yy~ r~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~V 2~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i6 L TITUS BRONSON. See Page 67 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICH. ILLUSTRATED DAVID FISHER AND FRANK LITTLE, Editors "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. CHIICAGO A. W. BOWEN &; CO. PUBLISHERS, ENGRAVERS AND BOOK MANUFACTIURERS Tell me a tale of the timber landsOf 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 floreThe 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 — anya of them broken, fragmentary, and imperfect-from books, records, manuscripts, private 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 endeavored 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 congratulate themselves that so learned men and so able and conscientious editors as Mr. David Fisher and Mr. Frank Little could be obtained. 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 portraits, scattered as fitting illustrations throughout its pages, thereby greatly enhancing the value of the volume; to all whose willing service and unfailing courtesy have ever fully respondled to aid in the efforts to make this memorial history a valuable and thoroughly comprehensive exhibit of the events and the people of old Kalamazoo county. The publishers feel a satisfaction in being able to so creditably 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 aboriginal 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 Cahokia 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-Luxuriant vegetation-Wild game. CHAPTER II-INDIANS, THEIR LIFE AND CIARACTER..................... 25 Original title to Kalamazoo land held by the Pottawattamie Indians-Treaty of 1795-Chicago treaty, 1821-Important cessions-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 villagesIndian manners and customs as described by an early writerFinal removal of the Indians-Some resistance-Indian trailsVillages and early trading posts-Early traders. CHAPTER II-INDIANS SUc.AR, MAKING(................................ 31 The "sugar bush" near Galesburg-Squaw bees and male drones -Method of "boiling down" and "sugaring off." CHAPTER IV-ToPlo(;Rl'APlY:AN) PHIYSICAL GO(;IRAPHIY.................. 31 Nature prodigal in her gifts-Geographical location and boundary of Kalamazoo County-The name Kalamazoo of Indian originGeological features-Exquisite primitive scenery-Land mainly covered with timber of many varieties-Prairies -Origin of Kalamazoo river-Drainage of the county-Gull lake-Long lakeGun lake-White's lake. CHAPTER V-PIONIEER LIF:.......................................... 37 Life and customs of the early days as described by an early writer-Early means of subsistence scarce-"Johnny-cake" popular-Conditions favorable for the development of characterEarly settlers characterized by attainment and culture-Every settler an aristocrat-Conditions in eastern states encouraged emigration-Evolution in living arrangements-Orchard planting-Pioneer bill of fare-Logging bees-Furnishing of the cabin -Spinning and weaving-Early accounts of Kalamazoo CountySale of government land-Land speculation- Building of roads, canals and railroads. CHAPTER VI-DEFORELSTING.......................................... 48 Primal necessity for destruction of timber-Lack of legal protection of forests-New England back-logs and their inspirationFirst frame building-Wonderful display of Aurora Borealis in 1836- Present necessity for restoration of the forests. CONTENTS OF HISTORY.. CHAPTER VII-CONDENSED HISTORY.................................. 51 Early schools-Mrs. Charlotte Hubbard Daniels-Early pupilsEffective 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-Kalamazoo, Allegan & Grand Rapids Railroad-Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad-Kalamazoo & South Haven Railroad-Railroads harbingers of prosperity-Many substantial improvements-Railroad mileage in Kalamazoo-State Asylum for Insane-Kalamazoo Board of Trade-Government lands-Population of county at different periods-Agricultural and commerical statistics-Kalamazoo County pioneer meeting-Kalamazoo village-Kalamazoo in 1891-Titus Bronson-Abolitionism-Underground railroadChildren's Home-Fire and water works-Fire companies-Manufacturing industries-Celery culture-Banks-Lilies Cigar Company-Michigan Traction Company-Phelps & Bigelow Windmill Company-Kalamazoo Telegraph-Noteworthy Events-Village 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 buildingsNeat and elegant residences-Michigan Traction Company-Education-Libraries-Ladies' Library Association-Mutual Improvement Club-Fraternal societies-Religious bodies-NewspapersIndustries. CHAPTER X-THE BANKING BUSINESS OF SCHOOLCRAFT................ 95 Thomas Griffiths & Company-M. R. Cobb & Company-First National Bank of Schoolcraft-E. B. Dyckman & Company-Nesbitt & Miller-Kalamazoo County Bank. CHAPTER XI-TIE CHURCHES AT ALAMO............................. 96 The Methodist church here first-Members of the first classMethodists and Presbyterians unite in building the first churchMinisters 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-Description of the buildings and the system of operation-Superintendents and roster of present officers. CHAPTER XIII-KALAMAZOO EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS................ 102 Numerous educational advantages-Kalamazoo College-Michigan Seminary-Western State Normal School-Nazareth Academy-LeFevre Institute-St. Joseph's Institute-Parson's Business 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............................ 111 Large church-seating capacity-St. Luke's Episcopal church-Roman Catholic church-First Presbyterian church —North Presbyterian church-First Congregational church-First Methodist Episcopal church-Simpson Methodist Episcopal church-Damon Methodist Episcopal church-East Avenue Methodist churchGrant Chapel-Free Methodist church-First Baptist churchBethel Baptist church-Portage Baptist church-Second Baptist church-People's church-Christian Science church-Jewish Synagogue-First, Second, Third and Fourth Dutch Reformed churches-Salvation Army-Church of God-Bethany MissionDouglas 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 Alien, 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 Brown, Charles, Sr......... Brown, Condon J.......... Brown, Ebenezer L........ Brown, Frank L........... Brown, Jeremiah N....... Brown, Lorenzo F......... Brown, Nelson C........... Brown, Stephen F......... Browne, Samuel A......... Browne, William H........ Brownell, W. L........... Bryant, Damon............ Bryant, Mc. M............. Bryant, Noah.............. Buckham, George......... Buckhout, Romine H...... Burdick, Lewis S.......... Burdick, Victor G.......... Burdick, Willis J.......... Burke, Lawrence N........ Burnham, Giles C.......... Burroughs, Luther......... Burrows, Julius C......... Burson, James W.......... Burtt, William M.......... Bush & Paterson........... Bush, Fred................ Butler, Hiram............. Butler, Paul T............. C 470 265 513 449 457 373 442 510 177 177 190 140 140 212 450 544 409 366 287 256 279 426 527 512 310 242 242 548 548 Coller, Frank S............ Coller, Eli H.............. Collins, Ferdinand V...... Collins, Nahum C.......... Collins, Stephen P......... Collins, William G......... Comings, James R......... Comings, Sherman......... Cook, Edson W............ Cook, Omar G............. Cooley, Calvin W.......... Cooley, Charles S.......... (ooley, Edwin J........... Coon, Lemuel W........... Corbin, Edwin............. Corbin, Palmer............ Cornell, Albert B.......... Cornell, Joseph B.......... Crane, James A............ Crane, Jay D.............. Crooks, Charles G.......... Crooks, George W.......... Cropsey, Alexander........ Cropsey, Jesse R.......... Crouch, Albert............. Curtenius, Edward F... Curtenius, Frederick W.... 121 121 422 476 476 422 201 202 417 505 125 125 387 499 169 170 249 335 186 160 314 296 428 428 490 376 525 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........... 456 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 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 r............ 339 Cobb, Moses R............. 518 Cobb, Stephen S........... 528 Cobb, William B........... 340 Coe, Walter MM............. 568 Coleman, Frank........... 452 Coleman, William H....... 452 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 I)ir, W illiam 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 Dyckman, 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................... 287 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 Hoek, Walter.............. 250 Iolcomb, A. A............. 130 Holmes, Andrew J......... 337 Holmes, George A......... 141 Iolmes, 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........ 227 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, Normanf 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 C o...................... 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 Me 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 Monroe, Ebenezer W...... Monroe, Joshua............ Montague, Henry.......... Montague, Stephen......... Montague, Stephen F...... Montague, William F....... Morrison, Charles E........ Morrison, James........... Morrison, Willis W......... Morse, Charles A.......... Mottram, Charles V........ Munger, Isaac G........... 399 509 197 197 377 376 420 420 419 480 181 397 N Neasmith, Fred W......... Neasmith, James M'........ Neumaier, George.......... Nichols, Leroy............. Nichols, Loyd.............. North, Wallace B.......... Notley, Francis............ Notley, William F......... 546 547 268 338 235 276 482 473 Marvin, Henry M.......... Marvin, Huntington M..... Mason, Edwin............. Master, Sheridan F........ Maxson, Charles A......... May, Charles S............ May, Dwight.............. Meredith, Evans........... Meredith, Warren.......... Merrill, David B........... Michigan Nursery and Orchard Co................ Middleton, John W......... Milham, Frank H.......... Milham, John.............. Milham, John A........... Milham, Robert E.......... Milham, William........... Miller, Conrad............. Miller, H. Brooks.......... Miller, Joseph............. Mills, Alfred J............. Mills, John E.............. Minnis, Albert C.......... 364 280 360 228 356 522 526 515 387 205 356 570 209 152 388 152 162 252 230 523 299 157 488 0 Oakley, Peter.............. 567 Oakley, Walter E.......... 567 Odell, Josiah............... 540 Odell, Lewis H............. 540 Oliver, Willard W.......... 283 Osborn, Harris B.......... 248 Osborn, Platt S............ 248 Osterhut, Cornelius........ 500 P Parker, B. P............... 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 R 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, W illiam............ 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 T 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.......... 210 Upjohn, Uriah............. 210 V 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............. Wakner, Jacob K......... Wagner, William........... Walker, Cyrus A........... W alker, John.............. Wallace, William.......... Waterbury, Joel........... Weed, Charles G........... Weeks, George............. Wenham, James........... Wheeler, John............. Wheeler, John B........... Wheeler, Jonathan A....... White, Albert R........... White, William R. B....... Whitney, Norman K........ Whitlock,. Orson K......... Whitney, Norman S........ Wicks, Fred V............. Wing, Spencer J........... W inslow, A. D............. Winslow, George C......... Winslow, George W........ Williams, Chester A........ Williams, Richard......... Williams, Tom............ Worden, Russell........... Worden, Silas F........... W ood, T. C................ Woodbury, Jeremiah P..... 132 132 186 155 155 149 297 557 373 147 346 551 551 379 383 237 237 236 287 474 534 558 558 168 155 155 487 486 369 289 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......................... Baldwin, Wallace WV.................... Barnes, Alvin B........................ Bronson Park.......................... Bryant, Noah........................... Burdick Street, looking North.......... Burtt, William M....................... Bush, Fred............................. Chase, Nehemiah........................ Court House............................ Cropsey, Jesse R........................ Daniels, Henry J....................... Finlay, Archibald....................... Finlay, Thomas B....................... Finlay, Mrs. Thomas B.................. Finlay, William......................... First County Court..................... Fisher, David........................... Fuller, George.......................... Gates, Lyman M....................... H ays, C. B.............................. Hill, W arren W......................... Hopkins, James H...................... Hoyt, Jonathan C....................... Hudson, Grant M....................... Kalamazoo College...................... " 380 " 400 " 202 " 72 " 212 72 " 310 " 242 " 320 " 82 428 " 518 " 554 " 350 " 350 " 554 52 " 122 " 270 " 390 " 438 " 410 " 260 " 464 " 536 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, He. W h Aixe.................. " 142 Main Street, looking West.............. " 72 Marvin, Huntington M.................. " 280 M ason, Edwin.......................... " 370 M ilham, John........................... " 152 Milham, W illiam....................... " 162 Notley, Francis......................... " 482 Osterhut, Cornelius..................... " 500 Potter, Allen............................ 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 W agner, J. K........................... " 132 PART FIRST KALAMAZOO COUNTY MICHIGAN FULLY HISTORICAL Out of monuments, names, words, proverbs, traditions, 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 Fast 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 anothei pre-existing people than those now classed as mound builders. We do not know, nor is it pertinent to the object of this work to know, whether civilizations after civilizations have been developed 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 occtnancv 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 mysteries 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 sorrows 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, rambling over the pleasant dales and hills, bathing and fishing in the limpid waters of the lakes, departed hence, the silent footfalls of their moccasined feet becoming less and less frequent until they were heard no more and left the land in loneliness to await the coming of the whites. These pre-historic peoples have been named in this order: First, that race, who were the progenitors of the present Esquimaux; second, the MIound 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 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY OF tribes or Pueblo Indians; and the third, the American Indians. S. XV. 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 anything 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 transported to a more southern region to be transformed 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 manufactured, the pre-historic occupation here described through a section of the Mississippi river valley in Missouri and extending further north and covering the sites of Rock Island and Moline. All of this extensive section of the Mississipi valley bears evidences of being an enormous manufactory, and when our civilization first dawned upon the land, remains of enormous canals, connecting the Mississippi river with various 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 countries of the north. Below the mouth of the Missouri river, for some fifty or sixty miles, the Mississippi is bordered 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, generally known as the American bottom, a series of mounds that are still visible among the Cahokia, the largest native earthwork in America, situated 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 archeological importance, and, in a recent publication of the Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology, D. I. Bushnell, Jr., has described 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 surmised, and the various objects that have already been unearthed in their vicinity. The large number of unusually large mounds that stood on either side of the Mississippi, and the great quantity of pre-historic implements and utensils that have been discovered mark that region as an important 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 mound builders as a connecting link with the Mississippi, and with the far-spreading area of prehistoric North America. The main group, which surrounds the truncated rectangular pyramid of that giant Cahokia, which still rises several hundred 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 occupied 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 earthworks not very far distant. Other smaller elevations 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 Trappist monks who planted their wheat on its summit nearly a century ago. These monks, when the explorer Brakenbridge visited them in I8II, 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 monument 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 I721 after the two tribes had been amalgamated, was probably 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 I769 Pontiac was murdered near the same villiage. Just why the mounds were built is an unanswered 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 Mlan in the Iron Mask did inhabit the Bastile, and that is all that research, 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 appeared 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 accounted for on the theory that they are actually the remains of ruined dwellings-such dwellings as the traveler Tonti had in mind when he wrote in I698: "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 builders erected their homes in the same manner as later the Trappist Monks utilized them as an elevated 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-m.ile 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 necessarily 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 carefully 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, whatever 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.I85o, when some of the appreciative citizens restored its form and it has since, remained 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- I4 of the same township were four mounds. Three of these were double the size of the first two, being fully forty feet in diameter. The fourth resembled the smaller ones, having a width of twenty feet. Examinations 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 I6 in Cooper township the remains of three earthworks or supposed 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 I83I 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 I876, 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 I. This looked much like a circus ring. About a mile west of the "old fort" were a number of these strange "garden beds," covering 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. Thebeds 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 different 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, suggesting that they were made by a later race than the M/lound Builders. Henry Little says that in the early days of settlement 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 Toland's prairie and in various places not heretofore 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, contributed by Bela Hubbard, Esq., appeared in the American Antiquarian of April, 1878. These KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. beds were of various forms, rectangular, triangular, elliptical, circular or wheel-shaped, and complex, 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 wonderfully attractive, still a dense and tangled jungle of heavy cedars, tamaracks and cypress, mingled with maples, elms, oaks, walnuts and other evergreen 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 forcsts, and. furnished' homes 'for thousands of finnv inhabitants, the watervr surface being nade much more extensive bv the numerous ldams madn e by the plentiful beaver. The oak openings and ridge lands presented another aspect. Tohn T. Blois writes of it in his very admirable "Gazetteer of Michigan," published in I838: "To the traveler the'country presents an appearance eminently picturesque and delightful. In a considerable portion the surface of the ground is so even and free from underbrush as to admit of car'riages 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 unrivaled 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. Tecumseh, 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 warriors 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 wiregrass 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 nIrtritious, and the cattle brought from the East had ample provision supplied by nature 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 varieties, were everywhere. Enormous flocks of wild 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 abundance, 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 remnants 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 destiny, 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 Kalamazoo county in its magnificent