of  every 
enterprise  that  tended  to  improve  and  advance 
the  county  and  promote  the  welfare  of  its  people. 

WALLACE  F.  FRAKES. 

Born  in  Schoolcraft  township,  this  county, 
and  passing  all  of  his  subsequent  life  on  the  farm 
on  which  he  now  lives,  which  was  his  birthplace, 
and  which  he  helped  to  clear  and  break  up,  Wal- 
lace F.  Frakes  is  well  known  throughout  the 
township  and  has  been  an  important  factor  in  its 
development  and  improvement.  He  is  the  son  of 
Joseph  and  Osillar  (Downs),  formerly  Osillar 
Parker,  Frakes,  the  former  born  in  Fairfield 
county,  Ohio,  on  December  25,  1799,  of  Welsh 
ancestry,  and  the  latter  in  New  Jersey  on  April 
6,  1804.  In  1827  the  father  came  to  Cass  county, 
this  state,  and  remained  a  year,  making  some  little 
improvement  on  a  tract  of  land  he  selected.  There 
were  no  settlers  in  the  neighborhood  and  Indians 


were  numerous,  so  that  the  conditions  of  life  were 
far  from  agreeable  or  promising.  In  1828  he  re- 
turned to  Ohio  and  was  married.  For  their  wed- 
ding tour  the  young  couple  made  the  journey  to 
Cass  county,  the  place  of  the  husband's  former 
residence  in  this  state,  with  an  ox  team.  After  a 
tedious  trip  of  one  month  they  arrived  at  their 
destination  with  less  than  one  dollar  in  monev 
and  little  else.  By  this  time  a  few  white  settlers 
had  arrived,  but  the  principal  inhabitants  were 
Indians.  The  prospects  for  the  young  pioneers 
were  most  discouraging.  They  remained  in  Cass 
county  a  year  or  more,  then,  in  1830,  came  to  this 
county  and  settled  in  Schoolcraft  township,  where 
they  passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives.  By  in- 
dustry and  frugality  they  soon  began  to  thrive 
and  the  father  purchased  the  land  he  had  at  first 
borrowed  from  the  Indians.  He  extended  his 
borders  until  at  one  time  he  owned  one  thousand 
acres  of  prime  land.  He  reared  a  family  of  eight 
children,  two  of  whom  are  living,  his  son  Wal- 
lace and  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Susan  M.  Manigo,  of 
Vicksburg.  Throughout  their  residence  in  this 
part  of  the  county  the  Indians  were  always 
friendly  with  Mr.  Frakes,  the  elder,  as  he  always 
treated  them  with  fairness  and  generosity.  He 
saw  service  in  the  war  of  18 12,  although  he  was 
but  a  boy  of  twelve  years  when  it  began.  He 
also  enlisted  for  the  Black  Hawk  war.  His  death 
occurred  in  1881,  and  that  of  his  wife  in  1887. 
Their  son  Wallace  was  reared  to  manhood  on  the 
old  homestead  and  obtained  his  education  in  the 
primitive  schools  of  his  boyhood  and  youth.  He 
assisted  his  father  in  clearing  and  breaking  up 
the  farm,  and  later  became  the  owner  of  a  part 
of  it.  In  1859  ne  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  E. 
Vaughn.  They  had  nine  children,  and  of  these 
two  daughters  and  three  sons  are  living.  The 
mother  died  in  1888.  The  father  is  a  Republican 
in  political  affiliation,  but  he  has  never  been  an 
active  partisan.  Eldridge  Parker,  of  Brady  town- 
ship, is  his  half-brother,  being  the  son  of  his 
mother  by  her  first  marriage.  For  several  years 
Mr.  Frakes  has  lived  and  labored  among  this  peo- 
ple, performing  faithfully  his  duties  in  every  re- 
lation of  life,  and  now  there  is  no  one  who  does 
not  respect  him.     He  witnessed  the  passing  of 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


4i7 


tlk  Indian  and  the  planting  of  civilization  in  this 
region,  and  he  has  helped  to  build  it  up  to  its 
present  splendid  development ;  and  now,  in  the 
eviiing  of  life,  he  rests  secure  in  the  enjoyment 
of  the  results  of  his  work  and  the  regard  and 
good  will  of  all  who  know  him. 

EDSON  W.  COOK. 

The  restless  energy  of  the  great  Empire  state 
which  has  not  only  developed  that  commonwealth 
to  such  gigantic  proportions  of  commercial,  in- 
dustrial and  intellectual  growth,  but  has  also  laid 
now  regions  under  the  dominion  of  its  all-con- 
quering' spirit,  was  one  of  the  most  potent  fac- 
tors in  redeeming  the  wilds  of  southern  Michigan 
and  making  them  fruitful  in  the  products  of  the 
farm,  rich  in  the  domain  of  manufactures,  pow- 
erful in  fiscal  agencies,  and  sound,  substantial  and 
commanding  in  civic,  educational  and  moral  in- 
stitutions. And  among  the  men  from  that  state 
who  are  to  be  mentioned  with  credit  in  any  com- 
pilation of  the  motive  powers  of  progress  here, 
Edson  W.  Cook,  the  well  known  farmer  and  stock 
breeder  of  Brady  township,  has  a  high  rank.  He 
was  born  in  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  on  January 
20,  1842,  the  son  of  Washington  and  Susan 
(Calkins)  Cook,  themselves  natives  of  New 
York,  and  prosperous  farmers  in  that  state.  They 
became  residents  of  this  county  about  the  year 
1S52,  and  located  on  a  tract  of  wild  land  in  Brady 
township,  which  some  years  later  they  sold,  after- 
ward owning  several  other  farms  in  the  county. 
In  1863  they  moved  to  Allegan  county,  where 
they  passed  the  remainder  of  their  days.  Their 
family  comprised  three  sons  and  three  daughters, 
live  of  whom  are  living,  Edson  W.  being  the  only 
one  resident  in  this  county.  The  father  was  a 
leading  Whig  until  the  death  of  that  party,  and 
afterward  a  Republican;  but  he  never  sought  or 
accepted  a  political  office  of  any  kind.  The  son 
was  educated  in  this  county,  and  has  passed  all  of 
his  life  here  since  he  was  ten  years  old.  He 
cleared  the  greater  part  of  his  present  farm,  and 
('  it,  unpromising  as  it  was  when  he  took  hold 
(-f  it,  he  has  made  a  model  place,  bringing  nearly 
all  under  vigorous  cultivation  and  improving  it 


with  first-rate  buildings  and  other  necessary  con- 
veniences. On  this  farm  he  has  resided  thirty- 
three  years  continuously,  and  during  that  period 
he  has  been  one  of  the  most  active  and  service- 
able promoters  of  every  commendable  enterprise 
for  the  good  of  the  section.  He  was  married  in 
1872  to  Miss  Lavina  French,,  a  native  of  Kalama- 
zoo county,  and  a  daughter  of  Richard  French, 
one  of  the  county's  prominent  citizens.  They  had 
one  child,  their  son,  Buell  E.  Cook,  who  is  living 
at  home.  The  mother  died  in  1885.  From  the 
dawn  of  his  manhood  Mr.  Cook  has  been  actively 
engaged  in  breeding  draft  horses  of  the  Perch- 
eron  strain,  and  has  become  one  of  the  leaders 
in  this  industry  in  the  county.  Much  of  his  prod- 
uct is  shipped  to  the  commercial  centers,  many  of 
his  best  horses  going  to  New  York  city.  Mr. 
Cook  is  one  of  the  leading  Republicans  of  the 
township,  and  is  always  earnestly  alive  to  the 
best  interests  of  his  party,  as  he  is  to  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  county  in  every  way.  But  he  is  not 
an  office  seeker,  and  desires  none  of  the  honors  of 
public  life.  In  the  fraternal  life  of  the  commu- 
nity he  is  active  as  a  Freemason  of  the  Knight 
Templar  degree. 

GEORGE  G.  BOND. 

Born  on  the  farm  which  is  still  his  home  in 
Brady  township,  this  county,  where  his  life  be- 
gan on  March  15,  1843,  tne  interesting  subject 
of  this  brief  review  grew  to  manhood  under  the 
influence  of  the  stimulating  pioneer  life  that  pre- 
vailed in  his  boyhood  and  youth,  and  had  not 
wholly  disappeared  when  his  young  manhood 
dawned.  He  went  to  school  in  one  of  the  primi- 
tive log  school  houses  of  the  time,  and  had  all  the 
luxury  of  its  slab  seats  with  their  pin  legs,  and  its 
clumsy  floor  of  puncheon.  The  school  house  had, 
however,  one  luxury  not  at  all  common  in  the 
neighborhood  at  the  time ;  it  was  heated  by  the 
first  stove  used  in  the  county.  Mr.  Bond  attended 
this  school  in  winter  and  worked  with  his  father 
on  the  farm  in  summer.  His  parents  were  Amos 
and  Nancy  (Gossard)  (Downey)  Bond,  the  for- 
mer a  native  of  Vermont  and  the  latter  of  Penn- 
sylvania.   The  father  was  a  farmer  and  became  a 


4i8 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


resident  of  Michigan  early  in  the  '30s,  locating 
in  Oakland  county,  where  he  lived  until  1837, 
meanwhile  serving  as  sheriff  of  the  county.  In 
1837  ne  entered  a  quarter  section  of  wild  land 
which  is  the  splendid  farm  on  which  his  son 
George  now  lives.  The  land  when  he  took  pos- 
session of  it  was  all  heavily  timbered  and  without 
roads,  bridges  or  other  conveniences  of  life,  and 
to  clear  it  and  bring  it  to  its  present  state  of  de- 
velopment and  improvement  involved  a  work  of 
prodigious  extent  and  continuous  exactions.  In 
this  work  Mr.  Bond  engaged  actively  until  the 
beginning  of  the  Civil  war,  and  then,  following 
the  example  of  his  father,  who  had  been  a  soldier 
in  the  war  of  1812,  he  enlisted  in  defense  of  the 
Union  in  the  First  Michigan  Cavalry,  Company  I, 
which  was  afterward  consolidated  with  Com- 
panies L  and  E.  His  regiment  became  a  part  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  later  served  under 
Sheridan  and  Banks.  Mr.  Bond  saw  much  active 
and  dangerous  service,  taking  part  in  the  battles 
of  second  Bull  Run,  Gettysburg,  and  many  others 
of  the  leading  engagements  of  the  war.  When  he 
settled  on  his  unbroken  tract  of  land,  the  elder 
Bond  built  a  log  dwelling,  and  during  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life  cleared  forty  acres.  He  died  on 
the  farm  on  November  21,  1851,  his  last  wife 
also  dying  there  and  passing  away  on  January  5, 
1859.  In  the  war  of  1812  he  was  a  soldier  in  the 
Twenty-sixth  New  York  Cavalry,  and  made  an 
honorable  record,  serving  through  the  whole  of 
the  contest.  He  was  a  firm'  Democrat  in  political 
faith  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  campaigns  of 
his  party.  After  his  removal  to  this  county  he 
was  a  poormaster  in  Brady  towrfship  a  number  of 
years.  He  was  also  a  charter  member  of  the  first 
Masonic  lodge  in  the  county,  which  was  organ- 
ized at  Schoolcraft.  He  was  twice  married,  and 
by  his  second  wife  had  two  children,  his  son 
George  G.  and  his  daughter  Anna  L.,  now  Mrs. 
Canavan,  of  Brady  township.  Mrs.  Bond,  the 
mother  of  these  children,  was  born  at  Greencastle, 
Pa.,  on  February  1,  181 1,  her  maiden  name  being 
Nancy  A.  Gossard.  She  was  first  married  in 
Pennsylvania  to  William  Downey,  by  whom  she 
had  five  children,  and  with  whom,  in  1837,  she 
came  to  Michigan,  where  Mr.  Downey  died  three 


years  later.  After  the  grand  review  of  the  arm}-  at 
Washington  at  the  close  of  the  war,  Mr.  Bond  of 
this  sketch  accompanied  his  regiment  across  the 
plains  and  at  Willow  Springs,  Dak.,  took  part  in 
a  desperate  battle  with  the  Indians.  In  the  Civil 
was  he  was  present  in  sixty-eight  battles  and 
skirmishes,  but  seems  to  have  suffered  no  disas- 
ter in  the  contest  except  that  at  Union  Mills,  Va.% 
he  was  thrown  from  his  horse  and  rendered  sense- 
less by  the  fall,  and  his  comrades  had  a  hard 
struggle  to  restore  him  to  consciousness.  When 
he  retired  from  the  army  he  returned  to  his  old 
home,  and  on  December  4,  1866,  was  married  to 
Miss  Elizabeth  Eberstein.  They  have  one  child, 
their  son  George  Amos.  Mrs.  Bond  was  born  in 
Calhoun  county,  Mich.,  on  November  20,  1841, 
and  is  the  daughter  of  Conrad  and  Lena  (Setz- 
ler)  Eberstein,  pioneers  of  that  county  and  na- 
tives of  Germany.  The  father  came  to  America 
in  1829  and  the  mother  in  1830.  He  passed  a 
year  in  Boston  and  six  months  in  Detroit.  From 
the  latter  city  he  went  to  Sandusky,  Ohio,  where 
he  was  married,  his  bride  living  at  the  time  on  a 
farm  near  Sandusky  with  her  parents.  The  same 
year,  1831,  they  moved  to  Michigan'  and  located 
in  Calhoun  county,  making  the  journey  with 
teams  and  came  near  being  drowned  while  swim- 
ming the  Maumee  river.  After  a  married  life 
of  fifty-three  years  they  died  in  1890,  the 
father's  death  occurring  in  February  and  the 
mother's  in  April.  They  reared  a  family  of  eleven 
children,  all  of  whom  are  living  and  married. 
After  his  marriage  Mr.  Bond  took  possession  of  a 
part  of  the  Bond  homestead  in  this  county,  on 
which  he  has  ever  since  lived.  He  has  purchased 
additional  realty,  and  now  has  a  choice  farm  of 
nearly  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  one  hun- 
dred of  which  he  has  brought  to  a  fine  state  of 
cultivation  and  improvement  by  his  diligence  and 
enterprise.  He  conducts  a  prosperous  industry 
in  general  farming,  and  raises  superior  Norman 
horses  and  roadsters,  and  has  a  flock  of  fine  wool 
sheep.  He  is  greatly  interested  in  national  poli- 
tics as  a  Republican.  In  fraternal  life  he  has  been 
a  Freemason  since  1867,  and  also  belongs  to  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


419 


ROBERT  D.  JENKINSON. 

This  esteemed  public  official,  who  is  now  the 
supervisor  of  Brady  township,  this  county,  was 
born  in  the  township  on  the  farm  on  which  he 
now  lives,  coming  into  the  world  on  March  9, 
1870.  His  parents,  Francis  and  Clarissa  M. 
(Nash)  Jenkinson,  were  early  settlers  in  the 
county,  locating  here  first  about  1841.  The  father 
was  born  and  reared  to  the  age  of  thirteen  years 
in  county  Wicklow,  Ireland,  and  the  mother  in 
the  state  of  New  York.  In  1832  the  father  emi- 
grated to  this  continent  and  joined  an  older 
brother  in  Canada,  where  he  remained  two  years, 
then  moved  to  Buffalo,  and  during  the  next  two 
vears  was  a  sailor  on  the  lakes  and  lived  at  va- 
rious places  in  the  state  of  New  York.  In  1837 
he  located  in  Chicago  and  passed  the  ensuing 
year  working  on  the  canal.  After  that  he  lived 
at  different  places  in  Illinois  until  1840,  when  he 
came  to  Michigan,  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kala- 
mazoo river  assisted  in  building  a  large  saw  mill, 
at  which  he  worked  in  winter,  sailing  the  lakes 
in  the  summer.  In  1841  he  located  in  Kalamazoo 
county,  entering  eighty  acres  of  government  land 
in  Brady  township,  which  was  covered  with 
heavy  timber.  During  the  winter  months  he 
wrought  at  clearing  and  improving  his  land,  and 
in  the  summer  was  employed  on  the  river.  In 
1849  ne  nioved  to  Wisconsin,  and  in  1852  went 
to  Oregon  and  California,  crossing  the  plains 
with  teams.  He  passed  two  years  in  Portland, 
<  )re.,  then  went  to  California,  and  during  the 
next  four  years  followed  mining  and  lumbering 
at  different  points  in  that  state.  In  1858  he  re- 
turned to  this  state  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  and  again  engaged  in  river  work,  tak- 
ing flour  down  to  the  lake.  Two  years  later  he 
once  more  turned  his  attention  to  farming  in  this 
county,  and  in  this  he  has  been  engaged  ever 
since.  He  and  his  wife  were  married  in  1859, 
and  had  five  children,  three  of  whom  are  living, 
Vienna,  now  Mrs.  Dr.  Collier,  of  Vicksburg ; 
Robert  D.,  and  Carrie,  now  the  Mrs.  Ihrman,  of 
Kalamazoo.  The  mother  died  on  December  18, 
'9°4-  The  father  is  an  earnest  and  zealous  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  order.     The  grandparents  on 


the  father's  side,  Robert  and  Elizabeth  (Bestell) 
Jenkinson,  were  natives  of  Ireland,  and  passed 
their  lives  in  that  country,  the  grandfather  being 
of  English  ancestry.  They  were  the  parents  of 
eighteen  children.  Robert  D.  Jenkinson,  the  im- 
mediate subject  of  this  sketch,  grew  to  manhood 
and  was  educateed  in  this  county,  and  has  fol- 
lowed farming  all  his  life.  He  was  married  in 
1901,  in  the  month  of  December,  to  Miss  Luella 
Collins,  a  native  of  this  county,  and  daughter  of 
Charles  Collins,  of  Pavilion  township.  In  po- 
litical faith  he  has  been  a  life-long  Democrat,  and 
has  served  as  township  clerk  five  years,  as  school 
inspector,  and  two  years  as  supervisor.  He  is 
one  of  the  well  known  farmers  and  public  men  of 
the  county,  and  throughout  its  extent  he  is  highly 
respected  and  esteemed. 

WILLIS  W.  MORRISON. 

Mr.  Morrison,  who  is  one  of  the  leading  and 
most  progressive  farmers  of  Pavilion  township, 
this  county,  was  born  in  Tompkins  county,  N.  Y., 
on  November  28,  1852.  His  parents,  Charles  E. 
and  Electa  A.  (Knettles)  Morrison,  were  natives 
of  Lansing,  Tompkins  county,  N.  Y.,  and  farmed 
there  successfully  until  1867,  when  they  came  to 
Kalamazoo,  and  soon  afterward  bought  the  farm 
on  which  their  son  now  lives.  The  father  was 
born  on  June  1,  1821,  and  the  mother  on  April 
20,  1 818.  In  Kalamazoo  county  he  bought  and 
improved  three  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land, 
and  on  this  he  lived  and  labored  until  a  few  years 
before  his  death,  which  occurred  in  Kalamazoo 
on  March  8,  1894.  He  filled  the  office  of  super- 
visor in  1873  and  1874,  and  was  also  a  justice  of 
the  peace  for  a  number  of  years.  He  was  a  leader 
in  the  Republican  party,  and  a  man  of  influence 
in  its  councils.  The  mother  died  in  New  York  in 
1866.  They  were  the  parents  of  two  sons,  Willis 
W.  and  his  brother  James  K.,'who  is  also  a  resi- 
dent of  this  county.  In  1868  the  father  married 
Miss  Matilda  Bogardus.  They  had  one  child, 
their  daughter,  Anna  B.,  who  lives  in  Kalamazoo. 
The  grandfather  was  James  Morrison,  a  well 
known  cabinetmaker  of  unusual  skill,  of  Lansing, 
N.  Y.,  who  died  there  about  the  year  1870.    Wil- 


420 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


lis  Morrison  became  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  in 
1866,  and  attended  school  one  year  in  the  city.  He 
then  went  on  his  father's  farm,  and  has  resided 
on  the  same  place  ever  since,  inheriting  it  on  the 
death  of  his  father.  He  was  married  in  Decem- 
ber, 1896,  to  Miss  Julia  Smith,  a  sister  of  Albert 
Smith  (see  sketch  of  him  on  another  page).  Mr. 
Morrison  is  a  well-known  Republican  and  has 
filled  a  number  of  local  offices  in  the  township. 

CHARLES  E.  MORRISON. 

For  a  period  of  nearly  thirty  years  Charles  E. 
Morrison  was  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  county  and 
during-  one- third  of  the  time  or  more  of  Kala- 
mazoo. He  was  a  citizen  of  prominence  and  in- 
fluence in  the  county  from  an  early  date  after  his 
arrival  in  the  state,  and  while  he  lived  in  the  city 
had  high  rank  as  one  of  its  leading  and  represen- 
tative business  men.     He  came  into  the  world  on 

June  1,  1 82 1,  the  son  of  Judge  James  and 

(Ryder)  Morrison,  natives  of  New  York  state. 
The  father  was  a  farmer  who  passed  his  life  in 
the  peaceful  pursuit  of  agriculture  in  his  native 
state,  a  "type  of  the  wise  who  soar  but  never 
roam,  true  to  the  kindred  points  of  Heaven  and 
home."  Giving  the  attention  due  from  a  good 
citizen  to  the  public  affairs  of  his  locality,  he  rose 
to  influence  among  his  fellow  men  there  and  had 
much  to  do  with  the  direction  and  control  of  the 
county  government.  His  father,  also  named 
James  Morrison,  was  a  native  of  Scotland  and 
came  to  the  United  States  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolution  and  settled  in  Vermont.  Some  years 
afterward  he  moved  to  central  New  York,  then 
as  much  of  a  wilderness  as  Michigan  was  half  a 
century  later,  and  there  he  followed  his  craft 
as  a  cabinetmaker  and  undertaker  until  his  death. 
Mr.  Morrison's  father  was  twice  married  and  had 
a  family  of  three  sons,  two  by  the  mother  of 
Charles  and  one  by  his  second  marriage.  Charles 
E.  Morrison  was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native 
state.  He  began  life  as  a  farmer  there  and  was 
engaged  in  this  occupation  until  1866  in  New 
York.  In  that  year  he  came  to  Michigan  and  pur- 
chased a  farm  in  Pavilion  township  in  1867,  on 
which  he  lived  until   1885.     He  then  moved  to 


Kalamazoo  and  became  a  prominent  lumber  mer- 
chant, continuing  in  the  trade  until  his  death 
in  1894,  and  adding  largely  to  its  volume  and  im- 
portance in  this  section.  He  was  married  Janu- 
ary 24,  1844,  to  Miss  Electa  A.  Nettles,  who  was 
born,  like  himself,  in  the  state  of  New  York. 
They  had  two  sons,  Willis  and  James,  the  former 
now  living  on  the  old  homestead.  James  died 
June  2,  1905.  Their  mother  died  in  1866,  and  on 
December  30,  1868,  the  father  married  a  second 
wife.  Miss  Matilda  Bogardus,  a  native  of  New 
York.  Of  their  union  one  child  was  born,  their 
daughter,  Anna  B.  Morrison.  Mr.  Morrison  was 
a  Republican  in  political  affiliation  and  as  such 
served  as  supervisor  of  his  township.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  liberality,  especially  in  support  of 
churches  and  schools,  and  had  a  commendable 
public  spirit  in  reference  to  the  progress  and  de- 
velopment of  the  county  and  state,  withholding 
his  aid  from  no  worthy  enterprise  looking  to 
these  ends,  and  considering  all  such  undertakings 
with  wisdom  and  breadth  of  view  for  the  endur- 
ing welfare  of  his  section  and  the  permanent  ben- 
efit of  its  people. 

MRS.  HULDAH  M.  ARMSTRONG. 

This  venerable  lady,  who  is  now  treading 
upon  the  edge  of  four-score  years,  and  who  has 
been  a  veritable  ' 'mother  in  Israel"  in  Kalamazoo 
county,  came  hither  as  a  bride  sixty  years  age 
and  is  now  one  of  the  few  of  the  very  early  set- 
tlers left  among  this  people  who  can  recount  from 
personal  experience  the  trials,  privations  and 
dangers  of  pioneer  days,  and  the  resourcefulness 
and  personal  courage  necessary  to  overcome 
them  and  establish  a  civilization  in  the  wilder- 
ness, which  she  can  at  this  time  see  blooming 
around  her  as  a  garden,  rich  in  all  the  elements 
of  material,  intellectual  and  moral  greatness.  She 
was  born  in  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  on  March 
3,  1826,  a  daughter  of  William  G.  Collins,  now 
many  years  deceased  (see  sketch  of  Ferdinand  V. 
Collins  on  another  page  for  family  history). 
Mrs.  Armstrong  grew  to  womanhood  in  her  na- 
tive state,  attending  the  district  schools  when  she 
could.     On  December  25,   1845,  sne  was  united 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


421 


in  marriage  with  John  Moore,  of  New  York 
state,  and  the  next  year  they  came  to  Michigan  in 
company  with  another  family,  making  the  whole 
of  the  journey  with  teams,  coming  by  way  of  To- 
ledo to  Hillsdale  and  Stnrgis,  and  spending  a  few 
weeks  in  Lagrange  county,  Ind.  They  then  came 
ov.  to  Pavilion  township,  this  county,  and  joined 
(ioiild  Richardson,  a  cousin  of  Mrs.  Armstrong's 
mother.  In  the  fall  following  they  purchased 
eighty  acres  of  wild  land  and  built  a  log  cabin 
for  a  dwelling  in  which  they  lived  until  the  death 
of  Mr.  Moore  on  January  10,  1857.  Five  chil- 
dren were  born  to  them,  and  Mr.  Moore  died 
when  the  youngest  was  three  months  old.  Mrs. 
Moore  reared  them  and  also  built  the  frame 
house  in  which  she  now  lives,  remaining  a  widow 
until  1863,  when  she  married  William  P.  Arm- 
strong, a  native  of  Ohio.  They  had  three  chil- 
dren, two  of  whom  are  living,  Albert  J.  and 
(iennevieve  M.  Mrs.  Armstrong  is  an  ardent 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and 
takes  an  active  interest  in  all  its  good  works. 
She  has  been  an  industrious  and  prudent  woman, 
faithful  to  every  duty,  and  accepting  every  con- 
dition in  life  that  has  come  to  her  with  resigna- 
tion and  a  spirit  of  cheerful  determination  to 
make  the  most  of  it,  and  her  long  career  of  use- 
fulness has  won  her  the  universal  respect  of  the 
people  of  the  county  and  the  high  regard  of  all 
who  know  her  and  her  record  intimately  Span- 
ning as  she  does  in  her  one  life  the  long  interval 
between  the  remote  dawn  of  history  in  this  re- 
gion and  the  present  activity  of  the  section,  she 
is  a  venerated  link  connecting  the  beginning  of 
civilization  here  and  what  it  has  grown  to,  and  a 
striking  memorial  of  the  heroic  race  that  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  development  and  progress 
which  now  signalize  this  part  of  the  country. 

JOHN  H.  RICHARDSON. 

A  pioneer  of  Pavilion  township,  who  became 
a  resident  of  the  section  when  he  was  but  eight 
years  of  age,  now  sixty-seven  years  ago,  and  par- 
ticipating in  all  the  arduous  duties  and  meeting 
faithfully  all  of  the  exacting  requirements  of 
frontier  life  when  the  region  was  still  largely  in 


the  possession  of  its  wild  inhabitants,  men  and 
beasts,  John  H.  Richardson,  of  the  Vicksburg 
neighborhood,  has  been  one  of  the  makers  and 
builders  of  the  county,  and  may  enjoy  the  pleas- 
ing reflection  that  the  work  of  himself  and  his 
companions  of  the  early  days  was  so  well  done 
that  the  superstructure  built  upon  the  founda- 
tions of  civilization  they  laid  here  is  solid,  sub- 
stantial and  enduring  as  well  as  comely  in  all  re- 
spects. Mr.  Richardson  was  born  in  Cattaraugus 
county,  N.  Y.,  on  October  14,  1830.  His  parents, 
Gould  and  Eunice  (Hawley)  Richardson,  also 
were  natives  of  New  York  state,  where  the  father 
farmed  until  183 1,  then  moved  to  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  remained  until  1838.  In  that  year  he 
brought  his  family  to  Michigan  and  bought  four 
hundred  acres  of  wild  land  in  Pavilion  township, 
this  county,  on  a  part  of  which  his  son  now  lives. 
The  father,  with  the  aid  of  his  family,  cleared  a 
large  portion  of  his  land  and  lived  on  it  until  his 
death  in  1872,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two  years, 
the  mother  following  him  to  the  other  world  in 
1881.  They  had  four  sons  and  two  daughters. 
Of  these,  three  of  the  sons  and  one  of  the  daugh- 
ters are  living.  The  father  was  a  leading  Demo- 
crat in  the  public  life  of  the  county  and  filled 
with  credit  a  number  of  local  offices.  His  father 
was  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  and  the  grandson, 
John  H.  Richardson,  still  has  the  rifle  the  gallant 
patriot  used  in  the  memorable  contest.  John  H. 
Richardson,  as  has  been  noted,  was  but  eight 
vears  old  when  his  parents  brought  him  to  this 
county,  and  under  the  conditions  obtaining  at  the 
time  his  opportunities  for  securing  an  education 
were  very  limited,  being  confined  to  a  few 
months'  attendance  at  one  of  the  primitive  schools, 
in  the  vicinity  of  his  home.  At  an  early  age  he 
began  to  take  his  part  in  the  work  of  clearing  and 
cultivating  the  paternal  homestead,  making  a  full 
hand  in  the  arduous  labor  in  his  early  youth.  He 
remained  at  home  until  he  reached  the  age  of 
twenty-five,  then  bought  eighty  acres  of  the  home- 
stead which  were  as  yet  uncleared  and  unbroken, 
and  which  he  has  now  nearly  all  cleared  and  un- 
der cultivation.  In  1856  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Catherine  Hass,  a  native  of  Germany  who  came 
to  this  county  with  her  parents  in  1848.     Mr.  and 


422 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


Mrs.  Richardson  have  had  six  children,  four  of 
whom  are  living :  Jerry,  one  of  the  leading  mer- 
chants of  Vicksburg;  Rosa,  wife  of  Frederick 
Horsfall,  of  Vicksburg;  Herbert,  also  a  resident 
of  Vicksburg;  and  Gertrude,  wife  of  Wells 
Adams,  of  Kalamazoo.  Politically  Mr.  Richard- 
son is  a  Democrat,  and  has  served  in  a  number 
of  local  offices.  He  is  highly  esteemed  as  a  use- 
ful pioneer  and  an  excellent  citizen,  and  as  such 
is  widely  known  in  all  parts  of  the  county. 

FERDINAND  V.  COLLINS. 

This  venerated  pioneer  of  Pavilion  township, 
this  county,  whose  life  in  the  section  of  nearly 
sixty  years  has  been  one  of  prolonged  service  to 
it  and  its  people,  and  whose  example  shows  im- 
pressively the  power  of  persistent  industry,  fru- 
gality and  thrift,  when  coupled  with  business  sa- 
gacity of  a  high  order  and  general  uprightness 
of  character  and  conduct,  in  this  land  of  striving 
progress  and  boundless  opportunity,  was  born  in 
the  town  of  Barre,  Orleans  county,  N.  Y.,  on  De- 
cember 29,  1827.  He  is  the  son  of  William  G. 
and  Caroline  (Clark)  Collins,  the  former  a  native 
of  Rutland  county  Vt.,  and  the  latter  in  Ontario 
county,  N.  Y.,  and  one  of  their  seven  children, 
four  of  whom,  Huldah  M.,  Benjamin  C, 
Jeannette  and  himself  are  living.  The  father 
was  born  on  August  8,  1802,  and  lived  until 
1894.  The  mother's  life  began  on  November  14, 
1806,  and  ended  on  January  24,  1891,  when  she 
was  nearly  eighty-four  years  old.  The  former 
was  reared  on  a  farm  in  his  native  state  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  six,  when  the  family  moved 
to  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.  In  later  years  he  mar- 
ried there  and  at  once  located  in  Orleans  county, 
the  same  state,  which  at  that  time  was  nearly 
all  wilderness.  He  evolved  a  farm  from  the  for- 
ests, and  a  few  years  afterward  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  Wayne  county  whence  he  came  to  Mich- 
igan in  1846,  journeying  from  Rochester  to  Buf- 
falo on  the  Erie  canal,  from  that  city  to  Detroit 
over  the  lake,  and  thence  to  Galesburg  on  the 
Michigan  Central  Railway.  He  bought  a  part  of 
the  farm  now  owned  by  his  son,  and  took  posses- 
sion of  the  log  house  that  stood  on  it.     He  was 


one  of  the  most  energetic  of  the  pioneers  who 
opened  up  this  country,  and  in  the  years  of  toil 
that  followed  his  settlement  here,  he  made  manv 
valuable  improvements.  In  his  political  views  he 
always  adhered  steadfastly  to  Democratic  prin- 
ciples, and  in  the  matter  of  public  improvements 
in  the  township  and  county  he  was  one  of  the 
readiest,  most  energetic  and  most  resourceful  of 
the  early  settlers.  In  his  service  as  highway 
commissioner  in  the  early  days  he  was  of  great 
benefit  to  the  section  through  his  breadth  of  view 
and  enterprise  in  opening  and  constructing  roads. 
His -great-great-grandfather  came  to  this  country 
from  Ireland,  and  was  an  early  settler  in  Ver- 
mont. Ferdinand  V.  Collins  was  eighteen  years 
old  when  he  accompanied  his  parents  to  this  state 
and  he  at  once  engaged  in  the  laborious  work  of 
clearing  the  new  land  on  which  the  family  settled, 
and  preparing  it  for  cultivation,  and  therein  was 
of  great  assistance  to  his  father  in  improving  a 
farm  out  of  land  redeemed  from  the  unbroken 
wilderness.  He  now  owns  three  hundred  acres 
of  fine  farming  land,  of  which  two  hundred  and 
forty  acres  are  under  the  best  and  most  advanced 
cultivation.  The  place  is  well  supplied  with 
buildings  for  every  needed  purpose,  there  being 
on  it  several  large  frame  barns  built  at  different, 
times,  and  a  commodious  brick  residence  of  at- 
tractive architecture  and  fitted  up  with  every 
modern  convenience.  Here  he  and  his  son  earn- 
on  an  extensive  business  in  general  farming,  and 
make  a  specialty  of  fine  wool  sheep  and  Durham 
cattle.  On  December  20,  1857,  Mr.  Collins  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Harriet  Weston, 
who  was  born  in  the  state  of  New  York  on  May 
13,  1836.  They  have  one  son,  Willie  L.,  who 
married  Miss  Jennie  Milham,  and  has  a  son 
named  Glen  T.  and  his  daughter,  Lucile,  which 
makes  four  generations  living  on  the  farm.  As 
a  leading  and  intelligent  citizen  of  the  township 
who  has  risen  to  prominence  by  his  native  force 
of  character  and  ability,  Mr.  Collins  wields  a  po- 
tential influence  in  the  county,  and  has  been  con- 
spicuous in  the  management  of  public  affairs  in  a 
number  of  official  capacities.  He  has  been  town- 
ship treasurer  four  times,  township  clerk  one 
years,  and  overseer  of  highways  many  years.    In 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


423 


politics  he  supports  with  the  ardor  born  of  firm 
conviction  the  principles  and  candidates  of  the 
Democratic  party.  One  of  the  wealthy  men  of 
his  township,  he  is  also  one  of  the  most  modest 
and  unassuming.  He  looks  upon  all  his  fellows 
as  worthy  of  his  regard  until  they  prove  them- 
selves otherwise;  yet  with  all  his  consideration 
for  others,  and  his  disposition  to  take  the  best 
view  of  human  character,  his  experience  has 
given  him  a  keen  insight  into  the  recesses  of  hu- 
man nature,  and  he  is  not  easily  imposed  upon. 

ALBERT  W.  SMITH. 

Albert  W.  Smith,  a  former  treasurer  of  Kala- 
mazoo county  and  a  prosperous  and  pro- 
gressive farmer  of  Pavilion  township,  was 
born  in  Windsor  county,  Vt.,  on  October 
29,  1849.  He  is  the  son  of  Henry  F. 
and  Arvilla  (Whitmore)  Smith,  natives  also  of 
Vermont.  The  father,  whose  whole  life  was 
passed  in  industrious  and  profitable  farming,  came 
to  Michigan  in  1853,  anc^  located  in  this  county 
two  miles  and  a  half  south  of  Schoolcraft.  In 
1859  he  bought  the  farm  on  which  his  son  Albert 
now  lives,  which  they  cleared  by  their  joint  la- 
bor, and  on  which  he  resided  until  his  death  in 
[889,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one.  The  mother  died 
in  1882,  aged  sixty-four.  They  had  a  family 
of  three  sons  and  three  daughters.  Of  these,  Al- 
bert and  his  three  sisters  are  living  and  all  resi- 
dents of  this  state.  The  father  served  as  a  justice 
of  the  peace  and  in  other  local  offices.  The  grand- 
father, Thaddeus  Smith,  was  born  in  Massachu- 
setts, but  lived  nearly  all  his  life  and  farmed  in 
Vermont.  Albert  W.  Smith  passed  his  boyhood 
irom  the  age  of  ten  years  and  his  youth  on  the 
farm  which  is  now  his  home.  He  attended  when 
his  circumstances  allowed  the  district  schools  in 
his  neighborhood,  and  thus  secured  a  good  ele- 
mentary education.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he  took 
charge  of  his  father's  farm,  which  he  managed  for 
his  father  until  the  death  of  the  latter,  having  al- 
most entire  control  of  it  from  the  age  mentioned. 
He  made  a  full  hand  in  all  the  work  of  clearing 
and  breaking  the  land,  and  took  a  very  active  part 
hi  all  the  farming  operations.     He  lived  on  this 


farm  until  his  election  as  county  treasurer  in  1897. 
In  1899  he  was  re-elected,  serving  until  1901. 
His  official  record  is  one  of  the  best,  his  clearness 
of  vision,  excellent  judgment,  pronounced  fairness 
to  all  the  interests  involved,  and  general  abilitv 
redounding  greatly  to  his  credit  and  being  of  de- 
cided benefit  to  the  county.  On  October  9,  1883, 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Mattie  H.  Oliver,  a  na- 
tive of  this  county  and  daughter  of  Thomas  B. 
and  Sarah  (Haywood)  Oliver,  who  located  in 
Kalamazoo  in  1853,  and  both  of  whom  are  now 
dead.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith  have  had  four  chil- 
dren, three  of  whom  are  living,  Albert  F.,  Shep- 
ard  H.  and  Clyde  W.  Mr.  Smith  has  been  a  life- 
long Republican.  In  addition  to  being  county 
treasurer  he  served  a  number  of  years  as  a  jus- 
tice of  the  peace,  and  at  different  times  in  other 
local  offices.  He  and  all  his  family  are  members 
of  the  First  Congregational  church  of  Kalamazoo. 
He  is  one  of  the  influential  and  representative  citi- 
zens of  the  county,  and  is  held  in  the  highest 
esteem  by  its  people. 

KALAMAZOO  STOVE  WORKS. 

With  a  capital  stock  of  three  hundred  and  fif- 
teen thousand  dollars,  a  very  much  alive  and  ener- 
getic directorate,  a  large  body  of  influential  stock- 
holders and  a  list  of  officers  that  understand  their 
business  in  all  its  details,  the  Kalamazoo  Stove 
Works  is  one  of  the  leading  and  most  important 
of  the  many  industries  that  center  in  this  part  of 
the  state  and  keep  the  wheels  of  industrial  pro- 
duction in  vigorous  and  fruitful  motion.  The 
company  was  organized  in  1901  with  Edward 
Woodbury  as  president,  William  Thompson  as 
vice-president  and  general  manager,  Charles  A. 
Dewing  as  treasurer,  and  A.  H.  Dane  as  secre- 
tary. The  list  of  stockholders  includes  W.  S. 
Dewing;  James  Dewing,  Stephen  G.  Earl,  Ben- 
jamin A.  Bush,  George  Bardeen,  of  Otsego, 
George  D.  Cobb,  of  Schoolcraft,  Charles  L.  Cobb 
and  Hiram  A.  Delano,  of  Allegan,  with  others  of 
equal  prominence  and  business  capacity.  The 
plant  was  erected  in  1891  and  1892,  and  has  a 
capacity  of  sixty  thousand  stoves  and  ranges, 
covering  all  styles  of  cooking  and  heating  stoves, 


424 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


which  are  sold  direct  to  the  users,  and  the  com- 
pany is  one  of  the  pioneers  in  this  line  of  manu- 
factures in  this  country.  They  sell  their  wares 
all  over  the  United  States  and  Canada,  employing 
in  their  manufacture  four  hundred  persons  in 
addition  to  an  office  force  of  forty  persons.  Their 
products  are  first  class  in  every  respect  and  stand  at 
the  head  of  the  market.  The  business  is  conducted 
with  the  closest  attention  to  every  detail  in  con- 
struction and  management,  and  no  effort  is  omit- 
ted necessary  to  secure  the  best  results  in  every 
way.  William  Thompson,  the  founder  and  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  company,  is  a  native  of  Louis- 
ville, Ky.,  where  he  began  his  business  career  as 
a  boy  in  his  uncle's  foundry  and  store.  In  1885 
he  left  Louisville  and  came  to  Detroit,  where  he 
found  employment  for  five  years  as  a  traveling 
salesman  for  the  Detroit  Stove  Works.  He  then 
went  to  St.  Louis  as  general  superintendent  of 
the  Buck's  Stove  and  Range  Company,  and  was 
next  associated  with  the  Cribben  &  Sexton  Com- 
pany of  Chicago  in  the  same  capacity,  remaining 
with  that  company  two  years.  From  Chicago  he 
moved  to  Kalamazoo  and  organized  the  company 
with  which  he  is  now  so  prominently  connected. 
For  this  company  he  has  built  up  a  large  and  in- 
creasing business,  and  at  the  same  time  has  es- 
tablished himself  as  one  of  the  most  capable  and 
successful  business  men  in  the  city.  They  have 
enlarged  the  plant  by  the  erection  of  a  storeroom 
three  hundred  by  two  hundred  and  twenty-five 
feet,  of  brick,  having  track  room  from  both  the 
Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  and  the  Kala- 
mazoo &  Southern  Railroads.  They  have  also 
more  than  doubled  the  factory  by  erecting  a 
building  over  seven  hundred  and  sixty-four  feet 
in  length  by  one  hundred  and  twenty  in  width. 
He  is  a  practical  stove  man,  with  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  enterprise  in  all  its  features,  and 
is  ever  ready  to  seize  and  profitably  employ  any 
opportunity  that  may  be  offered  to  further  his 
undertakings.  In  the  general  commercial  life  of 
the  community  he  has  taken  an  active  and  help- 
ful interest,  and  while  without  political  ambition 
for  public  office,  he  has  shown  always  a  good 
citizen's  activity  in  public  affairs  wherein  the  gen- 
eral welfare  of  the  people  is  involved.     No  man 


stands  higher  in  Kalamazoo,  and  none  is  more 
worthy  of  the  regard  in  which  he  is  generaliv 
held.  ' 

LEANDER  CANNON. 

One  of  the  revered  pioneers  of  Brady  town- 
ship, this  county,  now  living  near  Vicksburg, 
Leander  Cannon  saw  this  region  when  it  was  al- 
most in  its  pristine  wildness  and  was  still  inhab- 
ited by  the  savage  denizens  of  the  forest,  man  and 
beast,  and  he  has  rendered  his  full  share  of  help 
in  changing  it  to  its  present  condition  of  high  de- 
velopment, productiveness  and  industrial  activity. 
He  is  a  native  of  Venice,  Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.. 
born  on  August  8,  1830,  and  the  son  of  Thomas 
J.  and  Amelia  (Craft)  Cannon,  natives  of  New 
York.  The  grandfather,  also  named  Thomas  Can- 
non, was  born  in  Ireland  and  emigrated  to  this 
country  prior  to  the  Revolution,  in  which  he  took 
an  active  part,  serving  more  than  seven  years  as  a 
private  soldier  in  the  Continental  army.  After 
the  close  of  the  war  he  settled  in  Cayuga  county, 
N.  Y.,  where  he  died  at  a  good  old  age  after 
many  years  passed  in  successful  farming.  His 
son  Thomas  J.  was  also  a  farmer,  and  passed  his 
life  in  his  native  county,  where  he  died  in  1834. 
He  was  married  twice  and  had  two  children  by 
each  wife,  by  the  second  his  son  Leander  and  a 
daughter,  xAxlaline,  who  married  Thomas  B.  Fin 
lay;  she  died  February  12,  1899.  After  his  death 
his  widow  was  married  to  James  Wilson,  and  in 
1837  the  family  moved  to  Michigan  and  first  lo- 
cated in  Leroy  township,  Calhoun  county,  enter- 
ing government  land  on  which  they  lived  until 
the  winter  of  1842-3,  when  Mr.  Wilson  ex- 
changed the  land  for  the  farm  now  owned  by  Mr. 
Cannon,  in  Brady  township,  this  county.  The 
land  was  then  covered  with  a  dense  growth  of 
timber,  and  was  wholly  unimproved.  The  family, 
consisting  of  Mr.  Wilson,  his  wife  and  her  two 
children,  moved  on  the  place  in  the  spring  of 
1843,  making  their  home  in  a  small  log  cabin 
which  they  built.  The  step-father  died  in  Cali- 
fornia, but  the  mother  passed  away  some  years 
before  on  the  farm.  Mr.  Cannon  grew  to  man- 
hood on  this  farm,  which  he  still  owns,  and 
cleared  the  whole  of  the  place.    The  humble  dwcl- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


425 


ling,  which  he  erected  in  1854,  is  still  standing 
on  the  place,  but  in  1882  he  built  his  present  resi- 
dence on  it,  which  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  county. 
On  February  11,  1855,  ne  was  married  to  Miss 
Charlotte  M.  Boughton,  a  native  of  Genesee 
county,  N.  Y.,  and  a  daughter  of  Amos  IT.  and 
Desire  (Wolcott)  Boughton,  who  came  to  Michi- 
gan in  1837  and  located  in  this  county,  in  Pavilion 
township,  where  Mrs.  Cannon's  grandfather, 
Krastus  Wolcott,  had  settled  five  years  before. 
Her  parents  lived  and  died  in  that  township. 
Mr.  ami  Mrs.  Cannon  have  five  children:  May- 
belle,  wife  of  E.  D.  Heeter,  of  Dayton,  Ohio; 
Thomas  E.,  who  is  married  and  has  one  child,  a 
daughter;  Warren  B.,  of  Kalamazoo;  Gertrude, 
wife  of  E.  A.  Edmunds,  of  Wisconsin;  and 
Claud  G.,  of  Appleton,  Wis.  Politically  Mr.  Can- 
non has  always  adhered  to  the  Democratic  party, 
but  he  has  never  sought  or  desired  public  office. 
Fraternally  he  is  a  Freemason  of  long  standing. 
The  family  stand  high  in  the  different  sections  of 
the  county,  being  held  in  the  highest  respect  by 
all  classes  of  the  people. 

OZRO  M.  HALE. 

Our  world  is  one  of  expensive  races,  each  liv- 
ing at  the  expense  of  others,  and  largely  devoted 
to  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  Neither  reason  nor 
humanity  can  remove  the  conditions,  yet  the  eye 
of  a  true  discernment  can  see  in  all  the  plan  the 
necessity  for  its  operation  and  its  wisdom.  When 
our  forefathers  took  possession  of  any  new  section 
of  our  country  they  found  its  savage  inhabitants, 
man  and  beast  and  reptile,  already  in  occupation 
and  armed  against  them.  And  while  the  dis- 
possession of  the  aboriginal  denizens  looks  harsh 
;nid  unjust  to  a  superficial  observation,  it  is  seen 
to  be,  on  closer  inspection,  an  inevitable  part  of 
nature's  great  purpose  to  evolve  the  highest  form 
of  life  and  sustain  it  in  its  beneficent  endeavors. 
To  maintain  the  type  and  develop  it  to  ultimate 
perfection  is  the  scheme,  and  in  the  effort  the  de- 
struction of  individuals,  hostile  tribes  and  races, 
and  all  other  opposing  forces,  is  one  of  the  essen- 
tial methods,  removing  them  out  of  the  way  of 
the  march  of  progress  and  making  them  even 


ministers  to  its  requirements.  So,  in  the  early 
days  of  the  history  of  this  county,  that  is,  in  1844, 
when  the  parents  of  Ozro  M.  Hale  settled  on  its 
soil,  it  was  plainly  their  duty  to  make  their  ene- 
mies of  field  and  steam  and  forest  give  way  to 
their  superior  right  and  subserve  their  wants. 
The  sunset  of  the  red  man  was  already  approach- 
ing, and  by  the  rule  of  the  general  advance  of 
civilizing  forces  he  was  obliged  to  accept  his  des- 
tiny;  and  the  beasts,  birds  and  reptiles  of  prey, 
which  had  so  long  lived  on  the  land  without  im- 
proving it,  were  necessarily  doomed  to  the  ex- 
tinction in  their  turn  which  the)*  had  for  ages 
practiced  on  other  forms  of  life.  But  none  the 
less  did  this  fact  entail  hardships  and  arduous 
struggles  upon  the  newcomers.  But  they,  and 
others  of  their  class,  had  come  into  the  wilderness 
with  a  will  to  face  any  danger  that  lay  in  the  path 
of  duty,  and  make  the  most  of  the  new  conditions 
surrounding  them.  The  present  high  develop- 
ment of  the  section,  with  all  its  wealth  of  material, 
intellectual  and  moral  greatness,  shows  how  well 
they  did  their  part  in  the  great  purposes  of  human 
history.  Ozro  M.  Hale  was  born  on  January  19, 
1840,  at  Medina,  Lenawee  county,  this  state,  and 
is  the  son  of  Ezekiel  N.  and  Martha  A.  (Daniels) 
Hale,  the  former  a  native  of  Poultney,  Vt.,  and 
the  latter  of  Scipio,  N.  Y.  The  father  was  born 
on  July  12,  1804,  the  son  of  David  Hale,  whose 
life  began  on  September  4,  1780.  The  latter  was 
a  son  of  a  Revolutionary  soldier  and  a  member  of 
the  celebrated  New  England  family  of  the  name 
who  took  an  active  and  valiant  part  in  the  momen- 
tous struggle  for  independence,  another  member 
of  which  laid  his  life  on  the  altar  of  his  country, 
the  renowned  patriot,  Captain  Nathan  Hale,  who 
was  executed  for  work  in  the  secret  service  on 
Long  Island,  September  22,  1776,  without  even 
the  form  of  a  trial.  David  Hale,  the  grand- 
father of  Ozro,  was  reared  in  his  native  state,  and 
in  his  early  manhood  moved  to  Orleans  county, 
N.  Y.,  and  in  1838  came  from  there  with  teams 
through  the  wilderness  to  Kalamazoo  county  and 
bought  the  farm  in  Comstock  township  on  which 
the  grandson  now  lives.  After  partially  clearing 
this  farm  he  moved  to  Galesburg,  building  one  of 
the  first  houses  in  the  village,  which  is  still  stand- 


426 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


ing,  and  in  which  he  and  his  wife  died.     They 
were  members  of  the  Congregational  church  and 
earnest  workers  in  its  interest,  helping  to  build 
for  the  sect  its  first  church  edifice  in  the  county. 
Their   son,    Ezekiel    Hale,   grew   to   manhood   in 
Vermont,  and  soon  afterward  moved  to  Medina, 
N.  Y.     Here  he  learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter 
and   afterward   made   it   his   occupation   through 
life,  with  an  interval  of  a  few  years  in  which  he 
was  engaged  in  milling  and  merchandising  at  Me- 
dina, and  in  which  his  ventures  were  unsuccess- 
ful.   In,  1840  he  came  to  Michigan,  and  four  years 
later  joined  his  father  on  the  farm  in  this  county. 
The  country  was   in  its  pristine  wildness  when 
he  took  up  his  residence  on  the  farm,  and  he  at 
once  became  a  vigorous  worker  in  promoting  its 
settlement     and     cultivation.      Later    in    life    he 
changed  his  residence  to  the  city  of  Kalamazoo, 
where  his  wife  died  in  1870  and  he  in  1888.   They 
had  two  sons  and  four  daughters,  all  of  whom 
are  living  but  one  daughter,  and  the  sons  and  one 
daughter  are  residents  of  this  county.     The  par- 
ents  were   members   of  the   Baptist   church   and 
aided   in   founding  the  college  and  building  the 
early  houses  of  worship  for  the  denomination  of 
their  choice.    The  father  was  a  captain  in  the  New 
York  militia  and  otherwise  a  man  of  local  promi- 
nence in  New  York  and  this  state.     The  imme- 
diate subject  of  this  sketch  was  but  four  years 
old   when   the    family   located   on    the   Comstock 
farm,   and  his  childhood,  youth  and  early  man- 
hood were  passed  in  a  virgin  country  amid  all  its 
difficulties  and   dangers.     His    schooling   at   the 
country  schools  was  neither  extensive  nor  thor- 
ough, but  he  had  ever  the"  great  book  of  nature 
open  before  him,  and  he  found  the  words  written 
there  so  plain  and  simple,  and  the  lessons  they 
taught  so  comprehensive  that  they  largely  made 
up   for  his   academic   deficiencies.     At  an   early 
age  he  took  charge  of  the  farm,  and  he  has  de- 
voted his  time  to  its  improvement  and  cultivation 
ever  since  except  during  his  military  service  in 
the  Civil  war.     For  this  contest  he  enlisted  in 
1864  in   Company  E,   Tenth   Michigan  Veteran 
Volunteer  Infantry,   and  was   soon  after  at  the 
front  in  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.    He  fought 
at  the  battle  of  Nashville  and  in  other  engage- 


ments in  Tennessee  and  the  Carolinas,  being  at 
Goldsboro,  N.  C,  when  one  of  the  last  battles 
of  the  war  was  fought  on  March  10,  1865.  He 
was  afterward  in  the  grand  review  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  and  a  short  time  later  was  mustered 
out  of  the  service.  Returning  then  to  this  county , 
he  resumed  his  farming  operations,  in  which  he 
has  been  continuously  engaged  from  then  to  the 
present  time  (1904).  In  1866  he  started  the 
fruit-growing  enterprise  which  he  has  developed 
to  such  large  proportions  and  made  so  profitable. 
He  first  set  out  one  thousand  apple  trees  and  has 
since  added  two  thousand  five  hundred  peach  trees 
and  one  thousand  of  plums  and  other  fruit.  He 
is  also  extensively  occupied  in  raising  forest  trees 
for  fencing  and  railroad  ties.  In  1873  ne  -was 
married,  in  Comstock  township,  to  Miss  Elmira 
Glidden,  a  native  of  Waverly,  Van  Buren  county, 
a  daughter  of  Stephen  and  Mary  J.  (Peabody) 
Glidden,  who  were  born  in  New  York  and  were 
early  settlers  in  Van  Buren  county.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hale  have  had  six  children,  Laura  Viola, 
a  graduate  of  Kalamazoo  College  and  a  teacher 
at  Waupauton,  Wis. ;  Milton  (deceased)  ;  Fred- 
erick S.,  Arthur  B.,  May  A.,  and  Nellie  P.  Mr. 
Hale  is  a  Republican  but  not  an  active  partisan. 
His  church  affiliation  is  with  the  Baptists. 

LUTHER  BURROUGHS. 

It  is  the  iron  law  of  fate  which  nature  thun- 
ders at  us  in  these  northern  climates  that  she 
requires  each  man  to  feed  himself.  If,  happily, 
his  fathers  have  left  him  no  inheritance,  he  must 
go  to  work,  and  by  making  his  wants  less  or  his 
gains  more,  he  must  draw  himself  out  of  that 
state  of  pain  and  ignominy  in  which  the  beggar 
lies.  She  spreads  her  bounties  before  us  and 
cordially  invites  us  to  partake  of  them,  but  fixes 
on  each  an  inexorable  price  of  toil  and  endurance 
that  makes  them  worth  the  having  but  harder  to 
get,  and  gives  us  no  rest,  starving,  taunting  and 
tormenting  us,  until  each  has  fought  his  way 
to  his  own  loaf.  There  is  abundance  for  all,  but 
each  must  work  his  way  to  his  own  portion.  And 
under  this  dispensation  the  acquisitions  of  a  man 
are  most  often  the  gauge  and  indicates  the  trend 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


427 


of  his  power.  Obliged  from  an  early  age  to  help 
in  providing  for  his  wants,  the  late  Luther  Bur- 
roughs, of  Comstock  township,  this  County, 
learned  in  his  youth  this  valuable  lesson,  and  its 
force  never  escaped  him  in  after  life.  He  was 
frugal  and  thrifty  in  all  his  history,  and  with 
diligence  augmented  by  sharp  necessity  and  a 
worthy  ambition,  he  made  steady  progress  in  the 
struggle  for  advancement  among  men,  yet  not  for 
a  day  did  he  forget  his  duty  to  his  kind  and  their 
claims  upon  his  consideration.  Mr.  Burroughs 
was  born  on  December  12,  1828,  in  Monroe 
county,  N.  Y.,  and  there  his  parents,  Daniel  and 
Sarah  (Schofield)  Burroughs,  also  were  born 
and  reared.  The  father  was  a  cooper,  but  fol- 
lowed farming  during  the  latter  years  of  his  life. 
The  mother  died  in  their  New  York  home  in  1841 
and  the  next  year  the  father  came  alone  to  Kala- 
mazoo county,  leaving  his  orphan  children  in  the 
care  of  friends  in  their  native  state.  He  took  up 
his  residence  in  Cooper  township  and  wrought 
at  his  trade,  also  doing  considerable  hunting  and 
trapping.  Later  he  moved  to  the  village  of  Com- 
stock, and  some  little  time  afterward  bought  a 
tract  of  land  in  the  township  and  turned  his  at- 
tention to  farming.  He  died  at  the  home  of  his 
son,  Luther,  on  August  19,  1871.  Of  the  four 
sons  and  two  daughters  in  the  family  only  one 
son  is  now  living,  Dr.  O.  F.  Burroughs,  of  Gales- 
burg,  this  county.  In  political  faith  the  father 
was  first  a  Whig  and  afterward  a  Republican, 
and  he  was  strong  in  advocacy  of  the  principles 
of  his  party.  Luther  Burroughs  grew  to  man- 
hood in  his  native  state  and  was  educated  there. 
He  passed  one  winter  of  his  minority  with  his 
father  in  Michigan,  and  came  here  to  live  per- 
manently in  1849.  Soon  after  his  arrival  he 
bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  govern- 
ment land  in  Comstock  township,  which  was  his 
home  until  his  death,  on  March  25,  1899,  at  tne 
age  of  seventy-one,  having  been  a  resident  of 
the  county  a  full  fifty  years.  He  took  his  land 
as  nature  gave  it  to  him,  without  the  touch  of  a 
civilizing  hand,  and  accepting  her  conditions  of 
toil  and  privation,  danger  and  difficulty,  gave  his 
best  energies  to  the  work  of  clearing  it  and  mak- 
ing it  comely  and  productive.     In  this  he  suc- 


ceeded well,  and  left  it  at  his  death  well  im- 
proved with  all  the  comforts  and  supplied  with  all 
the  needed  equipments  of  an  excellent  farm.  On 
February  2J,  1857,  ne  Mmted  m  marriage  with 
Miss  Rebecca  Smith,  who  was  born  in  Hamp- 
shire, England,  and  came  to  the  United  States 
with  her  parents  when  she  was  but  six  months 
old.  She  grew  to  womanhood  in  the  state  of 
Xew  York,  and  there  her  parents,  Henry  and 
Lydia  (Nargate)  Smith,  died.  She  and  Mr.  Bur- 
roughs became  the  parents  of  seven  children  and 
four  of  them  are  living,  Henry,  a  resident  of 
Eaton  county,  Mich.,  and  George  E.,  Maggie  and 
Albert  L.,  of  Comstock  township,  this  county, 
the  daughter  making  her  home  at  Galesburg.  The 
father  was  a  Republican  from  the  foundation  of 
the  party,  but  he  was  never  an  active  partisan  or 
aspired  to  public  office.  He  was  a  devout  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and  ac- 
tive in  behalf  of  its  every  interest.  Bearing  a  fam- 
ily name  honored  in  many  parts  of  this  country, 
as  well  as  in  England,  he  ever  bore  it  without  re- 
proach, and  made  it  wherever  he  was  known  a 
synonym  for  honesty  of  purpose,  uprightness  of 
life,  enterprise  and  an  elevated  though  not  os- 
tentatious public  spirit.  His  widow  is  now  living 
at  Galesburg,  where  she  has  a  beautiful  and  hos- 
pitable home.  In  all  her  husband's  aspirations 
and  efforts  for  advancement  she  bore  a  helpful 
part,  and  by  both  counsel  and  earnest  aid  was 
of  material  assistance  in  his  progress. 

H.  DALE  ADAMS. 

This  well  known  citizen,  prominent  politician 
and  industrious  farmer  of  Kalamazoo  county, 
who  is  now  living  at  Galesburg,  has  been  a  resi- 
dent of  the  county  for  more  than  fifty  years,  and 
his  father  first  looked  upon  its  virgin  prairies  and 
mighty  primeval  forests  seventy-two  years  ago, 
making  a  visit  here  for  inspection  in  1832,  and 
in  that  year  purchasing  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  of  wild  land  in  Climax  township,  on  which 
he  settled  twenty  years  later.  Mr.  Adams  was 
born  on  September  18,  1828,  at  Hoosick,  Rens- 
selaer county,  N.  Y.,  the  son  of  Jervis  D.  and 
Bethany  (Wyant)   Adams,  natives  of  that  state 


428 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


also,  and  born  in  Saratoga  county.     The  father's 
father  died  while  he  was  yet  an  infant,  and  he 
was  reared  by  his  mother  in  his  native  county 
to  the  age  of  eight  years,  and  then  went  to  live 
with  his  uncle,  Pelig  Adams,  who  was  renowned 
for  his  great  strength.     He  had  no  educational 
advantages  in  the  schools,  but  by  his  own  endeav- 
ors in  general  reading  and  study  became  a  well 
informed  man.     His  early  life  was  passed  in  the 
state  of  New  York  at  various  places,  and  last  in 
Monroe  county,  from  where  he  came  to  Michi- 
gan to  reside  permanently  in  1852,  locating  then 
on  the  land  of  his   early  purchase.     From  De- 
troit to  this  county  he  made  the  journey  on  foot, 
sleeping  unsheltered  in  the  woods.     His  land  in 
this  county  was  in  the  Oak  Openings,  and  on  this 
he  ended  his  days,  dying  on  March  11,  1881.  Be- 
fore he  went  hence  he  cleared  much  of  his  land 
and  converted  it  into  a  good  farm,  being  an  in- 
defatigable worker  and  making  every  stroke  of 
his  energy  tell  to  advantage.    Four  sons  and  four 
daughters  of  the  children  born  in  the  household 
grew  to  maturity,  and  of  these  two  sons  and  one 
daughter  are  now  residents  of  this  county  and 
two  other  daughters  are  living  elsewhere,  the  rest 
having  died.     The  mother  also  has  passed  away, 
ending  her  life  in  1895,  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine 
years.     Both  parents  were  of  Quaker  parentage 
and  they  practiced  through  life  the  tenets  of  that 
faith  and  thereby  won  the  lasting  regard  of  all 
who  knew   them.     Their  son,   H.   Dale  Adams, 
reached  manhood  in  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  and 
attended  the  common  schools  near  his  home,  the 
Clover    Street   Seminary   at   Brighton    and    the 
Rochester  Collegiate  Institute,  the  last  named  being 
then  in  charge  of  Dr.  Chester  Dewey,  a  noted  edu- 
cator of  the  period.  In  1850  Mr.  Adams  migrated 
to  Michigan  and  began  the  improvement  of  his 
father's   land   in   Climax  township,   this   county, 
clearing  the  first  twenty  acres  and  erecting  the 
first  buildings  on  it.     He  made  his  home  on  this 
farm  until  a  year  after  the  arrival  of  his  parents, 
then,    in    1853,  returned  to  Rochester,    N.    Y., 
where  he  spent  two  years.     His  wife's  maiden 
name  was  Eliza  S.  Judson,  and  she  was  a  native 
of  Ulster  county,  N.  Y.,  the  daughter  of  William 
and  Johanna  (Brinsmade)  Judson,  who  became 


residents  of  Kalamazoo  county  in  1836,  locating 
at  Schoolcraft.  Mr.  and  Mrs  Adams  have  four 
children,  Fannie  M.,  the  wife  of  William  Smith, 
Josiah  J.,  a  lumberman  of  northern  Michigan, 
Bertha  A.,  wife  of  Charles  W.  Wright,  of  Grand 
Rapids,  and  Dorr  B.,  who  is  living  in  Oregon. 
After  his  return  to  this  county  in  the  '50s,  Mr. 
Adams  bought  a  farm  in  Comstock  township, 
which  he  improved  and  lived  on  many  years.  In 
1890  he  moved  to  Galesburg,  where  he  has  since 
resided.  He  has  served  as  postmaster  of  this  vil- 
lage, and  has  always  taken  active  part  in  political 
affairs  of  the  county  as  a  leading  Democrat. 

HON.   JESSE  R.   CROPSEY. 

Occupying  now  a  political  office  of  command- 
ing influence  in  the  public  life  of  the  state  as  state 
senator  from  this  county,  Hon.  Jesse  R.   Crop- 
sey,  of  Vicksburg,  is  enjoying,  in  part  at  least,  the 
reward  for  his  long  and  valuable  services  to  his 
party  and  the  people  of  the  county,  and  is  thereby 
justly  recognized  as  one  of  the  leading  and  most 
able  citizens  of  this  part  of  the  state.     He  was 
born  in  the  county  in  Brady  township,  on  April 
27,  1866,  and  is  the  son  of  Alexander  and  Anna 
(Valentine)  Cropsey,  both  natives  of  the  state  of 
New  York,  the  father  born  at  Pulaski  on  Sep- 
tember 24,  1844,  and  the  mother  at  Nassua,  Sep- 
tember 27,  1843.     For  many  years  the  father  has 
followed  the  peaceful  and  productive  pursuit  of 
farming;  but  when  the  dark  cloud  of  the  Civil 
war  overshadowed  the  country  in  1861,  he  was 
among  the  first  to  go  to  the  defense  of  the  Union, 
enlisting  in   Company   K,    Nineteenth   Michigan 
Volunteer  Infantry,  enlisting  as  a  private  on  Au- 
gust 7,  1862,  being  later  made  corporal  of  Com- 
pany K.    He  served  to  the  close  of  the  awful  con- 
test, being  mustered  out  in  1865.     His  regiment 
was  assigned  to  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  and 
.took  part  in  all  the  terrible  fighting  done  by  that 
branch  of  the  service,  among  the  battles  in  which 
Mr.  Cropsey  was  engaged  being  those  at  Thomp- 
son's Station,  Tenn.,  Resaca,  Ga.,  Cassville,  New- 
hope  Church,  Golgotha,  Culp's  Farm,  Peachtree 
Creek,  siege  of  Atlanta,  siege  of  Savannah,  Ga., 
Following  that  they  moved  into  North  Carolina 


JESSE  R.  CROPSEY. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


43i 


and  were  at  Averasboro  and  Bentonville.  They 
served  through  the  Carolinas  and  in  the  Grand 
Review  at  Washington.  Mr.  Cropsey  was  pres- 
ent wrhen  the  city  of  Atlanta  was  surrendered 
and  was  among  the  very  first  to  enter  after  the 
surrender.  At  the  battle  of  Thompson's  Sta- 
tion, Tenn.,  he  was  taken  prisoner  and  for  thirty 
days  thereafter  he  languished  in  Libby  Prison 
and  other  points  and  suffered  all  the  hardships 
of  these  unutterably  loathsome  places.  He  was 
then  paroled  and  returned  home,  but  again  en- 
tered the  service  in  1863.  Returning  to  Kalama- 
zoo county  after  the  war,  he  accepted  a  position 
as  foreman  of  a  fence  gang  under  the  Grand 
Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad,  and  in  this  capacity 
superintended  the  building  of  many  miles  of 
fence.  He  then  engaged  in  farming  until  1889, 
when  he  moved  to  the  village  of  Vicksburg, 
where  he  has  since  resided,  being  engaged  in 
merchandising.  He  is  a  member  of  George  Acker* 
Post,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  of  Vicks- 
burg. He  and  his  wife  are  the  parents  of  three 
children,  all  sons,  and  all  living  but  one  who  died 
January  8,  1905.  The  paternal  grandfather, 
Robert  Cropsey,  who  was  born  in  New  York 
state,  came  to  this  county  about  the  year  1842, 
and  died  here  soon  afterward.  Senator  Cropsey 
was  reared  in  Brady  township  and  educated  in 
the  public  schools  and  the  Vicksburg  high  school. 
Immediately  on  leaving  school  he  began  the  study 
of  law  in  the  office  of  E.  A.  Crone,  of  Kalama- 
zoo, and  in  1890  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He 
then  located  at  Vicksburg,  and  there  has  ever 
since  lived  and  practiced  his  profession.  Always 
active  and  influential  in  public  affairs,  he  served 
three  terms  as  township  clerk,  and  two  terms  as 
circuit  court  commissioner.  In  the  fall  of  1904 
the  party  to  which  he  has  rendered  great  service 
from  the  dawn  of  his  manhood  turned  to  him 
with  great  earnestness  and  unanimity  to  become 
its  candidate  for  the  exalted  office  of  state  sena- 
tor, and  in  the  ensuing  election  he  was  successful 
by  a  large  majority.  He  had  previously  been 
nominated  as  presidential  elector,  but  when  he 
received  the  senatorial  nomination  he  withdrew 
from  the  other  candidacy.  Although  the  present 
is  his  first  service  in  the  legislature,  he  is  not 
24 


without  extensive  and  valuable  experience  in  con- 
nection with  governmental  affairs.  He  has  fre- 
quently been  a  delegate  to  the  county,  state  and 
district  conventions  of  his  party,  and  has  been  a 
leading  member  of  its  county  central  committee. 
And  the  courage  and  wisdom  he  has  displayed 
in  campaign  work  from  time  to  time  is  an 
earnest  that  his  service  in  the  legislative  body 
to  which  he  has  been  chosen  will  be  judicious  and 
valuable,  and  that  his  career  there  will  be  marked 
by  breadth  of  view,  readiness  and  resourceful- 
ness, a  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  needs  of 
his  county  and  the  state,  and  a  loyal  devotion  to 
every  interest  of  the  people.  He  was  on  the  fol- 
lowing committees  during  the  session  of  1905 : 
Judiciary  committee,  constitutional  amendments, 
federal  relation,  school  for  the  blind,  also  deaf 
and  dumb,  Eastern  Insane  Asylum,  and  the  North- 
ern Normal.  He  is  now  serving  his  fourth  year 
as  president  of  the  village  board  of  education. 
Highly  endowed  by  nature  with  force  of  charac- 
ter and  intellectual  power,  and  trained  in  the  rou- 
tine of  public  work,  equipped  with  an  extensive 
fund  of  general  information  and  fortified  with 
uprightness  of  motive  and  high  integrity,  he  is 
unusually  well  fitted  for  the  post  to  which  he  has 
been  chosen,  and  his  election  reflects  credit  on 
the  electors  of  his  county  even  more  than  on  him 
as  their  choice.  Senator  Cropsey  was  married 
in  189 1  to  Miss  Carrie  B.  Yates,  of  Brady  town- 
ship, whose  parents  were  early  pioneers  there. 
One  child  has  blessed  their  union,  their  son,  Rob- 
ert E.  The  Senator  is  a  zealous  member  of  the 
Masonic  order  and  its  adjunct,  the  Order  of  the 
Eastern  Star,  a  Knight  of  Pythias  and  a  Knight 
of  the  Maccabees.  He  is  generous  in  fostering 
and  promoting  the  church  interests  and  educa- 
tional forces  of  the  county,  and  lends  his  aid 
without  stint  to  every  commendable  industrial 
and  commercial  enterprise  and  every  public 
movement  in  which  the  welfare  of  the  county  or 
the  improvement  of  its  people  is  involved.  &  <•-*    * -;•*-!• 

DUNN   &   CLAPP. 

Good  banking  facilities  in  a  community, 
founded  on  a  sound  basis,  convenient  of  access 
and  liberal  in  accommodation,  are  among  its  most 


432 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


serviceable  and  productive  agencies  for  carrying 
on  its  multiform  business.  The  township  of  Corn- 
stock,  this  county,  has  at  Galesburg  such  agencies 
in  the  banking  house  of  Messrs.  Dunn  &  Clapp, 
a  private  bank  which  does  a  general  banking  busi- 
ness, receiving  deposits,  issuing  drafts,  making 
loans,  and  conducting  every  other  feature  of  the 
banking  line  as  at  present  managed  in  such  insti- 
tutions. This  bank  was  founded  in  1894  by  Sid- 
ney Dunn  and  Thaddeus  S.  Clapp  as  a  successor 
to  the  similar  enterprise  of  Messrs.  Olmstead  & 
Storms,  which  failed  there  and  the  fixtures  of 
which  were  purchased  by  Dunn  &  Clapp.  In  the 
ten  years  of  its  life  this  bank  has  won  a  high  repu- 
tation for  the  care  and  skill  of  its  management, 
the  promptness  and  accuracy  of  its  methods,  and 
the  liberality  of  its  policy.  It  ranks  among  the 
best  and  safest  institutions  of  its  kind  in  the 
county  and  has  a  large  body  of  well  satisfied  pa- 
trons and  an  extensive  business  which  lays  under 
tribute  all  the  surrounding  country.  It  is  on  an 
ascending  scale  of  prosperity  and  magnitude,  and 
while  the  profits  to  its  owners  is  of  gratifying 
volume,  its  accommodations  to  the  community  are 
fully  in  proportion,  and  the  esteem  in  which  it  is 
held  is  commensurate  with  both,  Thaddeus  S. 
Clapp,  one  of  its  enterprising  proprietors,  is  de- 
scended from  an  old  New  England  family  which 
dates  its  residence  on  American  soil  back  to  early 
colonial  days,  and  numbers  its  members  by  the 
host  in  all  the  useful  and  honorable  walks  of  life. 
The  American  progenitor  of  the  family,  Capt. 
Roger  Clapp,  arrived  at  Nantasket,  Mass.,  on 
May  30,  1630,  on  board  the  good  ship  "Mary  and 
John,"  from  his  native  Salcombe  in  Devonshire, 
England,  and  became  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
the  town  of  Dorchester.  He  married  Johanna 
Ford,  one  of  his  fellow-immigrants,  in  her  seven- 
teenth year,  he  being  in  his  twenty-fifth,  and  from 
this  youthful  couple  the  extensive  family  sprang. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  force  of  character  and  soon 
so  impressed  his  worth  on  the  approval  of  the 
settlers  of  Dorchester  that  they  gave  him  com- 
mand of  the  local  militia  and  chose  him  to  repre- 
sent the  town  in  the  General  Court.  In  1665  this 
body  appointed  him  commander  of  "the  Castle"  in 
Boston  harbor,  the  chief  fortress  of  the  province. 


He  died  on  February  2,  1690.  The  parents  of 
Thaddeus  S.  Clapp  were  Edwin  and  Mary  (Sted- 
man)  Clapp,  the  former  a  native  of  Onondaga 
and  the  latter  of  what  is  now  Livingston  county, 
N.  Y.  The  father  was  a  farmer,  and  in  1831  came 
to  Michigan  in  company  with  William  Earl. 
After  prospecting,  through  various  parts  of  the 
state,  he  located  in  Kalamazoo  county  on  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty  acres  of  land  in  the  present 
Charleston  township.  On  this  he  lived  about  ten 
years,  then  sold  it  and  moved  to  Comstock  town- 
ship, where  his  son  Thaddeus  was  born  on  Jan- 
uary 13,  1846.  The  elder  Clapp  was  a  man  of 
prominence  and  at  different  times  filled  almost 
every  office  in  the  gift  of  the  township  of  his  res- 
idence. Being  the  second  permanent  settler  on 
the  south  side  of  the  river  between  Goguac  Prai- 
rie, Calhoun  county,  and  the  village  of  Kalamazoo, 
as  it  was  then,  he  saw  all  there  was  of  pioneer 
4ife,  and  justified  the  general  commendations  he 
received  from  his  fellow  pioneers  by  the  stalwart 
and  determined  figure  he  made  in  it.  His  church 
affiliation  was  with  the  Congregationalists  and  his 
political  connection  with  the  Whigs  and  after- 
ward with  the  Republicans.  He  was  successful  in 
several  lines  of  business  and  an  example  of  lofty 
and  upright  manhood  in  social  and  public  life. 
He  and  his  wife  were  the  parents  of  five  children 
who  grew  to  maturity,  four  of  whom  are  living. 
Both  parents  died  at  their  final  home  in  the  city  of 
Kalamazoo.  Their  son  Thaddeus  was  reared  on 
the  paternal  homestead  and  educated  in  the  dis- 
trict schools  and  at  the  business  college  at  Pough- 
keepsie,  N.  Y.  After  leaving  school  he  gave  his 
attention  exclusively  to  farming  until  1894,  and 
still  owns  and  manages  four  hundred  and  eighty 
acres  of  fine  land  in  this  county.  In  1890  he  took 
us  his  residence  at  Galesburg,  and  here  he  has 
since  made  his  home,  having  one  of  the  best  and 
most  attractive  residences  in  the  village.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  interest  in  the  bank  he  owns  a  large 
block  of  stock  in  the  King  Paper  Company  of 
Kalamazoo.  He  was  married  in  1874  to  Miss 
Mary  Sherwood,  a  native  of  Maryland  whose 
parents  came  to  the  county  in  i860.  Three  sons 
have  been  born  of  the  union,  Edwin  S.,  Carl  C. 
and  Paul  T.    The  oldest  is  engaged  at  farming  in 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


433 


Oregon.  Mr.  Clapp  holds  his  political  allegiance 
with  the  Republican  party.  He  has  filled  a  num- 
ber of  local  offices  and  is  now  president  of  the 
village.  He  is  one  of  the  solid  business  men  of 
the  county,  with  a  high  order  of  capacity,  and  one 
ox  its  leading  and  most  representative  citizens. 

OLIVER  D.  CARSON. 

Residents'  of  Kalamazoo  county  for  more  than 
fifty  years,  father  and  son,  the  Carson  family 
have  been  potential  factors  in  its  growth  and 
prosperity  and  have  given  a  good  example  of 
what  can  be  made  of  its  soil  when  managed  with 
skill  and  industry  and  the  most  modern  and  com- 
plete appliances  in  the  domain  of  agriculture 
which  the  searching  eye  of  science  has  discovered 
and  the  cunning  hand  of  art  has  fashioned.  Mr. 
Carson  began  life  as  a  farmer  and  followed  that 
pursuit  until  1902  in  Comstock  township,  and 
then  being  appointed  postmaster  at  Galesburg, 
and  having  borne  a  goodly  portion  of  the  heat 
and  burden  of  the  day  in  his  operations,  disposed 
of  his  farm  and  took  up  his  residence  in  the 
village,  where  he  has  maintained  his  high  posi- 
tion already  won  in  the  regard  of  the  people  and 
rendered  them  good  service  in  an  important  of- 
ficial position  with  the  same  spirit  of  enterprise 
and  consideration  for  the  general  weal  that  he 
displayed  as  a  private  citizen  and  productive 
force  when  on  his  farm.  He  was  born  in  the 
county,  in  Richland  township,  on  April  1,  1863, 
and  is  the  son  of  David  and  Adeline  (Forder) 
Carson,  the  former  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and 
the  latter  of  Ohio.  They  were  farmers  and  be- 
came residents  of  Kalamazoo  county  in  1852  or 
,(^53>  locating  on  wild  land  which  they  improved 
c'nid  lived  on  until  death,  the  father  passing  away 
"i  T887  and  the  mother  in  July,  1903.  They  had 
three  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  living  and 
three  of  them  residents  of  this  county.  The 
father  was  a  leading  Republican  and  for  years 
served  the  township  faithfully  and  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  people  as  a  justice  of  the  peace. 
I  fe  was  a  charter  member  of  the  Masonic  lodge 
•it  Galesburg  and  took  a  great  interest  in  the  fra- 
ternal  life  of  the  community.     His   father,   the 


grandfather  of  Oliver,  was  born  and  reared  in 
Pennsylvania.  He  served  in  the  war  of  1812, 
and  at  other  times  during  his  life  was  a  progres- 
sive and  enterprising  farmer.  He  moved  to  Ohio 
when  his  son  was  five  years  old,  and  in  that 
state  he  and  his  wife  died  at  advanced  ages. 
Oliver  D.  Carson  grew  to  manhood  in  Richland 
township,  on  the  farm  on  which  he  was  born, 
and  received  his  education  in  the  district  schools. 
After  leaving  school  he  continued  for  himself 
the  occupation  in  which  he  had  been  engaged 
with  his  father  during  his  boyhood  and  youth. 
He  served  the  township  as  supervisor  one  term 
several  years  ago,  and  in  the  discharge  of  his 
official  duties  in  that  position  gave  signal  proof 
of  his  capacity  for  administration,  his  zeal  for 
the  public  good  and  his  breadth  of  view  and 
prdgressiveness.  In  1886  he  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Maria  Campbell,  of  this  county.  They 
have  one  child,  their  daughter  Adeline.  Mr.  Car- 
son is  a  Republican  in  politics  and  in  fraternal 
life  a  Freemason,  a  Knight  of  Pythias  and  a 
Knight  of  the  Maccabees. 

JACOB  SCHROEDER. 

For  nearly  half  a  century  Jacob  Schroeder, 
of  Galesburg,  a  retired  farmer  of  Comstock 
township,  has  been  a  resident  of  this  county,  and 
during  that  period  he  has  seen  the  wilderness 
emerge  from  its  darkened  and  fruitless  condition 
to  its  present  state  of  advanced  development  and 
high  productiveness,  assuming  by  steady  progress 
the  habiliments  of  civilization  and  comeliness,  and 
responding  with  greater  and  greater  abundance 
to  the  persuasive  hand  of  husbandry  and  industry 
and  industrial  enterprise.  In  the  change  he  has 
borne  his  full  share  of  the  labor  which  wrought  it, 
and  leaving  his  mark  on  the  region  in  beneficent 
results,  has  well  earned  the  rest  which  he  is  now 
quietly  enjoying  in  the  mild  and  pleasant  evening 
of  his  life.  He  is  a  native  of  Germany,  born  in 
the  province  of  Mechlenburg  in  July,  1835,  an<^ 
the  son  of  William  and  Mary  (Carp)  Schroeder, 
also  native  in  that  portion  of  the  fatherland.  The 
parents  were  farmers  all  through  their  lives. 
They  brought  their  family,  comprising  four  sons 


434 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


and  one  daughter,  to  this  country  in  1848,  and 
located  at  Lyons,  Wayne  county,  N.  Y.,  where 
they  remained  until  1855,  then  moved  to  Kala- 
mazoo county  and  located  on  a  tract  of  wild  land 
north  of  Galesburg.  They  at  once  began  to  clear 
this  land  and  make  it  habitable  and  productive, 
enduring  with  steady  courage  the  difficulties  and 
hardships  of  their  situation,  confronting  its  dan- 
gers bravely  and  steadfastly,  and  overcoming  the 
obstacles  to  their  progress  with  unceasing  indus- 
try and  thrift.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  they 
had  transformed  their  unbroken  wilds  into  a  com- 
fortable and  productive  home,  a  source  of  ease 
and  prosperity  to  them  and  of  increasing  wealth 
and  consequence  to  the  community.  On  this  land, 
which  their  enterprise  redeemed  from  the  waste 
and  planted  with  beneficent  fruitfulness,  the  par- 
ents died,  the  father  in  1887,  aged  eighty-three 
years,  and  the  mother  in  1892,  at  the  same  age. 
Two  of  their  sons  and  their  daughter  are  living 
and  are  residents  of  this  county.  The  parents 
were  worthy  and  well  esteemed  citizens  and  active 
members  of  the  German  Lutheran  church.  The 
first  thirteen  years  of  their  son  Jacob's  life  were 
passed  in  his  native  land,  and  there  he  received 
the  greater  part  of  his  education.  At  Lyons,  N. 
Y.,  he  learned  his  trade  as  a  blacksmith,  and  at 
this  he  worked  nine  years,  part  of  the  time  in 
Chicago  and  part  in  Iowa.  In  1855  he  came  to 
Kalamazoo  county,  and  during  the  first  two  years 
of  his  residence  here  worked  at  his  trade  in  the 
employ  of  William  Harrison.  Losing  his  right 
eye  at  the  forge,  he  abandoned  blacksmithing 
and  went  to  work  for  his  father  on  the  home 
farm.  Afterward  he  bought  a  farm  of  his  own 
which  he  has  since  fully  cleared  and  made  one 
of  the  best  in  his  township.  On  this  farm  he 
lived  until  1898,  when  he  bought  a  home  at 
Galesburg,  where  he  and  his  wife  have  since 
resided.  He  was  married  on  December  18,  1856, 
to  Miss  Barbara  Meyer,  a  native  of  Switzerland 
who  came  to  the  United  States  with  her  parents 
in  1853.  They  were  Frederick  and  Elizabeth 
(Zurlinden)  Meyer,  and  on  their  arrival  in  this 
country  came  almost  direct  to  Michigan,  locating 
in  Kent  county  and  moving  in  1857  to  Kalamazoo 
county,  where  in  the  course  of  time  they  both 


died.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schroeder  have  had  five 
children,  William  F.,  now  living  at  Galesburg, 
Rosa,  now  Mrs.  L.  Tuitt,  Charles,  of  Kalamazoo, 
Ernest,  of  Detroit,  and  Herman,  deceased.  Mr. 
Schroeder's  church  affiliation  is  with  the  German 
Lutherans.  In  politics  he  is  independent.  His 
wife  belongs  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church. 
Their  residence  in  this  county  has  been  for  the 
most  part  agreeable  and  they  have  prospered  here, 
winning  a  good  estate  by  their  industry  and  a 
lasting  place  in  public  esteem  by  their  worth. 

CAPTAIN  BARNARD  VOSBURG. 

With  unwavering  fidelity  to  duty,  whatever 
danger  or  difficulty  lay  in  its  pathway,  with  inflex- 
ible determination  in  a  course  wisely  chosen,  look- 
ing upon  facts  and  circumstances  to  command 
and  use  them,  not  to  cringe  to  them,  and  holding 
to  his  honor  as  with  the  tug  of  gravitation,  the 
late  Capt.  Barnard  Vosburg,  of  Comstock  town- 
ship, this  county,  was  a  positive,  high-minded 
man,  with  his  positiveness  all  on  the  right  side 
and  his  high-mindedness  resting  on  true  manli- 
ness and  lofty  ideals.  A  progressive  farmer  in 
times  of  peace,  pursuing  his  vocation  steadily 
under  difficulties  and  without  undue  elation  in  the 
midst  of  ease  and  prosperity,  he  was  equally  a 
gallant  soldier  when  duty  called  him  to  the  front, 
facing  the  dangers  of  the  service  with  a  courage 
that  was  as  quiet  and  constant  as  his  joy  over  the 
final  triumph  of  his  cause  was  considerate  and 
generous.  His  untimely  death,  on  December  21, 
1887,  at  a  little  less  than  sixty-one  years,  bereaved 
an  entire  community  and  robbed  it  of  one  of  the 
leading  and  forceful  spirits  which  had  built  it  up 
in  the  wilderness  and  made  it  great  with  all  the 
power  and  bright  with  all  the  beauty  of  an  ad- 
vanced and  all-conquering  civilization.  He  was 
born  on  January  18,  1827,  in  Columbia  county,  N. 
Y.,  which  was  also  the  place  of  nativity  of  his 
parents,  Richard  and  Caroline  (Van  Dusen)  Vos- 
burg. They  had  six  children,  of  whom  he  was 
the  fourth  born.  The  Captain  passed  his  early 
life  in  his  native  county  and  obtained  a  good  prac- 
tical education  in  its  schools.  On  December  26, 
1850,  he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Laura 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


435 


Yosburg,  a  native  of  the  same  county  as  himself, 
her  parents,  Cornelius  and  Catherine  (Whitbeck) 
Yosburg,  being  born  in  the  same  place.  She  was 
the  fifth  child  and  second  daughter  of  their  nine 
children,  and  was  carefully  reared  in  the  family 
home,  where  she  remained  until  her  marriage. 
Soon  after  this  event,  the  young  couple,  the  hus- 
band at  the  time  aged  about  twenty-seven  and  the 
wife  a  year  younger,  determined  to  come  west 
and  cast  their  lot  in  the  new  state  of  Michigan, 
which  was  just  then  generally  attractive  to  home- 
seekers  as  one  of  the  most  promising  regions  for 
future  development.  Accordingly  in  the  spring 
of  1854  they  became  residents  of  Kalamazoo 
county,  and  purchased  a  tract  of  two, hundred  and 
twenty  acres  of  choice  land  on  section  1  in  Corn- 
stock  township.  Here,  notwithstanding  the  dan- 
gers which  surrounded  them  and  the  hardships  of 
their  lot,  in  a  sparsely  settled  portion  of  the  wil- 
derness, they  resolutely  set  to  work  to  clear  their 
land  and  convert  it  into  a  habitable  and  productive 
farm.  In  this  endeavor  they  succeeded  so  well  by 
patient  and  persistent  industry,  aided  by  their 
sons  as  they  became  able  to  assist,  that  at  the  Cap- 
tain's death  it  was,  as  it  is  now,  one  of  the  best 
cultivated  and  most  highly  developed  rural  home- 
steads in  the  county.  The  Captain,  although  a 
stanch  Democrat,  was  a  strong  Union  and  anti- 
slavery  man,  and  when  the  storm  of  sectional 
strife,  which  had  long  been  threatening,  burst  on 
our  unhappy  country,  he  promptly  responded  to 
an  early  call  for  volunteers  to  defend  the  integrity 
of  the  Union,  and  enlisted  in  Company  A,  Thir- 
teenth Michigan  Infantry,  of  which  he  was  com- 
missioned captain,  and  in  addition  he  helped  to 
raise  a  company  at  Kalamazoo.  His  military 
career  brought  him  hard  and  dangerous  service  on 
southern  battlefields,  but  he  proved  himself  a  true 
>oldier  and  an  officer  of  intelligence  and  valor. 
After  the  war  he  was  one  of  the  leading  spirits 
in  organizing  Bronson  Post  of  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  of  which  he  was  an  active  and  zeal- 
ous member  until  his  death,  and  which  buried  his 
remains  with  military  honors  in  the  cemetery  at 
Galesburg,  assisted  by  Kalamazoo  Post  of  the 
same  organization.  His  widow,  a  most  estimable 
and  capable  woman,  survived  him  nearly  thirteen 


years,  passing  away  at  the  family  homestead  on 
November  7,  1901.  They  were  the  parents  of 
five  sons,  all  living:  Richard  H.,  a  resident  of 
North  Dakota;  Victor  A.,  a  farmer  of  Comstock 
township;  Frank  B.,  also  a  farmer  of  Comstock 
township;  John  W.,  for  years  a  teacher  in  the 
schools  of  the  township,  and  later  its  supervisor 
for  several  terms ;  and  Harry  D.,  who  is  located  in 
Dowagiac,  Mich. 

John  W.  Vosburg,  the  fourth  son  of  the  Cap- 
tain, was  born  on  March  9,  1864,  and  received  his 
education  in  the  district  schools  near  his  home, 
and  at  Galesburg.  After  completing  his  course 
he  taught  in  the  township  schools  nine  years. 
Then,  in  1896,  he  was  elected  supervisor  of  the 
township,  and  in  that  office  he  served  the  people 
faithfully  seven  years  in  succession.  He  is  a 
pronounced  and  active  Democrat  and  has  fre- 
quently been  a  delegate  to  the  county  conventions 
of  his  party.  Fraternally  he  belongs  to  the  order 
of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias.  He 
is  one  of  the  representative  and  influential  citizens 
of  the  county,  well  known  all  over  its  extent  and 
everywhere  highly  esteemed. 

DR.  WILLIAM  L.  McBETH. 

The  Scottish  people,  in  spite  of  their  traditional 
love  of  country  and  of  kin,  are  a  conquering  race, 
and  have  been  driven  by  their  restless  energy  and 
universal  adaptableness  to  every  quarter  of  the 
world,  establishing  themselves  among  all  civiliza- 
tions, dignifying  and  adorning  all  walks  of  life, 
coalescing  with  all  nationalities,  making  them- 
selves at  home  amid  all  circumstances,  and  show- 
ing their  national  and  personal  characteristics  to 
advantage  under  every  sky.  Many  of  them  were 
among  the  founders  of  Canadian  civilization  and 
its  subsequent  development,  and  many  became 
potential  in  the  settlement  and  upbuilding  of  our 
own  land ;  and  some  have  done  good  service  in 
both.  Among  those  belonging  to  the  class  last 
named  the  McBeth  family,  of  which  Dr.  William 
L.  McBeth,  of  Galesburg,  this  county,  is  a  mem- 
ber, is  entitled  to  a  high  rank  and  due  considera- 
tion. His  parents,  Andrew  and  Jane  (Lang) 
McBeth,    were   born    in   the    land   of   Scott   and 


43^ 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


Burns,  the  former  in  1795  and  the  latter  on  Au- 
gust 13,  1807.  The  father  emigrated  to  Canada 
about  1815  and  took  up  land  in  Manitoba,  where 
he  remained  eighteen  months.  From  there  he 
moved  to  Toronto  and  from  that  city  to  Bradford, 
South  Simcoe  county,  in  the  province  of  Ontario, 
where  he  farmed  until  his  death  in  1864,  and 
where  his  widow  still  has  her  home.  Of  the 
family  of  seven  children,  four  are  living,  the 
Doctor,  Barbara,  wife  of  Dr.  Sutherland,  of  Sag- 
inaw ;  James,  a  resident  of  Sanilac  county,  Mich. ; 
and  Andrew,  who  is  still  living  at  Bradford,  Can- 
ada. Dr.  William  L.  McBeth  is  the  second  born 
child  of  his  father's  second  marriage  and  was 
reared  and  educated  in  his  native  place,  Bradford, 
South  Simcoe  county,  Ontario,  where  he  was  born 
on  August  25,  1841.  His  scholastic  training  was 
completed  at  an  excellent  grammar  school  there, 
and  his  habits  of  useful  labor  and  physical  devel- 
opment were  obtained  in  the  work  on  his  father's 
farm,  on  which  he  lived  and  toiled  until  he  en- 
tered the  Victoria  Medical  College  at  Toronto, 
fram  which  he  was  graduated  in  1870.  Immedi- 
ately after  his  graduation  he  came  to  Michigan, 
and  after  practicing  his  profession  a  year  at  Sher- 
wood, Branch  county,  as  the  partner  of  Dr.  Fra- 
ser,  he  located  at  Prairieville,  Barry  county, 
where  he  was  actively  engaged  in  practice  for  a 
period  of  five  years.  In  1876  he  moved  to  Gales- 
burg,  this  county,  and  there  he  has  since  been 
continuously  in  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
covering  a  large  extent  of  country  in  his  benefi- 
cent ministrations  and  winning  by  his  devotion  to 
duty  and  his  professional  learning  and  skill  the 
lasting  regard  of  the  people  who  have  had  the 
benefit  of  his  services,  and  of  all  the  territory  in 
which  they  have  been  rendered.  He  is  a  diligent 
student  of  his  calling  and  keeps  abreast  with  the 
latest  discoveries  and  most  advanced  thought  in 
it,  at  the  same  time  applying  with  good  judgment 
and  unusual  care  the  results  of  his  study  in  the 
daily  routine  of  his  work.  His  practice  is  large 
and  lucrative  and  numbers  in  its  patronage  many 
of  the  leading  families  of  the  section  in  which  he 
lives.  On  September  17,  1871,  he  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Jennie  R.  Gwin,  of  Branch 
county,     the     daughter     of     James     and     Julia 


(Hedger)  Gwin,  of  that  county,  where  they  were 
early  settlers  and  are  highly  respected  citizens. 
The  Doctor  and  Mrs.  McBeth  have  had  two  chil- 
dren, their  daughter  Nellie  and  an  infant  who 
died  unnamed.  The  Doctor  is  liberal  in  his  polit- 
ical views  and  while  living  in  Canada  belonged  to 
the  Reform  party.  His  fraternal  associations  ate 
with  the  United  Workmen,  the  Odd  Fellows,  the 
Knights  of  the  Maccabees,  and  Galesburg  Lodge, 
No.  92,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons. 

BENJAMIN  HUGGETT. 

Scarcely  anything  is  more  inspiring  to  the  im- 
agination or  pleasing  to  the  fancy  than  the  long- 
continued  hospitality  of  the  United  States  and  the 
readiness  with  which  it  has  been  accepted,  with 
the  most  beneficial  results  to  the  country  and  the 
emigrants.  It  is,  of  course,  nothing  new  in  the 
annals  of  mankind,  except  as  to  its  extent,  for  the 
voice  of  history  is  emphatic  in  proof  that  nations 
liberal  in  naturalization  have  always  grown  and 
prospered.  But  here  the  benefaction  has  been  so 
bountiful,  the  tender  has  been  so  generally  and  so 
largely  welcomed,  and  the  outcome  has  been  of 
such  tremendous  magnitude,  that  it  distances  all 
comparison  and  marks  a  new  epoch  in  even  this 
time-worn  policy.  Among  the  men  of  worth  and 
industry  who  heard  the  invitation  with  joy  and 
accepted  it  with  alacrity,  and  who  have,  moreover, 
made  excellent  use  of  it  to  their  own  advantage 
and  the  great  development  of  the  country,  is  Ben- 
jamin Huggett,  of  Comstock  township,  Kalama- 
zoo county,  who  was  born  in  England  on  Decem- 
ber 12,  1833.  His  parents,  Benjamin  and  Sarah 
Huggett,  were  born  and  reared  in  the  mother 
country,  and  were  prosperous  and  steady  farmers 
there  until  the  death  of  the  father.  After  that 
event  the  mother  brought  her  four  sons  and  four 
daughters  to  the  United  States,  and  some  years 
later  she  died  in  Chicago.  Benjamin  was  edu- 
cated in  a  small  way  in  his  native  land,  and  there, 
after  leaving  school,  which  he  was  obliged  to  do 
at  an  early  age,  he  went  to  work  on  a  farm.  In 
1853,  when  he  was  but  twenty,  he  reached  this 
land  of  promise  and  opportunity,  and  located  at 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  where  he  lived  until  1855,  then 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


437 


came  to  Kalamazoo  county  and  bought  a  farm 
north  of  the  village  of  Comstock,  comprising  two 
hundred  and  sixty-five  acres  and  partially  im- 
proved. On  this  he  has  since  resided,  and  while 
its  cultivation  was  begun  when  he  bought  it,  he 
has  in  the  years  since  then  found  plenty  to  occupy 
his  time  and  energies  in  enlarging  its  improve- 
ments and  extending  and  raising  the  standard  of 
its  cultivation.  This  he  has  done  so  effectively 
that  he  has  now  an  excellent  and  highly  produc- 
tive place,  with  good  buildings  and  other  neces- 
sary structures,  proclaiming  in  every  way  his 
skill  and  diligence  as  a  husbandman,  and  steadily 
increasing  in  value.  While  pushing  the  develop- 
ment of  his  farm,  and  waiting  for  the  larger  re- 
sults of  his  efforts  for  which  he  wisely  planned, 
he  wrought  some  years  at  the  harness  and  some  at 
the  butchering  trade  in  Kalamazoo.  He  was  fru- 
gal and  industrious,  and  his  prosperity  was  steady 
and  continued ;  and  he  is  now  one  of  the  substan- 
tial and  influential  citizens  of  the  township.  In 
1857  he  was  married  in  this  state  to  his  second 
cousin,  Miss  Sarah  A.  Huggett,  who  died  in  De- 
cember, 1903.  They  had  four  children  that  are 
living  and  one  that  died.  Those  living  are  Jennie, 
wife  of  Henry  Nicholson,  of  Comstock  township, 
Carrie,  wife  of  Edward  Thomas,  of  Kalamazoo, 
Elizabeth,  at  home,  and  Lena,  wife  of  Frederick 
Cook,  of  Kalamazoo.  Mr.  Huggett  has  never 
been  an  active  political  worker,  but  he  supports 
the  Democratic  party.  He  belongs  to  the  Congre- 
gational church  at  Galesburg,  as  did  his  wife  dur- 
ing her  lifetime.  A  good  farmer  and  a  useful  and 
worthy  citizen,  he  stands  high  in  the  good  will 
and  regard  of  the  community,  and  justly  so. 

JOHN  M.  SHOUDY. 

John  M.  Shoudy,  one  of  the  genuine  old- 
timers  of  Kalamazoo  township,  this  county,  who 
has  long  passed  the  limit  of  human  life  as  fixed 
by  the  sacred  writer,  like  many  more  of  the  early 
settlers  of  southern  Michigan,  is  a  native  of  New 
York  state,  born  in  Albany  county  on  March  8, 
1817.  His  parents,  Michael  and  Mary  (Bark- 
ley)  Shoudy,  were  also  born  there,  and  there  they 
passed    their   lives.      The    father   was    a    farmer 


through  life,  a  large  landholder  in  his  native 
county,  a  blacksmith  and  wagonmaker  also,  and 
a  man  of  influence  and  high  respectability.  The 
grandfather,  John  Shoudy,  w,as  also  a  blacksmith 
and  passed  his  life  in  Albany  county,  N.  Y.,  on 
the  farm  near  the  city  of  Albany  which  his  father, 
a  native  of  Germany  who  came  to  this  country 
with  his  parents  seventeen  years  before  the  Revo- 
lution, took  up  at  that  time  and  on  which  all  the 
family  including  the  generation  to  which  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review  belongs  were  reared.  The 
farm  comprised  more  than  two  hundred  acres, 
and  grew  in  value  with  the  progress  of  the  im- 
portant and  prolific  section  in  which  it  was 
located.  Mr.  Shoudy's  grandfather  saw  service 
in  the  Revolution  and  aided  in  establishing  the 
new  government  after  it  was  over.  John  M. 
Shoudy,  after  leaving  school,  began  life  as  a 
farmer  in  his  native  county  and  on  the  old  family 
homestead.  Some  years  later  he  removed  to 
Onondaga  county,  in  the  same  state,  locating 
there  in  1844,  and  purchasing  a  farm  near  Syra- 
cuse. He  afterward  acquired  a  large  extent  of 
real  estate  in  that  county  and  remained  there  until 
1871,  when  he  came  to  Michigan  and  took  up  his 
residence  in  this  county,  purchasing  the  old  Smith 
farm  of  two  hundred  acres  south  of  Kalamazoo, 
on  which  he  has  lived  ever  since.  He  was  mar- 
ried on  October  25,  1837,  to  Miss  Maria  Crary, 
a  native  of  the  same  county  as  himself,  born  at  the 
village  of  Knox  in  181 5.  They  had  a  family  of 
seven  children,  six  of  whom  grew  to  maturity 
and  are  now  living:  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  twins, 
born  in  1840,  residents  of  Kalamazoo;  Eveline, 
born  in  1844,  living  at  home;  George,  born  in 
1848,  a  prosperous  farmer  in  Kalamazoo  town- 
ship; Alice,  born  in  1851,  now  Mrs.  Hawley,  of 
New  York  state;  and  Hattie,  born  in  1857,  and 
living  at  home.  While  always  an  ardent  working 
Democrat  in  politics,  Mr.  Shoudy  has  never 
sought  or  desired  public  office.  He  and  his  wife 
have  given  liberally  to  the  several  churches  in 
their  neighborhood  and  have  on  all  occasions 
taken  an  active  part  in  their  works  of  benevolence. 
Both  are  widely  known  throughout  the  county 
and  are  everywhere  held  in  the  highest  esteem. 
Their  lives  in  the  community  which  is  honored 


438 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


by  their  citizenship  have  flowed  on  in  calm,  full 
currents  of  active  goodness  and  usefulness,  ex- 
hibiting undoubting  reliance  in  the  providence  of 
God  and  unfailing  faith  in  their  fellow  men,  and 
now,  when  the  shadows  of  age  are  closing  around 
them,  they  may  find  their  evening  sky  illumined 
with  the  radiance  of  their  past  services  to  their 
kind  and  the  promise  of  lingering  long  in  human 
recollection  in  the  form  of  good  examples  which 
have  never  misled  or  failed  to  stimulate  to  greater 
exertion  their  fellow  men  and  women. 

REUBEN    BARNEA. 

The  late  Reuben  Barnea,  who  died  on  the 
farm  now  occupied  by  his  son  Theodore,  in  sec^ 
tion  5,  Kalamazoo  township,  was  a  pioneer  of  this 
county,  coming  hither  in  June,  1844,  and  passing 
the  remainder  of  his  life  on  the  farm  which  he 
then  located.  He  was  born  in  Ontario,  N.  Y., 
September  9,  181 1,  the  son  of  Nicholas  Barnea,  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania.  The  father  was  a  farmer 
and  the  mother  died  when  her  son  Reuben  was  a 
child.  The  father  served  in  the  war  of  1812, 
and  throughout  his  life  enjoyed  the  respect  and 
consideration  of  all  who  knew  him.  The  son 
grew  to  manhood  in  his  native  state  of  New 
York,  and  after  receiving  a  limited  education  in 
the  common  schools  learned  the  trade  of  a  car- 
penter, at  which  he  worked  in  the  east  until  1844, 
when  he  came  to  Michigan,  traveling  by  rail  to 
Jackson  and  from  there  with  teams  to  the  farm 
of  Benjamin  Drake,  Grand  Prairie,  where  he 
stayed  for  a  short  time,  then  moving  to  James 
Forbes'  house,  and  thence  to  the  farm,  January, 
1846,  the  same  house  still  being  in  use  as  a  resi- 
dence. This  he  acquired  by  purchase  and  began 
to  clear  his  land  and  make  a  home.  During  the 
half  century  of  industry  which  he  devoted  to  the 
improvement '  of  the  property  he  brought  it  to  a 
good  state  of  development  and  value,  then  handed 
it  over,  at  his  death  on  April  8,  1900,  to  his  heirs 
to  complete  the  work  he  had  carried  forward  so 
successfully.  He  was  married  in  New  York 
state  on  December  9,  1830,  to  Miss  Harriet  Rich- 
ardson, and  they  had  four  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters, three  of  whom  are  living,  all  in  Michigan. 


The  mother  died  November  12,  1872.  Both  were 
Baptists  in  church  affiliation.  Their  youngest 
son,  Theodore  Barnea,.  who  now  lives  on  the 
homestead,  was  born  there  in  1848.  He  received 
a  common-school  education  and  all  his  life  has 
been  a  farmer.  He  continued  the  improvement  of 
the  home  farm  and  also  cleared  one  in  Wexford 
county  of  this  state  on  which  he  lived  eight  years. 
He  was  married  at  Battle  Creek,  Mich.,  on  Jan- 
uary 19,  1876,  to  Miss  Carrie  E.  Lawrence,  a 
native  of  New  York.  They  have  one  child,  their 
son  Reuben  M.,  who  is  living  at  home.  In 
political  allegiance  Mr.  Barnea  is  a  Republican, 
but  he  has  not  at  any  time  been  an  active  partisan 
and  has  had  no  ambition  for  the  honors  or  emolu- 
ments of  public  office.  In  fraternal  life  he  is  a 
Modern  Woodman  of  America.  As  a  quiet  but 
progressive  farmer  he  is  well  known  throughout 
the  county  and  everywhere  is  esteemed  as  an 
excellent  and  useful  citizen,  upright  in  his  deal- 
ings with  his  fellow  men  and  following  with 
constancy  and  earnestness  a  lofty  ideal  of  citizen- 
ship. The  condition  of  his  farm,  its  advanced 
development  and  skillful  cultivation,  is  a  high 
tribute  to  his  industry  and  ability,  and  the  place 
he  holds  in  public  esteem  gives  proof  that  he  has 
endeavored  to  live  up  to  his  ideal  of  manhood  in 
all  the  relations  of  life. 

THE    KALAMAZOO    RAILWAY    SUPPLY 
COMPANY. 

The  railway  interests  in  this  country  have 
grown  to  such  enormous  proportions  and  embrace 
in  the  sweep  of  their  operations  so  wide  and  so 
various  a  combination  of  business,  that  it  has 
become  necessary  for  almost  every  branch  of  the 
industry  to  have  its  special  sources  of  supplies  in 
order  that  the  work  may  be  carried  on  with  proper 
system.  To  meet  one  feature  of  this  necessity 
the  Kalamazoo  Railway  Supply  Company  was 
organized  and  is  carried  on  with  an  increasing 
volume  of  trade  and  profit.  The  nucleus  of  the 
present  company  was  formed  in  1884  with  a  cap- 
ital stock  of  forty-five  thousand  dollars  and  under 
the  name  of  the  Kalamazoo  Railroad,  Velocipede 
&  Car  Company,  the  founders  being  George  W. 


C.  B.  HAYS. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


439 


Miller  and  Horace  G.  Haines.  They  conducted 
the  business  of  that  company  until  1896,  when 
j\fr.  Miller  sold  his  interest  in  it  to  H.  C.  Reed, 
and  a  reorganization  was  had  with  Mr.  Reed  as 
president  and  Mr.  Haines  as  secretary  and  general 
manager.  The  business  was  then  carried  on  in 
the  old  factory  on  Pilcher  street  until  1903,  when 
the  present  modern  brick  plant  was  erected,  in 
addition  to  the  improved  machinery  then  installed. 
The  factory  is  on  the  line  of  the  Grand  Rapids  & 
Indiana  Railroad,  and  is  located  admirably  for  its 
purposes.  After  Mr.  Reed's  death  in  1903,  the 
company  was  again  reorganized  with  F.  H. 
Milham  as  president,  H.  H.  Everhard  as  vice- 
president,  Charles  B.  Hays  as  secretary  and  man- 
ager and  H.  P.  Kauffer  as  treasurer.  The  com- 
pany manufactures  hand  and  push  cars,  motor 
inspection  cars,  railroad  velocipedes,  jacks,  tanks 
land  fixtures,  "stand  pipes,  the  Root  scraper  and 
similar  products  needed  in  railroad  work.  It  also 
does  a  general  jobbing  business.  Its  products  are 
sold  all  over  the  United  States,  in  Europe,  South 
America,  Mexico  and  Africa,  also  in  Canada.  Mr. 
Hays,  the  secretary  and  general  manager,  is  a  na- 
tive of  Kalamazoo,  born  in  1862,  and  was  reared 
and  educated  in  the  city,  attending  the  common 
schools,  graduated  at  the  high  school  and  finish- 
ing with  two  years  at  the  Baptist  College  and  the 
Agricultural  College.  He  has  been  one  of  the 
leading  promoters  of  the  industries  located  in  the 
city,  conspicuously  forcible  in  organizing,  financ- 
ing and  building  up  many  of  the  most  useful  and 
valued  enterprises  here.  He  organized  the  Bryant 
Paper  Company,  and  was  its  secretary  one  year. 
He  also  secured  the  capital  for  the  Superior  and 
the  King  Paper  Companies,  financed  the  C.  B. 
Ford  Planing  Mill  Company,  placed  the  bonds 
for  the  Michigan  Buggy  Company,  reorganized 
the  Railway  Supply  Company  and  built  its  works, 
and  has  handled  several  ofPthe  most  important 
and  valuable  additions  to  the  city's  extension, 
among  them  the  Balch  &  Hays,  the  Balch  & 
Thompson,  the  Scheid  &  Hays,  and  the  Charles 
I).  Hays  additions.  It  was  through  him  also  that 
the  South  Side  Improvement  Company's  addition 
was  laid  out,  and  the  Hays  Park  plat,  owned  by 
that   company,   and   Prospect   park   on   the   west 


side.  Fraternally  he  is  a  member  of  the  order  of 
Elks.  He  was  married  in  1889  to  Miss  Luella 
M.  Phillips,  a  daughter  of  the  late  Colonel 
Delos  Phillips,  of  this  city.  They  have  two  daugh- 
ters and  one  son.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hays  have 
always  been  allied  with  the  Presbyterian  church. 

THE    KALAMAZOO    INTERIOR    FINISH 
COMPANY. 

This  enterprising  and  progressive  institution, 
the  only  one  of  its  kind  devoted  to  work  of  the 
character  of  its  output  in  southern  Michigan,  is 
a  stock  company  organized  in  December,  1895, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars. 
The  first  officers  were  W.  H.  Shannon,  president, 
W.  F.  Bixby,  vice-president,  and  Louis  Larsen, 
secretary,  treasurer  and  general  manager.  In  two 
years  after  the  organization  of  the  company  the 
capital  stock  was  doubled  to  meet  the  rapid  in- 
crease of  the  business,  and  from  time  to  time  the 
officers  have  been  changed.  Those  serving  at 
present  (1904)  are  Judge  J.  W.  Adams,  presi- 
dent, H.  G.  Dykehouse,  of  Grand  Rapids,  vice- 
president,  W.  C.  Hoyt,  secretary  and  treasurer, 
and  Louis  Larsen,  manager.  The  company  em- 
ploys fifty  persons  in  making  a  line  of  first-class 
interior  finishings  and  hardwood  work,  and  also 
in  conducting  an  extensive  general  lumbering 
business.  Its  products  are  sold  generally  in  the 
Central  and  Eastern  states.  The  business  was 
started  on  Water  street  in  a  small  factory  now 
owned  by  the  Paper  Box  Company,  and  by  the 
end  of  the  first  year  it  had  outgrown  its  modest 
home  and  the  company  then  leased  the  old  wash- 
board factory  on  the  line  of  the  Grand  Rapids  & 
Indiana  Railroad.  Three  years  later  this  prop- 
erty was  purchased  by  the  company  and  it  has 
since  been  extensively  enlarged  and  improved 
in  equipment  until  it  is  now  a  model  plant  in  every 
respect  and  one  of  the  best  and  most  complete  in 
the  city.  This  company  enjoys  in  a  marked  de- 
gree the  confidence  and  admiration  of  the  commu- 
nity, its  directorate  comprising  some  of  the  best 
known  and  most  successful  business  men  of  the 
city,  and  its  management  being  strictly  energetic, 
vigorous  and  worthy  of  all  regard.     Mr.  Larsen, 


440 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


the  general  manager,  is  a  native  of  La  Crosse, 
Wis.,  where  he  was  reared  and  educated.  He 
began  business  in  the  line  in  which  he  is  now 
engaged  in  his  native  state  in  company  with  his 
father  and  remained  there  until  1895,  then  came 
to  Michigan  and  located  at  Lansing.  For  some 
months  he  traveled  in  the  interest  of  the  Lansing 
Lumber  Company,  and  in  1896  moved  to  Kala- 
mazoo and  helped  to  organize  the  Interior  Finish 
Company,  with  which  he  has  since  been  connected 
continuously.  It  has  been  largely  through  his 
management  of  the  affairs  of  the  company  that 
its  business  has  expanded  and  its  reputation  has 
grown  so  great,  as  he  is  a  thorough  business  man, 
quick  in  apprehension,  energetic  in  action  and 
wise  in  methods. 

HENRY  E.  HOYT. 

The  late  Henry  E.  Hoyt,  who  died  in  Kala- 
mazoo on  February  9,  1900,  at  the  good  old  age  of 
seventy-two,  came  to  the  city  in  his  boyhood  and 
passed  the  greater  part  of  his  subsequent  life 
among  its  people,  connected  actively  and  promi- 
nently with  its  business  interests,  its  public  af- 
fairs, its  growth  and  development  and  its  social 
life.  He  was  born  at  Potsdam,  N.  Y.,  in  Oc- 
tober, 1828,  and  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  O.  P. 
and  Mary  (Clark)  Hoyt,  who  were  born  in  Ver- 
mont. The  father  was  the  first  Presbyterian  cler- 
gyman stationed  in  Kalamazoo,  where  he  died  in 
1866,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six  years.  He  passed 
his  life  in  the  Christian  ministry  and  was  much 
esteemed  for  his  consistent  piety,  theological 
learning  and  pulpit  eloquence.  The  son  grew  to 
manhood  in  Kalamazoo  and  received  his  educa- 
tion in  its  schools.  He  began  his  business  career 
as  a  merchant  in  partnership  with  his  brother, 
William  C.  Hoyt,  at  Hastings,  this  state,  where 
he  remained  until  1856,  then  returned  to  Kala- 
mazoo and  opened  a  clothing  store  which  he  con- 
ducted for  a  number  of  years.  Afterward  he  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  of  staves  and  headings 
in  Van  Buren  county  for  some  time.  He  was 
always  deeply  #  interested  in  educational  matters 
and  served  as  secretary  of  the  school  board  for 
a  long  time.     Prior  to  this  he  was  on  the  board 


of  supervisors.  In  political  faith  he  was  a  firm 
and  unyielding  Democrat,  being  the  leader  of  his 
party  in  the  county  during  many  years,  although 
never  seeking  or  accepting  public  office  for  him- 
self, his  party  allegiance  being  a  matter  of  strong 
conviction  with  him  and  not  at  all  dependent  on 
political  preferment.  In  the  advocacy  of  all  com- 
mendable undertakings  for  the  welfare  of  the 
city  or  the  advantage  of  its  people  he  was  in- 
sistent, influential  and  diligent,  exhibiting  breadth 
of  view,  good  judgment  and  a  high  order  of  pub- 
lic spirit.  He  was  married  in  Barry  county,  in 
1850,  to  Miss  Mary  M.  Lewis,  whose  father  was 
a  pioneer  in  that  county  and  one  of  its  best  known 
and  most  valued  citizens,  being  particularly 
prominent  and  active  in  the  early  history  of  the 
county.  Mr.  Hoyt  lived  to  see  the  city  of  his 
choice  grow  from  a  straggling  village,  in  which 
some  Indians  lived,  to  a  great  industrial  and 
commercial  center,  bright  with  the  light,  fra- 
grant with  the  blossoms  and  rich  in  the  fruits  of 
the  most  advanced  civilization  and  progress,  the 
country  around  it,  which  he  knew  as  a  wilder- 
ness teeming  with  the  products  of  skillful  hus- 
bandry and  beautiful  with  the  happy  homes  of 
a  great,  progressive  and  resourceful  population. 
He  died  on  February  9,  1900,  after  having  lived 
in  this  and  nearby  counties  more  than  sixty 
years.  He  and  his  wife  were  the  parents  of  three 
sons,  of  whom  all  are  living,  and  are  worthy  fol- 
lowers of  his  excellent  example.    . 

•      HON.  JOHN  M.  EDWARDS. 

The  Hon.  John  M.  Edwards  was  born  at 
Northampton,  Mass.,  June  22,  1820,  of  English 
ancestry,  and  from  a  distinguished  family.  His 
father  was  a  farmer,  and  removed  to  Batavia, 
N.  Y.,  when  John  M.  was  eight  years  old. 
He  received  his  elementary  education  there, 
where  he  remained  until  he  was  sixteen,  when 
he  commenced  an  academic  course  of  study.  He 
finished  his  studies  in  1841,  and  entered  the  law 
office  of  Taggertt  &  Chandler,  at  Batavia.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1847.  The  following 
year  he  removed  to  Kalamazoo,  where  he  es- 
tablished a  law  practice,  and  won  a  reputation  as 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


441 


a,!  able  lawyer.  His  specialty  in  court  was  in 
c inducting  cases  in  equity.  Although  he  held 
decided  political  views,  he  was  not  a  politician, 
and  never  sought  public  office,  but  never  shirked 
public  duty  wnen  placed  upon  him.  In  1850  he 
was  appointed  by  President  Fillmore  receiver  of 
public  moneys  at  Kalamazoo.  He  served  for  a 
n.tmber  of  years  as  president  of  the  board  of  edu- 
cation. '  Mr.  Edwards  married,  on  May  28,  1850, 
Miss  Emma  S.  Knettles,  of  South  Lansing,  N.  Y., 
daughter  of  Joseph  Knettles,  a  native  of  Ger- 
many. They  had  two  sons,  William  Dwight  and 
Albert  K.  Edwards,  both  connected  with  the 
Edwards  &  Chamberlin  Hardware  Company  of 
Kalamazoo.  Mr.  Edwards  died  on  June  24,  1897, 
and  is  survived  by  his  widow  and  two  sons.  Mr. 
•Edwards  was  one  of  the  most  able  lawyers  of  the 
state  of  Michigan,  and  was  possessed  of  an  un- 
usually clear  and  logical  mind. 

JOHN  J.  SALES. 

This  respected  and  valued  citizen  of  Kala- 
mazoo, who  has  done  much  to  improve  and 
beautify  the  city,  and  add  to  the  comfort  and 
convenience  of  its  people,  is  a  native  of  Lon- 
don, England,  where  he  was  born  on  February 
9,  1 841.  His  parents,  John  and  Priscilla  (Sut- 
ter) Sales,  were  also  natives  of  that  great  city, 
and  there  the  father  passed  his  life  and  died.  The 
mother  died  there  in  1905,  at  the  age  of  niriety- 
rour.  The  father  was  a  mason  and  plasterer, 
working  especially  in  cement,  and  followed  his 
craft  in  his  native  city  from  the  time  of  begin- 
ning his  apprenticeship.  There  were  two  sons 
and  five  daughters  in  the  family,  John  J.  being 
the  only  one  of  them  living  in  the  United  States. 
After  receiving  a  common-school  education  he 
learned  his  trade  as  a  plasterer  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  his  father,  with  whom  he  remained  until 
he  was  nineteen  years  old,  and  later  serving  seven 
years'  apprenticeship  under  a  special  craftsman 
m  the  trade.  He  worked  as  a  journeyman  in 
London  until  1871,  when  he  came  to  the  United 
States  and  located  at  Kalamazoo.  Here  he  found 
employment  at  the  asylum  for  about  five  months, 
and  was  then  offered  ten  dollars  a  day  during  the 


week  and  twenty  for  Sunday  to  work  on  the  Pal- 
mer House  in  Chicago,  and  was  employed  there 
at  that  compensation  some  six  months.  Then  re- 
turning to  Kalamazoo,  he  began  making  artificial 
stone  and  laying  cement  sidewalks,  being  the  first 
mechanic  to  do  these  things  in  the  city.  He  has 
done  a  large  amount  of  this  work  here  and  has 
been  employed  on  many  of  the  most  important 
buildings  besides,  as  well  as  on  various  other 
jobs  requiring  skill  and  special  knowledge.  For 
a  number  of  years  he  owned  and  operated  a  farm 
near  Twin  Lakes  in  addition  to  his  labor  as  a 
skilled  mechanic.  Before  leaving  England  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Louesa  Flavell,  who  died  in 
1872,  leaving  four  children,  James  A.,  Thomas 
J.,  William  A.  and  Louisa,  all  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing in  Kalamazoo.  In  1903  Mr.  Sales  was  mar- 
ried to  Mrs.  Lucy  Palmer,  a  native  of  Battle 
Creek,  Mich.,  and  the  daughter  of  W.  T.  Palmer, 
a  pioneer  of  that  city.  He  was  an  English  soldier 
and  part  of  the  force  detailed  to  guard  Napoleon 
at  St.  Helena,  passing  three  years  in  this  service. 
He  became  a  resident  of  Battle  Creek  in  1851 
and  died  there  about  the  year  1888.  Mr.  Sales 
has  never  taken  an  active  part  in  political  con- 
tests but  he  supports  the  Democratic  party  in 
national  affairs.  He  has  devoted  his  time  and 
energies  to  his  business  and  has  made  a  very 
gratifying  success  of  it.  Desiring"  a  change  of 
scene  and  incident  recently,  he  passed  the  winter 
of  1903-4  in  California.  He  has  lived  in  his 
present  home  twenty-five  years,  and  is  well 
known  and  highly  respected  throughout  the  city 
and  the  surrounding  country. 

AUGUSTUS  J.  RILEY. 

Mr.  Riley,  who  is  one  of  the  leading  farmers 
of  Climax  township,  this  county,  is  a  native  of 
St.  Joseph  county,  Mich.,  and  was  born  on 
August  15,  1854.  His  parents  were  Samuel  and 
Lucy  A.  (Dunham)  Riley,  natives  of  New  York 
state.  They  were  farmers  and,  coming  to  this 
state  in  an  early  day,  located  in  St.  Joseph  county, 
where  they  were  married  January  8,  1846.  The 
father  died  in  this  county  on  May  28,  1865.  Two 
sons  and  a  daughter  were  born  in  the  family,  all 


442 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


of  whom  are  dead  but  the  subject  of  this  brief 
notice.  The  mother  was  twice  married,  first  in 
New  York  state,  in  1834,  to  Jason  Clark,  who 
came  to  St.  Joseph  county,  Mich.,  and  entered 
land  near  Mendon,  that  year,  which  he  resided  on 
until  his  death,  September  8,  1844.  They  had  six 
children,  all  dead  but  one  daughter,  Orphie,  of 
Fulton.  In  1873  *ne  family  moved  to  Wakeshma 
township,  Kalamazoo  county,  where  the  mother 
died  in  1889.  Her  son  Augustus  J.  grew  to  the 
age  of  twenty  in  St.  Joseph  county,  attending 
school  at  Mendon  and  assisting  his  mother  to  sup- 
port the  household.  He  accompanied  her  to  this 
county  and  aided  in  clearing  up  the  farm  on 
which  they  located,  and  on  which  he  lived  until 
1898.  He  then  moved  to  Climax  township,  and 
since  that  time  he  has  been  a  resident  of  that  sec- 
tion of  the  county.  In  1878  he  was  married,  in 
this  county,  to  Miss  Sarah  Stillwell,  a  native  of 
the  township  in  which  they  now  reside.  Her 
father,  Elias  Stillwell,  was  one  of  the  first  voters 
in  the  township.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Riley  have  four 
children,  Adelbert,  Alena,  wife  of  W.  J.  Smith, 
of  Calhoun  county,  and  Phebe  A.  and  Kate,  wno 
are  living  at  home.  Mr.  Riley  is  independent  in 
politics  and  has  never  had  a  desire  to  enter 
actively  into  political  contests  or  hold  public  office. 
Fraternally  he  belongs  to  the  order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, and  his  church  affiliation  is  with  the  Metho7 
dists.  Now  among  the  oldest  settlers  of  the 
county,  he  can  view  with  pleasure  its  great  and 
gratifying  development  to  which  he  has  essentially 
contributed. 

DR.  NELSON  C  BROWN. 

For  more  than  forty  years  this  leading  pro- 
fessional and  business  man  and  farmer  of  Wa- 
keshma township,  this  county,  has  been  connected 
with  the  industrial  and  commercial  life  of  Mich- 
igan, and  since  1878  has  been  a  resident  of  the 
county,  living  on  the  farm  which  he  now  owns 
and  occupies.  He  was  born  in  Oneida  county, 
N.  Y.,  on  May  15,  1843,  and  is  the  son  of  Wil- 
liam and  Eleanor  (Clark)  Brown,  who  were  born 
and  reared  in  New  York  city,  the  former  an  ex- 
tensive stock-raiser  and  dealer.  In  1852  he 
moved  to  what  is  now  the  county  of  Perth,  in  the 


province  of  Ontario,  Canada,  where  he  bought  a 
tract  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  timber 
land,  which  he  partially  cleared  and  improved, 
and  on  which  he  and  his  wife  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  their  lives,  his  ending  in  the  '50s  and 
hers  in  1885.  They  had  seven  sons  and  six  daugh- 
ters, two  of  the  latter  being  adopted  by  them.  ( )f 
the  whole  family  of  children,  three  sons  and  two 
daughters  are  living.  The  parents  were  of 
English  and  Irish  ancestry.  The  Doctor  grew 
to  manhood  in  Canada  and  began  his  education  in 
the  schools  of  that  country.  He  entered  Harvard 
University  in  i860  and  passed  three  years  in  that 
institution.  He  was  then  engaged  for  a  number 
of  years  in  the  lumber  trade  in  Michigan  and 
Minnesota,  operating  a  shingle  and  lumber  mill. 
Some  time  before  this  he  had  begun  reading 
medicine,  and  in  1873  ne  entered  the  medical  de- 
partment of  the  University  of  Illinois  at  Chicago, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1878.  The  same 
year  he  came  to  this  county  to  live,  and  bought 
the  farm  on  which  he  still  resides.  It  was  in  the 
midst  of  a  wilderness  when  he  located  on  it,  and 
from  that  condition  he  has  brought  it  to  its 
present  state  of  development  and  improvement. 
Meanwhile  he  practiced  his  profession  whenever 
his  services  "were  needed,  and  in  this  beneficent 
work  he  secured  a  large  body  of  patrons.  In  1878 
he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Effie  L. 
Winters,  a  native  of  Calhoun  county,  this  state. 
They  have  nine  children :  Morna  M.,  wife  of 
Frank  Radford ;  Dewey  N. ;  Mabel  L.,  wife  of 
W.  A.  Carr,  of  Battle  Creek;  Clark  B.,  Harvey 
D.,  Ward  R.,  Mattie  E.,  Verna  N.  and  Frank  W. 
While  always  taking  an  active  and  serviceable 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  his  township  and  county, 
the  Doctor  has  never  been  energetic  in  political 
contests  and  never  sought  or  desired  a  political 
office.  He  and  his  wife  are  zealous  members  of 
the  Congregational  church,  and  he  is  an  earnest 
worker  in  its  Sunday  school  interests.  Having 
passed  his  meridian  of  life  in  usefulness  and  fruit- 
ful service  to  his  kind  and  his  section  of  the  coun- 
try, he  is  now  calmly  approaching  its  evening 
shades  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  esteem  and 
good  will  of  his  fellow  men,  and  amid  the  pleasant 
surroundings  he  has  done  so  much  to  create. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


443 


JOHN  W.  HOWARD. 

This  esteemed  citizen  and  successful  farmer, 
who  is  now  living  retired  after  a  long  life  of  in- 
dustry and  usefulness,  was  one  of  the  first-born 
sons  of  the  soil  in  this  county,  coming  into  the 
world  in  Climax  township,  where  he  now  lives, 
on  January  2,  1840,  the  place  of  his  birth  being 
one  mile  south  of  the  village  of  Climax.  He  has 
a  full  right  to  be  called  a  pioneer,  as  he  was  born 
and  reared  amid  the  wild  and  arduous  conditions 
of  frontier  life,  and  witnessed  well-nigh  the  be- 
ginning of  civilization  in  his  locality.  His  parents, 
Henry  H.  and  Subrena  C.  (Cassar)  Howard, 
were  natives  of  the  state  of  New  York,  the  for- 
mer born  in  Orleans  and  the  latter  in  Cayuga 
county.  The  father  was  a  farmer,  coming  to  this 
state  when  he  was  but  sixteen  years  of  age,  mak- 
ing the  journey  by  way  of  the  Erie  canal  to  Buf- 
falo and  from  there  to  Detroit  by  steamer.  From 
Detroit  he  traveled  by  team  to  Climax  Prairie. 
For  some  years  after  his  arrival  in  the  new  region 
he  worked  by  the  month  for  other  persons,  then, 
in  1856,  bought  a  farm  which  he  cleared  up  and 
lived  on  until  his  death,  in  March,  1897.  The 
mother  passed  away  in  1847.  They  had  two  sons 
and  one  daughter,  of  whom  John  W.  and  his 
sister  are  living.  Sometime  after  the  death  of  his 
first  wife  the  father  married  again,  his  second 
wife  being  Miss  Catherine  Spicer.  They  had  six 
children,  all  living,  as  is  also  their  mother.  The 
father  was  an  active  Democrat,  devoted  to  the 
welfare  of  his  party,  but  never  allowed  the  use  of 
his  name  as  a  candidate  for  office.  He  was  also  a 
leader  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  Their 
son  John  obtained  his  education  in  the  first  school- 
house  occupied  in  the  township.  He  started  in 
life  for  himself  at  the  age  of  sixteen  and  worked 
by  the  month  some  years.  He  then  rented  a  farm, 
which  he  worked  until  1882,  when  he  bought  the 
one  he  now  owns,  which  is  one  of  the  best  in  the 
township.  He  was  married  in  1867  to  Miss  Mary 
Wolcott,  a  daughter  of  Hiram  and  Mary  (Camp- 
bell) Wolcott,  the  former  born  in  the  state  of 
New  York  and  the  latter  in  county  Down,*  Ire- 
land. Mrs.  Howard's  father  and  grandfather 
were  among  the  first  settlers  of  Climax  township, 


and  owned  a  part  of  the  land  on  which  the  village 
of  Scott  now  stands.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Howard 
have  no  children  of  their  own,  but  have  an 
adopted  daughter  named  Zella  V.  Mr.  Howard 
is  a  Republican  and  served  as  township  treasurer 
in  1896  and  1897,  and  two  years  as  township 
assessor.  He  has  been  a  Freemason  forty-one 
years,  and  was  master  of  his  lodge  eight  years. 
From  the  time  of  his  arrival  at  years  of  discretion 
and  self-reliance  his  energies  have  been  devoted 
to  the  development  of  the  township  and  county, 
and  while  vigorously  pushing  his  own  fortunes, 
he  has  been  ever  ready  to  assist  in  any  good  un- 
dertaking for  the  good  of  the  community  and  the 
advantage  of  its  people. 

SAMUEL  H.  TOBEY. 

This  well  known  and  long  successful  farmer 
of  Climax  township,  now  retired  from  active 
pursuits  and  taking  a  well  earned  rest  from  the 
arduous  labors  which  attended  him  through  the 
greater  part  of  his  life,  is  a  native  of  Genesee 
county,  N.  Y.,  where  he  was  born  on  October 
it,  1832.  He  is  the  son  of  Silas  and  Julia  A. 
(Harding)  Tobey,  who  were  born  in  Massachu- 
setts and  New  York,  respectively.  The  father 
was  a  shoemaker  by  trade,  but  started  in  life  as  a 
school  teacher  and  pedlar  of  tinware.  Later  he 
moved  to  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  where  he  mar- 
ried and  remained  until  the  spring  of  1858,  when 
he  came  to  Climax  and  made  his  home  with  his 
son  John  B.  until  his  death,  in  August,  1864.  His 
wife  also  died  here,  and  their  remains  were  buried 
here.  They  had  nine  children,  of  whom  three 
sons  and  three  daughters  are  living.  Samuel  and 
two  of  his  sisters  reside  in  this  county.  Samuel 
grewr  to  manhood  in  his  native  county  and  farmed 
there  until  1864,  when  he  came  to  Michigan,  but 
returned  to  New  York  the  same  summer  on  ac- 
count of  illness.  In  1868  he  came  back  to  this 
state  and  located  in  Montcalm  county  near  Green- 
ville, where  he  improved  a  farm  of  two  hundred 
and  forty  acres  and  lived  until  1891.  He  then 
moved  to  Climax  township,  this  county,  and 
bought  a  farm  which  he  still  owns,  though  he  now 
resides  in  the  village  of  Climax.    He  was  married 


444 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


in  1858  to  Miss  Ann  J.  Rappleye,  a  native  of  the 
state  of  New  York.  They  have  had  three  chil- 
dren, Laura  A.,  deceased,  Archer  R.,  who  lives 
on  the  farm,  and  Blanch  L,  also  deceased.  Mr. 
Toby  is  a  Democrat  politically  and  a  Knight  of 
Pythias  fraternally.  He  is  known  throughout  the 
county,  and  there  is  no  one  that  does  not  respect 
him. 

THOMAS  S.  LAWRENCE. 

The  present  dwellers  in  southern  Michigan, 
who  occupy  its  comfortable  homes,  furnished  with 
all  the  conveniences  and  many  of  the  elegances  of 
life,  and  who  behold  the  splendid  development 
and  forward  striding  progress  of  the  region,  can 
form  but  a  faint  conception  of  the  hardships,  dan- 
gers and  arduous  struggles  of  the  pioneers  who 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  present  conditions.  But 
there  are  men  and  women  yet  living  here  who 
saw  and  took  part  in  those  times  of  privation  and 
difficulty,  who  helped  to  bear  their  burdens  and 
aided  materially  in  overcoming  all  the  trials  inci- 
dent to  them.  Among  these  is  Thomas  S.  Law- 
rence, of  Climax  township,  who  is  perhaps  now 
the  oldest  inhabitant  of  the  township  by  continu- 
ous residence,  and  who  was  born  in  the  village 
of  Climax  on  March  17,  1836.  His  parents,  Dan- 
iel and  Amy  (Eldred)  Lawrence,  were  pioneers 
in  this  county,  being  among  the  first  of  the  in- 
vading whites  who  located  here.  They  were 
natives  of  the  state  of  New  York,  where  the  father 
was  born  in  1796  and  the  mother  in  1804.  After 
their  marriage  they  farmed  in  their  native  state 
until  1834,  when  they  came  to  Michigan  and  set- 
tled in  the  town  of  Climax,  his  being  the  sixth 
family  in  the  town.  The  Lawrence  family  trace 
their  ancestry  to  three  brothers  who  came  to  this 
country  in  early  times,  and  located  in  the  Atlantic 
states,  Richard  in  New  Jersey,  John  on  Long 
Island,  and  Jonathan  in  Westchester  county, 
N.  Y.  The  last  named,  who  was  the  great-great- 
grandfather of  Thomas,  had  a  son  named  Jona- 
than, who  emigrated  to  Orange  county,  N.  Y., 
where  he  took  up  five  hundred  acres  of  land  and 
raised  a  family  of  fourteen  children.  Five  of  his 
sons  followed  the  sea  and  became  captains  of 
vessels.  One  of  them,  John,  was  a  man  of  unusual 


strength,  and  it  is  related  of  him  that  on  one 
occasion,  when  he  was  returning  from  New  York 
to  the  Jersey  shore  in  a  boat,  he  was  discovered 
by  an  English  man-of-war,  and  pursued  by  a 
barge  manned  by  ten  sailors,  who  soon  overtook 
him.  As  the  barge  pulled  up  alongside,  Mr. 
Lawrence  suddenly  quit  rowing,  and  using  the. 
heavy  end  of  his  oar  for  a  weapon,  knocked  a 
number  of  the  enemy  overboard  and  took  the  rest 
prisoners.  He  then  sent  word  to  the  English 
commander  that  if  he  wanted  him  he  must  send  a 
fleet  to  capture  him.  Thomas  Lawrence's  father, 
Daniel,  whose  father  was  also  named  Daniel,  re- 
mained on  his  father's  farm  until  after  his  mar- 
riage in  1828,  when  he  embarked  in  life  for  him- 
self. He  bought  a  farm  in  Ulster  county,  N.  Y, 
but  not  liking  the  location,  sold  it,  and  in  the 
autumn  of  1834  came  to  Michigan,  reaching  De- 
troit by  water,  and  there  finding  teams  sent  by 
Judge  Eldred  awaiting  him.  After  renting  a  farm 
for  two  years  in  Climax  township,  he  moved  on 
one  he  had  bought  in  1835.  It  was  all  new  and 
unbroken  ground,  not  a  furrow  having  been 
plowed  or  a  rail  split  on  it  when  he  took  posses- 
sion. He  improved  it  with  good  buildings  and 
reduced  it  to  an  advanced  state  of  productiveness. 
In  the  public  life  of  the  new  community  he  took 
an  active  and  leading  part,  being  one  of  the  first 
township  treasurers,  and  holding  other  local  of- 
fices. On  July  17,  1828,  he  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Amy  Eldred,  a  daughter  of  Judge  and 
Phebe  (Brownell)  Eldred.  Six  children  blessed 
their  union;  three  of  whom  are  known  to  be  liv- 
ing, Thomas  S.,  Mary,  widow  of  William  Toby, 
and  George  W.,  who  lives  in  Kansas.  George 
and  a  son  named  Blackman  E.  were  soldiers  in 
the  Union  army  during  the  Civil  war,  and  the 
former  rose  to  the  rank  of  captain  for  meritorious 
service.  Their  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Judge 
Caleb  Eldred,  and  was  born  at  Laurens,  Otsego 
county,  N.  Y.,  on  February  25,  1804.  Her  father 
was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Climax  township, 
and  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  its  early 
life.  While  living  in  New  York  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  legislature  two  terms,  and  during  one 
was  a  potential  factor  in  securing  the  election *of 
Martin  Van  Buren  to  the  United  States  senate. 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


445 


He  also  supported  vigorously  the  policy  of  Gov- 
ernor De  Witt  Clinton,  especially  that  part  of  it 
that  involved  the  construction  of  the  Erie  canal. 
He  was  a  man  of  indomitable  energy  and  great 
personal  courage,  and  on  his  arrival  in  Michigan 
in  the  fall  of  1830,  after  recovering  from  a  severe 
illness,  he  was  prepared  to  transplant  into  the  soil 
of  the  new  region  the  qualities  which  had  made 
him  prominent  and  useful  in  his  former  home. 
Alter  making  a  prospecting  tour  of  portions  of 
Michigan,  and  locating  several  tracts  of  land,  he 
went  back  to  New  York,  and  in  January,  1831, 
came  again  to  this  state  with  his  son  Daniel,  with 
whom  he  passed  the  rest  of  the  winter  in  a  new 
house  he  had  built.  In  the  spring  his  family 
arrived,  and  from  that  time  until  his  death,  in 
1877,  he  was  one  of  the  leading' citizens  of  Kala- 
mazoo county,  being  especially  active  as  a  leader 
of  the  temperance  cause,  and  almost  suffering 
personal  violence  for  his  stern  and  vigorous  advo- 
cacy of  the  issue.  His  wife  died  in  April,  1853. 
The  father  of  Mr.  Lawrence  died  on  his  first 
Climax  farm  on  July  18,  1880,  aged  eighty-seven 
years,  one  month  and  twenty  days.  His  wife 
passed  away  on  September  12,  1887,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-three  years,  six  months  and  fifteen  days. 
Their  son  Thomas  S.  was  reared  and  educated 
in  his  native  township,  and  early  in  life  began 
to  assist  his  father  in  clearing  the  farm,  remaining 
at  home  until  he  was  twenty-six  years  old.  He 
tli  en  rented  a  farm  four  years  and  afterward 
bought  one  of  his  own  west  of  the  village.  This 
was  partly  improved  at  the  time,  and  after  making 
additional  improvements,  he  sold  this  place  and 
bought  the  one  he  now  owns  on  section  28,  on 
which  he  lived  until  1905.  He  was  married  in 
November,  1862,  to  Miss  Jennie  S.  Loomis,  a 
native  'of  Cattaraugus  county,  N.  Y.,  and  a 
daughter  of  early  pioneers  of  Barry  county,  this 
state.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lawrence  have  two  chil- 
dren :  George,  a  farmer  of  Climax,  who  married 
Miss  Dollie  Pierce  and  has  two  children;  and 
Wellis  L.,  who  lives  in  the  village  of  Climax  and 
is  married  to  Miss  Ida  Selby.  While  a  loyal  Re- 
publican in  political  faith,  and  earnestly  inter- 
ested in  the  public  life  and  general  welfare  of 
his  community,  Mr.  Lawrence  has  never  sought 


or  had  any  great  fondness  for  official  life.  He 
has,  however,  at  times  consented  to  fill  local  of- 
fices, and  has  met  their  requirements  with  decided 
ability  and  credit  to  himself.  Like  all  the  rest  of 
his  family  in  this  section,  he  has  lived  a  very 
acceptable  life  among  this  people,  and  he  enjoys 
in  a  marked  degree  their  continued  confidence  and 
good  will. 

ALBERT  JEROME  SAGER. 

This  prominent  and  influential  farmer  of  Cli- 
max township  is  a  native  and  product  of  the 
county,  born  in  the  township  in  which  he  now 
lives  on  December  22,  1852.  His  parents  were 
Joseph  and  Mary  (Foote)  Sager,  the  former  a 
native  of  Ohio  and  the  latter  of  Michigan.  The 
father  was  a  miller  and  sawmill  man,  and  came 
to  this  state  when  he  was  a  young  man.  Soon 
after  his  arrival  he  bought  the  Wilson  sawmill, 
which  he  operated  for  many  years.  He  also  cleared 
up  a  farm  in  the  same  neighborhood,  and  in  1898 
died  at  the  home  of  his  son  Albert  Jerome.  The 
mother  died  in  1864.  They  had  a  family  of  six 
children,  four  of  whom  grew  to  maturity  and  are 
living,  three  .sons  and  one  daughter.  The  father 
was  one  of  the  original  surveyors  of  the  Lake 
Superior  region,  and  for  a  number  of  years  before 
coming  to  this  county  was  a  sailor  on  the  great 
lakes.  His  son  Albert  reached  manhood  in  this 
county,  assisting  on  the  farm  and  at  the  mill,  and 
attending  school  at  Plainwell,  Battle  Creek  and 
Hillsdale.  For  fifteen  years  after  leaving  school 
he  followed  milling,  and  then  his  mill  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire.  He  also,  during  the  greater  part 
of  this  period,  manufactured  staves  and  headings. 
In  1892  he  located  on  his  present  farm  and  since 
then  he  has  been  engaged  in  general  farming  and 
raising  Galloway  cattle.  On  June  20,  1883,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Hattie  J.  Eldred,  a  daughter 
of  Stephen  and  Emily  (Spencer)  Eldred,  who 
were  among  the  early  settlers  of  this  county.  Mrs. 
Sager's  father  was  born  at  St.  Lawrence,  N.  Y., 
on  March  28,  1810,  and  in  1831  joined  his  father, 
Caleb  Eldred,  in  this  state,  to  which  he  had  come 
a  year  earlier.  On  this  trip  Mr.  Eldred  was  ac- 
companied by  his  brother  Thomas  and  his  sisters 


446 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


Louisa  and   Phebe.     They  went  to  Utica  in    a 
wagon  and  loaded  their  effects  on  a  boat  which 
took  them  by  way  of  the  Erie  canal  to  Buffalo, 
where  their  father  met  them.     From  there  they 
journeyed  by  boat  to  Detroit,  and  then  were  six 
days  getting  by  wagon  and  team  to  Comstock, 
where  their  father  had  entered  land.     He  built 
the  first  sawmill  in  the  county,  and  the  next  year 
erected    the    first    flouring-mill,    which    his    son 
Stephen  helped  him  to  operate.    The  country  was 
very   wild,    ferocious   beasts   were   plentiful    and 
Indians   were  numerous.     Mr.    Eldred   slept  by 
the  fireside  with  them  many  times.     He  learned 
their   customs   and    habits    and   acquired   a    fair 
knowledge  of  their  language.     He  was  obliged 
to  drive  to  Detroit  two  or  three  times  a  year  for 
provisions,   and  it   usually  took  him  two  weeks 
to  make  the  trip,  such  was  the  condition  of  the 
roads.     By  industry  and  frugality  he  flourished 
and  grew  to  be  a  man  of  wealth  and  consequence 
in  the  neighborhood.     He  was  very  liberal  in  the 
support   of    religious    and    educational    interests, 
and  warmly  encouraged  all  enterprises  likely  to 
build  up  the  county.     On  October  24,   1836,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Emily   Spencer,  who  was 
also  a  native  of  New  York.     They  had  five  chil- 
dren, two  of  whom  are  living — Hattie,  now  Mrs. 
Sager,  and  Charles  L.     From  his  early  manhood 
Mr.    Sager    has    been    a    Republican.     He    has 
served  as  highway  commissioner,  and  has  long 
been  one  of  the  most  determined  and  effective 
agitators  in  favor  of  the  good  roads  movement, 
having  started  that  movement  more  than  thirty 
years  ago.     He  was  appointed  by  Governor  Bliss 
as  a  delegate  to  the  national  convention  held  at 
St.   Louis  in  behalf  of  this  movement  in   1903, 
and  again  in  1904,  and  he  has  also  contributed 
many  forcible  articles  to  the  press  and  farm  papers 
in  favor  of  the  movement,  and  did  much  valuable 
work  at  farmers'  institutes  and  dairy  meetings  in 
different  parts  of  the  state  in  defense  and  promo- 
tion of  this  issue.    Mrs.  Sager  is  a  devoted  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and  for 
some  years  was  an  ardent  worker  for  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union  and  the  Woman's 
Foreign   Missionary   Society,  being  secretary  of 
these  organizations  for  a  long  period. 


ALBERT  LATTA. 

Many  of  the  early  settlers  of  southern  Michi- 
gan migrated  to  this   section   from  the  state  of 
New  York,  bringing  with  them  the  spirit  of  rest- 
less and  all-conquering  energy  which  character- 
izes  the   people  of  that  mighty   commonwealth; 
and  among  them  came  Albert  Latta,  now  one  of 
the  esteemed  and  most  representative  farmers  of 
Oshtemo  township,  this  county,  whose  life  began 
in  Niagara  county,  of  the  Empire  state,  on  April 
6,  1 82 1.   His  parents,  John  and  Parmelia  (Smith) 
Latta,  were  long  resident  in  that  section  of  the 
state,  where  the  former  was  a  native,  the  latter 
having  been  born  in  Vermont.    The  father  was  a 
farmer  and  also  a  tanner  until  his  tannery  was 
burned  by  the  British  soldiers  during  the  war  of 
1 81 2.    After  that  event  he  devoted  himself  wholly 
to  farming.    He  died  on  a  boat,  the  "Mayflower," 
running   between   Detroit  and    Buffalo,   in    1854 
while  on  a  visit  to  Michigan.     The  mother  sur- 
vived him  five  years,  passing  away  in  1859.   They 
had  eight  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  now  dead 
but  Albert.     Albert  grew  to  manhood,  was  edu- 
cated and   began   life    for  himself  in   his   native 
county,  farming  there  until  1853,  when  he  came 
to  Michigan  and  located  on  the  farm  which  he 
now  lives  on  and  which  has  been  his  home  ever 
since  he  purchased  it  on  his  arrival  in  this  county. 
It  is  on  Grand  Prairie  and  is  accounted  one  of 
the  valuable  and  attractive  homes  in  that  beautiful 
and   fertile   section   of  this   county,   having  been 
made  so  by  his  efforts  and  continued  and  skillful 
industry.     He  was  married  in  New  York  on  Oc- 
tober 21,  1847,  t0  Miss  Lois  Orton,  a  native  of 
that  state,  born  in  Niagara  county,  and  the  daugh- 
ter of  Dr.  Myron  and  Mary  (Hoyt)  Orton,  who 
were  born  and  reared  in  Vermont.     The  father 
was  a  prominent  physician  and  surgeon  in  Niag- 
ara county  and  rode  the  rounds  of  an  extensive 
practice  for  many  years  on  horseback.     Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Latta  have  had  nine  children,  seven  of  whom 
are  living,  Willard  A.,  Myron  O.,  Susan  A.,  wife 
of  William  F.  Montague  (see  sketch  on  another 
page),  Delacey  A.,  Walter,  Addison  J.  and  Clara 
A.     Mr.  Latta  is  a  Republican  in  political  affilia- 
tion, but  although  he  gives  his  party  loyal  support, 


fr 


r 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


449 


he  does  not  seek  or  desire  official  station  of  any 
kind,  being  devoted  to  his  farming  interests  and 
wishing  for  no  other  occupation.  He  and  his 
wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church. 

MORRIS  ROOF. 

Although  but  a  single  span  of  human  life  as 
measured  out  by  the  sacred  writer  has  passed 
since  the  first  settlements  were  made  in  this 
county,  the  time  has  been  sufficient  for  the  produc- 
tion of  two  generations  of  sons  and  daughters  of 
the  soil,  who  have  bravely  carried  forward  the 
work  of  redeeming  the  wilds  from  savage  do- 
minion and  transforming  them  into  beneficent 
activities  for  the  sustenance  and  comfort  of  man- 
kind, and  the  augmentation  of  all  forms  of  in- 
dustrial life  and  the  swelling  tides  of  commerce. 
A  well-known  member  of  the  first  generation,  who 
has  long  been  one  of  the  progressive  and  success- 
ful farmers  of  Climax  township,  is  Morris  Roof, 
who  was  born  in  Charleston  township  on  Decem- 
ber i,  1861.  His  parents,  Robert  and  Martha 
(Hallett)  Roof,  were  natives  of  New  York  state. 
The  father  was  a  farmer  and  came  to  this  county 
about  the  year  1842,  locating  in  Charleston  town- 
ship, where  for  some  time  he  worked  for  D.  C. 
Reed  and  afterward  bought  a  farm  which  he 
cleared  and  lived  on  until  1867,  then  moved  to 
another  one  mile  north  of  Climax.  This  com- 
prised three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  and  in 
buying  it  he  went  in  debt  $14,000.  He  subse- 
quently paid  the  debt  and  bought  more  land,  until 
at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1897,  on  this  farm,  he 
owned  over  a  section  of  first-rate  land,  all  well 
improved  and  highly  productive.  His  wife  died 
a  day  or  two  after  him,  and  the  remains  of  both 
were  buried  in  the  same  grave.  They  had  two 
sons  and  a  daughter,  all  of  whom  are  living  in 
this  county.  The  father  was  a  leading  Democrat 
and  influential  in  the  councils  of  his  party;  but  he 
was  never  an  office  seeker.  The  mother  belonged 
to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  Her  father 
was  A.  V.  C.  Hallett,  an  early  settler  in  Charles- 
ton township.  Mr.  Roof  grew  to  manhood  and 
was  educated  in  this  county,  attending  the  public 
schools.     He  has  followed  farming  through  life, 

25 


and  has  made  a  success  of  his  industry.  On  May 
22,  1884,  ne  was  married  in  this  county  to  Miss 
Luna  Peep,  a  native  of  Charleston  township. 
They  had  three  children,  Fred,  Leo  and  Clela. 
The  mother  died  on  July  16,  1892,  and  the 
father  married  a  second  wife  on  July  30,  1893, 
being  united  on  this  occasion  with  Miss  Lura 
Rundel,  a  native  of  Calhoun  county.  They  have 
two  children,  Martha  and  Merritt  R.  In  connec- 
tion with  his  general  farming  Mr.  Roof  has  car- 
ried on  an  extensive  and  profitable  dairy  business. 
He  keeps  regularly  thirty-five  milk  cows,  and 
gives  this  branch  of  his  industry  the  closest  and 
most  careful  attention.  Fraternally  he  is  a  Mas- 
ter Mason,  and  in  religious  belief  is  a  Baptist. 

FRANK  L.  BROWN. 

This  leading  farmer  of  Oshtemo  township,  this 
county,  whose  farm  is  a  model  of  thrift  and  skill- 
ful cultivation,  a  silent  but  most  effective  preacher 
of  the  benefits  of  forecast  and  calculation, 
thorough  knowledge  and  faithful  application,  is  a 
native  of  Berkshire  county,  Mass.,  born  on  Sep- 
tember 1,  1856.  He  is  the  son  of  Laurin  and 
Caroline  J.  (Parker)  Brown,  who  were  also  born 
and  reared  in  Massachusetts  where  the  father, 
who  was  born  in  181 1,  was  a  baker  and  gardener 
and  where  he  died  in  1896.  The  mother  died  on 
January  17,  1905.  Their  son  Frank  remained  in 
his  native  state  attending  school  and  assisting  his 
father  until  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty-two 
years,  then,  in  1878,  he  moved  to  Michigan  and 
began  work  for  Mr.  Hill  and  later  rented  the 
farm  which  became  the  property  of  his  wife  and 
which  has  ever  since  been  his  home.  On  Christ- 
mas day,  1878,  he  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Lily  Hill,  a  daughter  of  the  late  Daniel  H. 
Hill,  who  became  a  resident  of  this  county  in 
1853  anc*  hved  here  until  his  death  on  July  26, 
1901,  and  whose  wife  died  here  in  1888.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Brown  have  one  child,  their  daughter  Ethel 
K.,  wife  of  Edward  A.  Campbell,  of  this  county. 
Born  and  bred  in  an  atmosphere  of  thrift  and  in- 
dustry in  a  section  of  the  country  wherein  the 
fields  of  industry  have  long  been  worked  and  are 
somewhat  crowded,  Mr.  Brown  found  in  the  new 


45° 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


country  to  which  he  brought  his  inherited  traits 
and  his  acquired  knowledge  as  a  young  man  a 
wider  latitude  and  a  better  chance  for  persistent 
effort,  and  applying  himself  with  energy  and  sys- 
tem to  the  work  before  him,  he  has  achieved  a 
substantial  success  which  is  alike  gratifying  to 
him  and  beneficial  to  the  section  in  which  it  has 
been  won. 

JAMES  PATTISON. 

James  Pattison,  who  is  a  prominent  factor  in 
the  body  of  proficient  and  progressive  farmers 
who  are  making  Oshtemo  township,  this  county, 
a  veritable  garden  spot,  teeming  with  every  prod- 
uct suitable  to  the  soil  and  fruitful  also  in  all  the 
better  forms  of  educational  and  moral  agencies 
that  benefit  and  enlarge  a  free  people,  was  born  in 
county  Roxburgh,  Scotland,  in  April,  1832.  His 
parents,  James  and  Nancy  (Ledlow)  Pattison, 
were  natives  of  the  same  place  as  himself,  «and 
there  the  father  farmed  until  1854,  then  brought 
his  family,  comprising  his  wife,  three  sons  and 
two  daughters,  to  the  United  States  and  settled 
in  this  county,  which  they  reached  by  way  of 
Quebec  and  Detroit.  They  rented  land  for  a 
number  of  years,  then  purchased  a  tract  in  Osh- 
temo township  on  which  the  parents  lived  until 
death  ended  their  labors,  the  father  passing  away 
in  1883  and  the  mother  in  i860.  Of  their  five 
children  the  only  survivors  are  their  son  James 
and  his  brother  William,  who  is  living  at  Mitch- 
ell, S.  D.  James  was  about  twenty-two  when  the 
family  came  to  this  country.  He  remained  at 
home  and  assisted  his  parents  until  the  death  of 
his  father.  He  had,  however,  been  married  in  his 
native  land,  before  coming  to  America,  and  had 
brought  his  young  bride  with  him.  She  was  Miss 
Helen  Forsyth,  a  native  of  Scotland,  and  they 
were  married  in  Edinburgh  in  1854.  They  set- 
tled on  the  place  on  which  Mr.  Pattison  now  lives 
in  1858,  and  he  has  since  lived  there.  His  wife 
died  on  this  place  in  1903.  They  had  five  chil- 
dren, three  of  whom  are  living,  James,  John  and 
Edward.  In  religious  affiliation  Mr.  Pattison 
belongs  to  the  Congregational  church  of  Kalama- 
zoo ;  in  politics  he  is  a  Republican,  but  he  is  not 
an  active  partisan. 


GEORGE  BUCKHAM. 

George  Buckham,  the  capable  and  energetic 
supervisor  of  Oshtemo  township,  who  has  lived 
in  this  city  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  has 
made  an  excellent  record  for  good  citizenship 
among  its  people,  is  a  native  of  Buckingham- 
shire, England,  born  on  September  28,  1853,  and 
the  only  representative  of  his  family  living  in  the 
United  States.  His  parents  were  James  and  Re- 
becca (Ruder)  Buckham,  the  former  a  native  of 
Scotland,  and  the  latter  of  England.  The  fa- 
ther was  steward  of  a  large  estate  in  Scotland  and 
afterward  one  in  England.  Still  later  he  was  em- 
ployed in  the  same  capacity  in  Ireland,  where 
he  and  his  wife  both  died.  They  were  the 
parents  of  two  sons  and  one  daughter,  all 
of  whom  are  living.  George  passed  his  boy- 
hood and  youth  in  Ireland  and  received  his 
education  in  the  schools  of  that  country.  He 
remained  at  home  and  assisted  his  father  until 
1873,  then,  at  the  age  of  twenty  years,  he  came 
to  the  United  States,  and  at  once  made  Kalama- 
zoo county  his  residence.  Here  he  found  em- 
ployment as  a  farm  laborer  for  a  number  of 
years,  then  purchased  the  farm  of  sixty-three 
acres  on  which  he  now  lives.  It  was  all  improved 
land  when  he  bought  it,  but  he  has  made  more 
improvements  and  heightened  the  character  of  its 
soil  for  farming  purposes.  He  later  purchased 
sixty-seven  acres  of  wild  land,  which  he  cleared 
and  improved,  keeping  pace  with  the  advance  in 
the  county  and  using  all  the  knowledge  gained  in 
his  long  and  varied  experience  to  secure  the  best 
returns  for  his  labor.  In  1886  he  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Miss  Agnes  Pattison,  a  native  of 
this  county,  whose  parents,  James  and  Helen 
(Forsyth)  Pattison,  were  early  settlers  here.  V>v 
this  marriage  Mr.  Buckham  became  the  father  of 
one  child,  his  son  Valentine,  who  is  living  at 
home.  His  mother  died  in  1888,  and  in  1889  Mr. 
Buckham  married  a  second  wife,  Miss  Clara 
Scott  Kingsley,  a  native  of  Kalamazoo  county, 
born  in  Oshtemo  township,  the  daughter  of 
Moses  Kingsley,  a  pioneer  in  the  county  and  the 
founder  of  the  Farmers'  Mutual  Insurance  Com- 
pany, of  which  he  was  secretary  for  many  years. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


45i 


By  his  second  marriage  Mr.  Buckham  has  three 
children,  James  R.,  Harold  K.  and  Agnes  M.  In 
politics  he  is  an  ardent  Republican,  and  as  such 
he  was  elected  supervisor  of  the  township  in 
1903,  and  at  the  end  of  his  term  in  1904  was  re- 
elected, and  again  in  1905.  He  also  served  as 
township  clerk,  holding  the  office  eight  years  be- 
fore he  became  supervisor.  In  all  parts  of  the 
county  he  is  a  well  known  man  and  everywhere 
lie  is  highly  respected  and  well  spoken  of. 

BRADLEY  RANDALL. 

The  variety  of  altitude  and  soil  in  Oshtemo 
township,  when  it  became  known,  soon  attracted 
settlers  of  various  tastes  and  intentions,  who 
found  within  its  limits  food  for  their  differing 
desires  and  capacities,  while  all  united  to  push 
forward  the  general  development  and  progress  of 
the  section.  Although  settlement  in  this  town- 
ship began  about  the  year  1830,  it  was  still  a 
sparsely  populated  region  in  1866,  comparatively 
speaking,  when  Bradley  Randall,  after  a  military 
and  patrolling  service  of  four  years  in  the  Civil 
war,  came  to  this  state  and  here  he  has  since  con- 
tinuously resided,  having  found  conditions  large- 
ly to  his  taste  and  ample  opportunity  for  the  prof- 
itable employment  of  his  energies.  Mr.  Randall 
was  born  on  June  4,  1837,  in  Cattaraugus  county, 
N.  Y.,  and  is  the  son  of  Jerome  and  Abigail 
(Hooker)  Randall,  natives  of  Vermont  and  rep- 
resentatives of  families  resident  in  that  section 
of  the  country  from  colonial  times,  their  Ameri- 
can progenitors  having  been  among  the  early 
Puritan  arrivals  in  New  England..  The  parents 
were  farmers  and  moved  to  the  state  of  New 
York  soon  after  their  marriage,  and  there  they 
h'ved  until  1852,  when  they,  still  moved  by  the 
spirit  of  the  pioneer  and  the  frontiersman,  took 
another  flight  into  the  newer  regions  of  the  coun- 
try, locating  in  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  where 
the  father  died  in  1874  and  the  mother  in  1882. 
J;i  Ohio  they  conducted  a  hotel  for  a  number  of 
years  in  addition  to  their  farming  operations. 
Their  family  comprised  ten  children,  of  whom 
three  are  living,  Bradley  being  the  only  resident 
in  Michigan.    He  remained  with  his  parents  until 


the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  war.  He  then,  in 
1 86 1,  enlisted  in  defense  of  the  Union  in  the  Sec- 
ond Ohio  Independent  Light  Artillery,  which 
was  soon  assigned  to  duty  under  General  Fre- 
mont in  the  Army  of  the  Southwest.  Mr.  Ran- 
dall served  eighteen  months  in  the  battery  and 
during  this  time  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Pea 
Ridge  and  other  engagements  of  moment,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  period  was  transferred  to  the  ma- 
rine fleet  under  General  Elliott.  This  branch  of 
the  service  patrolled  the  Mississippi  and  its  tribu- 
taries until  1865  and  saw  much  active  and  dan- 
gerous service  along  the  river  banks  and  on  their 
waters.  Mr.  Randall  held  the  rank  of  corporal 
when  mustered  out  of  the  service.  In  1866  he 
came  to  Michigan,  and  in  this  section  he  has 
had  his  home  ever  since.  For  some  years  he  was 
domiciled  at  Pine  Grove  as  the  manager  for  Ev- 
erett &  Wise  in  connection  with  their  farm,  and 
for  the  past  eleven  years  has  resided  in  Osh- 
temo township.  He  was  married  in  Ohio  in 
i860  to  Miss  Susan  Butts,  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. They  have  seven  children,  Laura,  George, 
Jennie,  Will  and  Luella,  twins,  Nettie  and  Myr- 
tle. In  politics  the  father  is  a  Republican  and 
in  fraternal  life  a  Freemason,  and  a  member  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  The  church 
affiliation  of  himself  and  his  wife  is  with  the  Free 
Baptists. 

ARTHUR   STRONG. 

Born  in  Kalamazoo  township  on  March  31, 
1841,  Arthur  Strong  has  passed  the  whole  of  his 
life  so  far  within  the  limits  of  the  county,  con- 
tributing to  its  substantial  welfare  and  progress 
and  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  its  people  by 
helping  to  develop  and  improve  two  good  farms, 
by  faithful  service  as  a  teacher  in  its  public  schools  < 
and  by  careful  and  appreciated  tenure  of  several 
official  positions  of  great  trust  and  importance. 
He  is  a  son  of  Tertius  Strong  and  a  brother  of 
William  and  Edward  Strong,  more  extended  no- 
tice of  whom  is  given  on  other  pages  of  this  vol- 
ume. He  aided  his  parents  in  clearing  and  im- 
proving the  homestead  and  lived  on  it  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  thirty-one  years.  He  was  edu- 
cated  in  the  district  schools  and  at  Kalamazoo 


452 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


College,  and  then  taught  school  for  a  period  of 
sixteen  consecutive  years  during  the  winters, 
working  on  the  farm  in  the  summers.  In  1872 
he  moved  to  Oshtemo  township,  and  after  remain- 
ing there  three  years  passed  the  next  two  in  Kala- 
mazoo township.  In  1878  he  moved  to  the  farm 
on  which  he  now  lives  in  Oshtemo  and  which  has 
ever  since  been  his  home.  This  he  has  improved 
from  a  very  immature  condition  and  brought  it 
to  a  high  state  of  cultivation.  The  land  is  of  ex- 
cellent quality  and  he  has  applied  to  it  all  the  more 
advanced  methods  of  husbandry,  assisting  the 
bounty  of  nature  with  systematic  and  wisely  be- 
stowed industry,  and  he  has  his  reward  in  one 
of  the  most  attractive  and  productive  farms  and 
comfortable  homes  in  the  township.  In  1872  he 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Fannie  Anderson, 
a  daughter  of  Duncan  and  Mary  (Beckley)  An- 
derson, respected  pioneers  of  Kalamazoo  county. 
Five  children,  Albert,  Wilfred,  Mary  Ettie,  Wal- 
ter and  Janet,  have  been  born  in  the  household 
and  all  are  living.  Mr.  Strong  is  a  Lincoln  Re- 
publican and  has  been  zealous,  earnest  and  con- 
stant in  the  service  of  his  party.  He  has  been 
found  so  capable,  upright  and  worthy  of  confi- 
dence that  he  has  been  chosen  by  his  fellow  citi- 
zens to  fill  a  number  of  local  offices,  serving  as 
township  treasurer,  school  inspector  and  justice 
of  the  peace.  In  all  these  positions  he  has  well 
justified  the  faith  shown  in  his  election  and  made 
a  creditable  record  of  usefulness  and  wise  ad- 
ministration. He  and  his  wife  are  members  of 
the  Free  Baptist  church.  Although  native  here, 
he  has  shown  the  fiber  of  which  he  is  made  by 
his  readiness  in  taking  up  and  carrying  forward 
the  work  of  development  begun  by  the  first  set- 
tlers and  has  held  the  family  name  always  up  to 
the  high  standard  won  for  it  by  its  Michigan 
founders. 

FRANK  COLEMAN. 

Frank  Coleman,  who  has  passed  all  of  the 
fifty-one  years  of  his  life  on  the  farm  which  is 
his  present  home,  is  one  of  the  best  known  and 
most  respected  citizens  of  Oshtemo  township. 
His  father,  William  H.  Coleman,  was  born  in 
Orange  county,  N.  Y.,  and  the  mother,  whose 


maiden  name  was  Amanda  Owen,  at  Bethel,  Vt, 
the  former  coming  into  the  world  in  1813  and  the 
latter  in  1807.  The  father  passed  his  early  life 
in  his  native  state,  during  some  years  being  em- 
ployed by  the  Erie  canal  riding  a  horse  along  the 
towpath  to  draw  a  boat.  In  1833  the  family 
moved  to  this  state,  and  located  in  Kalamazoo. 
For  a  number  of  years  thereafter  the  father  was 
engaged  in  teaming  between  Kalamazoo  and 
Jackson.  In  1836  he  entered  government  land  in 
Oshtemo  township  in  partnership  with  his 
brother,  Anson.  They  built  a  log  cabin  on 
the  Indian  trail  between  Kalamazoo  and  Paw 
Paw,  and  set  to  work  to  clear  their  land  and 
make  it  productive.  It  was  all  wild  and  unbroken, 
and  surrounded  by  the  dense  forest  which  was 
still  inhabited  by  Indians  and  wild  beasts.  There 
was  plenty  of  wild  game  here  then,  and  the  elder 
Coleman,  being  a  great  hunter,  prospered  in  serv- 
ing the  settlers  around  with  the  fruits  of  his  en- 
terprise in  this  respect.  The  second  eighty  acres 
of  land  owned  by  him  was  purchased  from  the 
sale  of  caps  made  by  his  wife  of  the  tips  of  wild 
turkey  feathers,  which  she  sold  to  W.  B.  Clark, 
and  with  the  proceeds  bought  two  steer  calves. 
These  she  sold  later  and  purchased  this  land.  Mr. 
Coleman  lived  to  clear  his  farm  and  get  it  into 
good  condition,  dying  on  it  in  1886,  his  wife  pass- 
ing away  in  the  spring  of  1887.  He  was  a  de- 
vout member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
being  the  first  class  leader  of  that  denomination 
in  Kalamazoo.  Their  family  comprised  three 
sons  and  three  daughters,  all  living  but  two  of 
the  daughters.  The  father  was  a  strong  Aboli- 
tionist in  political  faith,  and  he  encouraged  the 
cause  of  freedom  for  the  Southern  slaves  in  all 
practicable  ways.  Frank  Coleman,  who  was  born 
on  the  home  place  on  which  he  now  lives,  as  has 
been  noted,  came  into  being  on  June  29,  1853. 
He  reached  maturity  in  Oshtemo  township  and 
was  educated  in  the  common  schools  and  at  the 
Baptist  College  in  Kalamazoo.  Farming  and 
dealing  in  stock  from  his  youth,  he  has  prospered 
in  both  lines  of  activity,  and  is  now  one  of  the 
substantial  and  progressive  citizens  of  his  town- 
ship, well  esteemed  on  all  sides,  and  with  a  help- 
ful and  healthful  influence  in  all  matters  of  pub- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


453 


lie  improvement  and  the  general  advancement  of 
the  county.  In  November,  1883,  he. .was  married 
to  Miss  Louise  K.  Rix,  a  daughter  of,  Daniel  K. 
Rix,  one  of  the  respected,  pioneers  of  Texas 
township.  They  have  four  children,  Leon,  Dan- 
iel, Eunice  and  Margaret.  Mr.  Coleman  is  a 
Republican  in  politics.  rHe  and  his  wife  belong 
to  the  Baptist  church. 

JOHN  H.  HOBDEN. '".. 

John  H.  Hobden,  who  is  well  known  and 
prominent  in  Oshtemo  township,  this  county,  in 
farming  and  stock-raising  circles  as  one  of  the 
leading  men  in  those  lines  of  activity,  and  has  a 
high  standing  in  the  respect  of  all  classes  of  the 
citizens  of  his  neighborhood,  was  born  at  Roches- 
ter, N.  Y.,  on  September  4,  1833.  His  father, 
when  a  young  man,  was  sent  to  this  country  by 
his  family  who  furnished  him  with  funds  to 
engage  in  the  fur  trade,  and  he  became  one  of  the 
extensive  dealers  in  this  trade  in  Canada  and  the 
United  States.  His  health  suffered  from  ex- 
posure and  he  located  at  Rochester,  where  he  mar- 
ried and  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business.  But 
his  health  continued  to  fail  and  late  in  life  he 
passed  a  year  on  the  ocean  in  an  effort  to  regain 
it.  He  died,  however,  in  1843,  a  ^ew  months 
after  the  completion  of  his  voyage,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-seven -years.  During  the  war  of  1812  he 
spent  a  few  months  in  the  winter  of  1813  with  the 
American  troops  at  Batavia,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Hobden's 
mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Ann  Bohannah, 
was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  of  Scotch  descent, 
and  a  relative  of  Daniel  Webster.  She  was  reared 
among  the  pioneers  of  western  New  York,  and 
before  her  marriage  she  carried  the  United  States 
mails  once  a  month  between  Canandaigua  and 
Fort  Niagara,  fording  the  Genesee  river  at 
Rochester.  She  passed  much  time  among  the  In- 
dians and  could  speak  their  language  fluently. 
John  H.  Hobden  is  the  first  born  of  five  children 
in  the  household  of  his  parents.  The  first  school 
he  attended  was  on  Brown's  Square  at  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  where  the  Niagara  Falls  freight  depot  now 
stands.  When  eleven  years  old  he  went  to  live 
with  Sylvester  Tracy,  a  good  Presbyterian  deacon, 


with  whom  he  remained  two  years  doing  chores 
for  his  board  and  going  to  school.  He  then  worked 
on  the  farm  some  time,  after  which  he  became  a 
traveling  salesman  for  J.  W.  Colman,  a  merchant 
of  Rochester,  remaining  in  his  employ  fifteen 
months.  At  the  end  of  that  period  he  again  tried 
work  on  the  farm  for  two  years.  In  1852  he 
came  to  Michigan,  and  locating  at  Battle  Creek, 
associated  in  business  with  J.  N.  Merritt.  In  the 
ensuing  spring  he  returned  east  and  bought  a 
stock  of  nursery  goods  which  he  shipped  to  Osh- 
temo, this  county,  and  with  this  he  stared  a  nurs- 
ery, attending  to  the  business  in  summer  and 
teaching  in  winter  for  a  number  of  years.  In 
1857  he  was  married  to  Miss  Laura  J.  Love,  a 
daughter  of  Stephen  A.  and  Sarah  J.  (Gibbs) 
Love,  natives  of  New  York  state,  who  were  early 
settlers  in  this  county,  where  Mrs.  Hobden  was 
born,  they  coming  here  in  1831.  Her  maternal 
great-grandfather,  Chester  Gibbs,  was  killed  by 
the  Indians  in  New  York.  Soon  after  his  mar- 
riage Mr.  Hobden  purchased  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  wild  land  in  section  26,  Oshtemo 
township,  and  erecting  thereon  a  small  house, 
turned  his  attention  to  farming.  He  now  owns 
one  hundred  and  ninety  acres  in  one  body  and  all 
in  a  high  state  of  cultivation.  He  and  his  wife 
have  been  the  parents  of  eleven  children,  Adella 
(deceased),  Stephen  (deceased),  Ulyses  H.,  Lea- 
tha  (deceased),  Sarah  J.,  John  B.  (deceased), 
Lillie  M.  (deceased),  Hattie  (deceased),  Alver- 
non,  Perry  and  Geneva.  The  two  oldest  sons  re- 
ceived good  commercial  education  and  one  was 
in  mercantile  business  in  Idaho  but  is  now  dead. 
Two  of  the  daughters  became  excellent  teachers. 
The  mother  died  in  January,  1898.  During  the 
summer  of  1891  Mr.  Hobden  started  a  general 
store  in  the  village  of  Oshtemo  which  he  has  since 
conducted  with  vigor  and  success.  He  also  does  a 
fruit,  grain  and  produce  business  and  handles  ex- 
cellent stock,  which  he  raises  on  his  farm.  Me- 
rino sheep  and  Durham  cattle  are  his  favorite 
breeds.  His  principal  crop  is  wheat.  He  has  fine 
buildings  on  his  place,  and  all  that  he  now  pos- 
sesses he  has  made  himself  by  his  perseverance 
and  industry.  In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat,  and 
although  never  an  aspirant  for  public  office,  takes 


454 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


great  interest  and  pride  in  local  school  matters. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  also 
of  the  Farmers'  Alliance.  He  and  his  family 
stand  high  in  the  community  and  are  well  es- 
teemed throughout  the  county. 

NATHAN  S.  KINNEY. 

Postmaster  and  general  merchant  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Oshtemo,  and  for  nine  years  supervisor 
of  the  township,  Nathan  S.  Kinney  is  a  useful 
citizen  and  a  representative  and  leading  man.  He 
was  born  in  Prairie  Ronde  township,  this  county, 
on  March  9,  1844,  the  son  of  Niles  Hartwell  and 
Sarah  (Spears)  Kinney,  natives  of  New  York 
state,  where  the  father  was  a  farmer's  son,  born 
in  1800.  When  he  was  eleven  years  old  the  fam- 
ily moved  to  Huron  county,  Ohio,  and  settled  at 
Sandusky.  His  father,  Dydimus  Kinney,  who 
was  also  a  native  of  New  York,  was  an  eye  wit- 
ness of  Commodore  Perry's  fight  with  the  British 
on  Lake  Erie.  Niles  H.  Kinney,  the  father  of 
Nathan,  remained  in  Huron  county,  Ohio,  until 
1835,  when  he  came  to  this  county  and  entered  a 
tract  of  land  in  Prairie  Ronde  township.  It  was 
on  the  west  side  of  the  prairie  and  comprised 
two  hundred  and  eighty  acres,  being  oak  open- 
ings. He  lived  to  clear  the  whole  tract  and  died 
on  it  in  1856.  The  mother  died  there  about  1849. 
They  had  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  now 
deceased  but  their  son  Nathan  and  their  daugh- 
ter, Phebe,  Mrs.  Sales,  of  Oceana  county,  this 
state.  The  father  was  a  Whig  until  the  death  of 
that  party  and  then  became  a  Republican.  He 
filled  a  number  of  township  offices,  but  preferred 
the  ease  and  quiet  of  private  life  to  public  po- 
sitions. His  son,  Nathan,  assisted  in  clearing  the 
farm  in  Prairie  Ronde  township,  and  received 
his  education  in  the  district  schools  there.  In  1861 
he  enlisted  in  the  Union  army  for  the  Civil  war 
in  Company  H,  Twelfth  Michigan  Infantry,  be- 
ing enrolled  in  October.  His  regiment  became 
a  part  of  the  Sixteenth  Army  Corps  under  Gen- 
eral Grant,  and  was  later  a  part  of  the  Seventh 
Corps.  Mr.  Kinney  participated  in  a  number  of 
important  engagements,  among  them  the  battle 
of   Shiloh,   the   siege    of   Corinth,    the   siege   of 


Vicksburg,  the  battle  of  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  and 
many  others,  besides  numerous  skirmishes  and 
small  fights.  He  was  mustered  out  in  1866  with 
the  rank  of  corporal,  then  returning  to  this 
county  lived  three  years  on  Prairie  Ronde.  Ac 
the  end  of  that  period  he  bought  a  farm  in  Osh 
temo  township  and  lived  on  it  until  1898,  when 
he  opened  a  store  in  the  village  of  Oshtemo  which 
he  is  now  carrying  on.  He  was  appointed  post- 
master here  in  1897  by  President  McKinley,  and 
was  re-appointed  in  1901  by  President  Roosevelt. 
In  1885  he  was  elected  supervisor  of  the  town- 
ship and  served  in  this  office  in  all  nine  years. 
He  was  also  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  In  1869  he  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Mary  McKain,  a  native  of  Ireland,  who 
came  to  the  United  States  when  she  was  but  one 
year  and  a  half  old,  and  after  living  in  the  state  of 
New  York  until  she  was  nine,  came  to  Michigan. 
They  have  four  children,  Ethel,  D.  C.  Hartwell 
and  Hal  N.  In  political  faith  Mr.  Kinney  is  a 
stanch  Republican.  Fraternally  he  is  a  Freema- 
son, and  belongs  to  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic. 

james  h.  Mclaughlin. 

This  well  known  and  highly  appreciated 
farmer  of  Oshtemo  township  and  member  of  the 
county  board  of  school  examiners,  is  a  native  of 
Comstock  township,  this  county,  born  on  June  28, 
1 861.  His  parents,  James  and  Catherine  (Rip 
ton)  McLaughlin,  were  born  and  grew  to  ma- 
turity in  county  Mayo,  Ireland,  where  they  were 
married,  and  whence  they  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1857,  becoming  residents  of  this  count; 
the  next  year.  They  located  in  Richland  town 
ship,  where  they  remained  until  1869,  then  moved 
to  Oshtemo  township,  where  they  still  live.  Theiv 
family  comprised  three  sons  and  four  daughters, 
five  of  whom  are  living.  James  reached  manhood, 
in  Oshtemo  township,  attending  the  districi" 
schools,  and  afterward  teaching  for  a  period  o< 
ten  years.  In  1891  he  was  graduated  from  the 
English  course  in  the  State  Normal  School,  and 
in  1898  from  the  Latin  and  scientific  courses  \v 
that  institution.     He  has  since  continued  teach- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


455 


\ng,  conducting  schools  at  Climax,  this  county, 
and  at  Keeler,  Van  Buren  county.  He  served 
four  years  in  Oshtemo  and  two  in  Texas  town- 
ship as  school  inspector,  and  from  his  youth  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  local  politics  as  a  Repub- 
lican. In  1889  he  was  married  to  Miss  Maud 
Rix,  a  native  of  Kalamazoo  county.  They  have 
three  children,  Arlon,  Isabelle  and  Catherine.  Mr. 
McLaughlin  belongs  to  the  Masonic  order  and 
the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees,  and  he  and  his 
wife  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  church. 
He  has  high  rank  as  a  teacher  and  a  public  offi- 
cial, and  meets  all  the  requirements  of  an  ele- 
vated citizenship  in  a  manly,  straightforward  and 
serviceable  manner. 