state of completed 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 concourse of westward emigration which here found abiding homes. They are not lessons peculiar to this soil, but such lessons as our common humanity 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 coming on foot, empty-handed and hopeless, the family 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 opulence 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 acquire 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 flowercoveredl wilderness, but his descendants are now citizens of the world, sharers in all of its luxury and glory. All continents and all seas minister unto them. It took long months for the pioneers to hear from across the sea, yes, even from their old homes in the East; now the world's history 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 structures, the multiplication and diffusion of luxuries, 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 languages have disappeared. This has not come from.convulsions of nature, but from the degeneracy 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 addresses 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 remind us that there is no exemption from social corruption. The greatest trouble of the civilization 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 conservatism 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 corruption, 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 armong its possibilities greater woe than yet may come to Kalamazoo 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 Indiana, 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 Maumee 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 hundred dollars in goods thereafter forever. The annual payments were to be divided among the contracting nations, as follows: to the Wyandots, the value of one thousand dollars; to the Delawares, one thousand dollars; to the Shawnees, one thousand dollars; to the Miamis, one thopsand dollars; to the Ottawas, one thousand dollars; to the Chippewas, one thousand dollars; to the Pottawattomies, one thousand dollars, and '26 6 '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 exceptions 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 Parc 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 18I7 (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 Michigan; 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-benash-e-wish reserve. In September, 1827, allof the Pottawattomie reservations mentioned in the Chicago treaty were exchanged for a consolidated reservation called Nottawasepee, a portion 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 possession.,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, besides 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 i west. The reservation remaining was surveyed in June, I829, by Orange Risdon. By a treaty made at a council held at the Indlian reservation in St. Joseph county in September, 1833, the Pottawattomies, through the kindly influence of gifts from the whites of military trappings, baubles and inexpensive 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 reservation selected for them west of the Mississippi river. They, however, manifested such reluctance 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 Michigan 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 Kalamazoo 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. 27 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 years, a year's supply of fish was caught in a short time by a great number of people. The Pottawattomies 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 prehistoric gardens alluded to elsewhere we can not assert with any certainty. The menial work of the aborigines was (lone 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 Openings" in the Kalamazoo valley. This indicates that he possessed a fine appreciation of the Indian character. Indian manners and customs are graphically (lescribed in a letter received by Henry Bishop, of Kalamazoo, in 880. A.. 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 Telegraph of January 14, I880, 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 Bronson, 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 Gourdneck 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 received the early settlers very kindly, and were inclined to live peacefully with them. Second question, 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 thev 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 thev 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 circuses. Shooting matches and foot races they took great delight in. In answering the fourth question, How they traded with the white man, I answer 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 garment must be given. Only the goods for one garment 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 understand him, his manner and voice were very interesting, 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 politeness. 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, Chana-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 going and scattered about in little squads. In regard to the effect it had on the character of the Indian 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. Whiskey, 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 thev 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 only twenty-five cents per gallon, they generally got all they wanted. When they purchased whiskey they usually announced that they were going to get 'squibby' (drunk). The quality of the whiskey sold to the Indians was very bad, having been watered and drugged for their especial use. I recollect, in I833, 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 'bish' (water) in his whiskey that it made them sick before thev could get 'squibby' (drunk). As to myself, I sold no whiskey whatever to the Indians, except during the first two or three years after my arrival in Schoolcraft. What I have said about the Indians has been mainly about those whose headquarters were near Schoolcraft." In November, I840, the federal government took stern measures in the removal of the Pottawattomies to the west of the Great Father of Waters. It sent soldiers to aid the Indian corn KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 29 missioner, Hon. H. M. Rice, who was later prominent in Minnesota. At the various Indian villages 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 Pottawattomies, but the Ottawas felt in this manner the relentless hand of destiny in their complete severance 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 manv 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, Kalamazoo, 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 survevors of roads found the routes of the trails, although winding and devious, the best adapted to the condition of the country, for they had been selected by the Indians, the acknowledged greatest 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 I812 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; Bennett & Brother were traders at Michigan City. When I passed through Kalamazoo, in I827, 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 Pioneer 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 Pottawattomies 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 nineteentwentieths. I left early in the spring, my boat heavily laden, entering Lake Michigan and reaching 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 rapids. 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 morning (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 ~30 ~ COMPENDIUM OF 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 I823, by an old Frenchman by the name of Numaiville, who traded there that fall and during the winter of T1824, and in the spring returned to Mackinac. "In the fall of I824 I caused more substantial buildings 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 bv hieroglyphics or imitation-pictures, and rehearse them to me in the spring with almost exact accuracy in the name of the article or the price. I continued to occupy the place by different clerks until I837, 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 sometimes 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 corner 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 I846, I847, 1848 and I849. His intelligence, the purity of his private life, which distinguished him above the ordinary. class of "traders," gave him prominence when civilization became dominant in the West. With inflexible integrity and untiring assiduity he nobly fulfilled every trust reposed in him, and died. as he had. lived, "without fear and without reproach." i Beside Robinson and Hubbard there were other traders stationed at Kalamazoo, either as employes of these, or traders on their own account. Among them were Recollet, Peter Coteau, and one Leiphart. "Recollet had two daughters 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 better 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 excursion 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 peninsula, or in batteaux from Detroit and Mackinac, consisted of ammunition, tobacco, blankets, clothing, 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," gathering 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 squawbees, 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 under each kettle. From the boiling liquid columns of smoke arose in wreaths and ringlets that floated 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 1)obbing up and down with the boiling sap. These tlhe, 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 lIusbands. 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 present it to their white visitors to eat. But thev 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 -raining it. They put this, in quantities of onehalf 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 quasgun (bread), sammock (tobacco), or any other article they wanted. CHAPTER IV. TOPOGRAPHY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. Nature was prodigal of her gifts when she created this section of the American Union. Kalamazoo county is a typical county of the rich southern portion of the state. It is in the southwestern part of the Lower Peninsula in the second 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 Indiana and due east from Lake Michigan forty-four miles, it is very conveniently located, having fine communication with commercial centers and excellent 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. I, 2, 3 and 4 south of the base line and ranges Nos. 9, Io, II, 12 west of the principal meridian. It comprises 368,640 acres of land according to the survey, but, by reason 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, Calhoun county on the east, St. Joseph county on the south and Van Buren county on the west. There are sixteen townships within its boundaries, Alamo, Cooper, Richland, Rose, Oshtemo, Kalamazoo, Comstock, Charleston, Texas, Portage, Pavilion, Climax, Prairie Ronde, Schoolcraft. Brady and Wakeshma. The name of Kalamazoo is of Indian origin. George Torrey in I867 writes thus of the name: "On Toland's Prairie there had once been an Indian village, and it was here, according to tradition, 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 surface 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 'Was 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 rizer 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 wealth 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 Saginaw. The Waverly rocks must be reached by boring in this county. The depth of the superimposed drift can only be obtained by this process. Two hundred feet or more of the drift rest upon the rock, for the Kalamazoo river has nowhere 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 formations carry coal measures in many sections, but not here. Brine from which salt can be obtained can probably be found by boring from one thousand two 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 gardeners 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 diversified 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, walnut, 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 landscape, 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 specimens of the heavy forests. One of the finest of these oak openings occupied the site of the present 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 opening 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 architecture, 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 giving 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 numbers 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 l)lack 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 Genesee. 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 extends some distance into St. Joseph county, at least thirteen thousand acres of it belonging to Kalamazoo. This has been preserved in American 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; Genesee, 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 vallevs 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 highest point on Prairie Ronde is two hundred and seventy-eight feet above the lake and seven hundred 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 Champlain geological era, that closely followed the subsidence 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 sedimentarv 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 higher temperature of the lower altitude the supply of water furnished to the streams diminished, with the result that they became slowly and steadily 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 a'nd 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 approximates three hundred feet. Its volume is quite uniform when heavy rains or floods do not increase its size. This regular flow is caused, first, by the numerous unfailing springs pouring 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 steamboats, 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 manufacturing. 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 Kalamazoo river, the remainder coming into the watershed 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, draining 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 proportions flow southerly from Schoolcraft and prairie Ronde. The lakes abound with fish of various kinds, which afford fine sport to fishermen, while the streams are stocked with trout "and here and there a grayling." The springs of the county are mostly crystalline 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 covered 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 I,200; Indian, 700; Long, 6Io; Rawson, 400; Gourdneck, 370; Eagle, 350; BWest, 300; Paw Paw, I7o; Crooked, I50; Howard, 150. Gull Lake lie-s 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 excellent bathing facilities. The irregular shore line with its grassy beaches romanitically touches meadows and hillsides, forests and clearings, cultivated lands and unbroken wildwood. A delightful 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 & Indiana Railroad and quite a popular summer re KALAMAZOO COLLEGE. By courtesy of the Gazette. BRONSON PARK. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 37 sort of village proportions has been here developed. 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 beautiful 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 proportions. 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 outdoor life in such surroundings. White's Lake, in close proximity to this city, is noted as a popular picnicking resort. A vaudeville 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 newspaper, which space forbids us to give in full, Tbut 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 distant, 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. Railway travel in New York was completed to that city at the time. The next time we heard the 'whistle' it was in 1845, in the young and picturesque 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 paraphernalia for starting new homes. My father and son-in-law, Edwin Dickinson, had the year before visited Michigan, and, after making a purchase 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 distant, 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 impassable from this mud, were yet full of the stir and turmoil of business, mostly of the teams passing and repassing. Conspicuous among these were the emigrant wagons, of various and nondescript 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 household 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 household paraphernalia were 'stuck on' or fastened here and there upon or between the boxes, looking 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 behind, 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 settled in 1817. This was Oakland, on the great Indian 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 subsistence. 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 procured 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 seventeen miles to either of them. "At the new home all was virginal. Out-ofdoors 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 snuffling 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 'Johnnycake' 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 noticed 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 concluded 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. "XVe would occasionally kill a deer, and then venison would supply our tables with meat. My father had brought five hundred pounds of codfish 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 plowr to a house and barn. All undergoing comnmon hardships made all equal and all friends. For developing neighborly traits, for leveling distinctions, and for carrying out the letter of the Scriptural 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 fanning-mills and the threshing machine made its appearance. Much labor was saved by its use. During the winter and spring, when fodder became 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 cornfield. Their cornhills, with the stubble yet standing 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 wilderness 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, and 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 territory. It meant a great and glorious state in the future. "Some of these pioneers were unlettered, particularly 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 attainments 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 accomplished 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 accordance 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 accomplishment, 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-dollar bonnets had not got into-the new settlement; neither had Mrs. Lofty and her carriage, and dapple 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 afford 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," intemperance 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 conferred 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, intelligent 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 monopolies like that of the few Dutch merchants of Amsterdam, popularly known as the Holland Land Company (that controlled that great area called the Holland purchase), the Morris grant, the Pulteney 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 inevitable 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 market. It was only by conrverting 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 quickly magnified the amount of indebtedness,, and the full sum sooner or later must be paid. The shadow rested on every home. MAany 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 results 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, transformed and developed the conditions they here -ound, until, as the ultimate result of their persistent efforts, we find the Michigan of today an aggregate of communities, in which comfort, wealth, intelligence and culture are preponderating factors, and Kalamazoo county is an educational 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 immortality, 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, sometimes 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 washtub, the wooden washbowl, splint broom, and other necessary utensils of the household. In the construction of this house straight trees of uniform 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 "storyand-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 7 x 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 pots and kettles. Here was a home where happiness would enter as freely as into the marble palaces of royalty. The generous Indians were of valuable assistance 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 requisite labor, and the Indians 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 cheerfully 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 beginning of the present century, one of my neighbors being about to set out an apple-orchard, and having 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 I835 J. F. Gilkey brought from Indiana or Ohio about one hundred appletrees, 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 remained. The other half of the trees Judge Hinsdell 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 faithfully served; their day and generation, and now, after a lapse of thirty-eight years, still remain as enduring monuments of the genius, thrift and remarkable 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 number of the common red, sour cherry-trees. In I844 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 'teaweed,' 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 flowing 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 teacups' and have their 'fortunes told.' Teapots KALAMAZOO, COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 43 were ransacked and old tea-groundis were saved by the girls for the purpose of having their fortunes 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 "Johnnytake," perhaps 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 (lishes 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 chinmney, 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. iMany 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 established their homes, improvements had so progressed 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 I843. In the spring of I837 flour sold at nine dollars per hundred pounds; oats as high as two dollars and fifty cents; corn was scarce, a frost the previous 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 common. The neighbors for miles around were invited to come with their ox teams to such a place on a specified day, and punctually at the appointed 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 together, 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 merriment. 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 exhausted. 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 common, especially when one of the matrons fell victim 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' distance, leaving enough of his load at each house for a day's work of the inmates, with an invitation 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 kindness throbbing in her heart, would enter the sick neighbor's home, where she and all her fellow workers were received with the strongest evidences 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 coverings. I-ence 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 window stood a chest of drawers, near it a squarelegged 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 little wheels were actively operated by "mother" and daughters. The mother would sit at the little lwheel, distaff in hand, one foot upon the treadle, while perhaps the other was jogging a cradle containing a tiny rosebud of humanity; a low, soothing 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 apparel, 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. '* --- ' 'i VIEW OF KALAMAZOO FROM PROSPECT HIILL. By courtesy of the Gazette. I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 45 T'he price for weaving plain tow, linen or flannel cloth was about six cents a yard, from six to ten yards being a good day's work. The tow-andlinen 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 meeting, 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 subsequent weaving resulted the chief part of the family's winter clothing, although most of the young women owned a calico dress, the most popular 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 contentment reigned and mnerriment and cheerful songs and jollity were the life, not only of each home, but of the community as well. In I838 the pioneer days were in their prime and the sturdy Easterners had made their full extent 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 accurate 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, Comstock, Cooper, Kalamazoo, Pavilion, Portage, Prairie Ronde, Richland and Texas. The villages are Kalamazoo, Schoolcraft and Comstock. Kalamazoo county is generally level, though sufficiently 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, basswood, whitewood, butternut and black walnut. There are eight prairies, viz.: Prairie Ronde, Gourdneck prairie, Dry prairie, Genesee prairie, Grand prairie, Toland's prairie, Gull prairie and Climax prairie. These contain about oneeighth of the county. Every portion of the county is susceptible of and admirably adapted to agriculture. 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 Kalamazoo 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 I830 two or three townships of land were offered for sale by the general government. In 1831 the balance of the land of the county, save a reservation 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 I863, the following excerpts may indicate 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 portion 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 I86O it contained 1,940 occupied farms, with 137,663 acres of improved land and I29,276 acres of unimproved land. There was owned in the county 54,576 sheep and I3,697 swine. The crops included 585,235 bushels of wheat, 548,69I bushels of corn, 147,529 bushels of oats, 128,033 bushels of potatoes, I41,490 pounds of maple sugar, 187,I60 pounds of wool, 496,I58 pounds of butter 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 7,078, and the total amount of district taxes was $14,338.17. "The sale of government land at the Kalamazoo land office from its establishment up to 1838 was as follows: I83I, 93,179.36 acres; 1832, 74,696.I7; I833, 95,980.25; 1834, I28,244.47; 1835, 745,661.34; I836, 634,5II.82; 1837, 313,855.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,o56.15 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 1831, 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-of thiswork, 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 addition 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 possessions 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 Ypsilanti 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 oxteam before a wagon carrying family and household effects from Detroit to Woodruff's Grove, which place he reached on the night of October 23, I823. In I835, John Farmer mapped out Michigan with its improvements at that date. I find that old map the most valuable and interesting of histories. Just one decade had elapsed in the new pilgrim's progress, between Orange Risdon's map of I825 and John Farmer's of I835. 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 wilderness" 'while clearings were made and hamlets sprung- up at -Saline, Clinton, Jonesville, Coldwater, 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 Territorial road, where log cabins arose and villages appeared as if evoked by magic. For on the map of I835 we find located west of Ann Arbor, Lima, Grass Lake, Jacksonburg, Sandstone, Marshall, Battle Creek, Comstock, Kalamazoo and St. Joseph, on the lake. Emigration had pushed out from Detroit, on the Grand River road to Saranac 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-postoffices, sawmills and gristmills. In I840 the pioneer era practically ended, although 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 ensued. The era of speculation in enhanced and fictitious prices of lands offered for sale at exhorbitant prices to guileless and unsuspecting purchasers in the east had a short and not beneficial effect on the prosperity of the state and Kalamazoo was in a measure unfavorably affected by there operations as well as by the "wildcat" banking 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 territorial days great labors were expended in constructing 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 commencing 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 I830 and I840 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 mentioned. During the decade alluded to, were incorporated in Michigan the Romeo & Mt. Clemens Railroad in I833, the Detroit & Maumee Railroad in 1835, the Allegan & Marshall Railroad in I836 (this had a capital of four hundred thousand dollars and was designed to connect Marshall 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 I836. The Kalamazoo & Lake Michigan Railroad was incorporated in I836, with four hundred thousand dollars capital, to run from Kalamazoo 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 incorporated in I836. 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 I837 Michigan was admitted as a state of the federal republic and its youthful pride launches out into great schemes of internal improvements. Loans of funds from the state for the improvement of navigable rivers, the building of canals and for the construction and operation 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 was commenced in all parts of the Lower Peninsula, particular 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 I837. The 48 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY OF Saginaw & Genesee Railroad, the Gibraltar & Clinton Railroad, the Pontiac & Huron River Canal Company, the Owasso & Saginaw Navigation Company, the River Raisin & Grand River Railroad Company, the Macomb & Saginaw Railroad Company, the St. Clair & Romeo Railroad. the Shelby & Belle River Railroad, the Clinton & Adrian Railroad, the Erie & Kalamazoo Railroad, incorporated in I833, the Detroit & Pontiac Railroad, incorporated in 1834, the Shelby & Detroit Railroad, the Palmyra & Jacksonburg Railroad, the River Raisin & Lake Erie Railroad, the Auburn & Lapeer Railroad, the Ypsilanti & Tecumseh Railroad, the M\ottville & White Pigeon Railroad 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, I833, to connect the Maumee valley of Ohio with that of Kalamazoo. 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 I, 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 Palmvra & Jacksonburg Railroad, now the Jackson branch of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, was built in I838 to Tecumseh by the same company. This road made Tecumseh its western terminal point for twenty years. In I844 the Erie & Kalamazoo 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 I843. In I846 the state sold both roads to the Michigan Central Railroad, which was completed to Kalamazoo on February 2, 1846. It was not finished to Chicago until May, I852. 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 (luring which European civilization has been present on this continent, nearly three centuries, can be best appreciated by the present struggle to keep up a fuel supply froin 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 pioneers, 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 supplies 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 cultivation and fostering of forests. Utnder this culture 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 protection 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, Mississippi, 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 regeneration 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 provided the cooked food for the living of the household, 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, statemanship, 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 backlog students and a long catalog of their contemporaries. Going further back the list might include 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 imparted by the consuming of the backlog, in spurring the uprisings, the expressions of human nature 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 settlers 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 physicians were scarce. Without the glowing fires and warm hostelries where would have been the satisfaction of winter sleigh rides and country balls? Or, giving revery the rein, how could the Pilgrims and Puritans 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 tempests 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, suppers, by family invitations. District spelling schools, writing schools, singing schools gave young people satisfactory recreations. Winter was especially set apart for the downfall 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 distance of a mile. During the season of fallow burning 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. Neighbothood bees were got together not infrequently 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 outdoor 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 neighboring farmer families. Patent medicine concoction and pill making were occasional industries. Donation parties were an annual occurrence, the social features, acquaintance, and plenteous good will swelling the charitable features to provide onehalf of the minister's salary. The first frame building was put up by Judge Eldred in I833. 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 wigwam!" 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 crimson, as if tinged with blood. The night was bright moonlight. People were frightened, not comprehending the character of the phenomenon. Weeks went by, on account of the slow circulation -of news, before complete scientific authority published the true character of the strange and alarming electric disturbance. The devastating necessity of making use of forest growth for land cultivation, for warmth, utility, for the promotion of genial social conditions, for the backlog studies, the romances and idealism of the household, the student or philosopher, 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. 5I CHAPTER VII. CONDENSED HISTORY. A writer in a Kalamazoo paper contributed in February, I904, 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 I9, 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 Kalamazoo 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 Michigan), 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. Austin, were participants in the Mexican war. Another pupil at this school was the late 0. L. Trask, who was much younger than Mrs. Daniels. He was a brother of Mrs. H. L. Cornell. It is because Mrs. Daniels was so closely identified 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 I9OI. The Old Branch school had much to do with the education of Kalamazoo people who were young in its day. Among other pupils later, as the old days went by, were Mrs. H. L. Cornell and Mrs. W. H. Stewart, the latter 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. T. A. B. Stone. Mrs. Daniels was married January 19, I84I. Of her children, Mrs. G. T. Bruen and Joseph A. Daniels, both of Kalamazoo, survive. Three sons are dead-George Daniels, James G. Daniels, 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 Kalamazoo. 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 standing 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 professional 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 suffering. 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 soldiers in the upper story of the Humphrey block. The United States government made no provision 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 several 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 prominent men and women of the day viewing them after the feast was ready. Such events were not every day or even yearly occurrences when Kalamazoo 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 Libbie 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 older." 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 ariny 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. Nothing of the best linen, china or silver was lost, however, and nothing was broken. It was indeed a great philanthropic and social event, and Mrs. Daniels was at the head of it all. Some of the people residing in the more modern 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 results 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 halfhearted 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 continued 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 express from Detroit. There were no such opportunities for reading then as now. Dickens' "Pickwick Papers" were being printed by installments in an eastern newspaper and the days were counted 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 either, 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." i iRST COUNTY COURT HELD AT THE CITY OF KALAMAZOO, IN A LOG CABIN, OCTOBER, 1832. In the rear are seated the Judges, Titus Bronson,Bazel Harrison and Stephen Hoyt. In front of the Judges' bench at a rude table, the Clerk, Stephen Vickery, is keeping the record. Sheriff, H. B. Huston. Attorneys, John Hascall, Cyrus Lovell and L. I. Daniels. Jury, James Smith, Jr., A. I. Shafer, John Brown, Jesse Abby, A. Cooley, Resen Holmes, Ebenezer Walter, Augustus Mills, Erastus Smith, and others. Parties to first suit, Robert Frakes vs. Isaac Brown. Frm 01 a larg oil painting by Anthony ('ooly, a resident of the place at that time. i I i i i I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 55 Mrs. Horace H. Comstock lived in Kalamazoo, and for a time in Comstock Hall, and Mrs. Daniels was her guest while Mrs. Comstock was entertaining her distinguished uncle. MNrs. Comstock was lovely in person and in manner and entertained very handsomely. She and her husband 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 affairs 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 contest 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 Michigan; 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 MIr. 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. Manv are the old Indian traditions, legends and blood-curdling steries that were related in the early days of this fair city. Mrs. Daniels told us of a deed (lone by the Indians-the burial of a dead chief in something that resembl.ed an open corncrib, so constructed that the logs almost came together. The apertures were, however, sufficiently large to admit the air. About a year after arriving in Kalamazoo 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 imagined 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 toward the azure sky. But such a vision became palpable-and he himself bote reluctant evidence of this first step toward this wondrous transformation. The white man came, and the red brother abandoned his tepee and disappeared before the wave of civilization. Kalamazoo is now a progressive city of thousands 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. Kalamazoo was settled by sturdy men from New England 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 municipality. 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 I829, is spoken of elsewhere. Following him as a resident, 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 Seymour. 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 proceeded 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 valley, 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, making 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 basswood 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 wardrobe and a shelf made of a split pole laid upon other wooden pins answered the purpose of a cupboard and pantry. In I830 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' accommodation; no doubt, "taking the wind out of the sails," to a greater or less extent, of the French trader across the river. In I869 Nathan Harrison erected 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, 'UAcle 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 '6os 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, Williani 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 I832, 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 highwav,. and five school commissioners. In the year I832 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 I833, between Ethan French and Matilda Houndson, and later, in February of the same year, James M. Parker and Tamar Walter, and on February I7th, 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 holding 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 regarded as equal to any emergency by their numerous clients. The Hon. Charles F. Stewart occupied a prominent position as an attorney, sharing honors very closely with Elisha Belcher, who was also considered a formidable pleader at the bar. Perhaps the leading event in the "year I836 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 M/lessrs. 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 interestingly of her recollections of Kalamazoo since I834 in the Gazette of I88o. We make generous clippings from her recollections: "In June, I834, 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. Fourother 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 gathered 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, Presbyterian; 0. F. Hoyt, Fenton, Stout, Foote, Kelly and George Cole, early Episcopalians. The early 58 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY OF physicians were Drs. Abbott, Barrett, Starkweather 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. Cornell 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; Alexander 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, I836, 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 possible by the people and foreign capitalists wisely refused to advance funds to build it. The Kalamazoo & White Pigeon Railroad was constructed from White Pigeon to Constantine in I852, on to Three Rivers in 1855 and completed to Kalamazoo in May, I867. 