R.  CURTIS  BALCH. 

This  prominent  and  enterprising  farmer  of 
Oshtemo  township  is  a  native  of  the  township 
and  was  born  in  the  house  in  which  he  is  now  liv- 
ing on  April  26,  1856.  His  parents,  Royal  T. 
and  Ruthanna  (Davis)  Balch,  were  natives  of 
Athens,  Vt.  The  father  was  born  at  Athens,  that 
state,  on  December  17,  181 7,  a  son  of  Nathaniel 
and  Sally  (Bennett)  Balch,  and  after  receiving 
an  academic  education  there,  taught  school  for  a 
number  of  years.  In  the  year  1850  he  came  to 
Michigan  and  bought  a  farm  of  Barney  D.  Balch 
in  Kalamazoo  township,  three  miles  south  of  the 
city.  Here  he  lived,  engaged  in  farming  and 
teaching  school  two  years,  then  moved  to  Osh- 
temo township  and  bought  the  farm  on  which  his 
son  Curtis  now  lives.  He  continued  farming 
there  until  his  death  in  1884.  His  marriage  oc- 
curred at  Athens,  Vt.,  in  1844,  and  his  wife  died 
in  Oshtemo  township  in  1889.  They  had  two 
sons  and  five  daughters,  all  of  whom  are  living. 
The  father  was  a  Democrat  in  early  life,  but  later 
became  an  ardent  Prohibitionist  in  political  ac- 
tivity and  a  great  temperance  worker.  He  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church  at  Oshtemo  in  i860,  and  served  as  one 
of  its  trustees  all  the  rest  of  his  days.  He  was 
also  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school  and  a 
class  leader  in  the  church  for  a  long  time.  His 
son,  R.  Curtis  Balch,  the  immediate  subject  of 


this  writing,  grew  to  manhood  on  the  home  farm 
and  attended  the  district  schools  in  its  vicinity. 
He  also  attended  Kalamazoo  College  two  years 
and  since  leaving  college  has  been  continuously 
engaged  in  farming.  But  he  has  also  given  at- 
tention to  industrial  pursuits  in  some  measures, 
being  a  stockholder  in  the  Gibson,  Madeline  & 
Gentor  Manufacturing  Company  of  Kalamazoo 
and  in  some  other  enterprises  of  a  productive 
character.  He  was  married  on  October  6,  1880, 
to  Miss  Alice  Nellie  Wild,  a  daughter  of  William 
C.  and  Mary  A.  (Kempsey)  Wild,  the  father 
born  in  this  county,  who  were  early  settlers  here. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Balch  have  seven  children,  all  liv- 
ing, Clarence  L.,  J.  Vincent,  Edwyn  C,  William 
E.,  Ruth  A.,  Vera  and  Loyal  T.  The  head 
of  the  house  is  a  Prohibitionist  in  politics,  a 
member  of  the  United  Workman  and  the  order  of 
Ben  Hur  in  fraternal  circles,  and  belongs  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church.  He  is  a  trustee  of 
the  church  and  one  of  its  stewards,  and  for  some 
time  has  been  superintendent  of  its  Sunday 
school.  Thus  father  and  son  have  been  active  in 
promoting  the  moral  and  educational  welfare  of 
the  county  and  keeping  its  forces  for  good  .in 
these  lines  concentrated  for  power  and  active  for 
results.  The  son  is  now  esteemed  on  all  sides 
for  his  elevated  and  sterling  manhood,  as  the  fa- 
ther was  in  his  day  for  his.  In  the  commingling 
of  the  sturdy  ideas  of  New  England  and  the 
freer  views  and  greater  latitude  of  the  Missis- 
sippi valley  a  resultant  has  been  secured,  which 
has  all  the  strength  of  fiber  of  the  one  and  the 
breadth  of  comprehension  of  the  other,  the  ad- 
mirable admixture  which  has  made  the  Middle 
West  of  this  country  the  nursery  of  the  best  and 
most  forceful  citizenship,  and  of  this  Mr.  Balch 
is  a  fine  example. 

ANGLE     STEEL     SLED     COMPANY     OF 
KALAMAZOO. 

Amid  the  multitude  of  manufacturing  enter- 
prises for  which  the  city  and  county  of  Kalama- 
zoo is  so  widely  renowned  none  has  a  higher  rank 
for  the  energy  and  capacity  of  its  management, 
the  squareness  of  its  business  methods  or  the  qual- 


456 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


ity  of  its  products  than  that  which  is  the  sub- 
ject of  this  notice.  It  was  organized  as  a  stock 
company  in  1901  and  began  the  manufacture  of 
steel  hand  sleds  in  a  small  way  on  July  5,  1902, 
in  a  little  plant  on  Manufacturers'  Square,  the  out- 
put for  the  year  amounting  to  forty  thousand  dol- 
lars in  value.  This  found  a  ready  market  in  va- 
rious parts  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and 
made  a  largely  increased  demand  for  the  com- 
modity at  once.  The  capital  stock  of  the  company 
is  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  first  offi- 
cers were  George  E.  Bardeen,  president,  Dr.  La- 
crone,  vice-president,  S.  J.  Dunkley,  treasurer, 
P.  L.  Burdick,  secretary  and  general  manager, 
and  H.  G.  M.  Howard,  second  vice-president  and 
superintendent.  The  sled  which  the  company 
makes  in  enormous  quantities  was  invented  by 
H.  G.  M.  Howard,  and  is  made  of  steel  through- 
out except  the  top,  the  patents  covering  the 
method  of  fastening  to  the  runners.  In  1903  a 
tract  of  land  was  leased  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  city  along  the  South  Haven  branch  of  the 
Michigan  Central  Railroad,  and  a  building  was 
erected  three  hundred  by  forty-eight  feet  in  di- 
mensions, two  stories  high,  with  steel  coating. 
After  the  removal  of  the  business  to  this  new 
plant  earnest  efforts  were  made  to  supply  the  de- 
mand for  the  sleds,  but  it  was  impossible  to  meet 
all  the  requirements,  notwithstanding  104,403 
sleds  were  turned  out  in  a  year,  the  orders  aggre- 
gating 125,000.  More  than  one  hundred  per- 
sons are  regularly  employed  in  the  works,  and  it 
is  found  that  this  number  as  well  as  the  capacity 
of  the  plant  will  have  to  be  largely  increased  at 
an  early  date.  H.  G.  M.  Howard,  the  inventor 
of  the  sled,  is  a  native  of  Preble  county,  Ohio, 
born  on  August  29,  1845.  In  ms  boyhood  his 
parents  moved  to  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  and  after- 
ward to  Madison,  Wis.  Later  they  changed  their 
residence  to  a  location  north  of  St.  Paul,  Minn., 
where  they  settled  on  a  tract  of  wild  land.  In 
i860  they  returned  to  Ohio,  and  soon  afterward 
again  moved  into  Indiana,  locating  in  Randolph 
county.  The  father  was  a  gunsmith  and  under 
his  instruction  the  son  learned  the  same  trade.  At 
this  trade  he  wrought  a  number  of  years,  but  all 
the  while  his  active  mind  was  busy  with  inven- 


tions, and  in  1886  and  1887  he  took  out  sixteen 
patents  on  devices  for  road  carts  which  were 
used  by  twelve  of  the  largest  carriage  manufac- 
tories in  the  country.  Mr.  Howard  came  to  Kala- 
mazoo in  1885,  and  for  two  years  thereafter  he 
was  employed  as  a  salesman  by  the  Michigan 
Buggy  Company.  He  was  also  the  founder  of 
.  the  Howard  Elastic  Steel  Wheel  Company,  which 
was  started  in  Kalamazoo  but  was  afterward 
moved  to  Wabash,  Ind.  In  addition  to  inventing 
the  sled  he  has  invented  several  of  the  machines 
used  in  its  manufacture.  During  the  Civil  war 
he  sought  to  enlist  in  defense  of  the  L^nion  as  a 
member  of  the  Eighth  Ohio  Cavalry,  but  was  re- 
jected on  account  of  his  weight,  which  was  then 
only  ninety  pounds.  The  present  officers  are  as 
follows :  George  E.  Bardeen,  president ;  Dr.  O. 
A.  Lacrone,  first  vice-president ;  H.  G.  Howard, 
superintendent  and  second  vice-president;  S.  J. 
Dunkley,  secretary  and  treasurer.  They  have 
since  added  the  manufacturing  of  child  wagons, 
steel  furniture  and  various  other  things  in  that 
line.  They  have  enlarged  their  trade  and  now  ex- 
port the  goods  to  Europe  and  are  the  largest 
manufacturers  of  steel  sleds  in  the  world. 

DR.  JOHN  F.  CHAPIN. 

This  venerated  and  universally  popular  phy- 
sician and  surgeon  of  Schoolcraft,  who  has  given 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  the  best  years 
of  his  life  to  the  service  of  the  people  of  this 
county  in  active  professional  work,  thereby 
greatly  adding  to  the  mitigation  of  human  suffer- 
ing and  the  increase  of  human  happiness  in  this 
section,  is  a  native  of  Luzerne  county,  Pa.,  born 
on  June  2,  1838.  His  parents  were  Ami  and 
Mary  (Blish)  Chapin,  the  former  born  in  Con- 
necticut and  the  latter  in  Massachusetts.  The 
father  became  a  resident  of  Pennsylvania  in  boy- 
hood, and  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  that 
state  engaged  in  farming,  and  died  there  in  1865, 
the  mother  passing  away,  also  in  that  state,  in 
1862.  They  were  the  parents  of  three  sons  and 
three  daughters.  The  Doctor  was  reared  and 
educated  in  his  native  state,  attending  the  district 
schools  and  afterward  the  New  Columbus  Male 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


457 


and   Female   Academy    at     New    Columbus,   in 
Luzerne  county.     He  read  medicine  with  Dr.  W. 
K.  Barrett,  of  Cambria,  Pa.,  three  years,  and  dur- 
ing that  time  attended  lectures  in  the  medical  de- 
partment of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  tak- 
ing" a  final  course  at  the  University  of  Vermont, 
from  which  he  received  his  degree  in  1861.     Be- 
ginning  his   practice   at    Cambria    in   association 
with  his  former  tutor,  Dr.  Barrett,  he  remained 
with  him  seven  years,  after  which  he  practiced 
alone  at  the  same  place  until  1879,  when  he  came 
to  Kalamazoo  county  and  located  at  Schoolcraft, 
where  he  has  since  lived  and  had  an  extensive  and 
profitable  practice  embracing  the  most  representa- 
tive families  of  the  neighborhood.     Before  com- 
ing to  this  state  he  sought  additional  qualifications 
for  his  life  work  through  a  post-graduate  course 
in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.     In  1865  he 
was  married  in  Pennsylvania  to  Miss  Mary  Bidle- 
rnan,  of  Bloomsburg,  that  state.     They  have  one 
child,  their  son,  Dr.  C.  B.  Chapin,  of  Benton  Har- 
bor, who  is  a  graduate  of  the  Schoolcraft  high 
school  (or  graded  school)  of  the  Agricultural  Col- 
lege; at  Lansing,  Mich.,  and  of  the  medical  de- 
partment of  the  State  University  at  Ann  Arbor. 
The    father    is    a    member    of    the    Kalamazoo 
Academy  of  Medicine  and  a  zealous  participant 
in  its  work  of  research  and  instruction  among  the 
practitioners  of  the  profession.     In  fraternal  re- 
lations he  is  a  third-degree   Freemason,   and   in 
church  affiliation  he  and  his  wife  are  allied  with 
the     Protestant     Episcopalians.     While     not     an 
earnest  or  determined  partisan,  the  Doctor  sup- 
ports the  principles  and  candidates  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  generally,  but  he  is  more  interested 
in  the  general  welfare  of  his  county  and  state, 
and  the  substantial  and  enduring  progress  of  their 
people,  than  the  success  of  any  party,  and  he  can 
always  be  counted  among  the  ardent  supporters 
of  any  commendable  enterprise  for  the  promotion 
of  these  interests. 

JEREMIAH  N.  BROWN. 

The  late  Jeremiah  N.  Brown,  of  Alamo 
township,  one  of  the  best  known  and  most  suc- 
cessful   farmers    of  this    county,    who    departed 


this  life  on  January  1,  1899,  full  of  years  and  of 
local  distinction,  and  revered  as  a  partiarch  by 
the  people  among  whom  so  many  years  of  his 
usefulness  were  passed  without  reproach,  was  a 
native  of  Herkimer  county,  N.  Y.,  born  on  June 
20,   1812.     His  parents,  Nicholas  and  Susannah 
(Johnson)    Brown,  passed  their  lives  as  indus- 
trious and  well-to-do  farmers  in  the  state  of  New 
York,  dying  there  at  advanced  ages.     They  had 
a  family  of  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  of 
whom   are  now   deceased.     Their   son  Jeremiah 
was  reared  in  his  native  state  and  educated  in  its 
district  schools.  In  1833,  when  he  was  just  twen- 
ty-one years  old,  he  came  west  to  Elkhart  county, 
Ind.,  making  the  journey  on  foot  from  Detroit, 
following    Indian   trails   through  the    otherwise 
trackless  forest,  and  entered  a  tract  of  govern- 
ment land  which  he  cleared  and  cultivated  until 
1853.     He  then  moved  to  this  county  and  located 
on  eighty  acres  of  unbroken  timber  land  in  Al- 
amo township,  which  he  cleared  and  improved, 
building  first  a  small  log  cabin   for  a   dwelling 
that  was  some  years  later  replaced  with  a  good 
frame  residence.     He  added  to  his  first  purchase 
until  he  owned  two  hundred  acres,  all  of  which 
he  succeeded  in  clearing  and  getting  under  culti- 
vation before  his  death.    He  was  married  at  Elk- 
hart, Ind.,  on  December  31,  1835,  to  Miss  Eliza 
Van  Frank,  a  native  of  New  York  state.     They 
had  four  children,  two  of  whom  are  living,  their 
son,    Homer  J.,  of  Plainwell,  this  county,    and 
their  daughter  Malvina,  who  is  now  the  widow  of 
Philip  Simmons,  a  son  of  Isaac  and  Polly  (Bree- 
mer)  Simmons,  natives  of  New  Jersey  and  early 
settlers  in  Alamo  township.     Mr.  Simmons  died 
in     1886,     leaving     one     child,     their    daughter 
Mary  E.  Simmons,  who  lives  with  her  mother  on 
the  old  Brown  homestead.     Mr.  Brown  was  for 
many  years  one  of  the  best  known  citizens  of  the 
township,  and  enjoyed  in  a  marked  degree  the 
appreciative  respect  and  good  will  of  all  its  peo- 
ple.    He  took  an  active  interest  in  public  affairs 
involving  the  substantial   and   enduring  welfare 
of  his  community,  and  in  reference  to  them  gave 
the  township  good  service  in  counsel  and  more 
material  aid.     No  enterprise  of  value  was  con- 
ducted without  his  energetic  and  intelligent  aid. 


458 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


and  no  interest  of  his  people  went  without  his 
considerate  attention  and  helpful  assistance. 
Seeking  no  prominence  or  public  honors  for 
himself,  he  was  able  to  devote  his  best  energies 
to  the  public  needs  unbiased  by  personal  ambi- 
tions and  uninfluenced  by  direct  personal  ends. 
The  post  of  honor  to  him  was  a  private  station, 
and  his  controlling  impulse  was  to  promote  the 
general  weal  to  the  best  advantage  and  for  the 
longest  time. 

JOHN  W.  JAMES. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  on 
August  14,  1905,  one  of  the  oldest  settlers  in  Kal- 
amazoo county,  both  in  years  of  life  and  continu- 
ous residence  here,  John  W.  James,  of  Alamo 
township,  was  a  connecting  link  between  the 
dawn  of  civilization  in  this  region  and  its  present 
state  of  advanced  development  and  progress.  He 
saw  this  part  of  the  country  when  it  was  yet  a 
wilderness  in  the  thrall  of  the  savage  red  man 
and  the  wild  beasts  of  the  forest,  and  witnessed 
and  helped  to  promote  its  every  stage  of  subse- 
quent progress,  until  it  has  become  renowned 
throughout  the  world  for  the  triumphs  of  skill, 
genius  and  determined  persistency  of  effort  won 
by  its  thrifty  and  energetic  people.  At  the  time 
of  his  arrival  on  this  soil  every  foot  of  the  ad- 
vance of  the  white  man  was  contested  by  the  un- 
tamed denizens  of  the  wild,  and  won  over  their 
persistent,  crafty  and  resourceful  opposition.  And 
he  lived  to  behold  the  region  with  an  enterpris- 
ing and  all-conquering  people,  and  filled  with 
the  achievements  of  their  capacity,  rich  in  every 
element  of  material  conquest  and  blessed  with  all 
forms  of  moral  and  intellectual  greatness — cer- 
tainly a  wide  range  of  experience  for  a  single  hu- 
man life,  and  fruitful  in  food  for  imagination 
and  thought.  Mr.  James  was  born  in  Monroe 
county,  N.  Y.,  on  July  12,  1822.  His  parents, 
Uriah  L.  and  Lucinda  (Frink)  James,  were  also 
natives  of  the  state  of  New  York,  and  there  car- 
ried on  successful  farming  operations  for  many 
years.  In  1837  tne  father  came  to  this  country 
and  located  in  Alamo  township  on  the  farm  later 
owned  by  his  son  John.     He  made  the  journey 


into  the  almost  unknown  wilds  with  a  team 
through  a  portion  of  Canada,  and  arrived  at  Ms 
destination  in  May  of  the  year  named.  Fonv 
acres  of  unknown  land  densely  covered  with  tim- 
ber were  assigned  to  him  to  clear,  and  for  doing 
this  he  was  to  have  the  proceeds  of  the  land  for 
a  period  of  five  years.  The  work  to  which  he  lrul 
given  himself  was  arduous  and  trying,  but  he 
was  inured  to  the  life  of  privation  and  toil  which 
it  involved,  and  kept  at  it  without  regret  or  neg- 
lect. He  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812, 
and  both  before  and  after  that  contest  had  been 
a  laborious  farmer  on  the  frontier  of  New  York. 
Two  years  after  his  arrival  in  this  county  his 
family  followed  him  hither,  and  from  the  time  of 
their  arrival  in  1839  were  residents  in  Alamo- 
township,  the  mother  dying  here  in  i860  and  the 
father  in  1864.  They  had  four  sons  and  three 
daughters,  all  now  deceased  but  one  of  the  sons. 
The  father  became  prominent  in  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  township  and  filled  a  number  of  lo- 
cal offices  with  credit.  His  son  John  was  reared 
to  the  age  of  seventeen  in  his  native  county,  and 
there  secured  a  common-school  education.  In 
1839  ne  came  with  the  rest  of  the  family  to  Kala- 
mazoo county  and  joined  his  father  in  the  new 
home  the  latter  had  built  up  in  the  waste.  He 
at  once  began  to  aid  in  clearing  and  farming  the 
land,  and  remained  with  his  parents  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  twenty-four.  He  then  turned 
his  attention  to  cutting  cord  wood  in  the  winter 
months  as  a  means  of  clothing  himself  and  pro- 
viding the  other  necessaries  of  life,  and  later  he 
found  employment  on  the  boat  line  of  D.  S.  Wal- 
bridge,  which  was  engaged  in  transporting  flour 
down  the  Kalamazoo  river  to  the  lake  on  the  way 
to  Buffalo.  Thirteen  days  were  required  to  make 
a  trip  down  the  river  to  the  lake  and  pole  the 
boat  back  to  the  city,  and  for  this  service  he  re- 
ceived seventy-five  cents  a  day  and  his  board. 
At  this  employment  he  saved  two  hundred  dol- 
lars with  which  he  bought  the  forty  acres  of  land 
his  father  had  cleared.  He  next  worked  for  W. 
G.  Patterson,  the  owner  of  extensive  stage  line s, 
driving  for  thirteen  years  between  Kalamazoo 
and  Grand  Rapids,  and  to  other  points,  mean- 
while saving  his  wages  and  purchasing  additional 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


459 


la  id  until  he  owned  two  hundred  and  seventeen 
acres,  nearly  all  of  which  was  uncleared.  His 
parents  lived  on  this  land  until  death  called  them 
to  a  higher  sphere.  On  November  16,  1859,  he 
wis  married  to  Miss  Laura  A.  Russell,  a  native  of 
Chautauqua  county,  N.  Y.,  the  marriage  being 
solemnized  at  Ripley,  that  county.  He  then  took 
up  his  residence  on  his  farm  and  on  it  he  had 
his  home  until  his  death.  He  and  his  wife  were 
the  parents  of  four  children.  Of  these  one  has 
died,  Charles  W.,  a  farmer  of  Alamo  township, 
Earl,  a  farmer  of  Cooper  township,  and  Grace 
]\I.,  living  at  home,  are  living.  Soon  after  locat- 
ing on  his  land  Mr.  James  built  a  good  frame 
dwelling  there.  This  was  destroyed  by  fire  in 
1879,  and  the  present  attractive  residence  was 
erected  on  its  walls.  In  political  faith  Mr.  James 
was  a  sterling  Democrat,  but  he  never  sought  or 
desired  an  official  station  of  any  kind  in  the  gift 
of  his  party.  He  had  many  dealings  and  some 
exciting  and  interesting  experiences  with  the  In- 
dians, who  were  numerous  in  the  region  then. 
A  meeting  of  the  old  stage  drivers  was  held  at  the 
home  of  Mr.  James  a  few  weeks  before  his  death 
at  which  three  of  his  old  companions  were  pres- 
ent. 

HIRAM  REESE. 

Hiram  Reese,  one  of  the  leading  and  represen- 
tative farmers  of  Alamo  township,  this  county, 
was  born  in  Cambria  township,  Niagara  county, 
N.  Y.,  on  November  13,  1829,  and  came  to  Kala- 
mazoo county  when  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age 
vith  his  parents,  John  and  Eunice  (Jeffers) 
Reese,  who  also  were  natives  of  New  York  state. 
They  were  farmers  in  their  native  state  until  1844, 
when  they  brought  their  family  to  the  wilds  of 
"Michigan  and  bought  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
s.x  acres  of  land  in  sections  11  and  12  of  Alamo 
t  nvnship.  The  land  was  partially  improved  at  the 
t'fTie  and  had  on  it  a  new  log  dwelling  in  which 
tbe  family  lived  until  it  was  replaced  by  the  pres- 
ent large  and  comfortable  residence.  All  hands 
united  to  clear  and  cultivate  the  remainder  of  the 
kind,  young  Hiram  doing  steadily  a  man's  share 
°f  the  work.  On  this  farm  the  mother  died  in 
about  1872  and  the  father  in  1866.    Their  family 


comprised  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  Of 
these  all  are  living  but  one  of  the  daughters.  The 
father  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  181 2,  in  a  New 
York  regiment,  which  saw  much  active  service  on 
the  border.  The  mother  was  long  a  devout  and 
attentive  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church.  At  the  death  of  the  father  their  son  Hi- 
ram became  the  owner  of  the  farm,  on  which  he 
had  passed  all  his  life  in  this  county,  and  which 
he  had  so  materially  helped  to  clear  and  make 
productive,  and  here  he  has  since  made  his  home. 
His  education  was  limited  to  the  facilities  afforded 
by  the  early  schools'of  the  section,  as  home  duties 
required  all  his  time  when  needed,  and  this  was 
during  all  of  every  year,  except  two  or  three 
months  in  the  winters  of  a  few  years.  In  1856  he 
was  married  at  Otsego,  Mich.,  to  Miss  Martha  A. 
Sherwood,  a  daughter  of  Eber  and  Elvira  (Crit- 
tenden) Sherwood,  who  were  pioneers  of  Allegan 
county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Reese  have  one  child,  their 
son  Elasco  M.,  who  is  a  prominent  merchant  at 
Allegan,  engaged  in  the  boot  and  shoe  trade. 
While  an  earnest  and  loyal  Republican  in  politics, 
Mr.  Reese  has  never  sought  or  desired  public 
office  for  himself,  finding  his  farm  and  domestic 
duties  and  the  interest  he  has  taken  in  local  affairs 
of  a  beneficial  kind  sufficient  to  occupy  all  his 
time  and  energies.  He  attends  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  of  which  his  wife  is  a  member, 
and  is  active  in  the  support  of  its.  works  of  mor- 
ality and  benevolence.  More  than  three  score 
years  of  his  life  have  been  passed  among  the  peo- 
ple who  surround  him,  and  in  all  that  time  he  has 
not  been  known  to  fail  in  close  and  prompt  atten- 
tion to  every  private  and  public  duty ;  and  in  con- 
sequence he  is  one  of  the  most  highly  and  gener- 
ally respected  citizens  of  his  township.  The  period 
embraces  in  its  scope  the  whole  of  the  transforma- 
tion of  this  region  from  a  howling  wilderness,  in- 
hospitable in  all  its  forms  of  life  and  every  condi- ' 
tion,  to  the  hardy  founders  of  the  commonwealth, 
to  its  present  splendid  development,  and  in  his 
sphere  he  has  done  his  portion  of  the  work  of  ef- 
fecting the  change.  In  his  own  person  he  con- 
fronted and  conquered  all  the  savage  elements  of 
opposition  of  man  and  beast  and  the  rage  of  the 
elements,  and  it  is  much  to  his  credit  that  he  never 


460 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


shrank  from  them  and  to  his.  enjoyment  that  he 
lives  to  see  and  bask  in  the  sunshine  of  prosperity 
and  the  light  of  progress^  his  efforts  and  those  of 
others  have  brought  to. this  highly  favored  section 
of  our  common  country. 

SEARLES  D.  BARBOUR. 

Although  but  sixty-five  years  have  passed 
since,  in  1840,  Searles  D.  Barbour  left  his  Thome  in 
Cayuga  county,  N.  Y.,  and  journeyed  into  Kala- 
^mazoo  county  to  found  a  new  home  for  himself, 
but  in  that  period  what  he  found  to  be  the  un- 
broken wilderness,  still  in  the  thrall  of  the  un- 
tutored red  man  and  filled  with  the  ferocious 
denizens  of  the  forest,  has  been  transformed  into 
.  a  region  of  f ruitf ulness  and  beauty,  smiling  with 
all  the  concomitants  of  civilization  and  rich  in  all 
the  activities  of  a  vigorous,  progressive  and  ener- 
getic commercial  and  industrial  life.  He  saw  the 
dawn  of  civilization  here,  aided  its  first  feeble 
struggles  into  the  brighter  day,  and  lived  to  be- 
hold its  high  noon  of  surpassing  splendor,  bring- 
ing a  new  and  mighty  commonwealth  into  the 
galaxy  of  American  states  and  filled  with  an  en- 
terprising, progressive  and  all-daring  people 
whose  history  is  one  of  the  glories  of  our  later 
history.  Mr.  Barbour  was  born  in  Cayuga  county, 
N.  Y.,  on  July  30,  1814,  and  was  the  son  of  Uel 
and  Peninia  (Searles)  Barbour,  who,  like  himself, 
were  natives  of  New  York  state.  The  father  was 
a  farmer  and  followed  that  calling  in  his  native 
state  until  about  1845,  tnen  came  to  this  county  to 
pass  the  remainder  of  his  life.  From  the  time  of 
his  arrival  here  he  divided  his  time  between  farm- 
ing and  shoemaking  until  his  death  in  1853.  He 
and  his  wife  were  the  parents  of  three  sons  and 
one  daughter,  all  now  dead.  Their  son  Searles, 
after  receiving  a  common-school  education  in  his 
native  state,  learned  the  trade  of  a  shoemaker  and 
worked  at  it  there  until  1840.  In  that  year  he 
and  a  companion  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  and 
together  entered  a  tract  of  government  land  no 
part  of  which  had  as  yet  ever  felt  the  keen  edge 
of  the  gleaming  plowshare,  and  on  this  they  put 
up  a  rude  shanty  in  which  for  a  time  they  kept 
bachelors'  hall.    During  the  first  few  winters  Mr. 


Barbour  worked  at  his  trade  in  Kalamazoo  in 
order  to  get  money  for  payments  and  improve- 
ments on  the  land.  The  place  was  then  divided 
between  the  two  owners,  each  taking  half,  and 
Mr.  Barbour  settled  on  his  portion  and  gave  him- 
self up  wholly  to  its  development,  beginning  the 
work  by  going  out  one  morning  before  breakfast 
and  cutting  down  the  first  tree.  The  stump  of 
this  was  preserved  as  a  memorial  until  time  de- 
cayed and  crumbled  it  away.  A  few  years  later, 
that  is  in  1847,  ne  was  married  to  Miss  Harriet 
Hathaway,  who  lived  with  her  parents  in  a  small 
log  house  near  the  present  residence  of  John  Ran- 
som. Her  brother  Eli  was  a  school  teacher  in 
early  days  in  Michigan,  and  after  a  time  moved 
to  the  northern  part  of  the  state,  and  soon  after 
the  opening  of  Oklahoma  territory  to  settlement, 
to  that  portion  of  the  country  with  his  family. 
Three  years  later  his  wife  died  there,  thus  end- 
ing years  of  suffering  which  she  bore  with  great 
fortitude  and  patience.  He  survived  her  only 
about  two  years.  In  the  Hathaway  family  there 
were  four  chHdren,  all  now  deceased  but  Mrs. 
Libbie  Pratt,  of  Battle  Creek,  Mich.  Mean- 
while Mr.  Barbour  steadily  pressed  forward  in 
clearing  his  land,  bringing  it  under  cultivation 
and  improving  it.  He  had  three  children  by  his 
first  wife,  who  are  living  and  one  that  died.  Those 
living  are  Charles,  of  Kalamazoo,  Marion,  of 
Sioux  Falls,  S.  D.,  and  Harriet,  now  Mrs.  George 
Gould,  of  Minneapolis.  Their  mother  died  in 
1853,  and  on  September  22d  of  the  same  year 
the  father  was  married  to  a  second  wife,  Miss 
Mary  E.  Chubb,  a  native  of  the  state  of  New 
York,  who  came  when  she  was  very  young  to 
Michigan  with  her  mother.  Not  long  afterward 
her  father,  who  had  remained  in  New  York  to 
close  out  his  business  there,  joined  them  in  this 
state,  and  the  family  took  up  their  residence  in 
Ionia  county.  Here  a  year  or  two  later  the  mother 
died  and  a  few  years  afterward  the  father  also 
passed  away.  Of  their  five  children  only  one  is 
living,  Alonzo  Chubb,  of  Copemish,  Manistee 
county,  who  is  now  about  eighty-two  years  old 
and  well  preserved  for  his  age.  Of  Mr.  Barbour's 
second  marriage  seven  children  were  born  and 
six  of  them  are  living:  Kilsey  M.,  of  Newcastle, 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


461 


Colo.;  Wallace  M.,  of  Otsego,  Mich.;  Inez  E., 
a  school  teacher  in  this  county ;  Milo  S.,  of  Hick- 
ory Corners,  Barry  county;  and  Alice  G.  and 
Arthur  G.,  twins.  Their  mother  died  in  1902. 
Mr.  Barbour  had  not  been  long  in  Michigan  be- 
fore he  was  joined  by  his  brother  Charles.  Each 
made  several  visits  to  their  old  New  York  home, 
and  on  returning  from  one  of  these  Charles  Bar- 
bour, at  the  request  of  his  brother,  brought  back 
some  chestnuts  packed  in  earth  in  a  tin  basin. 
This  was  in  1842.  The  chestnuts  were  carefully 
planted  on  the  farm  and  from  them  great  trees 
grew  and  yielded  abundant  fruit.  In  1898  the 
trees  were  so  nearly  dead  that  it  was  thought  best 
to  cut  them  down;  but  from  the  stumps  other 
trees  have  grown  which  produce  fruit  equal  to 
that  of  the  originals.  Mr.  Barbour  had  one  sister 
and  two  brothers.  All  have  passed  away,  Charles 
being  the  last  to  go,  he  dying  in  August,  1903, 
at  the  home  of  the  daughter  in  'Kalamazoo.  Mr. 
Barbour  was  prominent  in  the  local  affairs  of 
Alamo  township,  filling  acceptably  a  number  of 
school  and  other  township  offices.  He  and  his 
wife  were  active  and  zealous  members  of  the 
Congregational  church.  The  family  is  one  of 
the  oldest  and  most  respected  in  the  county.  His 
death  occurred  September  13,  1873. 

ROE  DARDINGER. 

Plant  a  hardy  and  right  thinking  German, 
or  scion  of  German  ancestry,  anywhere  in  the 
midst  of  nature's  providence,  and  whatever  the 
conditions  confronting  him  he  will  make  a  steady, 
though  it  may  be  slow,  progress  and  win  in  the 
end  a  substantial  comfort  for  himself  and  those 
dependent  on  him,  and  give  his  offspring  a  bet- 
ter start  in  life  than  he  had  himself.  The  charac- 
teristics of  the  race  are  potential  and  seem  never 
to  lose  their  force..  Not  by  imperial  proclamation 
but  by  the  might  of  persistent  industry,  self- 
denying  thrift,  constancy  of  purpose,  and  a  gen- 
eral knowledge  of  what  to  do  and  when  to  do  it, 
does  he  oppose  contending  forces  and  bid  them 
stand  ruled.  And  the  very  effort  stimulates  to 
increased  power  and  awakens  latent  energies,  so 
that  each  step  in  his  advance  becomes  a  new  in- 


centive arming  him  with  a  fuller  equipment.  The 
subject  of  this  brief  narrative  belongs  to  this 
sturdy  and  hard-working  race,  and  in  his  career 
has  manifested  its  salient  general  attributes.  He 
came  to  this  county  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  fur- 
nished forth  for  the  struggle  before  him  with 
nothing  but  a  sound  body,  a  clear  head,  a  com- 
mon-school education  and  a  good  trade,  but  al- 
though without  capital,  he  knew  that  his  craft 
was  an  estate  on  which  he  could  depend  and  out 
of  which  he  could  not  be  swindled.  But  turning 
his  attention  away  from  this  to  the  fruitful  field 
of  agriculture,  he  gave  to  it  the  same  careful  and 
systematic  labor  that  his  trade  would  have  re- 
quired, and  in  a  short  time  was  well  established, 
if  not  in  personal  comfort  and  public  regard,  at 
least  in  a  position  to  win  both.  Mr.  Dardinger 
was  born  in  Wyandot  county,  Ohio,  on  August 
15,  1 86 1,  and  is  the  son  of  Jacob  and  Elizabeth 
(Gotier)  Dardinger,  natives  of  Germany.  The 
father,  who  emigrated  to  the  United  States  at  the 
age  of  sixteen,  was  a  wagonmaker  for  years,  then 
followed  milling  in  Ohio,  and  died  in  Wyandot 
county,  that  state,  in  1861.  The  mother  survived 
him  a  few  years,  and  then  she  also  paid  the  last 
debt  of  nature.  They  had  five  children  that  grew 
to  maturity.  The  son  Roe  was  but  six  months 
old  when  his  father  died,  and  the  circumstances 
of  the  family  left  him  but  slender  means  for 
schooling  and  obliged  him  at  an  early  age  to  be- 
gin making  his  own  way  in  the  world.  He  learned 
the  trade  of  a  brickmaker  and  remained  in  his  na- 
tive state  working  at  it  until  he  came  of  age.  Then, 
in  1882,  he  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  and  be- 
gan farming  in  Comstock  township,  where  he  has 
since  lived.  In  1884  he  went  to  work  on  the 
county  poor  farm,  laboring  by  the  month  for  small 
wages  at  first,  but  receiving  a  steady  increase  in 
the  seven  years  of  his  service.  At  the  end  of  the 
term  mentioned  he  was  appointed  superintendent 
of  the  farm  and  held  this  position  for  ten  con- 
secutive years.  He  then  bought  his  late  farm  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty-two  acres,  which  was  al- 
ready well  improved,  and  on  it  he  from  that  time 
had  a  pleasant  home  and  profitable  employment 
until  he  sold  it  in  March,  1905,  since  which  time 
he  has  resided  in  Galesburg.    Although  the  farm, 


462 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


when  he  purchased  it,  was  well  improved,  as  was 
noted  above,  and  in  an  advanced  stage  of  develop- 
ment and  cultivation,  he  increased  its  value  by  ad- 
ditional improvements  and  more  vigorous  and 
varied  tilling.  In  1891  Mr.  Dardinger  was  mar- 
ried in  Allegan  county  to  Mrs.  Grace  (Munn) 
Miner,  a  widow,  native  in  that  county  and  the 
daughter  of  John  and  Harriet  M.  (Russell) 
Munn,  who  were  born  and  reared  in  England 
and  came  to  this  country  in  1850.  By  her  former 
marriage  Mrs.  Dardinger  had  one  child,  her  son 
Charles,  who  is  now  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States  government  in  the  custom  house  at  Ma- 
nila, in  the  Philippine  islands,  having  occupied 
his  position  during  the  last  five  years.  When  the 
war  with  Spain  began  he  enlisted  in  the  Twenty- 
second  United  States  Infantry,  and  during  the 
progress  of  the  conflict  he  saw  service,  active  and 
dangerous,  in  both  Cuba  and  the  Philippines.  He 
was  a  valiant  soldier,  and  is  a  trusty  and  capable 
civil  officer.  Mr.  Dardinger  has  never  taken  an 
active  part  in  politics,  but  the  fraternal  life'  of 
the  community  has  enlisted  his  attention  and  had 
the  benefit  of  his  membership  in  the  Masonic  or- 
der, the  order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Knights 
of  Pythias. 

SIDNEY  DUNN. 

This  leading  business  man  and  commercial 
force  of  Galesburg,  Comstock  township  and  the 
surrounding  country,  who  is  the  senior  member 
of  the  banking  firm  of  Dunn  &  Clapp  of  that  vil- 
lage, for  an  account  of  which  see  the  sketch  of 
Thaddeus  S.  Clapp  in  another  part  of  this  work, 
is  a  native  of  Erie  county,  Pa.,  born  on  Novem- 
ber 11,  1840.  His  parents,  Robert  G.  and  Re- 
becca (Dumors)  Dunn,  were  also  natives  of  that 
county.  The  father  was '  a  farmer  and  passed 
his  whole  life  on  the  farm  on  which  he  was  born 
in  1812  and  died  in  1888,  "type  of  the  wise,  who 
soar  but  never  roam,  true  to  the  kindred  points  of 
Heaven  and  home/'  The  mother  died  there  also, 
passing  away  in  1900.  They  had  four  sons  and 
two  daughters,  all  living  but  one  son,  Mr.  Dunn, 
of  this  sketch,,  being  the  only  one  resident  in 
Michigan.  The  father  was  a  man  of  prominence 
and  was  chosen  to  a  number  of  public  positions 


in  his  township  and  county;  but  he  gave  his  at- 
tention chiefly  to  farming,  and  in  this  line  of  ac- 
tivity he  rose  to  the  first  rank  in  his  neighbor- 
hood. The  family  is  of  Irish  ancestry,  the  Amer- 
ican progenitors  of  it  emigrating  to  this  coun- 
try and  settling  in  Pennsylvania  about  the  close 
of  the  Revolutionary  war.  Sidney  Dunn  grew  to 
manhood  amid  the  healthful  pursuits  and  pleas- 
ures of  his  father's  farm,  and  was  prepared  for 
the  battle  of  life  in  the  public  schools  of  Water- 
ford,  in  his  native  county,  and  at  Iron  City  Com- 
mercial College  in  Pittsburg,  being  graduated 
after  a  thorough  business  training  at  the  last 
named  institution.  He  left  home  at  the  age  of 
twenty- four  and  started  farming  in  Illinois, 
where  he  remained  so  occupied  until  1874,  his 
home  being  near  the  town  of  Galesburg.  In  the 
year  last  named  he  came  to  Kalamazoo  county 
and  bought  a  farm  in  Charleston  township,  which 
he  still  owns  and  operates.  He  has  put  to  good 
use  the  lessons  of  his  experience  on  the  home- 
stead under  his  father's  instructions,  and  made 
his  farm  one  of  the  most  attractive  and  prodne- 
tive  in  the  township.  In  the  public  life  of  the 
section  he  has  also  taken  an  active  and  leading 
part,  serving  six  years  from  1879  as  township 
supervisor,  and  from  1888  to  1892  as  county 
treasurer,  winning  golden  opinions  in  both  po- 
sitions for  the  fidelity,  industry,  firmness  and 
general  excellence  with  which  he  discharged  his 
official  duties.  In  1894  he  started  the  bank  of 
which  he  is  the  head,  in  conjunction  with  Mr. 
Clapp,  and  with  this  institution  he  has  ever  since 
been  closely  connected,  giving  it  his  best  atten- 
tion and  capabilities,  and  by  his  business  tae', 
foresight  and  breadth  of  view  aiding  greatly  in 
making  it  what  it  is,  one  of  the  chief  fiscal  en- 
terprises within  a  large  scope  of  the  adjacent  ter- 
ritory. His  character  and  standing,  with  Ivs 
widely  known  capacity  for  the  knowledge  of  tlv 
science  of  finance,  giving  a  guarantee  of  its 
strength  and  proper  conduct,  and  his  affability 
and  general  popularity  bringing  to  its  coffer/ 
large  volumes  of  trade.  In  1866  Mr.  Dunn  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Adelia  Flower,  a  native 
of  the  same  county  as  himself,  whose  parents 
moved  to  Michigan  in  1865,  and  located  in  Barry 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


463 


county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dunn  have  four  chil- 
dren, their  sons  Lewis  and  Lyman  and  their 
daughters  Lillian  (now  married)  and  Lena.  In 
politics  the  father  has  long  been  an  influential 
ai  d  leading  Republican,  and  he  and  his  wife  are 
members  of  the  Congregational  church. 

JUDSON  A.  EDMUNDS. 

Of  the  three-score  and  ten  years  which  make 
up  the  life  of  this  valued  citizen,  prominent  public 
spirit  and  leading  churchman  of  Prairie  Ronde 
township,  all  but  seven  have  been  passed  in  this 
county,  and  most  of  them  in  active  enterprises 
which  have  contributed  to  the  growth  and  devel- 
opment of  the  section  and  the  comfort  and  wel- 
fare of  its  people.  He  is  a  native  of  Chautauqua 
county,  N.  Y.,  born  on  July  9,  1835,  and  the  son 
of  Obadiah  and  Deadima  (Wheeler)  Edmunds, 
the  former  a  native  of  Vermont  and  the  latter  of 
New  York.  The  paternal  grandfather,  Reuben 
Edmunds,  was  of  Holland  ancestry  but  was  born 
in  Vermont.  He  was  a  farmer  and  ship  carpen- 
ter in  the  state  of  New  York  until  1835,  when  he 
came  to  this  county  and  located  on  Prairie  Ronde, 
where  he  purchased  a  tract  of  wild  land  which 
he  cleared,  improved  and  lived  on  for  many  years. 
Later  he  built  saw  and  grist  mills,  which  were 
known  as  the  Edmunds  Mills,  and  which  he  op- 
erated a  number  of  years,  dying  at  the  mills  at  the 
age  of  eighty-two  years.  His  wife  passed  away 
sixteen  years  before  him,  and  he  was  married  a 
second  time.  By  the  first  marriage  he  had  seven 
sons  and  four  daughters,  all  now  deceased.  His 
son  Obadiah,  father  of  Judson,  came  to  this 
county  in  1842  and  bought  an  interest  in  his 
father's  mills,  and  then  operated  them  until  about 
i860,  when  he  turned  his  attention  to  farming, 
in  which  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life,  dy- 
;ng  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  his  son  Judson. 
He  acceptably  filled  a  number  of  local  offices,  and 
was  widely  known  for  his  honesty  and  liberality. 
Mis  wife  died  in  1837  and  he  in  1878.  They 
were  members  of  the  Baptist  church  and  had  nine 
children,  two  of  whom  are  living.  After  the 
leath  of  his  first  wife  he  married  Mrs.  Dorothy 
(Doty)    Axtell,   who   died   in    September,    1905, 


and  by  whom  he  had  three  children.  Of  these 
two  are  living.  He  was  first  a  Whig  and  after- 
ward a  Republican,  and  always  a  noted  abolition- 
ist, actively  assisting  in  conducting  the  under- 
ground railway  in  this  county  for  the  escape  of 
fugitive  slaves  from  the  South.  Judson  A.  Ed- 
munds was  reared  from  the  age  of  seven  in  this 
county  and  was  educated  in  the  district  schools. 
In  boyhood  he  began  to  assist  his  father  and 
grandfather  in  the  mills,  learning  the  trade  of  a 
miller,  which  he  followed  for  five  years.  Before 
the  Civil  war  he  went  to  Kansas,  where  he  was 
in  the  employ  of  the  Northwestern  Fur  Company 
for  a  short  time  establishing  trading  posts  on  the 
frontier.  Returning  to  this  county,  he  at  once 
gave  his  attention  to  farming,  which  he  engaged 
in  until  1895,  when  he  moved  to  Schoolcraft, 
where  he  is  now  living  retired  from  active  pursuits. 
His  first  marriage  occurred  on  July  16,  1856,  and 
was  with  Miss  Jeannette  Terrell,  a  native  of  Me- 
dina county,  Ohio.  They  had  two  sons  and  four 
daughters,  three  of  whom  are  living,  Delia,  now 
Mrs.  E.  G.  Smith,  of  this  county ;  Jeannette,  now 
Mrs.  William  Mayo,  of  this  county;  and  Oba- 
diah, who  lives  at  Battle  Creek  and  is  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Grand  Trunk  Railroad.  Their  mother 
died  in  1872,  and  in  1875  tne  father  was  married 
to  Mrs.  Mary  E.  (Rowe)  Wagar,  a  native  of 
Oneida  county,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Edmunds  has  served 
as  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  highway  commis- 
sioner in  Van  Buren  county,  where  he  resided 
a  few  years.  He  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  in  which  he  has 
filled  a  number  of  official  positions.  He  has  been 
successful  in  business,  serviceable  in  his  citizen- 
ship and  influential  in  public  affairs,  and  is  ac- 
counted one  of  the  best  and  most  representative 
men  of  the  county. 

RANSFORD  C.  HOYT. 

Throughout  Prairie  Ronde  township  it  is  the 
universal  testimony  that  the  death  of  this  early 
settler  and  esteemed  man  on  September  13,  1874, 
in  the  midst  of  his  usefulness,  removed  from  the 
scenes  of  his  activity  one  who  had  ever  been  fore- 
most in  good  works,  and  whose  reputation  had 


464 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


long   been    established    for   probity,    energy  and 
breadth  of  view.    He  was  born  in  Logan  county, 
Ohio,  on  May  14,  1808,  the  son  of  Stephen  and 
Mary    (Carter)    Hoyt,  who  came  to  Kalamazoo 
county  in    1828  and   located  on   Prairie   Ronde, 
where  they  remained  until  death.    The  father  was 
a  native  of  Vermont,  and  when  his  parents  came 
to  this   state  he  accompanied   them,   being  then 
twenty  years  of  age.     He  saw  much  of  frontier 
life  in  its  most  rugged  phases,  and  bravely  took 
his  place  and  wrought  out  his  part  in  helping  to 
settle,  civilize  and  develop  the  section.*  In  1832 
he  was  married  in  Schoolcraft  township  to  Miss 
Mary  Hanson,  and  they  became  the  parents  of 
three  children,  only  one  of  whom  is  living,  their 
daughter  Helen,  now  the  wife  of  John  Hartman. 
After  the  death  of  his  first  wife  Mr.  Hoyt  mar- 
ried   Miss    Harriet   Bair,    a   daughter  of   Chris- 
topher and  Susanna  (Baum)   Bair,  and  a  native 
of  Crawford  county,  Ohio,  born  on  September  15, 
1820.     Her   father  was  a  pioneer  in  several  lo- 
calities, and  a  man  of  sturdy  integrity  and  up- 
right life.     His  parents  emigrated  to  this  country 
from  Germany  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  where 
their  son  Christopher  was  born  in  1769.    He  saw 
service  in  the  war  of  181 2,  and  at  its  close  moved 
to  Stark  county,  Ohio,  later  living  in  Wayne  and 
Crawford  counties  of  the  same  state,  and  finally, 
on    November   22,    1828,   located   in    St.   Joseph 
county,  this  state.     One  year  later  he  moved  to 
Kalamazoo  county  and  settled  in  Prairie  Ronde 
township,   where   he  developed  a  fine   farm  and 
remained  until  his  death,  at  the  age  of  sixty- four. 
He  was  a  Jacksonian  Democrat,  and  a  Presby- 
terian in  his   religious  belief.     His  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Susanna  Baum,  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania  in  1776  and  was  of  French  descent, 
the  family  name  being  originally  La  Baum.     At 
the  age  of  seventy-three  she  passed  away,  and  her 
remains  were  buried  beside  those  of  her  husband 
in  the  cemetery  at  Harrison  Corners.     Mr.  and 
the  second  Mrs.  Hoyt  were  the  parents  of  four- 
teen children,  seven  of  whom  grew  to  maturity 
and  five  are  now  living.     Mr.  Hoyt  filled  several 
township  offices  and  took  an  active  part  in  public 
affairs.    He  was  an  earnest  member  of  the  Metho- 
dist   church   and    always   actively    interested    in 


church  work.  He  was  very  successful  as  a  farmer 
and  at  one  time  owned  several  hundred  acres  of 
excellent  land.  His  wife  survived  him  nearly 
eighteen  years  and  died  on  February  4,  1892. 

JONATHAN  C.  HOYT. 

Formerly  a  prosperous  and  successful    fann- 
er on  section  25,   Prairie  Ronde  township,  and 
having     been    engaged    in   agricultural     pursuits 
throughout  the  whole  of  his  active  life,  Jonathan 
C.  Hoyt  not  only  acquired  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  his  business  in  all  its  details,  but  through  his 
operations    contributed    materially    to    advancing 
the  best   interests  of  the  county  and   illustrated 
in-  a  striking  manner  the  best  attributes   of  its 
intelligent,   enterprising  and  upright  citizenship. 
He  owned  and  worked  two  hundred  and  sixty 
acres    of    highly  productive  land,  all    well    im- 
proved   and    skillfully   cultivated,   which   he   ac- 
quired through  his  own  unaided  exertions  and 
business  capacity.     He  was  born  on  December  2, 
1848,  in  the  township  of  his  last  residence,  and 
was  the  son  of  Ransford  C.  and  Harriet  (Bair) 
Hoyt,  both  of  whom  came  to  this  county  with 
their  parents  before  reaching  their  maturity,  and 
were  married  here.     The  elder   Mr.   Hoyt  was 
born  in  Logan  county,  Ohio,  on  May   14,  1808, 
and  was  the  son  of  Stephen  and  Mary  (Carter) 
Hoyt,  the  father  a  native  of  Vermont.     In  1828 
the  parents  brought  their  family  to  this  county 
and  located   in   Prairie  Ronde  township,  where 
they  passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives.     Com- 
ing to  the  county  at  that  early  date,  Ransford 
C.   Hoyt  necessarily  saw  much  of  frontier  life 
in    its  most  rugged  and  trying  form,  and    was 
obliged  to  take  his  part  in  its  most  arduous  and 
exacting  labors  and  undergo  many  of  its  sever- 
est hardships.     In  1832  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Mary  Hanson,  of  Schoolcraft  township,  and  they 
became    the    parents  of  three  children,    one    of 
whom  is  living,  Helen,  the  wife  of  John  Hart- 
man.    After  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  Mr.  Hoyt 
married  Miss  Harriet  Bair,  a  native  of  Wayne 
county,  Pa.,  and  a  daughter  of  Christopher  and 
Susanna  (Baum)  Bair,  natives  of  Pennsylvania, 
who  emigrated  to  Kalamazoo  county  in  1829  and 


JONATHAN   C.  HOYT. 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


467 


located  on  a  farm  in  Prairie  Ronde  township, 
where  they  passed  their  remaining  years.  They 
had  fourteen  children,  of  whom  Harriet  was  next 
to  the  last  born,  coming  into  the  world  on  Sep- 
tember 15,  1820.  Mr.  Hoyt  and  his  second  wife 
were  also  the  parents  of  fourteen  children,  seven 
of  whom  grew  to  nativity.  The  father  took  an 
active  part  in  public  affairs  and  filled  a  number 
of  township  offices.  He  was  an  earnest  member 
of  the  Methodist  church  and  was  always  inter- 
ested in  church  work.  He  was  very  successful 
in  farming  and  at  one  time  owned  several  hun- 
dred acres  of  good  land.  His  demise,  which  oc- 
curred on  September  13,  1874,  was  a  source  of 
general  grief  to  the  community.  The  parents 
of  this  Mr.  Hoyt  came  to  the  county  by  team 
from  Ohio,  being  obliged  to  cut  their  roads  most 
of  the  way.  They  were  the  fourth  family  of  ac- 
tual settlers  on  the  Prairie,  but  the  father  was 
here  prospecting  a  year  before  the  Harrisons 
came.  He  was  a  leading  Democrat  and  promi- 
nent in  matters  of  public  interest  of  every  kind. 
His  grandson,  Jonathan  C.  Hoyt,  the  immediate 
subject  of  this  review,  passed  his  boyhood  as  a 
farmer's  son  on  the  frontier,  without  adventure 
save  what  the  wild  state  of  the  country  and  fre- 
quent encounters  with  its  savage  residents,  man 
and  beast,  afforded,  his  early  winters  being  spent 
in  the  common  schools  and  his  summers  in  work- 
ing on  the  farm.  On  April  9,  1874,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Vienna  Smith,  who  was  born  in  the 
same  township  as  himself  on  May  12,  1853.  Her 
parents,  John  and  Catherine  (Ennis)  Smith, 
came  to  the  township  in  1852,  and  Mr.  Smith 
died  April  17,  1905.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hoyt  have 
been  born  six  children,  Monroe  R.,  Vere  C,  Vin- 
son (deceased),  Lee  W.,  Jessie  and  Grace.  In 
all  his  life  here  Mr.  Hoyt  gave  his  active  support 
in  counsel  and  material  aid  to  every  commendable 
undertaking  for  the  advancement  of  the  county 
and  the  welfare  of  its  people,  taking  an  earnest 
and  intelligent  interest  in  farming  and  educa- 
tional matters  especially.  He  was  a  Democrat 
politically  from  strong  conviction  and  an  ardent 
supporter  of  the  cause  of  his  party.  Realizing 
h-s  fitness  for  administrative  duties,  his  fellow 
citizens  called  him  to  various  posts  of  public  serv- 
26 


ice,  among  them  those  of  school  director,  drain- 
age commissioner  and  township  treasurer,  all  of 
which  he  filled  with  fidelity  and  efficiency.  In 
his  fraternal  relations  he  belongs  to  the  Masonic 
order  and  the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees.  His 
death  occurred  on  August  4/1905,  and  his  re- 
mains lie  buried  at  Schoolcraft,  the  funeral  being 
conducted  by  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

DELAMORE  DUNCAN,  Jr. 

Representing  the  third  generation  of  his 
family  in  this  county,  of  which  he  is  a  native, 
and  thus  standing  forth  as  a  member  of  one  of 
the  pioneer  households  which  were  planted  on  the 
soil  when  it  was  in  its  state  of  pristine  wilder- 
ness, and  had  never  yet  felt  the  persuasive  hand 
of  systematic  husbandry,  and  himself  having  for 
long  years  been  active  in  every  element  of  the 
development  and  progress  of  the  county,  Dela- 
more  Duncan,  Jr.,  of  Prairie  Ronde  township,  is 
justly  held  in  the  highest  esteem  as  one  of  the 
representative  and  most  useful  men  of  character 
whose  achievements  are  splendidly  memorialized 
in  the  present  greatness,  wealth  and  productive 
activity  of-  Kalamazoo  county  and  the  state  of 
Michigan.  His  parents,  Delamore  and  Parmela 
(Clark)  Duncan,  were  among  the  earliest  settlers 
in  Prairie  Ronde  township,  and  ever  since  they 
first  broke  the  glebe  there  that  section  of  the 
county  has  been  the  family  seat.  The  father  was 
born  on  November  24,  1805,  at  Lyman,  N.  H., 
and  from  1810  until  181 5  he  attended  the  district 
school  at  Monroe,  in  his  native  state,  of  which  his 
father  was  teacher.  In  the  year  last  named  his 
father,  William  Duncan,  bought  a  wool-carding 
and  cloth-dressing  mill,  and  the  business  of  this 
he  carried  on  until  182 1,  when  the  death  of  his 
wife  broke  up  the  family.  The  Duncans,  as  may 
be  easily  inferred  from  the  name,  are  of  Scotch 
ancestry,  but  some  of  its  members  settled  in  the 
north  of  Ireland,  and  from  Londonderry  in  that 
country  the  American  progenitor  of  the  race 
emigrated  to  this  country  in  1742,  his  son  Wil- 
liam, grandfather  of  Delamore,  Jr.,  being  at  that 
time  twelve  years  old.  In  1822  William  left  his 
children  with  his  father  and  brothers,  went  into 


468 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


lumbering  on  the  Connecticut  river,  where  he  re- 
mained so  occupied  until  1824,  then  removed  to 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  where  he  also  engaged  in  lumber- 
ing for  a  year.  In  April,  1825,  in  company  with 
his  son  Delamore,  who  had  joined  him  at  Syra- 
cuse, he  started  for  the  territory  of  Michigan, 
then  an  almost  unknown  country.  They  made 
the  trip  on  the  Erie  canal,  then  just  completed,  to 
Buffalo,  and  from  there  over  the  lake  to  Detroit. 
From  the  later  city  they  proceeded  on  foot  to 
Dexter,  in  Washtenaw  county,  arriving  on  May 
3.  There  they  contracted  to  build  a  mill  dam, 
which  occupied  them  until  September  3.  The 
next  few  years  were  passed  by  the  farnily  in  Ohio, 
and  on  October  5,  1829,  they  started  again  for 
Michigan,  and  on  their  arrival  in  this  county 
settled  on  land  which  the  father  had  pre-empted 
the  fall  before  on  the  west  side  of  Prairie  Ronde. 
Early  in  April,  1830,  the  elder  Mr.  Duncan  was 
elected  supervisor  and  justice  of  the  peace  for 
Brady  township,  then  a  part  of  St.  Joseph  county, 
and  including  within  its  borders  all  of  the  pres- 
ent county  of  Kalamazoo  and  a  large  region  ly- 
ing to  the  north  of  it.  And  on  August  17th  fol- 
lowing he  was  commissioned  county  clerk  by  Gov. 
Lewis  Cass  for  a  term  of  four  years  fi*om  October 
1,  1830.  In  April  of  this  year  he  and  his  son 
Delamore  erected  the  first  frame  building  in  the 
county.  It  was  a  granary  twenty  by  twenty-four 
feet  in  size,  and  in  it  were  held  that  year  several 
justice  courts.  William  Duncan's  health  becom- 
ing seriously  impaired,  he  sold  his  property  in  this 
county,  and  in  March,  1837,  moved  to  Des 
Moines,  Iowa,  and  built  a  grist  mill  on  the  Des 
Moines  river.  He  continued  in  the  milling  busi- 
ness there  until  the  autumn  of  1844,  when  he  ex- 
changed his  property  in  Iowa  for  kind  in  Cass 
county,  Mich.,  where  he  improved  a  fine  farm. 
Originally  he  was  a  Whig  in  politics,  but  when  the 
Free-Soil  party  was  formed  he  became  one  of  its 
most  ardent  and  active  members.  He  died  on 
November  19,  1852.  His  son,  Delamore  Duncan, 
joined  him  in  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  in  1825,  making 
the  trip  part  of  the  way  on  foot  with  his  effects 
strapped  on  his  back  in  a  knapsack.  From  there 
he  came,  as  has  been  stated,  with  his  father  to 
Michigan,  and  in  the  fall  of  1826,  on  account  of 


failing  health,  returned  to  the  home  of  his  grand- 
father in  New  Hampshire.  The  next  spring  he 
engaged  in  lumbering  at  McItxLoes  Falls,  Vt.,  and 
in  1828,  in  company  with  a  brother  and  a  sister, 
moved  to  Huron  county,  Ohio,  where  he  taught 
school  until  February,  1829.  Then,  in  company 
with  Elisha  Doane,  he  once  more  started  for 
Michigan,  driving  an  ox  team  and  wagon  carry- 
ing corn,  and  a  drove  of  hogs.  They  camped 
out  at  night,  and  on  the  way  were  obliged  to  ford 
the  streams,  as  there  were  no  bridges  then  along 
their  route.  Leaving  his  stock  with  a  Mr.  Wil- 
marth,  he  returned  to  Ohio,  where  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Parmela  Clark  on  September  8,  1829. 
Of  this  union  nine  children  were  born,  three  of 
whom  are  living,  Delamore,  Jr.,  Charles  C.  and 
Helen  Marian.  Edwin  F.  was  one  of  the  pioneer 
fruit  growers  of  California  and  died  in  that  state. 
In  addition  to  their  own,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Duncan 
had  the  care  of  sixteen  other  children,  all  of 
whom  they  sent  into  the  world  useful  men 
and  women.  On  October  5,  1829,  in  company 
with  his  father,  Delamore  Duncan  again  set  out 
for  Michigan,  driving  young  stock,  in  which  he 
had  invested  his  surplus,  along  to  the  new  coun- 
try, his  wife  remaining  with  her  father,  who  was 
to  follow  in  January,  1830.  Not  long  after  their 
arrival  Mr.  Duncan  and  Erastus  Guilford  took  a 
contract  and  built  a  dam  at  Flowerfield  for 
Michael  Beadle,  for  which  they  received  corn  on 
Young's  Prairie,  and  were  obliged  to  haul  it  home 
with  an  ox  team,  taking  two  days  to  go  and  return 
on  each  trip.  In  October,  1830,  Mr.  Duncan 
entered  his  land,  after  walking  to  Ohio  to  pro- 
cure money  for  the  purpose.  On  October  1, 
1830,  he  was  commissioned  the  first  sheriff  of 
the  county,  and  during  his  service  in  this  office 
he  used  his  house  for  jail  purposes.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1 83 1,  in  company  with  Mr.  Houston,  he 
staked  out  the  county  buildings,  and  it  was  said  to 
be  through  his  influence  that  the  county  seat  was 
located  at  Bronson,  now  Kalamazoo,  rather  than 
at  Galesburg  or  Comstock.  In  the  spring  of 
1835  he  built  the  frame  dwelling  in  which  he 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  was  nine 
years  supervisor  of  his  township  and  served  as 
a  justice  of  the  peace  for  a  still  longer  period. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


469 


lie  helped  to  build  the  plank  road  between  Kala- 
mazoo and  the  south  end  of  Prairie  Ronde,  and 
was  one  of  the  leading  stockholders  in  the  com- 
pany. In  1858  he  was  a  member  of  the  legis- 
lature, and  from  1855  to  1865  he  was  engaged 
in  mercantile  life  at  Schoolcraft  in  association 
with  A.  H.  Scott  &  Company.  First  a  Whig, 
then  a  Free-Soiler  and  later  a  Republican  in 
politics,  he  always  took  an  active  part  in  pub- 
lic affairs,  and  had  the  distinction  of  being  a  dele- 
gate to  the  first  state  convention  of  the  Republi- 
can party,  which  met  at  Jackson  in  1854.  He 
was  also  president  of  the  Schoolcraft  &  Three 
Rivers  Railroad  Company  and  gave  liberally  of 
his  time  and  means  for  its  construction.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  state  constitutional  conven- 
tion in  1867,  and  in  1864  helped  to  organize  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Three  Rivers,  of  which 
he  became  a  director,  holding  the  office  until  his 
death,  on  May  1,  1870.  Thus  in  all  the  relations 
of  life,  and  in  every  form  of  industrial,  com- 
mercial and  political  enterprise  he  was  a  potent 
factor,  illustrating  in  a  striking  manner  the  best 
attributes  of  the  most  sturdy  and  resourceful 
American  citizenship  of  the  best  type.  His  son, 
Delamore  Duncan,  Jr.,  is  a  native  of  Kalamazoo 
county  and  was  born  on  his  father's  farm  in 
Prairie  Ronde  township  on  March  10,  1839. 
After  attending  the  district  schools  for  a  time 
he  passed  a  term  or  two  at  the  Schoolcraft  high 
school.  Early  in  life  he  began  to  assist  his  par- 
ents on  the  farm,  and  also  worked  with  his  father 
in  the  mill  seventeen  years.  He  then  took  charge 
of  the  home  farm,  and  also  operated  his  own, 
which  he  had  purchased  during  the  Civil  war,  and 
from  which  he  sold  crops  worth  four  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars  the  first  year.  Since  leaving 
the  mill  he  has  given  his  whole  attention  to 
farming,  with  shipping  stock,  lumbering  and  gen- 
eral merchandising  at  times  as  side  lines.  On 
July  3,  i860,  he  was  married  in  St.  Joseph  county, 
Mich.,  to  Miss  Mary  H.  Field,  a  native  of  this 
county  and  daughter  of  George  Field,  an  early 
settler  of  the  county.  She  was  born  in  1841.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Duncan  have  had  five  children.  Of 
these  two  are  living,  John  F.,  now  a  prosperous 
and  prominent  California  fruit  grower,  and  Dela- 


more H.,  who  operates  his  father's  farm.  In 
politics  Mr.  Duncan  is  independent.  He  has 
served  as  supervisor  and  treasurer  of  his  town- 
ship, and  in  other  local  offices.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  order  of  the  Knight  Templar  de- 
gree, and  has  served  as  master  of  his  lodge  and 
high  priest  of  his  chapter  at  Schoolcraft.  In  the 
Templar  degree  he  belongs  to  the  commandery 
at  Kalamazoo.  Having  witnessed  the  great  de- 
velopment wrought  in  this  region  by  the  genius 
and  industry  of  man,  and  contributed  his  full 
share  to  the  change,  and  having  borne  faithfully 
the  heat  and  burden  of  his  long  day  of  toil  and 
trial,  he  is  justly  entitled  to  the  rest  he  is  en- 
joying and  the  general  esteem  in  which  he  is 
held  throughout  the  county. 

WILLIAM  A.   KLINE. 

Having  devoted  many  years  of  his  life  to  ar- 
duous and  exacting  toil  as  a  farmer  in  Prairie 
Ronde  township,  this  county,  and  thus  bore  the 
heat  and  burden  of  the  day,  William  A.  Kline, 
one  of  the  esteemed  citizens  of  Schoolcraft,  is 
now  living  retired  from  active  pursuits  and  en- 
joying with  composure  the  fruits  of  his  labors 
and  the  rest  he  has  so  well  earned ;  but  at  the 
same  time  he  maintains  his  interest  and  activity 
in  the  affairs  of  the  township,  and  gives  helpful 
aid  to  every  commendable  enterprise  for  the  gen- 
eral welfare  of  the  people  around  him.  He  was 
born  on  February  17,  1843,  m  Northampton 
county,  Pa.,  which  was  also  the  place  of  nativity 
for  his  parents,  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  (Bower) 
Kline.  The  father  was  a  shoemaker  and  wrought 
at  his  trade  in  his  native  state  until  1854,  when  he 
moved  his  family  to  Michigan  and  bought  one 
hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land  in  Prairie 
Ronde  township,  this  county,  afterward  buying 
an  additional  tract  of  fifty-four  acres.  He  im- 
proved his  farm  with  good,  new  buildings  and 
brought  it  to  an  advanced  state  of  cultivation 
before  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1876,  his 
wife  passing  away  in  1 893.  They  were  the  par- 
ents of  four  sons  and  four  daughters.  Two  of 
the  sons  and  two  of  the  daughters  are  living, 
William  and  Mrs.  J.  T.  Knight  being  the  only 


47° 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


ones  of  the  family  now  resident  in  this  county. 
The  parents  were  among  the  leading  citizens  of 
the  township,  and  on  all  sides  were  highly  re1 
spected.  The  paternal  grandfather  of  William 
Kline  was  David  Kline,  also  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  a  shoemaker.  He  was  the  father  of 
thirteen  children.  William  A.  Kline  was  eleven 
years  old  when  the  family  moved  to  Michigan, 
making  the  journey  hither  all  the  way  from 
their  Pennsylvania  home  by  team,  crossing  Ohio 
and  southern  Michigan,  and  being  four  weeks  on 
the  way.  He  grew  to  manhood  in  Prairie  Ronde 
township,  on  the  family  homestead,  and  took  an 
active  part  in  the  work  of  clearing  and  improving 
the  place,  attending  the  district  schools  in  the 
neighborhood  in  the  winter  months  for  a  few 
years,  remaining  at  home  with  his  parents  until 
his  marriage,  when  he  bought  his  present  farm 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres.  His  marriage 
occurred  on  November  5,  1865,  and  was  with 
Miss  Matilda  Van  Duzer,  a  daughter  of  Alonzo 
and  Ann  (Higgins)  Van  Duzer,  the  former 
probably  born  in  Ohio  and  the  latter  in  England. 
She  emigrated  directly  from  her  native  land  to 
Kalamazoo  county,  and  was  married  here,  after- 
ward settling  with  her  husband  in  the  northern 
part  of  Prairie  Ronde  township,  where  they  were 
among  the  earlist  settlers.  There  the  father  died 
in  the  fall  of  1845,  while  he  was  yet  in  the  prime 
of  life,  and  the  mother  in  1861.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Kline  have  two  children,  their  sons  William  J. 
and  Raymond  J.  The  former  married  Miss 
Agnes  Wilkie  and  now  lives  in  Chicago.  The 
latter  married  Miss  Hattie  Crose  and  has  one 
child,  his  son  Ernest  J.  In  his  political  belief  Mr. 
Kline  is  a  Democrat.  He  served  a  number  of 
years  as  a  justice  of  the  peace.  Fraternally  he 
belongs  to  the  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Knights  of 
the  Maccabees. 

CHARLES  BROWN. 

Representing  one  of  the  oldest  families  in 
this  county,  and  himself  native  in  it,  and  passing 
the  whole  of  his  life  so  far  among  its  people  with 
an  active  and  helpful  interest  in  all  their  laudable 
undertakings,  industrial,  commercial,  educational 


and  moral,  Charles  Brown,  the  present  capable 
and  obliging  postmaster  of  Vicksburg,  is  easily 
one  of  the  first,  as  he  has  been  one  of  the  most 
useful,  citizens  of  the  section  of  his  day  and  gen- 
eration.    He   was   born   in   Brady   township   on 
September  3,  1846,  the  son  of  Charles  and  Nancy 
(Doyle)    Brown,  natives  of  county   Down,  Ire- 
land, where  they  were  reared  and  married.    The 
father  was  born  on  April  4,  1804,  and  the  mother 
on  February  2,  1805.     Having  learned  his  trade 
as  a  weaver,  the  father  worked  at  it  in  linen  mills 
in  his  native  land  until  1825,  when  he  was  mar 
ried,  and  soon  afterward  came  to  Canada,  land- 
ing at  Quebec  after  a  stormy  and  eventful  voy- 
age of  thirteen  weeks,  in  which  they  were  driven 
back   twice.      From   Quebec  the    young    couple 
came  to  this  country  and  located  at  Plattsburg, 
N.  Y.,  where  the  father  found  employment  in  the 
lumber   woods.      They   remained   in    New    York 
state  about  five  years,  and  in  1830  moved  to  New- 
burg,  Ohio,  now  a  part  of  the  city  of  Cleveland, 
and  there  the  head  of  the  house  was  engaged  in 
various  occupations  until  1835,  when  the  family 
came   to   Kalamazoo,   and   during  the   next  two 
years  the  father  worked  out  on  farms.     In  1837 
he  located  on  land  in  Brady  township,  on  whicli 
he  lived  a  short  time  as  a  squatter.     Previous  t<> 
coming  here  he  had  entered  land  in  Cooper  town 
ship,  and  this  he  sold  sometime  later.     In  about 
1840  he  entered  a  tract  of  bne  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  on  section  23,  Brady  township,  all  of  which 
was  heavily  timbered.  He  built  a  small  log  dwell 
ing  on  this  land  and  moved  his  family  into  it,  and 
at  once  began  to  clear  and  break  his  land  for  cu! 
tivation.  Indians  were  numerous  around  him  and 
wild  game  and  beasts  of  prey  were  plentiful.  TIk' 
wild  life  of  the  frontier,  which  was  the  portion  of 
the  family  for  years,  with  all  its  hardships  and 
privations,  to  say  nothing  of  the  dangers  inci 
dent  to  it,  had  a  flavor  of  adventure  and  uncer- 
tainty which  lent  zest  to  it,  and  in  its  very  nature 
broadened  the   faculties,   strengthened   the  bodv 
and  spirit  together,  and  developed  a  heroic  sell 
reliance  and   resourcefulness.     Mr.   Brown  lived 
to  clear  all  his  land  of  this  tract  and  much  more, 
owning    at    one  time  three  hundred    and    sixty- 
acres.  His  wife  died  on  the  farm  on  June  1,  1883. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


47i 


-■•id  he  on  June  29,  1879,  ^our  years  earlier.  They 
had  six  sons  and  seven  daughters,  all  now  dead 
but  Charles  and  his  sister,  Marian,  who  has  her 
liome  with  him.  The  father  took  an  intelligent 
ciiid  serviceable  interest  in  all  the  public  affairs  of 
the  township,  serving  as  supervisor,  highway 
commissioner,  justice  of  the  peace  twenty  years, 
drainage  commissioner,  and  in  other  positions  of 
importance.  In  politics  he  was  first  a  Whig  and 
afterward  a  Republican,  and  always  a  strong 
abolitionist,  making  his  faith  effective  in  aiding 
in  the  escape  of  fugitive  slaves  from  the  South. 
1  Ie  was  reared  a  Presbyterian,  and  the  mother  a 
Quaker;  but  they  did  not  belong  to  any  church  in 
this  county.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
order  in  his  native  land  and  became  a  charter 
member  of  the  lodge  of  this  order  at  Vicksburg. 
( )ne  of  his  sons,  Jefferson,  was  a  member  of  the 
First  Michigan  Cavalry  during  the  Civil  war. 
diaries  Brown,  the  son,  grew  to  manhood  in  this 
county  and  obtained  his  education  in  its  district 
schools.  After  leaving  school  he  followed  farm- 
ing on  his  own  account  until  1897,  when  he 
moved  to  Vicksburg  and  was  appointed  postmas- 
ter, an  office  he  is  still  filling  with  credit  and  to 
the  general  satisfaction  of  its  patrons.  In  1883 
lie  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Phebe  Notley,  a 
(laughter  of  Francis  Notley,  of  this  county  (see 
sketch  of  him  elsewhere  in  this  work).  They  have 
two  children,  their  son,  Charles  F.,  and  their 
daughter,  Florence  M.  Mr.  Brown  has  been  a 
Republican  from  the  formation  of  the  party  and 
servecl  well  and  acceptably  as  supervisor  seven 
years,  school  inspector  six  years,  and  representa- 
tive in  the  legislature  in  1883  and  1885.  He  is 
a  Freemason  of  the  Knight  Templar  degree,  and 
a  Knight  of  Pythias.  He  is  an  excellent  farmer 
Vvith  an  admirable  spirit  of  enterprise  and  pro- 
gressiveness,  and  an  equally  good  postmaster. 
His  citizenship  is  an  ornament  to  the  community 
in  every  phase  of  its  life. 

GEORGE  McCREARY. 

Having  passed  through  seventy-five  years  of 
toil  and  trial  in  lofty  human  endeavor,  beginning 
in  his  infancy  on  the  frontier  in  this  county,  and 
manfully  bearing  his  part  of  the  burden  incident 


to  its  transformation  from  a  wilderness  to  a  re- 
gion of  happy  homes,  blessed  with  all  the  com- 
forts and  conveniences  of  a  highly  cultivated  era, 
George  McCreary,  of  Schoolcraft,  now  rests  from 
the  labors  of  active  pursuits  and  enjoys,  amid  the 
good  will  and  regard  of  the  region  which  he  has 
helped  to  build  into  wealth  and  power,  and  amply 
provided  by  his  own  industry  for  all  the  wants  of 
his  remaining  days  on  earth.  He  is  a  native  of 
Washington  county,  Pa.,  born  on  March  7,1830. 
and  the  son  of  Preston  J.  and  Christianna  (Mid- 
dleton)  McCreary,  the  former  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  the  latter  of  the  neighboring  state 
of  New  Jersey.  The  father  was  born  in  Erie 
county,  Pa.,  on  October  28,  1805,  and  was  reared 
in  that  state.  He  attended  the  common  schools 
and  learned  the  trade  of  a  tanner  and  currier,  at 
which  he  wrought*  in  Washington,  in  his  native 
state,  four  years.  In  1830  he  decided  to  move  to 
Michigan,  which  was  then  lifting  up  its  voice 
throughout  the  East  as  a  land  of  great  promise, 
and  accordingly  he  made  a  tour  of  inspection  into 
its  wilds,  journeying  the  whole  of  the  distance, 
about  five  hundred  miles,  on  horseback,  camping 
by  the  way,  often  alone  and  sometimes  with 
friendly  Indians.  He  stopped  a  short  time  at 
White  Pigeon,  then  located  on  Prairie  Ronde, 
where  he  bought  of  Judge  Harrison  eighty  acres 
of  land  near  Harrison's  lake.  As  soon  as  he  had 
arrangements  made  for  their  comfort  he  moved 
his  family  to  this  new  home,  and  there  he  and  his 
wife  passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives,  she  dy- 
ing in  December,  1868,  and  he  on  October  30, 
1886.  They  had  five  children,  Samuel  S.,  George, 
John,  Adeline  and  Springer,  all  now  deceased 
but  Samuel,  George  and  Adeline,  who  is  the  wife 
of  George  Franckboner,  of  Schoolcraft,  a  sketch 
of  whom  appears  on  another  page.  The  parents 
were  devout  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church  and  took  an  active  part  in  establishing 
it  in  this  section  of  the  country,  helping  to  build 
some  of  the  first  houses  of  worship  for  it  here. 
The  father  was  enlisted  for  the  Black  Hawk  war, 
but  was  never  called  into  active  service  in  the  con- 
test. He  was  a  leading  Democrat  of  his  day  and 
locality,  and  for  many  years  one  of  the  prominent 
and  influential  citizens  of  the  county.     He  was 


472 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


called  to  fill  many  positions  of  trust,  the  duties 
of  which  he  performed  with  credit  and  fidelity, 
among  them  that  of  supervisor  of  the  township, 
which  he  filled  several  terms,  and  that  of  magis- 
trate, which  he  occupied  eleven  years.  In  1832 
he  built  and  for  some  time  thereafter  operated 
one  of  the  first  tanneries  in  the  county.  His  son 
George  grew  to  manhood  on 'the  Prairie  Ronde 
farm  and  obtained  his  education  by  about  three 
months'  attendance  at  the  primitive  country 
schools  of  his  boyhood  during  the  winters  of  a 
few  years.  He  assisted  his  father  in  the  tannery 
and  after  that  was  abandoned,  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  farming,  which  he  followed  steadily  as 
long  as  he  was  engaged  in  active  work.  Remain- 
ing at  home  until  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty- 
six,  he  then  bought  a  farm  in  company  with  his 
father  and  his  brother  Samuel.  This  was  after- 
ward divided  among  them,  and  Mr.  McCreary 
later  increased  his  portion  to  one  hundred  and 
ninety  acres,  all  of  which  he  still  owns.  In  1856 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Sarah  A.  Franckboner, 
a  sister  of  George  Franckboner,  one  of  the  leading 
farmers  of  the  township.  They  had  two  children, 
their  daughter  Ada,  now  deceased,  and  their  son 
Willis  G.,  who  is  managing  the  home  farm.  In 
1884  the  parents  moved  to  the  town  of  School- 
craft, where  they  have  a  fine  modern  residence 
built  of  brick  and  furnished  with  every  desirable 
convenience.  Mr.  McCreary  has  been  a  life-long 
Democrat  in  political  faith,  but  he  has  never 
sought  or  desired  official  positions,  yet  he  has 
served  the  townships  with  fidelity  and  ability  in 
several  school  offices  and  the  town  as  a  member  of 
its  board  of  trustees,  being  impelled  to  this  serv- 
ice by  the  earnest  appeals  of  his  fellow  citizens. 
Seeing  the  country  first  when  it  was  new  to  civil- 
ization and  still  inhabited  with  predatory  Indians 
and  the  wild  beasts  of  the  forests,  and  feeling 
ever  a  deep  interest  in  its  development,  he  has 
on  all  occasions  given  his  ready  aid  to  every  un- 
dertaking for  its  improvement  and  the  enduring 
welfare  of  its  people.  He  is  now  one  of  the  patri- 
archs of  the  section  and  enjoys  in  full  measure 
the  benefits  of  the  progress  he  has  helped  so  ma- 
terially to  bring  about  and  the  esteem  of  the  people 
;whom  he  has  so  wisely  and  so  faithfully  served. 


SAMUEL  STEWART  McCREARY. 

Passing  now  the  evening  of  a  long  and  useful 
life  in  quiet  and  retirement  from  active  labor  in 
the  village  of  Schoolcraft,  where  he  took  up  his 
residence  in  1894,  Samuel  S.  McCreary,  one  of 
the  oldest  residents  of  the  county  and  one  of  its 
most  venerated  pioneers,  may  review  with  satis- 
faction and  not  without  wonder  the  progress  lie 
has  witnessed  in  this  section,  and  which  he  has 
so  long  and  so  materially  aided,  since  he  became  a 
resident  of  the  county  when  he  was  but  two  years 
old,  more  than  seventy-six  years  ago.  When  he 
was  a  boy  in  the  early  days  of  the  county's  his- 
tory, Indian  children  were  his  playmates,  wild 
beasts  were  his  sport  as  well  as  his  terror,  and 
wild  land  was  his  field  of  arduous  labor.  He  has 
seen  the  Red  Man  swept  away  by  the  march  of 
improvement  and  the  ferocious  denizens  of  the 
forest  driven  out  by  the  determined  stand  and 
vigorous  warfare  waged  against  them  by  the 
forces  of  civilization.  He  has  seen  the  unbroken 
glebe  of  the  prairie  and  the  woodland  gradually 
yielding  to  the  persuasive  hand  of  systematic 
husbandry  and  steadily  expending  in  fertility  and 
productiveness.  He  has  seen  the  naked  expanse 
of  hill  and  dale  grow  populous  with  a  happy  and 
progressive  people,  transformed  into  comfortable 
and  elegant  homes,  and  enriched  with  all  the  con- 
comitants of  an  advanced  civilization.  And  best 
of  all,  he  has  done  his  full  portion  of  the  work 
incident  to  bringing  about  the  pleasing  change. 
Mr.  McCreary  was  born  in  Washington  countv. 
Pa.,  on  November  15,  1828,  the  son  of  Preston  J. 
and  Christianna  (Middleton)  McCreary,  an  ac- 
count of  whose  lives  is  given  in  the  sketch  r>f 
his  brother,  George  McCreary,  on  another  page. 
He  was  just  two  years  old  to  a  day  when  he  ar- 
rived at  the  home  of  Judge  Harrison,  in  Prairie 
Ronde  township,  this  county,  with  his  parents, 
the  journey  from  their  Pennsylvania  home  having 
been  made  overland  and  fraught  with  difficulties, 
dangers  and  privations.  His  father  bought  a 
tract  of  eighty  acres  of  wild  land  of  Judge  Har- 
rison, and  on  it  the  son  grew  to  manhood,  at- 
tending the  primitive  schools  of  his  day  and  lo- 
cality, and  acquiring  habits  of  useful  industry  in 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


473 


the  farm  work  and  independence  of  spirit  and 
self-reliance  in  the  life  of  the  forest,  in  which  he 
took  great  pleasure  and  found  exhilarating  sport 
as  a  hunter.  He  remained  with  his  parents  until 
lie  came  of  age,  then  bought  a  threshing  outfit, 
one  of  the  first  ever  owned  in  the  county.  With 
this  and  the  improvements  to  it  which  he  pur- 
chased from  time  to  time  afterward,  he  followed 
threshing  grain  throughout  his  section  of  the  state 
for  eighteen  years.  He  then  bought  sixty  acres 
of  land  south  of  his  father's  farm,  on  which  he 
settled  and  to  which  he  has  added  until  he  now 
owns  three  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  all  of  which 
is  improved  except  about  forty  acres  of  timber 
land.  On  this  farm  he  lived  and  labored,  making 
every  day  of  effort  count  in  its  improvement  and 
to  his  own  advantage,  until  1894,  when  he  re- 
tired from  active  pursuits  and  moved  to  School- 
craft, where  he  has  since  lived.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  this  county,  in  1857,  to  Miss  Matilda  A. 
Franckboner,  a  sister  of  George  Franckboner  (see 
sketch  of  him  on  another  page).  They  have  had 
four  children,  two  of  whom  are  dead  and  two  liv- 
ing, their  sons  William  and  Albert,  who  now 
work  the  farm.  William  married  Susan  Hemerite 
and  has  one  child,  Thomas.  Mr.  McCreary  has 
been  a  life-long  Democrat,  but  he  has  never  held 
or  desired  a  political  office.  He  has  faithfully 
performed  the  duties  of  citizenship,  and  in  every 
part  of  the  county  he  is  highly  respected  and  has 
hosts  of  friends. 

WILLIAM  F.  NOTLEY. 

Successful  in  business,  active  and  influential 
in  local  public  affairs,  prominent  in  fraternal  and 
social  life,  William  F.  Notley,  of  Vicksburg,  is 
easily  one  of  the  leading  and  most  useful  citizens 
of  the  village  and  township,  and  enjoys  a  wide 
and  admiring  acquaintance  and  excellent  repute 
throughout  Kalamazoo  and  the  neighboring  coun- 
ties. He  was  born  at  Vicksburg,  this  county,  on 
September  22,  1859,  the  son  of  Francis  and  Jane 
(Carruthers)  Notley,  a  sketch  of  whom  will  be 
found  on  another  page,  and  the  place  of  his  birth 
has  been  the  seat  of  all  his  enterprise  and  his 
life-long  useful  and  productive  activity.     More- 


over, he  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of 
Vicksburg,  and  in  that  village  he  was  married  to 
a  lady  who  had  been  for  years  a  resident  of  the 
place.  So  that,  whatever  he  is  and  all  that  he  has 
accomplished  are  products  of  the  section  of  his 
present  home,  and  he  is  in  every  good  sense  a  true 
representative  of  it  and  its  people.  After  leaving 
school  he  began  life  as  a  farmer,  and  so  com- 
pletely and  sedulously  did  he  devote  himself  to 
the  industry  he  had  undertaken,  that  he  seldom 
left  the  farm  at  any  time  when  he  had  anything 
to  do  on  it.  At  one  time,  during  a  period  of  eight 
months  he  was  off  the  place  only  three  hours  dur- 
ing working  hours,  and  then  only  to  do  his  duty  to 
his  country  by  voting  at  a  presidential  election, 
casting  his  vote  for  General  Garfield,  the  candi- 
date of  the  Republican  party,  which  he  has  al- 
ways cordially  supported.  In  1881  he  began 
dealing  in  live  stock  and  butchering,  wholesaling 
his  meats  in  Kalamazoo.  The  next  year  he  opened 
a  meat  market  in  Vicksburg,  which  he  conducted 
ten  years.  Since  closing  out  that  enterprise  he 
has  devoted  himself  to  the  stock  industry,  buying 
and  shipping  to  Eastern  markets  large  numbers 
of  cattle  and  horses  every  year,  and  making  a 
specialty  of  handling  Western  horses.  He  was  also 
associated  with  J.  J.  Esselborn  in  the  wool  trade 
for  twenty  years  and  they  handled  more  of  this 
commodity  than  any  other  firm  in  the  state.  In 
both  lines  Mr.  Notley's  trade  is  very  large  and  his 
transactions  are  very  profitable,  so  that  his  facul- 
ties are  fully  occupied  in  the  mercantile  interests 
of  the  county  and  section,  and  the  returns  from 
his  several  engagements  are  commensurate  with 
the  outlay  of  time,  energy  and  ability  involved, 
making  him  one  of  the  most  active  and  promi- 
nent business  men  of  his  community,  and  giving 
him  continual  opportunity  to  help  in  promoting 
the  commercial  wealth, and  power  of  the  region 
in  which  he  operates  and  add  to  the  chances  of  la- 
bor for  remunerative  employment.  He  still  owns 
a  farm  in  Brady  township,  which  he  manages 
with  success  and  profit,  adding  its  output  also  to 
the  total  of  the  county's  productiveness  and 
volume  of  material  wealth.  On  the  organization 
of  the  First  State  Bank  of  Vicksburg,  in  August, 
1905,  he  was  chosen  president  and  is  now  acting 


474 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


as  such.  It  is  a  state  bank  with  a  capital  stock 
of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  and  succeeded  the 
old  Exchange  Bank,  being  located  in  the  same 
building.  On  April  25,  1882,  he  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Miss  Ida  Day,  a  daughter  of  John 
S.  Day,  one  of  the  most*  prominent  and  influential 
citizens  of  Vicksburg,  where  the  marriage  oc- 
curred, Mr.  and  Mrs.  Notley  have  five  children, 
George  C.,  Blenn,  Florence,  Marion  and  June.  In 
politics,  as  has  been  noted,  the  father  is  an  un- 
wavering Republican.  He  served  as  one  of  the 
village  trustees  in  1883,  tnen  on  the  board  of  edu- 
cation, and  afterward  as  township  supervisor  five 
terms,  the  last  term  being  chairman  of  the  county 
board.  He  was  president  of  the  village  of  Vicks- 
burg in  1904  and  1905.  In  fraternal  life  he  is  a 
Freemason,  an  Elk  and  a  Knight  of  Pythias.  He 
is  also  a  stockholder  in  the  Vicksburg  Creamery 
Company. 

SPENCER  J.  WING. 