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 chartered and built as the Kalamazoo, Allegan & Grand Rapids Railroad, which was opened for traffic from Kalamazoo to Allegan on November 23, I868, and to Grand Rapids on March I, I869, 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 important one, running north from Fort Wayne, Ind., to Petosky, Mich. This road reaches within twenty-five miles of Mackinaw Straits and was completed to Kalamazoo in I870. Its stations in this county are Kalamazoo, a division point; Vicksburg, Austin and Cooper. The Kalamazoo & South Haven Railroad, incorporated on April T4, I86o, "to construct a standard gauge road between 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 Kalamazoo 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. Tili second of the state roads, the Chicago road alluded to elsewhere in these pages, aided much in the early development of the country. It ran from Detroit to Chicago, two hundred and fiftytour iniles, and the travel for years was almost one unending procession. But, as the population of the state increased, this road nor wagon roads could satisfy the people. By I840 the construction 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 contemplated roads, many of which became failures. As one example, a law was passed in February, 1842, authorizing the commissioners of internal improvenient 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 transportation woud be harbingers of prosperity. The KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 59 railroads, acting harmoniously with the great development 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 unfathomable roads leading to the Eastern markets on Lake Erie, now had easy and rapid transportation. The money received from their sale came back in anmounts which in compa'rison 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 following 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 pleasant scenery of the fertile "openings." From I840 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 influence of time. Although log houses remained the rule, even outside of the village, here an( there modest frame houses were to be seen. Four great railroads afford transportation facilities 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 Chicago, 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 tonnage 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 handling of the enormous amount of freight in and out of Kalamazoo. The Michigan Central Railway, the pioneer railway of the state, has at all times maintained a close relationship with the interests of its patrons, both freight and passenger, 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 companies within the confines of the city limits. Much interest, however, is attached to the correct mileage, inasmuch as the passenger traffic and freight business form an important item in the city's commercial life. There are five transportation companies, with lines entering and crossing the city, and, as a matter of-course, side tracks and switching facilities 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 Company. The total number of miles owned by the Chicago, Kalamazoo & Saginaw Railway, including the various spurs, switches and side tracks, amount to a little over eight miles. Only a singletrack 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 & Michigan 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 sufficiently important to warrant the outlay necessary to put down the sidings. The Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad trackage 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 municipality aggregates approximately fifteen miles. 60 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 company maintains in many places a double-track service which swells the trackage total to a noticeable extent. At present eighteen miles of track are operated by the Michigan Central in this city, distributed in the switch yards and the doubletrack 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 increased the trackage of this company to a noticeable extent. In spite of the excellent switching facilities furnished by the transportation companies 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 provided. Every knowvn 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. Alfred I. Noble. Kalamazoo Board of Trade.-With a roster showing two hundred and fifty members,-representative 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 I43 South Burdick street, second.floor. The first officers were H. B. Colman, president; Samuel Folz and A. K. Edwards, vice-presidents; F. G. Dewey, treasurer; Charles Hathaway, secretary. The scope of the Kalamazoo 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 Michigan for the industrial, commercial, agricultural, financial and educational development of the commonwealth, always, however, with local interests dominating. Kalamazoo has resources of facilities 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 manufacturers, 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 agricultural 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 influence to secure the full realization of this ambition. Government Lands.-The United' States government established in the early territorial days five land districts in, Michigan for the convenient sale of its lands-Detroit, Monroe, Kalamazoo, Saginaw and Grand River. The "principal meridian" from which all government surveys were made was a line running 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. 6I 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, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties. The Kalamazoo land district was bounded on the east by a line commencing at the northeast corner of township 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, commencing 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, commencing 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, Kalamazoo 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 I833. 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 I831 were 93,I79.36 acres at a cost of $II7,I28.26; in 1832, 74,696.17 acres at a cost of $98,060.23; in 1833, 95,980.25 acres at a cost of $I23,465.25. The year of the largest sales was I836, 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 1,634,5II.82 acres were sold, the government receiving $2,043,866.87. The vacant lands remaining unsold in the district in 1837 were 449,056.I9 acres; the school lands, 95,862.60 acres; the university 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 I850 was thirteen thousand, one hundred and seventy-nine and the wealth of population and improvements went steadily forward. The remaining 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 I850 to I86o also witnessed the full change from log houses to framed ones. Outside of the villages few framed houses were erected before I840. From I840 to I850 a small number had taken the place of their rude predecessors, and between I850 and I86o 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 convenience 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 railroad to Chicago in 1852. The disastrous panic of 1857 but slightly left its impress on the permanent prosperity of the county. It was so slight in proportion to the terrible crash of I837 that after a year of depression the business of the county manifested its old vitality. The population which in 1837 had been 6,377, in I840, 7,389, and in I850, 13,I79, in I86o had nearly doubled, showing the grand record of 24,746. As would be expected, from its Puritanic origin, the politics of the county has ever been Whig and Republican. In 1836 the Democratic party had innings, Martin Van Buren receiving 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 I848 Taylor, Whig, had I,OIO votes, Cass, Democrat, 880, and Van Buren, Free Soil, 495. In r856 Fre' 62 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY OF mont, Republican, had 2,803 votes, Buchanan, Democrat, 1,620. In the momentous election of I86o Lincoln received 3,230 votes; Douglas, 2,03 I. 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 I865 labor was at a premium. With the issuing of "greenbacks" by the government, prices, not only of labor, but of all commodities, greatly increased, and a period of inflation 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 increased to thirty-one thousand, four hundred and forty-six by I870. The decade from I870 to I880 saw the complete fulfillment of the development of the original wilderness conditions to the highest civilization 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 commenced 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 comparison 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 taxation, 1,874.25, the value of the latter being $333, I65. The number of farms was I,520. These contained I58,078 acres. There were 72,69I 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, I6,128 pounds of cheese, 728,266 pounds of butter, 48,387 pounds of maple sugar and 6i,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 consisted of 9,411 horses, 88 mules, 278 oxen, 8,260 milch cows, I6,740 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 flouring mills, two operated by steam; nineteen sawmills, one shingle mill, five planing mills, four foundries and machine shops, two steam implement works, one "musical instrument" factory, one carriage factory, one fanning mill factory, three chair factories, one stave factory, four windmill factories, one "novelty" factory, one woodenware 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 I880 there was perhaps 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 facilities offered to manufacturers by the important railroads. An historical event worthy of preservation here was the Kalamazoo County Pioneer meeting, which occurred at the "court house yard" in the city on August 5, I880. The program of this enjoyable reunion of both early settlers and later fz '?:~ "I:;~ "*s ~~:i,: li~ Ilr:r r E9- I VIEW OF THE CITY OF KALAMAZOO IN 1832. The cabin on the right was the residence of Titus Bronson, proprietor of the Town and one of the Judges of the Court. The cabin on the left was occupied by the first County Court. On the extreme left in the distance is a log cabin occupied by Elisha Hall. Doctor J. Abbott sits upon his horse conversing with Judge Bronson, across the fence. Elder Merrill is coming on his little black pony from a mission with the Indians. From a large oil painting by Anthony (Cooley, a resident of the place at that time. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 65 residents was thus printed: Meeting to be called to order by the Hon. L. F. Brown, president of the Kalamazoo County Pioneer Association, at IO 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; adjournment to partake of a dinner spread on tables in the court house yard; music by the band at I P. M., which is the signal for assembling at the speakers' stand." Then followed addresses by -Ion. Charles E. Stewart, of Kalamazoo; John J. Adams, Lenawee; Albert Miller, Bay; M. Shoemaker, Jackson; W. J. Baxter, THillsdale; 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 removed 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 township. 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 rio money to buy either tea or coffee or to pay postage, which cost twentyfive 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." lion. Levi Bishop, of Detroit, said that in 1836 hc left New York state for Michigan. On reaching Marshall he started on foot for Kalamazoo 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 pioneer 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 off, being then unable 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, I830, from the South in search of a farm. The only white man he found here was Judge Basil Harrison, who kept a ferry at the mouth of the Portage 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 btusiness 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 described: In the fall of I838 invitations were sent o.ut 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 superintended the cooking of the dinner, which consisted of wild turkeys brought in by the Indians, immense spareribs roasting before the great open fireplace, huge mince pies, pumpkin pies and puddings, 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 enjoyable day and fun and mirth and jollity ruled supreme. 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 commission to draft a charter providing for a city government 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 I836 the legislature passed an act.'that from and. after the 3Ist of March inst. the name of the township of Arcadia be changed and allowed to that of. Kalamazoo.' Those days were, comparitively speaking, prehistoric. The education, culture and refinement of our people have contributed in no small degree to, spread the fame of our enterprising village. The pleasant, cheerful homes, the well-ordered churches, the fine schools and seminaries of learning, the beautiful place of public amusement, 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 condition 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 I842 to I884 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 t1e 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 legislation 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 I89I. —From the exaugural address of the Hon. William E. Hill in I89I, 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 magnificent 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 our 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 thislight, that while our citizens only had to, pay fifteen thousand dollars 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, a:s taxpayers, paid fifteen thousand dollars and got sixty-six thousand dollars' worth of property. t'his 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 tile triangular piece of land (known as the flatiron) located west on Main street, near the Michig-an Central Railroad crossing, at a cost to the city of one thousand dollars, private citizens paying one thousand six hundred dollars. The buildings 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, land 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 vwere lost, would in all probability not have occliried. 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 trreat St. Joseph trail and fording the river at the trading station, continuing along the trail until lie reached the mound now conspicuous on the!:rounds of Bronson Park, where he camped for tle night, placing a pine torch in the ground before the door of his little tent to keep away the wvolves. The next morning he made a close observation of the valley and Concluded to make ]his home here at once. During the season he erected a rude cabin an(l entered the land. In Mr. Van Buren's sketch of Bronson he says that Bronson'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 I829 'and I830 at Prairie Ronde, in I830 going to Ohio for his family. W'Vith 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 hitherward. They were the first inhabitants of Kalamazoo, the beginning of what has become a great, prosperous, 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 I83I Mr. Bronson erected a log house on the northwest corner of the present Church and Main streets. In June, I83I, 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 secured the location of the county seat here. He very generously contributed to the public the land extending from the corner of Rose and Burdick 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 common-school building, also four squares of eight rods each to be given to the first four religious denominations that were incorporated in the village. 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 I831 'General Justus Burdick, a Vermonter, purchased a portion of Mr. 68 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY OF Bronson's village property. In I836 other parties acquired a controlling interest and the name of the village was changed from Bronson to Kalamazoo, which so depressed Mr. Bronson that he soon sold all of his interests here, removed first to Davenport, Iowa, then to Henry, Ill., and finally in I852 to Conuecticut, 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. Abolitio1nisn.-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 county 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 insufficient 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 opposition to the admission of Texas, a slave-holding 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 numerous petitions to congress asking for the abolition 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 activelv aided in the formation of the Liberal party, for whose presidential candidates he cast his ballot. There is at the present writing residing at his 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 possessed of physical powers equal to many of thirty years less his age. He was from early youth an advocate of temperance and anti-slavery. Before he attained his majority he was battling for personal liberty in his native Massachusetts against the proslavery element in the town of his residence, headed by a leading deacon in the church. Coming to Michigan in I836, he was a delegate to the first temperance convention of the state, which was held at Ann Arbor. The sentiment of the majority of the delegates was for an abstinence from distilled liquors, but Mr. Montague tried strongly to have the convention declare for total abstinence. In January, 1837, he located in Oshtemo, and in February was a delegate from Washtenaw county to the first abolition convention of Michigan, twenty-five delegates meeting at Ann Arbor. The first fugitives from slavery came to Kalamazoo county in the spring of 1837, they being a man and his wife who were escaping from Virginia and a young man from Alabama. They came to Mr. Montague's house, tired, hungry and in dread of being captured by their former owners, 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-American war. From this time Mr. Montague, so long as need existed, kept an open station of the underground 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 absorbed 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 candidate for President. The abolitionists were in hearty accord with the views of the state mass meeting held at Jackson on July 17, 1854, at lhich 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 -embers was chosen to go to the Jackson meetingl and as accredited agents to merge the Free lDemocratic party of Michigan in the new organization, if the platform adopted was of a satisfactory character. This was found acceptable, and the new Republican party thus received a valuable element of strength. In November, I861, one hundred and sixty-seven citizens of Schoolcraft 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.:\Aericans to their rights, and bringing the war in which we are now involved to a speedy termination, the undersigned, citizens of Kalamazoo cotunty 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 cowngress totally abolished." The "underground railroad" had several stations 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, an(d passed through Schoolcraft, Battle Creek, AMarshall, Jackson and Detroit. Other fugitives soon followed along this route, which became the main line of this travel for many years, the railroad extending from the borders of the slave states north and east to the Canada line. Its cars ran for nearly twenty years and the number of esCal)ing slaves had been variously computed from olie thousand to one thousand five hundred, and slome of these became useful citizens of this state, nIost 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 I856. Here they settled. After the Civil war commenced they all desired to enlist, but on account of the race prejudice existing they had a hard time enlisting, finally doing so in different regiments. At the capture of Charleston 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 Homne.-One of the laudable institutions of Kalamazoo is the Children's Home, which was incorporated under the state law governing incorporations on April 28, I888. 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 organization was demanded. As stated in the charter, the object of the home is "the maintenance of homes for vagrant children without friends and for the instruction of indigent children generally in the various occupations of the life by training them in virtue and usefulness and for finding them permanent homes in suitable families, and also to give them a common-school education and a moral religious training." Admission 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. Stockbridge, 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 usefulness of this wise institution is manifest in the number of children who are here given the advantage of a Christian home, the average number of inmates being twenty-eight. Frequently, however, there have been forty children receiving its benefits. A matron and a housekeeper are employed 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 concerning its needs. Fire and Water Works.-In I88I the village published a history of the fire and water works from their first introduction on April IO, 1843, to April I8, I88I. 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 settlement 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, turninglathes, 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 supplies 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 reservoir 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 I86o 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 I869. A brief summary of the official action in this direction will be of interest. On June 5, I843, a village ordinance was passed requiring all occupants of buildings to provide two ladders and two buckets or pails to be kept especially for fire purposes. On October 7, I844, 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, I844, 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 "implement" for fire purposes purchased by the village. The "Kalamazoo Hook and Ladder Company" was organized on March II, 1846, with Alexander J. Sheldon as foreman. This was the pioneer fire company of the place. During 1846 fiftynine dollars and three cents was appropriated and expended for "hooks, ladders, ropes and other articles." One hundred fire buckets aVd 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 (lone, for on May I, I848, D. S. Walbridge, IHorace 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 ordered 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, I850, 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 Teleg.raph newspaper. On March ~9, I850, the "Rescue Hook and Ladder Company" was organized, with Benjamin F. Orcutt, foreman, and forty-one members. August 7, I850, 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 185I 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 I9, I85I, the construction of this reservoir was favorably 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 I85I. On May 5, I85I, White & Turner's foundry and machine shop were burned, loss eight hundred dollars. On July 7, 1852, an ordinance was passed organizing and regulating a fire department. 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 Fireman's Hall Association organized and built a hall. In May, I853, the Michigan Central Railroad station, 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 appointed 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 Governor 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 Ransom & Arnold for their distillery. It was called the "Cataract" and cost one hundred and twentynine dollars. The purchase included the use of another but smaller engine, the "Star," whenever needed. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.,Kalamazoo, known far and wide as the "Celery City," still retains that fair name, and has added unto it the extended recognition of Kalamazoo as a manufacturing city. 72 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY OF Perhaps no city in Michigan has progressed as rapidly along manufacturing lines as has Kalamazoo. 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 transportation. These are not boastful and idle statements, 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 facilities for shipping to all parts of the country. New manufacturies are locating in Kalamazoo continually, and at present she can boast of over one hundred ninety-two manufacturing institutions, eighty-eight of which are incorporated, representing a capital of over ten million dollars, employing over six thousand people and having a pay roll of about three million five hundred thousand dollars. There are two hundred and twenty-three established 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-established 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 manufactories, and represents a large capital. It has recently 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 thousand- hands. The'vehicle industry of the city is well represented by eight concerns-automobile, buggy and wagon factories-employing over seven hundred and thirty men, and representing an annual output 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 Carriage Company. Although not the "Windy City," Kalamazoo is well to the front in the windmill industry. She has two windmill factories representing an output of two hundred thousand dollars annually. She numbers two sled factories-the Kalamazoo 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 engines and boiler products. The railway supply industry is carried on by three successful concerns, 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 comparatively 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 tusiness. 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 Company. Two of Kalamazoo's most successful factories are the Humprey Manufacturing and Plating Company, makers of the celebrated Humphrey heaters, and the General Gas Light Company, manufacturers of the famous Humphrey lamp. The Henderson-Ames Company IL' RDICIK STREET, I(OOKINGTS NORTH. MAIN STREET, LOOKING WEST. KALA- MAZOO RIVER. By courtesy of the Gazette. I i If KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 75 is one of the largest regalia factories in the world, and does a mammoth business. The manufacturing 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-.mlazoo has three garment factories, whose products 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 Kalamnazoo Stationery Company, two well known concerns. 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 manufacturing city of varied industries, Kalamazoo holds sway as a mercantile center as well, as is shown by the many stores and business institutions that may be seen on her streets. It is here that her thirty thousand inhabitants come to purchase 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 enormious 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 fo!lows: City National, E. C. Dayton, president; First National, J. A. Pitkin, president; Kalamazoo National, E. J. Phelps, president; Michigan National, Charles Campbell, president; Central Savings, A. L. Blumenberg, president; Home 5 Savings, V. T. Barker, president; and Kalamazoo 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. Southhurd's and A. C. Baker's. Sam Foly's, George Taylor's and M. Cramer's Son are leading clothing 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 Outfitting Company and A. T. Prentice. The city has innumerable drug stores, the leading druggists 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 Edwards & Chamberlain Company, John Van Male's and Lamed & 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 [-I, * 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 payroll of over two thousand five hundred dollars. Starting in business in I870, 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. Goldberg. An eastern office is located at I 6 Nassau street, New York city. The Central Michigan Nursery.-IncQrporated in 1894, produces nursery, greenhouse and snmall fruit stocks. Extensive greenhouses, together with several hundred acres of land, are located at Kalamazoo, and their large business demands 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 flowers, including roses, bedding plants, etc., and ornamental 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, raspberry, blackberry and other small fruit stock. The Lull Carriage Coimpany.-Kalamazoo is rapidly coming to the front as a carriage manufacturing center, and greatly enhancing the commercial importance of the city. The grade of vehicles produced has reached the highest standard since the inception of the industry. The improvement in the work produced has been largely due to the Lull Carriage Company. With the organization of this company in September, I902, 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 & Skinner 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 establishment 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, secretary: H. A. Crawford, treasurer. The Kalamazoo Paper-Box and Card Company.-This important manufacturing industry is the outgrowth of a vigorous firm organized in August, I897, 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 occupied, and, in August, I9oo, six thousand feet were added, to which, in January, I903, six thousand f(,ur hundred feet more was placed in service. These additions testified to the rapid growth of the trade, which included paper boxes only. In December, I903, 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 superintendence of S. N. Barker, the vice-president and efficient general manager. South Side Improvement Company.-Kalamazoo 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. Perhaps no one in many a mile of distance has contributed 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 unpromising section, with a millrace running diagonally across it and having but a solitary residence, which was located on Portage and Reed streets. Mr. Hays, in August, I896, became the KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 77 owner and founded the South Side Improvement Company, of which he is the secretary and business manager. A wonderful transformation has been accomplished, the district being today a beautiful and artistic suburb of Kalamazoo. Messrs. 0. 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 I899 the South Side Improvement Company was organized and purchased 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 Kalamazoo 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 constructed, 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 companies, the C. B. Ford Body Factory, the Michigan Buggy Company, and the Kalamazoo Railvay Supply Company. Through the advent of these plants, the taxable property of the city has been increased more than one million dollars. Burtt Manufacturing Comnpany. —This business was established in I9OI and incorporated on October i, I902. The products are the celebrated Cannon automobile, which is made in three styles, ranging in price from six hundred and fifty dollars to one thousand three hundred and fifty dollars, the manufacture being inaugurated in I903. The house is unable to fill its orders on account of the great demand for and the popularity of the attomobiles. 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 stockholders 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 incorporation was organized in I899. 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 manufacturing 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 I27 South Rose street. This company 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, employing 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 cotuntv. Its specialty is the celebrated Humphrey 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 maintained 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 Pennsylvania. Kalamazoo Valley Electric Company.-This company was established years ago, with an amended incorporation in I898. It does a general electric light and power business, with these plants: 3,ooo horsepower at Trowbridge, I,400 horsepower at Plainwell, 3,ooo horse 78 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY OF power at Otsego and a I,ooo horsepower steam plant at Kalamazoo, with sub-stations located 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 company 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 furnishes power to a large list of consumers. The lighting service is exceptionally fine and the demand is steadily increasing. Electric power service being so available, many manufacturers have come to this city. The officers of the company are W. A. Foote, president; James B. Foote, secretary and treasurer; W. P. Stephens, superintendent. 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 president; Gerald Holsman, vice-president; H. C. Winchester, secretary and treasurer; D. A. Hegarty, also of New York city, is general superintendent of the roads, as well as of those of the Railway Company General, a Pennsylvania corporation, which controls several street railways and electric companies. The local superintendent, S. J. Dill, is an experienced and progressive street railway manager, under whose administration the Michigan Traction Company has made marked progress. The company procures its electric power from the Valley Electric Company and operates forty-eight cars. It has a carbarn, repair and paint-shop at Kalamazoo, a carbarn 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 dollars 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 preparing to erect an extensive steel bridge over the Michigan Central Railway at Galesburg. The interurban 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 Kalmazoo, during the summer months, vaudeville entertainments are nightly provided at the Casino and the grounds owned by the company at Lake View. At Battle Creek is a fine service to Goguac 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 between 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 productions comprise steel windmills, steel towers, steel tanks, steel feed-cookers, steel tank-heaters, steel sub-structures, wood-wheel windmills, wood towers, wood tanks, tubular well supplies. The windmill is simple, substantial and in great demand. The company was awarded the first premium on both steel and woodwheel windmills three years in succession at the Kansas and Missouri Interstate Fairs of I89I, '92 and '93. THEI-I KALAMAZOO TELEGRAPH. The Michigan Telegraph, as it was called, was. started as a weekly newspaper in August, I844, the first number appearing on the Ioth 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 the name of the paper was changed to the Kalamazoo Telegraph. Mr. Torrey continued as editor. In I849 Samuel N. Garitt became owner of the Telegraph. In January, 1850, Garitt sold out to George A. Fitch & Company. February 5, I850, 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, I86o, while Mr. Fitch was state printer. H. C. Buffington & Company leased the office in November, I86o, 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(lent of Kalamazoo College, became editor. In July, I866, 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, I868, the Daily Telegraph was established 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 beginning was a morning paper for a year, later made an evening paper. It received the Associated 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, and Smith retired, selling his interest to Herman E. Hascall in November, 1871. November 25th the plant was again seriously injured by fire. February 2, 1872, Mr. Hascall died; and in January, 1873, the entire property passed into the hands of James H. Stone. At this time Dr. Stone was postmaster andJames H. Stone, deputy. In March, I874, 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 October, 1874, the Kalamazoo Publishing Company was organized, composed of L. B. Kendall, L. M. Gates, 0. and R. Illing, Dwight May, George M. Buck and Arthur Brown. Later the company reorganized 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 subsequently 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, I888, the Telegraph was sold to Hon. Nelson Dingley, Jr., a member of congress, and his son, Edward N. Dingley, of Lewiston, Me., the latter becoming editor and manager. In I89o 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 inadequate. In June, I903, the handsome and commodious five-story building on South street, known as the Telegraph building, was begun. In June, I904, 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 I888 has had a remarkable growth and holds a commanding position in Kalamazoo and southwestern Michigan. It is an independent Republican paper, fearless and enterprising. The Evening Telegraph is published in four editions daily. The Saturday Telegraph is always a special nurmber 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 2I, I862. He graduated from Yale University in 1883, and from the Columbian Law School, Washington, D. C., in I885. 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 I888 he moved to Kalamazoo and began his career in Michigan. He has always been active in politics ahd public affairs, and in I898 and 900o was elected a member of the state legislature from Kalamazoo. In June, I898, he was also made clerk of the ways and means committee of the national house of representatives, serving until January I, I9oo. As a member of the state legislature of I9OI he was chairman of the ways and means committee. In I90o Mr. Dingley compiled and published a biography of his father, entitled "Life and Times of Nelson Dingley, Jr.". Mr. Dingley was president of the Michigan League of Republican Clubs in I897, 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 900o at Philadelphia, and was Michigan's member of the committee on resolutions. 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, I888. They have had five children, Irene (deceased), Nelson, Miriam (deceased), Madelen and Edward. They reside in Kalamazoo on the remodeled Hydenburk estate on West street hill. NOTEWORTHY EVENTS. In I880 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 harness manufactory, the county surveyor's office, a good hotel, owned by John O. Wilson, a hardware 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 Lovell, 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 dollars was voted favorably upon in the regular meeting of the village board of {Kalamazoo on September, I880. This provided for three miles of main sewer. Col. Ertran Allen, a prominent business man for twenty years in Kalamazoo, died on January 5, I88o. Mrs. N. A. Balch, prominent in literary and society circles, died on January 7, i88o. She was KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 8i very philanthropic and had a large circle of friends. James Green, an old settler and noted musician, died on January 19, i88o. Gen. Dwight May died on January 28, i88o, and was buried with Masonic honors. George E. Cochran, superintendent of the schools of Kalamazoo, and prominent Freemason, (lied on February 7, i88o. Newton Luce, born in Texas on March I6, i835, a prominent citizen and Odd Fellow, died on February 9, i88o. On February 12, i88o, Mr. and Mrs. Orange like celebrated their golden wedding. They were settlers on new land in Portage in I854, where their subsequent lives were passed as industrious farmers. David Meredith, a wealthy old-time resident of Portage, died on February I8, i88o. In i88o Galesburg had six hundred population, comprising three churches, three dry-goods stores, two groceries, one hardware, two drug, one jewelry and one shoestore, one saloon, one restaurant, one hotel,. one harness shop, one pump and windmill manufactory, six live-stock merchants, a cooper shop, a lumber yard, a foundry, a planing mill and two physicians. At Galesburg in i88o a flourishing Ladies' Library Association of sixty members was in existence. 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. Wiing. The officers were at that time Mrs. R. G. Smith, president; Mrs. M. M. Proctor, vice-president; 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, i88o. 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, 188o. 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. Sheldon & Co. Later he was in the dry-goods trade with Joel J. Perrin, as Perrin & Wood. On June I6, I856, he became a member of the new banking house of Woodbury, Potter & Co., which, on January I, I859, was changed to Woodbury, Potter & Wood. This house existed until July 15, 1865, when it was reorganized as the Michigan National Bank, Mr. Wood being its first president. The receipts of the United States government from the Detroit district of internal revenue during the month of March, i88o, were as follows: Tobacco, $52,988.72; cigars, $7,005.59; beer, $10,584.04; special, $253.69; miscellaneous, $I43.I7; making a total of $81,075.12. Hon. William A. Howard, who died early in I88o, left an estate of one hundred and seventyfive thousand dollars, of which he bequeathed one hundred thousand dollars to religious and charitable institutions. William Eldred, a resident of the town of Climax since I832, died at his home there on March 9, i88o. 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 Charleston township. He was a classleader and a steward 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, i880. He once owned and ran a flouring mill in Comstock. He was prominent in local Democratic politico. Aladic Parker, an old citizen of Cooper, where he had lived since 1844, died on April 5, i88o. For some years he resided with his daughter, Mrs. Thomas Brownell, at Kalamazoo. Nelson Parsons, an early settler, died in Texas on July 25, i88o. 