One  of  the  solid  and  progressive  business  men 
of  Vicksburg,  and  from  his  early  manhood  en- 
gaged in  productive  industries,  Spencer  J.  Wing 
has  been  a  useful  citizen  wherever  he  has  lived, 
contributing  in  various  important  and  commenda- 
ble ways  to  the  welfare  of  the  community.  He  is 
a  native  of  Yates  county,  N.  Y.,  born  on  Febru- 
ary 16,  1840,  and  the  son  of  Jaduthon  and  Mar- 
garet (Cross)  Wing,  the  former  a  native  of  Mas- 
sachusetts and  the  latter  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
father  was  reared  in  his  native  state  and  remained 
there  until  1812  or  1814,  and  afterward  followed 
farming  in  Yates  county,  N.  Y.,  until  his  death  in 
1862,  that  event  occurring  in  Cass  county,  this 
state,  while  he  was  here  on  a  visit  to  one  of  his 
sons.  The  mother  of  Spencer  J.  Wing  died  at 
Vicksburg,  this  county.  His  father  was  married 
three  times,  and  was  the  parent  of  ten  children, 
seven  sons  and  three  daughters.  Of  these,  three 
are  living,  Spencer,  his  brother  George  W.,  at 
Petoskey,  and  their  sister,  Mrs.  David  Gannon,  of 
Manistee  county,  Mich.  The  parents  were  active 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  The 
grandfather,  Allen  Wing,  was  born  and  passed 
his  life  in  Massachusetts,  where  he  prospered  as 
a  farmer.     The  family  is  of  Scotch-English  an- 


cestry, but  the  American  branch  has  resided  in 
this  county  over  two  hundred  years.  Spencer  I. 
Wing  grew  to  manhood  in  the  state  of  Ne.v 
York  and  there  attended  the  common  schools  and 
Naples  Academy.  In  i860  he  came  to  Cass 
county,  Mich.,  and  attended  school  at  Three 
Rivers  and  Ypsilanti.  He  also  taught  school 
three  terms  in  St.  Joseph  and  Cass  counties,  this 
state,  and  Yates  county,  N.  Y.  After  completing 
his  course  in  the  schools  here  he  returned  to  New 
York  and  entered  the  Eastman  Business  College 
at  Poughkeepsie,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
in  1866.  He  then  came  again  to  Michigan  and 
engaged  in  publishing  and  selling  school  charts, 
going  over  several  states  and  continuing  in  the 
business  until  1878.  In  1877  ne  came  to  Kala- 
mazoo county  and  bought  a  farm  in  Schoolcraft 
township  which  he  still  owns  and  works.  In 
1882  he  moved  to  Vicksburg,  and  in  1884,  in 
company  with  Mr.  McCausey,  the  Pages,  father 
and  son,  J.  M.  Neasmith,  and  others,  founded  the 
Vicksburg  Exchange  Bank,  of  which  he  was 
made  president,  serving  as  such  six  years  and  then 
disposing  of  his  stock.  He  is  also  a  stockholder 
in  the  Peat  Fuel  Company  of  Detroit,  and  several 
other  business  and  industrial  enterprises  in  the 
state.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was  engaged  in 
milling  flour  at  Vicksburg  until  his  mill  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  at  a  loss  to  him  of  over  twenty 
thousand  dollars.  In  1876  he  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  L.  Carrie  Hobart,  a  Michigan 
lady  born  in  St.  Joseph  county.  They  have  two 
children,  their  daughter  Josephine  H.  and  their 
son  Hobart  J.,  both  of  whom  are  living.  In 
political  action  Mr.  Wing  is  independent  and  has 
never  sought  public  office  of  any  kind.  He  is 
well  known  all  over  the  county  and  everywhere 
is  highly  esteemed. 

JOHN  HAMILTON. 

This  energetic  and  progressive  citizen  of  Kala- 
mazoo county,  living  in  Schoolcraft  township,  in 
whose  care  as  supervisor  the  public  interests  of  the 
township  under  the  control  of  his  office  were 
safely  lodged  and  wisely  cared  for  during 
1904-5,   and   who   was,    in    March,    1905,    elect- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


475 


.  d  president  of  the  village,  is  a  native  of 
St.  Joseph  county,  this  state,  born  on  April 
^o,  1844.  His  parents,  John  and  Nancy 
(  Poe)  Hamilton,  were  born  and  reared  in  Ohio. 
They  came  to  Michigan  in  1832  and  the  father 
then  entered  a  tract  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-five 
acres  of  government  land  in  St.  Joseph  county, 
two  miles  distant  from  the  village  of  Constantine, 
where  he  lived  and  farmed  until  his  death  in  1897, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-six  years  and  six  months. 
The  mother  passed  away  twelve  years  earlier. 
The  father  was  a  man  of  prominence  and  influ- 
ence in  his  county,  representing  it  in  the  state 
legislature  two  terms  and  filling  a  number  of  its 
local  offices.  He  was  an  ardent  old-school  Demo- 
crat in  politics  and  on  all  occasions  gave  his  party 
loyal  and  effective  support.  The  children  of  the 
family  numbered  twelve,  five  sons)  and  seven 
daughters,  and  all  grew  to  maturity  but  one. 
John  and  one  of  his  sisters  are  the  only  ones  resi- 
dent in  Kalamazoo  county.  The  former  was 
reared  in  St.  Joseph  county  and  educated  in  the 
common  schools  there.  He  began  life  for  himself 
farming  the  home  place  and  continued  to  do  this 
until  he  reached  the  age  of  thirty,  when  he  bought 
land  of  his  own.  In  1890  he  purchased  a  farm 
in  Brady  township,  this  county,  and  on  this  he 
lived  until  1902,  then  moved  to  the  village  of 
Vicksburg,  where  he  has  since  maintained  his 
home.  He  was  married  in  St.  Joseph  county  in 
September,  1877,  to  Miss  Susanna  Goss,  a  native 
of  that  county.  They  have  no  children.  Mr. 
Hamilton  has  been  a  Democrat  all  of  his  mature 
life.  While  living  in  St.  Joseph  county  he  filled 
the  office  of  township  treasurer  four  years  'and 
other  local  offices  at  different  times.  He  and 
his  wife  belong  to  the  Methodist  church.  Both 
are  well  known  and  highly  respected. 

CHARLES  H.  McKAIN,  M.  D. 

Among  the  professional  men  with  whom  Kal- 
amazoo county  is  so  signally  blessed,  no  member 
of  the  medical  profession  enjoys  a  more  enviable 
reputation  as  a  skillful  practitioner  or  a  more  ex- 
tensive practice  than  Dr.  Charles  H.  McKain,  of 
Vicksburg.     With  commendable  and  characteris- 


tic devotion  to  the  highest  claims  of  duty  in  his 
life  work,  and  a  genuine  love  of  his  profession  for 
its  own  sake,  he  keeps  abreast  of  the  times  in  all 
lines  of  general  medical  research  and  investiga- 
tion, and  is  not  only  a  physician  of  great  success 
in  practice,  but  also  a  surgeon  of  unusual  ability. 
He  is  as  well  a  contributor  to  the  literature  of 
the  medical  cult,  having  read  several  papers  of  his 
own  preparation  before  state  medical  societies, 
which  have  won  the  commendations  of  his  pro- 
fessional brethren  and  been  favorably  noticed  by 
the  press.  Dr.  McKain  represents  the  fourth 
generation  in  descent  from  the  American  pro- 
genitor of  the  family,  who  was  a  native  of  Scot- 
land but  emigrated  from  the  north  of  Ireland  to 
this  country  in  colonial  times  and  engaged  in 
farming  in  the  state  of  New  York.  During  the 
Revolution  he  served  as  a  valiant  officer  in  the 
Continental  army,  and  his  skill  in  the  use  of  his 
sword  brought  him  into  conspicuous  notice.  He 
was  a  Protestant  in  religion,  a  Whig  in  politics, 
and  an  excellent  citizen  in  every  way.  At  an 
advanced  age  he  located  at  Sandstone,  Jackson 
county,  Mich.,  where  he  died  a  few  years  later. 
The  Doctor's  grandfather,  Abel  McKain,  was 
born  in  New  York  state  and  followed  milling  at 
Alexandria  there  until  his  death,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-two.  He  was  the  father  of  two  sons,  one 
of  whom,  Allen  McKain,  the  Doctor's  father, 
was  born  at  Alexandria,  N.  Y.,  on  June  14,  1827, 
and  was  only  five  years  old  when  he  was  orphaned. 
One  year  later  he  was  brought  to  Michigan  by 
his  uncle  and  guardian,  Martin  McKain,  who 
sold  the  property  belonging  to  Abel  McKain  and 
invested  the  proceeds  in  Michigan  land.  The  in- 
vading foot  of  the  progressive  white  man  was 
just  beginning  to  make  its  mark  on  the  soil  of 
this  then  far  Western  wild;  deer  and  other  wild 
game  were  plentiful,  and  bears  were  so  numerous 
as  well  as  wolves,  and  so  bold,  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  carefully  pen  up  sheep  and  swine  to  save 
them  from  the  ravenous  depredations  of  these 
wikl  beasts.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  Allen  Mc- 
Kain began  Jiie  on  his  own  account,  clearing 
a  farm  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  on 
which  he  farmed  until  1880,  when  he  retired  and 
moved  to  Vicksburg,  where  he  died  in  February, 


476 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


1899.  He  had  long  been  an  influential  Republi- 
can, holding  numerous  local  offices,  and  taking 
an  active  and  serviceable  interest  in  public  af- 
fairs. His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Laura 
Wilson,  was  born  in  Vermont  on  December  24, 
1826,  and  came  to  Michigan  with  her  parents 
when  nine  years  old.  Her  father,  Amos  Wilson, 
was  probably  a  native  of  Vermont,  and  became 
an  early  settler  in  Michigan,  living  two  years  in 
Oakland  county  and  afterward  clearing  a  farm 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  in  Pavilion 
township,  this  county.  He  died  at  Galesburg 
when  sixty-two  years  of  age.  Dr.  McKaih  is  one 
of  seven  children  born  to  his  parents,  three  of 
whom  are  living.  He  was  born  in  Pavilion  town- 
ship, this  county,  on  November  17,  1851,  and 
began  his  education  in  the  district  schools.  When 
twenty  years  old  he  entered  the  Baptist  College 
in  Kalamazoo,  where  he  studied  two  years.  On 
April  1,  1875,  ne  began  to  study  medicine  under 
the  instruction  of  Dr.  Malcolm  Hill,  of  Vicks- 
burg,  and  on  October  1st  of  the  following  year 
entered  the  medical  department  of  the  University 
of  Michigan,  from  which  he  was  graduated  on 
March  27,  1878.  After  practicing  one  year  with 
Dr.  Hill,  he  went  to  Kansas,  where  he  was  ex- 
amined and  admitted  to  the  United  States  army 
as  a  surgeon.  He  remained  in  the  service  until 
1 88 1,  and  was  stationed  at  Forts  Elliott  and 
Supply  in  Indian  Territory.  In  1881  he  entered 
Bellevue  Hospital,  New  York  city,  from  which 
he  received  his  degree  on  March  15th,  of  the  en- 
suing year.  He  made  a  specialty  of  diseases  of 
the  eye  and  ear  in  that  department  of  the  Man- 
hattan Hospital,  where  he  was  stationed  until 
May  1,  1882.  Since  that  time  he  has  lived  at 
Vicksburg,  where  he  has  an  extensive  and  lu- 
crative practice.  His  attractive  residence,  a 
commodious  frame  house  on  Prairie  street,  was 
built  in  1885,  and  his  household  is  presided  over 
by  his  cultured  wife,  to  whom  he  was  married 
on  September  5,  1882.  Mrs.  McKain's  maiden 
name  was  Nellie  J.  Dorrance,  and  she  wasx  born 
in  Pavilion  township,  on  May .  16,  1856.  In  po- 
litical faith  t)r.  McKain  is  an  unwavering  Re- 
publican, and  while  not  a  member,  he  is  a  liberal 
contributor  to  the  Methodist  church,  also  aiding 


all  other  commendable  enterprises  with  generous 
donations  of  time  and  money.  For  years  he  has 
served  as  a  member  of  the  local  school  board.  His 
fraternal  relations  are  with  the  Knikhts  of  Pyth- 
ias, and  in  the  line  of  his  profession  he  belongs 
to  the  Kalamazoo  Academy  of  Medicine,  the 
State  Medical  Society,  the  American  Medical 
Association,  and  to  the  Mississippi  Valley  Medi- 
cal Association.  He  was  the  first  president  of  the 
County  Medical  Society  on  its  reorganization,  and 
was  president  of  the  Kalamazoo  Academy  of 
Medicine.  He  has  represented  the  state  society 
in  the  American  Medical  Society  at  Cincinnati 
and  Nashville.  In  the  fall  of  1887  he  and  his 
wife  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  Mrs.  McKain  re- 
mained in  Paris  while  he  made  an  eight  months' 
tour  through  France,  Germany,  Austria,  Switz- 
erland and  the  British  Islands.  He  is  one  of  the 
county's  most  esteemed  and  prominent  citizens, 
and  is  known  throughout  its  borders  by  all 
classes. 

STEPHEN  P.  COLLINS. 

This  excellent  farmer  of  Brady  township,  now 
living  retired  from  active  labor  at  Vicksburg,  has 
been  a  resident  of  the  county  since  1861,  and  has 
seen  the  region  transformed  from  an  almost  un- 
broken wilderness  into  its  present  state  of  ad- 
vanced development  and  power,  all  the  while  do- 
ing his  share  of  the  work  that  brought  about  the 
change.  He  was  born  in  Orleans  county,  N.  Y., 
on  February  19,  1834,  and  is  the  son  of  Nahum 
C.  and  Olive  (Clark)  Collins,  also  natives  of  New 
York,  born  in  Monroe  county,  the  mother  in 
1804  and  the  father  in  1806.  The  latter  followed 
farming  in  Orleans  county,  of  his  native  state, 
until  1854,  when  he  came  to  Kalamazoo  county 
and  bought  bought  a  farm  in  Pavilion  township, 
joining  an  elder  brother,  William  G.  Collins,  who 
had  settled  there  in  1844.  He  continued  to  re- 
side in.  Pavilion  township  until  his  death  in  1859, 
his  wife  passing  away  there  in  about  1880.  They 
were  the  parents  of  four  sons  and  five  daughters, 
all  now  dead  but  three,  Stephen  F.,  Benjamin  FM 
a  farmer  of  Schoolcraft  township,  and  Charlotte, 
the  wife  of  B.  Collins,  of  Pavilion  township. 
Stephen  grew  to  manhood  in  New  York  state  and 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


477 


farmed  there  until  1858,  when  he  went  to  Aus- 
tralia intending  to  go  into  mining,  but  while  in 
that  country  he  passed  the  greater  part  of  his 
time  driving  stage  between  the  various  diggings. 
He  returned  to  this  country  in  1861,  but  did  not 
enter  the  army  for  the  Civil  war,  which  had  just 
begun.  He  had,  however,  two  brothers  in  the 
service,  Benjamin  F.  in  the  First  Michigan 
Cavalry  and  George  in  the  Sixth,  the  latter  dying 
in  the  service.  On  returning  to  America  and  lo- 
cating in  this  county,  Stephen  bought  a  farm  in 
Comstock  township,  on  the  south  side  of  the  river, 
on  which  he  lived  two  years.  Later  he  bought  one 
in  Brady  township,  which  was  his  home  until  he 
came  to  Vicksburg  to  live  in  1902.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1862  to  Miss  Annie  Mathers,  a  native  of 
New  York  state,  and  a  daughter  of  James  and 
Margaret  Mathers,  who  settled  in  Pavilion  town- 
ship in  1836.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Collins  have  had  six 
children,  three  of  whom  are  living,  Bianca,  wife  of 
C.  T.  Richardson,  of  Brady  township ;  Estella, 
wife  of  Walter  H.  McMaster,  of  Vicksburg,  and 
Nina,  wife  of  E.  L.  Page,  of  Vicksburg.  Mr. 
Collins  has  served  as  supervisor  of  Brady  town- 
ship and  township  clerk.  He  is  a  Democrat  in 
politics  and  always  takes  an  active  interest  in  the 
affairs  of  his  party.  In  all  public  affairs  he  has 
been,  from  his  advent  in  the  county,  potential, 
forceful  and  serviceable.  In  all  the  relations  of 
life  he  has  borne  himself  as  an  upright,  con- 
scientious and  progressive  men.  In  every  element 
of  good  citizenship  he  has  shown  himself  en- 
titled to  be  considered  in  the  first  rank.  And  in 
the  great  work  of  building  up  a  great  common- 
wealth from  the  trying  conditions  and  inevitable 
hardships  of  frontier  existence  he  has  faithfully 
and  intelligently  borne  his  full  part. 

MANFRED  HILL. 

This  prominent  business  man,  who  is  the  pio- 
neer merchant  of  the  village  of  Vicksburg,  Kala- 
mazoo county,  and  who  for  more  than  thirty  years 
has  profitably  conducted  a  flourishing  crockery 
and  grocery  trade,  which  he  started  in  1874  in 
the  first  frame  house  erected  in  the  village,  is  a 
native  of  this  county,  born  in  Brady  township  on 


March  20,  1847.  His  parents,  Norman  A.  and 
Lucy  A.  (Backus)  Hill,  were  natives  of  New 
York  state,  the  former  born  in  Allegany  county 
in  1812,  and  the  latter  in  Genesee  county  in  1819. 
The  father  reached  man's  estate  in  his  native 
county  and  was  educated  in  the  district  schools. 
He  was  reared  on  a  farm  and  early  in  life  worked 
also  in  a  potash  factory  and  a  woolen  mill.  In 
1837  he  came  to  Kalamazoo,  but  soon  afterward 
located  in  St.  Joseph  county,  this  state,  for  a  short 
time.  Then  returning  to  this  county,  he  bought 
a  tract  of  wild  land  in  Brady  township,  which 
he  began  to  clear  and  improve,  meanwhile,  during 
this  operation,  teaching  school  for  a  number  of 
years  in  St.  Joseph  county.  During  the  same 
period  he  read  medicine  under  the  instruction  of 
Dr.  William  Motrum,  of  Nottawa  Prairie,  later 
attending  a  course  of  lectures  in  the  medical  de- 
partment of  the  State  University  at  Ann  Arbor. 
He  opened  an  office  on  his  farm  and  from  there 
engaged  in  practice  in  association  with  his  precep- 
tor, continuing  to  have  his  office  on  the  farm  un- 
til 1853,  when  he  moved  to  Vicksburg  and  bought 
the  home  now  owned  by  his  son  Manfred.  From 
there  he  continued  in  active  practice  until  his 
death,  in  1881.  He  was  a  man  of  great  pro- 
gressiveness  and  public  spirit.  He  was  a  great 
friend  of  the  public-school  system  and  did  much 
to  aid  the  schools  of  those  days.  He  took  a  lead- 
ing part  in  political  affairs  as  a  Jacksonian  Demo- 
crat, having  cast  his  first  vote  for  General  Jack- 
son for  President  in  1832.  He  filled  a  number  of 
local  offices,  among  them  that  of  supervisor  of 
Brady  township.  His  marriage  occurred  in  St. 
Joseph  county  on  October  4,  1839,  and  he  and  his 
wife  became  the  parents  of  three  sons  and  two 
daughters,  of  whom  four  are  living,  Julia,  wife  of 
Austin  Martin ;  Lucy,  Manfred  and  Motrum,  who 
is  also  a  resident  of  Vicksburg.  The  mother  died 
in  1893.  Mr.  Hill's  grandfather,  Adino  Hill,  was 
a  native  of  Connecticut,  and  for  many  years 
farmed  in  New  York,  where  he  died.  Manfred 
Hill  was  reared  in  Brady  township,  this  county, 
and  in  Vicksburg.  He  followed  farming  and  other 
pursuits,  helping,  as  one  of  his  engagements,  to 
build  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad.  In 
1874  he  opened  a  grocery  and  crockery  store  in 


473 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


the  first  frame  house  put  up  in  Vicksburg,  and  to 
this  trade  he  has  devoted  his  energies  continu- 
ously since  that  time.  He  has  never  married,  but 
this  has  not  lessened  his  interest  in  the  general 
welfare  of  the  community  or  his  activity  in  pro- 
moting it.  He  has  been  a  life-long  Democrat,  and 
while  not  burdened  with  ambition  for  public  office, 
prefering  to  give  his  attention  to  his  business,  he 
has  served  very  acceptably  as  the  village 
treasurer  for  a  number  of  years.  In  fraternal 
relations  he  is  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a  Knight  of  the 
Maccabees.  He  is  prosperous  and  has  a  large  trade 
as  a  merchant,  widely  known  and  well  esteemed 
as  a  citizen,  and  cordially  welcomed  in  the  best 
social  circles  as  an  admired  addition  to  their 
sources  of  entertainment. 

DR.  SAMUEL  C.  VAN  ANTWERP. 

Descended  of  old  Holland  Dutch  ancestry  and 
of  a  line  that  in  this  country  has  met,  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  citizenship,  every  claim  of  duty  in  war 
and  peace  with  manliness  and  patriotism,  Dr. 
Samuel  C.  Van  Antwerp,  the  pioneer  physician 
of  Vicksburg,  Kalamazoo  county,  has  had  by  in- 
heritance the  highest  incentives  to  useful  and 
manly  living,  and  in  his  natural  powers  and  the 
training  for  life's  battle  which  he  received,  he 
was  well  prepared  for  every  claim  of  the  most  ex- 
acting duty.  He  was  born  at  Hume,  Allegany 
county,  N.  Y.,  on  March  21,  1847,  tne  son  °f  R-ev- 
John  and  Lucy  (Carter)  Van  Antwerp,  also  na- 
tives of  New  York,  the  father  born  near  Albany, 
in  1820.  He  was  reared  and  obtained  his  schol- 
astic training  in  his  native  state.  He  was  or- 
dained in  the  Presbyterian  church  and  had  his 
first  charge  at  Hume,  N.  Y.,  where  he  remained 
six  years.  In  1854  he  moved  to  Oswego,  111.,  and 
there  he  joined  the  Congregational  church  and 
preached  three  years,  then  took  charge  of  a  pas- 
torate at  DeWitt  in  that  state,  where  he  preached 
fourteen  years.  From  there  he  came  to  Lenawee 
county,  Mich.,  and  a  year  later  moved  to  Mo- 
renci,  this  state,  making  that  place  his  home  for 
ten  years,  during  all  of  which  he  was  actively  en- 
gaged in  the  ministry.  The  next  three  years  he 
passed  at  Alma,  Mich.,  and  the  following  five  at 


Augusta,  this  county.  At  the  end  of  that  pericd 
he  took  up  his  residence  at  Vicksburg,  where  L 
remained  until  his  death  on  June  9,  1902,  his  wit. 
dying  at  Vicksburg  in  1898.  He  was  a  finishe  ! 
scholar,  deeply  learned  in  Greek  and  Hebrew, 
devotedly  attentive  to  his  pastoral  duties,  and  elo- 
quent and  impressive  in  the  sacred  desk.  Wrier 
ever  he  lived  he  was  dearly  beloved  by  his  parish- 
ioners,  and  in  every  respect  was  well  worthy  of 
their  regard.  He  and  his  wife  were  the  parents 
of  two  children,  the  Doctor  and  a  daughter,  the 
latter  of  whom  is  deceased.  The  paternal  grand 
father  was  James  Van  Antwerp,  a  native  of  the 
Mohawk  valley  in  New  York,  and  a  son  of  a 
Revolutionary  soldier  who  served  in  a  New 
York  regiment  in  the  great  struggle  for  inde- 
pendence. The  Doctor's  father  also  saw  trying 
and  arduous  military  service,  being  chaplain  of 
the  Twenty-fourth  Iowa  Infantry  during  the 
Civil  war,  and  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  the 
regiment.  The  Doctor  grew  to  manhood  in  Illi- 
nois and  Iowa,  and  while  pursuing  his  academic 
studies  at  Oberlin  College,  Ohio,  enlisted  in  de- 
fense of  the  Union  in  May,  1864,  in  Company 
K,  One  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Ohio  Infantry, 
which  was  composed  wholly  of  college  students. 
They  were  stationed  near  Washington,  D.  C,  and 
helped  to  defend  that  city  against  the  threatened 
raid  of  the  Confederate  General  Early  in  1864. 
The  fall  of  that  year  saw  the  end  of  their  service 
in  the  army,  and  after  being  mustered  out  the 
Doctor  returned  to  Oberlin  College,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1868.  Returning  then  to  his  home 
in  Iowa,  he  taught  school  one  year,  and  while 
doing  so  read  medicine.  In  1870  he  entered  the 
medical  department  of  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan, from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1872.  He 
began  his  practice  at  Orland,  Ind.,  and  remained 
there  five  years,  then  located  at  Vicksburg,  this 
county,  and  formed  a  partnership  with  O.  P. 
Dunning  in  the  drug  business  in  connection  with 
his  practice.  At  the  end  of  six  years  the  Doctor 
retired  from  the  partnership,  and  since  then  he 
has  given  his  whole  attention  to  his  practice.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Kalamazoo  Academy  of  Medi- 
cine, and  has  served  as  president  of  the  County 
Medical    Society.     In   1872   he   was  married  to 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


479 


Miss  Isabelle  Beverage,  who  died  at  Orland, 
hid.,  in  1874.  He  was  married  a  second  time  at 
\iles,  Mich.,  being  united  on  this  occasion  with 
Miss  Carrie  L.  Clapp,  a  daughter  of  George  S. 
Clapp,  a  leading  attorney  of  southwestern  Michi- 
gan, who  enjoyed  a  large  practice  throughout 
this  part  of  the  state  and  before  the  supreme 
:ourt  and  the  United  States  court.  He  died  at 
Miles,  Mich.,  on  October  9,  1895.  He  had  served 
as  prosecuting  attorney  of  Barry  county, 
Mich.  Fraternally  he  was  a  Knight  Templar 
Mason,  and  was  widely  known.  He  is  a  Repub- 
Hcan  in  political  affiliation,  but  has  never  been  an 
active  partisan  or  sought  public  office,  but  has 
served  for  many  years  on  the  board  of  education, 
and  as  president  of  the  board  most  of  the  time. 
He  has  also  been  the  local  health  officer  for  some 
lime.  Fraternally  he  is  a  Freemason  and  a  Knight 
of  the  Maccabees.  He  is  one  of  the  leading  phy- 
sicians of  the  county,  as  well  as  the  pioneer  prac- 
titioner at  Vicksburg,  and  has  an  extensive  prac- 
tice throughout  all  the  surrounding  country,  be- 
ing everywhere  highly  esteemed. 

LEWIS  C  BEST. 

Largely  engaged  in  the  lumber  trade  at  Vicks- 
burg, this  county,  as  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the 
Vicksburg  Lumber  Company,  with 'which  he  has 
been  connected  since  1897,  Lewis  C.  Best  has 
been  for  years  an  important  factor  in  the  business 
life  of  Schoolcraft  and  Brady  townships,  and  by 
his  persevering  enterprise  has  contributed  greatly 
to  building  up  and  establishing  the  commercial 
interests  of  that  portion  of  the  county.  He  was 
born  in  Brady  township  on  April  25,  1857,  tne 
son  of  Jacob  and  Elizabeth  (Harman)  Best,  na- 
tives of  Pennsylvania,  who  came  to  Kalamazoo 
county  in  1849  and  located  in  Brady  township  on 
a  partly  improved  farm  which  they  bought  there. 
They  continued  to  live  on  this  farm  until  the 
death  of  the  mother  in  1863,  when  the  father 
moved  to  Isabella  county,  where  he  passed  the 
remainder  of  his  days,  dying  there  in  1903.  The 
family  comprised  four  sons  and  one  daughter,  all 
living  but  only  Lewis  and  his  brother  John,  resi- 
dents of  this  county.     Lewis  was  reared  by  Wil- 


liam Jenkinson  and  obtained  his  education  in  the 
common  schools.  After  leaving  school  he  gave 
his  close  attention  to  assisting  Mr.  Jenkinson  on 
his  farm,  which  he  rented  when  he  was  twenty 
years  old  and  thereafter  farmed  for  a  period  of 
twenty-two  years.  In  1897  he  moved  to  Vicks- 
burg, and,  in  partnership  with  John  Weinberg, 
purchased  the  lumber  business  of  A.  J.  Turner. 
Mr.  Weinberg  remained  in  the  business  until 
1903,  then  sold  his  interest  in  it  to  John  F.  Hum- 
bertsone,  and  the  new  firm  assumed  the  style  of 
the  Vicksburg  Lumber  Company.  Mr.  Best  was 
married  on  January  22,  1880,  to  Miss  Carrie 
Morse,  a  daughter  of  George  Morse,  who  was 
born  in  the  state  of  New  York  and  early  became 
a  resident  of  Brady  township,  this  county,  where 
he  farmed  and  conducted  other  lines  of  business 
extensively,  and  rose  to  consequence  and  influence 
as  one  of  the  leading  and  most  representative 
citizens  of  the  county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Best  have 
one  child,  their  daughter  Theil,  who  is  living  at 
home  with  her  parents.  While  devoting  himself 
energetically  to  whatever  business  he  has  had  on 
hand,  Mr.  Best  has  not  neglected  the  claims  of  the 
community  on  his  citizenship,  nor  those  of  the 
social  and  fraternal  life  of  his  locality.  He  has 
served  four  years  as  treasurer  of  Brady  township, 
and  has  long  been  active  and  serviceable  as  a 
member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the  Knights 
of  the  Maccabees  and  the  order  of  Elks. 

William  Jenkinson,  late  of  Brady  town- 
ship, whose  long  and  useful  life  of  over  eighty- 
three  years  came  to  an  end  in  Vicksburg  in  Janu- 
ary, 1900,  amid  the  people  who  had  known  him 
for  more  than  half  a  century  and  near  the  soil 
which  was  hallowed  by  his  long  and  profitable 
labors,  was  an  early  and  constant  friend  to  Mr. 
Best,  and  one  of  the  leading  and  most  prosperous 
citizens  of  the  county.  He  was  born  in  county 
Wicklow,  Ireland,  in  1816,  and  accompanied  his 
parents  to  America  in  1826.  The  family  landed  at 
Halifax,  N.  S.,  and  after  living  there  two  years, 
moved  to  Boston,  Mass.,  where  two  years  more 
were  passed,  and  after  that  two  were  passed  at 
Baltimore,  Md.  During  what  is  known  as  the 
Patriot  war  in  Canada,  the  father  was  an  insurrec- 
tionist, and  after  the  close  of  the  conflict  was  kept 


48o 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


in  a  jail  six  months.     He  and  his  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Lucy  McGuire,  came  to  Michi- 
gan in  1840,  and  six  months  later  the  father  died. 
The  mother,  who  reared  nine  of  her  ten  children, 
died  in  this  county  at  the  age  of  sixty-five.   Their 
son  William  was  reared  on  a  farm  and  educated 
in  the  common  schools.     At  the  age  of  eighteen 
he  was  apprenticed  to  a  machinist  to  learn  the 
trade,  and  in  1839  came  to  this  county,  arriving 
one  year  ahead  of  his  parents  and  the  rest  of  the 
family.    His  journey  hither  was  made  across  the 
lakes  from  Buffalo  to  Chicago,  and  in  the  latter 
city  he  bought  teams  and  drove  overland  from 
there  to  his  destination.     On  his  arrival  he  pre- 
empted one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  which 
was  then  a  part  of  the  Indian  reservation,  and  be- 
gan trading  at  several  places,  among  them  School- 
craft, Milling,  Flourfield  and  Kalamazoo.     After 
residing  here  a  year  and  a  half  he  went  to  New 
Orleans  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  that  city  he 
worked  on  a  plantation  two  years.     Returning  to 
Michigan  in  1852,  he  joined  a  party  of  twenty- 
seven  men  in  a  jaunt  across  the  plains  to  Cali- 
fornia.   They  were  one  hundred  days  on  the  way, 
lost  nearly  all  of  their  cattle,  and  suffered  greatly 
from  the  cholera,  of  which  several  of  the  party 
died.     Mr.  Jenkinson  made  some  money  in  mines  . 
in  Oregon  and  Montana,  and  then  followed  the 
lumber  business  at  Humboldt,  Nev.,  two  years. 
On  his  way  home  by  water  the  voyage  was  sad- 
dened by  a  number  of  deaths  on  board  the  vessel 
from  cholera,  which  was  very  bad  among  the  pas- 
sengers and  crew.     In  1862  he  went  West  again, 
crossing  the  plains  to  Virginia  City,  Idaho,  where 
he  remained  eight  months,  then  came  back  once 
more  to  Michigan.    Here  he  passed  the  rest  of  his 
days,  moving  to  the  village  of  Vicksburg  in  1892 
and  dying  there  in  January,  1900.  Mr.  Jenkinson 
was  married  in  1851  to  Miss  Lucinda  Grout,  a 
native  of  Schoolcraft  township,  this  county,  who 
lived  only  a  short  time  after  their  marriage.   They 
had  no  children,   and   Mr.  Jenkinson  took   Mr. 
Best  to  raise  when  the  latter  was  but  seven  years 
old,  and  from  that  time  on  until  his  death  was  all 
that  a  father  could  have  been  to  him  in  care  and 
kindness.    At  the  time  of  his  death,  Mr.  Jenkin- 
son owned  two  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  ex- 


cellent, land,  all  of  which  he  cleared  and  improved 
himself.  On  this  he  carried  on  general  farming 
extensively  and  raised  large  numbers  of  cattle, 
sheep  and  hogs.  The  dwelling  now  on  the  place 
was  erected  in  1864,  and  the  fine  barns  and  other 
outbuildings  some  years  later.  A  staunch  Demo- 
crat in  political  faith,  and  devoted  to  the  welfare 
of  his  party,  Mr.  Jenkinson  never  withheld  his 
utmost  industry  in  the  campaigns  or  in  official 
service.  He  was  clerk,  treasurer  and  tax  collector 
of  his  township  for  eighteen  or  twenty  years,  and 
at  different  times  filled  other  local  offices.  Fra- 
ternally he  was  a  member  of  the  Masonic  lodge 
at  Vicksburg,  and  took  an  earnest  interest  in  its 
proceedings.  He  was  a  man  of  high  character 
and  excellent  judgment;  and  his  generosity  to 
the  needy  and  those  wanting  a  start  in  life  made 
him  a  very  useful  citizen  in  other  lines  than  those 
of  his  public  services,  and  aided  in  winning  him 
the  confidence  and  regard  of  all  who  knew  him. 
No  citizen  of  the  county  stood  higher  than  he  in 
life,  and  none  has  been  more  gratefully  remem- 
bered after  death. 

CHARLES  A.  MORSE. 

This  leading  merchant,  progressive  farmer  and 
valued  public  official  of  Brady  township,  this 
county,  who  is  now  approaching  the  meridian  of 
life,  has  passed  nearly  the  whole  of  his  life  from 
infancy  in  the  county,  coming  hither  with  his 
parents  when  he  was  but  six  weeks  old,  and  re- 
siding in  the  county  ever  since.  He  was  born 
on  June  1,  1857,  in  Will  county,  111.,  the  son  of 
George  and  Mary  (Deming)  Morse,  the  former 
born  in  the  state  of  New,  York  on  January  10, 
1833,  and  the  latter  in  Schoolcraft  township, 
Kalamazoo  county,  on  April  18,  1836.  They  be- 
came residents  of  Kalamazoo  county  in  1857,  and 
here  they  passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives,  the 
mother  dying  here  in  1872  and  the  father  at 
Vicksburg  in  1901.  Their  son  Charles  was  reared 
and  educated  in  this  county  and  farmed  at  home 
until  he  was  twenty,  then  taught  school.  He  fol- 
lowed farming  until  1895  m  Brady  township,  then 
moved  to  Vicksburg,  and  during  the  next  five 
years  carried  on  a  flourishing  undertaking  busi- 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


481 


ness.  After  that  he  dealt  largely  in  grain  for  a 
period  of  three  years,  and  at  the  end  of  that 
period  bought  the  business  which  he  is  now  con- 
ducting, and  in  which  he  has  been  engaged  from 
the  time  when  he  purchased  it.  He  was  married 
in  this  county  in  1879  to  Miss  Mary  C.  Piatt,  a 
native  of  Clarion  county,  Pa.  Her  parents,  Samuel 
and  Lavina  (Gilbert)  Piatt,  were  also  natives  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  located  on  a  farm  in  Brady 
township,  Kalamazoo  county,  in  1864,  where  they 
lived  until  the  death  of  the  mother  in  1890,  since 
when  the  father  has  lived  a  retired  life  in  Vicks- 
burg.  Mrs.  Morse  is  a  most  estimable  and  cul- 
tured lady,  and  is  the  mother  of  one  child,  their 
daughter  Mollie  Belle.  Mr.  Morse  is  a  Democrat 
in  political  allegiance.  He  has  served  seven  years 
as  supervisor  of  Brady  township,  being  the  chair- 
man of  the  county  board  in  1890,  and  all  the  while 
taking  an  active  part  in  its  legislation  of  a  gen- 
eral county  character,  while  conducting  vigorously 
and  wisely  the  affairs  of  the  township  immediately 
under  his  control.  He  was  also  highway  commis- 
sioner one  year,  and  town  clerk  and  a  member  of 
the  village  council  of  Vicksburg  several  years. 
He  has  lived  on  two  different  farms  in  his  town- 
ship ;  the  first  one  of  eighty  acres  he  occupied  un- 
til 1883,  and  on  it  he  made  many  and  valuable 
improvements.  In  the  year  last  mentioned  he 
bought  his  present  farm,  which  also  comprises 
eighty  acres,  and  which  he  has  under  advanced 
cultivation,  carrying  on  a  general  farming  in- 
dustry and  raising  large  quantities  of  grain  and 
stock.  He  formerly  owned  a  large  flock  of  full- 
blooded  Shropshire  sheep,  a  strain  to  which  he 
long  devoted  attention,  raising  and  selling  great 
numbers  greatly  to  the  improvement  of  the  stock 
in  the  county  and  surrounding  country.  These  he 
has  since  disposed  of.  The  commodious  and  at- 
tractive dwelling  which  now  adorns  his  farm  was 
built  in  1884,  and  of  the  two  large  barns  on  the 
place,  one  was  put  up  in  1890  and  the  other  was 
remodeled  in  1884.  Mrs.  Morse  is  a  valued  and 
consistent  member  of  the  Lutheran  church.  Fra- 
ternally Mr.  Morse  is  connected  with  the  Ma- 
sonic order,  the  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Knights  of 
Pythias.  In  his  business  he  is  straightforward 
and  enterprising,  and  in  all  his  undertakings  he 
is  farseeing  and  successful. 


LEWIS  C.  KIMBLE. 

In  the  lavish  distribution  of  her  gifts  among 
men  nature  sometimes  bestows  upon  single  fami- 
lies a  varied  and  generous  share  of  capacities  of 
more  than  usual  usefulness  and  value,  while  to 
others  she  gives  almost  nothing  out  of  the  ordi- 
nary, and  even  within  that  limit  is  painfully  par- 
simonious. One  of  the  families  on  which  she 
laid  her  benefactions  with  freedom  and  in  abun- 
dance is  the  Kimble  family  of  this  county,  whose 
members  have  displayed  in  the  three  generations 
of  their  life  here  a  wide  diversity  of  manly  quali- 
ties and  mechanical  talents.  The  first  of  the 
house  to  make  his  home  in  this  region  was 
Charles  Kimble,  a  native  of  Connecticut  reared  in 
Pennsylvania,  who  became  a  resident  of  the 
county  on  July  4,  1837,  having  made  the  journey 
hither  from  his  home  in  Wayne  county,  Pa.,  with 
his  wife  and  six  children,  by  team  and  wagon, 
being  twenty-one  days  on  the  way.  His  father, 
Walter  Kimble,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution, 
and  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  in  that  part  of  the 
Keystone  state.  At  the  time  of  the  Wyoming 
Indian  massacre  he  was  obliged  to  leave  his  home 
and  family  in  moccasins  and  but  half  clothed  to 
escape  the  fury  of  the  savages,  and  in  his  ex- 
posure to  the  cold  in  this  condition  was  badly 
frozen.  Later  he  returned  to  his  home,  and  there 
he  lived  to  a  good  old  age  and  died  on  his  farm, 
known  as  Indian  Orchard.  On  his  arrival  in 
this  county  Charles  Kimble  located  on  the  farm 
later  owned  by  his  son  Lewis  C,  the  immediate 
subject  of  this  memoir.  It  was  on  the  Indian  res- 
ervation and  not  then  in  the  market,  so  Mr.  Kim- 
ble became  a  squatter,  a  year  or  two  later  receiv- 
ing a  deed  for  a  quarter  section,  on  which  he  lived 
until  his  death,  on  November  20,  1852.  His  son, 
Lewis  *C.  Kimble,  was  born  in  Wayne  county, 
Pa.,  on  January  12,  181 5.  He  was  the  oldest  of 
the  children  who  came  to  Michigan,  and  from 
the  start  had  almost  full  charge  of  the  farm.  His 
father  was  a  blacksmith  and  wheelwright,  and 
passed  much  of  his  time  working  at  his  trades, 
and  much  in  hunting  and  trapping,  a  profitable 
industry  in  those  days  in  which  he  found  great 
enjoyment,  and  was  very  successful.  The  son 
was  young  and  strong,  and  the  clearing  and  im- 


482 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


proving  of  the  place  was  effected  mainly  by  his 
labor  and  management.    The  family  was  the  sec- 
ond to  settle  in  the  township,  and  at  his  death 
Lewis  Kimble  was  the  oldest  settlers  within  its 
limits.  He  was  the  second  supervisor  of  the  town- 
ship, being  elected  to  the  office  when  he  was  still 
a  very  young  man,  and  holding  it  during  four- 
teen consecutive  terms,  a  longer  period  than  any 
other  man  has  ever  held  it.     When  he  was  first 
elected  he  was  poor  and  did  not  own  a  horse,  so 
in  attending  the  meetings  of  the  board  he  was  ac- 
customed to  walk  to  Kalamazoo  and  back,  a  dis- 
tance of  thirty-six  miles.    He  also  served  a  num- 
ber of  terms  as  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  filled 
other  local  offices  from  time  to  time.     In  his  offi- 
cial positions  he  worked  for  the  best  interests  of 
the  township,  and  filled  them  with  credit  to  him- 
self and  benefit  to  the  people.    In  politics  he  was 
an  unwavering  Democrat;  in  religion,  a  broad- 
minded  liberal.     On  October   13,   1844,   he  was 
married  to  Miss  Amanda  M.  Osborn,  a  daughter 
of  Judge  Nathan  Osborn.     She  died  on  June  16, 
1853,   leaving  three   children,   E.   Ransom,   Ann 
Vennette,  now   Mrs.   Gleason,  of  Plainwell,  and 
James  E.,   who,   like  his  brother   Ransom,   lives 
at  Vicksburg.     A  daughter  named  Lorinda  died 
on  August  6,  1850,  three  years  before  her  mother 
passed  away.    The  father  married  for  his  second 
wife  Mrs.  Elizabeth  A.  Seymour,  who  bore  him 
one  child,  their  son  Lewis  S.,  who  also  is  a  resi- 
dent  of  Vicksburg.      Mr.   Kimble  died   on  July 
12,  1889,  and  his  second  wife  in  March,  1891. 

Ransom  E.  Kimble,  the  oldest  son  of  Lewis 
C.  and  Amanda  M.  (Osborn)  Kimble,  was  born 
in  Kalamazoo  county,  Brady  township,  on  July 
29>  1845,  and  was  reared  on  the  paternal  home- 
stead, in  the  arduous  and  exacting  labors  of 
which  he  assisted  until  he  attained  his  majority, 
when  he  engaged  in  farming  for  himself,  and 
continued  his  enterprise  in  this  line  until  1844. 
He  then  moved  to  Vicksburg,  and  for  eleven 
years  thereafter  he  was  on  the  road  as  a  salesman 
of  the  Walter  A.  Wood  harvester.  In  1885,  in 
partnership  with  his  brother  Emory,  he  started 
the  manufacture  of  the  Kimble  steam  engine  at 
Comstock,  of  which  the  brother  was  the  inventor. 
Ransom  remained  with  the  company  a  number  of 


years,  and  then,  in  company  with  the  same  broth- 
er   and    Dr.     Charles    McKain,    organized    the 
Eclipse  Governor  Company,  of  Vicksburg,  which 
also  his  brother  invented,  and  which  was  made  bv 
the  partnership  then  formed  until  the  latter  was 
re-organized   into  a   stock   company,   an  account 
of  which  is  given  elsewhere  in  this  work.  He  also 
became  interested  in  the  Dentler  Bagger   Com- 
pany, in  1899,  and  still  has  an  interest  in  it.  This 
company  manufactures  the   Dentler  door  roller, 
and  an   automatic  closing  fire  door   which   is  a 
great  protection  in  case  of  fire  in  a  building.     It 
is  a  stock  company  and  Mr.  Kimble  is  one  of  the 
directors.     He  also  owns  a  farm  and  the  grain 
elevator  and  one  of  the  best  business  blocks  at 
Vicksburg.    In  1870  he  was  married  in  St.  Joseph 
county,  this  state,  to  Miss  Alice  E.  Holmes,  a  na- 
tive of  that  county.     They  have  one  child,  their 
daughter  Eudora,  now  the  wife  of  Clinton  Scott, 
of  Marcellus.     Mr.  Kimble  is  a  Democrat  in  poli- 
tics, but  he  has  never  been  an  active  partisan  or 
filled  public  official  positions  of  any  kind.    In  fra- 
ternal life  he  belongs  to  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
blue  lodge,  and  finds  pleasure  in  the  work  and 
social  features  of  the  order. 

FRANCIS  NOTLEY. 

Badly  injured   in  a  runaway  of  his  team  in 
1890,  Francis  Notley  has  most  of  the  time  since 
then  lived  retired  from  active  pursuits  and  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  his  previous  long  years 
of  useful  and  profitable  labor,  and  the  esteem  of 
his   fellow   citizens   who  witnessed   its  persistent 
continuance  and  shared  in  the  benefits  of  its  re- 
sults.    He  is  a  native  of  Ireland,  county  Leitrim, 
born  on  April  6,  1828,  and  the  son  of  Francis  and 
Phebe    (Wilson)    Notley,   both   born   in   Ireland, 
the  father  of  English  parents.    They  farmed  with 
profit  in  their  native  land  and  passed  their  lives 
there,  and   when  the   end   came  they   were  ten- 
derly laid  to  rest  in  the  soil  on  which  they  had 
lived  and  from  which  they  had  drawn  their  stat- 
ure and    their    strength.     Five    sons    and    three 
daughters    blessed    their    union    and    brightened 
their  home,  and  of  these  three  of  the  daughters 
and  three  of  the  sons  are  living.    Francis  and  one 


FRANCIS    NOTLEY. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


485 


of  his  brothers  came  to  the  United  States.  The 
brother  died  in  this  country,  so  that  the  subject 
of  this  brief  review  is  the  only  representative  of 
the  family  of  his  generation  in  this  country.  Fran- 
cis was  reared  and  educated  in  the  Emerald  Isle, 
and  farmed  there  until  1850.  Then  in  the  full 
flush  of  his  young  manhood,  and  burning  with 
desire  for  better  opportunities  than  his  own  coun- 
try offered  to  carve  out  a  destiny  of  credit  to  him- 
self, he  determined  to  come  to  the  land  that  had 
opened  the  way  to  fortune  and  distinction  for  so 
many  of  his  countrymen.  Accordingly,  he  set 
sail  for  the  United  States,  and  on  his  arrival  lo- 
cated in  the  state  of  New  York,  where  he  followed 
farming  and  railroading  four  years.  In  1854 
he  became  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  county,  the 
next  day  after  reaching  it  purchasing  the  home 
which  he  now  owns  and  at  which  he  has  lived 
ever  since.  Being  handy  and  resourceful,  as  well 
as  industrious  and  steady,  he  at  once  began  to 
make  a  good  living,  and  from  that  time  on  his 
progress  was  steady  and  continuous.  During  the 
Civil  war  he  was  engaged  in  butchering  on  a  large 
scale,  and  afterward  he  followed  that  occupation 
and  shipping  stock  to  Eastern  markets  until  he 
met  with  the  accident  already  alluded  to  in  1890. 
And  by  the  time  this  occurred  he  had  made  a 
record  of  attempts  and  achievements  in  business 
and  usefulness  in  citizenship  that  many  men  fail 
to  equal  in  a  much  longer  period  of  effort  even 
though  they  be  men  of  force  and  unflagging  in- 
dustry. Mr.  Notley  has  borne  a  heavy  hand  in 
the  development  of  his  home  town  and  township, 
aiding  every  commendable  undertaking  for  the 
benefit  of  their  people  and  the  enlargement  of  the 
material  wealth  of  the  section.  He  is  now  a  stock- 
holder in  the  paper  mill  at  Vicksburg,  of  the 
Lee  Paper  Company,  and  other  industrial  enter- 
prises, and  has  other  commercial  interests  in  the 
county.  He  was  married  on  July  1,  1854,  to 
Miss  Jane  Carruthers,  like  himself  a  native  of 
Ireland  and  an  emigrant  to  this  country  in  the 
dawn  of  mature  life,  coming  hither  as  his  wife 
of  a  few  months  when  he  came.  They  became  the 
parents  of  four  sons  and  four  daughters,  all  liv- 
ing but  one  son  and  one  daughter.  Those  living 
are  Phebe,  wife  of  Charles  Brown;  William  F., 
27 


who  is  engaged  in  the  stock  industry;  Lunna, 
wife  of  J.  H.  Gledhill;  Samuel  G.,  for  seventeen 
years  in  the  employ  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Railroad 
and  now  a  farmer  in  this  county;  Jennie,  wife  of 
C.  J.  Clark;  and  John  H.,  a  successful  lawyer  in 
Kalamazoo.  The  mother  died  February  4,  1890. 
The  father  has  been  a  Republican  ever  since  his 
arrival  in  the  United  States,  but  he  has  never 
sought  or  desired  a  political  office.  He  is  the 
oldest  settler  in  the  village  in  length  of  residence 
there.  He  owns  nearly  one  thousand  acres  of 
land  and  considerable  property  in  Vicksburg. 

ARTHUR  LONGMAN. 

In  the  great  struggle  between  the  sections  of 
our  unhappy  country  from  1861  to  1865,  which 
for  the  time  paralyzed  all  our  industries  and  kept 
the  world  aghast  at  the  ferocity  and  bitterness  of 
our  civil  strife,  many  citizens  of  foreign  birth 
took  leading  parts  and  gained  renown.  Among 
them  the  subject  of  this  notice  won  a  high  reputa- 
tion for  coolness  and  undaunted  courage  in  the 
face  of  the  enemy,  for  quickness  of  perception 
and  promptness  in  action,  and  for  other  soldierly 
qualities  which  gained  him  the  commendation  of 
his  superiors  and  reflected  great  credit  on  his 
regiment,  although  at  the  time  of  his  enlistment  he 
was  but  eighteen  years  old.  He  has  since  proved 
himself  equally  valuable  as  an  agent  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  agricultural  resources  of  Wakeshma 
township,  being  one  of  its  most  progressive  and 
sensible  farmers.  He  was  born  in  Yorkshire, 
England,  on  October  6,  1845,  and  is  a  son  of  John 
Longman,  a  well  known  and  prosperous  farmer 
of  this  part  of  Michigan.  The  father  came  from 
his  native  land,  where  his  family  had  long  been 
resident,  in  1853,  bringing  his  family  with  him 
and  landing  at  New  York.  The  ocean  voyage 
consumed  seven  weeks  and  two  days,  and  was  en- 
livened by  a  collision  with  another  boat  in  mid- 
sea,  the  elder  Longman  and  the  captain  of  the 
vessel  being  the  only  person  on  deck  at  the  time. 
After  two  years'  residence  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
where  he  was  employed  in  a  linseed  mill,  he 
brought  his  family  to  this  county  and  located  at 
Climax.    He  had  nothing  to  start  with,  as  he  had 


486 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


no  means  and  was  ten  dollars  in  debt  when  he 
arrived  here.  But  he  found  regular  employment, 
and  by  unremitting  labor,  frugality  and  close  cal- 
culation, he  got  a  start,  and  in  1857  was  able  to 
buy  eighty  acres  of  land  in  the  woods.  He  built 
a  log  house,  developed  that  farm,  bought  addi- 
tional ground,  and  in  time  owned  one  hundred 
and  eighty  acres  of  fine  farming  land,  which  he 
improved  with  first-rate  buildings  and  other  ac- 
cessories, becoming  a  well-to-do  and  prosperous 
farmer  through  his  own  unaided  efforts.  His 
wife,  Jane  Fenwick,  like  himself  a  native  of 
Yorkshire,  England,  where  they  were  married, 
came  of  a  seafaring  family,  both  her  father, 
Thomas  Fenwick,  and  her  grandfather  having 
been  captains  of  vessels.  They  reared  seven  of 
their  eight  children,  Rebecca  E.,  Arthur,  William, 
Jennie,  Mary,  John  and  Sarah  E.  Another  son 
named  John  died.  Arthur  attended  school  one 
year  in  England,  and  at  the  age  of  seven  accom- 
panied his  parents  to  this  country.  He  spent 
two  years  in  the  schools  of  Brooklyn,  and  after 
coming  to  Michigan  attended  school  in  this  county 
in  a  primitive  log  house  with  rude,  home-made 
furnishings,  the  school  being  conducted  on  the 
rate-bill  plan,  the  teacher  boarding  around,  and 
each  pupil  obliged  to  provide  a  certain  share  of 
wood  to  heat  the  building.  Mr.  Longman  was 
early  set  to  work  on  the  farm  and  in  clearings, 
and  from  the  age  of  twelve  worked  out  summers 
by  the  month,  his  wages  at  first  being  only  four 
dollars  a  month.  He  .also  worked  several  sum- 
mers at  the  carpenter  trade.  On  August  19,  1864, 
he  enlisted  in  the  Union  army  as  a  member  of 
Company  H,  Seventh  Michigan  Cavalry.  The 
principal  battles  in  which  he  fought  were  those 
at  Winchester,  Bucktown  Ford,  Front  Royal  and 
Waynesboro,  where  General  Earl's  forces  were 
captured.  He  also  took  an  active  part  in  all  the 
battles  from  Petersburg  to  Appomattox.  In  one  of 
these  he  was  kicked  badly  by  a  horse,  but  such 
was  his  fortitude  that  he  never  left  his  post  al- 
though suffering  great  pain.  At  the  charge  at 
Saler's  Creek,  he  won  distinction  by  capturing 
two  prisoners  single-handed,  one  of  them  having 
a  loaded  gun ;  and  he  was  in  sight  of  Appomattox 
when  General  Lee  surrendered.     After  the  war 


he  returned  to  his  home,  well  worn  by  the  hard- 
ships and  privations  he  had  endured.  On  No- 
vember 8,  1866,  he  bought  eighty  acres  of  his 
present  farm,  which  was  then  a  mere  tract  of 
heavy  timber  surrounded  by  woods,  •  the  nearest 
road  being  distant  half  a  mile.  He  made  some 
clearing,  and  after  his  marriage  settled  on  the 
land,  building  a  plank  house  for  a  dwelling  in 
1870.  He  has  since  converted  his  land  into  a 
fine  and  well  improved  farm,  increasing  it  by 
additions  until  it  comprises  a  quarter-section,  one 
hundred  acres  of  which  are  cleared  and  yielding 
excellent  crops.  The  place  is  well  stocked  with 
Durham  cattle,  and  some  fine  Cleveland  Bay  and 
Norman  and  Percheron  horses.  Mr.  Longman 
was  married  on  December  25,  1869,  to  Miss  Sa- 
rah M.  Wisner,  a  native  of  this  state,  born  at 
Athens,  Calhoun  county,  and  a  daughter  of  Rev. 
Alpheus  and  Julia  (Morrow)  Wisner,  natives  of 
New  York.  The  parents  of  her  father  came  to 
Michigan  in  1840,  and  located  in  Lenawee  county, 
while  those  of  her  mother  came  in  the  early  '30s 
and  settled  in  Washtenaw  county.  Mrs.  Long- 
man's parents  are  dead,  the  father  dying  in  1893 
and  the  mother  in  1904.  The  father-  was  a  sol- 
dier in  the  Twentieth  Michigan  Infantry  during 
the  Civil  war,  and  was  a  Baptist  minister  for 
nearly  fifty  years.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Longman  have 
had  six  children,  five  of  whom  are  living,  Minnie 
S.,  Gratia  A.,  Robert  E.,  Frank  C.  and  Arthur  R. 
The  parents  are  active  members  of  churches,  the 
father  of  the  Methodist  and  the  mother  of  the 
Baptist  sect.  In  politics  the  father  is  a  Repub- 
lican, with  strong  Prohibition  proclivities.  Fra- 
ternally he  belongs  to  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic. 

SILAS  F.  WORDEN. 

No  account  of  the  lives  of  the  pioneers  and 
progressive  men  of  this  county  would  be  complete 
without  some  mention  of  Silas  F.  Worden,  one 
of  the  old  settlers  of  this  part  of  the  state,  and 
long  a  prosperous  farmer  of  Wakeshma  township, 
who  is  well  and  favorably  known  throughout  the 
county.  He  was  born  in  Jefferson  county,  N.  Y., 
on  August  14,  1826,  and  is  the  son  of  Russell  and 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


487 


Polly  (Fairbanks)  Worden,  natives  of  New  York 
state  and  early  pioneers  in  Wakeshma  township, 
locating  there  in  1844,  making  the  trip  by  way  of 
the  Erie  Canal  to  Buffalo,  from  there  to  Detroit 
l)v  steamer,  thence  by  rail  to  Marshall,  and  from 
there  to  this  section  by  team.  He  spent  the  first 
summer  on  Nottawa  Prairie,  where  his  family 
joined  him  in  October,  having  driven  the  entire 
distance  from  New  York  with  teams.  The  same 
month  he  removed  to  his  final  home,  buying 
eighty  acres  of  land  in  section  32,  which  lay  in 
the  woods  and  on  which  he  put  up  a  log  house 
twenty  by  twenty-six  feet  in  size,  which  is  still 
standing  on  the  place  as  a  relic  of  pioneer  times. 
His  was  the  fourth  family  that  settled  in  the 
township,  and  they  were  obliged  to  undergo  the 
usual  privations  and  difficulties  of  frontier  life. 
He  lived  some  years  on  his  farm,  beginning  its 
improvement  without  capital,  and  by  unremitting 
labor  and  economy  acquiring  a  competency.  He 
was  past  fifty  years  old  when  he  died,  leaving  be- 
hind him  a  good  record  as  a  worthy,  hard-working 
pioneer  and  an  upright  man.  He  was  a  Democrat 
in  politics  and  took  an  active  part  in  local  affairs. 
His  wife,  Polly  Fairbanks,  also  a  native  of  New 
York,  was  the  daughter  of  Silas  Fairbanks,  a  very 
skillful  cabinetmaker  of  that  state,  who  lived  to 
be  nearly  a  hundred,  and  kept  his  faculties  in 
vigor  almost  to  the  last.  A  secretary  made  by  him 
when  he  was  eighty-five  years  old  is  still  in  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Worden.  One  of  his  sons, 
Reuben  G.  Fairbanks,  inherited  his!  mechanical 
talent,  and  became  one  of  the  greatest  civil  en- 
gineers in  the  world.  He  built  railroads  in  this 
country  and  Europe,  the  Czar  of  Russia  sending 
for  him  to  survey  a  line  and  construct  a  railroad 
in  that  country  on  one  occasion.  Russell  Worden 
and  his  wife  were  the  parents  of  five  children, 
Charlotte  (Mrs.  Charles  Carver),  who,  with  her 
husband,  is  now  deceased;  Adolphus,  deceased; 
Silas  F.,  Charles,  and  one  that  died  in  early  life. 
Silas  Worden  attended  school  in  his  native  state, 
and  was  eighteen  when  he  came  with  his  parents 
to  Michigan  in  1844.  He  faithfully  shared  with 
them  the  hardships  and  tribulations  of  their  life 
in  a  wild,  new  country,  where  Indians  were  plen- 
tiful, as  many  as  seven  visiting  the  family  soon 
after  their  arrival  and  spending  the  night  with 


them.  The  newcomers  became  familiar  with  the 
ways  of  the  savages  and  learned  to  speak  much 
of  their  language.  Wild  beasts  of  prey  and  those 
fit  for  food  were  also  plentiful,  and  while  some 
furnished  meat  for  the  table,  others  were  a  fre- 
quent menace  to  the  lives  of  the  family.  They 
were  in  poor  circumstances,  having  but  ten  dol- 
lars with  which  to  begin  life  in  their  new  home, 
and  nearly  all  were  sick  on  their  arrival,  thus  ne- 
cessitating that  all  who  were  able  should  work 
out  to  aid  in  supporting  the  household.  They 
lived  in  primitive  style  in  a  typical  pioneer  cabin, 
with  but  few  of  the  conveniences  of  a  home  at- 
tainable to  them.  When  flour  was  needed  Silas 
was  obliged  to  go  to  a  mill  five  miles  distant  for 
it.  Money  was  very  scarce,  and  Mr.  Worden 
once  split  five  hundred  and  fourteen  rails  for 
fifty  cents,  a  rare  sum  for  him  to  possess  at  that 
time.  Once  when  his  father  was  sick  he  went 
for  a  doctor  whom  he  found  building  a  dam.  The 
doctor  agreed  to  attend  and  minister  to  the  sick 
man  on  condition  that  the  son  would  remain  and 
wheel  dirt  for  him  in  his  absence,  and  on  his  re- 
turn he  called  the  account  square.  Mr.  Worden 
also  helped  to  lay  out  many  of  the  roads  in  the 
township,  felling  many  trees  while  doing  so,  and 
helped  to  build  a  number  of  the  first  bridges  in 
the  township.  He  lived  at  home  until  his  father's 
death  and  after  that  with  his  brother  Charles, 
with  whom  he  was  in  partnership  many  years. 
They  were  accounted  the  best  wheat  cradlers  in 
the  county,  and  so  proficient  and  rapid  were  they 
in  the  work  that  they  often  cradled  twelve  acres 
a  day.  Mr.  Worden  located  on  his  present  farm 
in  section  34,  Wakeshma  township,  in  1866,  he 
and  his  brother  owning  it  together  until  he  bought 
his  brother's  share.  He  has  one  hundred  and  ten 
acres  of  choice  land,  nearly  all  of  which  is  under 
cultivation,  and  he  has  made  substantial  improve- 
ments which  compare  favorably  with  the  best  in 
this  part  of  the  county.  He  was  first  married  on 
March  31,  1872,  to  Mrs.  Julia  (Meers)  House,  a 
native  of  Canada  who  came  to  Michigan  with  her 
parents  in  1850,  and  died  on  June  3,  1879,  leaving 
two  children,  Oakley  D.  and  Gracia  J.  In  1885 
Mr.  Worden  was  married  to  his  present  wife,  for- 
merly Mrs.  Cordelia  Hand,  who  was  born  in 
Branch  county,  this  state.     Her  parents,   Isaac 


488 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


and  Hannah  (Dilly)  Gilson,  came  to  the  state 
from  Ohio.  The  father  died  in  Branch  county 
and  the  mother  at  Centreville.  Mrs.  Worden  had 
three  children  by  Mr.  Hand,  Mary,  now  Mrs. 
Hodgeboon,  of  Jackson,  Mich. ;  William,  and  one 
who  died  some  years  ago.  Mr.  Worden  is  dis- 
tinguished in  the  lumber  trade,  building  the  first 
steam  sawmill  in  this  part  of  the  country  in  part- 
nership with  Andrew  Kellicott,  which  he  operated 
two  years  in  company  with  that  gentleman,  then 
sold  his  interest  in  it.  He  attended  the  first  elec- 
tion held  in  the  township,  at  which  there  were 
eighteen  voters  present,  nearly  every  one  going  to 
the  meeting  place  with  a  gun  on  his  back.  A  din- 
ner of  bear's  meat  was  served  to  the  voters  by 
Mrs.  Gardner,  of  Gardner's  Corners,  where  the 
first  house  was  built  in  the  township.  Mr.  Wor- 
den was  a  constable  in  the  early  days  and  has  held 
the  office  of  commissioner  of  highways.  He  was 
for  a  long  time  one  of  the  leading  spirits  of  the 
Democratic  party  in  this  section,  and  was  honored 
by  his  party  at  different  times  with  nominations 
for  the  offices  of  supervisor  and  treasurer;  but  as 
the  vote  was  heavily  Republican  he  was  not 
elected.  He  was  for  a  time  an  earnest  advocate 
of  the  Greenback  party,  but  of  late  years  he  has 
been  independent  in  politics.  He  is  now  the  old- 
est settler  in  the  township,  and  is  widely  known 
and  highly  respected.  It  may  well  be  a  source  of- 
pride  to  him  that  he  has  had  so  forceful  a  hand 
in  bringing  about  the  great  changes  in  the  re- 
gion, transforming  it  from  a  howling  wilderness 
to  a  beautiful  and  fruitful  garden. 

ALBERT  C  MINNIS. 

It  is  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century  since 
the  advancing  army  of  conquest  of  the  American 
wilderness,  moving  steadily  westward  from  the 
Atlantic  seaboard  until  it  reached  the  Ohio,  then 
the  Mississippi,  then  followed  fast  on  the  heels  of 
the  flying  buffalo,  reached  and  crossed  the  Rocky 
mountains,  never  resting  in  its  beneficent  march 
until  it  camped  on  the  shores  of  the  peaceful  Pa- 
cific,— it  is  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century 
since  the  outposts  of  this  army  were  planted  on 
the' virgin  soil  of  Michigan  to  begirt  the  work  of 


settling  and  civilizing  the  until  then  untrodden 
wilds  of  this  great  state,   and  among  the  early 
progeny  of  the  pioneers  here  was  Albert  C.  Min- 
nis,  of  Wakeshma  township,  this  county,  who  was 
born  in  Washtenaw  county  on  January  9,   1845, 
the  son  of  Robert  and  Ruth  (Young)  Minnis,  the 
former  a  native  of  the  state  of  New  York  and  the 
latter  of  England.     He  came  into  being  at  a  time 
when  the  section  in  which  he  was  born  was  stili 
under  the  control,  in  great  measure,  of  the  savage 
denizens  of  the  forest,  and  unpeopled  with  white  * 
men,  so  that  he  grew  to  manhood  amid  the  scenes 
and  incidents  of  frontier  life,  and  gained  strength 
of  sinew  and  flexibility  of  function  from  the  ardu- 
ous toils  and  stirring  adventures  of  such  an  exist- 
ence, acquiring  at  the  same  time   resolute  self- 
reliance,  and  that  broad  education  which  comes 
from  contact  with  nature  and  the  rugged  school 
of  experience.     His   parents   were  early  settlers 
in  this  state,  the  father  coming  hither  when  he 
was  a  boy  and  aiding  his  parents  in  clearing  up 
a  farm  in  Washtenaw  county  and  bringing  if  to 
productiveness.     They  were  married  at  Ann  Ar- 
bor, and  the  father  died  in  that  county,  the  mother 
passing  away  in  Ingham  county.    They  had  seven 
sons  and  four  daughters,  and  all  of  them  are  liv- 
ing but  one  son  and  one  daughter,  but  only  two 
of  the  sons  are  residents  of  this  county.    The  fa- 
ther was  a   leading  abolitionist  and   Republican, 
taking  an  active  interest  in  all  public  affairs  but 
never  seeking  or  accepting  office  for  himself.    He 
was  a  local  preacher  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church,  and  in  all  respects  a  leader  of  thought 
and  action  in  every  beneficent  channel  of  enter- 
prise.    The  son  was  reared  and  educated  in  his 
native  county,  and  followed  farming  there  until 
1870,  when  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo  county,  and 
located  on  the  farm  which  is  now  his  home.    This 
was  all  wild  land  at  the  time  and  covered  with 
heavy  timber.     He  cleared  it  all  and  put  up  the 
dwelling    and    other    improvements    which    now 
so  plentifully  and  tastefully  adorn   it.     It  com- 
prises two  hundred  and  eighty  acres  and  is  one 
of  the  model  farms  of  the  township,  being  skill- 
fully cultivated  and  brought  to  a  high  state  of 
development.     Mr.  Minnis  was  married  in  Lan- 
sing in  1873  to  Miss  Mary  Dennis,  a  native  of 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


489 


Wayne  county,  N.  Y.,  and  a  daughter  of  Joseph 
and  Emily  (Richardson)  Dennis,  early  settlers  of 
Ingham  county,  this  state.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Minnis 
have  two  children,  twins,  their  son  Claud  and 
{heir  daughter  Claudia.  The  daughter  is  now 
Mrs.  Albert  Oswalt.  Mr.  Minnis  has  taken  an 
active  part  in  the  public  life  of  the  township, 
serving  five  terms  as  highway  commissioner.  He 
is  a  Republican  politically,  and  fraternally  be- 
longs to  the  Masonic  order.  In  the  latter  he  has 
served  twelve  years  as  the  worshipful  master  of 
Fulton  Lodge,  guiding  its  course  along  a  path  of 
of  wholesome  progress  and  peaceful  prosperity, 
and  holding  its  good  name  high  above  all  adverse 
criticism.  He  is  one  of  the  most  respected  and 
widely  known  citizens  of  the  county. 

WILLIAM  J.  GUTHRIE. 

All  honor  to  the  men  of  heroic  mold,  who, 
whether  pioneers  to  this  state  from  other  sections, 
or  among  the  early  offspring  of  pioneers,  bore 
the  arduous  burden  of  redeeming  the  land  from 
the  wilderness,  subduing  its  hostile  forces,  and 
by  the  persuasive  hand  of  their  skillful  and  re- 
sourceful agriculture,  converted  it  into  fertile 
fields,  rich  in  smiling  harvests  and  plentifully 
decorated  with  happy  homes,  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  a  civilization  which  has  never  halted  in 
its  beneficent  progress  until  it  has  made  the  state 
one  of  the  mightiest  of  the  great  Mississippi  val- 
ley commonwealths,  and  a  leading  contributor  to 
every  form  of  material,  intellectual  and  moral 
greatness.  Among  the  number  of  the  early  sons 
of  the  soil,  who  came  into  being  while  the  region 
was  yet  under  savage  dominion  and  the  work  of 
transforming  it  into  a  peaceful  and  progressive 
factor  in  the  wealth  and  power  of  our  country, 
William  J.  Guthrie  is  entitled  to  full  credit  and 
special  mention  for  duties  well  performed,  results 
wrought  out  through  persistent  and  well  applied 
industry,  and  an  enlightened  citizenship  which 
has  helped  to  create  and  foster  the  wisest  and  best 
civil  institutions.  He  was  born  in  Washtenaw 
county  on  June  29,  1843,  and  is  the  son  of  John 
and  Elizabeth   (Logan)   Guthrie,  natives  of  Ire- 


land who  emigrated  to  this  country  in  early  life, 
the  father  coming  over  in  1836  and  the  mother  in 

1838.  The  father  came  first  to  Canada,  then  to 
Detroit,  where  he  was  married  on  September  11, 

1839.  He  followed  contracting  and  building  in 
various  lines  of  construction,  building  a  large  part 
of  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad  in  Washtenaw 
county.  In  the  course  of  time  he  met  with  disas- 
ter in  his  business  and  lost  all  he  had.  He  then 
engaged  in  farming  and  cleared  his  farm,  after 
which  he  died  on  it,  as  did  his  wife.  They  were 
old-school  Presbyterians,  and  took  an  active  part 
in  church  work.  Of  their  nine  children,  five  sons 
and  four  daughters,  six  are  living.  William  grew 
to  manhood  in  his  native  county  and  obtained  his 
education  in  the  district  schools.  He  aided  in 
clearing  the  farm,  working  on  it  with  his  father 
until  June  9,  1862,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  Union 
army  for  the  Civil  war  as  a  member  of  Company 
K,  Twentieth  Michigan  Infantry.  His  regiment 
was  first  a  part  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and 
took  part  in  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg,  Va., 
after  which  it  was  ordered  west  to  join  General 
Grant,  and  participated  in  his  Mississippi  river 
campaigns,  winding  up  with  the  capture  of  Vicks- 
burg.  There  Mr.  Guthrie  was  taken  ill  and  soon 
afterward  was  sent  north  and  assigned  to  the  Re- 
serve Corps,  from  which  he  was  mustered  out  of 
the  service  in  June,  1865.  He  then  returned 
home,  and  in  1867  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  and 
bought  eighty  acres  of  the  land  now  owned  by 
him,  which  was  at  that  time  in  heavy  timber  and 
without  roads  or  other  necessary  conveniences  of 
the  kind.  He  has  cleared  all  of  this  tract,  and  by 
a  subsequent  purchase  has  added  one  hundred 
and  twenty  acres,  the  greater  part  of  which  he 
has  also  cleared.  In  1872, he  was  married  to  Miss 
Julia  De  Pew,  a  native  of  Washtenaw  county. 
They  have  four  children :  Anna,  now  Mrs.  Joseph 
M.  Smith,  of  this  county;  Warren;  Nora,  now 
Mrs.  Barnaby,  of  St.  Joseph  county;  and  Julia 
R.  Mr.  Guthrie  has  been  a  Republican  from  the 
organization  of  the  party,  but  he  has  never  sought 
or  desired  public  office.  In  fraternal  relations  he 
belongs  to  the  Masonic  order  and  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic. 


490 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


ALBERT  CROUCH. 

Leaving  the  land  of  his  birth,  with  all  its 
■early  and  agreeable  associations,  and  the  civil  in- 
stitutions with  which  he  was  familiar,  about 
thirty-five  years  ago,  and  coming  direct  to  this 
county,  Albert  Crouch  has  found  in  his  new  home 
a  suitable  field  for  his  enterprise  and  ability,  and 
has  reaped  in  this  section  the  due  reward  of  his 
intelligence  and  industry,  in  a  competence  of 
worldly  wealth  and  a  position  high  in  the  esteem 
of  his  fellow  citizens.  He  is  a  native  of  England, 
born  there  on  January  25,  1846,  and  the  son  of 
Stephen  and  Rebecca  (Munn)  Crouch,  also  na- 
tives of  that  country,  where  their  ancestors  lived 
for  generations,  and  where  they  passed  the  whole 
of  their  own  lives.  They  had  thirteen  children, 
five  sons  and  eight  daughters,  of  whom  two  of  the 
sons  and  one  of  the  daughters  are  residents  of 
Kalamazoo  county.  Mr.  Crouch  grew  to  ma- 
turity and  was  educated  and  married  in  his  na- 
tive land,  and  farmed  there  until  1870.  He  then 
determined  to  seek  his  farther  advancement  in 
the  new  world,  and  emigrating  to  the  United 
States,  came  almost  direct  to  this  county  and  lo- 
cated at  Vicksburg.  Here  he  rented  a  farm  of 
William  Jenkinson,  on  which  he  lived  seven  years. 
At  the  end  of  that  period  he  bought  eighty  acres 
of  his  present  farm,  a  part  of  the  tract  being 
cleared.  By  a  subsequent  purchase  he  added 
eighty  acres  of  wild  land  to  his  place,  and  he  now 
has  the  whole  tract  cleared,  well  improved  and 
transformed  into  a  model  farm.  The  dwelling 
he  has  erected  on  his  land  is  one  of  the  best  in 
the  community,  and  the  other  buildings  and  im- 
provements are  in  keeping  with  it.  In  1866  he 
was  married  in  his  native  land  to  Miss  Harriet 
Giles,  a  native  of  that  country.  They  have  five 
children  living:  Albert,  Jr.,  who  is  married  and 
has  four  children;  William,  who  is  married  and 
has  two  sons  and  a  daughter;  Lavinia,  wife  of 
Frank  Lemon,  of  Brady  township;  Cora,  wife  of 
Earl  Skidmore,  of  Brady  township;  and  Grace, 
living  at  home.  In  political  faith  Mr.  Crouch  is 
a  Democrat,  but  although  earnestly  interested  in 
the  welfare  of  his  party,  and  active  in  promoting 
it,  he  is  averse  to  public  life  and  has  never  sought 


or  desired  office.  He  has  shown  in  this  county 
the  best  traits  of  his  race,  and  has  performed 
faithfully  and  capably  all  the  duties  of  an  ele- 
vated and  broad-minded  American  citizenship, 
and  enjoys  in  a  marked  degree  the  esteem  of  all 
the  people. 

WADE  PORTER. 

The  pen  of  the  biographer  has  seldom  a  more 
agreeable  subject  than  the  life  story  of  a  man  who 
has  passed  his  years  in  usefulness  to  his  kind  and 
reached  the  evening  of  life  amid  strong  and 
progressive  civil,  commercial,  educational,  mor- 
al and  industrial  institutions  which  he  has 
helped  to  create  out  of  crude  conditions  and 
build  up  to  great  development  and  vigorous 
health.  Such  a  subject  is  presented  in  the  career 
of  Wade  Porter,  of  Brady  township,  this  county, 
who  more  than  fifty  years  ago  located  in  that  sec- 
tion of  the  county,  which  at  the  time  was  without 
roads  or  other  ordinary  conveniences,  and  from 
the  wilderness  carved  out  a  home  and  helped  to 
give  form  and  substance  to  the  community  which 
now  blossoms  and  is  fruitful  around  him.  He 
was  born  in  Norfolk,  England,  on  April  6,  1825, 
the  son  of  William  and  Lucy  (Bell)  Porter,  na- 
tives of  Somersetshire  in  the  mother  country.  The 
father  was  a  peat  digger  and  followed  that  occu- 
pation during  the  greater  part  of  his  life.  Both 
parents  died  in  their  native  land.  They  had 
eleven  children,  of  whom  two,  Wade  and  his 
brother  Christopher,  came  to  this  country.  Chris- 
topher was  a  soldier  in  the  Civil  war  and  also  in 
the  regular  army  of  the  United  States.  He  died 
in  April,  1905.  Wade  was  reared  and  received 
a  limited  common-school  education  in  England, 
and  assisted  his  father  and  followed  various  other 
employments  there  until  1852,  when  he  came  to 
the  United  States  and  almost  directly  to  this 
county.  He  located  at  Schoolcraft,  where  he  lived 
ten  years,  working  on  farms.  In  i860  he  bought 
a  quarter  section  of  wild  land  in  Brady  township, 
the  only  access  to  which  was  by  old  Indian  trails. 
He  was  the  first  settler  in  the  neighborhood  and 
had  no  near  neighbors.  Wild  game  was  plentiful, 
but  beasts  of  prey  were  also  plentiful  and  com-. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


491 


mitted  depredations  on  his  cattle,  and  at  times 
also  threatened  his  own  life.  Indians  also  were 
numerous,  and,  while  not  unfriendly  in  the  main, 
sometimes  added  by  shows  of  hostility  to  the  dan- 
gers of  his  situation.  Before  him  lay  all  the  ar- 
duous work  of  planting  himself  and  building  a 
home  in  the  wilds  with  roads  to  cut  and  construct 
and  every  step  of  frontier  life  to  take.  He  set 
himself  resolutely  to  his  task,  and  has  lived  to 
see  the  erstwhile  wilderness  blooming  and  fruit- 
ful all  around  him,  and  all  the  conveniences  of 
life  for  a  thriving  and  enterprising  people  in 
plentiful  abundance  where  he  once  knew  none. 
His  first  work  was  the  erection  of  a  small  dwell- 
ing, a  frame  structure  which  some  years  later 
was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  had  to  be  replaced 
with  another.  He  cleared  the  farm,  brought  most 
of  it  under  good  tillage,  and  has  made  it  his  home 
ever  since  he  first  took  possession  of  it.  In  1849 
he  was  married  in  England  to  Miss  Rebecca  Dent. 
They  have  had  eight  children,  seven  of  whom  are 
living,  Dent,  William,  Harriet  (Mrs.  Robinson), 
Estella  (Mrs.  Boughton),  Eli,  Mamie  (Mrs. 
Best),  and  Christopher.  Their  mother  died  in 
May,  1892,  and  in  November,  1893,  the  father 
was  married  to  Mrs.  Louisa  Beebe,  the  -widow  of 
William  Beebe.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Allen 
McKain,  a  pioneer  of  this  county,  and  both  of 
her  parents  are  now  deceased.  By  her  first  mar- 
riage Mrs.  Porter  had  three  children  now  living. 
Mr.  Porter  has  been  a  Republican  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  party,  but  he  has  never  indulged  a 
desire  for  a  political  position  of  any  kind.  He  is 
now  eighty  years  old,  but  still  vigorous  and 
active. 

ALFRED  HARPER. 

The  inspired  prophecy  of  the  sacred  writer 
which  declared  "The  wilderness  and  the  solitary 
place  shall  be  glad  for  them,  and  the  desert  shall 
rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose,"  has  been  many 
limes  realized  in  this  wonderful  land  in  which 
we  live,  and  in  no  part  has  it  been  more  signally 
fulfilled  than  in  southern  Michigan,  which  within 
the  memory  of  men  and  women  yet  living  has 
been  transformed  from  a  succession  of  forest  and 


untamed  prairie  to  something  like  the  garden  of 
gods,  bringing  forth  in  unfailing  abundance  ev- 
erything valuable  and  nourishing  and  fragrant. 
And  to  the  men  who  have  wrought  the  change  all 
credit  is  due  for  heroic  endurance  of  great  priva- 
tions, courage  in  great  dangers,  and  unyielding 
industry  in  the  face  of  great  undertakings.  In 
this  number  there  is  no  more  estimable  and  wor- 
thy unit  than  the  interesting  subject  of  this  brief 
memoiV,  who,  although  a  native  of  this  state,  yet 
came  upon  the  scene  of  action  at  so  early  a  date 
that  even  at  the  dawn  of  his  manhood  the  country 
was  still  unsettled  and  he  became  a  part  of  the 
civilizing  and  primarily  developing  forces  at  work 
upon  it.  Mr.  Harper  was  born  in  Washtenaw 
county,  Mich.,  on  May  7,  1838.  His  parents, 
George  M.  and  Maria  (Tripp)  Harper,  were 
natives  of  New  York  state,  the  father  born  at 
Clyde,  Wayne  county,  where  he  farmed  until 
1836,  then  came  to  Michigan,  traveling  by  way  of 
the  Erie  canal  to  Buffalo,  then  by  steamer  to  De- 
troit, and  from  that  oldest  of  the  lake  cities  with 
an  ox  team  to  his  land.  His  father,  Robert  Har- 
per, drove  through  from  New  York  by  team, 
and  on  his  arrival  at  his  destination,  sold  his 
horses  for  land.  They  cleared  eighty  acres  of  land 
in  Washtenaw  county,  and  there  the  father  died. 
He  was  a  man  of  local  prominence  in  New  York, 
serving  as  supervisor,  town  clerk  and  school 
teacher.  In  1846  Alfred  Harper's  parents  disposed 
of  their  land  in  Washtenaw  and  moved  to  this 
county,  buying  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
seven  acres  in  Brady  township  on  Bear  creek. 
This  was  all  heavily  timbered  at  the  time  and  they 
were  among  the  first  settlers  in  the  neighborhood. 
They  cleared  and  improved  that  farm,  then  sold 
it  and  bought  the  one  on  which  Alfred  now  lives. 
This  was  also  heavy  timber  land,  and  they  also 
cleared  it  and  lived  on  it  until  death  ended  their 
labors,  the  father  dying  in  190 1  and  the  mother  in 
1904.  They  had  three  daughters  and  one  son. 
One  of  the  daughters  died,  and  Alfred  is  the  only 
member  of  the  family  now  living  in  this  county. 
The  father  was  a  Whig  in  politics  until  that  party 
went  out  of  existence.  He  then  became  a  Repub- 
lican and  remained  one  until  his  death,  meanwhile 
serving  the  township  well  and  wisely  as  treasurer 


492 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


and  justice  of  the  peace.  Both  parents  belonged 
to  and  were  active  members  of  the  Christian 
church.  Their  son  Alfred  received  his  education 
in  the  district  schools,  and  at  an  early  age  began 
aiding  his  father  in  clearing  the  farm  and  bring- 
ing the  land  under  cultivation.  He  lived  from 
his  childhood  in  the  midst  of  alarms  incident  to 
the  frontier  and  had  experience  in  the  hardships 
of  pioneer  life.  He  has  passed  all  of  his  life  so 
far,  since  locating  on  it,  on  the  homestead,  and 
now  owns  one  of  the  best  farms  in  the  township, 
a  great  part  of  which  he  cleared  himself.  In 
1867  he  was  married  to  Miss  Sarah  Merritt,  of  St. 
Joseph  county,  Mich.,  and  has  two  children  liv- 
ing :  Norman,  a  farmer  in  this  county ;  and  Ger- 
trude, who  is  living  at  home  and  teaching;  she  is 
a  graduate  of  the  State  Normal  School.  Mr. 
Harper  is  a  Republican,  but  not  an  active  partisan 
or  office  seeker.  Fraternally  he  is  a  zealous  mem- 
ber of  the  order  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry. 

MICHAEL  GEORGE. 

Michael  George,  of  Brady  township,  one  of 
the  fast  fading  race  of  pioneers  who  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  civilization  in  this  county  and  helped  to 
build  the  county  up  to  its  present  advanced  state 
of  development  and  commerical  and  industrial 
strength  and  activity,  is  a  native  of  Prussia,  born 
in  September,  1828.  His  parents,  Nicholas  and 
Elizabeth  (Collinberg)  George,  were  also  Prus- 
sians by  nativity,  and  passed  their  lives  in  their 
native  land,  meeting  all  the  duties  of  life  with  a 
lofty  spirit  of  fidelity,  and  being  laid  to  rest  in  the 
soil  hallowed  by  their  labors  after  long  lives  of 
usefulness.  Their  family  consisted  of  two  sons 
and  two  daughters.  One  of  the  sons  was  killed 
in  the  Franco-Prussian  war.  Michael,  the  other 
son,  was  twenty-seven  years  old  when  he  came  to 
the  United  States.  He  had  obtained  a  common- 
school  education  and  learned  the  trade  of  a  car- 
penter in  his  native  land;  but  on  coming  to  this 
country  he  found  employment  on  a  farm  and 
never  again  worked  at  his  trade.  During  his  first 
year  of  American  residence  he  worked  at  what- 
ever he  found  to  do  and  saved  his  earnings,  and 
in  i860,  when  he  became  a  resident  of  this  county, 


he  was  prepared  to  buy  eighty  acres  of  wild  land. 
This  he  has  since  cleared  and  improved,  and  it  has 
been  his  home  from  the  time  of  his  purchase  of  it. 
When  he  located  in  Brady  township  there  were 
few  improvements  in  his  neighborhood,  and  his 
first  achievement  was  the  erection  of  a  frame 
house  sixteen  by  twenty  feet,  which  in  time  he 
was  able  to  replace  with  a  more  commodious  and 
comfortable  dwelling.  In  September,  1858,  he 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary  Brown,  a 
sister  of  Charles  Brown,  of  Vicksburg,  a  sketch 
of  whom  will  be  found  on  another  page  of  this 
work.  Mrs.  George  died  in  1893,  leaving  no  chil- 
dren. Mr.  George  has  done  his  part  in  helping  to 
build  up  and  improve  his  community  well  and 
faithfully.  He  has  improved  his  own  place  and 
given  a  willing  hand  to  all  forms  of  public  con- 
veniences and  utilities  in  the  township.  In  polit- 
ical faith  he  is  a  Republican,  but  he  has  never 
sought  or  desired  public  office.  Fraternally  he 
belongs  to  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  found 
the  country  wild  and  unpeopled  in  large  measure 
when  he  came  hither,  but  with  great  fruitfulness 
buried  in  its  bosom  and  ample  in  opportunities  for 
advancement  to  enterprise,  frugality  and  thrift. 
Accepting  conditions  as  he  found  them,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  make  the  best  of  them,  and  he  is  now 
one  of  the  substantial  and  influential  men  of  his 
township,  with  a  record  of  diligence  and  progres- 
siveness  to  his  credit.  The  old  days  have  passed 
away,  but  the  spirit  of  the  pioneers  is  still  preva- 
lent in  the  people,  and  as  the  basis  of  everything 
good  in  this  part  of  the  country  was  built  broad 
and  deep,  so  the  development  goes  on  with  accel- 
erated force,  and  throughout  the  country  the 
name  of  the  county  is  synonymous  with  every 
form  of  progress  and  great  activity  and  wealth. 

DANIEL  E.  KUHN. 

The  citizens  of  Kalamazoo  county  who  were 
born  on  its  soil  in  the  early  days,  and  grew  to 
manhood  amid  its  scenes  of  stirring  activity  and 
arduous  effort  incident  to  clearing  the  land  and 
making  it  productive,  while  at  the  same  time 
building  up  the  civil  institutions  of  the  new  re- 
gion, are  entitled  to  the  name  and  rank  of  pio- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,    MICHIGAN. 


493 


neers,  for  they  participated  in  all  the  pressing 
phases  of  frontier  life  and  aided  in  laying  the 
foundations  of  the  present  civilization.  In  this 
number  Daniel  E.  Kuhn,  one  of  the  leading  farm- 
ers of  Brady  township,  is  entitled  to  special  men- 
tion in  any  chronicles  of  the  time,  both  because  of 
his  early  residence  here  and  his  serviceable  work 
in  helping  to  settle  and  develop  the  country.  He 
was  born  on  the  farm  which  he  now  owns  on  June 
24,  1859,  the  son  of  Frederick  and  Barbara 
(Ernst)  Kuhn,  of  whom  more  extended  mention 
is  made  in  the  sketch  of  his  brother,  P.  E.  Kuhn, 
to  be  found  on  another  page.  Like  most  of  the 
children  of  pioneers,  he  reached  his  manhood  and 
obtained  his  education  in  the  locality  of  his  nativ- 
ity, learning  more  of  value  in  his  subsequent  ca- 
reer from  the  rugged  school  of  experience  and  the 
many-voiced  wisdom  of  nature's  teachings  than  in 
the  primitive  schools  of  his  day.  He  began  life 
as  a  farmer  and  has  devoted  his  energies  to  his 
chosen  pursuit  ever  since,  now  owning  and  work- 
ing the  old  family  homestead.  On  October  31, 
1894,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Anna  Mumby,  a 
native  of  Lincolnshire,  England.  They  have  four 
children,  Paul  J.,  Bernard  D.,  Ruth  M.  and 
George  W.  Mr.  Kuhn  has  taken  his  turn  in  offi- 
cial life,  although  he  has  never  been  fond  of  it, 
and  served  well  and  acceptably  as  a  justice  of  the 
peace  and  school  inspector  for  a  number  of  years. 
Politically  he  is  a  Democrat,  fraternally  a  Free- 
mason of  the  Royal  Arch  degree  and  a  past  mas- 
ter of  the  lodge,  and  he  and  his  wife  are. 
Lutherans. 

PHILIP  E.  KUHN. 

Wayne  county,  N.  Y.,  is  the  place  of  nativity 
of  this  widely  known  and  respected  farmer  of 
Brady  township,  and  he  was  born  there  on  Octo- 
ber 14,  185 1.  His  parents,  Frederick  and  Bar- 
bara (Ernst)  Kuhn,  were  born  and  reared  in 
Alsace,  one  of  the  provinces  wrested  from  France 
by  Germany  by  the  fortune  of  war  in  1871.  The 
paternal  grandfather  was  an  officer  in  the  French 
army  under  Napoleon,  accompanying  the  great 
warrior  in  his  Russian  campaign  and  being  one  of 
the  survivors  of  that  fatal  enterprise.  He  died  in 


his  native  land,  leaving  two  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. Philip's  father  and  one  of  his  sisters 
came  to  the  United  States,  but  all  of  that 
generation  of  the  family  are  now  dead.  Fred- 
erick Kuhn  was  reared  in  Germany,  and  there 
learned  his  trade  as  a  cabinetmaker,  which  he 
followed  in  France  and  Germany  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  seventeen.  In  1837  ne 
came  to  this  country  in  a  sailing  vessel,  be- 
ing forty  days  in  crossing  the  Atlantic.  He  re- 
mained in  New  York  city  some  time,  then  worked 
at  his  trade  in  Cincinnati,  Evansville,  and  other 
places  along  the  Ohio  river.  Later  he  located  at 
Lyons,  N.  Y.,  where  he  engaged  in  farming  in 
connection  with  his  trade,  and  there  he  was  mar- 
ried. In  the  spring  of  1859  he  brought  his  fam- 
ily to  Kalamazoo  county  and  bought  the  farm  in 
Brady  township  now  owned  by  his  son  Daniel. 
The  land  when  he  purchased  it  was  all  heavily 
timbered,  and  he  was  obliged  to  cut  and  make  his 
own  roads  to  it.  He  lived  on  it  until  his  death, 
on  March  9,  1882,  aged  sixty-two  years.  His 
widow  died  in  1892.  They  had  ten  children,  of 
whom  nine  grew  to  maturity  and  eight  are  now 
living,  three  sons  and  five  daughters.  The  father 
was  prominent  in  his  neighborhood  and  accept- 
ably filled  a  number  of  local  offices.  He  and  his 
wife  were  Lutherans  and  leaders  in  the  church. 
Their  son  Philip  was  reared  from  the  age  of  eight 
years  on  the  home  farm  and  like  other  boys  of  the 
time  and  locality,  obtained  a  limited  education  at 
the  district  schools.  In  his  early  youth  he  began 
to  take  an  active  part,  in  the  work  of  the  farm, 
which  he  assisted  to  clear  and  on  which  he  re- 
mained until  after  the  death  of  his  mother,  when 
he  bought  his  present  farm,  two  miles  east  of 
Vicksburg.  He  was  married  in  December,  1877, 
to  Miss  Emily  J.  Piatt,  a  native  of  Clarion  county, 
Pa.,  the  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Lavina  (Gilbert) 
Piatt,  who  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  in  1865. 
The  mother  died  in  1891,  and  the  father  now 
makes  his  home  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kuhn.  The 
latter  have  two  children,  Frederick  G.  and  Mar- 
gia  L.,  both  living  at  home.  Mr.  Kuhn  is  an 
active  Democrat  and  has  served  often  as  a  dele- 
gate to  conventions  of  his  party,  but  has  never 
sought  office,  although  he  is  now  a  member  of  the 


494 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


board  of  review.     He  and  his  wife  are  members 
of  the  Lutheran  church. 