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 I, 1880, aged sixty-eight years. He was a postmaster of Galesburg for seven years and was an honest, estimable citizen. In I880 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 commodious 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 I4, I884; the village then ceasing to exist. Village officers: Edwin W. DeVoe, president; David Bumell, John DeVisser, Edward McCaffrey, Romine H. Buckholt, Thomas H. Bevans, 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, engineer; Hugh Biggs, chief engineer of fire department; 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. I884-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. Sidney 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 commissioner; George H. Chandler, chief engineer and superintendent of water works. I885-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, marshal; William G. Howard, attorney; William Mottram, M. D., health officer; George S. Pierson, engineer; F. J. Ballast, assistant engineer; Byron J. Healy, chief engineer of the fire department, and captain of paid department; William Athey, assistant chief of fire department; John McKey, Jr., water commissioner; George H. Chandler, Charles A. Healy, assistant engineers. I886-Edwin W. Devoe, mayor; George Fuller, Fred Hotop, Otto Ihling, John W. Rose, Geo. C. Winslow, Jacob Levy, Edward McCaffery, John W. Rowley, John F. Schlick, Daniel Waterbury, aldermen; Lawrence N. Burke, judge of recorder's court; Fred Cellem, clerk; A. Sidney Hays, treasurer; R. John Lamb, marshal; William G. Howard, attorney; William Mottram, M. D., health officer; George S. Pierson, engineer; A. E. Ingerson, superintendent of streets; Byron J. Healey, chief engineer of the fire department. I887-Peyrton Ramney, mayor; Fred Hotop, John W. Rose, Albert L. Lakey, Samuel S. McCar.ly, Abe R. Garrison, Jacob Levy, Theodore 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 `77~ ~~ I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. sistant treasurer; Elbert S. Rose, city attorney; Edwin C. Taylor, M. D.; George S. Pierson, engineer; 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. I888-Otto Ihling, mayor; Jacob Levy, Theodore A. Palmer, James A. Stearns, Homer Manvel, 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; Martin Verhage, treasurer; Syman M. Gates, marshal; William Hare, assistant marshal; Elbert S. Rose, city attorney; Adolph Hochstein, M. D., health officer; George S. Pierson, engineer; William M. Beeman, street commissioner; Byron J. Healy, chief engineer; William H. Athey, assistant chief; Phelix A. Duffir, water commissioner; George Chandler, chief engineer and superintendent of water works; Charles A. Healy, assistant engineer. 1889-Otto Ihling, mayor; Fred Cellem, William E. Hill, William H. Cobb, Henry Stein, James A. Taylor, Jacob Levy, Edward McCaffery, James N. Stearns, Walter Hock, James W. Strithers, aldermen; William W. Peck, judge of recorder's court; George R. Balch, clerk; Algerman S. Hays, treasurer; Thomas F. Owens, marshal; Joseph H. Harper, assistant marshal; James H. K. Kinnard, city attorney; Adolph l-ochstein, M. D., health officer; George S. Pierson, engineer; John DeSmith, street commissioner; Byron J. Healy, chief engineer; William H. Athey, assistant chief; Hugh Biggs, water commissioner; George H. Chandler, chief en-,ineer and superintendent of water works; Charles A. Healy, assistant engineer. I89o-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. Everhard, James H. Taylor, aldermen; William W. Peck, judge of recorder's court; George H. Palch, clerk; Edgar Baseman, treasurer; Thomas Owens, marshal; Joseph H. Harper, assistant marshal; James H. Kinnam, attorney; A. B. Cornell, M. D., health officer; Frank C. Balch, engineer; Hathaway McAllister, street commissioner; Byron J. Healy, chief engineer; William H. Athey, assistant engineer; Harry Reid, superintendent of fire alarm; Hugh Biggs, water commissioner; George Chandler, chief engineer and superintendent of water works; Herman Watson, assistant engineer. I89t-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 Hollander, 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 marshal; C. Van Zwaluwender, M. D., health officer; Edwin M. Irish, attorney; George S. Pierson, engineer; Charles C. Curtenius, street commissioner; Byron J. Healy, chief engineer and superintendent of fire alarms; William H. Athey, assistant chief; Edgar Roseman, water commissioner; Wilbur F. Reed, chief engineer and superintendent of water works; Herman Watson, Henry Hobbs, assistant engineers. I892-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, Lawrence 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, engineer; William H. Cobb, street commissioner; Byron J. Healy, chief engineer; John G. Ter Harr, water commissioner; William F. Reed, chief engineer water works. I893-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. Merrill, assistant marshal; George P. Hopkins, attorney; Miner G. Taft, engineer; Adolph Hockstein, health officer; Peter Moileck, street commissioner; Byron J. Healy, chief engineer fire department; Wilbur F. Reed, chief engineer water works; William Hall, marshal. I894-James W. Osborn, mayor; Frederick Cellem, John W. Rose, Charles A. Fletcher, Julius Schuster, Ezra Baker, George L. Gilkey, H. B. Colman, Charles C. Curtenius, Lawrence Hollander, 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. Taft. 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 tile waterworks. I895-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; Lawrence Hollander, treasurer; William Hare, marshal; 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; Byron Healy, chief engineer fire department; Wilbur F. Reed, chief engineer of water works. I8g6-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. Gleason, clerk: Lawrence Hollander, treasurer; William Hare, marshal; Charles B. Allen, George P. Hopkins, Miner C. Taft, engineers; Alvin Rockwell, health officer; James R. McCall, street commissioner; Byron Healy, chief fire department; Wilbur* Reed, superintendent water works; Henry C. Hoagland, superintendent lighting plant; John G. Hopper, inspector; George Bilkert, assistant inspector. I897-8-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. Healey, chief of fire department; H. C. Hoagland, superintendent and chief engineer of the lighting plant; I. T. Martin, city inspector; Thomas F. Owens, street commissioner; William A. Richards, superintendent of the poor. I899-W. J. Howard, mayor; John A. Wheeler, 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. I90o-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 recorder's court; John DeVisser,clerk; Peter J. Baden, 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 physician. 1902-3-Edmond S. Rankin, mayor; John S. McLarty, Richard R. Brenner, Frank Flaitz, John A. Steketee, George C. Winslow, A. Judson Curtiss, Edgar Raseman, Jacob Levy, John A. Louden, Herbert E. Congdon, aldermen; Thomas W. Browne, jttdge recorder's court; Albert L. Campbell, assessor; John DeVisser, clerk; Peter J. Baden, treasurer; Harry C. Howard, attorney; George Houston, water commissioner; Burr Greenfield, chief of police; William S. Downey, assistant chief; E. W. Buckley, city en KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 87,ineer; H. O. Statler, health officer; Francis J.,Velsh, city physician; John Owens, street com-:issioner; Henry P. Raseman, chief of fire deiartment; Wilbur F. Reed, superintendent and chief of water works; Frank Burtt, superintend-nt and chief of lighting plant; Sidney Catherilian, superintendent of poor; George Bailey, superintendent of Riverside cemetery. 1904-Samuel Folz, mayor; John S. McLarty, Richard R. Brenner, Frank Flaitz, Thomas \an Urk, George C. Winslow, Horace E. Ralston, William G. Austin, Dudley C. Rollins, John A\. Louden, Bernard Benson, aldermen; Thomas \r. Browne, judge recorder's court; Albert L. Campbell, assessor; Harry W. Bush, clerk; Joseph Adams, treasurer; Harry C. Howard, attorney; George Houston, water commissioner; CGeorge Boyles, chief of police; George H. Seiler, assistant chief; Minor C. Taft, engineer; Ralph I'. Beebe, M. D., health officer; Will H. Scott, M. D., city physician; Martin Verhage, street commissioner; Henry P. Raseman, chief of fire (lepartment; Wilbur F. Reed, superintendent and chief of water works; Edward W. Messany, superintendent and chief of lighting plant; Williamn H. Johnson, superintendent of poor; George I ailey, superintendent of Riverside cemetery. 905g-James W. Osborn, mayor; Richard R. I'renner, John P. Riley, Charles Clarage, George IT. Henshaw, Horace E. Ralston, John M. Big-,c'erstaff, Dudley C. Rollins, Peter Molhoek, Berrard Benson, Henry R. Hinga, aldermen; Lynn 1'. Mason, judge recorder's court; Albert L. Campbell, assessor; Harry W. Bush, clerk; Jorcph Adams, treasurer;' William R. Fox, attort ey; George Houston, water commissioner; (,eorge Boyles, chief of police; George H. Seiler,.ssistant chief; Miner C. Taft, city engineer;;)avid Walton, Edwin J. Manning, Westley J. )ameral, building inspectors; John J. Knight, ('harles A. Blaney, Otto Ihling, board of police iand fire commissioners; Ralph P. Beebe, M. D.,.Iealth officer; Will H. Scott, M. D., city physid an; Archer W. Huff, street commissioner; - lenrv P. Raseman, chief of fire department; Wil-:'ir F. Reed, superintendent and chief of water.: orks; Edward W. Messany, superintendent and chief of lighting plant; George H. Young, superintendent of poor; George W. Bailey, superintendent 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 societies 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 moderation have prevailed ih 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, Kalamazoo Lodge, No. 7.-Meets first and third Thursdays of each month at Auditorium. Degree of Honor, Liberty Lodge, No. 34.Meets second and fourth Fridays of each month at No. Io6 East Main street. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Kalamazoo Lodge, No. 5o.-Meets every Thursday, 8 P. M., at Elks Hall, No. 18 East Main street, third floor. Catholic Knights and Ladies of America.Meets second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, St. Augustine's Branch, No. I7.-Meets second and fourth Mondays of each month at No. 18 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 Independent Lodge, No. 393. 88 COMPENDIUM C 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. 65I.-Meets second and fourth Wednesdays at No. o09 West Kalamazoo avenue. Independent Order of Foresters, Court Kalamazoo, No. 153I.-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 Command. 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. Io6 East Main street. Knights of the Maccabees, Uniform Rank, 'Celery City Division, No. I5.-Meets on the second 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. )F HISTORY OF 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, Southworth Lodge, No. I70.-Meets every Tuesday, at No. 125 East Main street. Knights of Pythias, Uniform Rank, Kalainazoo 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, corner of W\est 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 Council, 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 Chapter, No. I23.-Meets on Thursday on or before the full of the moon, at Masonic Temple. Modern Woodmen of America, Kalamazoo Camp, No. 85I.-Meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, at No. 2o0 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 gion, No. I33.-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 Io6 East Main street. National Union, Kalamazoo Council, No. I99. -— Meets on the first Monday in each month, at No. 208 North Rose street. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Burr Oak E;lcampment, No. II8.-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. I2.-Mieets on the first and third Mondays of each month at No. 107 East Main street. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Kalamazoo Encampment, No. 78.-Meets on the first and third Mondays of each month, at No. 107 East Main street. Independent Order. of Odd Fellows, Kalamazoo Lodge, No. 7.-Meets every Tuesday, at No. 107 East Main street. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Unity Lodgl(e, 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. -M-eets on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, at No. I07 East Main street. Daughters of Rebekah, Triple Link Lodge, No. 265.-Meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, at No. 114 East Main street. Royal Arcanum, Burr Oak City Council, No. 6oo.-Meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, at No. 104 East Main street. Tribe of Ben Hur, Kalamazoo Service Court, N,. 4.-Meets on the first and third Tuesdays of eacl month, at the Auditorium. United Home Protectors' Fraternity, Kalamazoo Lodge, No. 70. Woodmen of the World, Kalamazoo Camp, No. 38.-Meets on the first Tuesday of each month, at No. Io3 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. Io.-Meets on the first Monday of each month, at No. 2I5 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, Kalamazoo Lodge, No. 3900.-Meets on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, at 125 West Main street. Ladies' Auxiliary, Household of Ruth, No. io68.-Meets on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, at No. 125 West Main street. CHAPTER VIII. TH-E HOLLAND SETTLEMENT. In 1847 the first Hollanders came to Kalamazoo. 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 under the leadership of Paulus den Bleyker. Leaving Holland August I4, I850, they landed in Kalamazoo the following October. Mr. den Bleyker and a part of his company stopped at the Sheridan 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. Perrin and another was one of the newly arrived Hollanders. 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 Ransom, 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 building, subjecting the inmates to the storms and severities 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 township. At that time one of the most extensive landed proprietors in the then village of Kalamazoo 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 a substantial frame building entered by a portico leadingthroughalarge door, situated between narrow 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 (situated 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 Governor 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 village the extensive tract of land known as the den Bleyker addition. When Mr. den Bleyker was fully ready he removed the gates to his private entrance at Lovell street and opened up Burdick 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 "Dut,:h Governor's" home stands with its white paint and KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN 9g (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 necessitated to take their grain to be ground to Nllegan, twenty-seven miles distant. For two years he spent his time with his family, partly in H-olland and Kalamazoo, but finding this too ardu-,us, 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, I804, 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 revolution between Belgium and Holland, at which time Belgium became a secedant from the Netherlands. Having distinguished himself by his sollierly bearing, mathematical precision and correct denmeanor, he rose to the office of sergeant quartermaster 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 agriculture and also, in connection with two gentlelinen friends as partners, he engaged in a venture the undertaking of which required both enterprise 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 'ow known as the "Eendractel Polder." Mr. den Bleyker died in Kalamazoo, April 8, I872. leaving three children, John den Bleyker and Miss MIartha den Bleyker, residing in Kalamazoo, and Dimmen 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 profess, 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 embarrassments of others. From his' quiet life, though busy and useful, came the consciousness to his children that this long life was blest. CHAPTER IX. ISTO()RY ()F GALESBURG SINCE I880. 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 occurred in I886, when Charles Cory purchased the brick building known for many years as the "Old Brick," then in a ruinous condition, removed it and erected in its place a brick block that for several years was the pride of the village. In I89I 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 I9oo 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 92COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY OF Warren, a handsome brick structure. This was purchased in I904 by F. M. Lortei, who improved and beautified it until it now compares favorably with many large city hotels. It is now known as the Hill House. The same year (oo900) Charles Towsley added a brick block to the same street. The town hall, also of brick, was built in 1901o. In the meantime all of the older business buildings, both brick and frame, had been greatly improved and modernized until the business portion of Galesburg presents a thoroughly neat and attractive appearance. In the residence portion of the town the changes have been no less noticeable. The removal 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 village 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 divided into village lots and sold and now forms one of the pleasantest residence portions of the place. In I900 the Michigan Traction Company completed the construction of an electric railroad from Kalamazoo through Galesburg to Battle Creek, an innovation that has proved an untold convenience 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 gradually into many residences. In I904, in consequence 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 twentyfive 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 improved 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 usefulness and trust. In I899 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 sciences, 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 gradually grown to seven hundred volumes and includes books of history, poetry, fiction, etc., suitable 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 I,,. - - - I " 7 7, I VW -":, ll I, II: -11 '40 - la 0=9 1 0 a ql -1 o - ) x ) -, Il I; -— ): 11: x, I- I II1.t C "",,, 'OZ,,, IN 4:' f I 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 has grown steadily to a library of thirteen hundred volumes that, in choice of selection if not in number, compares very favorably with the libraries 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 suitable 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 I895, 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 existence since I851, are all popular. Four churches flourished for many years, but the members of the Adventist denomination gradually removed to other places and services in their building were finally abandoned. The house stood empty for several years, then was sold and remodeled into a dwelling. The Methodist Episcopal, Congregational and Baptist churches, with their Sunday schools, young people's and junior societies and their various ladies' organizations are all in a thriving condition and are actively en-,aged in spreading the gospel in the community. Early in the '8os a weekly newspaper was started in a modest way under the name of "The HEnterprise." It did not prove profitable and frequently changed editors. J. B. Smiley at length purchased it and made it a publication of considerable local fame, his original poetry being one of its leading features. As a humorous poet Mr. Smiley gained considerable note. In I888 a sec6 ond paper was started by Henry Ford. This was named "The Argus," and in I89I was made a semi-weekly. The two papers continued as rival publications until I903, 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 between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. Other industries in Galesburg are such as are befitting a village of its size. There are two hotels, 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 millinery stores, a bakery, a barber shop, a cigar and confectionery store, a shoe store, a restaurant, a livery barn and two blacksmith shops. Four practicing physicians, two lawyers and a dentist are among the professional residents. The Gold Medal Remedy and Extract Company is a new organization, formed in I904, and at present engaged in building up a business.-[Henry Ford.] CHAPTER X. TIlE BANKING BUSINESS OF SCHOOLCRAFT. In I866 William Griffiths and J. C. Moore, of Three Rivers, and Thomas Griffiths, of Schoolcraft, 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 I, I867, 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, I870. On this date the First National Bank of Schoolcraft commenced business, with a paid-up capital of thirtyfive thousand dollars, and on January 28, I87I, they had a paid-up capital of fifty thousand dollars. The officers of this bank were E. B. Dyckman, president, M. R. Cobb, cashier, and C. C. Dyckman, teller. The First National continued in 96 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY OF business until January Io, I876, 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 & Company were E. B. Dyckman, I. W. Pursel and M. R. Cobb. The officers were E. B. Dyckman, president, and M. R. Cobb, cashier. They continued in business until, after the death of Mr. Pursel, in I878, 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, I888I. Nesbitt & Miller commence business in January, 1882, and the business of E. B. Dyckman & Company was closed up. The firm of Nesbitt & Miller was composed of Thomas Nesbitt and Philip D. Miller, both of Schoolcraft. They continued in business until February, I89I, when the Kalamazoo County Bank, of Dwiggins Starbuck & Company, was started, with E. W. Bowman as cashier. In I893 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, I897, 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 XI. TIIE 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. Services 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 I867 the societies of the Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian churches united to form a house of worship, which was dedicated and opened for services in I869. At the time of their union and occupancy of the new edifice, they numbered fifty members. In I88o they numbered seventy-five members. From the erection of the church to I88o, 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 opposite 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 infirm father-in-law resides with him. Rev. E. H. Day died of pneumonia at Cadillac, Mich., March 3I, I904, at the age of seventy-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 entered 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 steamboat 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 American 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 iiles 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 anlong the Indians in. Allegan county and cnar Hastings; there we see him on his first appointment among the white churches, at Charlotte, Hastings and vicinity, making the rounds of eighteen stations, one hundred and forty miles, 01o 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 (one, faithful servant, it is meet you should enter vour reward. Of the other ministers spoken of the writer can give no account. Since I880 the names of some of the ministers who have served the people are Rev. C. T. Van Antwerp, Rev. Wallace, 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 I7, I865, by Rev. S. Osinga, acting pastor. The individuals who enrolled their names as its first icmbers were J. Tallman, S. D. Barbour, C. W. Barber and wife, S. Love, Jane E. Love, Mrs. H. Alaregang and Lvdia Bachelder. S. D. and C. W. Barbour were elected as the first elders and a petition 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 I, i865. 