WILLIAM  JENKINSON. 

A  native  of  county  Wicklow,  Ireland,  born  in 
1816,  and  reared  in  part  amid  the  troublous  times 
of  his  native  land,  when  its  people  were  making  a 
strike  for  freedom  and  a  government  of  their  own, 
William  Jenkinson,  deceased,  late  of  'Kalamazoo 
county,  felt  even  in  his  boyhood  the  iron  of  oppres- 
sion in  his  soul,  and  learned  at  an  early  age  to  ap- 
preciate the  greater  liberty  and  opportunity  offered 
by  this  country  to  those  who  found  their  native 
land  inhospitable  and  harsh  to  them.  In  1826  he 
accompanied  his  parents  to  the  United  States,  and 
from  then  until  his  death  in  1900  was  an  Amer- 
ican, thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  our  in- 
stitutions and  in  full  sympathy  with  all  the  aspi- 
rations of  the  country  and  its  people.  His  parents 
were  William  and  Lucy  (McGuire)  Jenkinson, 
natives  of  Ireland.  The  father  was  accredited  as 
a  rebel  against  the  British  government,  and  as 
such  was  obliged  to  seek  an  asylum  in  a  foreign 
land.  After  arriving  on  this  continent  with  his 
family  in  1826  he  ljved  two  years  at  Halifax,  N. 
S.,  two  years  at  Boston,  and  two  at  Baltimore.  In 
1840  he  came  to  Michigan,  and  six  months  later 
he  died  in  this  county.  Durit\g  the  patriot  war 
he  took  sides  with  his  countrymen,  and  for  this 
offense  he  languished  in  jail  six  months.  Of  his 
ten  children,  nine  grew  to  maturity,  being  reared 
by  their  mother,  who  died  in  Kalamazoo  county 
at  the  age  of  sixty-five.  The  son  William  was 
reared  on  a  farm  and  educated  in  the  public 
schools.  He  came  to  Michigan  in  1839,  a  ^ew 
months  prior  to  the  arrival  of  the  rest  of  the 
family,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  was  appren- 
ticed to  learn  his  trade  as  a  machinist.  His  trip 
to  Michigan  was  made  over  the  lakes  from 
Buffalo  to  Chicago,  a-nd  there  he  bought  an  ox 
team  and  drove  to  his  future  home  in  what  was 
then  a  wild  and  unsettled,  country.  He  pre- 
empted one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  on  the 
Indian  reservation,  and  on  this  he  made  his  home 
until  death,  improving  his  land  and  bringing  it  to 
a  high  state  of  cultivation.    While  waiting  for  his 


fields  to  fructify  he  did  trading  at  Schoolcraft, 
Milling,  Flourfield  and  Kalamazoo,  using  all  his 
opportunities  to  his  own  advantage,  while  helping 
to  build  up  and  develop  the  country.  The  country 
was  full  of  wild  game  then,  but  he  did  not  hunt 
much,  finding  better  occupation  for  his  time  and 
better  returns  for  his  labors  in  other  lines  of 
activity.  After  working  to  the  best  advantage 
in  this  county  two  years  and  a  half,  he  went  to 
Louisiana  and  found  employment  on  a  plantation 
there  for  two  years.  In  1852  he  returned  to 
Michigan  and  went  with  a  party  of  twenty-seven 
across  the  plains  to  the  Pacific  coast.  The  trip 
was  disastrous,  a  number  of  the  party  dying  from 
cholera,  and  all  of  them  losing  the  most  of  their 
cattle.  One  hundred  days  were  consumed  in  the 
long  and  trying  journey,  but  after  reaching  the 
other  side  of  the  Rockies  Mr.  Jenkinson  made 
some  money  in  mines  in  Oregon  and  Montana, 
and  then  engaged  in  the  lumber  business  at  Hum- 
boldt, Nev.,  two  years.  He  returned  to  Michigan 
by  water,  and  lost  several  of  his  companions  by 
cholera,  which  was  very  bad  on  the  vessel.  In 
1862  he  made  another  trip  across  the  plains,  going 
to  Virginia  City,  Idaho,  where  he  remained  eight 
months,  then  came  once  more  to  Michigan.  He 
was  married  in  185 1  to  Miss  Lucinda  Grout,  who 
lived  only  a  short  time  after  the  marriage,  and 
died  without  children.  But  Mr.  Jenkinson  took 
a  son  whom  he  reared  to  manhood  from  the  age 
of  seven  years.  In  1893  he  married  a  second  wife, 
Mrs.  Patience  Cronkhite,  the  widow  of  Hanson 
Cronkhite,  who  had  died  in  this  county.  By  her 
first  marriage  Mrs.  Jenkinson  had  one  child,  her 
son,  W.  H.  Cronkhite,  who  lives  on  the  home 
farm.  He  is  married,  but  has  no  children.  Mrs. 
Jenkinson's  maiden  name  was  Patience  Baer,  and 
she  is  the  daughter  of  Daniel  Baer,  a  pioneer  of 
Kalamazoo  county,  who  died  here  some  years 
ago  enjoying  the  esteem  of  all  who  knew  him. 
Mr.  Jenkinson  died  on  January  12,  1900,  after  a 
long  and  useful  career  as  a  farmer  and  breeder  of 
high  grades  of  live  stock.  He  served  as  township 
treasurer  and  in  other  local  offices  with  great 
credit  to  himself  and  benefit  to  the  township,  and 
was  a  Freemason  of  long  standing.  He  was  very 
generous  in  his   disposition  and  helped  .many  a 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


495 


poor  man  to  a  good  start  in  life.  He  was  uni- 
versally esteemed  as  one  of  the  best  citizens  of 
the  county,  and  his  memory  is  revered  in  all  parts 
of  it  and  by  all  classes  of  its  people. 

DANIEL  HOCH. 

This  well  known  and  widely  esteemed  farmer 
of  Brady  township,  this  county,  was  born  on  De- 
cember 14,  1840,  in  Armstrong  county,  Pa., 
where  also  his  parents,  Daniel  and  Elizabeth 
(Mohney)  Hoch,  were  born  and  reared.  The 
father  was  a  tanner  and  worked  at  his  trade  in  his 
native  state  until  about  1844,  when  he  brought  his 
family  to  Michigan,  locating  at  first  in  Park 
township,  St.  Joseph  county,  where  he  remained 
two  years,  then  moved  to  Brady  township,  Kala- 
mazoo county,  purchasing  a  tract  of  unimproved 
land  one  mile  south  of  the  present  residence  of 
his  son  Daniel,  and  on  this  land  he  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days,  dying  in  1880.  The  mother 
passed  away  in  1896.  They  had  four  sons  and 
three  daughters.  Three  of  the  sons  are  living, 
one  at  Mendon,  one  at  Vicksburg,  and  Daniel  in 
Brady  township.  The  ancestors  of  the  family 
were  Germans.  Daniel  Hoch  grew  to  manhood 
in  this  county  and  has  followed  farming  all  his 
life,  living  on  the  farm  he  now  owns  and  occupies 
during  the  last  thirty-six  years,  and  improving 
it  from  a  wilderness,  erecting  all  the  buildings, 
fences  and  other  structures,  and  bringing  it  to  its 
present  state  of  development  by  continued  and 
well  applied  labor.  He  was  married  in  1868  to 
Miss  Elizabeth  A.  Weinberg,  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  a  daughter  of  William  and  Christina 
fShick)  Weinberg,  who  came  to  Michigan  and 
located  in  this  county  in  1864,  and  here  they  died. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hoch  have  had  two  children,  their 
daughters  Ida,  now  deceased,  and  Alice,  wife  of 
Horace  S.  Rishel,  of  Brady  township.  The  parents 
were  Lutherans.  Mr.  Hoch  is  one  of  the  oldest 
and  most  respected  citizens  of  his  neighborhood. 

DAVID  E.   RISHEL. 

Having  reached  the  advanced  age  of  seventy- 
eight  at  the  time  of  his  death,  on  January  31,  1902, 


after  a  residence  of  fifty-two  years  in  this  county, 
David  E.  Rishel,  late  of  Brady  township,  was  a 
very  early  settler  here  and  witnessed  almost  the 
whole  of  the  progress  of  this  section  from  bar- 
barism to  the  high  state  of  development  and  culti- 
vation which  it  now  enjoys.  He  was  born  on 
December  8,  1824,  at  Danville,  then  Columbia, 
now  Montour  county,  Pa.,  and  was  a  son  of  John 
and  Mary  Rishel,  natives  of  Germany  and  pros- 
perous farmers  in  Pennsylvania,  where  they  died. 
The  son  was  reared  in  his  native  state  and  there 
learned  his  trade  as  a  wheelwright,  at  which  he 
wrought  industriously  there  until  1849,  when  he 
came  to  Michigan  and  located  in  St.  Joseph 
county.  One  year  later  he  moved  to  'Kalamazoo 
county  and  bought  the  farm  in  Brady  township 
now  owned  and  occupied  by  his  son.  The  farm 
comprised  eighty  acres  at  the  time  of  the  pur- 
chase, and  was  all  wild  and  covered  with  heavy 
timber.  Sometime  afterward  the  father  pur- 
chased forty  acres  additional,  and  he  cleared  all 
of  his  place  but  about  twenty  acres,  residing  on  it 
until  a  short  time  before  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  the  village  of  Vicksburg.  He  was  married  at 
Three  Rivers,  this  state,  on  December  7,  1852,  to 
Miss  Charlotte  E.  Blue,  of  the  same  nativity  as 
himself.  They  had  five  children,  three  of  whom 
are  living,  one  son  at  Sturgis,  one  on  the  farm, 
and  the  daughter  May  at  Vicksburg.  The  father 
was  a  leading  Democrat  but  never  sought  office. 
He  belonged  to  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the 
Lutheran  church,  and  was  a  man  of  prominence 
in  both.  His  wife  died  in  1890.  She  was  of 
Scotch-Irish  ancestry,  her  parents  moving  to 
Pennsylvania  from  New  Jersey  at  a  period  when 
the  Indians  were  very  troublesome  in  the  former 
state,  and  being  obliged  to  return  to  New  Jersey 
three  times  to  escape  being  massacred  by  them. 
The  father  was  a  captain  in  the  war  of  18 12,  and 
his  maternal  grandfather  a  soldier  in  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  an  officer  under  General  Washington 
seven  years. 

Horace  S.  Rishel,  who  now  lives  on  the 
homestead  in  Brady  township,  was  born  in  Park 
township,  St.  Joseph  county,  Mich.,  on  November 
2^,  1856.  He  was  reared  in  this  county  and  edu- 
cated in  the  common  schools.    From  an  early  age 


496 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


he  aided  his  father  in  clearing  and  breaking  up 
the  farm,  and  has  ever  since  resided  on  it.  In 
1 891  he  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Alice  Hoch, 
a  daughter  of  Daniel  Hoch,  a  brief  account  of 
whose  life  will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  work. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rishel  have  three  children,  Hazen 
H.,  Lottie  A.  and  Stuart,  an  infant.  Like  his 
father,  Mr.  Rishel  has  been  a  leading  Democrat 
but  not  an  office  seeker.  He  is,  however,  ear- 
nestly interested  in  the  cause  of  public  education, 
and  has  filled  with  credit  several  local  school 
offices.  He  has  passed  almost  the  whole  of  his 
life  so  far  in  this  county,  and  there  is  no  section 
of  it  wherein  he  is  not  highly  respected. 

CHARLES   H.   HAINES. 

Both  in  his  official  record  as  a  former  treasurer 
and  in  his  life  of  progressive  industry  as  a  farmer 
of  Brady  township,  Charles  H.  Haines  is  held  in 
high  esteem  among  the  people  who  have  been  as- 
sociated with  him  so  long  and  who  have  had  the 
benefit  of  his  public  services.  He  was  born  at 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  on  May  17,  1843,  anc^  1S  tne 
son  of  David  and  Mary  A.  (Burrell)  Haines,  the 
former  born  in  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  and  the 
latter  in  Toronto,  Canada.  The  father  was  a  den- 
tist and  practiced  his  profession  at  Rochester 
twenty-five  years.  In  1853  ne  brought  his  family 
to  Kalamazoo  county  and  located  on  a  farm  in 
Washtenaw  township.  There  were  but  six  fam- 
ilies living  in  the  township  at  the  time,  and  the 
country  was  altogether  wild  and  unbroken  by  the 
inroads  of  civilization.  The  family  traveled  from 
Battle  Creek  by  team  to  their  new  home.  They 
lived  in  a  small  log  house  for  a  year  while  they 
were  building  a  better  frame  dwelling,  and  in  this 
the  father  died,  the  mother  passing  away  in  the 
state  of  New  York.  They  had  two  sons  and  four 
daughters.  One  of  the  sons  is  supposed  to  have 
-died  at  New  Orleans  before  the  Civil  war,  and 
now  only  Charles  and  two  of  his  sisters  are  living. 
The  father  was  first  a  Whig  and  afterward  a 
Republican.  He  practiced  his  profession  many 
years  on  the  farm,  being  the  first  dentist  in  that 
section  of  the  country.    He  supported  the  Metho- 


dist Episcopal  church,  of  which  his  father  was  a 
minister.  The  son  Charles  grew  to  manhood  in 
this  county  and  assisted  in  clearing  the  farm.  In 
1 861  he  enlisted  in  defense  of  the  Union  as  one  of 
the  Berdan  Sharpshooters.  The  command  was 
sent  to  Benton  Barracks,  Mo.,  and  became  a  part 
of  the  Eleventh  Missouri  Cavalry.  It  first  went 
into  action  at  Wilson  Creek,  Mo.,  and  was  then 
placed  under  the  command  of  General  Fremont  in 
Arkansas,  where  the  Michigan  men  were  dis- 
banded. Mr.  Haines  returned  to  his  home  and 
soon  afterward  re-enlisted  in  the  Eagle  Brigade, 
going  to  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  But  this  command  was 
also  disbanded,  and  he  returned  to  his  home  on  a 
boat  over  the  lakes.  But  he  was  determined  to 
see  active  service  in  the  defense  of  his  convic- 
tions, and  on  November  7,  1863,  he  once  more 
enlisted,  becoming  a  member  of  the  Fourteenth 
Michigan  Light  Artillery,  and  a  part  of  the  Twen- 
ty-third Army  Corps  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
Then  the  war  quickened  around  him  and  "Red 
battle  stamped  his  foot"  on  many  a  sanguinary 
field  where  he  was  present.  He  participated  in 
the  battles  of  Petersburg  and  Winchester,  Va., 
and  in  many  others  of  moment  in  the  historic  and 
picturesque  valley  of  the  Shenandoah.  In  1865 
he  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  and  returned 
to  his  Michigan  home.  The  next  two  years  he 
passed  in  railroading  at  Hannibal,  Mo.  He  then 
came  back  to  Wakeshma  township,  this  county, 
and  engaged  in  farming  there  until  1882,  when 
he  moved  to  Bardy  township,  where  he  has  since 
resided  during  most  of  the  time  since.  He  was 
occupied  in  the  hardware  trade  a  year  and  a  half, 
and  for  a  time  conducted  a  coal,  ice  and  sprinkling 
business.  In  1879  ne  was  married  in  this  county 
to  Miss  Frankie  A.  Barclay,  a  native  of  Brady 
township.  They  have  six  children,  David  W., 
Charles  H.,  Jr.,  Clarence  F.,  Mabel,  Clara  H. 
and  William  M.  In  politics  Mr.  Haines  is  a  Re- 
publican. He  has  served  as  treasurer  of  Wa- 
keshma township  one  year,  as  drain  commissioner 
of  Brady  township  ten  years,  and  as  village  treas- 
urer of  Vicksburg  two  years.  He  is  prominent 
in  fraternal  life  as  a  Freemason,  a  Knight  of 
Pythias,  an   Odd   Fellow  and   a  member  of  the 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


497 


Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  in  all  parts  of 
the  county  he  is  well  known  and  highly  esteemed. 

WILLIAM   H.   DIR. 

William  H.  Dir,  a  leading-  farmer  of  Brady 
township,  this  county,  and  one  of  the  prominent 
business  men  of  Vicksburg,  is  a  native  of  the 
county,  born  on  October  17,  1863,  the  son  of 
John  and  Maria  (Mears)  Dir,  the  former  born 
in  Pennsylvania  and  the  latter  in  Canada.  The 
father  has  been  a  farmer  all  his  life.  He  came  to 
Kalamazoo  county  with  his  parents  in  his  boy- 
hood, his  father,  Jacob  Dir,  being  the  third  settler 
in  Wakeshma  township,  and  securing  a  quarter 
section  of  timber  land  on  which  he  lived  until  his 
death  in  about  1874.  He  was  a  local  leader  in 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  and  held  many 
township  and  county  offices.  At  his  death  he 
left  four  sons  and  two  daughters  by  a  second 
marriage.  His  son,  John  Dir,  bought  a  farm  in 
Wakeshma  township,  which  he  cleared  and  im- 
proved, and  afterward  moved  to  Brady  township, 
where  he  now  lives.  He  has  been  influential  in 
public  life,  filling  numerous  township  offices, 
and  throughout  the  section  is  held  in  high  esteem. 
The  family  are  of  German  origin.  Of  the  six 
children  born  in  his  household,  two  sons  and  two 
daughters  are  living.  The  sons  are  engaged  in 
the  farming  implement  trade  at  Vicksburg.  Wil- 
liam H.  grew  to  manhood  and  was  educated  in 
this  county,  and  remained  at  home  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  twenty-three.  He  then  pur-' 
chased  a  quarter  section  of  land  in  Brady  town- 
ship, and  later  engaged  in  the  farming  implement 
trade  at  Vicksburg.  Sometime  afterward,  in 
company  with  his  brother  Oscar,  he  bought  the 
grain  elevator,  and  a  little  later  they  enlarged  their 
trade  in  implements.  He  also  owns  a  large  farm 
two  miles  east.  In  1885  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Lydia  Dinger,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  who 
came  to  this  county  with  her  parents  when  she 
was  but  six  months  old.  Her  father,  Solomon 
Dinger,  is  still  living  in  this  county.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Dir  have  one  child,  their  daughter  Marie. 
Mr.  Dir  is  a  Knight  of  the  Maccabees.  He  is  one 
of  the  most  respected  and  representative  citizens 
of  the  township. 


THE   KALAMAZOO    PUBLISHING 
COMPANY. 

This  company  was  organized  as  a  stock  com- 
pany on  October  3,  1874,  with  a  capital  stock  of 
twenty-seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  and 
the  following  directorate:  Lucius  B.  Kendall, 
president;  Lyman  M.  Gates,  treasurer;  Otto 
Ihling,  secretary;  and  Reinhold  Ihling,  Arthur 
Brown  and  George  M.  Buck  directors  in  connec- 
tion with  the  gentlemen  named  above.  Some  little 
time  later  Mr.  Gates  disposed  of  his  stock  to  J.  D. 
Sumner  and  the  Ihling  brothers  sold  a  part  of 
theirs  to  Dwight  May,  who  also  soon  afterwad  be- 
came the  owner  of  Judge  Buck's  stock.  In  Octo- 
ber, 1877,  the  Ihling  brothers  leased  the  bindery 
plant  and  conducted  the  business  for  some  time. 
In  February,  1880,  the  following  officers  were 
elected :  J.  B.  Kendall,  president ;  W.  S.  Eaton, 
vice-president;  E.  T.  Mills,  secretary,  and  John 
V.  Redpath,  treasurer.  At  the  same  time  a  bind- 
ing department  was  added  by  the  purchase  of  the 
tools  and  appliances  of  E.  P.  Flynn  &  Company. 
The  company  began  the  publication  of  the  Kala- 
mazoo Telegraph,  and  in  1881,  owing  to  the  rapid 
increase  of  its  business,  the  capital  stock  was  in- 
creased to  thirty  thousand  dollars.  In  1888  the 
Telegraph  was  sold  for  the  sum  of  thirty-five 
thousand  dollars  to  N.  Dingley,  Sr.  In  the 
same  year  T.  P.  Gleason  became  a  stock- 
holder and  the  company  began  the  publication  of 
the  Kalamazoo  News,  which  it  continued  for  five 
years.  Then  Mr.  Kendall  died  and  the  paper 
was  sold  to  and  consolidated  with  the  Gazette  un- 
der the  name  of  the  Gazette-News.  The  bindery 
was  also  sold,  Doubleday  Bros.  &  Company  becom- 
ing the  purchasers.  After  this  sale  Mr.  Gleason 
took  entire  charge  of  the  job  department,  and  he 
has  conducted  it  ever  since  under  the  old  articles 
of  incorporation  as  the  Kalamazoo  Publishing 
Company.  He  is  an  excellent  manager,  thoroughly 
devoted  to  his  enterprise  and  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  business  in  all  its  details,  and  he  has 
made  a  pronounced  success  of  his  work.  The 
plant  is  actively  engaged  in  job  book  work  and 
the  publication  of  periodical  literature,  among  the 
publications  issued  by  it  which  have  special 
merit  being  Higher  Thought,  Picturesque  Mich- 


498 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


igan  and  some  other  similar  works.  Mr. 
Gleason  is  a  native  of  Ireland  and  came  to 
the  United  States  with  his  parents  when  he  was 
two  and  one-half  years  old.  He  grew  to  man- 
hood in  Detroit  and  learned'  his  trade  as  a  printer 
on  the  Detroit  Post,  which  was  then  under  the 
management  of  Hon.  Zachariah  Chandler  and  the 
editorship  of  Hon.  Carl  Schurz.  After  complet- 
ing his  apprenticeship  he  moved  to  Grand  Rapids, 
where  he  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Democrat  and 
the  Times  variously  until  1872.  In  that  year  he 
became  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  and  associated 
himself  with  the  Ihling  brothers  and  remained 
with  them  until  he  assumed  charge  of  this  com- 
pany in  1888.  He  has  been  a  citizen  of  activity 
and  influence  in  local  affairs  from  the  first, 
always  taking  an  earnest  interest  in  the  welfare 
of  the  city,  serving  as  a  city  councilor  in  1892, 
and  in  many  other  ways  at  different  times  giving 
his  time  and  talents  freely  to  the  service  of  the 
community.  In  business  circles,  in  political 
movements  and  in  social  life  he  is  highly 
esteemed  and  easily  takes  rank  as  one  of  the  lead- 
ing and  most  'Useful  citizens  of  the  city  and 
county. 

WILLIAM   G.   KNIGHT. 

Hale  and  hearty  at  the  age  of  seventy-five, 
with  his  faculties  in  full  vigor,  his  spirits  un- 
clouded and  his  interest  in  all  the  affairs  of  life  as 
keen  as  ever,  William  G.  Knight,  of  Schoolcraft, 
is  keeping  up  well  the  custom  of  his  family  and 
following  steadily  in  the  footsteps  of  his  fathers. 
He  comes  of  a  long-lived  family,  his  grandfather, 
William  Knight,  an  Irishman  by  birth,  having 
died  in  Ontario  county,  N.  Y.,  at  the  age  of  one 
hundred  and  fourteen  years,  and  his  father,  the 
late  Godfrey  Knight,  of  this  county,  at  that  of 
one  hundred  years,  eight  months  and  twenty  days. 
Mr.  Knight  was  born  in  Ireland  and  was  brought 
to  Ontario  county,  N.  Y.,  when  an  infant.  In 
1832  they  moved  to  this  county,  making  the  trip 
hither  with  teams  from  Detroit  and  passing  the 
first  night  in  the  wilderness  of  Michigan  in  the 
store  of  a  Mr.  Marantat,  a  fur  trader  at  Mendon 
in  St.  Joseph  county.     On  their  arrival  in  this 


county  they  took  up  land  on  section  30  in  School- 
craft township,  where  they  lived  the  remainder  of 
their  days,  the  mother  passing  away  on  March  7, 
1863,  and  the  father  on  February  20,  1887.  They 
entered  actively  upon  the  arduous  labors  of  fron- 
tier life,  and  in  spite  of  them  and  the  privations 
incident  to  their  situation,  they  were  cheerful  and 
happy,  inspired  by  a  high  sense  of  duty  toward 
their  children  and  the  community  in  which  they 
had  cast  their  lot.  Their  industry  and  persever- 
ance were  rewarded  with  a  goodly  store  of 
worldly  wealth,  and  their  elevated  characters  and 
useful  conduct  with  the  universal  esteem  of  all 
around  them.  They  had  nine  children,  six  of 
whom  grew  to  maturity  and  four  are  living  now, 
Mary  Ann,  the  widow  of  Albert  Wood;  William 
G. ;  John  T.,  who  is  probate  judge  at  Red  Lake 
Falls,  Minn.;  and  Godfrey  E.  A  son.  named 
James  K.  was  circuit  judge  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  at 
the  time  of  his  death  on  November  25,  1876. 
William  grew  to  manhood  on  his  father's  farm  in 
Schoolcraft  township,  disciplined  in  the  stern 
school  of  experience,  and  thereby  prepared  to 
meet  every  emergency  in  life  with  a  steady  and  a 
ready  hand.  Until  he  retired  from  active  pursuits 
in  1893  and  moved  to  the  village  of  Schoolcraft, 
he  passed  his  life  as  an  industrious  and  thrifty 
farmer  and  devoting  considerable  time  and  energy 
to  raising  fine  stock.  He  always  owned  valuable 
horses  and  for  years  had  a  fine  track  on  his  farm 
on  which  to  train  and  speed  them.  His  landed 
estate  comprises  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
nine  acres,  of  which  six  hundred  are  in  School- 
craft and  Prairie  Ronde  townships,  this  county, 
seven  hundred  and  twelve  are  in  St.  Joseph 
county,  Ind.,  and  devoted  to  the  culture  of  pepper- 
mint, and  the  remainder  is  in  northern  Michigan. 
In  addition  he  has  one  of  the  most  imposing  and 
valuable  residences  in  Schoolcraft.  All  his  farms 
are  supplied  with  the  best  buildings  and  farm 
machinery,  and  managed  with  the  utmost  skill 
and  enterprise.  Mr.  Knight  was  married  in  the 
township  of  his  present  home,  on  May  9,  1874,  to 
Miss  Grace  Lawther,  who  was  born  in  county 
Down,  Ireland,  on  March  8,  1837,  and  is  the 
daughter  of  Thomas  and  Ann  (Donnie)  Law- 
ther.   They  have  an  adopted  daughter,  Miss  Ma- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,    MICHIGAN. 


499 


bel  E.  Knight.  In  the  political  affairs  of  his 
count}-  and  state  Mr.  Knight  has  taken  an  active 
part  from  his  young"  manhood  as  a  firm  and  loyal 
Democrat.  He  started  in  life  with  almost  nothing 
and  now  is  one  of  the  most  prominent,  influential 
and  wealthy  men  in  the  county,  and  what  he  is 
and  has  he  has  made  himself.  Moreover,  he  is  a 
nimrod  of  wide  celebrity,  and  annually  during  the 
last  forty-seven  years  he  has  gone  to  the  northern 
part  of  the  state  on  successful  deer  hunting  ex- 
peditions. His  youngest  brother,  Hon.  Godfrey 
E.  Knight,  was  born  on  the  home  farm  on  Sep- 
tember 15,  1838,  and  obtained  his  early  education 
in  the  common  schools,  later  matriculating  in  the 
literary  department  of  the  State  University  at 
Ann  Arbor,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in 
i860.  He  then  studied  law  for  about  a  year  and 
a  half  and  farmed  for  two  years.  Then  he  fol- 
lowed mercantile  pursuits  seven  years  at  School- 
craft, and  during  that  period  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  village.  He  also  served  as  a  justice 
of  the  peace  for  a  short  time,  and  in  the  fall  of 
1874  was  elected  to  the  state  house  of  repre- 
sentatives. Then  for  a  number  of  years  he  was 
the  proprietor  of  the  Oliver  hotel  at  South  Bend, 
Ind.  Since  returning  to  Schoolcraft  he  has  made 
his  home  with  his  brother  William.  Both  are 
widely  known  and  highly  esteemed  throughout 
this  and  the  neighboring  counties. 

JAMES   STOCK. 

It  is  thirty-six  years  since  the  subject  of  this 
brief  mention  became  a  resident  of  this  county, 
and  in  that  period  lie  has  witnessed  the  trans- 
formation of  what  was  a  wilderness  when  he 
came  here  to  a  land  of  peaceful  industry"  and 
smiling  plenty,  strenuous  in  industrial  and  com- 
mercial life  and  enriched  with  all  the  concomitants 
of  an  elevated  and  progressive  civilization.  He 
was  born  in  Summit  county,  Ohio,  on  October  19, 
1843,  an(l  1S  tne  son  °f  Richard  and  Mary  (Per- 
hamus)  Stock,  the  former  a  native  of  Liverpool, 
England,  and  the  latter  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
father  was  reared  to  manhood  in  his  native  land 
and  followed  butchering  there  until  1840,  when  he 
came  to  the  United  States  and  joined  his  parents, 


who  had  emigrated  to  this  country  two  years  be- 
fore. They  settled  on  a  tract  of  unbroken  land 
forty-five  miles  south  of  Cleveland,  where  the 
grandparents  and  the  parents  of  Mr.  Stock  died, 
his  father  passing  away  there  in  1862  and  the 
mother  in  1882.  There  were  five  sons  in  the 
family,  all  of  whom  are  living,  two  in  this  county. 
James  Stock  grew  to  manhood  in  his  native 
county  and  remained  there  until  1869.  Pie  then 
came  to  Kalamazoo  county  and  bought  a  farm  in 
Wakeshma  township,  which  at  the  time  of  his 
purchase  was  all  unbroken  forest.  He  has  cleared 
his  land  and  brought  it  to  a  high  state  of  fruitful- 
ness,  and  improved  it  with  good  farm  buildings. 
He  also  operated  a  saw  mill  for  a  period  of  twenty 
years,  sawing  the  lumber  for  most  of  the  dwell- 
ings and  other  buildings  in  his  neighborhood,  and 
contributing  by  his  general  industry  and  enter- 
prise to  the  development  and  improvement  of  the 
township.  He  lived  on  his  farm  until  1900,  when 
he  moved  to  Fulton,  where  he  has  since  made  his 
home.  In  1866  he  was  married  in  Ohio  to  Miss 
Sarah  Houglaud,  a  native  of  Medina  county,  that 
state.  They  have  had  five  children,  Cora  I.,  now 
Mrs.  Frank  Owens,  Thurston  R.,  Mary  (de- 
ceased), Sarah,  now  Mrs.  Charles  C.  Wedel,  and 
Dare.  In  politics  Mr.  Stock  is  an  active  Repub- 
lican, but  he  neither  seeks  nor  desires  public 
office.  Fraternally  he  belongs  to  the  Knights  of 
the  [Maccabees  and  takes  an  earnest  and  helpful 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  order.  In  his  long 
residence  in  this  community  he  has  seen  many  of 
his  old  neighbors  lie  down  to  their  long  sleep,  and 
has  helped  to  bury  their  remains.  He  has  also 
witnessed  the  progress  of  events  so  beneficial  to 
the  section,  and  has  aided  materially  in  helping 
along  everything  likely  to  advance  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  section.  Now  among  the  older  resi- 
dents of  the  township,  he  is  also  one  of  its  most 
respected  citizens,  and  is  looked  upon  as  a  wise 
counselor  regarding  all  matters  affecting  the  gen- 
eral welfare. 

LEMUEL  W.  COON. 

The  late  Lemuel  W.  Coon,  one  of  the  leading- 
lumber  merchants  and  builders  of  Kalamazoo, 
was  a  native  of  this  state,  and  -was  born  in  Cal- 


5oo 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


houn  county  on  August  24,  1857.  Her  parents, 
Lyman  and  Laura  (Beard)  Coon,  were  born  and 
reared  in  Vermont  and  came  to  Calhoun  county, 
Mich,,  as  pioneers.  The  father  died  there  in 
1869.  They  had  three  sons  and  six  daughters,  of 
whom  one  son  and  five  daughters  are  still  living. 
Lemuel  was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native 
county,  except  that  for  a  few  years  after  the 
death  of  his  father,  who  passed  away  when  the 
son  was  twelve  years  old,  he  lived  in  Boston, 
Mass.,  with  an  uncle  for  who'm  he  worked.  Re- 
turning to  Michigan  and  joining  his  mother  at 
Mancelona,  in  Antrim  county,  where  she  still  re- 
sides, he  there  engaged  in  the  clothing  trade  for 
three  years.  In  1886  he  and  Mr.  North  came  to- 
gether to  this  county  and  at  Vicksburg  established 
the  lumbering  firm  of  North  &  Coon.  Three 
years  later  they  moved  their  business  to  Kala- 
mazoo, where  the  business  is  still  conducted  and  is 
in  a  flourishing  condition.  During  the  remainder 
of  his  life  Mr.  Coon  gave  his  entire  attention  to 
this  business  and  by  his  industry,  close  attention 
to  the  trade  and  farseeing  business  intelligence 
built  up  a  very  large  and  profitable  traffic,  and  at- 
tained a  high  rank  in  business  circles  as  a  capa- 
ble and  resourceful  merchant.  lie  also  aided 
largely  in  improving  and  building  up  the  city  by 
purchasing  vacant  lots  and  erecting  on  them  busi- 
ness and  dwelling  houses.  His  useful  life  was 
ended  by  his  death,  on  May  7,  1893,  and  since 
then  Mr.  Xorth  has  carried  on  the  business  alone. 
Mrs.  Coon  still  retains  her  interest  in  the  business. 
In  1882  Mr.  Coon  was  married  to  Miss  Harriet 
Xorth,  the  sister  of  his  partner.  They  had  four 
children,  of  whom  those  living  are  Beulah,  Hazel 
and  Cora,  and  one  who  died,  Leila.  In  fraternal 
life  the  father  was  a  Freemason,  and  in  religious 
faith  a  Methodist. 

CORNELIUS  OSTERHOUT. 

Of  Holland  Dutch  parentage  but  American 
nativity,  and  born  in  1794,  probably  in  Cayuga 
county,  N.  Y.,  where  he  grew  to  manhood  and 
learned  his  trade  as  a  carpenter,  the  late  Cornelius 
Osterhout,  of  Schoolcraft,  who  departed  this  life 
in  1873,  long  enough  ago  to  have  become  a  classic, 


but  who  is  still  remembered  with  admiration  bv 
a  grateful  people  for  whom  he  .did  much  in  pro- 
viding the  conveniences  of  life  in  the  early  davs 
of  frontier  existence  in  what  was  then  a  vast  and 
sparsely  populated  wilderness,  was  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  southern  Michigan,  living  at  a 
number  of  different  places  and  leaving  behind 
him  everywhere  when  he  left!  substantial  monu- 
ments to  his  skill  as  a  mechanic  and  his  enterprise 
and  public  spirit  as  a  pioneer.  In  September. 
1824,  he  started  from  his  New  York  home  for 
the  wilds  of  this  state,  and  as  the  Erie  canal  had 
not  then  been  built,  traveled  by  stage  coach  to 
Buffalo,  where  he  embarked  on  the  sailing  vessel 
"Eclipse"  for  Detroit,  reaching  the  latter  city 
after  fifteen  days  of  leisurely  progress  over  Lake 
Erie  enlivened  by  an  occasional  storm.  At  De- 
troit he  bought  two  four-house  teams  with  which 
to  transport  his  family  and  household  effects  to 
Ann  Arbor,  which  was  then  a  hamlet  of  eight 
families,  a  few  log  cabins,  and  a  number  of  pro- 
jected streets.  Five  days  more  were  consumed 
in  the  overland  trip,  for  there  were  few  roads  and 
the  way  was  rough  and  difficult.  Locating  then 
at  this  infant  town,  he  built  and  operated  the  first 
saw  mill  in  the  neighborhood,  put  up  the  first 
frame  house,  erected  the  first  store  and  church, 
and  several  of  the  first  comfortable  dwellings 
there.  He  also  built  the  first  bridge  across  the 
Huron  river.  Sometime  afterward  he  moved  to 
the  village  of  Dexter,  and  there  also  he  put  up 
the  first  saw  mill  and  the  first  frame  house.  After 
a  residence  of  three  years  at  Dexter,  he  removed 
in  1835  t0  Allegan  county  and  built  a  saw  mill  on 
Black  river,  which  he  operated  for  two  years, 
then  in  1837  became  a  resident  of  Prairie  Ronde 
township,  this  county.  Here  he  married  his  sec- 
ond wifer  Mrs.  Jacob  Hendricks,  a  widow,  his 
first  wife  having  died  on  Black  river,  and  the 
next  year  brought  his  children  to  his  new  home. 
From  that  time  on  for  a  number  of  years  he  gave 
his  attention  to  farming,  later  running  a  brick 
yard  which  furnished  brick  for  many  of  the 
earlier  houses  in  the  county.  Then  he  started  the 
manufacture  of  bob  sleighs,  which  he  continued 
until   1 86 1.     He  kept  his  residence  on  his   farm 


CORNELIUS  OSTERHOUT. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


503 


until  1 87 1,  when  he  moved  to  the  town  of  School- 
craft, where  he  died  in  1873.  His  first  wife  was 
Miss  Lavina  Vernoa,  of  New  York  state,  who 
bore  him  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  of 
whom  are  now  dead  but  one  son,  Peter  Osterhut, 
who  lives  at  Grand  Rapids,  aged  eighty-one  years. 
Of  his  second  marriage,  three  sons  and  two 
daughters  also  were  born.  Four  of  these  are 
living,  Mrs.  Lavina  A.  Brown,  widow  of  George 
W.  Brown,  of  Schoolcraft;  Mrs.  Libby  Guthrie, 
of  Elery,  Ohio ;  George  C,  of  Conway  Springs, 
Kan. ;  and  Lucius  K.,  of  Hobart,  Oklahoma. 
Their  father  was  a  leading  Whig  until  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Republican  party,  when  he  became 
one  of  its  ardent  supporters,  being  all  his  life, 
until  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  an  earnest 
abolitionist.  He  was  never,  however,  an  office 
seeker,  but  refused  all  persuasions  to  become  a 
candidate  for  official  station  of  any  kind.  He  be- 
longed to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  and  the 
Masonic  order,  being  a  prominent  and  zealous 
worker  in  the  latter  organization. 

ORVIN  M.  GATES. 

The  scion  of  a  race  of  warriors,  and  also  of 
men  and  women  of  earnest  and  useful  activity  in 
peace,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  interesting 
subject  of  this  review  obeyed  an  early  call  to  the 
defense  of  his  country  when  the  dark  cloud  of 
civil  war  threatened  the  integrity  of  the  Union, 
and  in  the  awful  conflict  between  the  sections  of 
our  unhappy  country,  did  gallant  service  for  the 
cause  he  had  espoused  with  so  much  ardor;  nor 
is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  when  "War  smoothed 
his  wrinkled  front"  and  the  battle  flags  were 
furled,  he  entered  into  the  fields  of  peaceful  and 
productive  industry  with  the  same  spirit  of  de- 
termined loyalty  to  duty  he  had  shown  on  the 
battle  field.  -Mr.  Gates  was  born  in  a  log  cabin 
at  Mayfield,  Cuyahoga  county,  Ohio,  on  January 
31,  1839,  and  attended  the  district  schools  when  a 
boy,  going  at  the  age  of  sixteen  for  more  ad- 
vanced instruction  to  the  Mayfield  Academy, 
which  stood  at  that  time  on  a  corner  of  his  fa- 
ther's farm.  The  first  of  the  family  to  settle  in 
this  country  came  hither  from  England  about  1700 
28 


and  located  in  Litchfield  county,  Conn.,  and  his 
son,  Jonathan  Gates,  served  in  the  Revolution  un- 
der his  cousin,  Gen.  Horatio  Gates,  in  the  decisive 
battles  which  resulted  in  the  surrender  of  the 
British  General  Burgoyne,  and  practically  broke 
the  backbone  of  the  British  cause.  Jonathan 
Gates  had  five  children,  Nehemiah,  Samuel, 
James,  Stephen  and  Lydia.  His  third  son,  James 
Gates,  was  born  on  June  29,  1776,  and  in  1800 
was  married  to  Miss  Ann  Keeler,  who  died  within 
a  few  years  thereafter,  and  on  March  14,  1807, 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Eunice  Thomas.  He 
served  a  short  time  in  the  war  of  18 12.  Truman 
Gates,  the  first  born  of  his  eight  children,  was 
born  in  the  wilds  of  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  on 
June  6,  1808,  the  section  being  then  on  the  re- 
mote frontier.  On  August  20,  1835,  ne  married 
Jane  Shuart,  and  soon  after  their  marriage  they 
journeyed  by  the  Erie  canal  to  Buffalo  and  from 
there  by  steamer  to  Cleveland,  Ohio.  Mr.  Gates 
bought  eighty-five  acres  of  timber  land  at  six 
dollars  an  acre,  twelve  miles  east  of  Cleveland, 
near  the  present  town  of  Mayfield,  not  far  from 
the  farm  of  his  brother  Lewis  M.,  who  had  located 
there  a  year  before.  The  country  was  an  utter 
wilderness  then,  there  being  not  even  a  road  in 
Mayfield  township.  The  next  year  his  father  and 
the  rest  of  the  family  drove  through  with  horses 
and  a  wagon,  and  located  on  a  wild  farm  in  the 
adjoining  township  of  Orange,  where  the  father 
died  in  1845  and  his  wife  the  next  year.  Truman 
Gates  and  his  wife  had  five  children,  George  D., 
Orvin  M.,  Corrill  T.,  Mary  E.  and  Albert.  The 
second  son,  Orvin  M.,  after  attending  the  May- 
field  Academy  six  terms,  passed  one  year  at 
Geauga  Seminary  at  Chester,  Geauga  county,  and 
then  taught  during  the  winters  of  1859  an<^  I86o. 
In  August,  1862,  he  enlisted  in  the  Union  army 
for  the  Civil  war  as  a  member  of  Company  E, 
One  Hundred  and  Third  Ohio  Infantry,  and 
after  nearly  a  year  in  Kentucky,  passed  in  march- 
ing, skirmishing,  raiding  and  drilling,  the  regi- 
ment was  assigned  to  duty  under  General  Burn- 
side,  and  with  him  marched  over  the  mountains 
from  Danville,  Ky.,  into  eastern  Tennessee.  Mr. 
Gates  was  with  the  regiment  in  all  its  service, 
participating  in  the  battles  of  Spring  Hill,  Arm- 


504 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


strong's  Hill,  the  siege  of  Knoxville,  the  engage- 
ment at  Dandridge,  and  many  others.  On  May 
4,  1864,  the  command  crossed  the  line  into  Geor- 
gia, and  was  put  into  the  Twenty-third  Army 
Corps  under  General  Schofleld;  and  while  in  this 
command  Mr.  Gates  was  wounded  in  the  side  of 
the  right  heel  while  charging  the  enemy  at  Re- 
saca.  He  was  under  fire  over  one  hundred  days 
until  the  capture  of  Atlanta,  was  promoted  cor- 
poral in  the  fall  of  1862,  and  sergeant  in  1863. 
On  October  4,  1864,  he  was  detailed  as  com- 
missary sergeant  at  General  Schofield's  head- 
quarters, where  he  remained  until  the  close  of  the 
war,  taking  part  in  the  battles  of  Franklin  and 
Nashville,  and  after  the  latter  marched  to  the 
Tennessee  river  near  where  it  crosses  into  Mis- 
sissippi. From  there  he  went  down  the  river  to 
Cairo,  111.,  then  up  the  Ohio  to  Cincinnati,  and 
from  there  by  rail  to  Washington,  D.  C.  From 
the  federal  city  he  went  down  the  Potomac  to 
the  Atlantic,  and  after  being  on  the  boat  nine 
days  landed  at  Fort  Fisher,  N.  C.  He  was  pres- 
ent and  assisted  in  the  capture  of  Fort  Anderson, 
N.  C,  and  was  at  Raleigh  when  the  war  closed. 
He  returned  home  after  the  cessation  of  hostili- 
ties and  was  mustered  out  on  June  23,  1865.  On 
September  13th  following  he  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Belle  Miner,  the  daughter  of 
Harvey  S.  and  Anna  (Shepard)  Miner,  natives 
of  Connecticut  who  settled  at  Mayfield,  Ohio,  in 
1840.  A  few  days  after  his  marriage  Mr.  Gates 
came  to  Wakeshma  township,  this  county,  and 
bought  seventy  acres  of  land  on  which  he  and  his 
wife  located  in  the  spring  of  1866.  The  township 
was  nearly  all  woods  and  the  houses  were  built  of 
logs  at  that  time.  Mr.  Gates  taught  the  winter 
school  in  his  district  at  Gardner's  Corners  in 
1869-70  and  again  in  1870-71,  and  in  1874  bought 
forty  additional  acres  adjoining  his  farm.  His 
father  and  mother,  having  sold  their  farm,  came 
to  Michigan  at  this  time  and  located  near  them  in 
the  village  of  Fulton,  where  they  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  their  lives,  the  mother  dying  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1892,  aged  eighty  years,  and  the  father  in 
1898,.  aged  ninety.  Two  children  have  been  born 
in  the  Gates  household,  Walter  F.  and  Anna  B. 
In  October,  1892,  Walter  married  Florence  Stead- 
man,  whose  parents  were  from  Rochester,  N.  Y. 


He  has  three  children,  William  T.,  Doris  E.  and 
Orvin  S.  Anna  B.  is  now  the  wife  of  Amos  B. 
Gibson,  of  Grand  Rapids.  In  the  spring  of  1893 
Mr.  Gates  rented  his  farm  to  his  son  Walter  and 
moved  to  the  village  of  Fulton,  where  he  has  since 
resided.  On  January  19,  1902,  Mrs.  Gates  died, 
and  on  November,  4,  1903,  Mr.  Gates  married 
Mrs.  Hannah  (Bonner)  Cramer,  a  native  of  Or 
well,  N.  Y.,  born  011  June  4,  1842.  On  Novem- 
ber 20,  i860,  she  was  married  to  Abram  W.  Cra- 
mer, of  Orwell,  who  served  in  the  Civil  war  more 
than  three  years  as  a  sergeant  in  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Tenth  New  York  Infantry.  He  was  in 
the  Red  River  campaign  and  the  battles  which 
resulted  in  the  capture*  of  Vicksburg  and  Port 
Hudson,  Miss.,  also  in  General  Banks'  expedi- 
tion to  Texas.  In  the  summer  of  1864  the  regi- 
ment was  sent  to  Fort  Jefferson  on  Dry  Tortugas 
island  south  of  Florida  to  guard  prisoners,  and 
there  it  remained  until  the  close  of  the  war.  Mr. 
Cramer  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  on  Au- 
gust 28,  1865.  The  next  fall  he  and  his  wife 
came  to  this  county  and  located  on  a  farm  on  sec- 
tion 4  in  Wakeshma  township,  across  the  road 
from  Mr.  Gates'  farm.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cramer 
had  two  children,  their  son  Albert  E.  and  their 
daughter  Minnie  M.  Albert  E.  married  Miss 
Hattie  Hutchinson,  of  Vicksburg,  Mich.,  in  June, 
1889,  and  has  two  children,  Gladys  and  Howard 
A.  Minnie  M.  married  Wilbur  Fenwick  in  No- 
vember, 1896.  They  live  on  the  farm  on  section 
3  which  Mr.  Fenwick's  father  cleared  and  im- 
proved. Owing  to  failing  health  Mr.  Cramer 
rented  his  farm  to  his  son  in  the  spring  of  1898, 
and  moved  to  Fulton,  where  he  died  on  Septem- 
ber 1 6th  of  that  year.  Mr.  Gates  sold  his  farm  to 
his  son  Walter  in  June,  1900.  He  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  church  since  1875,  and 
his  wife  since  she  was  fourteen  years  old.  He  is 
a  Republican  in  politics  and  has  held  the  town- 
ship offices  of  school  inspector  and  commissioner 
of  highways.  In  his  farming  operations  he  has 
been  very  general,  but  in  breeding  live  stock  he 
has  given  special  attention  to  fine  wool  sheep.  His 
farm  is  all  cleared  and  well  improved  with  good 
buildings,  all  the  result  of  his  industry  and  good 
management.  In  fraternal  relations  he  is  a  prom- 
inent and  enthusiastic  member  of  the  Grand  Army 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


505 


of  the  Republic,  and  has  served  well  as  com- 
mander of  his  post.  His  taste  for  novelty  and 
adventure  has  been  gratified  by  extensive  travel, 
as  he  has  been  on  both  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pa- 
cific, in  nearly  every  state  and  territory  in  the 
Union. 

IRA  A.  RAMSON.  ' 


One  of  the  leading  business  men  and  promot- 
ers of  Kalamazoo,  Ira  A.  Ramson  has  been  con- 
nected in  a  prominent  and  forceful  way  with  most 
of  the  commercial  enterprises  of  value  in  the  city 
than  almost  any  other  man  and  has  been  of  great 
service  to  the  community  in  pushing  forward  its 
material  development,  its  mercantile  and  indus- 
trial activities  and  keeping  its  tides  of  business 
flowing  in  vigorous  measure  for  many  years.  He 
is  well  known  and  highly  esteemed  throughout 
the  county  and  a  large  extent  of  the  surrounding 
territory  as  a  hustler  in  business,  a  man  of  broad 
views  in  the  line  of  municipal  progress  and  a  ge- 
nial and  companionable  gentleman.  Mr.  Ram- 
son is  a  native  of  Castleton,  Rutland  county,  Vt  , 
born  on  February  20,  1845,  and  the  son  of 
Justice  H.  and  Sarah  (Northrup)  Ramson,  who 
were  also  born  in  Vermont  and  belonged  to  old 
New  England  families.  The  father  was  a  farmer 
and  passed  his  life  in  his  native  state.  The  son 
grew  to  manhood  there  and  received  his  educa- 
tion there  in  part  and  in  part  at  the  Flushing  In- 
stitute on  Long  Island.  After  leaving  school  he 
came  to  Michigan,  and  locating  at  Kalamazoo, 
showed  that  he  was  well  educated  in  knowing  how 
to  do,  what  to  do,  and  standing  ready  to  do  what- 
ever offered  that  was  profitable  and  gave  scope 
for  his  faculties.  He  passed  two  years  in  the 
employ  of  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad  and  fol- 
lowed that  period  of  service  with  two  years  in 
the  employ  of  H.  S.  Parker,  a  prominent  hatter 
of  the  city.  In  1870  he  moved  to  Marshall  and 
engaged  in  the  boot  and  shoe  trade  for  a  year. 
Then  he  became  connected  with  the  Kalamazoo 
Gas  Company  as  president  and  general  manager, 
taking  active  charge  of  the  works  and  all  the  inter- 
ests of  the  company  and  giving  them  his  close 
personal   attention.     Under  his   management  the 


operations  of  the  corporation  were  greatly  in- 
creased and  its  revenues  correspondingly  aug- 
mented. The  number  of  gas  consumers  in  the 
city  was  raised  from  four  hundred  to  fourteen 
hundred  and  twenty-six  miles  of  new  mains  were 
laid.  He  resigned  the  active  management  of  this 
company  in  1892,  but  he  has  maintained  his  con- 
nection with  the  company  as  a  stockholder  and 
director.  But  his  energetic  and  fertile  mind  could 
not  be  confined  to  one  enterprise,  interesting  and 
engrossing  as  that  may  have  been.  He  was  alive 
with  business  zeal  and  sought  opportunity  for  its 
employment  in  various  channels.  He  assisted  in 
organizing  and  starting  on  their  course  of  pro- 
ductiveness a  number  of  other  manufacturing  in- 
dustries, among  them  the  Kalamazoo  Corset  Com- 
pany and  the  Com  stock  Manufacturing  Company, 
in  each  of  which  he  was  a  stockholder,  the  Amer- 
ican Playing  Card  Company,  of  which  he  became 
president,  the  Upjohn  Pill  Company,  L.  D.  Cooley 
Harness  Company  and  the  Phelps  &  Bigelow 
Windmill  Company,  in  each  of  which  he  was  a 
director,  and  also  had  a  large  share  in  founding 
and  starting  the  Iola  (Kansas)  Cement  Company. 
To  all  of  these  he  gave  for  a  number  of  years  his 
personal  attention  and  all  of  them  were  aided 
greatly  by  his  clear  insight,  progressive  spirit  and 
business  capacity.  With  most  if  not  all  of  them 
he  is  still  connected.  In  1869  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Emma  Woodbury,  a  daughter  of  J.  P. 
Woodbury,  of  Kalamazoo  (see  sketch  elsewhere 
in  this  work).  They  have  two  sons,  Woodbury 
and  Allen  P.  Mr.  Ramson,  although  devotedly  pa- 
triotic and  deeply  interested  in  the  welfare  of  his 
country,  has  never  taken  any  active  part  in  party 
politics.  But  in  fraternal  life  he  has  for  years 
been  an  earnest  and  zealous  Master  Mason. 

OMAR  G.  COOK. 

This  pioneer  business  man  of  Fulton,  this 
county,  is  a  native  of  Antwerp,  Jefferson  county, 
N.  Y.,  where  he  was  born  on  January  6,  1834. 
His  parents,  Benjamin  and  Lticinda  (Foster) 
Cook,  were  also  natives  of  the  state  of  New  York, 
where  they  died.  The  father  was  a  farmer,  mill- 
wright and  surveyor.     He  was  a  soldier  in  the 


506 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


war  of  1 812,  and  during  that  short  contest  was. on 
board  a  sloop  of  war  and  saw  active  service  on  the 
great  lakes,  afterward  becoming  captain  of  a  rifle 
company  in  New  York  state.  He  taught  the  first 
school  in  Jefferson  county,  that  state,  and  was  in 
many  ways  a  useful  and  influential  citizen.  The 
family  comprised  six  sons  and  two  daughters. 
Four  of  the  sons  and  one  of  the  daughters  are 
living.  Their  grandfather,  Miles  Cook,  was  a 
native  of  New  York  and  served  three  years  as  a 
drummer  boy  in  a  regiment  of  volunteers  from 
his  native  state.  He  died  in  Jefferson  county,  N. 
Y.  Omar  G.  Cook  grew  to  manhood  and  secured 
his  education  in  his  native  county,  and  taught 
school  there  six  terms.  He  also  farmed,  worked 
at  his  trade  as  a  carpenter  and  engaged  in  saw 
milling.  In  the  fall  of  1863  he  came  to  Michigan 
and  bought  forty  acres  of  land  in  Climax  township, 
this  county,  which  he  improved,  cultivated  and 
lived  on  six  years.  In  1871  he  sold  his  land  and 
moved  to  the  village  of  Fulton,  where  he  bought 
a  small  grocery  store,  afterward  adding  drugs  to 
his  stock.  He  carried  on  this  store  until  1883, 
when  it  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  in  that  disaster 
he  lost  all  he  had.  He  was  not  dismayed,  how- 
ever, but  immediately  began  the  erection  of  a 
brick  business  block,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  com- 
pleted he  opened  the  business  again.  Sometime 
afterward  he  disposed  of  his  groceries  and  sub- 
stituted hardware  in  their  place,  also  letting  his 
son  have  the  drug  trade.  He  continued  in  busi- 
ness until  1900,  and  since  then  he  has  lived  re- 
tired from  active  pursuits.  In  1857  he  was  mar- 
ried in  Jefferson  county,  N.  Y.,  to  Miss  Maria 
Churchill,  a  native  of  Ontario,  Canada,  and  the 
daughter  of  John  and  Anna  Hewitt  Churchill,  the 
former  born  in  New  Hampshire  and  the  latter  in 
Vermont.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cook  had  two  children, 
their  sons  Dell  W.  and  Don  J.  The  former  is  now 
conducting  a  drug  business  at  Fulton.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Julia  Mosgrove,  of  Wakeshma  town- 
ship, and  has  one  child,  his  daughter  Maud.  Dan- 
iel J.  is  also  a  resident  of  Fulton.  He  married 
Miss  Jessie  Hampton.  They  have  three  sons  and 
one  daughter.  Mrs.  Cook  died  in  1902.  Mr. 
Cook  is  a  Republican  and  has  served  three  terms 
as  township  clerk,  and  also,  as  township  treasurer. 


Fraternally  he  is  a  Freemason  of  long  standing. 
He  is  the  oldest  business  man  now  living  at  Ful- 
ton, and  is  everywhere  highly  respected. 

BENJAMIN  FLEISHER. 

Born  of  old  Pennsylvania  stock  and  coming 
into  being  in  the  great  hive  of  industry  wherein 
his  parents  were  native,  this  highly  esteemed 
farmer  of  Climax  township,  this  county,  who  is 
now  living  retired  from  active  pursuits  at  Fulton, 
brought  to  the  wilds  of  this  county  at  the  dawn 
of  his  manhood  the  habits  of  thrift  and  energy 
acquired  in  his  old  Pennsylvania  home  and  still 
further  developed  and  cultivated  in  a  ten-years 
residence  in  Lagrange  county,  Ind.,  one  of  the 
most  thriving  and  substantial  sections  of  the 
Hoosier  state.  He  was  born  in  Erie  county,  Pa., 
on  July  6,  1849,  tne  son  °f  Simeon  and  Mary 
(Hershey)  Fleisher,  who  like  himself  were  born 
in  the  Keystone  state,  and  farmed  there  until 
about  1859,  when  they  came  to  Michigan  and  lo- 
cated near  Athens,  Calhoun  county.  There  they 
passed  the  remainder  of  their  days,  the  father 
dying  in  1881,  and  the  mother  in  1900.  They 
were  the  parents  of  five  sons  and  three  daughters, 
of  whom  three  of  the  sons  and  two  of  the  daugh- 
ters are  living,  Benjamin  being  the  only  one  resi- 
dent in  this  county.  The  parents  were  active  and 
zealous  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church.  Benjamin  reached  the  age  of  eighteen 
in  Indiana,  then  came  to  Michigan,  where 
he  has  followed  farming  all  of  his  subse- 
quent life.  He  was  about  twenty- four  when  he 
started  out  for  himself,  and  in  1875  came  to  Kala- 
mazoo county  and  located  on  a  farm  which  he 
bought  in  Climax  township  on  which  he  has  lived 
ever  since  one  year  ago,  when  he  took  up  his 
residence  at  Fulton.  He  was  married  at  Athens, 
in  1873,  to  Miss  Clara  B.  Phelps,  a  native  of 
Canandaigua,  N.  Y.,  and  the  daughter  of  Nathan 
and  Mary  J.  Phelps,  who  came  to  Michigan  in 
1855  and  located  in  Climax  township,  where  they 
cleared  up  a  good  farm  and  improved  it  to  con- 
siderable value.  The  father  is  still  living  there. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fleisher  have  three  children,  Rose 
H.,  the  wife  of  Daniel  F.,  Bartshe,  Roy  M.,  and 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


507 


Ira  D.  In  politics  Mr.  Fleisher  is  an  ardent  Pro- 
hibitionist, and  he  and  his  wife  are  devoted  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  in  which 
he  is  a  class  leader.  His  life  in  this  county  has 
been  a  continual  exhibition  of  devotion  to  duty 
and  the  best  interests  of  the  people,  and  it  fur- 
nishes a  stimulating  example  to  younger  men,  in 
the  peace  of  mind  which  it  has  brought  him,  the 
public. esteem  it  has  won  for  him,  and  the  success 
which  has  attended  all  his  efforts  for  progress 
and  improvement. 

THE  LEE   PAPER  COMPANY. 

This  colossal  enterprise,  whose  plant  is  one  of 
the  largest  and  most  completely  equipped  of  its 
kind  in  the  country,  is  a  stock  company  with  a 
capital  stock  of  one  million  dollars,  one-half  pre- 
ferred and  the  other  common  stock,  and  was  or- 
ganized and  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  Mich- 
igan on  July  16,  1903.  The  following  are  the  offi- 
cers :  President,  Fred  E.  Lee,  of  Dowagiac ;  first 
vice-president,  George  E.  Bardeen,  of  Otsego; 
second  vice-president,  A.  B.  Gardner,  of  Dowa- 
giac ;  general  counsel,  William  G.  Howard,  of 
Kalamazoo ;  treasurer,  E.  S.  Roos ;  secretary,  Nor- 
man Bardeen ;  superintendent,  W.  H.  Good- 
enough  ;  and  W.  J.  Ustick,  general  sales  manager. 
These  officers  also  constitute  the  board  of  di- 
rectors. After  a  careful  examination  of  various 
proposed  sites  for  the  plant  it  was  determined  to 
locate  it  at  Vicksburg  on  account  of  the  excellence 
and  abundance  of  the  water  supply  and  other  nat- 
ural advantages,  and  the  superior  railroad  facil- 
ities at  that  point ;  and  in  order  to  secure  the  plant 
the  village  granted  valuable  concessions  to  the 
company.  The  erection  of  the  buildings  was  be- 
gun in  the  spring  of  1904  and  they  were  com- 
pleted about  January  1,  1905.  They  are  from  one 
to  five  stories  high,  of  solid  brick  construction, 
and  equipped  with  everything  known  to  the  art  of 
paper  making  of  the  most  modern  and  approved 
forms,  and  the  plant  will  employ,  when  in  full 
operation,  not  less  that  two  hundred  and  fifty 
persons.  The  industry  will  be  devoted  to  the 
manufacture  of  high  grade  writing,  loft  dried  and 
ledger  papers,  this  being  one  of  the  few  mills  in 


this  part  of  the  country  and  the  only  one  in  Michi- 
gan equipped  to  make  the  higher  grades.  The 
company  owns  over  thirty  acres  of  ground  in- 
cluding the  water  rights,  and  the  buildings  cover 
nearly  six  acres  of  space.  They  are  located  near 
the  tracks  of  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  and  the 
Grand  Trunk  Western  Railroads,  with  side  track 
facilities  to  each.  The  mills  are  operated  by  steam 
as  a  motive  power  and  have  their  own  electric 
light  plant.  The  stock  is  held  principally  by 
Michigan  capitalists,  and  the  men  at  the  head  of 
the  enterprise  are  all  specialists  in  their  line,  with 
an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  industry  drawn 
from  technical  study  and  practical  experience. 

Mr.  Lee,  the  president  of  the  company,  is  the 
head  of  the  Round  Oak  Stove  Works  at  Dowagiac, 
and  an  extensive  owner  of  real  estate  in  Chicago. 
Mr.  Bardeen,  the  first  vice-president,  has  long 
been  known  in  this  state  and  to  the  paper  trade  of 
the  whole  country.  He  is  president  of  the  Bar- 
deen Paper  Company  at  Otsego,  where  he  has 
three  mills,  and  also  of  the  Michigan  Manufac- 
turers' Association,  and  is  a  director  in  several 
other  companies  located  in  Kalamazoo,  Detroit 
and  Chicago.  A.  B.  Gardner,  the  second  vice- 
president,  is  assistant  manager  of  the  Round  Oak 
Stove  Works  of  Dowagiac,  and  a  stockholder  in 
several  other  Michigan  corporations.  Elbert  S. 
Roos,  the  treasurer,  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Bar- 
deen and  a  director  in  the  King  Paper  Mill,  vice- 
president  of  the  Kalamazoo  Corset  Company,  and 
secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Kalamazoo  Ice  and 
Fuel  Company.  Norman  Bardeen,  of  Otsego,  the 
secretary,  has  been  active  in  the  management  of 
the  Bardeen  Mills.  Hon.  William  G.  Howard, 
the  general  counsel,  is  one  of  the  most  prominent 
and  successful  lawyers  in  the  state.  He  is  vice- 
president  of  the  Home  Savings  Bank  of  Kalama- 
zoo, and  an  officer  and  stockholder  in  a  large  num- 
ber of  other  successful  Kalamazoo  enterprises. 
W.  H.  Goodenough,  the  superintendent  of  the 
mills,  is  one  of  the  most  expert  paper  manufac- 
turers in  the  country.  For  eleven  years  he  was 
superintendent  of  the  American  Writing  Paper 
Company's  mills  at  De  Pere,  Wis.  He  is  assisted 
in  operating  the  new  plant  by  his  son,  Charles 
Goodenough,    who    has    had    superior    technical 


5o8 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY    OF 


training  as  an  engineer.  W.  J.  Ustick  has  had 
several  years'  experience  as  a  paper  salesman  and 
is  regarded  as  one  of  the  very  best  in  his  line  of 
business.  The  buildings  were  planned  by  Dan 
J.  Albertson,  the  company's  architect  and  en- 
gineer, who  has  had  extensive  experience  in  erect- 
ing paper  mills  of  the  best  type.  Several  features 
of  this  great  plant  are  worthy  of  special  mention. 
Concrete  floors  and  steel  construction  have  been 
used  in  its  erection,  so  that  there  is  no  danger  from 
dampness.  Elevated  tracks  for  receiving  raw  ma- 
terials and  coal  have  been  built  so  as  to  insure 
the  utmost  economy  in  management.  The  build- 
ings were  put  up  at  a  time  when  the  cost  of  ma- 
terials was  lower  than  for  years  before,  and  with 
the  closest  attention  to  every  detail  in  construction 
so  as  to  secure  the  best  results  at  the  lowest  cost, 
under  the  fine  business  ability  and  accurate  and 
extensive  knowledge  of  the  directorate,  the  suc- 
cess of  the  undertaking  was  assured  in  advance. 
It  has  largely  increased  the  population  of  Vicks- 
burg  and  given  an  impetus  to  every  branch  of  its 
business  life,  stimulating  trade,  making  a  better 
market  for  the  staples  of  life,  farm  products  and 
other  commodities,  and  enlisting  the  permanent 
interest  of  some  of  the  most  progressive  men  in 
the  state  in  the  village  and  the  welfare  of  its 
people. 

THE  KALAMAZOO  CORSET  COMPANY. 

Among  her  many  and  important  industries 
Kalamazoo  has  few  if  any  that  she  points  to  with 
greater  pride  and  plesure  than  the  Kalamazoo 
Corset  Company,  which  was  organized  in  1891 
with  a  capital  stock  of  seventy-five  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  employed  at  the  start  but  twenty-seven 
persons.  At  this  time  (1905)  it  has  a  paid-up  cap- 
ital stock  of  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  and 
employs  more  than  seven  hundred  persons,  not 
including  thirty  traveling  salesmen.  It  has  an 
output  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dozen 
or  over  one  million  and  a  half  corsets.  These 
goods  find  a  ready-  market  in  every  village,  town 
and  city  in  the  United  States,  and  are  rapidly  gain- 
ing an  extensive  foothold  in  foreign  countries,  the 
company  having  a  large  trade  in  Canada,  Mexico 


and  South  Africa.  This  rapid  growth  of  the  busi- 
ness is  due  to  both  the  efficient  management  of  the 
company  and  the  superior  workmanship,  style  and 
material  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  its  prod- 
uct. The  city  is  indebted  for  this  industry  to 
James  H.  Hatfield,  the  president  of  the  company, 
who  was  the  prime  mover  in  its  organization  and 
has  ever  since  been  its  inspiration  and  controlling 
force.  Mr.  Hatfield  is  a  native  of  South  Bend, 
Ind.,  born  on  November  3,  1855,  and  the  son  of 
James  H.  and  Susana  (Goodwin)  Hatfield.  He 
was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native  city,  and 
began  life  as  a  clerk  in  a  general  store  at  Three 
Oaks,  where  he  remained  for  seven  years.  He 
then  became  a  partner  in  the  business,  in  which 
he  continued  for  seven  years.  He  then  purchased 
an  interest  in  the  Featherbone  Company  (as 
noted)  and  continued  there  until  1891.  He  was 
married  in  1880  to  Alice  Chamberlain,  a  native 
of  Three  Oaks,  and  they  have  one  son,  James  C, 
secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  company.  Mr.  Hat- 
field is  a  director  of  the  Kalamazoo  Trust  Com- 
pany, organized  in  1904,  also  a  director  of  the 
Robt.  N.  Bassett  Company,  manufacturer  of  cor- 
set steel,  etc.,  of  Derby,  Conn. ;  a  director  of  the 
Standard  Cloth  Company  of  New  York,  manu- 
facturers of  corset  cloth.  Prior  to  coming  to  Kal- 
amazoo Mr.  Hatfield  was  largely  interested  as  a 
stockholder  and  officer  of  the  Featherbone  Com- 
pany, of  Three  Oaks,  this  state.  In  1891  he  se- 
cured an  option  on  that  company's  corset  depart- 
ment, and  he  at  once  came  to  Kalamazoo  and  or- 
ganized the  company  alluded  to  in  this  article. 
This  company  bought  the  plant  of  the  Three 
Oaks  Company  and  moved  it  to  Kalamazoo. 
Among  the  gentlemen  interested  with  Mr.  Hatfield 
in  making  this  move  and  building  up  the  trade  of 
the  new  corporation  may  be  named  with  honorable 
mention  the  late  Fred  Bush,  of  the  firm  of  Bush 
&  Patterson  (see  sketch  elsewhere  in  this 
work),  also  Joseph  Speir,  of  Kalamazoo, 
James  Monroe,  Otto  Ihling.  E.  S.  Roos,  now 
vice-president  of  the  company,  H.  B.  Kaufler, 
president  of  the  Home  Savings  Bank,  and  H.  B. 
Rick  (deceased).  The  company's  present  officers 
are  James  H.Hatfield,  president  and  general  man- 
ager, E.  S.  Roos,  vice-president,  and  J.  C.  Hat- 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


509 


field,  secretary  and  treasurer.  In  1905  the  com- 
pany erected  a  five-story  addition  to  the  old  plant, 
one  hundred  seventeen  by  seventy  feet  in  size. 
The  elder  Hatfield  is  also  interested  in  a  number 
of  Kalamazoo's  other  enterprises  of  value,  being 
a  director  of  the  Home  Savings  Bank,  president  of 
the  Fidelity  Building  and  Loan  Association,  a 
sketch  of  which  will  be  found  on  another  page, 
president  of  the  Kalamazoo  Paper  Box  and  Card 
Company,  and  chairman  of  the  Kalamazoo  Sales- 
book  Company,  Limited.  The  last  named  is  a 
new  company  recently  organized  for  the  manu- 
facture of  a  salesman's  account  book,  and  makes 
the  entry  book  direct  from  the  plain  paper  to  the 
completed  sales  book  by  running  it  through  one 
machine.  Mr.  Hatfield  is  a  stockholder  in  other 
companies  and  has  contributed  very  largely  to  the 
present  prosperity  and  industrial  importance  of 
the  city. 

MILTON  CHAMBERLIN. 

This  well  known  and  esteemed  pioneer  of  Kal- 
amazoo county  was  born  in  Niagara  county,  N. 
Y.,  on  January  1,  1834,  and  came  to  this  county 
with  his  parents  when  he  was  about  one  year  old, 
so  that  almost  the  whole  of  his  life  has  been  passed 
here,  and  he  has  been  a  feature  in  the  industrial 
and  social  life  of  the  county  for  many  years.  His 
parents  were  Thomas  and  Miranda  (Finch) 
Chamberlin,  the  former  born  in  Vermont  and  the 
latter  in  the  state  of  New  York.  They  were 
farmers  through  life,  leaving  New  York  in  1835, 
and  journeying  with  teams  and  wagons  which 
conveyed  them  and  their  household  effects  over- 
land through  the  trackless  wilderness,  of  alter- 
nating hill  and  vale,  forest  and  swamp,  long  and 
perilous  as  the  way  was,  to  the  wilds  of  Kalama- 
zoo county,  and  locating  in  Cooper  township  on  a 
tract  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  which  the 
father  entered  on  section  6.  They  put  up  a  little 
log  cabin  on  this  land  the  summer  after  their 
arrival,  which  some  years  later  they  replaced  with 
a  commodious  and  comfortable  frame  dwelling, 
and  here  they  lived  and  labored  until  death  sum- 
moned them  to  another  sphere,  the  father  dying  on 
January  29,  1857,  aged  sixty-eight  years,  and  the 


mother  on  February  12,  1885.  Their  family  com- 
prised six  sons  and  three  daughters.  Of  these 
their  son  Milton  and  two  of  his  sisters  are  living. 
The  father  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and 
both  belonged  to  the  Congregational  church  and 
helped  to  build  the  first  house  of  worship  for  that 
denomination  at  Cooper  Center,  the  father  serving 
for  many  years  as  one  of  the  deacons  of  the  con- 
gregation. Milton  Chamberlin  grew  to  man- 
hood in  Cooper  township,  working  on  the  farm, 
and  attending  the  primitive  schools  of  the  time 
and  locality  when  he  had  opportunity.  In  child- 
hood he  played  with  the  Indian  children  near  his 
home,  and  later  in  life  engaged  with  them  in 
hunting  the  wild  beasts  of  the  forest  which  were 
still  abundant,  acquiring  in  this  invigorating  sport 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  woodcraft  and  making 
it  subservient  to  the  needs  of  the  family  larder. 
When  he  came  of  age  he  took  charge  of  the  home 
farm,  which  he  managed  for  a  period  of  twenty- 
five  years  in  the  interest  of  his  parents.  At  the 
end  of  this  period  he  became  the  owner  of  the 
farm,  and  he  made  his  home  on  it  until  1898, 
when  he  moved  to  Alamo  township,  where  he  now 
lives.  In  1866  he  was  married,  in  Cooper  town- 
ship, to  Miss  Phebe  Andrews,  a  daughter  of 
Theodore  and  Eliza  (Shaw)  Andrews,  well 
known  pioneers  of  that  township.  Three  children 
have  blessed  the  union,  all  of  whom  are  living, 
Owen,  a  prosperous  farmer  of  Cooper  township, 
Lydia,  the  wife  of  Joshua  Monroe,  of  Alamo,  and 
Jay  A.,  a  resident  of  the  city  of  Newaygo,  Mich. 
The  father  has  never  had  any  political  ambition  or 
taken  an  active  part  in  partisan  contests,  but  he 
has  resolutely  given  his  best  attention  to  the  du- 
ties of  citizenship  and  been  of  appreciated  service 
to  every  commendable  enterprise  for  the  general 
welfare  of  the  township  and  the  improvement  of 
its  people.  He  belongs  to  the  Masonic  fraternity 
with  membership  in  the  lodge  at  Cooper. 

Joshua  Monroe,  Mr.  Chamberlin's  son-in- 
law,  was  born  at  Gum  Plains,  Allegan  county, 
Mich.,  on  August  4,  1851,  and  was  reared  and  ed- 
ucated there.  In  1891  he  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Lydia  Chamberlin.  They  have  one  child, 
their  daughter  Bertis.  Mr.  Monroe  has  been  a 
resident  of  this  county  twenty-three  years,   and 


5io 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


during  that  time  has  taken  an  active  and  service- 
able part  in  the  local  affairs  of  the  county,  per- 
forming with  fidelity  and  with  lofty  ideals  the 
duties  of  American  citizenship,  and  contributing 
in  every  worthy  way  to  the  advancement  of  the 
region  in  which  he  has  cast  his  lot.  Like  his 
father-in-law,  he  is  well  esteemed  as  an  upright 
and  useful  man,  and  has  the  confidence  and  good 
will  of  all  who  know  him. 

HON.   STEPHEN   F.   BROWN. 

This  prominent  and  influential  citizen  and 
venerated  pioneer  of  Kalamazoo  county,  who  was 
gathered  to  his  fathers  on  June  2,  1893,  at  the  age 
of  seventy -three,  after  having  lived  in  this  county 
sixty-three  years  and  bravely  and  serviceably 
borne  his  part  in  all  the  work  of  its  development 
and  improvement  from  a  condition  of  howling 
wilderness  to  the  noonday  splendor  of  its  present 
high  advancement  in  all  the  elements  of  a  pro- 
gressive Christian  civilization,  was  born  in  Lou- 
doun county,  Va.,  on  December  31,  18 19,  and  in 
1830,  when  he  was  but  eleven  years  old,  accom- 
panied his  parents,  John  and  Nancy  (McPherson) 
Brown,  to  Michigan  from  their  home  in  the  Old 
Dominion,  where  the  family  had  long  been  domes- 
ticated. After  their  arrival  in  this  county  the 
family  settled  in  Schoolcraft  township,  where  they 
soon  became  leading  citizens  and  active  in  all  the 
efforts  to  plant  and  people  and  fructify  the  wilder- 
ness. Stephen  was  the  second  born  of  the  seven 
children  of  the  household,  and  grew  to  manhood 
in  this  county,  learning  thoroughly  under  the  in- 
struction of  his  father  all  the  duties  of  progres- 
sive and  discriminating  husbandry,  and  the  estate 
he  left  shows  how  wisely  he  applied  in  after  life 
the  lessons  of  his  early  training  on  his  father's 
farm.  He  devoted  all  the  years  of  his  life  to  till- 
ing the  soil,  and  acquired  a  large  competence  of 
worldly  wealth  in  real  estate,  leaving  all  his  land 
in  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  well  improved  with 
first-rate  buildings  and  other  necessary  structures 
and  provided  with  all  that  was  most  approved  in 
farm  machinery.  On  July  4,  1841,  he  was  mar- 
ried in  Oshtemo  township  to  Miss  Maria  L.  Pat- 
rick,  whose   parents,   James   and    Harriet    (Col- 


grove)  Patrick,  died  when  she  was  young,  her 
mother  passing  away  when  the  daughter  was  but 
two  years  old  and  her  father  when  she  was  in  her 
fourteenth  year,  both  dying  in  Oneida  county, 
N.  Y.,  where  she  was  born  on  December  15,  1824, 
the  youngest  of  five  children.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Brown  had  four  children,  Franklin  M.,  Edgar  D., 
Florence  and  Clarence.  They  are  all  living  but 
Franklin,  who  died  while  on  a  visit  to  his  old 
home  from  his  place  of  business  in  Illinois,  on 
January  11,  1876.  He  was  a  Union  soldier  in 
the  Civil  war,  in  Company  L,  Fifth  Michigan 
Cavalry.  Edgar  D.  is  a  lawyer  at  Nelson,  Neb. 
He  also  was  in  the  Union  army  during  the  sec- 
tional strife,  being  a  member  of  Company  C, 
Sixth  Michigan  Infantry,  for  a  short  time,  until 
he  was  discharged  on  account  of  physicial  disabil- 
ity, and  then  re-enlisting  in  Company  L,  Fifth 
Michigan  Cavalry,  from  which  he  was  later  dis- 
charged on  account  of  a  wound  received  while  on 
picket  duty  at  Fairfax  Courthouse,  Va.  Florence 
is  the  wife  of  Henry  Rockwell ;  and  Clarence  lives 
on  the  home  farm  in  Schoolcraft  township  and 
conducts  its  management,  his  mother  making  her 
home  with  him.  The  father,  as  has  been  noted, 
took  an  active  and  helpful  interest  in  public  af- 
fairs, and  became  a  leading  citizen  of  the  county. 
In  1856  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the 
state  legislature,  and  in  1858  was  re-elected.  In 
i860  he  was  chosen  state  senator,  and  this  office 
he  was  again  elected  to  in  1864  and  in  1884.  He 
was  a  gentleman  of  quick  and  comprehensive 
mental  force,  a  great  student  of  public  questions 
and  a  logical  and  convincing  reasoner,  so  that  his 
equipment  for  these  exalted  positions  of  public 
trust  in  troublous  times  was  unusually  complete 
and  resourceful.  In  early  life  he  was  a  Henry 
Clay  Whig,  but  on  the  organization  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  he  joined  it  and  ever  afterward  gave  it 
his  unwavering  support  in  his  franchise,  by  his 
influence  and  example  and  through  his  eloquence 
and  force  on  the  hustings.  In  church  affiliation 
he  was  a  Universalist,  and  in  fraternal  relations  a 
leading  member  of  the  order  of  Patrons  of  Hus- 
bandry, in  the  latter  being  the  first  master  of  the 
State  Grange,  and  for  ten  years  its  treasurer.  At 
his  death  he  was  the  owner  of  two  hundred  and 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


5ii 


twelve  acres  of  excellent  land,  so  improved  and 
adorned  that  the  place  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
spots  in  the  county,  and  cultivated  with  such  skill 
and  in  so  progressive  a  spirit  that  it  is  one  of  the 
most  productive  and  valuable.  He  was  president 
of  the  Pioneer  Society  of  Kalamazoo  county,  and 
always  manifested  a  zealous  interest  in  its  proceed- 
ings and  its  lasting  welfare.  In  the  summer  of 
1885  the  state  senate  presented  him  with  a  gold- 
headed  cane  as  a  testimonial  to  his  high  character 
and  his  great  and  continued  public  services.  In 
the  senate  he  was  a  colleague  of  Hon.  Jay  A. 
Hubbell  and  other  men  who  afterward  rose  to  na- 
tional distinction  in  the  congress  of  the  United 
States,  or  in  other  positions  of  prominence.  Now 
resting  from  his  labors' after  a  long  life  of  useful- 
ness, which  passed  from  youth  to  advanced  old 
age  without  a  stain  in  its  record,  he  is  held  in 
lasting  veneration  by  the  people  he  served. 

ZECHARIAH    FLETCHER. 

The  youngest  of  eight  sons  and  two  daughters 
born  to  his  parents,  six  of  whom  grew7  to  ma- 
turity, the  other  four  dying  in  one  week  of  diph- 
theria, Zechariah  Fletcher,  of  Schoolcraft,  this 
county,  is  also  the  last  survivor  and  only  living 
member  of  the  family.  He  was  born  in  Hampshire 
county,  Virginia,  now  West  Virginia,  on  January 
7,  1828,  and  was  four  years  old  when  his  parents 
came  to  this  county,  yet  he  well  remembers  the 
beautiful  September  day  when  the  party  left  the 
old  Virginia  home  for  their  long  jaunt  to  the  then 
distant  wilderness.  It  comprised  fifteen  persons, 
including  the  family  of  his  father's  brother  Ben- 
jamin. His  mother  made  the  trip  on  horseback, 
and  the  younger  children  in  a  wagon  loaded  also 
with  the  family  effects,  and  the  journey  required 
one  month  and  one  day.  Benjamin  Fletcher  lo- 
cated eighty  acres  of  government  land  on  section 
to,  Prairie  Ronde,  on  which  he  lived  until  1854. 
He  then  sold  this  and  moved  to  Iroquois  county, 
111.,  where  he  lived  until  his  death.  His  brother 
George,  the  father  of  Zechariah,  first  purchased  a 
portion  of  section  23,  Prairie  Ronde  township,  but 
four  years  afterward  he  sold  this  farm  and  bought 


another  on  which  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  He  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  born  in 
1783,  and  the  son  of  Joseph  Fletcher,  whose 
father  was  also  named  Joseph.  The  American 
progenitor  of  the  family  was  of  Irish  birth  and 
Scotch  parentage,  and  emigrated  to  the  United 
States  about  the  year  1743,  bringing  his  family, 
which  consisted  of  his  wrife,  two  daughters  and 
one  son.  He  settled  near  the  site  of  the  present 
city  of  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  where  George  Fletcher 
was  born.  One  of  his  daughters  here  married  a 
Quaker  by  the  name  of  Harris,  and  it  is  stated  on 
good  authority  that  the  city  of  Harrisburg  was 
named  in  his  honor.  He  was  a  merchant  and  one 
of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  place.  George 
Fletcher  lived  with  his  father  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  sixteen,  and  was  then  apprenticed  to  a 
blacksmith.  His  apprenticeship  lasted  seven  years, 
and  thereafter  he  wrought  at  his  craft  at  intervals 
until  his  death.  He  received  a  common-school  ed- 
ucation, and  in  1804  was  married  to  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Millison,  a  native  of  New  Hampshire  and 
one  year  his  junior.  Of  their  six  children  who 
grew  to  maturity  Elijah  acquired  his  father's 
trade,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  went  to  Ohio, 
where  he  married  for  his  second  wife  Miss  Nancy 
Nuby,  a  Quakeress,  his  first  wife  having  died 
shortly  after  marriage.  In  1830  he  moved  to 
Schoolcraft  in  this  county,  and  six  years  later 
returned  to  Ohio,  where  he  died  in  1837.  The 
next  son,  Jonathan,  married  Miss  Alice  A. 
Farmer.  He  located  at  Schoolcraft  in  1834  and 
died  there  in  1846.  Elias  migrated  to  Palmyra, 
Mo.,  and  there  engaged  in  merchandising  and  be- 
came one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  place,  dy- 
ing there  in  1850.  John  M.  was  killed  at  the  age 
of  sixteen  by  an  accident  near  his  father's  farm 
on  Prairie  Ronde.  George  W.  was  a  farmer,  and 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one  married  Miss  Lydia 
Monroe.  He  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven. 
The  father  was  an  exemplary  man  and  a  consistent 
Christian,  carrying  the  precepts  of  his  religion 
into  all  the  transactions  of  life.  He  was  extremely 
conscientious  in  all  matters,  and  his  integrity  was 
never  questioned.  One  of  the  founders  of  the 
first  Methodist  church  in  the  county,  he  was  one 
of  its  liberal  supporters  in  all  kinds  of  church  work 


512 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


and  also  in  substantial  contributions  of  his  means. 
A  man  of  marked  social  qualities,  his  hospitality 
was  proverbial,  and  he  was  universally  beloved 
for  his  benevolence  and  kindness  of  heart.  His 
first  wife,  the  mother  of  his  children,  died  in  1837, 
and  about  1840  he  married  a  second,  Miss  Han- 
nah Keyes,  of  Climax,  whom  he  outlived  five 
years.  In  politics  he  was  originally  a  Democrat, 
but  became  a  Republican  upon  the  organization  of 
the  new  party. 

His  son  Zechariah  was  reared  on  the  parental 
homestead,,  and  on  attaining  his  majority  assumed 
the  management  of  his  father's  estate.  In  1849 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Malans#  Monroe,  a 
daughter  of  Capt.  Moses  Monroe,  of  Van  Buren 
county,  a  cousin  of  President  Monroe,  his  wife 
bearing  the  same  relationship  to  Hon.  Benjamin 
Wade,  of  Ohio.  Captain  Monroe  settled  in  Van 
Buren  county,  Mich.,  in  1836,  and  died  there. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fletcher  had  five  children,  all  of 
whom  are  living.  Ora  A.  is  the  wife  of  George 
Harrison,  a  retired  farmer  now  living  at  School- 
craft. Alice  J.  is  the  wife  of  Byron  Carney,  of 
Climax  township.  Harriet  E.  is  the  wife  of 
Frank  G.  Taylor,  of  Schoolcraft.  Walker  E.  also 
lives  at  Schoolcraft  and  is  a  prosperous  carpenter. 
Clara  M.  is  the  wife  of  Lewis  Johnson,  a  flourish- 
ing farmer  of  this  county.  Their  mother  died  on 
the  old  farm  on  March  4,  1902,  and  the  father 
soon  afterward  moved  to  Schoolcraft,  where  he 
has  since  resided.  He  has  from  the  dawn  of  his 
manhood  taken  an  active  part  in  the  public  life 
of  his  township  and  county,  and  has  an  official 
record  that  is  almost  unique  in  the  annals  of 
American  citizenship.  He  served  forty  years  as 
a  notary  public,  and  during  thirty-six  years  of 
that  period  was  also  a  justice  of  the  peace.  He 
was  also  township  clerk  ten  years,  deputy  sheriff 
four  years,  county  coroner  four  years,  constable 
five  years,  school  inspector  two  years  and  town 
treasurer  six  years.  In  addition  to  these  he  filled 
a  number  of  other  local  offices,  sometimes  having 
four  at  once.  Counting  the  years  of  his  service 
in  each  of  his  offices  as  units,  they  number  one 
hundred  and  seven,  and  in  all  he  discharged  his 
duties  with  fidelity  and  ability,  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  people  and  the  advantage  of  the  community. 


In  fraternal  circles  he  has  long  been  prominent 
and  zealous.  He  has  been  an  Odd  Fellow  since 
1 86 1,  and  has  seven  times  represented  his  lodge 
in  the  grand  lodge  of  the  state.  In  political  faith 
he  is  an  unwavering  Republican. 

JAMES   WALLACE   BURSON. 

For  almost  three  score  years  this  well  known 
and  venerable  pioneer  of  Schoolcraft  township, 
Kalamazoo  county,  has  lived  on  the  farm  which 
is  now  his  home  and  on  which  he  was  born  on 
November  23,  1846.  Since  his  very  advent  into 
the  world  it  has  sheltered  him  from  the  storms  of 
life,  and  from  its  soil  he  has  drawn  his  stature 
and  his  strength.  He  is  the  son  of  Abner  and 
Agnes  (Smith)  Burson,  the  former  a  native  of 
Loudoun  county,  Va.,  and  the  latter  of  Colum- 
biana county,  Ohio.  The  father  was  born  in  1803, 
and  was  a  son  of  Aaron  Burson,  a  leading  mer- 
chant and  planter  of  Loudoun  county  in  the  Old 
Dominion,  who  moved,  about  the  year  1827,  to 
Columbiana  county,  Ohio,  where  he  operated  a 
salt  well  and  raised  tobacco  two  or  three  years.  In 
1830  the  whole  family,  consisting  of  the  parents, 
four  sons  and  a  daughter,  came  to  Kalamazoo 
county,  making  the  trip  by  teams  and  locating  on 
the  south  side  of  Prairie  Ronde  on  October  1. 
Three  of  the  sons  took  up  government  land  on 
Prairie  Ronde  and  the  other  one  on  Gourd  Neck- 
Prairie.  The  father,  Aaron  Burson,  dealt  ex- 
tensively in  real  estate,  buying  and  selling  par- 
tially improved  farms.  They  built  a  small  log 
house,  in  which  they  all  lived  the  first  winter  of 
their  stay  in  this  county,  and  here  the  parents  died, 
the  father  in  1844  ar,d  the  mother  in  1861.  All 
the  children  of  that  generation  are  also  now  de- 
ceased. Aaron  Burson  was  a  leading  Whig  poli- 
tician in  this  section  at  the  time  and  took  an 
active  part  in  public  affairs.  His  son,  Abner 
Burson,  the  father  of  James,  was  reared  in  his 
native  county  and  there  learned  his  trade  as  a 
wool  carder  and  weaver.  He  remained  with  his 
parents  long  after  reaching  his  majority  and  ac- 
companied them  to  Michigan.  He  entered  land  in 
this  county,  as  has  been  noted,  and  also  aided  in 
breaking  up  the  prairie  of  the  parental  homestead. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


5i3 


as  well  as  the  farm  now  owned  by  his  son  James, 
and  on  the  latter  he  maintained  his  home  until  his 
death  in  1899.  He  was  married  in  Columbiana 
county,  Ohio,  and  had  four  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters, who  grew  to  maturity.  Of  these,  two  of  the 
sons  and  three  of  the  daughters  are  living.  He 
put  up  all  the  buildings  on  his  farm  and  brought 
it  to  a  high  state  of  development  and 
cultivation.  When  the  Black  Hawk  Indian 
war  broke  out  he  enlisted  for  the  con- 
test, but  was  never  called  into  active  serv- 
ice. In  early  life  he  was  a  Whig,  afterward 
a  Republican  and  still  later  a  Democrat  in  politics, 
but  he  never  sought  office  or  became  a  very  active 
partisan.  He  and  his  wife  were  attendants  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church.  James  Wallace 
tturson,  his  son,  was  reared  on  the  home  farm  and 
secured  his  education  in  the  common  schools.  On 
this  farm 'he  has  passed  all  of  his  life  so  far,  be- 
coming the  owner  of  it  some  years  before  his 
father's  death.  In  1878  he  was  married  in  Fulton 
county,  Ohio,  to  Miss  Ida  M.  Randels,  a  native 
of  Columbiana  county,  that  state.  They  have  two 
children,  their  daughter  Lottie  E.,  now  the  wife 
of  E.  R.  Smith,  of  Schoolcraft,  and  their  son 
Abner  R.,  who  is  living  at  home.  The  father  is  a 
Democrat  in  political  faith,  but  he  takes  no  active 
part  in  political  contests.  He  and  his  wife  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  They 
are  now  among  the  oldest  residents  of  the  town- 
ship and  are  respected  and  treated  with  consid- 
eration in  accordance  with  the  merits  of  their  long 
and  useful  lives  in  the  section  which  their  citi- 
zenship adorns  and  has  so  faithfully  served. 

EBENEZER  LAKIN  BROWN. 

Having  reached  the  advanced  age  of  ninety 
years,  lacking  only  four  days,  and  seen  the  fruits 
of  his  long  and  useful  labors  in  abundant  pro- 
duction around  him,  crowned  with  the  veneration 
of  his  fellow  citizens  as  a  pioneer  and  one  of  the 
fathers  of  the  state,  and  serene  in  the  conscious- 
ness that  he  had  riever  knowingly  neglected  a 
duty  or  wronged  a  fellow  being,  this  honored 
patriarch  surrendered  his  earthly  trust  on  April 
12,  1899,  at  the  behest  of  the  great  Disposer  of 


human  events,  and  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  soil  he 
had  helped  to  redeem  from  the  wilderness  and 
transform  into  comeliness  and  bountiful  fertility. 
He  was  born  on  April  16,  1809,  at  Plymouth,  Vt, 
the  son  of  Thomas  and  Sally  (Parker)  Brown, 
of  pure  New  England  stock.  His  father  was  the 
fourth  in  descent  from  John  Brown,  of  Hawk- 
den,  Suffolk  county,  England,  who,  on  April  24, 
1655,  married  Esther  Makepeace,  of  Boston,  Lin- 
coln county,  of  the  same  country.  They  immediate- 
ly sailed  for  America,  and  on  their  arrival  in  this 
country  settled  at  Watertown,  Mass.  Mr.  Brown's 
mother  was  born  at  Westford,  that  state.  From 
her  he  inherited  the  scholarly  tastes  and  love  of 
books  which  were  the  joy  of  his  life  and  the 
solace  of  his  declining  years.  She  was  well  edu- 
cated, and  being  naturally  of  a  quick  and  strong 
mental  organism,  she  improved  her  opportuni- 
ties to  the  utmost,  becoming  a  well  read  and  ac- 
complished lady  according  to  the  fashion  of  her 
day.  She  was  very  fond  of  the  English  classics, 
and  was  accustomed  to  repeat  long  passages  from 
them  to  her  children,  and  in  this  way  the  taste  of 
her  son  was  formed  and  his  intellectual  activity 
quickened.  The  father,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
a  man  of  great  physical  vigor,  and  was  through- 
out his  life  from  boyhood  inured  to  hard  labor 
with  no  opportunities  for  advanced  education.  In 
the  character  of  the  son  the  rugged  virtues  of  his 
father  and  the  fine  sensibilities  and  sparkling  in- 
telligence of  his  mother  were  duly  and  harmoni- 
ously commingled.  And  on  this  basis  he  builded 
a  manhood  and  achieved  a  career  admirable  to  all 
who  had  discriminating  knowledge  of  them  and 
to  the  people  among  whom  he  lived  serviceable 
to  an  unusual  degree.  The  family  comprised 
eleven  children,  all  of  whom  except  a  son  named 
Joseph,  who  died  at  the  age  of  ten  years,  grew 
to  maturity  and  had  families  of  their  own.  Eben- 
ezer  was  a  slight  and  delicate  youth,  of  nervous 
temperament,  fond  of  books  and  study  and  keenly 
observant  of  all  the  products  and  the  ways  of 
nature.  Although  he  did  not  take  kindly  to  the 
arduous  life  on  a  rocky  New  England  farm,  he 
did  his  duty  faithfully,  according  to  his  strength, 
of  the  paternal  homestead,  and  there  grew  to  man- 
hood amid  the   inspiring   scenery   of  the   Green 


5*4 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY   OF 


Mountain  region,  alternating  his  labors  with  read- 
ing and  such  recreations  as  the  neighborhood  af- 
forded in  the  way  of  hunting  and  fishing.  When 
he  reached  man's  estate,  filled  with  ambition  for 
an  independent  career,  and  in  quest  of  broader 
fields  of  opportunity,  he  left  the  family  rooftree 
and  made  his  way  to  the  wilds  of  Michigan.  Be- 
ing well  pleased  with  this  section  of  the  country, 
after  a  visit  of  a  few  weeks  at  the  home  of  an 
uncle  at  Ann  Arbor,  he  returned  to  Vermont  for 
the  winter  and  to  make  preparations  for  a  change 
of  residence  to  this  state.  The  next  year,  which 
was  183 1,  he  arrived  at  Schoolcraft  in  this  county 
on  November  5th,  determined  to  make  his  perma- 
nent home  there ;  and  there  for  almost  seventy 
years  he  resided,  his  life  intimately  interwoven 
with  the  growth  of  institutions,  the  development 
of  the  state  and  the  progress  of  events.  He  had 
many  and  varied  experiences  on  his  way  to  his 
new  home,  and  for  years  after  his  arrival  he  was 
confronted  with  all  the  perils  and  opposed  by  all 
the  difficulties  incident  to  the  most  strenuous  and 
trying  frontier  life.  For* a  long  time  he  engaged 
in  mercantile  pursuits  and  in  his  business  he  had 
his  share  of  troubles  and  difficulties,  but  his  reso- 
lute spirit  triumphed  over  them  all  and  in  time 
he  became  prosperous  and  substantially  wealthy. 
He  also  took  an  active  and  leading  part  in  public 
affairs  in  the  primitive  community,  where  men  of 
force,  breadth. of  view  and  culture  were  at  a  high 
premium  of  appreciation,  and  in  1837  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  board  of  county  commis- 
sioners, following  this  service  in  1840  by  mem- 
bership in  the  state  house  of  representatives, 
which  at  that  time  met  at  Detroit.  He  was  then  a 
Whig  in  politics,  but  with  the  organization  of  the 
Republican  party,  which  embodied  in  its  prin- 
ciples his  most  pronounced  convictions  on  the 
subjects  of  negro  slavery  and  the  liquor  traffic, 
he  joined  that  organization,  and  in  1854  was 
elected  to  the  state  senate  as  its  candidate.  In 
this  body  he  had  as  colleagues  Mr.  Conger,  of 
St.  Clair,  and  Austin  Blair,  of  Jackson,  but  able 
and  distinguished  as  they  and  other  members  of 
the  senate  were,  he  held  his  place  abreast  with 
them  and  ranked  as  their  equal  in  intellectual 
power,  breadth  and  force  of  character  and  knowl- 


edge of  public  affairs.  In  the  spring  of  1857 
he  was  elected  regent  of  the  State  University  for 
a  term  of  six  years,  during  which  he  rendered 
valuable  service  to  the  institution  and  through  it 
to  the  people  of  the  state.  Again  in  1878  he  was 
chosen  to  the  state  senate,  and  with  his  service 
there  he  closed  his  public  career,  refusing  to 
stand  for  another  term ;  for  dear  as  was  the  state 
of  his  adoption  to  him,  and  deeply  interested  as 
he  was  in  all  that  pertained  to  its  enduring  wel- 
fare, he  was  strongly  averse  to  political  life  and 
official  station,  declaring  on  one  occasion,  "there 
is  so  much  that  is  mean  and  degrading  in  the 
methods  employed  to  obtain  office,  that  I  abhor 
the  whole  thing."  On  January  5,  1837,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Amelia  W.  Scott.  They  had 
four  children,  of  whom  the  only  survivor  is  their 
daughter,  Amelia  Ada.  Her  mother  died  on 
October  9,  1848,  and  four  years  afterward  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Mary  Ann  Miles,  of  Hineburg,  Vt, 
who  bore  him  three  sons,  Edward  Miles,  George 
Lakin  and  Addison  Makepeace,  the  second  of 
whom  died  in  boyhood.  Edward  is  professor  of 
English  literature  in  the  University  of  Cincin- 
nati and  Addison  is  secretary  of  the  State  Agri- 
cultural College  at  Lansing.  The  father  was  a 
man  of  fine  literature  culture,  well  tutored  in  the 
Latin  classics,  and  had  a  delicate  and  beautiful 
fancy  that  found  frequent  expression  in  poetry 
of  a  high  order,  not  written  for  publication,  but 
often  finding  its  way  into  print.  After  his  death 
the  state  senate  passed  the  following  tribute  of 
respect  to  his  memory  : 

Whereas,  The  senate  has  learned  with  sorrow 
and  deep  regret,  of  the  death  of  Hon.  E.  Lakin  Brown, 
a  former  member  of  the  senate,  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  the  state,  and  father  of  the  present  senator  from 
the  ninth  senatorial  district; 

Born  at  Rutland,  Vt,  on  April  16,  1809,  de- 
ceased was  one  of  the  sturdy  old  New  England  stock 
that  in  the  early  'forties  entered  the  wilderness 
which  is  now  this  great  state,  and  did  so  much  to 
clear  the  way  for  its  present  great  richness  and  pros- 
perity. 

In  1840  Mr.  Brown  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  the 
Michigan  legislature  on  the  Whig  ticket,  but  later 
he  joined  the  Republican  party,  and  in  1854  was 
elected  to  the  state  senate  from  the  twenty-first  dis- 
trict. 

During  this  session  he  was  active  in  securing  the 
passage  of  a  strong  prohibitory  liquor  law,  and  a 
law  concerning  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves,  the 
tenor    of   which    was    in    accord    with    the   advanced 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


5i5 


sentiment  of  the  Republican  party.  In  1856  he  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the  board  of  regents  of  the 
Michigan  State  University,  filling  the  position  capa- 
bly for  six  years. 

He  had  filled  many  positions  of  trust  and  honor 
in  his  county  and  village,  and  in  all  the  official  posi- 
tions that  he  filled,  and  throughout  his  career  as  a 
private  citizen,  he  exemplified  the  Christian  gentle- 
man, prudent  and  careful  in  the  discharge  of  his  du- 
ties, and  manifested  the  integrity  and  sterling  quali- 
ties of  a  long,  honorable  and  successful  business 
and  private  life.     Therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  deem  it  fitting  to  express  the 
feeling  of  sorrow  which  is  entertained  at  the  death 
of  the  late  E.  Lakin  Brown,  and  extend  to  his  family 
our  heartfelt  sympathy. 

Resolved  further,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolu- 
tions be  suitably  engrossed  and  delivered  to  the  fam- 
ily of  the  deceased,  as  a  tribute  of  the  senate  to  the 
deceased,  and  to  his  worth  as  an  officer  of  the  state 
and  an  honorable  private  citizen. 

Adopted  by  the  senate  April  19,  1899. 

R.  B.  Loomis,  President  pro  tern. 

Charles  S.  Pierce,  Secretary. 

EVANS    MEREDITH. 


The  late  Evans  Meredith,  who  died  in  Kala- 
mazoo on  February  9,  1904,  was  for  more  than 
fifty  years  a  resident  of  this  county,  and  from 
his  boyhood  was  actively  engaged  in  farming, 
first  on  the  paternal  homestead,  which  he  helped 
to  clear  and  improve,  and  later  on  a  farm  of  his 
own,  from  which  he  retired  in  1895  and  took  up 
his  residence  in  Kalamazoo,  where  he  passed  the 
remainder  of  his  life  retired  from  active  pursuits, 
dying  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight.  He  was  born  at 
Alexander,  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  on  November 
25,  1836.  His  parents  were  David  and  Mary 
(Hawkins)  Meredith,  the  former  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania  and  the  latter  of  New  York.  The 
father  was  a  farmer  in  the  state  of  New  York 
from  his  early  manhood  until  about  1843,  when 
the  family  moved  to  Michigan  and  located  in  Pa- 
vilion township  on  a  tract  of  wild  land  there  on 
which  they  built  a  small  log  house  and  conducted 
farming  operations  with  an  ox  team  for  a  number 
of  years.  Sometime  after  settling  on  this  land, 
and  after  improving  it  considerably,  the  father 
sold  it  and  moved  to  one  in  Portage  township 
where  both  the  parents  died  at  advanced  ages  and 
were  buried  in  Maple  Grove  cemetery  there.  They 
had  four  sons  and  one  daughter,  all  now  deceased 
but  two  sons,  Warren,  who  lives  on  the  Portage 
township  farm,  and  his  twin  brother,  Walter,  a 
resident  of  Allegan  county.     Mr.  Meredith  came 


to  this  county  with  his  parents  when  he  was  seven 
years  old,  and  here  he  grew  to  manhood  and  re- 
ceived an  elementary  education  in  the  primitive 
schools  of  his  boyhood  days.  From  an  early  age 
he  aided  in  clearing  the  farm  and  its  other  labors, 
himself  buying  the  first  team  of  horses  owned  by 
the  family,  remaining  at  home  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  twenty-four.  In  1865  he  moved  to  Osh- 
temo  township,  buying  there  a  farm  on  which  he 
located.  This  he  improved  and  lived  on  until 
1895,  when  he  retired  from  active  work  and  made 
his  home  for  the  rest  of  his  days  in  Kalamazoo. 
He  was  married  in  1861  to  Miss  Lorinda  Adams, 
a  daughter  of  John  and  Rebecca  (Lawrence) 
Adams,  the  former  born  in  Connecticut  and  the 
latter  in  Vermont.  Her  parents  came  to  this  state 
in  1841,  and  died  here  after  many  years  of  pro- 
ductive industry  on  a  farm  which  they  developed 
and  improved,  each  being  eighty -two  years  of 
age  at  the  time  of  death.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Meredith 
had  five  children,  David  (deceased),  Willis,  of 
Kalamazoo,  Mary,  wife  of  George  Hadley,  Alice, 
wife  of  L.  McDonald,  of  Kalamazoo,  and  Carrie, 
wife  of  R.  Bell,  of  Kalamazoo,  where  their  mother 
is  now  living. 

NATHAN  M.  THOMAS,  M.  D. 

If  Columbus  is  justly  honored  as  the  man 
who  awakened  the  American  continent  from  her 
long  sleep  of  ages  and  summoned  her  to  her  ca- 
reer of  transcendent  glory  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind, and  Leonard  Calvert  as  the  far-seeing  and 
broad-minded  colonist  who  first  unfurled  the 
banner  of  religious  liberty  among  men,  so  in  a 
smaller  sphere,  although  a  scarcely  less  important 
one,  locally  at  least,  the  late  Dr.  Nathan  M. 
Thomas,  of  Schoolcraft,  is  entitled  to  all  rever- 
ence as  the  first  practicing  physician  in  Kalama- 
zoo county  and  the  second  in  western  Michigan. 
He  was  also  one  of  the  most  indefatigable  and 
faithful  of  this  useful  class  of  professional  men, 
and  adhered  to  his  noble  and  self-sacrificing  call- 
ing through  difficulties  and  trials  of  every  sort, 
and  met  its  requirements  with  the  determined 
persistency  of  a  man  wholly  and  religiously  de- 
voted to  his  duty.  He  was  born  at  Mount  Pleas-* 
ant,  Jefferson  county,  Ohio,  on  January  2,  1803, 


5i6 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


the  son  of  Jesse  and  Avis  (Stanton)  ThomaLs, 
who  were  devout  members  of  the  society  of 
Friends.  The  Doctor's  maternal  ancestors  were 
of  that  faith  and  from  near  the  origin  of  the  sect. 
They  are  traced  back  to  Thomas  Macy,  the  first 
settler  on  the  island  of  Nantucket.  The  Doctor 
was  a  man  of  temperate  habits,  and  under  the 
teachings  of  Charles  Osborn  and  Benjamin  Lundy 
he  became  inbued  with  anti-slavery  sentiments 
early  in  life.  He  studied  medicine  at  his  native 
place  with  Drs.  Isaac  Parker  and  William  Pal- 
mer, and  after  attending  the  Medical  College  of 
Ohio  at  Cincinnati,  he  was  examined  in  that  city 
by  the  censors  of  the  First  District  Medical  So- 
ciety of  the  state,  and  licensed  by  them  to  prac- 
tice physic  and  surgery.  He  practiced  nearly  two 
years  in  Ohio,  then  came  to  Prairie  Ronde,  this 
county,  and  began  practicing  here  in  June,  1830. 
He  became  a  member  of  the  Medical  Society  of 
the  territory,  and  took  such  other  steps  as  enabled 
him  to  practice  without  violation  of  law.  The 
country  was  sparsely  settled  and  his  practice 
took  a  wide  range,  covering  a  radius  of  thirty 
miles  or  more.  In  less  than  three  months  after 
he  located  in  the  county  he  had  an  attack  of 
fever,  and  during  its  continuance  he  experienced 
all  the  privations  of  log-cabin  life  on  the  frontier. 
Under  the  treatment  of  another  physician  tem- 
porarily located  at  White  Pigeon,  some  twenty 
miles  distant,  he  speedily  recovered  and  soon 
afterward  resumed  his  work,  although  for  two  or 
three  years,  laborious  as  it  was,  it  little  more  than 
paid  his  actual  expenses  of  living.  Soon,  however, 
conditions  so  changed  in  the  section  that  he 
worked  rapidly  into  a  lucrative  business.  In 
1832  he  bought  ninety  acres  of  prairie  land  for 
the  sum  of  three  hundred  dollars,  the  most  of  the 
purchase  money  being  borrowed,  and  the  land, 
which  had  been  held  back  for  the  use  of  the  State 
University,  being  sold  at  a  great  advance  over 
the  original  government  price.  By  this  time  im- 
provements had  begun  at  Schoolcraft,  and  the  in- 
dications were  that  this  village  would  be  ere 
long  the  center  of  business  for  Big  Prairie  Ronde, 
Gourd  Neck,  and  a  large  extent  of  the  surround- 
ing country.  He  thereupon  changed  his  resi- 
dence to  that  place,  and  his  practice  grew  rapidly 


to  large  proportions.  He  applied  himself  closely 
to  business,  during  the  first  five  years  after  he 
moved  to  Schoolcraft,  never  being  twenty-four 
hours  at  a  time  out  of  the  range  of  his  work.  For 
fourteen  years  he  went  about  mostly  on  horse- 
back, and  to  this  he  attributed  his  continuous 
health  and  strength  in  spite  of  the  great  loss  of 
sleep,  long  exposures  to  bad  weather,  and  other 
hardships  he  was  obliged  to  undergo.  His 
brother,  Dr.  Jesse  Thomas,  who  had  studied  with 
Dr.  William  Hamilton,  of  Mount  Pleasant,  Ohio, 
joined  him  and  assisted  in  his  practice  in  the 
summer  of  1836.  The  brother  attended  a  course 
of  lectures  at  the  Medical  College  of  Ohio  in  the 
following  winter,  and  again  came  to  this  county  in 
the  spring  and  resumed  his  place  with  the  Doc- 
tor. This  part  of  the  country  was  very  unhealthy 
for  a  few  years  after  its  first  settlement,  and  the 
demands  on  the  time  and  skill  of  doctors  were 
continual  and  exacting,  leaving  them  no  oppor- 
tunity for  other  business,  or  even  for  the  ordi- 
nary enjoyments  of  life.  But  as  the  sanitary 
conditions  improved,  and  the  improvement  of  his 
land  and  other  business  incident  thereto  began  to 
claim  more  and  more  of  his  attention,  the  Doctor 
thought  of  gradually  leaving  his  practice  to  his 
brother  and  seeking  a  well  earned  relief  in  other 
engagements  which  he  deemed  less  exacting.  But 
in  the  meantime  his  brother's  attention  was  at- 
tracted to  the  growing  importance  and  promise  of 
a  territory  farther  west,  and  in  the  summer  of 
1845  Dr.  Jesse  Thomas  and  Hiram  Moore  made 
an  exploration  of  what  is  now  Green  Lake  county. 
Wis.,  and  the  country  adjacent  thereto.  This  led 
to  the  removal  of  Dr.  Jesse  to  the  neighborhood 
of  Green  Lake  in  the  spring  of  1847.  So  Dr.  Na- 
than was  forced  to  continue  in  active  practice 
awhile  longer.  But  he  invested  his  accumula- 
tions in  land,  and  when  he  finally  retired  from 
professional  duties  he  owned  about  two  thousand 
acres,  the  greater  part  of  which  was,  however, 
unimproved  and  yielded  no  income.  He  there- 
fore gradually  sold  the  most  of  his  land  and 
placed  the  proceeds  in  more  profitable  investments. 
Throughout  his  residence  in  the  county  he  was  an 
ardent  practical  abolitionist,  and  as  such  in  1840 
helped   to   form   the   Liberal   party,   having  pre- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


517 


viously  united  with  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  other  male  citizens  of  Prairie  Ronde  and 
Brady  townships  in  petitioning  the  United  States 
congress  against  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the 
United  States  because  it  was  slave  territory,  their 
memorial  being  the  first  on  the  subject  sent  to 
congress  from  Michigan.  The  Doctor  also  united 
with  others  in  petitioning  congress  from  time  to 
time  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, and  against  the  admission  to  the  Union  of  any 
more  slave  states.  In  1839  ne  joined  a  movement 
for  the  establishment  of  an  anti-slavery  paper  in 
this  state,  the  enterprise  requiring  of  its  promot- 
ers a  vast  amount  of  labor  and  considerable  pecu- 
niary sacrifice.  In  1845  ne  was  tn€  candidate  of 
the  Liberal  party  for  the  office  of  lieutenant  gov- 
ernor of  the  state,  and  in  1848,  when  the  Liberal 
party  was  merged  into  the  Free-Soil  party,  he 
became  a  prominent  member  of  the  new  organiza- 
tion, serving  on  the  electoral  ticket  put  up  by  it 
in  1852.  In  1854  he  was  a  member  of  the  mass 
convention  which  organized  the  Republican  party 
"under  the  oaks"  at  Jackson,  being  one  of  a  com- 
mittee of  sixteen  delegated  by  the  Free-Soilers  to 
represent  them  in  the  organization  then  effected; 
and  he  was  also  one  of  the  nominating  committee 
which  selected  the  first  state  ticket  of  the  new 
party.  During  the  Civil  war  he  cordially  sup- 
ported the  Union,  and  helped  to  urge  congress  to 
abolish  slavery  as  a  matter  of  right  and  a  means 
of  ending  the  war.  For  years  before  the  war  be- 
gan he  was  the  Schoolcraft  agent  of  the  "Under- 
ground Railway,"  having  been,  in  fact,  one  of  its 
organizers.  This  enterprise  was  in  active  oper- 
ations more  than  twenty  years,  and  during  that 
period  about  fifteen  hundred  slaves  escaped 
through  this  part  of  Michigan  to  Canada.  On 
March  17,  1840,  the  Doctor  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Pamela  S.  Brown,  a  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Sally  (Parker)  Brown,  of  Plymouth, 
Vt.,  and  a  sister  of  Hon.  E.  Lakin  Brown,  of 
Schoolcraft.  Four  children  blessed  the  union, 
Avis,  now  deceased,  the  wife  of  John  J.  Hop- 
kins, Stanton,  of  Cassppolis,  Ella  and  Malcolm. 
The  Doctor  died  at  his  home  at  Schoolcraft  on 
April  7,  1887,  being  at  the  time  a  stockholder  in 
the  First  National  Bank  of  that  place.  His  wife 
is  still  living,  aged  eighty-nine  years. 


EVERT  B.   DYCKMAN. 

Evert  B.  Dyckman  was  born  in  Greenbush, 
N.  Y.,  September  25,  1799.  When  a  child  his 
.parents  moved  to  Onondaga  county,  N.  Y.,  where 
he  grew  to  manhood,  enjoying  only  limited  means 
of  education.  When  twenty  years  of  age  he 
purchased  one  hundred  acres  of  timber  land,  upon 
which  he  built  a  rude  house  to  accommodate  him- 
self and  his  father  and  mother,  who  lived  with 
him.  During  the  first  three  years  the  land,  which 
had  been  purchased  entirely  on  credit,  was  paid 
for,  the  family  supported,  and  some  comforts 
secured.  At  this  time  Mr.  Dyckman  was  mar- 
ried to  Harriet  Hinckley,  of  Liverpool,  N.  Y. 
Soon  after  this  the  Oswego  canal  was  located 
through  his  land.  This  furnished  an  opportunity 
for  his  genius  and  enterprise.  He  assisted  in  the 
construction  of  the  canal,  and  upon  its  comple- 
tion established  a  boatyard,  and  was  engaged  in 
boating  for  several  years,  and  also  carried  on  an 
extensive  coopering  business.  He  was,  at  the 
same  time,  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business, 
which  was  successfully  conducted. 

In  1836  he  fell  in  with  the  tide  of  emigration 
then  settling  west ;  came  to  Detroit,  purchased  a 
pony,  and  rode  through  the  state,  looking  for  a 
desirable  location  for  future  operations.  In  1838 
he  closed  up  his  business  in  New  York,  and,  with 
his  family  moved  to  Paw  Paw,  Van  Buren 
county,  where  he  purchased  one  thousand  acres 
of  land.  While  he  resided  in  New  York  his  wife 
had  died,  leaving  seven  children. '  Six  of  these, 
with  his  father  and  mother,  two  nephews  and  two 
nieces,  made  a  family  of  thirteen,  which  he 
brought  to  Van  Buren  county,  a  very  respectable 
addition  to  a  frontier  neighborhood.  Mr.  Dyck- 
man changed  his  residence  to  Schoolcraft  in  1841, 
where  he  resided  until  his  death.  His  business 
interests  have  been  scattered  throughout  several 
counties  in  the  state.  He  had  important  interests 
in  Van  Buren  county.  At  Paw  Paw  he  built  a 
grist  mill  and  store  and  the  Dyckman  House. 
In  1853  he  made  an  important  purchase  at  South 
Haven  of  some  six  hundred  acres  of  land,  which 
includes  what  is  now  the  principal  portion  of  the 
village.  He  erected  a  steam  saw  mill,  a  store,  and 
several  houses;  improved  the  river,  built  a  pier, 


5*» 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


etc.  He  was  interested  in  timber  lands  and  a  mill 
at  Pine  Grove.  At  Schoolcraft  he  was  interested 
in  the  firm  of  M.  N.  Duncan  &  Company  in  dis- 
tilling high  wines,  in  the  firm  of  I.  W.  Pursel  & 
Company  in  milling  and  buying  and  selling  prod- 
uce and  merchandise,  and  also  in  other  manufac- 
turing. He  was  interested  in  the  banking  firm 
of  M.  R.  Cobb  &  Company  from  1867  until  the 
First  National  Bank  was  organized ;  he  was  presi- 
dent of  this  bank  during  the  five  years  it  was  do- 
ing business,  and  president  of  the  private  bank 
of  E.  B.  Dyckman  &  Company  from  the  time  it 
was  organized  until  his  death  in  1881.  He  was 
active  in  politics  and  interested  in  the  affairs  of 
the  county ;  was  elected  representative  from  this 
county  and  voted  for  the  removal  of  the  capital 
from  Detroit  to  Lansing.  He  was  very  active  in 
promoting  railroads  and  other  improvements, 
spending  much  time  and  money  in  getting  the 
railroad  from  Three  Rivers  to  Kalamazoo  estab- 
lished. When  the  village  of  Schoolcraft  was  first 
incorporated  in  1866,  Mr.  Dyckman  was  elected 
as  the  first  president. 

HENRY  J.   DANIELS. 

This  well  known  and  respected  pioneer  of 
Wakeshma  township  is  a  native  of  Hampshire 
county,  Mass.,  born  on  August  27,  1824.  His 
parents  were  Barney  and  Mayheptibal  (Lincoln) 
Daniels,  also  natives  of  Massachusetts.  The 
father  was  a  shoemaker  and  farmer,  and  followed 
those  lines  of  industry  in  his  native  state  until 
1832,  when  he  moved  to  Medina  county,  Ohio, 
where  he  located  on  a  tract  of  wild  land  of  which 
he  made  a  fine  farm,  and  on  which  he  passed  the 
rest  of  his  life,  dying  at  the  age  of  ninety-five 
years.  He  was  the  first  treasurer  of  Chatham 
township,  Medina  county,  and  was  also  treasurer 
of  the  county,  and  filled  other  local  offices.  His 
church  affiliation  was  with  the  Congregationalists, 
and  he  was  a  trustee  of  the  congregation  to  which 
he  belonged.  In  politics  he  was  a  Jacksonian 
Democrat.  An  earnestly  patriotic  man,  he  enlisted 
for  the  war  of  18 12,  but  he  was  not  called  into 
active  service.  Of  his  six  children,  three  sons  and 
one  daughter  are   living,  all  being  residents  of 


Ohio  but  Henry  J.  He  grew  to  manhood  in  Me- 
dina county,  Ohio,  attending  the  common  schools 
and  for  a  short  time  a  select  school,  and  began  life 
as  a  teacher,  following  that  occupation  four  years. 
He  then  worked  at  the  carpenter  trade  and  farmed 
in  Ohio  until  1864.  In  that  year  he  came  to 
Kalamazoo  county  and  bought  his  present  farm 
in  Wakeshma  township,  which  he  has  since 
greaty  improved  and  continuously  occupied,  ex- 
cept for  a  period  when  he  made  his  home  at 
Vicksburg.  He  has  a  fine  dwelling  and  good 
barns  and  other  buildings  on  his  place,  making  it 
one  of  the  desirable  homes  of  that  part  of  the 
county.  He  owns  more  than  six  hundred  and 
fifty  acres  of  good  land  in  this  county  and  St. 
Joseph,  and  town  property  in  addition.  In  1849 
he  was  married  in  Ohio  to  Miss  Eunice  M.  Hall, 
a  native  of  St.  Lawrence  county,  N.  Y.  They  had 
three  sons  and  a  daughter.  The  sons,  who  are  liv- 
ing, are  Albert  E.,  a  farmer  of  Brady ;  William 
H.,  of  Milwaukee;  and  Franklin  D.,  of  St.  Joseph 
county.  The  daughter,  who  is  now  deceased,  was 
Ida  E._,  the  wife  of  Elmer  J.  Kimble.  Mr.  Dan- 
iels is  a  leading  Democrat  and  has  served  several 
years  as  supervisor  and  a  justice  of  the  peace.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  lodge  at  Fulton.  Hav- 
ing lived  for  more  than  forty  years  in  the  county, 
and  ever  borne  well  and  faithfully  his  part  as  a 
good  citizen,  he  is  widely  known  and  highly  es- 
teemed in  all  parts  of  the  region  and  among  all 
classes  of  its  people. 

MOSES   RUSH   COBB. 

Moses  Rush  Cobb  was  born  July  9,  181 5,  at 
Springfield,  Vt.  He  came  to  Schoolcraft,  Mich., 
in  1837,  and  was  engaged  in  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness with  his  brothers  until  1845.  He  then  spent 
nearly  four  years  in  Wisconsin.  Returning  in 
1849,  ne  was  ag"am  m  the  mercantile  business 
until  1851.  In  1851,  in  company  with  M.  N. 
Duncan,  E.  B.  Dyckman  and  Henry  Breese,  the 
firm  of  M.  R.  Cobb  &  Company  was  formed. 
They  built  a  large  distillery,  and  started  an  ex- 
tensive dry  goods  business,  which  was  continued 
until  Mr.  Cobb  withdrew  in  1857.  The  business 
was  then  continued  under  the  name  of  M.   N. 


HENRY  I.  DANIELS. 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


52i 


Duncan  &  Company.  Mr.  Cobb  spent  part  of 
1857-8  in  Missouri.  He  returned  in  1858  and 
was  married  to  Elizabeth  Dyekman.  From  1859 
to  1865  he  was  interested  in  the  drug  business 
with  O.  R.  Hatch,  the  firm  name  being  O.  R. 
Hatch  &  Company.  He  was  in  the  grocery  busi- 
ness with  M.  Hale  for  one  year,  part  of  1865-6. 
In  1867,  in  company  with  E.  B.  Dyekman,  M. 
Hale  and  I.  W.  Pursel,  the  bank  of  M.  R.  Cobb 
&  Company  was  formed,  and  he  was  cashier  of 
this  bank  until  the  First  National  Bank  was  or- 
ganized in  1870.  He  was  cashier  of  the  First 
National  for  the  five  years  they  were  doing  busi- 
ness, and  then  cashier  of  the  private  bank  of  E.  B. 
Dyekman  &  Company  from  1875  to  1882.  From 
1882  until  his  death  in  1904,  his  time  was  spent 
with  his  family. 

HON.  NATHANIEL  A.  BALCH. 

Mr.  Balch  was  born  at  Athens,  Vt.,  January 
2,  1808,  and  died  at  the  home  of  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  John  den  Bleyker,  in  Kalamazoo,  February 
1,  1894.  Mr.  Balch  made  the  most  of  his  early 
educational  advantages,  and  at  seventeen  years  of 
age  commenced  teaching  and  preparing  for  col- 
lege. He  graduated  at  Middlebury  College  in 
1835,  and  from  this  institution  received  the  de- 
grees of  Bachelor  of  Arts  and  Master  of  Arts. 
As  a  broad  foundation  for  a  jurist,  he  not  only 
read  law,  but  medicine  and  theology  as  well,  an 
example  which  members  of  the  profession  would 
do  well  to  emulate  more  than  they  do.  After 
graduation  he  taught  for  a  time  in  Vermont,  be- 
ing principal  of  Bennington  Academy.  In  1837 
he  came  to  Kalamazoo  and  taught  in  the  Huron 
Literary  Institute,  which  afterward  became  Kala- 
mazoo College.  Mr.  Balch  made  profession  of 
religion  while  in  college  and  united  with  the 
Congregational  church.  Afterward,  for  the 
greater  part  of  his  mature  years,  he  was  identi- 
fied with  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  was  active 
and  prominent  in  the  religious  and  social  meet- 
ings. He  was  a  remarkable  Bible  student,  and 
always  a  successful  Bible-class  teacher.  Some  of 
us,  members  of  the  bar,  used  to  be  ungenerous 
enough  to  think,  in  the  exciting  contests  in  court, 

29 


he  sometimes  got  Bible  and  Shakespeare  badly 
mixed.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Centre- 
ville,  St.  Joseph  county,  in  March,  1840;  was 
elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  Kalamazoo  county 
in  1842,  and  afterward  appointed  to  that  office  for 
Barry  county  by  the  circuit  judge;  represented 
his  district  in  the  state  senate  in  1847,  and  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  business  of  the  legis- 
lature;  was  postmaster  of  Kalamazoo  in  1857  and 
held  that  office  for  nearly  five  years;  was  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  congress  in  i860;  president 
of  the  village  of  Kalamazoo;  president  of  the 
board  of  education  of  the  village  and  of  the 
Kalamazoo  Bar  Association  for  more  than  twenty- 
five  years.  He  was  a  life-long  Democrat  of  the 
old  line.  His  strong  individuality,  partisanship, 
and  naturally  antagonistic  spirit  rendered  him  a 
candidate  who  could  not  overcome  Republican 
majorities,  and  barred  him  from  the  higher  offices. 
His  early,  partners  were  Walter  Clark,  Samuel 
Clark,  afterward  member  of  congress,  and  Wil- 
liam H.  Deyoe.  Mitchel  J.  Smiley,  Walter  Balch, 
his  son,  Hon.  William  G.  Howard  and  William 
Shakespeare  were  later  partners. 

Among  the  members  of  the  bar  of  the  county 
there  has  never  been  a  more  classical  and  thor- 
ough scholar  than  Mr.  Balch,  and  few  equally 
well-read  attorneys.  His  practice  was  large  and 
extended  into  surrounding  counties.  No  one  im- 
pressed himself  more  upon  the  practice  in  the  trial 
of  causes  than  he,  though  had  the  manner  been 
toned  down  the  practice  would  have  been  the 
gainer.  It  was  a  hot  fight  from  call  of  case  to 
verdict  of  jury.  His  client  was  an  angel  and  the 
other  party  little  less  than  a  demon.  The  oppos- 
ing attorney  must  be  ever  ready  to  give  and  take. 
This  was  born  in  him,  a  part  of  his  being,  and  was 
an  unfortunate  characteristic;  unfortunate  espe- 
cially for  himself,  and  unpleasant  for  all.  But  it 
can  truly  be  said  that  the  strife  was  all  forgotten 
when  the  trial  ceased,  that  there  was  no  remain- 
ing bitterness  on  his  part,  and  scarce  ever  any  on 
the  part  of  his  brothers  at  the  bar. 

Mr.  Balch  was  a  strong,  honest  man,  a  strong, 
though  not  polished  speaker,  public  spirited,  kind 
of  heart,  sympathetic,  ready  to  help  the  unfor- 
tunate and  to  aid  any  good  cause. 


522 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


JUDGE  B.  F.  GRAVES. 

Benjamin  F.  Graves,  like  a  large  portion  of 
the  early  settlers  of  Michigan,  was  from  the  state 
of  New  York.  He  was  born  in  Gates,  just  west 
of  Rochester,  in  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  October 
1 8,  1 817.  The  farm  was  his  home,  with  only 
such  meagre  advantages  as  country  life  then  af- 
forded a  boy  and  young  man.  That  those  advan- 
tages were  made  the  most. of,  his  after  life  gives 
ample  proof. 

Being  unfitted  for  manual  labor,  and  possessed 
of  a  spirit  that  could  not  be  satisfied  with  farm 
boundaries,  he  struck  out  from  the  farm  home 
in  the  spring  of  1837,  and  entered  a  law  office  in 
Albion,  Orleans  county,  N.  Y.,  and  combined  gen- 
eral study  with  law  and  clerical  work.  After  a 
few  months  he  entered  the  law  office  of  M.  F. 
Delano,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  in  January, 
1838,  became  senior  law  student  in  the  office  of 
Gardiner  &  Delano,  one  of  the  ablest  law  firms 
of  the  state.  Judge  Addison  Gardiner  for  several 
years  had  been  circuit  judge  and  vice  chancellor 
of  the  eighth  district.  In  October,  1841,  young 
Graves  was  admitted  to  the  supreme  court,  and 
the  winter  following  was  journalizing  clerk  in  the 
senate  at  Albany.  In  May,  1843,  ne  located  in  the 
then  little  hamlet  of  Battle  Creek,  Mich.,  where 
was  his  home  during  his  active  professional  and 
official  life,  and  until  his  removal  to  Detroit  to 
spend  his  evening  days  in  the  families  of  his  chil- 
dren. There  he  now  lives,  the  same  bright,  gen- 
ial, lovable  citizen  and  friend  as  in  his  more  active 
years.  •  Any  friend  who  calls,  as  was  the  privilege 
of  the  writer,  can  hardly  spend  a  more  enjoyable 
season  than  with  him.  Reviewing  the  men  and 
incidents  of  social,  professional  and  court  life  of 
earlier  da/ys  is  delightful.  He  is  the  same  bright, 
warm,  jovial  friend  as  in  years  gone  by. 

The  larger  part  of  Judge  Graves'  active  life 
was  spent  in  judicial  positions.  The  old  fifth 
judicial  district,  and  the  state  of  Michigan  gen- 
erally, are  greatly  his  debtors.  The  meager  sala- 
ries he  received  were  small  compensation  for  serv- 
ices rendered.  He  was  circuit  judge  from  Janu- 
ary, 1858,  till  July  1,  1866,  when  he  resigned. 
In  the  spring  of  1867  he  was  elected  to  the  su- 


preme bench  for  the  term  of  eight  years,  and  at 
the  close  of  that  term  became  his  own  successor, 
receiving  the  support  of  both  political  parties — 
sixteen  years  on  the  bench  of  the  supreme  court. 
He  declined  a  third  term.  The  reports  of  that 
court  bear  ample  testimony  to  his  industry,  broad 
learning  and  ability.  His  culture  is  not  confined 
to  his  chosen  profession,  but  reaches  out,  broad 
and  well  rounded.  Whatever  was  for  the  general 
good  of  the  community  received  his  hearty  and 
efficient  support. 

Though  never  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  county, 
we  used  to  feel  that  he  belonged  to  us,  and  some 
of  us,  as  did  the  writer,  received  our  first  lessons 
in  practice  under  him.  It  is  a  great  pleasure  to 
review  those  freshman  days.  No  circuit  judge 
did  more  to  establish  and  improve  the  practice  in 
the  circuit  court,  and  no  one  has  to  a  fuller  meas- 
ure enjoyed  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  com- 
munity and  bar,  both  as  to  integrity  and  ability, 
than  has  Judge  Graves. 

HON.  CHARLES  SEDGWICK  MAY. 

Mr.  May  was  born  at  Sandisfield,  Mass., 
March  22,  1830.  When  four  years  old  he  re- 
moved with  his  parents  to  Richland,  Kalamazoo 
county,  Mich.,  and  spent  his  boyhood  days  on 
the  farm.  After  completing  his  academic  educa- 
tion at  the  Kalamazoo  branch  of  the  University  of 
Michigan,  he  studied  law  at  Bennington,  Vt.,  and 
Rattle  Creek,  Mich.  While  thus  engaged  he  be- 
came thoroughly  enlisted  in  the  anti-slavery 
movement,  and  contributed  various  articles  upon 
that  subject  to  the  journals  of  the  state.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1854,  and  after  about  a 
year's  practice  of  his  profession  became  associate 
political  editor  of  the  Detroit  Daily  Tribune,  and 
the  Washington  correspondent  from  November, 
1855,  to  October  following.  He  returned  to  his 
professional  work  in  1856,  practicing  both  at 
Battle  Creek  and  Kalamazoo.  In  November, 
i860,  he  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  of 
Kalamazoo  county  and  held  that  office  till  Janu- 
ary, 1863.  He  helped  to  raise  the  first  volunteer 
company  from  Kalamazoo — Company  K,  Second 
Michigan    Infantry,   of   which   he   was   commis- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


523 


sioned  captain.  Mr.  May  lead  his  company  with 
honor  in  the  battles  of  Bull  Run  and  Blackburn's 
Ford,  and  was  the  first  officer  of  his  regiment  to 
be  recommended  for  promotion  by  Major  Gen- 
eral Richardson.  Ill  health  necessitated  his  leav- 
ing the  army,  and  in  the  summer  or  fall  of  1861 
he  returned  to  the  practice  of  his  profession.  In 
the  fall  of  1863  he  was  elected  lieutenant  gov- 
ernor of  the  state,  and  presided  over  the  senate  at 
the  sessions  of  1863-4.  In  August,  1866,  he  pre- 
sided at  the  Republican  state  convention  at 
Detroit. 

Mr.  May  was  an  active  Republican  from  the 
organization  of  that  party  to  the  presidential 
campaign  of  1872,  when  he  became  an  active 
Democrat,  and  candidate  for  presidential  elector, 
and  continued  to  labor  with  that  party  so  long  as 
he  took  an  active  part  in  politics.  In  1877  ne  was 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  United  States  sen- 
ator. He  was  an  effective  political  speaker  and 
rendered  valuable  service  for  the  party  to  which 
he  was  allied. 

Mr.  May's  chief  distinction  as  a  lawyer  lay  in 
his  ability  to  present  a  case  to  a  jury,  and  in  this 
he  ranked  high.  He  had  little  relish  for  the 
drudgery  of  preparing  a  case  for  trial,  or  deter- 
mining what  law  writers  or  the  courts  had  said 
on  the  legal  questions  involved.  In  his  particular 
sphere  he  hardly  had  a  peer  at  the  Kalamazoo 
bar,  unless  it  was  the  Hon.  Charles  E.  Stuart. 
His  literary  ability  and  oratorical  powers  were  of 
a  high  order.  The  classical  quality  of  his  style, 
the  strength  and  often  pungent  quality  of  his 
sentences  and  logic,  and  purity  and  effectiveness 
of  his  imagery  and  diction,  with  pleasing,  well 
modulated  voice  and  gesture,  and  often  intense 
earnestness,  rendered  him  a  leading  public  speaker 
and  orator,  whether  before  a  jury  or  on  the  plat- 
form. Quite  a  number  of  his  addresses  were 
published,  popular  and  widely  circulated,  but 
those  which  gained  him  his  greatest  reputation 
were  extemporaneous. 

Mr.  May  was  of  a  very  sensitive  nature,  true 
to  his  convictions  of  propriety  and  right,  and  led 
a  pure  life.  He  was  easily  irritated,  and  there- 
fore not  always  as  happy  as  he  would  otherwise 
have  been.     His   ability   entitled   him   to  higher 


political  positions  than  he  attained;  and  greater 
success  was  hindered  by  himself,  his  aspirations 
and  disposition  to  prematurely  force  promotion. 
He  could  not  brook  disappointment,  or  the  failure 
of  young  men,  of  somewhat  his  own  age  and 
standing,  to  coincide  with  his  views,  both  as  to 
position  to  be  sought  and  time  for  effort.  Too 
much  allegiance  and  ignoring  of  their  own  inter- 
ests and  individuality  were  demanded.  In  that 
way  he  drove  from  him  those  whose  support  he 
could  illy  afford  to  lose. 

For  several  years  Mr.  May  was  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  national  Unitarian  conference ;  and  in 
1870  he  was  selected  by  the  national  committee 
to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  office  of  president  of  the 
conference,  vacated  by  the  death  of  Hon.  Thomas 
D.  Elliott. 

In  1888,  on  account  of  failing  health,  Mr.  May 
retired  from  active  practice  of  his  profession  and 
built  a  country  home,  "Island  View/'  on  a  favor- 
ite elevation  overlooking  Gull  lake.  Here,  amid 
restful  and  congenial  surroundings,  he  devoted 
himself  to  literary  work,  contributing  to  leading 
papers  and  magazines  many  valuable  articles.  His 
interest  in  public  affairs  was  keen  to  the  last. 
Not  long  before  his  death  Mr.  May  published  a 
volume  entitled,  "Speeches  of  the  Stump,  the  Bar 
and  the  Platform/'  followed  by  "How  We  Are 
Governed  in  State  and  Nation."  His  final  illness, 
heart  disease,  was  of  short  duration.  He  passed 
away  on  the  25th  day  of  March,  1891,  three  days 
after  his  seventy-first  birthday.  The  wealth  of 
personal  tributes  and  testimonials  showed  the 
wide-spread  esteem  in  which  he  was  held. 

HON.  JOSEPH  MILLER. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  about 
18 1 7,  in  Winsted,  Conn.  The  family  removed  to 
the  territory  of  Michigan  in  the  early  '30s,  and 
settled  in  Richland,  Kalamazoo  county.  His  fa- 
ther was  a  lawyer,  as  was  also  a  brother,  James, 
a  prominent  lawyer  at  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.  Hon. 
Eli  R.  Miller,  long  a  prominent  citizen  of  Rich- 
land, and  member  of  the  legislature,  was  also  a 
brother.  Mr.  Miller  did  not  have  the  advantage 
of  a  liberal  education.     He  read  law  in  his  home 


524 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


and  in  office  in  Kalamazoo.  For  a  time  he  was 
clerk  in  one  or  more  of  the  public  offices  of  the 
county.  Shortly  after  being  admitted  to  the  bar 
he  entered  into  partnership  with  Charles  E.  Stu- 
art, afterward  member  of  congress  and  United 
States  senator.  The  firm  was  very  prominent  for 
many  years,  and  did  an  extensive  business  in 
Kalamazoo  and  adjoining  counties. 

Mr.  Miller  was  a  Democrat,  and  while  he  stood 
firmly  by  his  convictions,  he  was  not  a  bitter  parti- 
san, but  liberal  toward  those  who  disagreed  with 
him.  He  held  the  office  of  prosecuting  attorney 
of  the  county,  and  was  United  States  district  at- 
torney for  Michigan  during  President  Buchanan's 
administration.  The  state  then  formed  one  judi- 
cial district.  He  performed  his  official  duties  with 
fidelity  and  special  ability.  A  well  read,  strong, 
well  rounded  lawyer,  he  was  at  home  and  success- 
ful in  all  branches  of  the  profession.  Oratory 
was  not  his  fort,  but  his  fair,  strong  way  of  pre- 
senting a  case  to  court  and  jury  carried  conviction. 

Mr.  Miller  died  April  9,  1864,  while  the  strug- 
gle for  the  Union  was  still  on.  He  was  cut  off 
before  reaching  the  position  which  his  ability,  in- 
tegrity and  industry  fitted  him  to  attain.  Neither 
his  brother  attorneys,  nor  the  community  gener- 
ally, had  reason  to  complain  of  treatment  at  his 
hands.  He  was  public  spirited,  and  highly  re- 
spected by  all.  It  is  a  pleasure  for  the  writer  to 
pay  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Joseph  Miller. 

VAN  BOCHONE  &  SONS. 

Van  Bochone  &  Sons,  proprietors  of  a  build- 
ing and  contracting  enterprise  with  a  planing 
mill  and  plant  for  the  manufacture  of  house  fur- 
nishings attached,  which  is  one  of  the  oldest  and 
best  known  industrial  concerns  in  the  city,  have 
a  high  rank  in  the  business  world  for  the  energy 
and  progressiveness  of  their  methods  and  the 
spirit  of  fair  dealing  which  characterizes  all  their 
transactions.  The  business  as  now  conducted 
was  founded  in  1893  as  a  stock  company  with 
a  capital  stock  of  twenty  thousand  dollars.  The 
present  officers  are  Richard  Van  Bochone,  pres- 
ident, Benjamin  Van  Bochone,  vice-president,  and 
Sanborn  Van  Bochone,  secretary  and  treasurer.  The 


father,  Richard  Van  Bochone,  was  the  original 
proprietor  and  started  the  business  in  1871,  con- 
fining his  operations  to  contracting  and  general 
building.  The  next  year  the  planing  mill  and 
the  plant  for  making  house  furnishings  was  add- 
ed, and  in  1890  a  lumber  yard  with  a  large  stock 
of  all  kinds  of  lumber.  The  father  is  a  native  of 
Holland,  born  in  18 18  near  Nieuwe  Beijerland. 
He  was  reared  in  his  native  land  where  he  re- 
ceived a  limited  education  in  the  state  schools 
and  learned  the  trade  of  a  millwright.  He  was 
then  engaged  in  the  construction  of  the  old  Dutch 
windmill  in  various  parts  of  Holland  until  1846, 
when  he  came  to  the  United  States.  After  pass- 
ing two  years  there  in  carpenter  work  he  became 
a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  in  1853  and  began  con- 
tracting and  building  on  a  small  scale,  putting 
up  some  of  the"  earlier  buildings  of  consequence 
dick  street  and  the  gravel  house  for  Dr.  Sill.  He 
in  the  town,  among  them  the  gas  house  on  Bur- 
returned  to  the  East  for  a  short  time,  but  in  1861 
again  came  to  Kalamazoo  which  has  ever  since 
been  his  home  and  the  seat  of  his  laudable  and 
serviceable  enterprise.  In  politics  he  is  a  Re- 
publican of  firm  convictions  and  great  activity, 
and  before  the  Civil  war  he  was  a  zealous  aboli- 
tionist. He  aided  in  organizing  the  Republican 
party  in  this  state  and  from  its  formation  has 
given  its  principles  and  candidates  his  loyal  and 
unswerving  support.  Although  not  desirous  of 
official  station  of  any  kind,  he  has  been  prevailed 
on  at  times  to  accept  a  local  office  and  has  per- 
formed its  duties  with  credit  to  himself  and  ad- 
vantage to  the  people.  In  church  affiliation  he 
is  connected  with  the  Congregational  church.  In 
1848  he  was  married  in  New  York  city  to  Miss 
Johanna  Emaus,  of  the  same  nativity  as  himself. 
They  have  six  sons  and  two  daughters  living  and 
all  are  residents  of  Kalamazoo  but  one  who  lives 
in  Grand  Rapids.  The  two  sons  connected  with 
the  company  are  Benjamin  and  Samuel.  They 
have  been  in  the  business  since  1872.  Benjamin 
was  born  in  New  Jersey  and  came  to  Michigan 
with  his  parents  in  1853.  He  and  his  brother  are 
also  part  owners  of  the  Van  Bochone  Building 
&  Real  Estate  Company,  a  limited  corporation 
with  a  capital  stock  of  twenty  thousand  dollars, 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


525 


which  owns  property  on  Vine  and  Portage  streets. 
They,  like  their  father,  are  ardent  Republicans 
but  not  office  seekers.  The  business  of  their 
main  enterprise  has  grown  from  a  small  begin- 
ning to  an  annual  volume  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars.  The  company,  although  organized 
many  years  ago,  is  not  behind  the  times  or  want- 
ing in  the  most  progressive  enterprise,  but  is 
up-to-date  in  all  respects  and  in  every  way  worthy 
of  the  high  regard  in  which  it  is  held. 

Since  the  above  article  was  prepared,  Van 
Bochone  &  Sons  have  disposed  of  the  business. 

HON.  FREDERICK  W.  CURTENIUS. 

Few  men  in  the  state  of  Michigan  have 
served  their  country  as  loyally  and  faithfully  as 
did  Colonel  Frederick  Curtenius,  of  Kalamazoo, 
Mich.  He  was  born  on  September  20,  1805,  in 
New  York  city,  inheriting  from  both  grand- 
fathers, who  distinguished  themselves  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary war,  great  patriotism  and  love  for  his 
country.  His  paternal  grandfather,  who  was  a 
merchant  in  New  York,  upon  hearing  of  the 
poverty  in  the  army,  and  their  inability  to  carry  on 
the  campaign  for  lack  of  funds,  sold  his  entire 
stock,  which  amounted  to  sixteen  thousand  dol- 
lars, which  he  gave  towards  purchasing  supplies 
for  the  recruits.  He  gave  the  first  public  reading 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  New  York 
city,  and  was  one  of  the  principal  band  of  rebels 
that  took  the  leaden  statue  of  George  III  from 
its  pedestal,  cut  it  into  pieces,  and  had  it  molded 
into  bullets  for  the  use  of  the  rebel  army.  Fred- 
erick W.  Curtenius'  father,  Peter  Curtenius,  was 
a  general  in  the  war  of  181 2,  and  commander  of 
the  troops  in  the  barracks  at  New  York,  after- 
ward being  marshal  of  the  state  of  New  York,  at 
which  time  he  arrested  Aaron  Burr  for  treason. 
He  was  repeatedly  elected  to  the  state  legisla- 
ture, and  while  there  was  an  intimate  friend  of 
President  Van  Buren.  By  the  death  of  his  father, 
Frederick  Curtenius  was  left  an  orphan  at  the 
age  of  eleven  years.  He  attended  Hamilton  Col- 
lege in  New  York,  but  because  he  stoutly  refused 
to  give  the  names  of  some  comrades  of  his  that 
had  been  in  some  college  pranks,  the  faculty  re- 


fused to  give  him  his  degree.  However,  sixty 
years  later,  when  Colonel  Curtenius  was  seventy- 
seven  years  old,  the  faculty  reconsidered  the  mat- 
ter and  sent  him  the  long-deserved  diploma.  He 
left  college  in  1823,  and  took  up  the  study  of  law, 
but  not  being  satisfied  with  the  life  of  a  lawyer, 
he  left  three  months  later  for  South  America, 
where,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  became  a  lieuten- 
ant in  the  army  of  Samuel  Bolivar,  the  world- 
renowned  patriot  who  fought  to  free  the  Peruvians 
from  the  despotism  of  Spain.  After  gallantly 
serving  here,  he  returned  to  New  York  at  the 
close  of  the  war,  and  in  1831  became  colonel  of 
the  New  York  militia.  Having  accumulated  a  lit- 
tle money  by  various  enterprises,  he  set  out  for 
the  west,  arriving  in  Kalamazoo,  where  he  bought 
a  farm  in  1835.  In  1842  he  was  appointed  one 
of  the  board  of  visitors  to  West  Point  Military 
Academy.  He  raised  a  company  for  the  First 
Regiment  of  Michigan  Infantry  in  1847,  and  saw 
active  service  in  the  war  of  Mexico.  From  1855 
to  186 t  he  was  adjutant-general  of  Michigan. 
When  the  Civil  war  broke  out  he  was  appointed 
colonel  of  the  Sixth  Regiment  of  Michigan  In- 
fantry, and  sent  to  Baltimore,  where  he  remained 
six  months  in  garrison,  after  which  he  took  an 
important  part  in  the  expedition  against  New  Or- 
leans, taking  possession  of  the  United  States  mint 
after  the  capture.  He  was  ordered  to  take  his  own 
and  two  other  western  regiments  to  Vicksburg, 
but  finding  so  small  a  force  powerless,  was  or- 
dered from  there  to  Baton  Rouge,  where,  on  ac- 
count of  an  unfortunate  incident,  he  resigned  his 
command  and  returned  home.  Some  slaves  having 
taken  refuge  within  the  lines  of  his  regiment,  the 
brigadier-general  commanded  Colonel  Curtenius 
to  return  them  to  their  owners,  which  he  refused 
to  do,  saying  that  the  state  of  Michigan  had  not 
commissioned  him  to  return  slaves  to  their  own- 
ers. For  this  reply  he  was  arrested,  and  this 
caused  his  resignation.  He  was  fully  sustained 
by  the  state  of  Michigan  in  his  actions,  and  the 
general  who  had  caused  his  arrest  was  rebuked. 
He  had  a  splendid  military  career,  and  was 
thought  more  of  by  General  John  A.  Dix  than 
any  other  other  regimental  commander.  In 
1856  and  1867  he  was  elected  to  the  state  senate, 


526 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


and  was  appointed  by  President  Grant  in  1869  c°l~ 
lector  of  internal  revenue  for  Michigan.  For 
sixteen  years  he  was  treasurer  of  the  Michigan 
Asylum  for  the  Insane,  and  was  one  of  the 
heartiest  supporters  of  the  Michigan  Female  Sem- 
inary. In  1866  he  was  elected  president  of  the  vil- 
lage of  Kalamazoo.  For  several  years  he  was  pres- 
ident of  the  Kalamazoo  City  Bank.  In  religion  he 
was  a  Presbyterian.  In  1826  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Elizabeth  Fowler,  of  New  York,  who  died 
in  1867.  In  1868  he  was  married  to  Miss  Kate 
Woodbury,  daughter  of  the  late  J.  P.  Woodbury, 
of  Kalamazoo.  His  death  occurred  at  his  home  on 
July  13,  1883,  and  is  survived  by  his  wife  and 
three  children,  Mrs.  H.  O.  Statler,  and  Alfred  and 
Dwight  Curtenius.  At  his  death  appropriate  reso- 
lutions were  adopted  by  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public, of  which  he  was  a  prominent  member. 

GEN.  DWIGHT  MAY. 

Dwight  May  was  born  in  Sandisfield,  Mass., 
September  8,  1822,  and  died  in  Kalamazoo,  Mich., 
January  28,  1880.  His  parents,  Rockwell  and 
Celestia  E.  (Underwood)  May,  were  of  the  old 
New  England  stock  and,  coming  west  in  1834, 
settled  in  Richland,  Kalamazoo  county,  Mich., 
where  Dwight  was  given  into  the  hands  of  that 
great  American  educator,  farm  life.  His  boyhood 
years  were  spent  in  work  on  the  farm  and  at- 
tendance at  district  schools.  In  1842  he  entered 
the  Kalamazoo  branch  of  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan, then  under  the  charge  of  Rev.  James  A.  B. 
Stone.  By  devoting  his  leisure  time  to  tutoring 
he  prepared  for  college,  and  in  1846  entered  the 
sophomore  class  of  the  University  of  Michigan, 
graduating  from  the  classical  department  in  1849. 
.  As  illustrating  to  some  extent  the  character  of 
the  man,  an  incident  of  his  life  at  the  university 
is  worthy  of  record.  A  branch  of  the  secret  so- 
ciety, Alpha  Delta  Phi,  composed  of  university 
students,  among  them  Mr.  May,  was  organized 
without  the  consent  or  approval  of  the  faculty. 
An  order  was  issued  making  it  compulsory  for 
students  to  sever  their  connection  with  all  secret 
societies  under  pain  of  expulsion  from  the  univer- 


sity. It  is  said  that  Mr.  May,  alone  of  all  the 
members,  stood  by  his  colors.  Eventually  the 
faculty  consented  to  the  establishment  of  this 
and  similar  societies. 

Soon  after  graduating  Mr.  May  entered  the 
law  office  of  Lathrop  &  Duffield,  at  Detroit,  and, 
in  July,  1850,  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  su- 
preme court  of  the  state.  The  following  month 
he  opened  an  office  in  Battle  Creek,  where  he  re- 
mained about  two  years.  In  1852  he  removed  to 
Kalamazoo^  and  formted  a  co-partnership  with 
Marsh  Giddings,  and  his  home  was  in  Kalamazoo 
continuously  until  the  time  of  his  decease. 

Mr.  May  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  of 
Kalamazoo  county  in  1854  and  held  the  office 
three  terms,  six  years.  He  was  school  inspector 
two  years,  and  from  1853  to  :^S6  was  superin- 
tendent of  the  village  schools,  a  work  in  which 
he  evinced  much  interest.  In  1866  he  was  elected 
trustee  of  the  village,  and  the  same  year  was 
elected  by  the  Republicans  lieutenant  governor  of 
the  state,  and  afterward  attorney  general,  serving 
two  terms,  four  years,  in  each  office.  He  was 
president  of  the  village  of  Kalamazoo  in  1874  and 
was  re-elected  the  following  year. 

In  April,  1861,  Mr.  May  became  a  private  in 
the  Kalamazoo  Light  Guards,  and  shortly  after- 
ward was  chosen  captain.  On  President  Lin- 
coln's first  call  for  troops,  these  guards  became 
Company  F  of  the  Second  Michigan  Infantry.  Ex- 
pecting to  be  mustered  in  for  three  months,  in- 
stead of  three  years  as  was  the  case,  because  of 
unfinished  legal  business,  he  was  compelled  to  re- 
sign his  commission,  and,  in  December  of  the 
same  year,  returned  home  to  give  attention  to  per- 
sonal and  legal  business.  October  8,  1864,  he 
was  commissioned  lieutenant  colonel  of  the 
Twenty-fifth  Michigan  Infantry,  then  at  Bolivar, 
Tennessee,  and  served  throughout  the  war.  In 
June,  1865,  he  succeeded  Colonel  W.  H.  Graves, 
and  was  soon  afterward  brevetted  brigadier  gen- 
eral. He  was  mustered  out  of  service  with  his 
regiment,  March  6,  1866,  having  participated  in 
the  battles  of  Blackburn's  Ford,  Manassas,  Mid- 
dleburg — where  he  especially  distinguished  him- 
self— siege  of  Vicksburg,  siege  of  Little  Rock 
and    Clarendon,   Ark.      In   Arkansas,    his   head- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


527 


quarters  .being  at  Clarendon,  he  was  instrumental 
in  breaking  up  one  of  the  infamous  cotton  rings 
of  the  South. 

Gen.  May  was  married  September  4,  1849,  t0 
Amelia  Kellogg,  at  Sherwood,  Mich.  Three 
daughters  were  born  to  them,  only  one,  Mrs. 
Minnie  Kellogg  Brown,  of  Ann  Arbor,  Mich., 
surviving. 

After  his  return  from  the  army,  Gen.  May 
was  an  almost  constant  sufferer  from  disease, 
resulting  from  the  effects  of  exposure  during  the 
war.  Notwithstanding  this,  he  devoted  his  time 
constantly  to  his  legal  business  and  to  those  du- 
ties devolving  upon  him  as  a  prominent  citizen 
and  member  of  the  Republican  party,  which  he 
joined  on  its  organization  and  to  whose  principles 
he  ever  afterward  adhered. 

Mr.  May  did  not  make  a  specialty  of  any 
particular  branch  of  the  law  of  practice,  but  was 
a  strong,  well  rounded  lawyer,  and  though  not 
an  orator,  presented  his  cases  well  and  forcibly 
to   court  and   jury. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  fitting  resolutions 
were  adopted  by  the  various  societies  of  which 
he  had  been  a  member.  His  going  removed  one 
who  had,  for  more  than  a  generation,  been  an  ac- 
tive and  prominent  member  of  the  community. 
He  was  a  man  of  upright  life,  unflinching  in  his 
devotion  to  every  principle  and  cause  his  convic- 
tions led  him  to  support,  a  firm  friend  and  citizen, 
whose  honor  and  devotion  to  city,  state  and  coun- 
try can  not  be  questioned. 

SENATOR  JULIUS  C.  BURROWS. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  example  in  this 
county  of  a  self-made  man  is  that  of  Julius  C. 
Burrows,  United  States  senator  from  Michigan, 
and  one  of  the  best  known  men  in  the  county,  as 
well  as  in  the  state.  Hon.  J.  C.  Burrows  was 
born  at  North  East,  Erie  county,  Pa.,  January  9, 
1837,  of  New  England  descent.  He  attended  the 
common  schools  near  his  home,  and  then  came 
west  to  Ohio,  where  he  took  up  the  study  of 
law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1859,  com- 
ing the  following  year  to  Richland,  Kalamazoo 
county,  where  he  was  principal  of  the  Richland 


Seminary,  after  which  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo 
city,  where  he  entered  upon  his  profession  as 
an  attorney.  In  1862  he  raised  a  company  for 
the  Seventeenth  Regiment  of  Michigan  Volun- 
teer Infantry,  of  which  he  was  made  captain, 
serving  in  that  capacity  in  several  battles.  Re- 
turning home  in  1864,  he  again  entered  profes- 
sional practice,  and  was  made  prosecuting  at- 
torney of  Kalamazoo  in  1866.  In  1872  he  was 
elected  to  congress,  where  he  served  several 
terms.  He  was  delegate  at  large  from  the  state 
of  Michigan  to  the  Republican  national  conven- 
tion in  1880.  As  a  legislator  he  has  not  only 
brought  credit  to  himself  and  his  district,  but  to 
his  state  as  well.  He  is  a  pronounced  Repub- 
lican, and  an  eloquent  and  persuasive  speaker. 
Senator  Burrows  has  been  married  twice — to 
his  first  wife,  Miss  Jennie  S.  H&bbard,  of  Ash 
tabula  county,  Ohio,  in  1856.  He  has  one  daugh- 
ter by  this  marriage,  now  Mrs.  George  McNeir, 
of  New  York  city.  He  was  married  to  his  pres- 
ent wife,  formerly  Miss  Frances  Peck,  daughter 
of  Horace  Peck,  of  Kalamazoo  county,  Mich., 
in  1865. 

SAMUEL  APPLETON  GIBSON. 

The  manufacturing  of  paper  is  one  of  the 
great  industries  of  Kalamazoo  county,  and  among 
the  pioneers  of  this  industry  was  Samuel  Apple- 
ton  Gibson,  who  was  superintendent  of  the  Kala- 
mazoo Paper  Company.  Mr.  Gibson  was  born  at 
New  Ipswich,  N.  H.,  on  August  17,  1835. 
His  father  was  Col.  '  George  C.  Gibson,  of  the 
New  Hampshire  state  militia,  and  his  mother 
Elvira  Appleton,  daughter  of  John  Appleton,  also 
of  New  Ipswich.  Samuel  A.  Gibson  received  his 
early  education  in  the  common  schools,  and  later 
attended  the  Appleton  Academy  at  New  Ips- 
wich. His  early  life,  when  not  in  school,  was 
spent  in  his  father's  shops,  where  sleighs  and 
carriages  were  manufactured.  When  twenty 
years  of  age  Mr.  Gibson  was  engaged  as  a  clerk 
in  a  general  store  and  postoffice  at  Concord,  Mass., 
which  he  left  two  years  later  to  take  charge  of  a 
similar  store  in  Ashby,  Mass.  He  went  into  the 
grocery  business   at  Fitchburg,   Mass.,   in    1859, 


528 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


and  remained  there  until  1867,  when  he  removed 
to  -Kalamazoo,  Mich.,  where  he  spent  the  rest 
of  his  life.  Mr.  Gibson  was  married  in  i860  to 
Mrs.  Mary  A.  Bardeen,  daughter  of  Deacon  A. 
Farnsworth,  of  Fitchburg,  Mass.  They  had  two 
daughters,  Alice  Gertrude,  wife  of  Mr.  F.  D. 
Hascall,  and  Susan  Edith,  wife  of  Mr.  F.  M. 
Hodge,  both  of  Kalamazoo.  In  1866,  when  the 
Kalamazoo  Paper  .Company  was  organized,  Mr. 
Gibson  was  one  of  the  original  stockholders.  The 
company  erected  a  mill  on  the  Grand  Rapids  & 
Indiana  branch  of  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan 
Southern  Railroad,  two  miles  south  of  the  city 
of  Kalamazoo,  the  plant  being  valued  at  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars.  Here  they  commenced 
the  manufacture  of  paper,  and  Mr.  Gibson  en- 
tered the  company  as  mechanic  and  bookkeeper 
of  the  concern.  Success  was  with  this  mill  from 
the  first,  and  under  the  able  management  of  Mr. 
Gibson  its  business  steadily  increased,  and  addi- 
tions were  made  to  the  business  in  every  way. 
Mr.  Gibson  was  interested  in  various  other  enter- 
prises— he  was  one  of  the  first  directors  of  the 
Kalamazoo  National  Bank,  and  a  member  of  the 
boards  of  trustees  of  the  Kalamazoo  College  and 
the  Congregational  church,  which  he  joined  in 
1858.  In  politics  he  was  a  Republican,  although 
he  never  took  an  active  part  in  politics. 

THE  KALAMAZOO  SLED  COMPANY. 

This  enterprising  and  far-reaching  industrial 
institution  was  organized  on  February  14,  1894, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  thirty  thousand  dollars. 
Its  first  officers  were  H.  P.  Kauffer,  president, 
H.  B.  Peck,  Jr.,  vice-president,  W.  E.  Kidder, 
secretary  and  treasurer,  and  the  above  with  A. 
Pitkin  and  J.  B.  Wycolf,  directors.  The  present 
officers  are  the  same  except  that  when  Mr.  Peck 
died  a  few  years  ago  Mr.  Pitkin  succeeded  him 
as  vice-president.  The  company  uses  one  of  the 
old  and  long  established  plants  of  Kalamazoo, 
one  formerly  used  for  the  manufacture  of  croquet 
sets.  The  sled  company  employs  regularly  one 
hundred  persons  and  makes  more  children's  sleds 
than  any  other  factory  in  the  world.  It  also 
manufactures  lawn  furniture  extensivelv  and  has 


branch  offices  and  an  active  trade  in  Australia, 
South  Africa,  England,  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land, and  in  New  York  and  San  Francisco.  The 
company  was  founded  by  Mr.  Kauffer  and  Mr. 
Kidder,  and  the  latter  has  been  its  active  man- 
ager and  controlling  spirit  from  its  organization. 

HON.  STEPHEN'S.  COBB. 

Among  Kalamazoo  county's  list  of  self-made 
men  there  stands  out  the  name  of  the  Hon. 
Stephen  S.  Cobb,  who  was  born  at  Springfield, 
Vt.,  April  10,  1821,  his  parents  being  Moses  and 
Martha  (Printiss)  Cobb.  Mr.  Cobb  attended 
district  school  until  he  was  twelve  years  of  age, 
when  he  accepted  a  position  in  a  dry-goods  store 
at  Andover,  Mass.  In  1835  ne  entered  the  Kim- 
ball Union  Academy  at  Meridian,  N.  H.,  but 
left  the  following  year  to  manage  his  grand- 
father's farm  in  Vermont.  In  1842  he  came  to 
Schoolcraft,  Kalamazoo  county,  Mich.,  where  he 
ran  a  general  store  until  1849,  when  he  removed 
to  Kalamazoo,  starting  in  the  mercantile  business. 
In  1868  he  retired  from  active  business,  and  de- 
voted his  time  to  looking  after  his  numerous  busi- 
ness interests.  In  1873  he  was  made  commis- 
sioner of  railroads  in  the  state  of  Michgan,  in 
which  capacity  he  did  most  valuable  work.  He 
was  a  stockholder  in  the  Kalamazoo  National 
Bank  since  its  organization  in  1865,  when  he  was 
elected  one  of  its  directors,  which  office  he  always 
held.  He  was  also  director  of  the  Detroit  Fire 
and  Marine  Insurance  Company,  the  Kalamazoo 
&  South  Haven  Railroad  Company,  the  Grand 
Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad  Company,  the  Webster 
Wagon  Company,  of  West  Virginia,  and  the  Bar- 
deen Paper  Company,  of  Otsego.  In  1885  he 
was  appointed  treasurer  of  the  Michigan  Asy- 
lum for  the  Insane,  and  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  board  of  trustees  for  the  villiage  of  Kala- 
mazoo, of  which  he  later  was  president.  In 
politics  he  was  a  Republican,  but  he  never  sought 
to  hold  public  office.  He  was  married  on  July  21, 
1847,  to  Miss  Lucy  A.  Goss,  of  Montpelier,  Vt. 
Mrs.  Cobb  died  June  21,  1880.  Stephen  S.  Cobb 
met  life  in  all  its  phases  with  great  success,  due 
to  his  own  efforts  and  perseverance,  and  enjoyed 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


529 


to  an  enviable  degree  the  esteem  of  his  fellow 
men,  who  could  not  but  respect  this  man  for  his 
honor  and  uprightness. 

HENRY   BISHOP. 

Mr.  Bishop  was  married  on  June  8,  1847,  to 
Mrs.  Sarah  (Bolet)  Hineman,  the  widow  of 
Herman  Hineman,  and  a  daughter  of  Coburn 
Bolet,  a  pioneer  of  Schoolcraft  township.  Four 
children  were  born  of  their  union.  Of  these 
three  died  in  infancy,  and  the  son,  who  survives, 
is  living  on  his  farm  east  of  Kalamazoo.  His 
mother  died  on  July  8,  1891.  The  father  was  a 
Whig  until  the  organization  of  the  Republican 
party,  when  he  joined  its  ranks.  He  filled  a  num- 
ber of  local  offices  in  Schoolcraft  township  and 
some  in  the  city  of  Kalamazoo,  of  which  he  be- 
came a  resident  in  1862,  having  his  home  in  the 
city  from  then  until  his  death,  on  January  1, 
1902,  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine  years.  He  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Michigan  National 
Bank,  and  served  as  one  of  its  directors  until  his 
death.  He  was  also  one  of  the  first  stock- 
holders of  the  old  Kalamazoo  Paper  Mill,  but 
soon  after  it  got  well  under  way  disposed  of  his 
stock.  Although  a  regular  attendant  of  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  church,  he  was  liberal  in  his 
views  and  gave  liberally  of  his  means  and  influ- 
ence to  all  denominations.  He  had  decided  views 
on  many  subjects  of  current  interest  and  perma- 
nent importance,  and  when  he  saw  the  end  of 
life  approaching,  he%  wrote  his  own  funeral  ser- 
mon. As  an  antiquarian  in  local  history  he  was 
regarded  as  a  high  authority,  and  his  testimony 
went  far  to  settle  any  disputed  point.  Every- 
where known  throughout  the  county,  he  enjoyed 
the  high  respect  of  everybody. 

Henry  L.  Bishop,  the  son  and  only  surviv- 
ing child  of  Henry  Bishop,  was  born  at  School- 
craft on  April  2,  1848,  and  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  and  at  the  Baptist  Seminary  in 
that  village.  He  also  passed  four  years  in  the 
Union  school  in  Kalamazoo.  In  t866  he  entered 
mercantile  life  as  a  clerk  in  the  dry  goods  store 
of  Kidder  &  Brown,  where  he  remained  one 
year.      In    1868   he    formed    a   partnership    with 


Levi  N.  Perrin,  in  the  same  trade,  and  for  three 
years  thereafter  the  business  was  conducted  by 
them  under  the  firm  name  of  Perrin  &  Bishop. 
At  the  end  of  that  period  Mr.  Perrin  retired  and 
Mr.  Bishop's  father  became  interested  in  the 
establishment,  the  firm  name  being  changed  to 
Henry  Bishop  &  Son.  This  firm  continued  until 
1880,  when  the  Bishops  disposed  of  the  business, 
and  since  then  the  younger  Mr.  Bishop  has 
given  his  attention  to  farming.  He  is  also  a 
stockholder  in  the  Michigan  National  Bank.  In 
politics  he  is  a  Republican.  He  was  married  in 
1878  to  Miss  Eva  Scott  Ashley,  a  native  of  Mas- 
•  sachusetts,  who  c?me  with  her  parents  to  Kala- 
mazoo in  1866.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  L.  Bishop 
have  four  children,  Charles  A.,  Henry,  Sarah  M. 
and  Edward  M.  Mr.  Bishop  has  been  a  Knight 
Templar  for  thirty  years,  and  is  also  a  Knight 
of  Pythias.  He  has  been  active  in  all  phases  of 
the  public  life  of  the  county,  and  is  esteemed  as 
one  of  its  leading  and  most  representative 
citizens. 

GEN.   WILLIAM   R.    SHAFTER. 

Gen.  William  R.  Shaffer,  the  well  known  com- 
mander of  the  American  forces  at  the  battle  of 
Santiago,  in  the  Spanish-American  war,  is  one 
of  the  prominent  men  in  Kalamazoo  county,  al- 
though he  now  makes  his  home  in  California. 
He  was  born  in  Kalamazoo  county,  Mich.,  on 
October  16,  1835,  and  entered  the  military  serv- 
ice as  a  first  lieutenant  of  the  Seventh  Michigan 
Infantry  in  1861,  being  promoted  the  following 
year  to  major  of  the  Nineteenth  Michigan  In- 
fantry, of  which  regiment  he  became  lieutenant- 
colonel  in  1867.  The  next  year  he  was  made 
colonel  of  the  Seventeenth  United  States  Colored 
Troops,  this  being  one  of  the  first  colored  regi- 
ments organized.  Colonel  Shafter  was  a  partici- 
pant in  the  siege  of  Yorktown,  in  the  battles  of 
West  Point,  Fair  Oaks,  Savage  Station,  Glen- 
dale,  Malvern  Hills,  and  in  the  affair  at  Thomp- 
son Station,  and  in  the  battles  of  December  15 
and  16,  1864,  in  front  of  Nashville.  Passing 
through  the  Civil  war  with  great  credit  to  him- 
self, he  was,  in  1865,  brevetted  brigadier-general, 


53° 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


and  mustered  out  of  the  service  in  1866,  having 
been  made  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  regular 
army,  and  assigned  to  the  Twenty-fourth  Infan- 
try, and  entered  upon  duty  on  the  western  fron- 
tier, in  which  service  he  was  engaged  until  his 
promotion  to  the  colonelcy  of  the  First  Infantry 
in  1879.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Spanish- Amer- 
ican war,  General  Shatter,  who  was  brigadier- 
general  in  the  regular  army,  was  appointed  by 
President  McKinley  major-general  of  the  volun- 
teers, and  was  assigned  to  the  Fifth  Army  Corps. 
To  him  was  intrusted  the  invasion  of  Cuba, 
which  campaign  was  so  quickly  and  successfully 
ended  by  his  victory  at  Santiago.  With  the  close 
of  the  war,  General  Shafter  returned  to  his  pos;: 
in  command  of  the  Department  of  California.  He 
has  won  both  praise  and  admiration  from  the 
American  public  on  account  of  his  great  bravery 
and  fine  knowledge  of  military  tactics. 

GEORGE  F.  HARRISON. 

Representing  the  third  generation  of  one  of 
the  earliest  pioneer  and  most  distinguished  fami- 
lies of  Kalamazoo  county,  whose  name  is  re- 
corded on  almost  every  page  of  the  county's  an- 
nals and  appears  in  connection  with  every  line  of 
useful  enterprise  among  this  people,  the  subject 
of  this  writing  has  inherited  from  a  hardy  and 
patriotic  ancestry  both  force  and  breadth  of  char- 
acter, an  elevated  sense  of  citizenship  and  a  stern 
devotion  to  duty,  and  also  records  and  traditions 
of  useful  service  to  his  country  on  some  of  its 
loftiest  fields  of  action.  He  is  a  great-grand- 
nephew  of  Benjamin  Harrison,  of  Virginia,  one 
of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
a  cousin  of  the  third  generation  of  President 
William  Henry  Harrison  and  an  own  cousin  to 
the  late  President  Benjamin  Harrison.  His 
grandfather,  Judge  Bazel  Harrison,  located  in 
this  county  in  the  autumn  of  1828,  and  died  here 
in  1874,  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  three 
years,  five  months  and  fifteen  days.  More  ex- 
tended mention  of  him  will  be  found  in  the 
sketch  of  his  son,  John  S.  Harrison,  on  another 
page  of  this  work.     The  parents  of  George  F. 


Harrison  are  Dr.  Bazel  and  Almira  (Abbey) 
Harrison,  old  and  highly  respected  citizens  of 
Kalamazoo  county.  He  was  educated  in  the  dis- 
trict schools  near  his  home,  and  at  Cedar  Park 
Seminary  in  Schoolcraft  and  Hillsdale  College. 
After  leaving  college  he  began  life  for  himself  as 
a  farmer,  and  he  has  steadfastly  adhered  to  this 
pursuit  ever  since  in  spite  of  many  strong  temp- 
tations to  go  into  other  business.  His  farm 
comprises  one  hundred  and  forty-five  acres  of 
choice  land  and  is  one  of  the  most  highly  im- 
proved and  vigorously  and  skillfully  cultivated 
in  the  county.  Ten  years  ago  Mr.  Harrison 
moved  to  Schoolcraft,  and  since  then  he  has 
lived  there  during  the  winter  months,  spending 
his  summers  at  his  summer  home  at  Gull  Lake, 
Midland  Park  resort.  He  is  now  retired  from 
active  labor,  enjoying  the  fruits  of  his  past  in- 
dustry, the  advanced  state  of  development  around 
him,  which  he  has  aided  so  materially  to  foster 
and  promote,  and  the  universal  respect  and  good 
will  of  the  people  in  every  portion  of  the  county. 
In  1870  he  was  married  to  Miss  Ora  A.  Fletcher, 
the  oldest  daughter  of  Zachariah  and  Malansey 
(Monroe)  Fletcher,  an  account  of  whose  lives 
is  given  elsewhere  in  this  work.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Harrison  have  one  child,  their  daughter  Mabel  L, 
the  wife  of  Rev.  F.  W.  Nickel,  a  resident  of  Illi- 
nois. In  politics  Mr.  Harrison  is  a  stern  and  un- 
yielding Prohibitionist,  but  he  takes  no  active 
part  in  partisan  political  contests  and  has  never 
had  an  ambition  for  public  office  of  any  kind.  He 
and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal church  and  earnest  workers  in  its  religious 
and  benevolent  activities. 

JOHN   SCHAU. 

Born  on  the  banks  of  the  castled  and  historic 
Rhine,  the  subject  of  this  brief  review  had  for 
the  inspiration  of  his  life  in  childhood  some  of 
the  scenes  of  nature's  most  impressive  grandeur 
and  man's  most  notable  achievements.  His  pa- 
rents, Philip  J.  and  Catherine  (Ferman)  Schau, 
were  natives  of  Germany  in  one  of  the  river 
provinces,  and  there  his  life  began  in  1848.  In 
his  native  land  the  father  was  a  farmer  and  mer- 


KALAMAZOO   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


53i 


chant.  In  1853  ne  brought  his  family,  consisting 
of  his  wife  and  five  sons,  to  the  United  States. 
A  few  months  after  their  arrival  in  this  country 
they  became  residents  of  Kalamazoo  county,  pur- 
chasing a  farm  in  Cooper  township,  on  which  the 
parents  lived  until  death,  that  of  the  father  oc- 
curring in  1898  and  of  the  mother  in  1892.  In 
this  country  their  family  was  increased  by  three 
sons  and  a  daughter.  Of  the  nine,  six  are  living, 
all  sons  and  all  residents  of  this  county.  John 
grew  to  manhood  in  Cooper  township  and  began 
life  for  himself  as  a  farmer  there,  for  a  number 
of  years  conducting  the  operations  of  the  pater- 
nal homestead.  Then  he  bought  a  farm  of  his 
own  in  Kalamazoo  township  which  he  sold  after 
clearing  and  improving  it.  Following  this  he 
bought  the  farm  on  which  he  now  lives,  and  on 
this  he  has  since  had  his  home.  He  was  married 
in  this  county  in  1871  to  Miss  Christina  Kiltz, 
who  was  born  in  Erie  county,  Pa.,  and  came  to 
Michigan  with  her  parents  in  1865.  The  family 
settled  on  the  farm  now  belonging  to  Mr.  Schau, 
and  here  the  father  died.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schau 
have  had  six  children.  Three  of  them  are  living. 
Clara  E.,  George  P.  and  Margaret  M.  The  three 
who  died  were  Charles  H.,  Bertha  A.,  and  Euna 
E.  Entering  with  ardor  into  the  spirit  of  his 
adopted  land,  and  valuing  with  devoted  patriot- 
ism its  institutions  and  aims,  Mr.  Schau  has  per- 
formed the  duties  of  citizenship  with  a  fidelity 
and  uprightness  that  have  won  him  the  regard 
and  good  will  of  his  community  and  given  him  a 
high  rank  among  its  worthy  men. 

HORACE  H.  PIERCE. 

One  of  the  well  known  and  highly  respected 
farmers  of  Climax  township,  this  county,  Horace 
H.  Pierce  has  well  sustained  himself  as  a  good 
and  useful  citizen,  and  contributed  his  full  share 
to  the  development  and  improvement  of  his  sec- 
tion. He  was  born  on  March  3,  1831,  in  Niagara 
county,  N.  Y.,  and  is  the  son  of  Isaac  and  Cath- 
erine (Archer)  Pierce,  the  former  born  in  Berk- 
shire county,  Mass.,  on  July  28,  1803.  He  was  a 
man  of  firm  constitution,  great  physical  strength 
and  indomitable  will,  seemingly  formed  by  na- 


ture to  be  a  leader  of  men,  and  with  just  the  right 
material  for  the  strenuous  life  of  a  pioneer.    His 
family  was  of  English  origin  and  located  in  this 
country  in  early  colonial  times.     Isaac's  father, 
Langworthy  Pierce,  was  born  in  Rhode  Island 
and  after  his  marriage  moved  to  Berkshire  county, 
Mass.    In  181 1  he  became  a  frontiersman  in  New 
York,  buying  a  tract  of  wild  land  in  Livingston 
county,   which  he  improved  and  lived   on   until 
1830,  when  he  moved  to  Niagara  county,  where 
he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life.     Isaac  lived 
with  his  father  until  his  marriage,  working  on 
the  farm  from  childhood,  and  obtaining  his  edu- 
cation mainly  in  the  rugged  school  of  experience. 
In   1835   he  sold  his  possessions   in   New  York 
state  and  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  and  bought, 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  on  which 
much  of  the  village  of  Climax  has  since  been  built. 
The  next  year  he  brought  his  family  hither  and 
began  life  in  his  new  home.     He  cleared  and  im- 
proved his  farm  and  lived  on  it  until  his  death, 
on  July   12,    1873,  also  clearing  and  improving 
other  farms  owned  by  him  at  different  times.     It 
is  said  of  him  that  few  men  did  more  hard  work 
than  he  did,  and  none  contributed  more  toward 
the  improvement  of  the  township.     In  early  life 
he  was  a  Whig  in  political  allegiance,  and  at  the 
first  township  meeting  he  was  elected  a  justice  of 
the  peace,  an  office  he  held  many  years,  credita- 
bly filling  also  other  township  offices  from  time 
to  time.      His  first   wife    was    Miss    Catherine 
Archer,  who  bore  him  ten  children.    The  second 
was   Miss   Emeline  E.   Hadley.     They   had  five 
children.     The  son  Horace,  one  of  the  offspring 
of  the  first  marriage,  came  to  this  state  with  his 
parents  in  1836  and  here  he  grew  to  manhood 
and     obtained     his     education    in   the    primitive 
schools  of  the  time  and  locality,  attending  only 
a  few  years  during  the  winter  months.    He  began 
early  to  assist  his  father  in  clearing  and  cultivat- 
ing the  home  farm,  remaining  at  home  until  1855, 
when  he  moved  to  his  present  place  on  section  4, 
Climax  township.    This  tract  was  then  improved 
but   little,    its    only   building   being   a   little    log 
house.     The  comfortable  and  commodious  build- 
ings which  now  enrich  and  adorn  it  are  the  fruits 
of  Mr.  Pierce's  industry  and  thrift,  and  the  credit 


532 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY    OF 


is  entirely  his  for  making  his  farm  one  of  the 
best  in  the  township.  His  real-estate  holdings 
amount  to  four  hundred  acres.  In  1855  ne  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Julia  E.  Pratt,  a  native  of 
Cattaraugus  county,  N.  Y.,  and  a  daughter  of 
William  and  Sally  M.  (Smith)  Pratt.  Her  fa- 
ther died  in  her  native  state,  and  soon  afterward 
the  mother  and  children  came  to  this  county,  lo- 
cating in  Charleston  township.  The  mother  died 
in  Barry  county,  Mich.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Horace 
Pierce  have  five  children,  Herbert  H.,  an  under- 
taker of  Climax ;  Ida  E.,  wife  of  O.  M.  Best,  of 
Dillon,  Mont. ;  Jessie,  deceased ;  Judson  W.,  liv- 
ing on  the  home  farm ;  and  Jettie  L.,  a  school 
teacher  at  Climax.  Their  father  has  passed  his 
life  as  a  farmer.  He  is  a  Republican  in  politics 
and  one  of  the  leaders  of  his  party.  He  has  ren- 
dered good  service  to  the  township  and  county  in 
several  local  offices,  and  in  all  his  life  has  exem- 
plified the  best  attributes  of  American  citizenship. 
Fraternally  he  is  a  third-degree  Mason.  He  saw 
the  county  in  its  state  of  wilderness,  still  infested 
with  hostile  Indians  and  wild  beasts,  and  has 
helped  materially  to  bring  it  to  its  present  state 
of  advanced  development  and  progress.  No 
citizen  of  his  township  is  more  highly  respected, 
and  none  better  deserves  the  regard  in  which  he 
is  held. 