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, I849. "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; Brother M. Everett, of the Congregational church, Kalamazoo; Brother L. Fasler, of the Congregational church of Otsego, and Brothers James Tallman 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 recommend 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 profesion 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. Barbour was appointed scribe. The church then adjourned. 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, deacons; Charles W. Barbour, clerk; Julius Hackley, treasurer of benevolent fund. Rev. B. F. Monroe began his work as pastor in 1853, and continued his pastorate for three years, after which the church became extinct. An effort was made to revive the organization in I863, 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 farewell 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 following persons presented themselves for membership: S. D. Barbour, C. W. Barber and wife, Julius Hackley and wife and Mrs. Selkrig. Julius Hackley and C. W. Barber were elected deacons, and S. D. Barbour, clerk. All the above mentioned 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, I873. 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, I888. Mrs. Selkrig died about 1877 or 1878. Mrs. Hackley's work closed June 24, I890, 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 appetites they viewed the long tables set in the parsonage 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, I870. He was succeeded by Rev. Elam Branch, who began his labors in July of the same year and closed them April I, 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 I, I877. He remained about four years. He worked harmoniously 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 I88o numbered ninety-two. The deacons at that date were Joseph Coshun, Penuel Hobbs and C. W. Barber; the trustees, H. C. Van, Vranken and Oliver Brocway; clerk, C. W. Barber. Since I880 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 I880: Mr. Lanphere, Mr. Bradley, Mr. Keightley, the latter two were natives 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. Webster, 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 I894 or I895. Joseph Coshun 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 chfrch. CHAPTER XII. STATE ASYLUM FOR TIlE INSANE. This admirable institution, which represents the finely organized charity of the state to one class of its unfortunate citizens, has been in operation 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 common, 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 adoption of some method of care for the insane, and thlie 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, I848, Governor Ransom recommended that "provision should be made for the establishment of a hospital for the insane and an asylum for the deaf and dumb at the earliest period consistent with the existing obligations of the state." This message was soon followed by an enactment, establishing such institutions, providing for the ap pointment of a board of trustees, which was to se.lect suitable sites and erect buildings, and appropriating eight sections of salt spring lands for these purposes. In I849 the 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 I850 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 appropriated five thousand as an asylum fund. In I85i 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 I853 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 I856, $17,487.48 had been expended in preliminary work to the construction of buildings, in labor on the central building, etc. In I855-6 sixty-seven thousand dollars was appropriated as an asylum construction fund. In 1857 the connection which had obtained from the first legislation on the asylums between the Flint and Kalamazoo institutions was severed and a separate board appointed for each. The state building commissioner at the time reported to the legislature 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 Association of Medical Superintendents of American Asylums, and by the early appointment of a medical officer, "with the view of having the building erected so far under his supervision as to secure his approbation when finished, all capricious modifications 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 superintendent in I855, one year later resigning to become the superintendent of the New York State Asylum. From 1856 to March, I878, Dr. Edward H. Van Deusen guided the affairs of the asylum. On February I, 1858, the central building was totally destroyed by fire, which seriously delayed progress, but in I859 the 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 impossibility of obtaining the appropriations of I859 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, I859. Eleven years had slowly passed from the time of the first organization until it was formally opened (this event occurring on August 29, I859), and much suffering had resulted. From the organization and opening of the south wing to the building of the north wing, seven years of time, three hundred and fifty patients could be accommodated. From the commencement of the north wing until provision was made for the male department (which offered accommodations for three hundred) five years elapsed. In 1859 the act of organization, under which the affairs of the asylum are yet conducted, became 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 reelected superintendent, and on April 23d the first patient was received. David A. McNair was elected treasurer on March 30, I859, 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, I859. The first religious services were held in one of the little parlors of the south wing on November 6, I859. The north wing was completed, furnished and prepared for occupancy in September, 1869, at a cost of $27,09I.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 appropriated by the legislature to be expended in 1871 for that purpose and one hundred and forty thousand 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 3oth. Many citizens of Kalamazoo and citizens of Michigan and other states gave generous contributions 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 estimated 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 I856 to I859, when lie 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 judgimient, he had in a high degree the qualities essential 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 suffecring persons, must be especially noted. During Ihis long term of service he acted on the committee on the appointment of the medical staff, discharging 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 riental 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 t887 the 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' inaugurated and has been most fully carried out. On this farm, which' was most beautifully adapted by ulature for its present mission, are now located' four cottages, the Van Deusen, giving a home tb thtirty-five women; the Palmer, furnishing' rooms to twenty-nine women; the Pratt, occupied by seventy-two men'; the Mitchell, caring for seventynine 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 attention in this connection. It is like a pleasure resort 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 dollars; under the colony plan, one hundred and twenty thousand. 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 advantages, 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 excitement 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 elevation' of over one hundred feet. Over onefifth 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 scattering 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,' sufficient to give the best of drainage facilities. The soil of this farm is a sandy loam, very pr-oductive and easily tilled. I02 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY OF From its inception the asylum has been especially favored by the high character and special ability of the men who have been in charge. Dr. Gray and Dr. Pitcher have already been mentioned, 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 competent to wisely and 'tenderly conduct its affairs as was Dr. E. H. Van Deusen, to whose devoted endeavor from I859 to I878, as its medical superintendent, very much of its national reputation, as a model institution in its line, has been derived. His successor, Dr. George C. Palmer, was a superintendent of like character. He held office until June I, I89I, when, on his resignation, he was succeeded by Dr. William M. Edwards, who had been connected with the medical staff since May i, I884. Dr. Edwards stood in the same rank in the estimation of the people as did his distinguished predecessors. He died in April, I905, 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 Fairfield, he entered Colby College in I879 and graduated with honors in the class of I883. His course there was academical, and upon graduating he entered the medical school of Bowdoin College. He was graduated in I886 and went to Boston, where he practiced for a short time, and then came to Worcester and entered the insane 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 superintendent 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, president, Kalamazoo; Erastus N. Bates, Moline; Chauncey F. Cook, Hillsdale; Harris B. Osborne, M. D., Kalamazoo; C. S. Palmerton, Woodland; Charles E. Belknap, Grand Rapids. Resident Officers-Alfred I. Noble, medical superintendent; W. A. Stone, assistant superintendent. Assistant physicians-Herman Ostrander, George F. Inch, Frances E. Barrett, Charles W. Thompson, Emory J. Brady, George G. Richards, S. Rudolph Light; John A. Ioffman, steward; Edwin J. Phelps,' treasurer. The total number of employes now is three hundred. CHAPTER XIII. IKALAMAZO() 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 favorably known as educational institutions of great excellence. No western city of equal size and very few eastern cities can compare with Kalamazoo 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-educational colleges in America. For the past twelve years Dr. Arthur Gaylord Slocum has been its president and has brought it to its present prosperity. It is affiliated with the University of Chicago, 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 comparatively recent addition to Kalamazoo's educational institutions, and commands a beautiful ..............v '........k \.........w............. j. 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 Kalamazoo 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-oftown 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 enything else she possesses, Kalamazoo should be proud of her public schools. CHAPTER XIV. MICITIGAN 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 organized 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. According 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 teachers. The estimate cost was one hundred thousand dollars. The work of construction was begun in I857, but was attended with delays and interruptions until I86o, when it was suspended until after the close of the war. It was renewed in I866, 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 possible. 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, I867. A frame building, which was erected some time afterward upon the south side of the main edifice, was removed in I892 to make way for the new Dodge Hall. This was a handsome four-story, brick structure, complete in every respect, one hundred and ten feet in length and fifty in depth and connected with the main building according to the original plan. In I903 a twostory 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. Wadsworth, 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 I0o6 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, pastor 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 delivered 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, WoodWard, 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 seminary, and Mrs. M. J. Bigelow, of this city, for several years before her marriage the much esteemed principal. The people of Kalamazoo and friends of Michigan Seminary generally recall with satisfaction 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 I9oo. 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 Theological Halls of Knox College there. -Immediately upon his graduation he accepted a call to St. Andrew's Presbyterian church, in the city of Windsor, 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 I893. It was during his seven years' pastorate in Kalamazoo that, as a trustee in the institution, he became deeply interested in and learned the requirements of Michigan 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 improved, 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 Windsor. and at the present time speaker of the dominion house of commons. They have two daughters, Gertrude S. and Muriel J., who with President and Mrs. Gray and her aged mother, Mr. Sutherland, reside in the seminary building and form an interesting and important element in the social life of the institution. CHAPTER XV. I.ADIES LIIBRARY ASSOCIATI()ON 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 Association was organized at the home of Mrs. Frances Dennison, in January, I852. The following ladies:were chosen its first board of directors: Mesdames D. B. Webster, L. H. Stone, Lyman Kendall, 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 first librarian. The library was formally opened on Friday, March I1, 1852, at the residence 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. I07 northwest corner of Main and Burdick streets, where it was held until the spring of I853. In April of that year the supervisors, recognizing the importance of this organization and its influence upon this then village, placed at their disposal a pleasant room in the court house where the library found a home for nearly six years. In 1859 the association was reorganized and incorporated, new quarters secured in the southeast corner of the basement of the Baptist church, at a rental of thirty dollars a year, and occupied until I867. 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 architect 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 Xyears, at seven per cent. No salary had been paid any officer of the association except to the librarian between the years I86o 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 discussions held informally. An evening "reading class" was instituted in I86I, the first meeting being 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 attending paying five cents. It was resumed the following winter with a season ticket of one dollar 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 I863 to I868. In the winter of 1867-8 Mrs. Stone gave a course of historical studies of twenty lessons. In October, I868, a second course was given; in January, I869, a third course of twelve lessons; in October, I869, 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 summer of I873; winter lectures by distinguished lecturers were furnished each year from I854 to 1862, two or three years in connection with the Young Men's Library Association. Single lectures were given from time to time, notable among which, one by John B. Gough, the gross receipts of which were four hundred and ninetytwo dollars. In I870 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 membership fee was fifty cents till I867, when it was increased to one dollar. To return to the building: Above the large front triple window may be seen the words "Ladies' Library," and in the stained glass the letters "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 -Rodney," 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 American authors, Longfellow's "Courtship of Miles Standish," Bryant's poem "The Waterfall," Whittier'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 manv friends. The window is in three sections, 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 inverted 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 librarian of the L. L. A." About this entire division 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, representing purity, and a stalk of golden fleece, which being 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 author. The Burns selection is "Tam 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 Milton 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 productions, 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." Hawthorne'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 Angelo; also from the Uffizi Gallery at Florence, a KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. Iog pair of "Fra Angelico's Angels"; a fine picture of "Dante and Beatrice," from Ary Scheffer. 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(lently chosen. A fine copy of "Madam Le Brun" of herself. "Love Triumphant" and "Love Treacherous," originals in the Vatican, designed by Raphael and executed by his favorite pupil, Ginleo IRomano. They are framed in Byzantine style. Albrect Durer," portrait of himself at Munich. "The Fonianno," after Raphael, in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. "The Melon Eaters," after Murillo, 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 landscapes, the "Golden Gate," by L. Holtz, a Danish artist; "Pine Lake, Wisconsin"; others by A. F. Bonier, Hausen, Knapp and Sanderson. To friends we are indebted to much of art presented; to the Misses Helen and Mary Bates, Mrs. D. B. \ebster, Mrs. John Cadman, Will Park, Walter (). Balch, Mrs. John Dudgeon, Miss Mary Penfield, Mrs. W. H. De Yoe, Col. Robert Burns, AMrs. 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 M\rs. 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 uong contended with and over which she triumphed to become a member of the French Acad-.my of Arts. Madam Le Brun produced her best cwork at eighty. The lesson taught is only obtained 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 accessible 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 versatility of genius and power of execution as a source of advancing the financial interest was exceedingly gratifying. For the chairs in the auditorium 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 M\'rs. E. H. Van Deusen; the latter made it possible for it to be transported and placed in position, free to this institution. The cases and contents in this same room were gifts from Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Thomas. The president's table, together 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. Benjamin F. Austin. The presentation of books and curios recall the names of Hon. Samuel Clark, Hon. Charles E. Stuart, Hon. David S. Walbridge, 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 association. 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. Burnham, 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. Cornell, Mrs. Emeline House, Mr. and Mrs. L. H. McDuffie, Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Griffiths, Lieuten I IO 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. Hillhouse, 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 thousand 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 ASSOCIATI()N OF SCHOOLCRAFT. The Schoolcraft Ladies' Library Association was organized July 8, I879. 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 organization. A part of this fund was immediately expended in the purchase of books, Hawthorne's works, the novels of Dickens, Scott, Thackerav and George Elliot, being included in the first purchase. Of the first large membership many never became working members, and dropped out at the close of the first year, and the club grew gradually smaller until in the year I883-4 often not more than four or five were present at its meetings. 