LOUIS  S.  ELDRED. 


This  scion  of  a  distinguished  family  of  Kala- 
mazoo county  pioneers,  whose  grandparents  were 
the  first  settlers  in  Climax  township,  has  carried 
on  in  his  life  in  this  region  the  lessons  of  his  an- 
cestors, and  well  sustained  their  reputation  in  the 
development  and  improvement  of  the  locality  of 
their  home.  He  was  born  in  Climax  township  on 
December  3,  1841,  the  son  of  Thomas  B.  and 
Eliza  (Bonney)  Eldred,  the  former  a  native  of 
the  state  of  New  York  and  the  latter  of  Penn- 
sylvania. The  father  was  a  son  of  Judge  Caleb 
Eldred,  who  came  to  Michigan  in  1830  and  laid 
claim  to  land  on  which  the  village  of  Comstock 
now  stands.  He  gave  a  man  ten  dollars  to  build 
for  him  the  frame  of  a  log  house  on  his  land 
so  that  he  could  hold  his  claim,  as  the  land  had 


not  then  been  offered  for  sale  by  the  government. 
He  then  returned  home,  and  the  next  year,  when 
he  came  again  to  his  supposed  possession  here, 
he  found  that  his  claim  had  been  "jumped"  by 
two  men,  and  he  was  obliged  to  take  up  one 
opposite  to  this.  He  built  a  log  house  on  it  and 
the  first  saw-mill  in  the  county.  His  first  enter- 
prise was  to  make  lumber  for  a  gristmill,  and  by 
the  next  summer  he  had  the  first  flour-mill  in  the 
county  in  full  operation.  The  son,  Thomas  B. 
Eldred,  father  of  Louis  S.,  was  fifteen  when  he 
became  a  resident  of  this  state,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  county  progressed  under  his  obser- 
vation and  by  his  aid.  His  father's  farm  was 
within  two  miles  of  the  Pottawattamie  Indian 
reservation,  and  he  saw  much  of  the  Indians,  with 
whom  he  associated  intimately,  learning  to  speak 
their  language  with  facility.  He  was  a  Demo- 
crat in  political  faith  until  1884,  when  he  became 
an  ardent  Prohibitionist.  He  served  eight  years 
as  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  held  other  local 
offices.  He  lived  a  useful  and  upright  life,  de- 
voted to  the  duties  which  lay  before  him  and  the 
general  welfare  of  his  section,  and  was  always 
esteemed  as  a  man  above  reproach  in  all  his  pub- 
lic acts  and  private  life.  On  September  24,  1840, 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Eliza  Bonney,  and  they 
had  ten  children.  Their  son  Louis  S.  has  passed 
the  whole  of  his  life  so  far  in  this  county.  He 
was  educated  in  its  public  schools  and  at  the  Ag- 
ricultural College  at  Lansing.  He  farmed  on  the 
home  farm  with  his  father  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  thirty-five.  Then  the  place  was  divided 
and  he  became  the  owner  of  the  part  on  which 
he  now  lives,  and  which  he  helped  to  clear  and 
improve,  setting  out  the  large  trees  along  the 
road  and  the  old  orchard.  He  was  married 
here  on  March  18,  1875,  to  Miss  Eaura  M.  Sin- 
clair, a  daughter  of  George  and  Jane  (McLain) 
Sinclair,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  in  Ver- 
mont and  the  latter  in  Ireland.  The  father  set- 
tled in  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  in  1847  or  t848-  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Eldred  have  had  three  children.  The 
first  born  died  in  infancy  unnamed.  The  others 
are  Estella,  a  school  teacher  in  northern  Michi- 
gan, and  Mary  E.,  who  lives  in  San  Francisco, 
Cal.     Both  daughters  were  educated  at  Kalama- 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


533 


zoo  College.  Mr.  Eldred  is  a  Democrat  and  has 
served  as  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  in  other 
township  offices.  Fraternally  he  is  a  Freemason 
and  a  United  Workman,  and  he  and  his  wife  are 
members  of  the  Baptist  church. 

HON.   FRANCIS   B.   STOCKBRIDGE. 

Hon.  Francis  B.  Stockbridge,  United  States 
senator  from  Michigan,  was  a  man  whose  works 
and  influence  not  only  were  a  benefit  to  'Kala- 
mazoo county,  but  to  the  entire  state  that  he  so 
ably  represented  in  the  nation's  highest  legis- 
lative body.  He  was  born  of  good  old  New 
England  stock,  in  Bath,  Me.,  on  April  9,  1826. 
His  father,  Dr.  John  Stockbridge,  was  prominent 
as  a  practicing  physician  in  Bath  for  fifty  years, 
and  his  mother,  Eliza  Stockbridge,  was  the 
daughter  of  John  Russel,  the  veteran  editor  of 
the  Boston  Gazette.  In  1847  Francis  B.  Stock- 
bridge  came  to  Chicago,  where,  in  partnership  with 
another  man,  he  opened  a  lumber  yard.  In  1853 
lie  removed  from  Chicago  to  'Allegan  county, 
where  he  had  a  number  of  sawmills.  In  1875  he 
was  elected  president  of  the  Mackinac  Lumber 
Company,  and  later  of  the  Black  River  Lumber 
Company.  He  organized,  in  1887,  the  Kalamazoo 
Spring  and  Axle  Company,  of  which  he  was  pres- 
ident. He  was  largely  interested  in  various  suc- 
cessful enterprises  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  In 
1869  he  represented  Allegan  county  in  the  state 
legislature,  and  then  in  the  state  senate.  In  1887 
he  succeeded  the  Hon.  Omar  D.  Conger  in  the 
United  States  senate,  where  he  was  distinguished 
for  his  tact  as  an  organizer  and  manager  and  his 
ability  in  committee  work  of  every  form.  He  was 
married  in  1863  to  Miss  Betsy  Arnold,  of  Gun- 
Plains,  Allegan  county,  daughter  of  Daniel  Ar- 
nold, one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  state.  Senator 
Stockbridge  was  president  of  the  Kalamazoo 
Children's  Home,  and  in  1887  was  one  of  three 
gentlemen  who  gave  thirteen  thousand  dollars 
towards  carrying  on  the  work  of  Kalamazoo  Col- 
lege. He  died  after  a  life  of  great  usefulness 
and  service,  and  is  survived  by  his  widow,  who 
still  keeps  up  the  magnificent  Stockbridge  resi- 
dence in  Kalamazoo. 


CHARLES  C.  DUNCAN. 

This  valued  and  influential  citizen  and  suc- 
cessful and  progressive  business  man  of  Vicks- 
burg,  who  is  president  of  the  Kalamazoo  County 
Bank  of  Vicksburg,  which  he  owns  and  oper- 
ates under  the  style  of  C.  C.  Duncan  & 
Company,  was  born  in  Prairie  Ronde  town- 
ship, of  this  county,  on  July  29,  1845,  and  is  the 
son  of  Delamore  and  Parmela  (Clark)  Duncan, 
more  extended  mention  of  whom  will  be  found  in 
the  sketch  of  his  brother,  Delamore  Duncan,  Jr., 
on  another  page  of  this  volume.  He  was  reared 
and  educated  in  Kalamazoo  county,  securing  his 
business  training  at  the  Eastman  Business  Col- 
lege in  Chicago.  He  returned  from  the  business 
college  to  this  county  and  here  he  followed  farm- 
ing until  1893,  when  he  became  vice-president 
and  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Kalamazoo  County 
Bank,  then  a  state  institution,  of  which  E.  W. 
Bowman,  now  a  prominent  banker  in  Kalamazoo, 
was  president.  He  remained  with  the  bank  un- 
der its  state  organization  until  1898.  He  then 
became  the  sole  owner  of  the  institution,  and 
since  that  time  he  has  conducted  it  as  a  private 
enterprise  under  the  name  of  C.  C.  Duncan  & 
Company.  He  is  also  interested  in  other  leading 
financial  and  industrial  undertakings  in  the 
county,  and  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  pro- 
gressive and  capable  business  men  of  this  section 
of  the  state.  In  addition  he  is  still  carrying  on 
his  farming  operations,  controlling  over  three 
hundred  and  twenty-five  acres  of  land,  all  of 
which  is  well  improved  and  in  an  advanced  state 
of  cultivation.  On  March  2,  1869,  he  united  in 
marriage  with  Miss  Alice  E.  Frazier,  a  native 
of  St.  Joseph  county.  They  had  two  children, 
their  daughters  Mary,  now  Mrs.  Arthur  S. 
Tucker,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  and  Edna  A.  Thomas, 
who  died  in  1891.  Their  mother  died  in  1891. 
Mr.  Duncan,  in  1893,  married  Mrs.  Caroline  L. 
Stuart,  of  this  county,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Hatch.  Her  father,  Oscar  Hatch,  was  one  of  the 
revered  pioneers  of  the  county  and  had  a  promi- 
nent place  in  all  phases  of  the  public  and  social 
life  of  the  region.  In  political  faith  Mr.  Dun- 
can is  an  active  Republican.     He  cast  his  first 


534 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


vote  for  General  Grant  for  President,  and  he 
has  supported  every  Republican  nominee  for  that 
exalted  office  since  that  time.  He  has  served  as 
township  treasurer  and  supervisor  and  in  other 
local  offices,  filling  all  with  decided  ability  and 
fairness  to  every  interest  concerned,  and  winning 
high  commendation  on  all  sides  as  a  thoroughly 
competent  and  trustworthy  official. 

DAVID  FINLEY. 

The  late  David  Finley,  a  pioneer  of  Oshtemo 
township,  was  born  in  Allegany  county,  New 
York,  in  1818.  His  parents,  George  and  Rachel 
(Cole)  Finley,  were  also  natives  of  the  Empire 
state  and  came  to  Michigan  late  in  life  and  died 
in  this  state.  They  had  a  family  of  twelve  chil- 
dren, all  of  whom  are  now  dead  except  one  son 
and  one  daughter.  Mr.  Finley  reached  the  age 
of  eighteen  years  in  his  native  state,  then  in  1836 
came  to  Michigan,  then  a  new  land  of  hope  and 
promise  lying  in  wait  for  the  persuasive  hand  of 
the  husbandman  in  the  loving  embrace  of  the 
great  lakes.  Mr.  Finley  was  a  man  of  the  most 
determined  energy,  and  being  without  means  to 
make  .the  trip  even  in  the  primitive  fashion  of 
that  time,  with  ox  teams,  walked  the  greater  part 
of  the  distance  between  his  old  home  and  his  new 
one,  and  on  his  arrival  here  purchased  eighty 
acres  of  land  in  section  twenty-three,  Oshtemo 
township,  for  which  he  agreed  to  pay  the  sum 
of  three  hundred  dollars  and  to  work  out  the 
price.  To  pay  this  debt  he  wrought  six  hundred 
days  at  hard  labor  and  then  he  gave  two  hundred 
days'  additional  labor  to  pay  for  breaking  up  and 
fencing  twenty  acres  of  the  land,  which  were 
sown  to  wheat.  After  these  improvements  were 
made  he  valued  his  possessions  at  one  thousand 
dollars.  He  built  a  comfortable  frame  house  on 
his  tract  and  five  years  after  the  purchase  he  re- 
moved to  it  and  by  continued  industry  succeeded 
in  bringing  it  to  a  high  degree  of  cultivation. 
During  his  residence  in  the  township  he  attended 
every  election  held  within  its  borders  from  the 
time  of  its  organization.  He  recollected  well 
many  times  when  there  were  not  enough  candi- 
dates at  the  polls  to  make  up  two  tickets,  and 


several  of  those  on  one  were  elected  without  op- 
position. The  trials  of  his  early  life  in  this  re- 
gion were  numerous  and  various.  Although  na- 
ture was  provident,  the  deep  forests  around  him 
abounding  in  wild  game  which  was  easy  to  get, 
they  were  also  still  inhabited  by  their  savage  and 
ferocious  denizens,  men  and  beasts,  and  they 
often  made  life  unsafe  and  robbed  him  of  some  of 
the  fruits  of  his  labor.  Markets  were  also  distant 
and  prices  were  low.  He  was  often  obliged  to 
haul  his*wheat  fifty  miles  with  oxen  to  find  a  sale 
for  it  and  then  take  fifty  cents  a  bushel  for  it. 
He  was,  however,  a  man  of  steadfast  persever- 
ance, and  although  his  progress  for  a  time  was 
slow  it  was  continuous,  and  in  time  he  made  his 
farm  rich  in  agricultural  wealth  and  improve- 
ments, and  became  a  man  of  influence  in  the 
township,  being  frequently  called  to  official  posi- 
tions of  trust  and  responsibility  in  its  govern- 
ment. He  married  Miss  Rhoda  Phillips 
and  they  had  a  family  of  two  sons  and  three 
daughters,  all  now  dead  but  their  son  George,  and 
Mrs.  S.  J.  Winslow,  of  Oshtemo  township.  His 
first  wife  died  in  1886  and  he  afterward  mar- 
ried a  second  one  at  Petoskey  in  this  state, 
whither  he  moved  in  1883. 

A.  D.  Winslow,  the  late  husband  of  Mr. 
Finley's  only  surviving  daughter,  was  a  native  of 
the  state  of  New  York,  and  came  to  Michigan. 
Here  he  married  Miss  S.  J.  Finley  in  1868,  and 
the  fruit  of  their  union  was  three  children,  Min- 
nie R.,  wife  of  W.  H.  Engel,  Finley  A.  and  Roy 
A.  Mr.  Winslow  died  on  July  6,  1900,  and  was 
aged  fifty-nine  years,  eleven  months  and  fifteen 
clays.  His  widow  still  lives  on  the  farm  they 
occupied  and  worked  together.  She  has  passed 
her  life  so  far  among  this  people  and  is  highly 
respected  by  them  all. 

EDWARD  ANDERSON. 

This  gentleman,  who  is  one  of  the  prominent 
and  successful  farmers  of  Oshtemo  township,  is 
a  native  of  the  section  in  which  he  has  his  home 
and  has  passed  his  life  so  far.  He  was  born  in 
Oshtemo  township  on  May  8,  1856,  the  son  of 
Duncan  and  Mary  W.  (Beckley)  Anderson,  who 


KALAMAZOO    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


535 


were  natives  of  the  state  of  New  York,  the  fa- 
ther born  in  Genesee  county  and  the  mother  in 
Chautauqua  county.  The  paternal  grandfather 
was  Alexander  Anderson,  a  native  of  Montgom- 
ery county,  N.  Y.,  who  farmed  there  for  a  time, 
then  moved  to  Genesee  county,  where  he  died. 
Duncan  Anderson  reached  man's  estate  in  his 
native  county  and  was  engaged  in  farming  there 
until  1838,  when  he  came  to  Michigan  and  set- 
tled on  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  in 
Oshtemo  township,  this  county.  He  lived  to 
clear  up  this  farm  and  make  extensive  improve- 
ments on  it,  dying  there  in  January,  1897.  He 
was  a  man  of  high  standing  locally  and  was  called 
by  his  fellow  citizens  to  fill  a  number  of  town- 
ship offices.  He  was  a  prominent  and  active 
member  of  the  Congregational  church  of  Kala- 
mazoo. He  and  his  wife  were  the  parents  of 
four  children,  Edward,  Willis,  James  and  Mrs. 
Arthur  Strong.  Their  mother  is  still  living.  She 
came  to  Michigan  a  child  in  1840  and  was  mar- 
ried to  Mr.  Anderson  in  1850.  Their  son  Ed- 
ward grew  to  manhood  on  the  home  farm  and 
lived  on  it  until  he  purchased  his  present  farm 
in  1884.  He  has  been  a  farmer  from  his  youth 
and  all  of  the  years  in  this  township.  In  1886  he 
was  married  to  Miss  May  Dean,  a  native  of  New 
York,  who  died  in  1898.  In  1900  he  married 
a  second  wife,  Miss  May  Bell,  a  native  of  Kala- 
mazoo. They  have  one  child,  their  daughter, 
Lillian  B.  Mr.  Anderson  is  a  Republican  in 
politics  and  has  served  as  highway  commissioner. 
He  is  a  representative  of  one  of  the  oldest  fam- 
ilies in  the  county  and  is  everywhere  highly 
respected. 

A.   L.   BLUMENBERG. 

During  the  last  twenty-four  years  the  subject 
of  this  brief  memoir  has  been  a  resident  of  Kala- 
mazoo, and  during  all  of  that  period  has  been 
connected  with  its  mercantile  and  industrial  life 
in  an  important  way.  He  was  president  of  the 
Central  Bank  of  Kalamazoo  and  one  of  the  city's 
most  extensive  and  best  known  merchants,  posi- 
tions to  which  he  has  risen  by  merit  and  his  own 
endeavors.      The   place   of   his   nativity   is    New 


York  city,  where  he  was  born  on  June  21,  1866. 
His  parents,  Meyer  and  Fannie  Blumenberg, 
came  into  the  world  in  Hanover,  Germany,  and 
emigrated  to  the  United  States  in  1856,  locating 
in  New  York  city,  where  they  lived  until  1890, 
when  they  became  residents  of  Kalamazoo,  and 
now  the  father  is  connected  in  business  with  his 
son.  The  latter  was  reared  to  the  age  of  thir- 
teen in  his  native  city  and  received  his  scholastic 
training  in  its  public  schools.  At  the  age  men- 
tioned he  came  to  Lawton,  Mich.,  and  there  he 
clerked  in  a  store  two  years.  At  the  end  of  that 
period  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo  and  entered  the 
employ  of  B.  Desenberg  &  Company,  with  whom 
he  remained  thirteen  years.  In  1894  he  opened 
a  general  house-outfitting  store  in  the  Gates  block, 
on  East  Main  street,  under  the  name  of  the 
People's  Outfitting  Company.  There  he  con- 
ducted his  business  six  years,  then  moved  it  to  his 
present  location  on  North  Burdick  street,  where 
he  has  about  forty  thousand  square  feet  of  floor 
space  for  the  accommodation  and  display  of  his 
extensive  stock  of  general  merchandise.  This 
includes  everything  used  in  the  home  and  has  a 
wide  range  in  quality  of  the  various  commodi- 
ties so  as  to  meet  the  requirements  of  every  class 
of  purchasers.  His  trade  amounts  to  more  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year 
and  is  rapidly  increasing. 

In  1894  Mr.  Blumenberg  was  married  to  Miss 
Johanna  Solomon,  and  they  have  one  child,  Ruth. 
While  earnestly  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the 
community,  and  taking  a  general  interest  in  poli- 
tics as  a  Republican,  Mr.  Blumenberg  has  de- 
clined all  offers  of  public  office,  finding  plenty  to 
occupy  his  time  and  engage  his  interest  in  his  ex- 
tensive business  operations.  But  he  is  active  and 
zealous  in  the  fraternal  life  of  the  city  as  an  Elk 
and  a  Knight  of  Pythias.  Firmly  established  in 
business,  well  esteemed  in  social  circles,  conduct- 
ing with  enterprise  and  success  one  of  the  impor- 
tant institutions  of  the  city,  and  energetic  and 
progressive  in  all  movements  for  the  advantage 
of  the  section  of  the  country  in  which  he  lives, 
Mr.  Blumenberg  is  justly  held  to  be  one  of  the 
most  useful  citizens  of  the  city  and  county  of 
Kalamazoo,     h^c^  ^■-^1^,  /  *f  j  j  „ 


536 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


HON.  GRANT  M.  HUDSON. 

Although  a  comparatively    young    man    yet, 
Hon.  Grant  M.  Hudson,  of  Schoolcraft,  one  of 
the  representatives  of  Kalamazoo  county  in  the 
state  legislature  of  Michigan,  has  made  himself  by 
his  industry  and  business  capacity  one  of  the  lead- 
ing business  men  of  the  county,  and  by  his  far- 
seeing  view  of  and  intelligent  activity  in  public 
affairs,  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  influential 
civic  forces  among  its  people.     He  was  born  in 
Lorain  county,  Ohio,  on  July  23,    1868,  and  is 
the  son  of  Richard  and   Mary    (Still)    Hudson, 
natives  of  England,  the  father  born  at  Canter- 
bury and  the  mother  near  Brighton.     The  father 
was  a  farmer  in  his  native  land,  and  on  coming  to 
this  country  located  near  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where 
he    farmed    some   years,   then   moved   to    Lorain 
county,  in  the  same  state.     Subsequently  he  came 
to  this  state  and  located  at  Lansing,  where  for  a 
number  of  years  he  kept  the  old  Hudson  House, 
one  of  the  best  known  and  most  popular  hotels  in 
the  city.    He  is  now  living  at  South  Boardman  in 
•Kalkaskia   county.      He   served   more   than    four 
years  in  the  Civil  war  and  participated  in  many 
of  the  terrible  battles  of  the  memorable  conflict. 
The  mother  died  when  her  son  Grant  was  but 
three  years  old.     He  was  one  of  eight  children, 
five  sons  and  three  daughters,  born  in  the  house- 
hold, all  of  whom  are  living  but  one  son.     The 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  in  his  native 
county  and  attended  the  district  schools  there  until 
1885,   when  he  came  to   Pentwater,   Mich.,   and 
passed  two  years  at  the  high  school.     In  1887  ne 
moved    to    Kalamazoo    and  entered  the  college, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1894.  He  passed 
the  summer  of  1895  at  tne  Chicago  University, 
and     after    leaving    that    institution    located    at 
Schoolcraft  as  pastor  of  the  Baptist  church,  a  po- 
sition he  filled  acceptably  three  years  and  a  half, 
and  one  for  which  he  was  well  qualified  by  a  year 
and  a  half's  previous  experience  in  pastorial  work 
at  Dowagiac,  this  state,  prior  to  his  graduation. 
Failing  health  obliged  him  to  abandon  the  minis- 
try, and  in  the  spring  of  1896  he  engaged  in  gen- 
eral merchandising  at  Schoolcraft  as  the  head  of 
the  G.  M.  Hudson  General  Merchandising  Com- 


pany, a  stock  company  of  which  he  is  president, 
and  has  followed  that  line  of  activity  ever  since, 
enlarging  his  trade  from  time  to  time  until  he 
now  has  the  leading  business  of  its  kind  at  School- 
craft and  is  one  of  the  most  prominent,  successful 
and  best  known  business  men  of  the  county.  He  is 
also  a  stockholder  in  the  Citizens'  Telephone 
Company  of  Schoolcraft.  In  October,  1894,  he 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Mildred  Gil- 
christ, a  daughter  of  James  Gilchrist,  one  of  the 
venerated  pioneers  of  this  county.  They  have 
four  children,  Helen  M.,  Richard  G.,  Ruth  M. 
and  Duncan  G.,  all  living.  In  political  relations 
Mr.  Hudson  has  long  been  a  leading  Republican. 
He  has  served  as  village  president  four  years,  and 
two  years  as  a  member  of  the  village  council.  He 
was  also  township  school  inspector  two  years  and 
is  now  on  the  school  board.  Fraternally  he  is  a 
Mason  of  the  Royal  Arch  degree  and  holds  the 
rank  of  past  master  in  his  lodge.  He  also  belongs 
to  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows.  As  showing  the 
general  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  it  should  be 
stated  that  he  was  elected  one  of  the  county's  rep- 
resentatives in  the  legislature,  and  in  the  delib- 
erations of  the  body  to  which  he  belongs  he  has 
taken  an  active  and  intelligent,  and  widely 
serviceable  part. 

EMMETT  M.  GRAY. 

This  highly  respected  citizen  and  valued  pub- 
lic* official  of  Charleston  township,  Kalamazoo 
county,  who  is  now  serving  acceptably  as  town- 
ship supervisor,  was  born  on  the  farm  on  which 
he  now  lives  on  September  5,  1856.  He  is  the 
son  of  Samuel  S.  and  Susan  M.  (Clark)  Gray, 
the  former  born  in  Niagara  and  the  latter  in 
Genesee  county,  N.  Y.  The  father  was  born  in 
1820,  a  son  of  Matthew  and  Delilah  Gray,  also 
natives  of  New  York.  The  grandfather  was  a 
farmer  who  came  to  Michigan  late  in  life  and 
died  in  this  county.  The  father  of  Emmett  grew 
to  manhood  in  Niagara  county,  N.  Y.,  and  farmed 
there  until  1846,  when  he  came  to  Michigan  in 
company  with  his  half-brother,  George  W.  Stew- 
ard, of  Galesburg,  and  bought  eighty  acres  of 
land  in  Charleston  township,  a  part  of  which  is 


GRANT  j\J.   HUDSON. 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


539 


now  owned  by  his  son  Emmett.  Since  then  the 
former  has  resided  on  this  land,  which  he  has 
transformed  into  one  of  the  best  farms  in  the 
township.  The  father  was  married  on  this  farm 
in  1 85 1  to  the  mother  of  Emmett.  They  have 
had  three  children,  Alice  D.,  now  Mrs.  J.  C. 
Carey,  of  Comstock  township ;  Willard  E.,  an  at- 
torney of  Houghton  county,  Mich. ;  and  Emmett, 
the  immediate  subject  of  this  brief  review.  The 
mother,  who  was  born  in  Livingston  county,  N. 
Y.,  on  January  22,  1824,  died  on  the  farm  in 
1900,  and  since  then  the  father  has  made  his 
home  with  his  son.  He  is  a  Republican  but  not 
an  active  partisan,  and  never  sought  official  sta- 
tion of  any  kind.  He  and  his  wife  were  during 
her  life  members  of  the  Congregational  church 
of  Galesburg.  Emmett  was  reared  and  educated 
in  Kalamazoo  county,  attending  the  high  school 
at  Galesburg.  He  taught  school  nine  years  in 
the  county  and  also  operated  a  farm  in  Comstock 
township  six  years.  Since  then  he  has  worked 
the  home  farm.  He  was  married  in  1882  to  Miss 
Estella  Clark,  a  native  of  Barry  county,  Mich., 
and  daughter  of  Norman  and  Elizabeth  (Bullis) 
Clark,  early  settlers  in  that  county,  but  now  de- 
ceased. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gray  have  had  two  chil- 
dren, Willis  S.  and  Victor  M.,  both  dead.  Mr. 
Gray  has  been  a  life-long  Republican  and  has 
served  as  township  supervisor  five  years  and  also 
as  school  inspector.  He  has  an  excellent  farm 
of  one  hundred  and  forty  acres,  and  is  looked  up 
to  as  a  leader  in  all  the  public  and  social  life  in 
his  township. 

WILLIAM  S.  KIRBY. 

Owning  and  conducting  the  Valley  Stock 
Farm,  nine  miles  from  Kalamazoo  on  the  main 
line  of  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad,  and  there 
conducting  an  active  and  flourishing  live  stock 
business,  especially  in  the  line  of  rearing  standard 
and  well-bred  horses  of  high  grades,  William  S. 
Kirby  is  one  of  the  best  known  and  most  useful 
citizens  of  Kalamazoo  county.  He  has  for  many 
years  kept  a  stud  of  the  finest  and  most  valuable 
horses  in  this  section  of  the  country,  and  has 
easily  maintained  his  place  among  the  leading 
30 


stock  breeders  of  the  Middle  West.  Mr.  Kirby 
was  born  at  Crescent,  Saratoga  county,  N.  Y.,  on 
November  25,  1857,  and  is  the  son  of  William  G. 
and  Rhoda  (S wetland)  Kirby,  a  sketch  of  whom 
is  to  be  seen  elsewhere  in  this  work.  He  was 
nine  months  old  when  his  parents  moved  from 
their  New  York  home  to  Kalamazoo  county  in 
1858,  and  the  whole  of  his  subsequent  life  has 
been  passed  in  the  county.  He  received  a  good 
common  and  high  school  education,  and  remained 
with  his  parents  until  he  reached  his  thirty-sec- 
ond year,  assisting  in  the  management  of  the 
home  farm  after  leaving  school.  In  1876  Mr. 
Kirby  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Alice 
Wightman,  daughter  of  Dr.  George  R.  and  Mary 
(Crandall)  Wightman,  and  to  them  have  been 
born  the  following  children:  William  G.  will  fin- 
ish a  course  in  science  in  June,  1906,  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan ;  Dr.  George  W.  graduated 
from  the  Rush  Medical  College  and  is  now  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Mill- 
ersburg,  Ind. ;  Harold  E.,  who  graduated  from 
the  University  of  Michigan  and  the  Michigan 
State  Normal  School,  is  superintendent  of  man- 
ual training  at  the  Kearney  Military  Academy, 
Kearney,  Neb.;  Miss  Nina  is  still  at  home  with 
her  parents.  In  1890  he  began  raising  stock 
there,  having  at  the  head  of  his  stables  the  cele- 
brated horse  "Harry  Noble/'  which  he  reared 
from  a  colt,  and  which  made  a  record  in  1890  of 
2:17^.  Afterward  he  owned  "Apollo  Wilkes," 
2:1954,  "Emma  Balch,"  2:20*4,  and  "Albatross," 
2:16.  He  has  trained  and  given  records  to  one 
hundred  and  fourteen  horses  from  2  :io^  to  2  '.30, 
twenty  of  them  in  the  2:20  list,  one  of  them, 
"Glenwood,"  making  a  mark  of  2:10%.  The 
farm  comprises  eighty  acres  and  is  devoted 
wholly  to  breeding  horses.  It  is  equipped  with 
excellent  buildings  and  other  conveniences  for 
the  business,  and  contains  one  of  the  finest  half- 
mile  tracks  in  this  part  of  the  state.  In  addition 
to  the  attention  given  to  his  own  output,  Mr.  Kir- 
by's  talents  are  called  into  requisition  as  a  trainer 
of  horses  from  all  over  the  country,  his  renown  as 
a  trainer  being  national  in  its  scope.  He  is  a  man 
of  great  industry  in  this  labor  of  love,  usually 
driving  in  his  work  sixty  to  seventy  miles  a  day. 


S40 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


For  a  number  of  years  he  was  also  engaged  in 
shipping  sheep  extensively  to  Eastern  markets, 
handling,  an  average  of  several  thousand  a  year, 
but  of  late  he  has  devoted  himself  exclusively  to 
raising  and  training  horses,  and  he  has  the  dis- 
tinction of  having  trained  more  good  horses  of 
the  first  class  than  any  other  man  in  the  state. 
He  has  a  grand  stand  of  ample  proportions  at  his 
track,  and  the  annual  races  and  meeting  there 
are  events  of  unusual  interest  in  this  section,  ex- 
citing the  widest  and  most  enthusiastic  attention 
and  bringing  together  thousands  of  the  people 
who  are  devoted  to  the  sport  and  the  improve- 
ment of  the  live  stock  of  the  county.  Mr.  Kirby 
is  a  self-made  man  essentially,  and  having  found 
early  in  life  his  true  field  of  enterprise,  he  has  cul- 
tivated it  with  the  ardor  of  a  devotee  and  the  sys- 
tematic industry  of  an  excellent  business  man, 
winning  wide  reputation  for  his  skill  and  profit- 
able returns  from  his  business  acumen  and  ex- 
cellent management.  He  is  genial  and  cordial  in 
manner  and  disposition  and  enjoys  an  extensive 
and  enduring  popularity. 

JONAS   SCRAMLIN. 

Jonas  Scramlin,  one  of  the  esteemed  pioneers 
of  Climax  township,  this  county,  whose  useful 
life  ended  in  February,  1896,  was  a  native  of  near 
Otsego,  N.  Y.,  born  on  July  6,  1823.  He  was 
the  son  of  Henry  and  Nancy  (Hess)  Scramlin, 
who  were  of  Holland  ancestry  and  probably  born 
in  Holland.  They  were  farmers  and  came  from 
their  New  York  home  to  Kalamazoo  county  in 
1836,  bringing  their  family.  The  father  died  of 
consumption  the  next  fall,  and  the  widow  and 
her  three  children  remained  on  the  land  the  fa- 
ther had  purchased  just  east  of  Climax.  This 
land  Mr.  Scramlin  and  his  brothers  began  early 
in  life  to  clear,  and  at  the  same  time  aided  in  sup- 
porting the  family.  Soon  afterward  the  mother 
married  again  and  returned  to  New  York,  where 
she  died,  but  her  remains  were  buried  in  this 
county.  Jonas  Scramlin  grew  to  manhood  on 
the  farm  and  passed  the  greater  part  of  his  life 
on  it.  He  assisted  in  breaking  up  much  of  the 
land  surrounding  it,  improved  his  patrimony  to 


good  advantage,  and  lived  to  see  the  county  well 
developed  and  highly  progressive.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1847  t°  Miss  Olive  Hunt,  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont. Her  early  life  was  passed  in  the  state  of 
New  York,  where  her  father  died  when  she  was 
but  a  child.  At  the  age  of  nine  she  came  to  Mich- 
igan, and  here  she  lived  with  an  older  sister, 
Mrs.  Alfred  Eldred,  until  her  marriage.  Of 
her  nine  children  seven  are  living,  Wilbur,  Wal- 
ter, Melvin,  Frank,  Nancy  E.,  Flora  and  Lilly 
A.  Their  father  was  a  Republican,  but  never 
sought  or  filled  office.  He  was  a  successful  farm- 
er and  prosperous  money  lender.  His  widow  is 
living  at  her  pleasant  home  in  Climax. 

LEWIS  H.  ODELL. 

Mr.  Odell,  who  has  the  distinction  of  being 
the  most  extensive  landholder  of  Wakeshma 
township,  this  county,  owning  more  than  a  sec- 
tion of  its  best  land,  is  a  native  of  Michigan, 
born  in  Cass  county  on  September  3,  1848.  His 
parents,  Josiah  and  Elizabeth  (White)  Odell, 
were  natives  of  Ohio.  The  father  was  a  farmer 
and  came  to  this  state  at  a  very  early  day.  Soon 
afterward  he  enlisted  for  the  Black  Hawk  war, 
and  his  regiment  got  as  far  as  Chicago,  where  it 
was  disbanded,  the  war  having  been  ended.  La- 
ter he  moved  to  Iowa  and  operated  a  saw  mill 
near  Cedar  Rapids,  a  business  he  followed  also  in 
Michigan,  being  a  sawyer  by  trade.  In  1861  he 
returned  to  Ohio  and  enlisted  in  the  Sixty-second 
Ohio  Infantry  for  the  Civil  war,  and  in  1864  he 
died  from  exposure  in  the  service.  He  was  n 
Republican  in  politics  and  attended  the  Presby- 
terian church,  of  which  his  wife  was  an  earnest 
and  zealous  member.  She  died  in  1856.  They 
had  two  children,  their  son  Lewis  H.  and  their 
daughter  Sarah  E.,  the  latter  dying  in  infancy 
The  Odells  are  of  Scotch  origin  and  members 
of  the  family  settled  early  in  this  country.  The 
great-grandfather  of  Lewis  was  a  soldier  on  the 
American  side  in  the  Revolution,  and  his  son 
was  a  major  in  the  LTnited  States  army  in  the 
war  of  1 81 2.  Fie  was  born  in  Kentucky  but 
moved  to  Michigan  while  it  was  yet  a  territory, 
and  was  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  having  it  ad- 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


54i 


mitted  to  the  Union  as  a  state.  He  was  a  farmer 
and  saw  mill  owner,  operating  on  an  extensive 
scale,  and  accumulated  a  large  fortune.  Lewis 
H.  Odell  was  reared  to  manhood  near  Cedar 
Rapids,  Linn  county,  Iowa,  and  educated  at  the 
public  schools.  His  boyhood  and  youth  were 
passed  in  the  home  of  his  uncle,  John  White, 
with  whom  he  remained  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  twenty-five  years,  when  he  began  farming 
on  his  own  account,  following  the  industry  in  Iowa 
until  1903.  He  then  disposed  of  his  farm  of  over 
four  hundred  acres  in  that  state  and  came  to  this 
county,  purchasing  the  George  W.  Clepfell  farm 
of  seven  hundred  and  twenty  acres  in  Wakeshma 
township,  which  made  him  the  largest  landowner 
in  the  township.  This  farm  he  has  since  im- 
proved in  every  way,  building  good  fences,  put- 
ting up  a  fine  modern  dwelling,  and  making  his 
place  one  of  the  most  complete  and  desirable 
country  homes  in  the  county.  Mr.  Odell  was 
first  married  in  Iowa  in  1886  to  Mrs.  Helen  Din- 
niny,  a  native  of  Indiana ;  and  again  in  this 
county  in  1904  to  Mrs.  Polly  J.  DeKalb.  born 
Polly  Reed,  a  daughter  of  Harry  Reed,  a  pioneer 
of  Calhoun  county,  Mich.,  locating  there  when  a 
boy  with  his  father.  The  family  were  among 
the  most  respected  people  in  that  county.  While 
living  in  Iowa  Mr.  Odell  took  an  active  and 
prominent  part  in  politics,  serving  in  a  number 
of  local  offices ;  and  he  was  a  leading  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  at  Mt.  Vernon,  Linn 
county.  In  Michigan  he  has  been  serviceably 
connected  in  every  commendable  way  with  the 
improvement  and  development  of  his  township 
and  county,  and  enjoys  a  marked  degree  of  es- 
teem on,  all  sides  for  his  progressive  spirit  and 
upright  manhood. 

MELVIN  SCRAMLIN. 

This  well  known  farmer  of  Charleston  town- 
ship, and  esteemed  ex-supervisor  of  the  township, 
is  a  native  of  Kalamazoo  county,  born  on  a  farm 
in  Climax  township  on  April  5,  1863.  His  par- 
ents, Jonas  and  Olive  (Hunt)  Scramlin,  were 
natives  of  the  state  of  New  York,  the  father  being 
born  near  Otsego,  that  state,  in  1823.     He  was  a 


son  of  Henry  Scramlin,  a  well-to-do  farmer  who 
died  in  New  York,  but  his  remains  were  buried 
in  this  county.  Through  researches  made  recent- 
ly, it  is  learned  that  Henry  and  Nancy  (Hess) 
Scramlin  came  from  Holland  in  company  with 
two  old  bachelor  brothers  of  Henry  and  the 
Roosevelts,  and  settled  in  the  Mohawk  valley, 
New  York  state.  At  that  time  the  family  name 
was  spelled  Schrambling,  but  later  generations 
have  shortened  it  to  its  present  form.  Jonas 
Scramlin  remained  in  New  York  state  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  thirteen,  then  with  his  mother 
and  the  rest  of  the  children,  came  to  Michigan  in 
a  train  embracing  a  number  of  other  families, 
making  the  entire  trip  with  teams,  camping  out 
at  night  and  following  the  trails  in  a  laborious 
and  wearying  journey  to  their  destination.  On 
their  arrival  they  located  on  government  land 
just  east  of  the  village  of  Climax  and  did  most 
of  their  own  clearing  and  broke  up  large  areas 
of  ground  for  other  people.  Mr.  Scramlin  im- 
proved his  farm,  building  the  improvements  him- 
self, and  resided  on  it  until  within  a  few  years  of 
his  death,  when  he  moved  to  Climax,  where  he 
died  in  February,  1896.  In  1847  ne  was  married 
to  Miss  Olive  Hunt,  a  native  of  Vermont,  and 
daughter  of  David  and  Nancy  (P>rown)  Hunt. 
They  became  the  parents  of  five  sons  and  four 
daughters,  all  of  whom  are  living  but  two.  Those 
living  are  Nancy  E.,  wife  of  G.  Lynn,  of  Climax ; 
Lilly,  wife  of  B.  Roof,  of  Galesburg;  Wilbur  F., 
of  Climax ;  Flora,  wife  of  Herbert  Pierce,  of  Cli- 
max;  David  W.,  of  Battle  Creek;  Melvin,  and 
Frank,  who  lives  on  the  old  homestead.  The 
mother  is  living  at  Climax.  The  father  was  a 
Whig  and  later  a  Republican,  but  he  never  filled 
or  sought  public  office.  He  was  widely  known 
throughout  the  county  and  highly  respected.  His 
son  Melvin  was  reared  in  this  county  and  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools.  For  five  years  he  was 
engaged  in  merchandising  in  partnership  with  L. 
T.  Clark,  the  firm  name  being  Clark  &•  Scramlin, 
and  the  seat  of  the  enterprise  at  Climax.  Since 
the  end  of  that  period  he  has  followed  farming  in 
Charleston  township,  and  is  also  interested  in 
timber  lands  in  Louisiana.  He  was  married  in 
Erie  county,  N.  Y.,  in  1884  to  Miss  Louise  Spar- 


542 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


ling.  They  have  one  child,  their  daughter  Blanch 
L.,  who  is  living  at  home.  The  mother  died  in 
March,  1887,  and  m  x^9  tne  father  married 
Miss  Luella  A.  Darling,  of  Ashtabula  county, 
Ohio.  They  have  two  sons,  Henry  W.  and  Jonas 
D.  Mrs.  Scramlin's  parents  are  Oliver  and  Eliza- 
beth Darling,  and  are  living  in  Ashtabula  county, 
Ohio,  where  her  marriage  with  Mr.  Scramlin 
occurred.  In  politics  Mr.  Scramlin  is  a  life-long 
Republican.  He  served  five  years  as  supervisor 
of  Charleston  township  and  two  as  clerk  of  Cli- 
max. He  has  also  filled  all  other  township  of- 
fices, and  made  an  excellent  record  in  each.  Fra- 
ternally he  is  connected  with  the  Masonic  order 
and  the  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 

GEORGE  ROOF. 

This  gentleman,  who  occupies  a  prominent 
place  in  the  business  life  of  Kalamazoo  county  as 
president  of  the  Exchange  Bank  of  Climax,  and 
is  one  of  the  leading  and  most  representative 
farmers  and  live  stock  men  of  the  county,  is  a 
native  of  Kalamazoo  county,  born  in  Charleston 
township  on  August  1,  1864.  He  is  a  son  of  Rob- 
ert and  Martha  (Hallock)  Roof,  the  former  a 
native  of  Sussex  county,  N.  J.,  and  the  latter 
of  the  state  of  New  York.  The  father  grew  to 
manhood  in  his  native  county,  and  for  many 
years  assisted  his  parents  in  the  management  of 
their  large  farming  interests,  remaining  with  them 
until  he  was  twenty-six  years  old.  He  secured  a 
good  education  in  the  public  schools  of  which 
he  was  a  regular  and  studious  attendant  when- 
ever he  had  opportunity  to  go.  In  1848  he  came 
to  Kalamazoo  county  as  a  pioneer,  and  for  four 
years  thereafter  worked  by  the  month  for  Hiram 
Moore,  of  Charleston  township,  Mr.  Moore  then 
owning  the  land  which  afterward  belonged  to 
Mr.  Roof.  From  1852  to  1855  ne  did  a  thriving 
business  in  buying  and  shipping  grain  and  horses, 
making  his  headquarters  a  part  of  the  time  at 
Kankakee,  111.,  although  maintaining  his  home 
in  Michigan.  In  1855  he  bought  sixty-three 
acres  of  unimproved  land  in  Charleston  town- 
ship and  located  on  the  place  that  same  year, 
renting  a  house  to  live  in  while  developing  and 


improving  his  land.     Four  years   later  he  pur- 
chased an  addition  of  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
three   acres,   on   which   he   had   a   dwelling  and 
barns.     Later  he  traded  his  first  farm  for  the 
one  he  owned  and  occupied  at  his  death  in  1896, 
and  made  additional  purchases  until   he  owned 
eleven  hundred  and  fifty  acres  in  the  state,  and 
becoming  the  largest  landowner  in  the  county,  at 
the   same   time  extensively   engaging  in   raising 
and  dealing  in  live  stock.     He  was  a  gentleman 
of  much  more  than  ordinary  business  enterprise 
and   keenness,   and   his   judgment   in   regard   to 
stock  was  remarkably  accurate.     His  sole  capi- 
tal when  he  took  up  the  burden  of  life  for  him- 
self was  fifteen  dollars,  and  from  that  small  be- 
ginning he  amassed  a  fortune  that  made  him  one 
of  the  richest  men  in  the  county.     He  was  mar- 
ried in  1855  to  Miss  Martha  Hallock,  a  native 
of  the  state  of  New  York  and  the  daughter  of 
V.    C.    and    Catherine    (O'Neal)    Hallock,    with 
whom  she  came  to  Michigan.     Of  their  five  chil- 
dren two  died  in  infancy.     The  others  are  living. 
The  father  was  a  true  Democrat  in  politics,  but 
was  ever  independent  of  party  control.     Frater- 
nally he  was  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order  for 
about  forty  years.     He  and  his  wife  died  at  the 
same  time  in  i8q8,  and  their  remains  were  bur- 
ied in  the  same  grave.     Their  son  George  was 
reared  in  Kalamazoo  county  and  educated  in  the 
district  schools  and  at  Paw  Paw  College.     He 
remained  at  home  managing  the  farm  for  his  fa- 
ther many  years  prior  to  the  death  of  the  latter, 
giving  his  whole  attention  to  farming  and  rais- 
ing live  stock.     In  1892  he  became  interested  in 
the  Exchange  Bank  of  Climax,  and  since   190  r 
has  owned  and  managed  the  bank  alone.     In  this 
institution    he    conducts    a    vigorous    and    active 
general  banking  business,   but  his   farming  and 
stock  interests  claim  the  greater  portion  of  his 
attention.     In   February,    1890,  he  was  married 
in  this  county  to  Miss  Lorena  Bradley,  a  native 
of  Charleston  township  and  a  daughter  of  Wil- 
son and  Eliza  (Lawler)  Bradley,  farmers  of  that 
township.      They   have   four   children,    Inez   B.. 
Robert  W.,  Doris  C.  and  Raymond  B.    Mr.  Roof 
is  a  pronounced  Democrat  in  politics,  but  he  has 
never  taken  an  active  part  in  partisan  politics. 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


543 


He  belongs  to  the  Masonic  order  with  member- 
ship in  the  lodge  at  Climax.  He  owns  nine  hun- 
dred acres  of  excellent  land,  all  of  which  is  well 
improved  and  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation.  In 
all  his  undertakings  he  has  been  eminently  suc- 
cessful, and  ranks  everywhere  among  the  leading 
and  most  influential  citizens  of  the  county  he  has 
done  so  much  to  develop  and  improve. 

ALBERT  SMITH. 

This   progressive   and   public-spirited   citizen, 
who  is  the  present  capable   and   faithful   super- 
visor of  Portage  township,  this  county,  was  born 
in  the  township  on  July  24,  1841,  and  throughout 
nearly  the  whole  of  his  life  so  far  has  been  fa- 
miliar with  its  needs  and  the  desires  and  enter- 
prise of  its  people.    Knowing  well  what  is  wanted 
in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties,  and  being 
earnestly  desirous  of  promoting  the  best  inter- 
ests of  his  section,  he  is  performing  them  with  a 
skill   and  industry  that  wins   him   general  com- 
mendation as  a  wise  and  positive  official  and  a 
worthy  man.      His  parents,  William   and   Sarah 
A.    (Brown)    Smith,    were   born   the    former   in 
Ohio  and  the  latter  in  Virginia.     The  father  was 
a  farmer  and  about  the  year  1831   came  to  this 
county    with    his    parents,   William     and    Alice 
(Yates)     Smith,    who    settled    at     Schoolcraft, 
where  they  lived  many  years,  moving  finally  to 
Portage    township,     where    they    died.      Albert 
Smith's    father   grew   to   manhood   near   School- 
craft, and  when  a  young  man  moved  into  Por- 
tage township   and   purchased   several   tracts   of 
land  at  different  times,  at  one  period  owning  five 
hundred   acres.      He   died   on   one   of   his   farms 
in    1859,   his    wife    following   him    to   the    other 
world  in   1903.     They  had  three  sons  and  three 
daughters,  of  whom  one  died  in  1852,  while  the 
others  are  all  living.     Albert  passed  his  boyhood 
and  youth  on  the  paternal  homestead,  receiving 
his  education  in  the  district  schools  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  began  life  as  a  farmer.    This  occu- 
pation he  has  followed  through  life,  most  of  the 
time  in  this  county.     In  1883  he  moved  to  South 
Dakota,  where  he  resided  eleven  years,  then  re- 
turned to  Portage  township  in  this  county  and 


for  four  years  engaged  in  general  merchandising 
there,  also  serving  as  postmaster  during  this 
time.  All  his  life  he  has  been  a  Republican  in 
politics  and  has  been  called  to  several  offices  of 
importance  by  the  people.  He  has  served  as 
township  treasurer  and  was  for  a  number  of 
years  a  member  of  the  county  board  in  South 
Dakota.  During  the  last  seven  years  he  has  been 
the  supervisor  of  Portage  township.  Fraternally 
he  is  a  Freemason  of  the  Royal  Arch  degree.  In 
1862  he  was  married  in  this  county  to  Miss 
Louisa  A.  Rockwell,  a  native  of  New  York  state. 
They  had  one  child,  their  daughter  Eva  I.,  wife 
of  George  Wilcox,  of  South  Dakota.  Her  moth- 
er died  in  1879,  and  in  1880  Mr.  Smith  was 
joined  in  a  second  marriage  with  Miss  Sarah  A. 
McEldowriey.  They  have  had  two  children,  M. 
Wilbur  and  Myra  Z.,  both  of  whom  died  in 
South  Dakota.  The  parents  are  members  of  the 
Baptist  church.  While  Mr.  Smith  is  modest  and 
unassuming  he  is  one  of  the  best  known  and 
most  esteemed  citizens  of  his  township  and  is  also 
widely  known  and  highly  esteemed  in  other  parts 
of  the  county.  And  it  may  be  truthfully  said 
that  no  man  is  more  deserving  of  the  cordial 
regard  in  which  he  is  held. 

S.  D.  JOY. 

S.  D.  Joy,  the  well  known  photographer  and 
a  public-spirited  citizen  of  Vicksburg,  was  born 
in  this  state  in  1869,  and  is  a  son  of  Hubbard 
and  Harmona  Joy,  who  were  of  French  and 
German  extraction  respectively.  The  subject 
was  reared  on  the  parental  farmstead  and  se- 
cured his  elementary  education  in  the  common 
schools,  supplementing  this  by  attendance  at 
Hiram  College.  Upon  the  completion  of  his 
studies  he  entered  upon  an  apprenticeship  with 
an  apiarist,  but  shortly  afterwards  his  employer 
sold  out  and  and  Mr.  Joy  then  engaged  to  work 
in  a  furniture  factory.  A  short  time  afterwards 
he  commenced  the  study  of  photography  at  Lake 
Odessa,  Michigan,  and  a  year  later  bought  out 
his  preceptor  and  continued  the  business  on  his 
own  account  for  five  years.  He  was  then  located 
at  Wayland  for  six  years  and  in  1899  removed  to 


544 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


Vicksburg.  His  reputation  as  a  thoroughly  com- 
petent and  artistic  photographer  was  speedily 
established  and  from  the  beginning  he  has  en- 
joyed a  large  and  lucrative  business.  His  studio, 
which  is  connected  with  his  residence,  is  thor- 
oughly equipped  with  up-to-date  appliances  and 
every  effort  is  exerted  to  give  entire  satisfaction 
to  all  customers  who  enter  the  studio.  In  April, 
1893,  Mr.  Joy  married  Miss  E.  Viola  Holes,  a 
daughter  of  J.  B.  and  Mary  H.  Holes,  natives 
of  Michigan,  the  former  of  Irish  extraction  and 
the  latter  of  Scotch  and  German.  To  this  union 
has  been  born  one  daughter,  Alice  Viola,  whose 
birth  occurred  in  1894.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Joy  are 
members  of  the  Congregational  church  and  are 
highly  esteemed  in  the  community. 

ROMINE  H.  BUCKHOUT. 

Romine  H.  Buckhout  is  the  name  of  one  of 
Kalamazoo's  most  loyal  and  respected  citizens. 
Having  resided  in  the  city  of  Kalamazoo  since 
the  year  1869,  he  has  made  many  life-long  friends 
and  endeared  himself,  by  his  uprightness  and 
tender  sympathy,  to  all  who  know  him. 

Romine  H.  Buckhout  was  born  on  a  farm  in 
Oshtemo  township,  Kalamazoo  county,  on  May 
12,  1844.  His  parents  were  Henry  ,and  Eliza- 
beth (Kellogg)  Buckhout,  both  natives  of  New 
York  state.  These  good  people  came  all  the  way 
from  New  York  state  in  wagons  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  year  1843.  Arriving  in  Michigan, 
they  settled  on  the  farm  where  their  son  was 
born,  and  also  two  other  children,  Oscar,  a  resi- 
dent of  Kalamazoo,  and  Susan,  who  is  Mrs. 
Doughty,  of  Grand  Rapids.  When  the  boy  Ro- 
mine was  ten  years  old  he  made  the  trip  to  Cas- 
tile, New  York,  alone.  Here  he  visited  his 
grandfather  and  attended  school,  remaining  un- 
til he  was  seventeen  years  of  age.  At  that  time 
he  returned  to  his  home,  where  he  remained  until 
1869,  when  he  and  his  brother  Oscar  came  to  the 
village  of  Kalamazoo  and  started  in  the  grocery 
business  on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Portage 
streets,  having  the  store  now  occupied  by  Sam 
Folz.  While  in  this  business  they  began  to  ship 
considerable  celery,  and  later  became  wholesale 


shippers,  being  the  first  to  ship  celery  in  Kala 
mazoo.  The  first  bunch  of  celery  that  was  ever 
sold  outside  of  this  city  was  shipped  by  them. 
In  1874  Romine  H.  Buckhout  was  united  in  mar 
riage  with  Miss  Emma  Gregson  Longbottom,  a 
resident  of  Kalamazoo,  whose  parents,  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  George  Longbottom,  came  to  Kalamazoo 
from  Liverpool,  England,  in  1849.  I*1  December. 
1884,  a  daughter,  Blanche  Elizabeth,  was  born  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Buckhout,  and  she  is  their  only 
child.  In  1883  Mr-  Buckhout  served  as  trustee 
of  Kalamazoo  village,  and  in  1885  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  city  council  during  the  mayorship  of 
the  Hon.  Peyton  Ranney. 

For  a  few  years  Mr.  Buckhout  was  again  in 
the  grocery  business,  and  now  is  a  stockholder  in 
the  Michigan  Butter  Company,  of  which  he  is  sec- 
retary and  treasurer.  He  has  always  been  a  de- 
voted member  of  the  Episcopal  church,  having 
served  for  over  fifteen  years  on  St.  Luke's  ves- 
try, of  which  he  is  now  a  member.  Mr.  Buck- 
hout has  never  mingled  much  in  politics,  usually, 
however,  casting  his  vote  with  the  Democratic 
party,  but  being  always  guided  by  his  conscience. 
At  present  he  and  his  family,  consisting  of  his 
wife  and  daughter,  reside  at  their  home  in  Stu- 
art avenue.  Mr.  Buckhout  is  a  man  who  holds 
an  enviable  place  in  the  hearts  of  his  friends, 
and  who  is  greatly  esteemed  for  his  loyalty,  gen- 
erosity and  uprightness.  He  is  a  great  lover  of 
his  home,  and  devoted  to  his  family. 

GEORGE  W.  BACON. 

The  late  George  W.  Bacon,  who  was  an  hon- 
ored pioneer  of  Portage  township,  this  county, 
was  born  in  the  state  of  New  York  on  January 
8,  1829,  the  son  of  Alvin  and  Julia  (Stratton) 
Brown,  also  natives  of  that  state.  The  parents 
were  farmers  and  came  to  Michigan  in  1836.  The 
father  took  up  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
government  land  in  Portage  township  which  he 
cleared  and  cultivated,  and  on  which  he  made  his 
home  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  The  first  home  of 
the  family  here  was  a  little  log  cabin  which  in 
a  short  time  gave  place  to  a  commodious  and 
tasteful    modern    frame   dwelling.     The    parents 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


545 


died  on  this  farm  at  advanced  ages.  They  had 
five  sons  and  three  daughters,  but  only  the  daugh- 
ters are  now  living.  Their  son  George  remained 
at  home  until  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty-four, 
receiving  his  education  in  the  primitive  schools  of 
the  period,  kept  in  uncanny  log  shacks  and  ill 
provided  with  the  comforts  and  appliances  which 
schools  are  desired  to  have,  and  do  have  in  a 
more  advanced  stage  of  development.  He 
learned  the  benefits*  and  acquired  the  habit  of 
useful  industry  on  the  paternal  homestead,  and 
was  well  prepared  thereby  to  conduct  the  opera- 
tions of  his  own  farm  when  he  moved  to  it  di- 
rectly after  his  marriage  in  1853.  In  this  im- 
portant event  in  his  life  he  was  united  with  Miss 
Angeline  Russell,  a  daughter  of  Rodney  and 
Sallie  (Woodruff)  Russell,  natives  of  the  state 
of  New  York,  where  the  mother  died  and  the 
father  married  a  second  time.  He  brought  his 
family  to  this  county  in  1846  and  located  in 
Portage  township,  where  he  died.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bacon  had  three  children,  one  of  whom  died  in 
infancy  and  the  other  two,  Henry  E.  and  Clara 
A.,  wife  of  R.  S.  Johnston,  are  living  in  this 
county.  Mr.  Bacon  was  active  in  local  affairs 
and  filled  a  number  of  township  offices,  serving 
always  with  credit  to  himself  and  benefit  to  the 
community.  He  departed  this  life  on  October 
1,  1900,  well  liked  by  all  who  knew  him  and  held 
in  high  respect  throughout  the  county  because  of 
his  sterling  worth  and  genial  manner,  broad 
public-spirit  and  zealous  activity  in  behalf  of  the 
progress  and  general  welfare  of  his  township. 
His  widow  survives  him  and  has  her  home  on 
the  farm  which  he  cleared  and  improved,  and  on 
which  they  lived  together  forty-seven  years. 

DAVID  J.  PIERSON. 

The  late  David  J.  Pierson,  who  died  in  this 
county  in  January,  1887,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
three,  and  after  a  residence  here  of  fifty-six 
years,  was  one  of  the  widely  known  and  much 
admired  pioneers  of  the  county  and  a.  potent  fac- 
tor in  its  early  settlement  and  subsequent  devel- 
opment. He  was  born  at  Litchfield,.  Mass.,  on 
May  4,  1804,  the  son  of  Amos  and  Mary  (John- 


son) Pierson,  natives  of  that  state  and  of  Eng- 
lish ancestry.  The  father  was  a  successful 
farmer  and  a  man  of  patriotic  spirit.  In  the 
war  of  181 2  he  saw  much  active  service  as  an 
aide-de-camp  to  one  of  the  leading  American 
generals.  The  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Colonel 
Johnson,  of  Litchfield,  who  was  also  a  soldier  in 
that  war.  In  later  life  they  moved  to  Trumbull 
county,  Ohio,  where  they  died  at  advanced  ages. 
Their  son  David  grew  to  manhood  in  Massachu- 
setts and  New  York  and  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools.  After  leaving  school  he  fol- 
lowed peddling  in  New  York  state  until  1830, 
when  he  moved  to  Ohio.  In  the  following 
spring  he  came  to  Michigan,  traveling  with 
teams  by  way  of  Toledo  and  the  Black  Swamp 
to  St.  Joseph  county,  where  he  ran  a  tavern  for 
two  years.  He  then  moved  to  Kalamazoo,  which 
at  that  time  was  a  frontier  village  called  Bron- 
son,  and  entered  government  land  in  Kalamazoo 
township.  To  the  development  and  improve- 
ment of  this  land  he  devoted  his  whole  time  un- 
til 1866,  when  he  moved  to  a  farm  west  of  the 
city  on  which  he  died  on  January  17,  1887.  He 
was  twice  married,  uniting  in  1832  with  Miss 
Eleanor  Burghardt,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania. 
They  had  ten  children,  of  whom  three  of  the 
daughters  are  living  in  this  county.  His  wife 
died  in  Kalamazoo  in  1854  and  the  next  year  he 
married  a  second  wife,  Mrs.  Mary  L.  Cowderly, 
the  widow  of  Lynas  Cowderly,  her  maiden  name 
having  been  Sutliff.  She  is  a  native  of  Ohio 
who  became  a  resident  of  Michigan  many  years 
ago.  Of  this  union  three  children  were  born, 
Minnie  A.,  wife  of  William  Hollister,  May  Lou- 
ise, who  died  in  infancy,  and  Frances  B.,  wife  of 
Horace  Brownell,  of  New  Orleans.  Mr.  Pierson 
was  an  earnest  church  worker  of  the  Methodist 
sect.  He  helped  to  found  the  first  church  of  that 
denomination  in  Kalamazoo,  and  served  it  as  dea- 
con for  a  period  of  five  years.  From  its  founda- 
tion he  contributed  liberally  to  its  needs  and  was 
always  foremost  in  its  good  works.  Passing 
away  at  an  advanced  age  after  a  life  of  more 
than  half  a  century  in  this  community,  he  left  the 
record  of  well  spent  years  in  the  service  of  his 
fellowmen,  of  great  usefulness  to  the  county  of 


546 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


his  residence  and  of  stimulating  and  helpful 
power  to  everybody  around  him,  and  his  remains 
were  laid  to  rest  with  many  demonstrations  of 
popular  esteem  and  regard. 

WILLIAM  HARRISON. 

The  Harrison  family  has  figured  prominently 
in  the  history  of  Kalamazoo  county  ever  since 
the  day,  now  far  back  in  the  past,  when  Judge 
Bazel  Harrison  penetrated  its  primeval  forests, 
and  as  its  first  white  settler,  braved  the  dangers 
and  hardships  of  a  pioneer  life  to  found  a  home 
within  its  borders.  His  son  William  was  the 
first  to  take  up  land  in  what  is  now  Charleston 
township,  this  county,  and  is  noted  in  local  an- 
nals as  the  first  pioneer  dweller  in  this  region. 
The  land  he  secured  was  from  the  United  States 
government,  and  the  deed  for  it  bears  the  signa- 
ture of  President  Martin  Van  Buren.  When 
Judge  Harrison  came  to  what  is  now  Kalama- 
zoo county,  he  settled  on  Prairie  Ronde,  and  the 
next  year  his  son  William  came  hither  from  the 
old  Ohio  home,  and  was  the  first  white  man  who 
located  in  Charleston  township.  He  broke  the 
first  furrow  and  raised  the  first  crop  ever  sown 
in  this  soil  by  a  white  man.  He  lived  to  be 
ninety-seven  years  old,  was  widely  known  and 
greatly  revered  for  the  noble  traits  of  character 
which  marked  him  as  a  true  man  of  unblemished 
reputation,  a  social,  amiable  disposition,  and  a 
strong,  clear  mind.  His  wife,  America  Harri- 
son, a  descendant  of  Benjamin  Harrison  of  Revo- 
lutionary fame  and  a  signer  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  two  of  whose  descendants  have 
been  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  born  in  Maryland.  She  lived 
to  be  sixty-seven  years  old,  was  the  second  wife 
of  her  husband,  and  the  mother  of  eleven  children. 
Their  son  Joseph  was  born  in  Charleston  town- 
ship on  August  5,  1839.  He  was  the  fifth  child 
and  second  son  of  his  parents,  and  was  reared 
under  pioneer  influences  in  the  home  of  his  birth. 
His  education  was  secured  in  the  primitive 
schools  of  the  early  days,  and  as  soon  as  he  was 
able  he  went  to  work  on  the  farm.  At  the  age 
of  seventeen  he  went  to  Battle  Creek  to  learn  his 


trade  as  a  blacksmith.  Two  years  later  he  bought 
a  smithy  at  McCain's  Corners,  Pavilion  township, 
which  he  conducted  three  years,  winning  a  high 
reputation  as  a  skillful  workman  who  could  make 
anything  that  could  be  made  in  his  line.  Mr. 
Harrison,  with  the  patriotic  interest  in  every  pub- 
lic event  that  always  characterized  him,  watched 
the  course  of  the  Civil  war  with  great  anxiety, 
and  in  August,  1862,  enlisted  in  Company  L, 
Sixth  Michigan  Cavalry,  in  which  he  served  three 
years  and  three  months,  fighting  right  gallantly 
in  many  of  the  great  battles  of  the  war.  On  July 
19,  1867,  he  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Jennie 
F.  Sliter,  a  native  of  New  York  state,  and  a 
daughter  of  William  and  Phoebe  (Loveless)  Sli- 
ter. She  was  reared  in  her  native  place  and  came 
to  Michigan  with  her  parents.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Harrison  had  four  children,  Clarence  U.,  a  drug- 
gist, who  is  now  deceased;  William  S.,  Cassins 
J.,  and  Dottie  Belle,  now  the  wife  of  E.  J.  Stev- 
ens, of  Kalamazoo.  Joseph  Harrison's  whole  ca- 
reer has  been  an  honor  to  his  family  and  his  na- 
tive county.  His  manly  traits  of  character  have 
given  him  the  confidence  of  his  fellow  men  and 
prominence  in  public  life  and  social  circles.  He 
was  a  justice  of  the  peace  twelve  years  and  town- 
ship treasurer  two  years.  His  fraternal  affilia- 
tions are  with  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic 
and  the  Masonic  order,  in  the  latter  being  a 
member  of  the  blue  lodge,  chapter  and  command- 
ery.  In  politics  he  is  a  zealous  and  unwavering 
Republican. 

FRED  W.   NEASMITH. 

Fred  W.  Neasmith,  of  Schoolcraft  township, 
is  one  of  the  best  known  and  most  successful 
farmers  of  the  county,  and  is  one  of  its  leading 
business  men  in  several  lines  of  commercial  en- 
terprise. He  was  born  on  March  3,  i860,  on  the 
farm  which  is  now  his  home,  and  is  the  son  of 
James  H.  and  Susan  (Dykeman)  Neasmith,  the 
former  a  native  of  Manchester,  England,  and  the 
latter  of  the  state  of  New  York.  The  grand- 
father, James  Neasmith,  was  born  and  reared  in 
Scotland.  He  was  a  sailor  and  was  lost  at  sea, 
leaving  at  his  death  a  widow  and  two  sons.    The 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


547 


mother  brought  her  boys  to  the  United  States 
when  James  M.  was  five  years  old  and  located  in 
Philadelphia,  Pa.  Some  years  later  she  moved 
to  Pembroke,  N.  Y.,  where  her  children  were 
educated  in  the  district  schools  and  at  Batavia 
Academy.  James  learned  his  trade  as  a  cooper 
and  worked  at  it  and  kept  hotel  in  New  York 
until  he  came  to  Michigan  and  bought  the  farm 
of  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  now  owned 
and  worked  by  his  son  Fred.  It  was  partially  im- 
proved when  he  made  his  purchase,  and  was  his 
home  until  three  years  before  his  death.  In  1893 
he  moved  to  Vicksburg,  where  he  died  in  1896, 
the  mother  following  him  to  the  other  world  in 
December,  1901.  He  was  a  leading  Republican 
and  filled  a  number  of  important  offices,  being 
elected  county  treasurer  in  1862  and  serving  six 
years.  He  also  served  four  years  as  state  land 
commissioner,  two  terms  as  state  senator,  and  a 
number  of  years  as  township  supervisor.  Aiding 
materially  in  founding  the  Vicksburg  Exchange 
Bank,  he  was  its  president  for  some  years.  He 
and  his  wife  were  married  at  Pembroke,  N.  Y., 
and  became  the  parents  of  four  children,  three 
sons  and  one  daughter,  all  of  whom  are  dead  but 
the  daughter,  Mrs.  Charles  Cooley,  of  Vicks- 
burg, and  the  son,  Fred  W.  The  parents  were 
members  of  the  Congregational  church,  and  the 
father  was  an  Odd  Fellow.  The  son  was  reared 
and  educated  in  this  county,  attending  the  public 
school  at  Vicksburg.  He  began  farming  early  in 
life,  and  followed  that  industry  in  this  country 
until  1883,  when  he  bought  a  section  and  a  half 
of  land  in  Lamoure  county,  N.  D.,  where  he  lived 
ten  years  prosperously  engaged  in  raising  wheat 
and  live  stock,  and  during  three  years  of  the  time 
served  as  one  of  the  county  commissioners.  He 
still  owns  large  interests  there,  but  returned  to 
Kalamazoo  county  on  account  of  the  death  of  his 
brother  George  and  the  advanced  age  of  his  par- 
ents, and  he  has  been  living  here  ever  since.  In 
1884  he  was  married  at  Schoolcraft  to  Miss  Anna 
D.  DeMerrill,  a  native  of  Canada.  They  have 
had  three  children,  their  son  James  M.,  who  died, 
and  their  daughter  Sue  and  Elizabeth,  who  are 
living.  Mr.  Neasmith  is  a  stockholder  in  the 
bank  at  Vicksburg  and  the  Vicksburg  Creamery 


Company.  In  fraternal  relations  he  is  a  Free- 
mason of  great  activity  and  prominence,  now 
serving  as  the  worshipful 'master  of  his  lodge  at 
Vicksburg.  In  the  public  life  of  the  county  he 
takes  an  intelligent  and  helpful  part,  and  is  uni- 
versally esteemed  as  an  excellent  farmer,  a  good 
citizen,  a  wise  counselor  in  reference  to  matters 
of  public  improvement  and  development,  an  oblig- 
ing neighbor,  and  a  faithful  and  honest  friend. 

C.  E.  BALDWIN. 

This  enterprising  and  progressive  citizen  of 
Ross  township,  who  is  the  son-in-law  of  William 
O.  Muchmore,  and  the  manager  of  the  William 
O.  Muchmore  Nursery,  Floral  and  Landscape 
Gardening  business,  was  born  at  Sandusky,  Ohio, 
and  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  as  a  boy.  His 
parents  settled  in  Ross  township,  where  he  was 
educated  and  grew  to  manhood,  then  farmed  for 
a  number  of  years.  Turning  from  this  occupa- 
tion in  the  vigor  of  his  young  manhood,  he  sold 
fruit  trees  and  nursery  stock  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  thus  became  interested  deeply  and 
practically  in  their  culture,  and  conceived  the 
idea  of  establishing  a  plant  for  their  extensive 
production  in  this  county.  Accordingly,  in  1892, 
he  formed  the  Northern  Nursery  and  Orchard 
Company  with  William  O.  Muchmore  and  Jo- 
seph L.  Wetzel  as  his  partners.  After  three 
years  of  successful  operations  on  an  enlarging 
scale,  the  partnership  was  merged  into  a  stock 
company  with  Mr.  Baldwin  as  president,  Mr. 
Muchmore  as  vice-president  and  F.  L.  Hibbard 
as  secretary  and  treasurer.  The  company  did 
business  under  this  organization  until  August, 
1904,  when  Mr.  Muchmore  purchased  the  whole 
business,  owning  also  the  Golden  Hill  Nursery  at 
Fremont,  Ohio,  and  Mr.  Baldwin  has  since  man- 
aged the  affairs  of  the  local  establishment.  This 
comprises  two  hundred  acres  of  land  devoted  to 
the  production  of  fruit  and  ornamental  trees  and 
other  nursery  stock,  and  employs  thirty  men  on 
the  farm  besides  traveling  salesman,  or  one  hun- 
dred persons  in  all.  It  is  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  successful  undertakings  of  its  kind  in  south- 
ern Michigan,  and  lays  under  tribute  to  its  busi- 


548 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


ness  extensive  markets  in  all  the  northern  and 
central  states  and  large  sections  of  Canada.  Its 
output  has  a  high  reputation  in  the  trade,  and  the 
correct,  enterprising  and  considerate  manner  in 
which  the  business  is  conducted  holds  and  satis- 
fies all  additions  to  its  patronage.  The  rapid 
growth  of  the  concern,  its  firm  and  elevated 
standing  in  the  business  world,  and  the  ease  with 
which  it  has  reached  and  maintained  a  leading  po- 
sition in  its  lines,  unite  to  make  a  high  tribute  to 
Mr.  Baldwin's  energy,  capacity  and  business  gen- 
ius, and  stamp  him  as  one  of  the  prominent  and 
most  accomplished  commercial  men  in  the  county ; 
while  the  excellence  of  its  commodities  has  been 
a  potential  means  of  raising  the  standard  of  trees 
and  enlarging  the  scope  of  fruit  culture  in  this 
part  of  the  world.  Mr.  Baldwin  was  married  in 
1890  to  Miss  Leila  M.  Muchmore,  a  daughter  of 
William  O.  Muchmore.  They  have  one  child, 
their  son  Granville.  The  father  takes  an  active 
interest  and  a  prominent  part  in  public  affairs  and 
especially  in  the  lines  of  activity  appertaining  to 
or  growing  out  of  his  business.  He  is  chairman 
of  the  township  committee  on  fruit,  and  has  been 
during  the  past  six  years,  and  in  this  capacity 
gives  earnest  and  effective  attention  to  fruit  dis- 
eases, their  remedies  and  preventives.  Frater- 
nally he  belongs  to  the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees. 
His  citizenship  is  of  the  earnest  and  useful  kind 
that  furnishes  at  once  an  example  and  an  incite- 
ment to  his  fellows  and  multiplies  all  the  means 
for  good  to  the  community,  and  he  is  esteemed 
as  one  of  Ross  township's  best  and  most  service- 
able men. 

DR.  PAUL  T.  BUTLER. 

The  medical  profession  is  one  of  the  most  ex- 
acting lines  of  useful  activity  known  among  men, 
and  lays  its  votaries  under  tribute  for  every  sort 
of  privation  and  endurance  at  times,  and  fre- 
quently without  adequate  recompense  in  a  finan- 
cial way.  At  the  same  time  it  opens  a  field  for 
genuine  and  most  valuable  service  to  mankind  in 
emergencies,  and  brings  to  those  who  render  it 
the  satisfaction  of  doing  much  to  relieve  human 
suffering,  to  revive  hope  in  the  despairing  breast, 


to  restore  strength  to  the  failing,  and  in  extremi- 
ties to  console  the  spirit  that  is  ready  to  depart 
from  all  earthly  ties.  Life  among  men  knows  no 
more  valuable  or  necessary  class  of  helpers  than 
good  doctors,  and  although  their  work  is  seldom 
appreciated  as  it  should  be,  the  benefits  it  con- 
fers on  the  race  are  none  the  less  great  in  magni- 
tude and  important  in  results.  To  this  class  of 
benefactors  belongs  Dr.  Paul  T.  Butler,  of  Alamo, 
one  of  the  prominent  and  very  active  physicians 
and  surgeons  of  this  county.  He  has  been  a  resi- 
dent of  Alamo  and  diligently  engaged  in  the 
general  practice  of  medicine  and  surgery  for  a 
period  of  twenty-two  years,  and  in  that  time  has 
devoted  his  days  and  nights  and  his  energies  with- 
out stint  to  the  service  of  the  people  living  within 
a  large  extent  of  the  surrounding  country.  He 
was  born  in  Crawford  county,  Pa.,  on  December 
11,  1858,  and  is  the  son  of  Hiram  and  Eliza 
(Temple)  Butler,  the  former  born  and  reared  in 
the  state  of  New  York  and  the  latter  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. The  father  was  a  merchant  and  kept  a 
country  store  at  Springboro,  Pa.,  many  years, 
dying  there  in  1863.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
Civil  war  he  raised  a  regiment  for  the  defense 
of  the  Union,  and  was  its  colonel.  But  failing  to 
pass  the  required  medical  examination,  he  was 
obliged  to  relinquish  the  command.  His  father' 
was  Walter  Butler,  a  farmer  and  a  native  of  the 
state  of  New  York,  where  he  died.  The  Doctor's 
maternal  grandfather,  Alexander  Temple,  was  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  181 2,  and  rendered  good 
service  to  his  country  in  the  contest.  He  was 
a  carpenter  and  also  followed  farming  in  times  of 
peace.  The  Temple  family,  to  which  the  Doctor 
belongs,  is  of  English  ancestry,  while  the  Butlers 
are  of  Scotch-Irish.  The  Doctor's  grandmother 
Butler  was  a  sister  of  the  father  of  the  late  Hor- 
ace Greeley.  Hiram  Butler  and  his  wife  were 
the  parents  of  nine  children,  five  sons  and  four 
daughters.  Of  these  the  Doctor  is  the  only  one 
living  in  this  state.  He  came  to  Barry  county 
with  his  mother  and  a  step-father  in  his  child- 
hood, and  was  there  reared  and  educated,  at- 
tending the  public  schools  at  Hastings  and  Mid- 
dleville.  Afterward  he  took  a  course  of  advanced 
instruction    at    the    Northern    Indiana    Normal 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


549 


School,  located  at  Valparaiso.  He  began  the 
study  of  medicine  at  Manchester,  Iowa,  in  1879, 
and  soon  afterward  entered  the  Cincinnati  Medi- 
cal College,  from  which  he  was  graduated  with 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  in  1881.  After 
practicing  a  year  at  Manchester,  failing  health 
induced  him  to  return  to  Michigan,  and  in  1883 
he  located  at  Alamo,  this  county,  where  he  has 
since  lived  and  built  up  a  large,  exacting  and  re- 
munerative practice  and  risen  to  the  first  rank 
in  his  profession  in  this  part  of  the  state.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  County  Medical  Society  and  the 
Kalamazoo  Academy  of  Medicine,  being  first 
vice-president  of  the  latter.  In  1887  ne  was  mar~ 
ried  to  Miss  Rose  Hyatt,  a  native  of  Illinois,  who 
died  in  1891.  They  had  three  children,  their 
daughter  Mary,  who  is  dead,  and  their  sons 
Benjamin  and  Paul,  who  are  living.  On  August 
3,  1893,  the  Doctor  married  a  second  wife,  Miss 
Charlotte  Wheeler,  who  is  a  native  of  Kalamazoo 
county,  born  in  Alamo  township.  They  have  two 
children,  their  son  Robert  B.  and  their  daughter 
Esther.  In  politics  the  Doctor  is  an  active  work- 
ing Democrat  and  a  leading  man  in  his  party.  He 
has  long  been  a  favorite  delegate  from  his  dis- 
trict to  county  and  state  conventions  of  his  party, 
and  has  filled  a  number  of  local  offices  at  its  be- 
hest. For  a  time  he  trained  with  the  Prohibition 
party,  on  one  occasion  attending  its  national  con- 
vention as  a  delegate  and  at  another  time  being 
its  candidate  for  congress.  He  is  a  Freemason 
of  the  master's  degree  and  an  earnest  worker  of 
the  good  of  his  lodge. 

PERRY  SHERMAN. 

The  late  Perry  Sherman,  of  Ross  township, 
whose  death  on  October  9,  1904,  at  the  age  of 
fifty-six,  ended  a  life  of  signal  usefulness  before 
its  full  measure  of  good  to  his  community  was 
accomplished,  but  in  which  as  much  of  worth  and 
fruitfulness  was  embodied  as  in  many  a  one  that 
far  outnumbers  it  in  years,  was  a  native  of  this 
county,  and  was  born  on  the  farm  on  which  he 
died,  coming  into  the  world  there  on  January  26, 
1848.  His  parents  were  Henry  P.  and  Pamelia 
(Howland)    Sherman,  the  latter  at  the  time  of 


her  marriage  to  his  father  the  widow  of  a  Mr. 
Swetland,  and  had  three  children  by  her  former 
marriage.  Both  were  natives  of  Saratoga  county, 
N.  Y.,  and  they  emigrated  to  Michigan  in  1837. 
They  entered  eighty  acres  of  government  land  in 
Ross  township,  this  county,  two  miles  west  of  the 
village  of  Augusta,  and  here  they  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  their  lives,  both  dying  in  1897.  Their 
land  was  wholly  without  improvements  of  any 
kind  and  all  virgin  as  yet  to  the  plow  when  they 
took  possession  of  it,  and  the  amount  of  labor  and 
skill  they  expended  on  its  development  was  amply 
shown  by  its  condition  when  they  left  it  to  their 
son  at  the  end  of  their  earthly  journey.  Their 
first  work  was  to  build  on  it  a  small  log  dwelling 
and  get  a  portion  of  the  land  into  condition  for  a 
crop.  During  the  first  few  years  of  their  occu- 
pancy of  this  farm  their  supplies  were  scanty,  the 
conveniences  of  life  were  few  and  difficult  to  get, 
and  the  labor  required  of  them  was  prodigious. 
But  they  persevered  in  faith  and  industry,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  little  time  found  themselves  the 
owners  of  a  comfortable  home  and  an  estate  grad- 
ually enhancing  in  value,  all  the  result  of  their 
own  efforts,  frugality  and  thrift.  Before  their 
death  the  farm  was  increased-  to  three  hundred 
and  twenty-seven  acres,  was  well  improved  with 
good  buildings,  and  the  whole  tract  was  in  a  high 
state  of  cultivation.  Both  were  active  in  their 
membership  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church 
and  well  known  throughout  the  township  for 
their  general  benevolence  and  the  upright- 
ness of  their  lives.  They  had  two  sons  and  one 
daughter  who  grew  to  maturity,  but  all  are  now 
dead  except  their  son  Charles,  who  lives  in  the 
state  of  Washington.  Their  son  Perry  was 
reared  on  the  home  farm  and  faithfully  bore  his 
share  in  its  exacting  labors  from  his  early  youth. 
Pie  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  and  at 
Olivette  College,  and  on  coming  of  age  became 
the  manager  of  the  farm,  conducting  its  opera- 
tions until  his  death.  He  also  dealt  in  live  stock, 
handling  annually  for  many  years  large  num- 
bers of  cattle  and  horses  of  superior  grades.  On 
January  3,  1870,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Ellen  S. 
Fellins,  a  native  of  Hudson,  Ohio,  the  daughter 
of  Philip  and  Anna  B.  (Case)  Fellins,  long  resi- 


55o 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY    OF 


dent  at  that  place.  In  political  faith  Mr.  Sher- 
man was  an  ardent  Republican,  and  for  many 
years  he  was  a  recognized  leader  in  the  affairs 
of  his  party.  He  served  the  people  well  as  a  town- 
ship treasurer  several  years,  and  fraternally  he 
was  long  a  zealous  member  of  the  order  of  the 
Maccabees.  He  was  well  and  favorably  known  in 
all  parts  of  the  county,  and  his  early  death  was  a 
source  of  great  grief  to  large  numbers  of  the 
people.  His  widow  still  resides  on  the  farm  and 
manages  it  with  success  and  profit. 

C.   S.  KENT. 

Nearly  half  a  century  has  passed  since  this 
well  known  and  highly  esteemed  farmer  of  Ross 
township  became  a  pioneer  of  Michigan  and  a 
factor  in  the  productive  activities  of  the  state. 
He  is  a  native  of  Oswego  county,  N.  Y.,  born 
on  March  31,  1839,  and  the  son  of  Ahira  and 
Tryphosa  (Tuckerman)  Kent,  the  former  born 
in  Vermont  and  the  latter  in  Otsego  county,  N.  Y. 
The  Kents  have  been  pioneers  in  four  states  of 
the  Union  and  borne  an  important  part  in  found- 
ing and  developing  them.  The  American  pro- 
genitors of  the  family  were  early  colonial  settlers 
in  Massachusetts  and  among  the  founders  of  that 
state.  Some  of  the  next  generation  moved  into 
the  wilderness  of  Vermont  and  aided  in  reducing 
its  savage  state  to  comeliness  and  fruitfulness. 
Then  following  the  tide  of  emigration  westward, 
some  became  early  settlers  in  the  interior  of  New 
York  when  that  was  the  American  frontier,  and 
in  1854,  when  Michigan  was  yet  an  almost  un- 
known region  and  still  in  the  thrall  of  the  wild 
men  of  the  forest,  the  parents  of  C.  S.  Kent 
gathered  their  household  gods  about  them  and 
came  into  this  wilderness  and  lent  their  aid  to  its 
reduction  to  productive  obedience  to  the  genius 
of  progress  and  systematic  labor.  On  their  ar- 
rival here  the  father  of  this  subject  bought  a  farm 
in  Charleston  township,  Kalamazoo  county,  con- 
taining one  hundred  and  sixty-six  acres  of  unim- 
proved land,  most  of  it  still  covered  with  the  for- 
est growth  of  centuries.  On  this  farm  he  lived 
until  his  death.  They  had  four  sons  who  grew 
to  manhood  and  are  still  living,  C.   S.  and  his 


brother  James  in  this  county,  one  in  Barry  county, 
and  the  other  at  Battle  Creek.  The  father  was 
an  abolitionist  Republican,  but  never  sought  of- 
fice, although  he  was  an  ardent  partisan  and  an 
active  advocate  of  his  principles.  He  was  one 
of  the  founders  and  for  a  long  time  an  officer  of 
the  Congregational  church  at  Augusta.  C.  S. 
Kent  grew  to  the  age  of  fifteen  in  his  native  state 
and  attended  the  common  schools  there.  He  came 
with  the  family  to  this  county  in  1854  and  re- 
mained at  home  assisting  in  clearing  the  farm 
and  cultivating  it  until  about  i860.  He  then  went 
to  Iowa  and  remained  until  1863,  when  he  re- 
turned to  this  county  and  took  up  his  residence  at 
Augusta,  living  there  four  years  and  carrying  on 
a  flourishing  hardware  trade.  In  1868  he  bought 
the  farm  on  which  he  now  lives,  and  which  has 
ever  since  been  his  home  and  the  scene  of  his  in- 
dustry and  prosperity.  Its  development,  cultiva- 
tion and  improvement  have  engaged  his  time  and 
attention  to  the  exclusion  of  almost  every  other 
interest,  and  he  has  made  every  day  of  effort  tell 
to  its  advantage  and  his  own.  In  1864  ne  was 
married  to  Miss  Harriet  Woodward,  a  daughter 
of  John  and  Sarah  Woodward,  who  became  resi- 
dents of  Ross  township  in  1853.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Kent  have  three  children,  Albert  C-,  of  Augusta, 
Mary  E.,  wife  of  W.  G.  Stuart,  of  Schoolcraft, 
and  Richard  J.,  a  lawyer  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  The 
father  is  an  active  and  prominent  Republican, 
and  has  rendered  good  service  to  his  township  as 
a  member  of  the  board  of  review  and  in  other  lo- 
cal offices,  and  to  his  party  as  chairman  of  its 
township  committee.  He  is  well  known  in  all 
parts  of  the  county,  and  everywhere  is  highly  re- 
spected and  esteemed. 

CYRUS    THAYER. 

Cyrus  Thayer,  of  Cooper  township,  one  of  the 
few  remaining  monuments  of  the  period  that  saw 
the  dawn  of  civilization  in  this  portion  of  the 
country,  was  born  in  Wayne  county,  Mich.,  on 
July  4,  1832,  the  son  of  Nathan  P.  and  Lavina 
fSwick)  Thayer,  who  were  born  and  reared  in 
Canada.  The  father,  a  man  of  versatile  talent 
and  great  resourcefulness,  was  a  carpenter,  ship- 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


55i 


builder  and  shoemaker,  and  in  the  later  years  of 
his  life  a  farmer.     In  1827  the  family  moved  to 
Wayne  county,  this  state,  and  entered  a  tract  of 
government   land   on   which   the   father   died   in 
1850.     He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Black  Hawk  war 
with  the  rank  of  colonel,  and  also  took,  in  times 
of  peace,  an  active  interest  in  politics,  serving  in 
several  local  offices  as  a  Democrat.     The  mother 
died  in  Wayne  county.     They  had  a  family  of 
seven  sons  and  three  daughters,  of   whom   five 
sons  and  one  daughter  are  living,  Cyrus  being 
the  only  one  in  this  county.    At  the  age  of  eight- 
een he  went  to  Saginaw  and  assisted  in  building 
the  plank  road  between  that  city  and  Flint.     In 
1852   he   came   to    Kalamazoo    and    worked    six 
months  on  the  old  plank  road  leading  to  Grand 
Rapids.     The  next  year  he  made  a  trip  to  Cali- 
fornia by  way  of  New  York  and  the  Isthmus,  and 
was  shipwrecked  on  the  island  of  Margarita  in 
the  Pacific  ocean.    The  ship  was  destroyed  by  fire 
and  five  hundred  of  the  passengers  and  crew  were 
drowned.     He  arrived  in   San  Francisco  in  the 
spring  of  the  year,  and  after  spending  some  time 
in  mining  he  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  shin- 
gles.    One  year  in  California  was  enough  to  sat- 
isfy him,  and  at  the  end  of  it  he  returned  to  this 
county  and  bought  a  farm  in  Cooper  township, 
which  he  sold  after  improving  it  to  some  extent. 
He  then  bought  his  present  home,  at  which  he  has 
been  living  thirty-two  years.   .  While  living  here 
he  has  also  been  engaged  at  times  in  dealing  in 
plows  throughout  the  surrounding  countrv,  car- 
rying  on    an    extensive   trade    in   this   necessary 
commodity.    He  was  married  in  Cooper  township 
on  July  25,  1852,  to  Miss  Eveline  Smith,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Ira  Smith  who  was  among  the  earliest  set- 
tlers in  the  township.     They  have  eight  children, 
Almyra  M.,  wife  of  Charles  H.  Fisk,  Ira  N.,  Iva, 
wife  of  Frank  Lilly,  of  Kalamazoo,  Ida,  wife  of 
Frank  Fisher,  Ada,  wife  of  O.  H.  Milhon,  Mys- 
tie,  wTife  of  Orlo  Delano,  Charles  M.  and  Edna, 
wife  of  Clarence  Mears,  of  Lansing.    Mr.  Thayer 
is  a  Democrat  in  political  belief  and  has  filled  the 
offices  of  supervisor,  township  treasurer  and  post- 
master.    Fraternally  he  is  a  member  of  United 
Lodge,    No.    149,   Ancient,    Free   and   Accepted 
Masons,  at  Cooper  Center. 


JONATHAN  A.  WHEELER. 

Having  now  reached  the  limit  of  human  life 
as  fixed  by  the  Psalmist,  and  passed  all  but  the 
first  two  years  of  his  earthly  existence  in  this 
county,  Jonathan  A.  Wheeler,  of  Alamo,  is  worth- 
ily honored  as  one  of  the  serviceable  pioneers  and 
venerable   patriarchs   of   this   part   of  the   state. 
He    was    born  on   March  4,    1835,    m    Norfolk 
county,  province  of  Ontario,  Canada,  and  is  the 
son  of  John  B.  and  Charlotte  (Austin)  Wheeler, 
the  former  a  native  of  Massachusetts  and  the  lat- 
ter of  Pennsylvania.     The  father  was  a  carpen- 
ter  and  wheelwright   and   learned    his   trade   in 
Massachusetts.    On  becoming  of  age  he  removed 
to  Canada,  where  he  remained  until   1837,  then 
came  to  Kalamazoo  county  and  located  in  Alamo 
township,  purchasing  a  tract  of  wild  land  which 
he  designed  to  be  his  future  home.     In  the  spring 
of  1838  he  changed  his  residence  to  Otsego  and 
there    built    a    laundry    which    he    operated    two 
years.     He  then  sold  it  and  returned  to  Alamo 
and  during  the  remainder  of  his  life  worked  at 
his  trade,  and  with  the  help  of  his  sons  farmed 
and  improved  his  land.     He  was  a  skillful  me- 
chanic  and    found    his    accomplishments    in   this 
line  under  constant  requisition,  building  many  of 
the  first  steam  mills  and  other  important  struc- 
tures in  this  part  of  the  state.    He  died  at  Alamo 
in  1880  and  his  wife  in   1881.     They  had  three 
sons,  all  of  whom  are  living,  and  two  daughters 
who    have    died.      By    a    former    marriage    Mr. 
Wheeler  was  the  father  of  three  daughters  and 
one  son,  all  of  whom  are  dead.     He  was  an  ac- 
tive and  influential  man  in  local  affairs,  serving 
the  township  as  supervisor  several  terms  and  as 
a  justice  of  the  peace  for  a  period  of  thirty  years. 
Prominently  connected  for  a  long  time  with  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  denomination  and  taking  a 
cordial  interest  in  its  religious  work,  he  assisted 
in  erecting  its  first  church  edifice  in  his  neigh- 
borhood.    Many  years  ago  he  was  made  a  Free- 
mason, and  for  a  long  time  was  active  and  zeal- 
ous in  the  workings  of  the  fraternity.     His  son 
Jonathan  is  the  last   survivor  of  the   family  at 
Alamo,  and  one  of  the  few  pioneers  of  his  day 
left  among  the  people  for  whom  they  laid  the 


552 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


foundation  of  prosperity  and  progress.  He 
was  brought  to  the  township  in  which  he  now 
lives  by  his  parents  when  he  was  but  two  years 
old,  and  nearly  all  of  his  subsequent  life  has  been 
passed  there.  In  youth  and  early  manhood  he 
assisted  in  clearing  and  breaking  up  his  father's 
farm,  and  afterward  in  cultivating  it  and  man- 
aging its  operations,  remaining  at  home  until 
the  death  of  his  parents.  In  1883  he  took  up  his 
residence  at  the  village  of  Alamo,  and  there  he 
has  dwelt  ever  since.  During  the  last  few  years 
he  has  made  his  home  with  his  daughter,  Mrs. 
Dr.  Butler.  In  i860  he  was  married  in  this  town- 
ship to  Miss  Mary  A.  Bogardus,  a  native  of  the 
county  and  daughter  of  William  and  Eliza 
(Clark)  Bogardus,  who  were  early  settlers  in 
the  village  of  Kalamazoo,  locating  there  in  1835. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wheeler  became  the  parents  of 
six  children,  all  daughters,  four  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing: Ada,  wife  of  F.  McCall,  of  Kalamazoo; 
Esther,  wife  of  W.  Sandford,  of  the  same  city ; 
Charlotte,  wife  of  Dr.  Paul  T.  Butler,  of  Alamo ; 
and  Bessie,  wife  of  A.  Kellogg,  also  of  Alamo. 
During  the  last  fifteen  years  Mr.  Wheeler  has 
been  sexton  of  his  church,  but  for  some  time  fail- 
ing health  has  kept  him  from  doing  much  work. 
He  has  at  times  filled  the  offices  of  justice  of  the 
peace  and  notary  public,  and  has  also  engaged  in 
business  as  an  undertaker.  He  has  been  a  life- 
long Democrat,  and  many  times  has  represented 
his  district  in  the  county  and  state  conventions 
of  his  party.  He  belongs  to  the  Masonic  order, 
holding  his  membership  in  Cooper  Lodge. 

GEORGE  V.  TOWNSEND. 

Whatever  the  conditions  of  life  may  be  in 
any  section  of  the  country,  American  manhood  is 
equal  to  the  mastery  of  them  and  ready  to  make 
the  most  of  them.  Ours  is  a  land  of  many  cli- 
mates, of  boundless  variety  in  its  range  of  pro- 
ductions, and  of  multitudinous  topographical  fea- 
tures. Yet  in  every  portion  of  it  the  people  are 
prosperous  and  jndustrious,  turning,  the  raw  ma- 
terial which  nature  has  bestowed  into  marketable 
commodities,  bringing  hidden  stores  of  wealth  to 
view  and  sending  them  forward  in  the  channels 


of  commerce  to  bless  and  benefit  the  world,  or 
cultivating  the  soil  into  expanding  fruitfulness 
and  service.  On  no  section  has  the  bounty  of 
Providence  been  lavished  with  greater  profusion 
or  a  freer  hand  than  on  southern  Michigan,  and 
the  advanced  state  of  that  section's  development 
and  its  wonderful  fertility  in  products  of  every 
kind,  amply  proves  that  the  people  who  inhabit 
it  are  alive  alike  to  their  opportunities  and  at- 
tentive to  their  duties.  Most  of  the  first  settlers 
gave  their  attention  to  farming  here,  and  many 
have  adhered  to  that  occupation  through  succeed- 
ing generations.  Among  these  one  who  has  pros- 
pered in  his  labor  and  at  the  same  time  contrib- 
uted essentially  and  extensively  to  building  up  the 
country  and  making  it  great  in  material  wealth 
as  well  as  in  intellectual  and  moral  power,  is 
George  V.  Townsend,  a  well  known  and  widely 
esteemed  farmer  of  Schoolcraft  township,  this 
county,  who  has  been  a  resident  of  the  county 
from  his  boyhood  and  all  the  while  actively  en- 
gaged in  tilling  the  soil.  He  was  born  in  Chau- 
tauqua county,  N.  Y.,  on  February  25,  1857,  and 
is  the  son  of  George  H.  and  Harriet  (Bowdich) 
Townsend,  natives  of  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y., 
who  were  farmers  in  that  state  until  1868,  then 
moved  to  Michigan  and  bought  a  farm  in  this 
county,  Schoolcraft  township,  on  which  they 
lived  until  the  death  of  the  father  in  November, 
1903,  and  on  which  the  mother  still  has  her  home. 
Three  children  of  the  family  are  living,  George, 
Mrs-.  A.  Thomas  and  Samuel  A.  The  father  fol- 
lowed raising  and  dealing  in  live  stock  in  addition 
to  his  farming  enterprise,  and  prospered  in  his 
undertakings  after  the  first  few  years  of  hard- 
ship and  privation  in  the  new  country  were 
passed.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in  local  public 
affairs,  earnestly  supporting  the  principles  of  the 
Republican  party,  but  never  seeking  or  desiring  a 
political  office  of  any  kind.  His  father,  Samuel 
Townsend,  a  native  of  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y., 
was  long  a  farmer  in  Chautauqua  county  of  that 
state,  and  died  there.  George  V.  Townsend  grew 
to  manhood  on  the  paternal  homestead  in  this 
county,  and  finished  in  the  schools  here  the  educa- 
tion he  had  begun  in  those  of  his  native  state. 
Ever  since  he  left  school  he  has  been  occupied  in 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


553 


farming,  and  with  increasing  prosperity  and  con- 
sequence from  year  to  year.  In  his  young  man- 
hood he  bought  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  of 
well  improved  land,  and  to  the  further  develop- 
ment and  improvement  of  this  tract  he  has  de- 
voted the  energies  of  all  his  subsequent  life.  He 
has  had  a  good  citizen's  abiding  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  the  township,  and  on  one  occasion  ren- 
dered it  good  service  as  township  treasurer.  He 
supports  the  Republican  party  in  politics,  and  fra- 
ternally has  long  been  an  earnest  and  energetic 
Granger.  In  1900  he  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Laura  Allen,  who  was  born  in  this  county 
and  is  a  daughter  of  Henry  Allen,  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Schoolcraft  township,  who  is  now  de- 
ceased. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Townsend  are  zealous 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  Mr. 
Townsend  is  one  of  the  leading  officials  of  his 
congregation. 

LATHAM  HULL. 

In  the  seventy-five  years  of  life  covered  by  the 
interesting  subject  of  this  memoir,  he  witnessed 
great  changes  in  his  country  and  was  able  to  con- 
tribute to  its  progress  and  development  in  many 
ways  of  enduring  potency  and  value.  When  he 
was  born  at  North  Stonington,  Conn.,  on  October 
28,  181 2,  we  were  in  the  beginning  of  that  strug- 
gle with  Great  Britain  which  was  to  make  our 
flag  as  free  on  the  high  seas  as  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  had  made  it  on  land,  and  the  galling 
reverses  of  our  army  were  being  splendidly 
atoned  for  by  our  infant  and  not  yet  robust 
but  altogether  daring  navy.  Our  territory  prac- 
tically settled  and  civilized  extended  but  little  be- 
yond the  Alleghanies.  Our  people  numbered  less 
than  eight  millions.  Our  commerce  was  small, 
our  industries  were  yet  in  swaddling  clothes,  our 
political  institutions  were  still  in  the  formative 
period  and  our  general  wealth  was  for  the  most 
part  an  awakening  potency  of  diminutive  size, 
although  with  magnitude  and  variety  of  feature 
to  come,  dimly  bespoken  in  the  eye  of  poetic 
prophecy,  yet  destined  to  surpass  the  wildest 
sweep  of  the  imagination.  When  he  surrendered 
his  trust  at  the  behest  of  the  Great  Disposer  on 
November  20,  1887,  we  were  wholly  independent 


on  sea  and  land,  had  fought  the  greatest  war  in 
human  history,  had  wiped  away  forever  the  dark 
stain  of  human  slavery,  our  domain  extended 
from  ocean  to  ocean  and  from  the  arctic  regions  to 
the  tropics.  The  number  of  loyal  citizens  who 
bowed  obedience  to  our  ensign  was  not  less  than 
sixty  millions.  Our  commerce,  gladdened  every 
sea,  our  industries  surpassed  those  of  every  land 
in  variety  and  volume,  political  questions  which 
had  almost  rent  our  land  in  twain  and  had 
drenched  it  in  fraternal  blood  had  found  the 
quiet  of  eternal  settlement,  and  our  national 
wealth,  though  still  reclining  and  scarcely  yet 
raised  up  on  its  elbow,  was  a  giant  of  such  com- 
manding proportions  and  power  as  to  challenge 
the  wonder  and  compel  the  admiration  of  the 
world.  Mr.  Hull  took  a  keen  interest  in  the  ex- 
panding greatness  of  his  country  and  was  ever 
ready  to  bear  his  part  in  helping  to  develop  it.  He 
was  the  son  of  Latham  and  Elizabeth  (Brown- 
ing) Hull,  also  native  in  Connecticut,  where  the 
paternal  grandfather,  whose  name  was  also 
Latham,  was  an  early  settler  and  on  land  which  is 
still  in  possession  of  the  family.  The  father  was 
a  prominent  and  successful  business  man  and  be- 
came eminent  in  public  life.  He  died  at  Ston- 
ington and  his  widow  spent  the  last  years  of  her 
life  with  her  son  at  Kalamazoo,  dying  when 
nearly  ninety-three  years  old.  Two  sons  sancti- 
fied the  domestic  shrine,  Latham  and  his  brother 
William,  the  latter  of  whom  still  lives  in  his  na- 
tive town  and  is  president  of  a  bank  at  Westerly, 
R.  I.  Latham  taught  school  when  a  young  man 
and  was  also  a  merchant  at  Stonington.  Later  he 
dealt  in  live  stock,  particularly  mules,  which  he 
bought  in  Missouri,  drove  to  New  Haven  and 
shipped  to  the  West  Indies.  While  living  in  Con- 
necticut he  served  in  the  state  militia  with  the 
rank  of  major,  a  title  that  clung  to  him  through 
life.  After  coming  to  Kalamazoo  he  started  a 
private  bank,  which  in  due  time  was  merged  into 
the  First  National  Bank,  he  being  its  president 
from  its  organization  almost  to  the  time  of  his 
death.  In  political  faith  he  was  a  Democrat,  but 
he  was  averse  to  public  life,  the  only  offices  he 
ever  consented  to  fill  being  president  of  the  vil- 
lage in  1 861,  and  treasurer  from   1863  to  1876, 


554 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


also  membership  on  the  sghool  board  two  years. 
He  was  married  in  Lebanon,  Conn.,  on  March 
30,  1836,  to  Miss  Hannah  T.  Arnold,  who  bore 
him  three  children,  Charles,  Edgar  and  Elizabeth, 
the  last  named  being  the  only  one  of  the  three 
now  living.  She  is  the  wife  of  William  S.  Dun- 
can, a  lawyer  at  Independence,  Kan.  Charles  was 
a  banker  at  Blair,  Neb.,  and  died  while  on  a  busi- 
ness trip  to  New  York.  Edgar  was  killed  in  a 
cyclone  at  Sauk  Rapids,  Minn.,  on  April  14, 
1886.  He  was  a  banker  at  St.  Cloud  in  that  state. 
Their  mother  died  in  Kalamazoo  on  June  16, 
1877,  and  on  May  5,  1881,  Mr.  Hull  married  a 
second  wife,  Miss  Fannie  M.  Abbott,  a  daughter 
of  George  and  Hannah  (Brownell)  Abbott,  na- 
tives of  New  York  and  Connecticut,  respectively. 
She  first  met  Mr.  Hull  at  Sugar  Grove,  Warren 
county,  Pa.,  where  she  was  living  at  the  time. 
In  1868  she  came  to  Kalamazoo  with  her  par- 
ents who  died  here  about  two  years  later.  She 
is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Congregational 
church,  as  was  Mr.  Hull,  and  she  is  active  in 
church  societies.  She  has  to  her  credit  years  of 
service  as  president  of  the  Bethesda  Home  for 
Unfortunate  Women,  and  as  a  leading  member 
of  the  Foreign  Mission  Board.  She  is  very  mod- 
est and  unostentatious,  a  lady  of  refinement  and 
culture,  held  in  the  highest  esteem  by  all  who 
know  her  and  appreciated  in  a  signal  degree  for 
the  value  of  her  services  to  the  cause  of  the 
needy  and  unfortunate. 

ARCHIBALD   FINLAY. 

The  monuments  of  the  dawn  of  civilization  in 
southern  Michigan,  in  the  persons  of  its  early 
pioneers,  who  came  into  the  state  when  it  was  a 
vast,  unsettled  wilderness,  and  who  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  its  present  greatness  and  prosperity, 
are  few  in  number,  venerable  in  age  and  charac- 
ter, and  entitled  to  all  praise  for  the  magnitude 
and  substantial  nature  of  their  work ;  and  they  are 
held  in  the  highest  esteem  by  all  classes  of  the 
people,  their  records  being  the  most  priceless  her- 
itage and  possession  of  their  descendants.  Among 
the  number  none  stands  higher  or  more  deserv- 
edly secure  in  popular  esteem  than  the  subject  of 


this  brief  review,  who  came  hither  from  a  distant 
part  of  the  county  at  the  age  of  eight  years,  more 
than  sixty  years  ago,  and  has  lived  in  the  county 
almost  all  of  the  busy  years  that  have  passed  since 
that  early  date.     Taught  by  rugged  and  exigent 
experience  the  needs  of  the  state,  and  applying 
his  instruction  wisely  and  faithfully  to  the  duty 
of  every  day  as  it  passed,  he  has  never  faltered 
in  his  service  to  the  section  in  which  he  has  lived, 
and  has  ever  added  to  his  fidelity  a  breadth  of 
view  and  a  comprehensive  intelligence  that  have 
been  of  great  usefulness  in  building  up  the  county 
and  commonwealth,  and  multiplying  its  resources 
and  making  them  a  means  of  wealth  and  power 
to  the  people.     Mr.  Finlay  was  born  in  Boston, 
Mass.,  on  November  24,  1826,  and  is  the  son  of 
Hugh  and  Jane  (Boyd)  Finlay,  the  former  a  na- 
tive of  Ireland  and  the  latter  of  Scotland.     They 
came  to  the  United  States  when  young,  the  father, 
who  was  born  in  1800,  when  he  was  but  sixteen 
years  old.     The  father  was  a  ship  carpenter,  but 
also  understood  house  carpentering;  and  on  his 
arrival  in  Kalamazoo  county  in  1834,  after  a  try- 
ing and  tedious  journey  with  teams  from  Detroit 
through  a  wild  and  unbroken  country,  in  which 
his  only  guides  were  old  Indian  trails  and  the 
compass   of   the   skies,   he    found   immediate   de- 
mand for  his  skill  in  the  erection  of  necessary 
buildings  for  the  housing  and  other  conveniences 
of  the  settlers.    And  this  was  well ;  for  he  brought 
with  him  his  wife  and  nine  children,  and  on  his 
arrival  his  cash  capital  was  but  fifty  cents.    In  his 
family  there  were  two  pairs  of  twins,  his  sons 
Arch  and  William  being  one  pair,  and  Hugh  and 
Thomas  the  other.     The  family  reached  School- 
craft on  May   10,   1834,  and  the  father  at  once 
bought  a  lot  in  the  village  and  built  on  it  a  small 
frame  dwelling  for  their  accommodation,  shelter 
being  afforded  them  until  it  was  completed,  by 
Massachusetts    settlers   who  had  preceded  them 
and  had  been  neighbors  in  their  old  home.     All 
their  household  effects  and  worldly  possessions 
were  brought  with  them  in  the  wagon,  and  on  the 
virgin  soil  of  the  new  domain  they  began  to  make 
a  home,  dwelling  for  a  time  in  the  close  commun- 
ion of  their  little  cabin,  and  with  only  the  scanty 
conveniences    their    condition    and    surroundings 


ARCHIBALD  and  WILLIAM  FINLAY. 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


557 


allowed.  The  father  built  the  first  hotel  and 
school  house  and  many  of  the  earlier  residences 
in  the  village  and  surrounding  country.  After 
living  three  years  in  the  village  he  bought  eight 
acres  of  wholly  unimproved  land  three  miles 
southeast  of  it  for  fifty  dollars  and  an  overcoat; 
and  as  soon  thereafter  as  their  new  dwelling  was 
ready,  the  family  moved  on  the  farm  and  began 
the  arduous  work  of  breaking  it  up  for  cultiva- 
tion and  making  it  productive.  The  father  en- 
gaged also  in  merchandising  at  Schoolcraft, 
Vicksburg  and  Plainville  in  order,  while  at  the 
same  time  he  steadily  kept  on  improving  his  farm. 
Here  the  mother  died  in  1844,  and  he,  after  sur- 
viving her  thirty  years,  passed  away  at  the  home 
of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Mary  Judson,  on  Gourd- 
neck  Prairie,  in  1874.  He  was  three  times  mar- 
ried and  the  father  of  seven  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters, all  of  whom  are  now  deceased  but  his  three 
sons,  Arch,  William  and  Thomas.  All  of  the 
children  were  the  fruits  of  the  first  marriage. 
The  elder  Finlay  was  a  man  of  prominence  in  the 
early  history  of  the  county,  a  sterling  Democrat 
all  his  life,  and  a  devoted  friend  to  the  general 
welfare  and  progress  of  his  township.  His  son 
Arch  was  reared  on  the  paternal  homestead  and 
received  his  education  in  the  schools  of  the  neigh- 
borhood and  through  the  experiences  of  life  in  a 
wild  country  md  heroic  age.  He  became  a  dar- 
ing and  skillful  hunter,  well  skilled  in  woodcraft 
and  the  habits  of  the  foes  of  civilization,  man  and 
beast,  by  which  he  was  surrounded,  an  excellent 
farmer,  and  an  upright  and  useful  citizen.  In 
1855  ne  made  a  trip  by  way  of  the  isthmus  to 
California,  being  nearly  thirty  days  on  the  way, 
and  after  four  months'  mining  at  Sacramento, 
Marysville  and  Fobstown,  and  two  at  Brown's 
Diggings,  returned  to  Michigan  and  remained  un- 
til 1865,  when  he  made  another  trip  west,  Vir- 
ginia City,  Mont.,  being  his  destination.  He 
passed  two  years  in  business  there,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  time  came  back  to  Michigan  and  went  to 
farming,  purchasing  for  the  purpose  eighty  acres 
of  land  adjoining  the  home  farm  of  his  father. 
This  he  farmed  for  more  than  thirty  years,  then 
lived  three  years  at  Three  Rivers.  Returning  to 
his  farm  at  the  end  of  this  period,  he  remained 
31 


on  it  until  1891.  In  that  year  he  bought  the 
hotel  in  Schoolcraft  which  he  conducted  four 
years,  and  then  retired  permanently  from  all  ac- 
tive pursuits.  He  was  married  in  1856  to  Miss 
Lavina  York,  a  native  of  Kalamazoo  county. 
They  had  two  children,  their  son  Archie,  who 
died  when  four  months  old,  and  their  daughter 
Lena  A.,  who  died  in  1891.  The  mother  of  these 
children  died  in  1862,  and  in  1867  the  father 
married  a  second  wife,  Miss  Sarah  W.  Sickler, 
who  was  born  in  St.  Joseph  county,  Mich.  Po- 
litically Mr.  Finlay  has  been  a  stanch  and  active 
Democrat  from  his  youth,  and  throughout  life  he 
has  given  his  party  loyal  and  valued  support,  but 
he  has  never  desired  or  accepted  office  of  any 
kind.  He  is  one  of  the  best  known  citizens  and 
one  of  the  most  revered  pioneers  in  the  county, 
and  has  to  his  credit  a  long  record  of  active  and 
inspiring  usefulness  in  the  general  service  of  the 
people. 

CHARLES  G.  WEED. 

About  two  generations  of  human  life  have 
passed  since  the  settlement  of  southern  Michigan 
became  well  established  and  while  the  progress 
made  in  building  up  the  state  in  that  short  time 
has  been  marvelous,  it  is  no  more  than  a  logical 
resultant  of  the  forces,  which  have  been  engaged 
in  the  work.  When  the  character  of  the  early  set- 
tlers is  considered  and  the  examples  and  teach- 
ings of  thrift,  industry  and  enterprise  which  they 
gave  their  descendants  are  recalled,  and,  more- 
over, when  nature's  bounty  here,  in  agricultural 
fruitfulness  and  mineral  and  other  material 
wealth  are  taken  into  account,  the  story  of  the 
growth  and  development  of  this  great  common- 
wealth seems  a  matter  of  course.  Plant  on  such 
a  soil  such  a  people  as  colonized  this  domain  in 
its  earlier  history,  and  all  the  rest  which  the  flight 
of  time  has  witnessed  must  seem  to  "follow  as  the 
night  the  day."  Among  the  early  settlers  who 
opened  the  way  to  the  present  advanced  state  of 
development  and  power  of  the  section,  the  parents 
of  Charles  G.  Weed  are  entitled  to  a  high  regard. 
They  were  James  and  Elizabeth  (Goodsell) 
Weed,  natives  of  New  York  state,  of  French  an- 
cestry on  the  father's  side.    They  moved  into  this 


558 


BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 


county  in  1836  on  their  way  to  Illinois,  but  were 
compelled  to  stop  here  on  account  of  the  father's 
sickness,  and  here  they  purchased  land  in  Texas 
township  and  determined  to  remain.  They  cleared 
their  farm  and  brought  it  to  a  high  state  of  culti- 
vation, and  here  they  died,  the  father  on  April  15, 
1867,  and  the  mother  in  1888.  On  this  farm  in 
Texas  township  their  son  Charles  was  born  on 
December  1,  1838,  and  here  also  the  rest  of  their 
three  sons  and  three  daughters  were  born,  of 
whom  only  Charles  and  two  of  his  sisters  are  liv- 
ing. The  father  was  a  Democratic  politician  and 
served  as  supervisor,  clerk  and  treasurer  of  the 
township  for  years.  His  father  was  James  Weed, 
a  native  of  New  York  and  prominent  in  that  state 
and  Pennsylvania,  where  he  died.  Charles  G. 
Reed  grew  to  manhood  in  his  native  township  and 
received  a  common-school  and  college  education. 
After  leaving  school  he  was  engaged  for  a  time  in 
teaching  and  surveying.  He  began  farming  in 
Portage  township  in  1868  and  has  followed  that 
vocation  ever  since.  In  the  same  year  he  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Harriet  R.  Barnard, 
the  marriage  being  solemnized  on  March  10. 
Mrs.  Weed  is  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Wilson  and 
Lazette  (Southerland)  Barnard,  a  sketch  of 
whom  appears  elsewhere  in  this.  work.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Weed  have  two  children,  their  daughter  Jes- 
sie B.,  wife  of  H.  Snow,  and  their  son  Milo  W., 
who  is  living  at  home.  Mr.  Weed  has  taken  an 
active  interest  in  local  affairs,  serving  five  years 
as  supervisor  of  his  township  and  filling  other 
local  offices  from  time  to  time.  He  is  now  a  Re- 
publican, but  was  originally  a  Democrat  and  cast 
his  first  presidential  vote  for  Douglas. 

GEORGE  C.  WINSLOW. 

George  C.  Winslow,  a  well  known  marble 
merchant  of  Kalamazoo,  and  the  oldest  dealer  in 
the  fabric  he  handles  now  left  in  the  city,  was 
born  in  Kalamazoo  on  July  26,  1848.  His  parents 
were  George  W.  and  Lavina  (Clark)  Winslow, 
natives  of  Massachusetts.  The  father  was  a  mar- 
ble cutter  and  followed  his  trade  in  his  native 
state  and  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  until  1835,  when  he 
moved  his  family  over  Lake  Erie  to  Detroit  and 


from  there  by  stage  to  Kalamazoo.  Here  he  en- 
tered into  a  partnership  with  Alonzo  Sherman, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Winslow  &  Sherman,  in  a 
general  merchandise  business  on  the  corner  of 
Portage  and  Main  streets,  on  the  site  now  occu- 
pied by  ?blz's  clothing  store.  Their  enterprise 
prospered  until  the  panic  of  1837  drove  them  to 
the  wall.  After  this  the  elder  Winslow  worked  at 
blacksmithing  with  Warren  Beckwith  and  in  the 
machine  shops  until  1850.  In  that  year  he  joined 
the  first  train  overland  from  this  section  to  Cali- 
fornia, the  men  walking  the  greater  part  of  the 
long  and  trying  journey.  They  encountered 
some  hostile  Indians  but  had  no  serious  trouble 
with  them.  Pie  mined  in  California  successfully 
one  year,  and  then  with  his  accumulations,  aggre- 
gating some  twenty-five  hundred  dollars,  returned 
to  Kalamazoo  and  started  a  marble  store  on  Port- 
age street  in  a  building  which  he  erected  for  the 
purpose.  This  enterprise  engaged  his  attention 
until  near  the  time  of  his  death,  on  December  22, 
1878,  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine.  His  wife  died  on 
October  20,  1898.  They  had  two  sons  and  two 
daughters,  the  sons  being  engaged  in  the  marble 
trade  in  Kalamazoo.  The  father  was  a  strong 
abolitionist  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  "under  the  oaks"  at  Jackson,  this 
state.  He  served  on  the  board  of  village  trustees 
about  the  close  of  the  Civil  war  and  took  an  earn- 
est interest  in  the  improvement  of  the  village.  In 
religious  matters  he  was  an  original  thinker  and 
a  man  of  positive  convictions,  but  not  obtrusive 
in  his  faith.  The  son,  George  C.  Winslow,  grew 
to  manhood  in  his  native  city,  to  the  interests  of 
which  his  entire  life  so  far  has  been  devoted,  and 
received  his  education  in  its  public  schools.  In 
boyhood  he  entered  his  father's  shops  and  learned 
his  trade  as  a  marble  cutter,  gradually  rising  in 
the  importance  of  his  employment  until  in  1870  he 
became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  George  Wins- 
low &  Son.  The  partnership  was  dissolved  in 
1875,  ar|d  after  that  Mr.  Winslow  carried  on  the 
business  alone  for  a  number  of  years  until  George 
W.  Crooks  became  his  partner  and  the  firm  be- 
came Winslow  &  Crooks,  and  they  built  the  mar- 
ble works  east  of  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan 
Southern  Railroad  tracks.     This  partnership  was 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


559 


dissolved  in  1884,  Mr.  Winslow  retiring  for  some 
years  on  account  of  failing  health.  In  November, 
1 901,  he  started  his  present  business  on  Portage 
street,  and  in  that  he  has  built  up  a  considerable 
trade.  He  has  always  been  active  in  local  affairs, 
serving  as  supervisor  for  the  third  ward  and  later 
as  city  assessor  for  a  number  of  years,  being  the 
first  incumbent  of  the  latter  office  under  the  city 
government.  He  also  served  in  the  city  council 
from  1884  to  1886  and  again  from  1902  to  1904. 
On  August  27,  1873,  ne  was  married  to  Miss 
Abbie  J.  Smedley,  a  native  of  New  York,  whose 
parents  moved  to  Kalamazoo  in  1866  from  Lock- 
port,  that  state.  They  have  no  children.  In  poli- 
tics Mr.  Winslow  is  a  Republican,  and  in  frater- 
nal life  he  belongs  to  the  Elks  and  the  Masonic 
order  in  lodge,  chapter  and  commandery. 

HENRY  W.  FELLOWS. 

While  the  prominent  and  conspicuous  posi- 
tions in  human  endeavor  undoubtedly  have  their 
attractions  for  most  men  and  in  some  measure  for 
all,  it  is  one  of  the  most  pleasing  dispensations  of 
our  state  that  in  life  "contentment  like  the  speed- 
well grows  along  the  common  beaten  track. "  It 
is  along  this  track  also  that  the  most  useful  and 
substantially  productive  lines  of  American  citi- 
zenship are  developed,  independently  of  all  con- 
siderations of  personal  happiness  to  the  individ- 
ual. The  men  who  have  great  opportunities  and 
rule  great  empires  of  thought  or  of  material  in- 
terests, have  their  important  functions  in  the  gen- 
eral system  of  human  existence,  but  the  great 
body  of  our  people  are  not  of  this  class,  and  it  is 
well,  for  the  ship  Common  Weal  can  not  be  man- 
aged from  the  quarterdeck  alone.  She  needs  men 
at  the  wheel,  the  ropes  and  the  lead  as  well. 
Among  the  citizens  of  Kalamazoo  county  who 
have  not  aspired  to  exalted  station  but  have  found 
their  best  portion  in  faithful  performance  of  the 
daily  duties  of  life,  and  due  consideration  for 
their  fellows  as  their  lot  is  ordered,  none  is  enti- 
tled to  greater  approval  in  the  character  of  their 
citizenship  than  Henry  W.  Fellows,  the  present 
capable  and  popular  treasurer  of  the  county..  He 
was  born  in  Prairie  Ronde  township  on  January 


7,  1836,  and  from  his  boyhood  has  been  esteemed 
for  his  diligence,  fidelity  to  duty  and  the  elevated 
nature  of  his  manhood.  His  father,  James  M. 
Fellows,  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  his 
mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Wordender 
Harrison,  was  born  in  Virginia.  They  came  to 
Michigan  in  1829  and  settled  in  what  is  now 
Prairie  Ronde  township  of  this  county,  where 
they  cleared  up  a  small  tract  of  land  and  lived 
for  more  than  forty  years.  The  father  was  a  car- 
penter and  joiner  and  followed  his  craft  in  con- 
nection with  his  farming.  About  the  year  1870 
he  moved  to  Minnesota,  but  some  years  afterward 
returned  to  this  county,  where  he  died  in  1889. 
aged  over  eighty-one  years.  His  widow  sur- 
vived him  two  years,  passing  away  in  1891.  He 
was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  but  his  com- 
pany was  not  called  into  active  service.  Two 
sons  and  one  daughter  of  the  children  born  in 
the  family  are  living.  Henry  W.  grew  to  man- 
hood in  this  county  and  was  educated  in  its  dis- 
trict schools.  He  has  followed  farming  all  his 
life,  having  begun  at  an  early  age  working  by  the 
month.  He  owns  a  good  farm  in  Texas  township 
and  a  residence  in  the  village  of  Oshtemo.  In 
1859  ne  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Ruth  J. 
Williams,  also  a  native  of  this  county.  They 
have  two  children,  their  daughter  Edith  A.,  wife 
of  C.  A.  DeLong,  and  their  son  Fred  A.  Mr.  Fel- 
lows has  been  a  Republican  from  the  dawn  of  his 
manhood,  and  all  the  while  has  taken  an  active 
part  in  local  political  affairs.  He  has  served  as 
supervisor  of  Texas  township  and  in  1900  was 
elected  county  treasurer,  an  office  in  which  he 
has  rendered  very  acceptable  service.  Frater- 
nally he  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order.  Well 
known  throughout  the  county,  he  is  highly  re- 
spected in  every  part  of  it  as  a  capable  and  con- 
scientious official  and  an  excellent  citizen. 

SAMUEL  McKEOWN. 

The  life  record  of  this  worthy  and  enterpris- 
ing citizen  of  Ross  township  in  Kalamazoo 
county,  is  the  "old,  old  story"  of  a  man  born  and 
reared  in  a  foreign  land,  and  longing  for  the 
larger    opportunities    and    greater    consequence 


560 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


open  to  him  in  this  country  of  equal  rights  before 
the  law  and  generous  reward  for  honest  effort 
and  capacity,  who  finally  takes  his  destiny  into 
his  own  hands,  courageously  braves  the  interven- 
ing obstacles,  joins  our  great  army  of  industrial 
progress  and  secures  his  share  of  the  fruits  of 
the  conquest.  Mr.  McKeown  was  born  on  No- 
vember 17,  1827,  in  Ireland,  county  Antrim,  and 
is  the  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Moore)  McKeown, 
who  was  born  and  reared  in  Scotland  and  finally 
located  in  Ireland,  where  they  died  after  a  career 
of  useful  industry  in  farming.  After  receiving 
his  education  in  the  common  schools,  Mr.  Mc- 
Keown worked  on  farms  in  his  native  land  until 
his  marriage  in  1850  with  Miss  Eliza  Burns,  of 
the  same  nativity  as  himself.  Two  weeks  after 
their  marriage  they  set  sail  for  the  United 
States  on  a  sailing  vessel,  and  after  a  tedious  but 
uneventful  voyage  of  nine  weeks  and  one  day, 
landed  at  New  York.  They  went  at  once  to  Liv- 
ingston county,  N.  Y.,  and  there  they  made  their 
home  for  a  short  time,  then  moved  to  Steuben 
county,  the  same  state,  remaining  until  1865,  the 
husband  working  on  farms  for  wages,  as  he  had 
done  in  Livingston  county.  In  the  year  last 
named  they  migrated  to  Michigan,  and  locating 
in  this  county,  bought  a  farm  of  eighty  acres  of 
wild  and  unimproved  land  in  Ross  township. 
They  applied  themselves  at  once  with  character- 
istic energy  and  determination  to  clearing  their 
land  and  making  it  habitable  and  productive.  In 
the  course  of  a  few  years  they  added  another 
eighty-acre  tract,  and  of  the  whole  body  they 
have  since  sold  twenty  acres,  so  that  they  now 
own  one  hundred  and  forty  acres,  all  cleared  and 
under  advanced  cultivation,  and  improved  with 
good  buildings  and  the  other  accessories  of  a 
comfortable  and  valuable  country  home.  On  this 
land  they  have  passed  all  the  years  since  they  took 
possession  of  it,  now  thirty-five  years  ago,  and 
here  they  have  prospered  and  won  the  respect  and 
good  will  of  all  their  fellow  citizens,  so  ordering 
their  industry  as  to  get  the  best  returns  for  it,  and 
their  daily  lives  as  to  commend  themselves  to  the 
people  around  them  as  worthy  and  useful  citizens, 
deeply  interested  in  the  land  of  their  adoption  and 
the  particular  section  of  it  in  which  they  cast 


their  lot,  and  earnest  in  aiding  to  promote  its  wel- 
fare in  every  desirable  way.  Of  their  three  chil- 
dren Mary  E.  and  Louise  J.  have  died,  and  Sam- 
uel T.  is  now  a  resident  of  Battle  Creek,  this 
state.  The  parents  belong  to  the  Presbyterian 
church,  and  the  father  is  an  energetic  and  cor- 
dially interested  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity. To  have  lived  for  more  than  a  generation 
of  human  life  in  one  community  and  suffer  no  re- 
proach, but  rather  grow  steadily  in  the  esteem  of 
the  people,  is  abundant  evidence  of  merit,  and 
this  has  been  the  experience  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mc- 
Keown, yet  they  are  modest  in  their  worth  and 
make  no  claim  to  unusual  consideration,  being 
well  satisfied  with  the  opportunity  they  have  had 
to  live  acceptably,  and  content  if  they  have  done 
so  in  the  general  estimation. 

BENJAMIN   RESH. 

Benjamin  Resh,  who  in  1891  retired  from  ac- 
tive pursuits  after  conducting  extensive  farming 
operations  in  Portage  and  Oshtemo  townships, 
this  county,  for  a  period  of  fifteen  years,  during 
which  he  made  valuable  improvements  on  his 
place  and  won  the  regard  of  all  who  came  in  con- 
tact with  him,  was  born  in  Berks  county,  Pa., 
on  November  22,  1836.  His  parents,  Peter  and 
Catherine  (Schwonk)  Resh,  were  also  natives  of 
Pennsylvania,  where  the  father  wrought  at  his 
trade  of  a  blacksmith  and  operated  a  grain 
threshing  outfit  for  a  period  of  thirty-six  years. 
In  1838  the  family  moved  to  Stark  county,  Ohio, 
where  the  father  died  in  1875  and  the  mother  in 
1894.  They  had  a  family  of  six  sons  and  four 
daughters.  Benjamin  was  reared  to  manhood 
from  the  age  of  two  years  in  Ohio,  and  after  re- 
ceiving a  common-school  education  there  learned 
the  trade  of  a  blacksmith  in  that  state,  which  he 
followed  five  years.  In  1862  he  enlisted  in  the 
Union  army  as  a  member  of  Company  A,  One 
Hundred  and  Seventh  Ohio  Infantry,  and  was 
soon  at  the  front  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
Mr.  Resh  took  part  in  a  number  of  sanguinary 
engagements,  among  them  the  battles  of  Chancel- 
lorsville  and  Gettysburg.  In  the  latter  he  lost 
his  left  arm  in  the  first  day's  fight,  but  he  was 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


561 


not  discharged  from  the  service  until  1864.  He 
then  returned  to  Ohio  and  bought  a  small  farm 
which  he  operated  until  1876,  when  he  came  to 
Michigan  and  purchased  a  farm  in  Portage  town- 
ship. This  he  lived  on  and  worked  until  1887, 
then  moved  to  Oshtemo  township,  where  he  lived 
and  farmed  until  1891.  Since  then  he  has  been 
living  retired  in  Kalamazoo.  He  was  married  in 
Ohio  in  i860  to  Miss  Mary  Boch,  a  native  of 
Stark  county,  that  state.  They  have  eight  chil- 
dren living,  Peter  M.,  of  Kalamazoo,  Margaret, 
of  this  county,  Emma  and  Theodore  W.,  of  De- 
troit, and  Eva  M.,  James  H.,  Phileta  B.  and 
Jacob,  of  Kalamazoo.  Mr.  Resh  belongs  to  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  takes  an  active 
interest  in  the  proceedings  of  his  post  in  the  or- 
ganization. In  politics  he  has  never  been  an  ac- 
tive party  worker,  finding  his  greatest  comfort 
in  performing  the  duties  of  citizenship  well  out- 
side of  the  arena  of  political  contentions. 
Throughout  the  county  he  is  well  known  and 
highly  esteemed. 

KALAMAZOO    COLLEGE. 

The  citizens  of  Kalamazoo  are  justly  proud 
of  their  beautiful  city  for  many  reasons,  not  the 
least  of  these  being  the  exceptional  educational 
advantages  that  it  can  claim.  These  institutions 
are  .not  only  numerous,  but  are  all  speedily  com- 
ing to  the  front  in  the  ranks  of  institutions  of  a 
like  nature.  No  western  city  of  equal  size  and 
very  few  eastern  cities  enjoy  such  a  variety  of 
splendid  and  prosperous  institutions  of  learning. 
These  are  all  of  a  high  standard,  and  have  be- 
come favorably  known  throughout  the  state  as 
institutions  of  the  highest  type.  The  property 
represented  by  these  institutions  represents 
thousands  and  thousands  of  dollars.  Most  of 
it  is  splendidly  located  and  is  increasing  in  value 
every  year. 

Kalamazoo  College,  which  is  so  beautifully 
and  picturesquely  situated  among  the  fine  old 
trees  on  College  hill,  is  the  oldest  established 
educational  institution  in  the  city,  and  was  one 
of  the  first  colleges  established  in  Michigan.  Its 
career  has  been  one  of  sure  and  steady  progress 


in  all  lines,  until  now  Kalamazoo  College  stands 
for  good  scholarship  and  high  morals.  The  his- 
tory takes  one  back  to  the  pioneer  days  of  Michi- 
gan, when  this  college  was  founded  by  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Merrill  in  1835,  at  which  time  the  resi- 
dents of  Kalamazoo  subscribed  two  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars  with  which  one  hundred  and  fif- 
teen acres  of  land,  which  has  trebled  in  value, 
was  purchased. 

It  was  not  until  1855  that  co-education  was 
introduced  into  this  college.  By  a  charter 
granted  at  this  time  young  women  were  given 
equal  privileges  with  young  men.  Kalamazoo 
College  enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  one  of  the 
first  co-educational  colleges  in  America.  Mrs. 
L.  H.  Stone  was  for  ten  years  at  the  head  of  the 
women's  department.  About  this  time  seventeen 
students  of  this  college  figured  very  bravely  in 
the  Civil  war. 

In  1892  Dr.  Arthur  Gaylord  Slocum  was 
unanimously  chosen  to  fill  the  office  of  president. 
The  progress  of  the  college  within  the  last 
fourteen  years  is  largely  due  to  Dr.  Slocum's  un- 
tiring effort,  and  the  school  is  to  be  congratu- 
lated in  having  such  a  princely  and  scholarly 
man  at  its  head. 

An  agreement  for  mutual  advantage  was 
consummated  in  1895  between  the  college  and  the 
University  of  Chicago.  By  this  affiliation  the  ev- 
ident advantages  of  a  smaller  college  are  com- 
bined with  the  stimulus  of  constant  intercourse 
with  a  great  university.  Kalamazoo  College  has 
a  large  endowment  fund,  at  present  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Scholarships 
are  given  along  various  lines.  Their  real  estate 
is  valued  at  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thou- 
sand dollars.  Eour  buildings  are  owned  by  the 
Kalamazoo  College — the  men's  dormitory,  which 
was  erected  in  1848;  Ladies'  hall,  built  in  1857 
by  the  citizens  of  Kalamazoo ;  the  lower  college 
building  and  Bowen  hall,  named  in  recognition 
of  the  valued  personal  services  and  the  great  lib- 
erality of  the  late  C.  C.  Bowen,  of  Detroit,  which 
was  dedicated  June  16,  1902.  A  splendid  and 
rapidly  increasing  library  is  owned  by  the  col- 
lege. At  presenj;  it  consists  of  nine  thousand 
bound  volumes  and  over  three  thousand  five  hun- 


562 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


dred  pamphlets.  Four  literary  societies  of  a  high 
order  have  been  formed  as  follows:  The  Sher- 
wood Rhetorical  Society,  1851  ;  the  Philolexian 
Lyceum,  1855;  the  Eurodelphian  Society,  1856; 
and  the  Century  Forum,   1900. 

The  faculty  consists  of  cultured  and  compe- 
tent instructors,  who  have  the  interests  of  Kala- 
mazoo College  closely  at  heart.  The  standing  of 
the  college  is  such  that  after  graduation  a  course 
of  a  few  weeks  at  the  University  of  Chicago  en- 
titles one  to  a  diploma  from  the  latter  univer- 
sity. All  students  that  graduate  in  pedagogy  are 
given  college  teacher's  certificates  by  the  state 
board  of  education.  Eleven  of  the  class  of  1903 
are  at  present  teaching  in  high  schools  and  col- 
leges. 

The  faculty,  which  has  done  so  much  for  Kal- 
amazoo College,  is  as  follows :  Arthur  Gaylord 
Slocum,  LL.  D.,  president  and  professor  of  men- 
tal and  moral  philosophy ;  Samuel  Brooks,  D.  D., 
Latin  and  literature;  Stilman  George  Jenks,  B. 
S.,  chemistry  and  physics ;  Clarke  Benedict  Wil- 
liams, A.  M.,  mathematics ;  Herbert  Lee  Stetson, 

D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  psychology  and  pedagogy ;  George 
Abner  Williams,  Ph.  D.,  Greek  language  and  lit- 
erature; Elias  John  MacEdan,  A.  M.,  English 
language  and  literature;  Orlando  Clarke  Charl- 
ton, A.  M.,  biology  and  geology ;  Peter  A.  Claa- 
sen,  A.  B.,  German  and  French;  Lucy  Howard 
Johnson,  A.  M.,  Latin  and  history;  Ella  Louise 
Fulton,  A.  B.,   English  and  mathematics ;   Mrs. 

E.  A.  Read,  piano,  organ  and  harmony. 

ANDREW  YOUNG. 

Nearly  seventy  years  ago,  when  he  was  but 
a  child  of  six  years  old,  the  interesting  subject  of 
this  brief  biography  became  a  resident  of  Michi- 
gan, and  during  the  whole  of  the  subsequent  pe- 
riod of  trial  and  triumph,  of  arduous  toil,  deferred 
hope,  much  privation,  yet  steady  progress,  he 
has  given  of  his  best  endeavors  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  section  of  his  residence,  the  promo- 
tion of  its  best  interests  and  the  enduring  wel- 
fare of  its  people,  illustrating  in  his  daily  life 
and  fidelity  to  duty  the  best  attributes  of  Amer- 
ican   citizenship,    and    furnishing    an    example 


worthy  of  all  emulation  in  its  sterling,  upright 
and  useful  manhood.  Now,  after  the  heat  and 
burden  of  his  long  day,  he  is  living  retired  from 
active  pursuits,  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of 
his  labors  and  the  esteem  of  his  fellow  men.  Mr. 
Young  was  born  in  Otsego  county,  N.  Y.,  on 
March  3,  183 1,  and  is  the  son  of  Joseph  and  Bet- 
sey (Van  Wert)  Young,  scions  of  old  New  York 
families,  long  resident  in  that  state,  where  they 
also  were  born  and  reared.  They  were  there 
prosperous  farmers,  but  in  1837,  inspired  by  the 
exalted  promise  of  future  greatness  and  present 
opportunities  in  Michigan,  they  left  the  home 
of  their  youth,  and  became  residents  of  this  state, 
locating  first  at  Battle  Creek,  and  soon  after- 
ward buying  a  partly  improved  farm  near  the 
town,  on  which  they  lived  a  number  of  years. 
The  father  died  at  Battle  Creek  and  the  mother 
on  the  farm.  They  had  a  family  of  five  sons 
and  five  daughters,  all  now  deceased  but  three 
sons  and  one  daughter.  Of  these,  Andrew  is  the 
only  one  living  in  Kalamazoo  county.  He  grew 
to  manhood  in  Calhoun  county  and  was  edu- 
cated at  its  public  common  schools.  In  i860, 
bidding  good-bye  to  the  paternal  rooftree,  he 
went  to  Illinois  and  for  a  number  of  months 
lived  in  that  state.  He  then  came  to  this  county 
and  bought  a  farm  in  Charleston  township.  One 
year  later  he  sold  this  and  purchased  another 
in  Calhoun  county;  but  he  soon  afterward  sold 
the  latter  and  purchased  the  one  in  Charleston 
township,  this  county,  which  he  still  owns.  He 
also  owns  two  good  houses  in  the  village  of  Au- 
gusta, and  in  that  village  he  has  lived  during 
the  last  thirty  years,  vigorously  prosecuting  his 
farming  operations  until  a  recent  date.  The 
farm  has  smiled  with  plenty  and  grown  in  come- 
liness under  his  skillful  management,  and  is  now 
one  of  great  value  and  well  improved.  While 
working  it  he  omitted  no  effort  to  secure  the  best 
returns  for  his  labor,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
build  up  the  place  into  attractiveness,  a  high  state 
of  productiveness  and  enduring  worth;  and  its 
present  condition,  which  wins  general  commen- 
dation from  all  who  inspect  it,  is  the  best  proof 
of  the  wisdom  and  intelligent  system  he  has  ap- 
plied to  it.     He  was  united  in  marriage  in  1854 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


563 


to  Miss  Keziah  Trowbridge,  a  native  of  the  state 
of  New  York,  who  died  in  1900.  They  had  one 
child,  a  son  who  died  in  infancy.  Secure  in  the 
esteem  of  his  fellow  men,  and  with  his  daily 
vision  gladdened  with  the  triumphs  of  progress 
in  a  region  he  helped  to  redeem  from  the  wilder- 
ness, he  adds  to  the  rest  he  has  so  well  earned 
the  satisfaction  of  having  done  his  part  to  make 
the  efforts  of  his  day  and  generation  effective 
and  establish  a  civilization  which  is  a  priceless 
heritage  to  its  descendants. 

CAPTAIN  JOHN  DUDGEON. 

This  gallant  citizen  of  soldierly  qualities  and 
bearing,  who  died  at  Kalamazoo  in  1891,  at  the 
age  of  seventy,  was  the  organizer  of  the  old 
Kalamazoo  Light  Guards  and  the  first  captain 
of  the  force.  He  was  a  native  of  county  Tyrone, 
Ireland,  born  in  1821-,  and  his  parents  were  also 
born  there.  They  passed  their  lives  in  that 
county  and  when  death  ended  their  labors,  they 
were  laid  to  rest  in  the  soil  on  which  they  were 
born  and  on  which  their  forefathers  had  lived 
and  died  for  generations.  Captain  Dudgeon  re- 
mained in  his  native  land  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  twenty-five  years.  He  received  a  limited 
education  there,  and  in  his  boyhood  began  to 
learn  the  hardware  business  and  afterward  ac- 
quired also  a  knowledge  of  the  drug  trade.  In 
1846  he  came  to  the  United  States  and  located  at 
Detroit,  entering  the  employ  of  his  brother,  An- 
thony Dudgeon,  who  was  then  carrying  on  a 
commission  business.  The  Captain  afterward 
clerked  in  a  drug  store  in  Detroit  until  1848, 
when  he  moved  to  Kalamazoo  and  engaged  in 
the  grain  trade,  buying  the  commodity  and  ship- 
ping it  East,  in  which  he  continued  until  his 
death  in  t8qi.  From  his  arrival  in  this  city  he 
took  a  great  and  intelligent  interest  in  its  welfare, 
and  with  other  enterprises  which  he  inaugurated 
for  the  benefit  of  enjoyment  of  its  people,  he  or- 
ganized the  old  Kalamazoo  Light  Guards,  of 
which  he  served  as  captain  many  years.  He  was 
also  active  and  zealous  in  public  affairs  as  a 
Democrat,  and  as  such  was  elected  president  of 
the  village  before  the  incorporation  of  the  city, 


his  term  covering  the  time  of  the  installation  of 
the  first  water  works  system.  In  1849  ne  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Cornelia  Clarke,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Samuel  Clarke,  a  pioneer  in  this  county 
and  the  first  representative  of  the  district  in  the 
United  States  congress,  he  having  also  been  a 
congressman  from  his  native  state  of  New  York 
before  coming  to  Michigan.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dud- 
geon had  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  One  son 
is  dead,  and  the  other,  Frank  C,  lives  in  Kala- 
mazoo. The  father  was  a  devoted  member  of 
St.  Luke's  church,  to  whose  welfare  he  gave 
freely  of  his  time  and  means.  Throughout  this 
county  and  elsewhere  where  he  was  known  he 
was  held  in  high  regard  by  all  classes  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  well  deserved  their  esteem.  In  the  earlier 
years  of  our  history  in  this  "country  the  militia 
occupied  an  important  place  and  was  one  of  the 
most  valued  public  institutions.  Its  officers  were 
men  of  prominence  and  capacity  in  most  cases, 
and  were  looked  upon  as  leading  citizens  every- 
where. Of  this  class  Captain  Dudgeon  was  a 
fine  type  and  exemplified  in  his  connection  with 
the  service  all  its  best  and  brightest  attributes, 
being  as  courtly  in  social  life  as  he  was  gallant 
in  military  circles  and  duty. 

NATHANIEL  ALDRICH  BALCH. 

This  distinguished  advocate,  accomplished 
scholar  and  genial  gentleman,  whose  long  pro- 
fessional career  and  life  of  active  usefulness  in 
the  city  and  county  of  Kalamazoo  was  an  orna- 
ment to  the  section  and  an  inspiration  to  its 
younger  men,  was  born  at  Athens,  Windham 
county,  Vt.,  on  January  22,  1808,  and  was  the 
son  of  Nathaniel  and  Sally  (Bennett)  Balch,  the 
former  a  native  of  Douglas,  Worcester  county, 
Mass.,  the  latter  a  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Ben- 
nett, of  New  Jersey.  John  Balch,  the  great  pro- 
genitor of  the  family,  arrived  in  America  from 
Somersetshire,  in  1623  ;  they  set  sail  from  Plym- 
outh, Eng.,  with  Robert  Gorges  as  commander, 
and  they  found  lodgment  at  Cape  Ann.  A  part 
of  the  party  returned,  but  four  of  the  company, 
among  whom  was  John  Balch,  reached  Salem  in 
1626  and  was  one  of  the  "Old  Planters,"  who  re- 


564 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


ceived  an  original  grant  of  land,  being  in  the 
country  five  years  before  Governor  Endicott,  for 
be  it  understood  the  community  of  which  he  was 
one  of  the  four  founders  was  in  fact  the  first 
place  settled  and  thereafter  continuously  occu- 
pied by  Europeans  on  the  shores  or  territory  di- 
rectly contiguous  to  Boston  bay.  The  father  of 
Mr.  Balch  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight,  and 
his  mother  at  that  of  more  than  ninety-seven.  The 
son  began  going  to  a  New  England  common 
school  at  the  age  of  three,  was  rarely  tardy  and 
never  absent  until  he  reached  the  age  of  ten, 
when  he  was  able  to  render  his  father  assistance 
on  the  farm,  and  after  that  he  seldom  had  oppor- 
tunity to  attend  school  regularly,  until  he  was 
sixteen,  when  he  passed  three  months  at  a  select 
one  in  Townsend.  Here  he  made  such  profi- 
ciency, that  at  the  end  of  his  term  he  was  consid- 
ered capable  of  teaching  a  district  school,  which 
he  did  the  following  winter  to  the  satisfaction  of 
his  pupils  and  patrons.  From  then  on  he  taught 
three  or  four  months  every  winter  until  1835, 
when  he  was  graduated  from  Middlebury  Col- 
lege, Vt.  He  also  taught  the  academy  at 
Jericho,  that  state,  one  term.  Immediately  after 
his  graduation  he  had  an  application  from  the 
trustees  of  the  academy  at  Bennington  to  be- 
come principal  of  that  institution,  and  this  posi- 
tion he  filled  for  two  years  with  marked  success. 
Among  his  pupils  there  he  had  young  men  who 
afterward  became  famous,  among  them  Chapin 
Robinson  Hall,  Trenor  Park,  Lodowick  Thayer, 
and  others  of  similar  renown,  while  at  Benning- 
ton he  began  the  study  of  law  under  the  direc- 
tion of  John  S.  Robinson,  of  that  city,  an  advo- 
cate of  great  ability  and  national  reputation.  He 
studied  medicine  and  theology  in  order  to  make 
himself  a  more  competent  jurist.  On  the  com- 
pletion of  his  term  as  principal  of  the  Benning- 
ton Academy  and  after  securing  his  second  de- 
gree of  Master  of  Arts  at  Middlebury  College, 
he  and  his  brother  Samuel  came  west  and  ar- 
rived at  Kalamazoo  about  August  20,  1837,  and 
here  Mr.  Balch  passed  almost  all  of  his  subse- 
quent life.  He  at  once  renewed  the  study  of  law 
under  the  tuition  of  Stuart  and  Webster  and  also 
became   manager   of   Huron   Institute,   which   is 


now  Kalamazoo  College.  In  1838  he  went  to 
Marshall,  Calhoun  county,  and  during  the  next 
two  years  taught  in  what  was  intended  to  be 
Marshall  College,  but  hard  times  rendering  it 
impossible  for  the  institution  to  realize  on  the 
wild.  Michigan  lands  with  which  it  was  endowed, 
and  some  of  its  trustees  having  failed,  the  enter- 
prise was  abandoned.  Here  he  had  among  his 
pupils  L.  D.  Norris,  of  Ypsilanti,  afterward  a 
graduate  of  Michigan  University,  who  began  and 
carried  through  the  case  which  led  to  the  famous 
Dred  Scott  decision,  and  many  others  of  national 
importance.  Although  he  never  taught  again, 
Mr.  Balch  kept  up  his  active  interest  in  the  cause 
of  public  education  through  life  and  has  often 
been  called  the  father  of  the  high-school  system 
in  western  Michigan.  He  was  for  over  twenty- 
five  years  president  of  the  board  of  education  in 
Kalamazoo.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Cen- 
treville,  St.  Joseph  county,  this  state,  on  March 
19,  1840.  In  1842  he  was  elected  prosecuting 
attorney  for  Kalamazoo  county  and  the  same 
year  was  appointed  by  the  circuit  judge  prosecu- 
ting attorney  for  Barry  county.  There  being  no 
lawyer  in  that  county,  he  held  the  office  for  sev- 
eral terms  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  judge  and 
the  people  of  the  two  counties.  In  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  Kalamazoo  Bar  Association  he  was 
unanimously  elected  president,  a  position  which 
he  filled  for  more  than  twenty-five  years  with 
credit  to  himself  and  benefit  to  the  association. 
During  his  long  practice  in  this  state  he  was  en- 
gaged in  many  murder  trials  and  others  of  wide 
renown,  and  in  them  he  often  measured  swords 
with  some  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  the  pro- 
fession ;  and  he  has  been  associated,  from  time 
to  time,  with  a  number  of  the  leading  lawyers 
of  the  state  in  partnership.  Mr.  Balch's  pro- 
found study  and  extensive  reading  enabled  him 
to  speak  fluently  and  impressively  on  almost  any 
subject  at  a  moment's  notice,  and  gave  to  his 
conversation  a  breadth,  versatility  and  piquancy 
which  made  it  hig-hlv  agreeable  and  instructive. 
In  1846  he  was* chosen  to  represent  his  district 
in  the  state  senate,  and  in  18^7  was  appointed 
postmaster  of  Kalamazoo,  discharging:  the  duties 
of  each  position  with  his  accustomed  vigor,  abil- 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


565 


ity  and  integrity.  He  was  also  president  of  the 
village  of  Kalamazoo.  In  1862  the  Democratic 
party,  to  which  he  always  gave  his  support,  nom- 
inated him  to  represent  his  district  in  the  con- 
gress of  the  United  States,  and  by  his  cogent, 
convincing  and  masterful  advocacy  of  the  cause 
committed  to  his  care  at  that  time  succeeded  in 
largely  reducing  the  hostile  majority  against  his 
party.  He  was  a  professed  Christian,  a  member 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  church,  patriotic,  phil- 
anthropic, charitable,  a  sympathetic  friend  and 
wise  adviser.  He  was  first  married  to  Miss  Sarah 
Chapin,  daughter  of  Rev.  Walter  Chapin,  of 
Woodstock,  Vt.,  a  profound  scholar  and  accom- 
plished lady  who  died  of  consumption  on  May 
18,  1848,  about  nine  years  after  her  marriage, 
leaving  three  children,  two  daughters  and  a  son. 
The  youngest  daughter  died  in  the  same  year  as 
her  mother,  at  the  age  of  three.  The  son,  Wal- 
ter O.  Balch,  lived  to  be  thirty-four.  He  was  a 
good  student,  was  graduated  from  the  law  de- 
partment of  the  Michigan  University,  and  prac- 
ticed his  profession  for  a  number  of  years  with 
the  firm  of  Raich,  Smiley  &  Balch.  He  died  of 
consumption  in  December,  1876.  The  older 
daughter,  Mrs.  John  den  Bleyker,  is  living.  In 
1849,  at  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Balch  married  Miss 
Elizabeth  E.  Dungan,  a  lady  of  fine  appearance 
and  a  wide  range  of  scholarship.  She  was  mis- 
tress of  the  French  and  Spanish  languages,  as 
well  as  the  English,  and  possessed  an  extensive 
knowledge  of  history.  Her  conversational  pow- 
ers were  of  the  highest  order.  By  this  marriage 
there  were  two  children  born  in  the  household,  a 
son  who  died  at  the  age  of  three  months,  and  a 
daughter  who  passed  away  suddenly  at  a  more 
mature  age,  being  stricken  with  diphtheria. 

John  den  Bleyker,  the  oldest  son  of  Paulus 
den  Bleyker,  came  with  his  father  to  Kalamazoo 
from  Holland  in  October,  1855.  He  began  his 
education  in  his  native  land  before  coming  to 
this  country.  On  his  arrival  here  he  continued 
his  education  at  the  old  Branch,  afterward  the 
Baptist  College  in  Kalamazoo.  He  began  his 
business  career  as  a  clerk  in  the  store  of  William 
B.  Clark,  remaining  there  two  years.  He  then 
passed  two  years  as  a  deputy  in  the  office  of  the 


register  of  deeds,  and  at  the  close  of  that  period 
went  into  the  *  real-estate  business  in  company 
with  his  father.  He  has  been  engaged  in  farm- 
ing, and  has  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  pro- 
ductive farms  in  this  section.  It  is  a  part  of 
section  12  in  Kalamazoo  township,  east  of  the 
city.  Mr.  den  Bleyker  was  born  on  the  island 
of  Lexel,  Holland,  on  September  5,  1839,  and 
after  leaving  the  Baptist  College  here  attended 
the  Kalamazoo  Commercial  College  for  a  time, 
and  afterward  Gregory's  Commercial  College, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1859.  Cm  Octo- 
ber 25,  1864,  he  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Amna  Balch,  daughter  of  the  late  Hon. 
Nathaniel  A.  Balch,  a  sketch  of  whom  precedes 
this  one.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  den  Bleyker  have  had 
nine  children,  six  of  whom  are  living,  Paul, 
Sarah,  Gertrude,  Harry,  Walter  and  Anne.  John 
died  at  the  age  of  two  years  and  nine  months, 
and  Mattie  when  eight  years  old.  Mr.  den  Bley- 
ker owns  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  acres  of 
fine  land.  He  has  bred  Holstein  and  Jersey  cat- 
tle and  registered  sheep,  which  have  taken  a 
number  of  first  premiums  at  the  state  fairs.  He 
is  also  a  great  lover  of  good  horses.  In  the  gen- 
eral welfare  and  progress  of  his  township  he  is 
always  earnestly  and  actively  interested,  being  a 
director  and  stockholder  in  the  Kalamazoo  Na- 
tional Bank,  and  connected  with  various  other 
enterprises  in  whose  prosperity  the  substantial 
good  of  the  community  is  deeply  involved.  He 
has,  moreover,  devoted  some  time  to  the  real 
estate  business  with  profitable  results.  In  poli- 
tics he  is  a  Democrat  and  served  sixteen  years 
as  a  notary  public.  He  and  his  family  belong  to 
the  Presbyterian  church,  of  which  he  is  a  liberal 
supporter. 

THOMAS   CLARAGE. 

It  was  with  sorrow  that  the  Telegraph  an- 
nounced the  death  of  Thomas  Clarage,  who  had 
been  a  resident  of  Kalamazoo  for  upwards  of 
thirty-five  years.  Mr.  Clarage  was  about  sixty- 
five  years  of  age  and  was  the  son  of  English 
parentage.  His  father,  who  was  an  officer  in 
the  British  army,  came  to  Canada  probably  about 
1830  and  located  at  Toronto.     Both  the  father 


566 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


and  mother  died  in  a  cholera  epidemic,  leaving 
him  an  orphan  at  the  age  of  about  five  years! 
There  was  also  a  half-sister  from  whom  he  heard 
once  or  twice  afterwards,  but  never  in  later  life. 
He  was  adopted  by  a  family  at  St.  Catharine's, 
whose  sole  object  seems  to  have  been  to  get  pos- 
session of  some  property  which  was  left  him  by 
his  parents.  He  was  so  badly  whipped  and  ill- 
treated  by  these  heartless  people  that  he  left  them 
before  he  was  ten  years  old  and  became  a  waif 
in  the  streets  of  Toronto  at  this  tender  age.  It 
was  only  a  few  days,  however,  before  he  was  picked 
up  on  the  streets  by  a  kind-hearted  old  gentleman 
by  the  name  of  Deacon  Josiah  Tryon,  who  lived  at 
Lewiston,  N.  Y.  This  good  Samaritan  washed  and 
otherwise  soothed  the  poor  little  body  which  was 
covered  with  bruises  and  marks  from  the  whip, 
and  afterwards  kept  him  with  him  for  several 
years,  giving  him  all  the  kindness  that  he  could 
have  bestowed  on  a  son  of  his  own.  He  received 
here  a  common-school  education  and  when  he  be- 
came a  young  man  was  given  his  choice  of  going 
to  Oberlin  College  or  taking  up  the  pursuit  of 
mechanics.  As  he  had  evinced  an  unusual 
amount  of  talent  in  the  latter  direction,  he  was 
sent  to  Kalamazoo  to  learn  the  machinist's  trade 
with  the  late  Albert  Ames,  who  was  a  personal 
friend  of  Mr.  Tryon's.  He  remained  here  until 
this  shop  was  destroyed  by  fire,  after  which  he 
went  to  Chicago,  thence  to  Rochester  and  thence 
to  Detroit.  While  at  the  latter  place,  the  Burts, 
who  formerly  ran  a  machine  shop  near  the  Dew- 
ing place,  sent  for  him  and  he  returned  to  Kala- 
mazoo, where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
He  soon  became  foreman  of  the  old  machine 
shops  owned  by  a  Mr.  Robinson  which  stood  on 
the  ground  now  occupied  by  Lawrence  &  Cha- 
pin's  buildings.  He  occupied  the  position  of 
foreman  through  the  various  changes  of  firms 
until  about  sixteen  years  ago,  when  he  embarked 
in  business  for  himself  in  partnership  with  C.  H. 
Bird,  the  firm  being  known  as  Bird  &  Clarage. 
This  was  afterwards  changed  to  Thomas  Clar- 
age &  Sons,  on  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Bird,  un- 
der which  name  and  management  the  business 
has  continued  up  to  the  present  time. 

Mr.  Clarage  was  never  strong  physically, — 


in  fact,  his  frail  body  was  scarcely  adequate  to 
his  strong  and  vigorous  mind.  His  nervous  tem- 
perament would  not  allow  him  to  take  the  ease 
which  would  have  been  more  beneficial  to  him. 
His  life  shows  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  strong 
principles,  just  and  fair  in  all  things  and  ever 
actuated  by  the  tenderest  sympathy  for  all  his 
friends  and  acquaintances.  He  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Presbyterian  church  since  taking  up 
his  abode  here.  He  was  of  a  modest  and  rather 
retiring  disposition,  never  courting  honors  or  fa- 
vors, although  he  was  twice  elected  as  city  al- 
derman. 

He  was  married  in  the  year  1854  to  Eliza- 
beth M.  Hooker,  who  survives  him.  There  also 
remain  three  sons,  Charles,  Edson  and  Ernest, 
the  first  two  residing  here  and  the  last  named  in 
Chicago. 

During  his  last  illness  Mr.  Clarage  was  very 
sweet  and  patient  in  all  his  suffering  and  appre- 
ciated to  the  utmost  the  kind  sympathy  of  his 
many  friends.  Thus  ended  the  eventful  life 
which  was  begun  under  such  adverse  circum- 
stances, and  which  at  the  end  achieved  excep- 
tional honor  and  regard  from  all  who  knew  him. 
His  rest  is  well  earned,  his  reward  well  merited. 

After  the  father's  death  the  business  of  the 
firm  was  and  is  yet  continued  as  before,  the  ac- 
tive management  being  under  the  son  Charles. 
The  foundry  was  erected  in  1902,  on  the  corner 
of  North  and  Frank  streets,  and  is  known  as  the 
Clarage  Foundry  and  Manufacturing  Company, 
owned  by  Charles  Clarage.  The  latter  was  born 
in  Kalamazoo  in  i860  and  was  educated  in  the 
schools  and  colleges  of  this  city.  He  began  his 
active  life  in  the  mail  service  as  extra  route  agent 
on  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad,  and 
was  also  in  the  post-office  five  years  under  O.  B. 
Kenday.  He  then  engaged  with  the  Bird  Windr 
mill  Company  and  for  some  time  served  that 
concern  as  manager  at  Lincoln,  Nebraska.  In 
January,  1884,  he  joined  his  father  in  the  busi- 
ness at  Kalamazoo.  In  1883  Charles  Clarage 
married  Miss  Ella  M.  Southworth,  who  died  in 
October,  1903.  To  them  was  born  one  son, 
Harry.  Mr.  Clarage  has  served  two  terms  as  a 
member  of  the  city  council  and  also  served  as  act- 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


S67 


ing  mayor.  He  has  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  the  city  and  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Kalamazoo  Paper  Box  Company.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  in  which  he 
has  attained  to  the  Knight  Templar  degree  in  the 
York  rite  and  the  thirty-second  degree  in  the 
Scottish  rite,  belonging  also  to  the  Mystic 
Shrine  at  Detroit. 

WALTER  E.  OAKLEY. 

The  penalty  of  being  an  only  child  of  well- 
to-do  parents  is  frequently  thought  to  be  a  spoiled 
youth  and  a  manhood  of  less  than  merited  worth, 
but  this  is  not  the  fact  in  the  case  of  the  enter- 
prising and  useful  farmer  of  Comstock  town- 
ship, this  county,  who  forms  the  subject  of  this 
memoir.  He  was  the  only  child  of  his  parents, 
but  instead  of  being  spoiled  for  serviceable  ac- 
tivity in  either  youth  or  manhood,  he  has  zeal- 
ously followed  the  good  example  and  fully  justi- 
fied the  careful  training  given  by  his  parents, 
meeting  at  every  period  of  his  life  the  claims  of 
a  lofty  duty  to  himself  and  his  kind,  and  estab- 
lishing himself  from  childhood  to  age  in  the  re- 
gard and  good  will  of  all  who  have  known  him. 
Walter  E.  Oakley  was  born  on  November  10, 
1842,  in  Columbia  county,  N.  Y.,  where  his  par- 
ents, Peter  and  Charlotte  E.  (Tenebrooke)  Oak- 
ley, were  also  born  and  reared.  The  father  was 
an  extensive  farmer  there  and  successful  in  his 
business.  In  1863  the  family  moved  to  this 
county  and  he  bought  two  hundred  and  forty 
acres  of  land  in  Charleston  township,  which  he 
improved  and  on  which  he  carried  on  an  exten- 
sive dairy  industry.  On  this  farm  the  mother 
died  in  1878,  and  sometime  thereafter  the  father 
returned  to  New  York,  where  he  died  in  1902. 
As  in  New  York,  so  also  in  Michigan,  he  was 
a  prominent  man  in  his  section,  working  ardently 
on  all  occasions  for  the  success  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  serving  Charleston  well  for  a  number 
of  terms  as  supervisor,  as  well  as  in  other  local 
offices.  He  and  his  wife  were  active  workers 
in  the  Baptist  church  and  liberal  contributors  to 
its  support.  They  enjoyed  in  a  marked  degree 
the  esteem  of  their  acquaintances  and  the  gen- 


eral public.  In  addition  to  his  farm  in  this 
county  the  father  owned  and  operated  one  near 
Fargo,  N.  D.,  in  the  Red  River  valley,  which  he 
sold  some  years  prior  to  his  death.  His  father 
was  Isaac  Oakley,  also  a  native  New  Yorker, 
who  came  to  Michigan  with  his  son's  family  and 
died  here.  Mr.  Oakley  was  reared  in  his  native 
coiiiity  and  educated  in  the  district  schools.  He 
remained  at  home  until  1878,  removing  to  Com- 
stock township  in  1880,  where  he  has  since  lived. 
In  1863  he  was  married  to  Miss  Emma  J.  Scho- 
field,  and  soon  afterward  they  accompanied  his 
parents  to  Kalamazoo  county.  Of  this  marriage 
three  children  were  born,  but  only  one  of  them 
is  living,  their  son  Claude  W.,  who  is  now  en- 
gaged in  the  coal  trade  in  Kalamazoo.  His 
mother  died  in  March,  1877.  For  a  time  after  his 
removal  to  Comstock  township  Mr.  Oakley  was 
engaged  in  general  merchandising  at  Galesburg, 
being  associated  in  business  four  years  with  Mr. 
Beech  under  the  firm  name  of  Oakley  &  Beech. 
Since  turning  his  attention  to  farming  he  has 
been  specially  engaged  in  raising  and  feeding 
live  stock  on  a  la^rge  scale,  and  also  in  the  dairy 
business.  His  second  marriage,  which  occurred 
in  1878,  was  with  Miss  Sarah  M.  Lamb,  a  na- 
tive of  Niagara  county,  N.  Y.,  where  her  par- 
ents, Seth  and  Phoebe  G.  Lamb,  were  natives. 
The  father  was  a  contractor  and  builder  and  died 
in  Orleans  county,  N.  Y.,  and  since  his  death 
the  mother  has  made  her  home  with  her  daugh- 
ter, Mrs.  Oakley.  By  the  second  marriage  Mr. 
Oakley  became  the  father  of  four  children,  all  of 
whom  died  in  infancy.  Mr.  Oakley  is  a  leading 
and  earnestly  diligent  Republican,  supporting  his 
party  every  day  in  the  year,  but  he  has  never 
aspired  to  public  office.  He  has,  nevertheless, 
been  an  effective  and  serviceable  supporter  of  all 
matters  of  local  interest  for  the  welfare  of  the 
community,  sparing  neither  influence  nor  ma- 
terial assistance  to  promote  them  and  give  them 
a  healthy  and  productive  vitality.  He  and  his 
wife  are  zealous  members  of  the  Baptist  church 
at  Galesburg.  Mrs.  Oakley  comes  of  a  vigorous 
and  long-lived  family,  her  grandmother  having 
lived  to  be  over  one  hundred  years  old  with  her 
faculties  of  body  and  mind  well  preserved  to  the 


568 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


last.  Kalamazoo  county  has  had  the  benefit  of 
two  generations  of  Oakley  enterprise,  breadth 
of  view  and  public  spirit,  and  no  name  stands 
higher  or  shines  with  a  brighter  luster  in  the  an- 
nals of  the  county.  And  it  is  manifest  from  his 
career  so  far  in  business  and  social  and  public 
life,  that  the  representative  of  the  third  genera- 
tion will  maintain  the  elevated  standard  of  excel- 
lence and  worth  reached  and  occupied  by  his  fa- 
ther and  grandfather. 

WALTER  M.  COE. 

In  this  electric  age,  when  the  Occident  and 
the  Orient  are  near  neighbors  and  continents 
shake  hands  across  the  stormy  ocean,  when  the 
East  and  the  West  of  our  own  country  look  into 
each  other's  windows  and  speak  audible  greet 
ings  over  mountains,  plains  and  inland  seas  as  if 
they  were  by  the  same  fireside,  when  through  the 
genius  of  Marconi  even  material  mediums  are 
discarded  and  the  very  air  we  breathe  is  made 
the  messenger  of  thought  and  instantaneous 
communication,  a  trip  from  the  interior  of  New 
York  to  Kalamazoo  county,  Mich.,  a  hundred 
leagues  across  the  continent  is  only  a  night's  ad- 
venture, and  scarcely  worthy  of  more  than  a 
passing  thought.  But  it  was  not  so  in  1837,  when 
the  subject  of  this  brief  article  made  the  trip 
with  his  parents  at  ten  years  of  age.  Then  at 
least  half  of  the  journey  had  to  be  made  by  the 
slow  and  trying  process  of  wagon  travel,  and 
whether  with  horses  or  the  lumbering  ox  teams, 
was  tedious  and  difficult  in  every  stage.  Great 
stretches  of  the  weary  way  were  without  roads, 
through  dense  forests  of  entangled  undergrowth, 
inhabited  by  beasts  of  prey,  and  over  treacherous 
swamps  filled  with  venomous  and  deadlv  reptiles. 
And  all  the  more  credit  is  due  to  the  hardv  pio- 
neers who  endured  its  dangers  and  hardships  in 
that  they  knew  there  were,  if  possible,  worse  con- 
ditions at  its  end,  all  to  be  overcome  before  thev 
could  hope  to  wring  from  the  fruitful  earth  a 
scanty  subsistence  and  found  a  civilization  in  the 
wilderness.  Mr.  Coe  and  his  parents  were  among 
these  daring  adventurers,  and  he  is  especiallv 
fortunate  in  having  lived  to  see  the  splendid  noon 


of  the  civilization  of  which  he  witnessed  the  un- 
promising dawn.  His  life  began  at  Leroy,  Gen- 
esee county,  N.  Y.,  on  June  n,  1827,  and  he  is 
the  son  of  Edward  and  Naomi  (Hosher)  Coe, 
natives  of  New  York  who  moved  to  Michigan 
in  1837  and  settled  on  Genesee  Prairie,  making 
the  trip  from  the  old  home  with  teams  to  the  new. 
After  a  residence  of  nearly  two  years  on  the 
prairie  the  family  moved  to  the  village  of  Kala- 
mazoo, and  several  years  later  the  father  bought 
a  tract  of  land  in  Oshtemo  township  -which  was 
the  family  home  until  the  parents  took  up  their 
residence  in  Climax  township,  where  they  passed 
the  remainder  of  their  days,  their  remains  being 
buried  at  Climax  Corners.  When  the  father  ar- 
rived in  this  state  his  only  earthly  possessions  be- 
sides the  clothes  he  wore  was  a  team  of  horses 
and  ten  dollars  in  money,  but  such  were  his  in- 
dustry and  frugality  that  in  a  few  years  he  accu- 
mulated a  comfortable  estate,  and  from  that  time 
on  he  steadily  enlarged  it.  Seven  children  were 
born  in  the  household,  all  of  whom  four  are  liv- 
ing, one  son  and  three  daughters.  The  son,  Wal- 
ter W.  Coe,  was  between  nine  and  ten  years  old 
when  he  accompanied  his  parents  to  this  state, 
and  he  completed  in  the  district  schools  of  this 
county  the  education  he  had  begun  in  those  of 
his  native  place.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  started 
out  in  life  for  himself,  driving  a  stage  between 
Marshall  and  Kalamazoo.  In  1850  he  went  to 
California  overland,  consuming  four  months  in 
the  journey,  and  after  his  arrival  in  that  state 
mined  for  some  time  on  Clark's  bar.  He  also 
bought  and  sold  mules  and  drove  a  stage  over 
the  mountains  between  Marysville  and  Sacra- 
mento. In  1855  ne  returned  to  his  Michigan 
home  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  New 
York.  He  then  bought  the  farm  on  which  he 
now  resides,  which  was  at  the  time  unimproved 
and  in  a  sparsely  settled  region  of  country.  This 
farm  he  brought  to  great  productiveness  and 
beautv  in  a  short  time,  enriching  it  with  good 
buildings  and  other  improvements,  adorning  it 
with  tastefully  disposed  shade  trees  and  shrub- 
bery, and  all  the  while  cultivating  it  with  assid- 
uous industry  and  the  highest  skill.  It  is  now 
one  of  the  most  attractive  in  the  township  and 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


569 


one  of  the  largest.  For  many  years  he  was  en- 
gaged in  raising  high  bred  stock,  particularly 
Percheron  horses,  Poland-China  hogs  and  Here- 
ford cattle.  Of  late  years  he  has  devoted  himself 
to  general  farming  with  no  special  reference  to 
live  stock.  On  November  3,  1853,  he  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Charlotte  Goodrich,  a 
daughter  of  Philip  and  Nancy  Goodrich,  who  be- 
came the  mother  of  six  children,  Eugene  H., 
Louis  A.,  Don  M.,  Edward  E.,  Charles  L.  and 
Olive  J.  Their  mother  died  on  February  21, 
1873,  and  two  years  later  the  father  married  a 
second  wife,  Miss  Rachel  Thomas,  a  daughter 
of  John  and  Jane  (Havens)  Thomas,  natives  of 
New  York.  She  was  born  at  Sparta,  Livingston 
county,  that  state,  on  June  4,  1837,  and  came 
with  her  parents  to  Michigan  at  an  early  age. 
She  is  the  mother  of  two  children,  their  son 
James  H.  and  their  daughter  Naomi  M.  Frater- 
nally the  father  is  a  Freemason  and  politically  he 
supports  the  Democratic  party,  without,  how- 
ever, seeking  or  desiring  any  of  the  honors  or 
emoluments  of  public  office.  Having  borne  his 
full  share  of  the  toils  and  trials  of  the  pioneer 
days,  he  is  justly  entitled  to  the  rest  and  peace 
which  are  now  his  portion ;  and  having  done  well 
his  part  in  building  up  his  community,  the  re- 
spect of  its  people  which  is  so  liberally  and  gen- 
erally accorded  to  him  he  has  amply  earned. 

WILLIAM  F.  DOOLITTLE. 

In  the  subject  of  this  sketch  the  blood  of  the 
energetic,  resourceful  and  industrious  New 
Yorker,  and  the  broad-viewed,  cultivated  and 
aristocratic  Louisiana  planter  commingle,  his  fa- 
ther having  been  a  native  of  the  former  state  and 
his  mother  of  the  latter,  and  he  inherited  the  best 
traits  of  each.  He  was  born  in  this  county,  Rich- 
land township,  on  January  21,  1855,  and  is  the 
son  of  Benjamin  F.  and  Mary  J.  (McConsland) 
Doolittle,  the  former  born  in  the  state  of  New 
York  on  December  5,  1820,  and  the  latter  in 
New  Orleans  in  1829.  The  father  came  with  his 
father,  Hezekiah  Doolittle,  to  Michigan  in  1835 
at  the  age  of  fifteen,  his  mother  having  died  in 
1831.     At  the  time  of  their  arrival  in  this  state 


the  family  comprised  three  sons  and  six  daugh- 
ters. The  father  (grandfather  of  William) 
bought  a  tract  of  land  in  Richland  township  on 
which  the  only  improvements  were  a  log  dwell- 
ing and  barn  of  small  dimensions  and  rude  con- 
struction. He  lived  on  this  farm  until  his  death, 
on  August  21,  1852.  He  had  been  a  soldier  in 
the  war  of  181 2  from  his  native  state  and  had 
borne  himself  valiantly  in  that  conflict.  His  son 
Hezekiah  grew  to  manhood  on  the  farm  and 
helped  to  clear  the  greater  part  of  it,  living  on  it 
until  a  few  years  before  his  death,  when  he 
moved  to  Plainwell,  where  he  died  on  June  23, 
1888.  The  mother  is  still  living  there.  They 
had  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  now  de- 
ceased but  William  F.  He  began  to  learn  in  his 
youth  the  lessons  of  good  government  and  take 
an  earnest  interest  in  public  affairs,  his  father 
being  a  justice  of  the  peace  many  years,  and  dur- 
ing the  Civil  war  a  recruiting  officer,  enlisting  a 
large  j^iumber  of  men  for  the  Union  army.  A 
note  signed  by  leading  citizens  of  the  township 
for  the  payment  of  money  to  secure  them  exemp- 
tion from  being  drafted  by  the  purchase  of  sub- 
stitutes in  cases  their  names  were  drawn,  is  still 
in  the  possession  of  the  family.  The  father  also 
early  inculcated  in  his  son  a  high  respect  for  re- 
ligious institutions,  being  a  regular  attendant  and 
liberal  supporter  of  the  church,  although  not  a 
member.  The  son  grew  to  manhood  in  his  na- 
tive township  and  was  educated  in  the  county 
schools,  finishing  with  a  course  at  Parson's  Busi- 
ness College  in  Kalamazoo.  All  his  years  down 
to  this  time  have  been  passed  in  the  county  and 
farming  has  all  the  while  been  his  principal  oc- 
cupation. He  has  devoted  himself  wholly  to  this 
and  has  made  his  farm  a  model  of  thrift  and  skill- 
ful cultivation,  home  comfort  and  advanced  im- 
provement. While  he  has  but  little  taste  for  pub- 
lic office  he  has  served  well  as  township  clerk 
and  justice  of  the  peace.  In  fraternal  life  he  is 
a  Freemason  and  an  Odd  Fellow.  In  1878  he 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary  Gott,  a  na- 
tive of  Detroit  but  living  at  the  time  at  Green- 
ville, this  state,  where  the  marriage  was  solem- 
nized. They  have  had  five  children,  of  whom 
Jeannette  Helen,  Mary  Jane  and  Wilbur  F.  are 


S7o 


BIOGRAPHICAL   HISTORY   OF 


living.  Their  mother  died  in  June,  1904.  The 
family  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  highly  re- 
spected in  the  county,  and  deserves  in  full  meas- 
ure the  esteem  in  which  it  is  held. 

JOHN   S.   KNICKERBOCKER. 

A  scion  of  one  of  the  oldest  families  in  the 
state  of  New  York  and  entitled  to  share  in  the 
distinction  of  its  great  name  in  the  annals  of 
every  useful  line  of  life  in  that  mighty  common- 
wealth, where  since  the  dawn  of  civilization  on 
this  hemisphere  it  has  held  a  leading  place,  John 
S.  Knickerbocker,  of  Richland  township,  this 
county,  has  pursued  the  quiet  and  peaceful  way 
of  an  industrious  farmer,  relying  on  his  own 
worth  and  efforts  for  the  regard  of  his  fellow 
men  without  reference  to  the  pride  he  might 
justly  have  in  his  ancestry,  and  does  have,  feel- 
ing more  impressively  the  pride  of  well  used  op- 
portunity and  the  incitement  to  emulation  in  hon- 
est effort  it  affords.  He  was  born  on  January  1, 
1850,  on  the  farm  on  which  he  is  living.  His 
parents,  Samuel  and  Matilda  (Whitney)  Knick- 
erbocker, were  natives  of  New  York,  the  former 
born  in  Dutchess  county  and  the  latter  in  Gene- 
see. The  father  grew  to  manhood  in  Genesee 
county,  where  his  father  died  in  1827,  when  the 
son  was  but  seven  years  old.  He  farmed  in  his 
native  state  until  1840,  when  he  married  and 
moved  to  this  county,  buying  eighty  acres  of  wild 
land,  the  farm  on  which  his  son  John  now  has  his 
home.  Ten  acres  of  the  tract  were  cleared  and 
there  was  a  little  old  log  cabin  on  the  clearing 
when  he  took  possession  of  the  land.  He  cleared 
the  rest  and  reduced  it  all  to  cultivation,  making 
good  improvements  from  time  to  time  and  keep- 
ing his  progress  forward  at  a  steady  pace.  He 
died  on  the  farm  on  October,  1903.  His  first 
wife,  the  mother  of  John  S.,  died  in  1857,  and 
two  years  later  he  married  a  second,  Miss  Eliza 
Stone,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.  She  died  on  April 
27,  1897,  leaving  no  children.  The  fruit  of  the 
first  marriage  was  a  son  and  a  daughter,  the  lat- 
ter of  whom  died  a  number  of  years  ago,  leaving 
John  S.  now  the  only  living  member  of  the  fam- 


ily. He  has  passed  all  of  his  days  so  far  in  this 
county,  growing  to  manhood  under  the  parental 
roof  and  obtaining  his  education  in  the  district 
schools  of  his  neighborhood  and  at  Olivet  Col- 
lege. Early  in  life  he  began  assisting  his  father 
on  the  farm  and  he  remained  at  home  so  occu- 
pied many  years.  For  a  time  he  was  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Lake  Shore  Railroad  at  Kalamazoo, 
in  the  freight  department.  Since  leaving  that 
service  he  has  been  continuously  engaged  in 
farming  on  the  home  place.  On  April  26,  1888, 
he  was  joined  in  wedlock  at  Kalamazoo  with 
Miss  Christina  Lamper,  a  native  of  the  city.  Her 
parents,  Lewis  and  Gertrude  (Van  Ness)  Lam- 
per, emigrated  from  Holland  to  this  country  and 
settled  at  Kalamazoo  about  the  year  1855.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Knickerbocker  have  had  three  children, 
only  one  of  whom  is  living,  their  daughter  Clara 
M.  Their  first  born,  Samuel  R.,  died  at  the  age 
of  two  weeks,  and  the  third  child,  Henry  R.,  in 
September,  1904.  Among  the  first  families  in 
the  county  as  settlers,  the  Knickerbockers  are 
alsQ  among  the  first  in  standing  and  public  es- 
teem. Both  parents  are  worthy  citizens  and  de- 
serving of  the  regard  and  good  will  in  which 
they  are  held. 

JOHN  W.  MIDDLETON. 

This  widely  and  favorably  known  farmer  of 
Portage  township,  this  -county,  who  is  the  repre- 
sentative of  one  of  the  oldest  families  in  the 
county,  was  born  on  the  farm  on  which  he  now 
resides  on  July  6,  1854.  His  parents  were  George 
H.  and  Margaretta  (Fletcher)  Middleton,  the 
father  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  mother 
of  Virginia.  The  mother  was  a  widow  at  the 
time  of  her  marriage  with  Mr.  Middleton  and  her 
maiden  name  was  Drapes.  They  were  farmers 
and  came  to  Kalamazoo  county  in  1833,  making 
the  trip  from  Pennsylvania  with  teams.  The  fa- 
ther purchased  a  tract  of  land  in  Prairie  Ronde 
township,  near  Schoolcraft,  on  which  he  lived  a 
number  of  years,  then  bought  another,  a  tract  of 
wild  land,  in  Portage  township,  on  which  he 
made  his  home  until  his  death  in  1886,  and  on 
which  the  mother  died  in  1891.    This  is  now  the 


KALAMAZOO  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


57i 


farm  of  their  son  John.  They  had  two  sons  and 
two  daughters.  Two  of  the  children  are  living, 
one  daughter  having  died  a  number  of  years  ago, 
and  the  other  on  March  2,  1905.  The  father  had 
been  married  previously  to  Miss  Rebecca  Bishop, 
who  bore  him  eight  children,  who  grew  to  ma- 
turity. Four  of  them,  all  sons,  are  alive.  Two 
of  them  are  residents  of  this  county,  one  lives  in 
the  state  of  Washington  and  one  in  Wisconsin. 
The  father,  although  a  man  of  public  spirit  and 
cordially  interested  in  the  welfare  of  his  county, 
never  sought  public  office,  but  he  supported  the 
Democratic  party  in  political  matters.  John  W. 
Middleton  remained  at  home  with  his  parents, 
working  in  their  interest  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  twenty-two,  then,  in  1876,  purchased  the 
farm  on  which  he  now  lives  and  has  lived  ever 
since  he  bought  it.  In  the  same  year  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Sarah  E.  Long,  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. They  have  three  children,  Ida  M.,  wife  of 
Frank  Qualy,  Berbice  S.,  who  is  living  at  home, 


and  Margaret,  who  is  attending  school  in  Kala- 
mazoo. Mr.  Middleton  supports  the  principles 
and  candidates  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  has 
served  as  township  trustee  and  on  the  board  of 
review.  With  earnest  interest  in  his  own  affairs, 
he  has  devoted  all  his  time  and  energies  mainly  to 
their  management;  and  with  genuine  loyalty  to 
his  county  and  state,  he  has  never  sought  to  roam 
beyond  their  limits  in  search  of  better  conditions 
of  life  than  they  furnish,  but  if  he  has  had  aught 
to  complain  of  in  those  conditions  he  has  joined 
zealously  with  others  to  improve  them,  thus  ex- 
hibiting some  of  the  best  attributes  of  patriotism 
and  American  citizenship.  He  has  the  reward 
of  his  fidelity  in  the  universal  esteem  in  which 
he  stands  in  his  county,  and  the  regard  and  good 
will  of  its  people  of  every  worthy  class.  His  farm 
gives  evidence  of  his  thrift,  industry  and  wisdom 
as  a  husbandman,  and  his  general  reputation  be- 
speaks his  possession  of  a  sterling,  upright  and 
serviceable  manhood. 


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