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 subjects 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 i886, and some years later, finding its quarters too small for its growing library, as well as for the meetings of the club, the project of building was considered. On October 8, I895, at a regular meeting of the club, it was decided to purchase a lot and build a club house, and one year from that date, October 8, I896, saw the building dedicated free from debt. Generous donations were received 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 I879 to his death in I9oI. 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 I5i6, one of the famous Aldine editions; the complete works of Sir Walter Scott, one hundred volumes, dated 1834-38, containing illustrations by Turner, Landseer 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 Hayward 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 containing 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 2:30 P. M. These and many other matters relative to the club may KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. III be found in its printed calendars, which have been issued yearly since I895-6.' The officers for the present year I905-6, are Miss Ella Thomas, president; Mrs. Alice Shaw, secretary; Mrs. L. A. Brown, treasurer, and Miss Mary P. Cobb, librarian. CHAPTER XVII. REIIGIOUS OIRGANIZATIONS. The many churches and religious institutions that flourish in Kalamazoo speak well for the character of her citizens in general. All of these institutions 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 ecclesiastical architecture. They are well supported in every way, and their excellent locations and beautiful buildings speak well for the financial conditions and generosity of Kalamazoo people. Their ministers number among Kalamazoo's most princeIv and cultured men, and are respected and loved 1by 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 Kalamazoo has. Nearly seventy per cent. of her people 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 beautiful 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 beautiful in every detail, as is also the small chapel opening 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, reading desk, litany desk and baptismal font. The parish house is also of white stone and is as well equipped and handsome in appearance and construction 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 occupied 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 I902. Some of Kalamazoo's oldest and most representative 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 Renaissance, and is complete in appointments, and exceedingly 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 Presbyterian 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 I835. 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 I9OI.. 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 I867. The congregation numbers 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 I836, the first pastor being the Rev. Jeremiah Hall. The present pastor is the Rev. J. E. Smith and the congregation 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 Kalamazoo 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 auditorium and parlors. The Rev. Caroline Bartlett 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 I898, 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 organizations there is the Salvation Army, whose barracks are on North Rose street, the Loyal Temperance Legion, the Church of God, the Bethanv?Mission and the Douglass Avenue Mission Hall. All of these religious institutions are steadily gaining in strength and influence. Their well filled congregation rooms on Sunday mornings bespeaks the nature of most of Kalamazoo's citizens 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 otiler men have formed of them, what work they did. ---CARLYLE. * I i I I I CHICAGO: A. W. IBOWKEN & (CO. 906 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, A~nd all the distance is sublime. a I I 1, 11 7,I "-I-&Greece, 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 philanthropy, 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 retiring; fond of domestic life and the society of i'iends, but shunning crowds, both social and political. The public knows but little of the countlIss deeds of charity and helpfulness due to the kindly hearts and gracious hands of Dr. Van 1'e)usen and his devoted wife, both of whose lives 'iJould act as a spur to good deeds. Edwin H. Van Deusen, A. M., M. D., was born at I.ivingston, Columbia county, New York, ( August 29, 1828. His parents were Robert N. Van Deusen, a merchant and miller,: id Catherine Best, daughter of John Best, a f irmer of Columbia county. He attended the district school during his boyhood, and then took a I reparatory course of three years at Claverack Academy, now known as Hudson River Institute, aiter 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, graduating 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 received 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 Michigan in 1848, and in I855 Dr. Van Deusen was appointed 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 I855, I856 and I857 resigned his position at the Utica Asylum, of which he was then assistant medical superintendent, and removed to Kalamazoo in the fall of 1858. On July 22, 1858, he had married Miss Cynthia A. Wendover, daughter of John Thompson Wendover. Esq., a merchant of Stuyvesanton-the-Hudson. They have one son, Robert T. Van Deusen, who was born on April 6, I859. He is now married and resides at Stuyvesant, N.Y. Up to 1858 the appropriations by the legis 118 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. Foster Pratt, secured one hundred thousand dollars, the first large appropriation of the legislature. Under his supervision, active building operations were commenced. On August 29, I859, the institution was formally opened. The center building 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 department was finished in I877. Dr. Van Deusen attained 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 location 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 February, 1878, when failing health, brought on by excessive labor, compelled his resignation. Possessed of a thorough knowledge of the institution'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 continuance of his profession, and since his resignation as medical superintendent of the asylum he has lived a quiet life in his pleasant home in Kalamazoo, but his twenty years of useful labor and selfsacrificing work in connection with the asylum will never be forgotten. Both he and his wife are active and devoted members of St. Luke's Episcopal church, at which they are constant attendants, Dr. Van Deusen having served on the vestry for years, and having been chairman of the building 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 citizens 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 ostentation, and when known, Mr. and Mrs. Van Deusen have discouraged public notice of them. THE ECLIPSE GOVERNOR COMPANY. This' progressive and enterprising corporation, 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 manufacture of the Eclipse governor for use on steam engines, and continued their operations under the partnership until I899, 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 ill. and J. E. Kimble, president, Mrs. Frankie Kimble, vice-president, and Roy C. Kimble, secretary and treasurer. In 900o the company built its present plant, which has a capacity of three thousand 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 inventor of the governor, as he is of many other useful mechanical contrivances which are manufactured 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, capitalized at seventy-five thousand dollars, that afterward became the Comstock Manufacturing Corn KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. II9 palny, and is still operating under that name. He then designed and built the Jewel auto engine, miade 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. I.ater 1M\r. Kimble designed the Gem automatic c!leine for the Clark Manufacturing Company, of Kalamazoo, and still later the governor now made by the Eclipse Governor Company of Vicksburg. Alr. Kimble, whose inventive genius and mecllanical skill have been so prolific and have enriched the industrial life of this county with so naiiiv useful creations for the convenience of man antl the benefit of manufactures, was born in the county, Brady township, on November I6, 1850, al(l is the son of Lewis C. and Amand(a M. (Osborn) Kimble, venerated pioneers of the county, -who have long been at rest from earthly labor andii a sketch of whomn will be found elsewhere in this volume. Their son Emory was reared and e(lucated in his native township, leaving the home farm at the age of twenty, and entering the grocery trade in company with his father at Vicksburg. In 1873 they sold the grocery business to Al.anfred 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 occupation four years, after which he invented a separater, and, in partnership with J. K. Wagner and Johln Fleming, under the firm name of the Kimble Manufacturing Company, manufactured the same until they sold the business to den Blyker. In company with him Mr. Kimble was then engagoed for a time in the manufacture of threshing en-ines, and later became associated with the Conistock Manufacturing Company. He is a stockholder in and the president of the Dentler Bag^-er Company of Vicksburg, and connected withi other enterprises of great benefit to the comImu1ity. 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 politics M\r. Kimble is a Democrat and as such has filled a number of local offices. Fraternally he is an 11k. E. C. RISHEL. One of the most prominent and successful business men of Vicksburg, and a leading and representative citizen of his township in all phases of its public life, {1. 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 farming. He removed from his native state to Summit county, Ohio, and after a short residence there came to Michigan in 1854. A few nmonths 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 residence 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 I893, 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 members of the English Lutheran church of Brady township. Mr. Rishel's paternal grandfather was John Rishel, a prosperous farmer of Pennsylvania, 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, T-)T ' %/-7- A T-)T TT i A T I T T 0 q i A T-) N T 120 B51UjtKArNl I4IAL 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 another which he purchased some years ago. In 1877 he was married at Three Rivers to Miss Melissa J. Mohney, who was born in Pennsylvania and is a daughter of Abram Mohney, an early settler in this county. They have no children. 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. Fraternally 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 family, to which the subject of this review belongs, came to. this country and settled in Rhode Island in early colonial times. Their firmness of conviction 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., Robert's father, who was born at Easton, Washington county, N. Y., in I795, 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 seventytwo years, passing his whole life in his native -. llD IUtKY Ulr township. His wife, whose maiden name was Martha Potter, and who was a daughter of David Potter, an orthodox Quaker born in Rhode Island, was also a native of Washington county, N. Y., and was born at Grandville in I8oi. 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 Normal 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 devoted his entire time to the profession until I866. 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 afterward 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 tlje graded schools at Darien, that state, later returling 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 tenant 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 postmaster from I866 until 1877, carrying on at ihe same time a general merchandising business. Prior to this, however, in March, I864, he enlisted in Company D, Nineteenth Wisconsin Infan ry, 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 encampment behind entrenchments at Bermuda tundred, the command was marched to Petersbutrg, and there Mr. Baker served as adjutant's clerk and KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 12I kept account of the dead and wounded, performing 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,:lerk 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 reconize 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, I865, he returned to headquarters, but on reaching Fortress Monroe was pronounced unfit for duty, and was alpointed by General Butler principal of a colored school at Hampton Roads, where he reniained 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 ol the sanguinary strife between the sections of o(ir unhappy country, Mr. Baker located at Vicksburg in I877, and was actively engaged in iimrchandising at that place in drugs, groceries, wall paper, paints, crockery and glassware. His t,. o-story brick store contained a complete stock )o goods in his several lines, valued at several tfi',usand dollars, and his trade amounted to a Il rge amount every year. Mr. Baker retired fi-)m business in January, I903, and now lives rctired in Vicksburg. He owns the foundry b'ilding near the railroad station in the village, a' 1 his fine frame dwelling at Water and Prairie st eets. One of the leading men of the town, he is also one of its most influential and representati citizens, active in every endeavor to develop al improve it and earnest in the promotion of eC' ry 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, I897, leaving four children, George R., a druggist 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, I897, the father married a second wife, Mrs. Sarah (Patterson) Wilbur. She has five children born of her former marriage: Sibyl, wife of George R. Baker; Chloe, wife of J. E. Cannon, of Brooklyn, N. Y.; Isabelle, wife of Henry Kunselman, of Mendon, Mich.; Emory, of Vicksburg, this county; and Blanch, of Brooklyn, N. Y. Mrs. Baker's parents were William and Mary Patterson, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Pennsylvania. They were pioneers of St. Joseph county, this state, settling on Portage Lake sixtyfour 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 Vicksburg during all of the last eighteen years, is a native of the county, born in Wakeshma township on August I, I864. 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 Michigan 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 I863 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 I859 and 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 California in company with Dr. Sealey, remaining until I877. He then returned to this state and located at Athens, removing later to Battle Creek, where he died on December 13, I903. His wife died in 1879. They had four sons and one daughter. Two of these are living, the Doctor and his brother, Dr. E. H. Coller, one of the leading dentists 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 department of the university at Ann Arbor, and from this he was graduated in I887. In July of 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-graduate courses in the polytechnic schools at Chicago and Ann Arbor, and has kept in the active currents 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 Association. He was married at Mendon, Mich., on December 24, I889, to Miss Vianna Jenkinson, a daughter of Francis Jenkinson, one of the honored pioneers of Kalamazoo county. They have one child, their son Russell J. Politically the Doctor is independent, but his interest in the community 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 Kalamazoo county, now left, was born at Wrentham, Mass., September 30, I827. His parents were David A. and Sarah (Comstock) Fisher, both natives 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 auctioneer throughout the county. He died in Kalamazoo. The mother died in Massachusetts, on September 29, I854. 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 educated in Massachusetts to the age of fifteen years, attending the common schools and Day's Academy. In 1845 he came to Michigan, coming direct 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 I854 he opened a crockery store and later took as a partner Thomas S. Cobb, under the firm name of Cobb & Fisher. They continued in business for thirty years, erecting what is known as the Stearn's block. Mr. Fisher retired in I88;. 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 tile same, which was later sold to the Michigan Ce:ltral Railroad. He has served as superintendelt of the Mountain Home Cemetery for the pa;t 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 Jutle 711, 'lI-Vlll-,-lN:l-. -. i"', I \.0 " I e I 'Ili,. -, t-,,:,o 44,( O - " I 'Iml;: i -life I I j i I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 125 29, 1853, in Kalamazoo, to Sarah C. Weever. a native of New Hampshire. She came to Kalamazoo with her parents, Constine P. and Sarah (Willard) Weever, in 1834, they locating in Kalamazoo, where she grew to womanhood. She died April 14, I905. She was a member of St. Luke's for fifty-two years. CHARLES S. COOLEY. After many long - ears 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, I848, 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 I8I8, 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 I856 he came to Kalamazoo county and bought eighty acres of woodland in Pavilion township, only seven acres of which were 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 I87I, then moved to Vicksburg, where his wife died on January 2, 189I, and he in March, I9go. In I880 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 daughter are living. Ernest D. is a resident of Colorado Springs, Colo., and the daughter, Hattie, is now Mrs. E. W. Carter, of this county. 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(list Episcopal church. They were successful in farming and raising live stock, and were well known and( highly esteemled 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 received 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 concerned until his removal to North Dakota in I880. 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, I877, he was married to Miss Ella A. Neasmith, a daughter of James M. and Susan E. (D-keman) Neasmith, the former born in Manchester, 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 Institute at Oakfield, that county. He afterward taught school two years, then made flour barrels oiie year, and kept a hotel at East Pembroke three years. From then until I853 he was engaged ih general merchandising at East Pembroke in partnership 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 I, 1847, he united in marriage with Miss Susan E. Dykeman, and of this union three children 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 I87I-2 and I873-4. 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 I882, and during his tenure of the office made important improvements in the way of managing its business. For eight years he was one of the trustees of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Flint in Genesee county. HIe 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 infuse new blood into it." Mr. Neasmith inaugurated 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 I868, and of Kalamazoo city in I867. 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 thousand dollars for the purpose, of which he subscribed five hundred dollars. He is also a stockholder 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 retired from active work in the town of Vicksburg, was born in Schoolcraft township, this county, on December 25, I839. His parents, William and Mary (Downs) McElvain, were natives of Pennsylvania, 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 prairie land on which he at once began to make improvements, 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 grandfather, John McElvain, a native of York, Pa., moved from his native place to Erie, in the same state, and in I828 accompanied his son and family to this state, later dying here at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Guilford, on Prairie Ronde. Joseph W. McElvain was reared on the prairie where his parents died, by his uncle, Joseph Frakes, and other relatives, for a few years attending 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 Vicksburg, which he replaced with a modern and more commodious brick structure. Of this he soon afterward became the landlord, and from that time until I900oo he kept the hostelry in a manner satisfactory 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 MIiss Julia Kenyon, a native of the state of New York, and a sister of Bradley Kenyon, 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 I870. He also belongs to the order of Elks. One of the oldest residents of his township and county, born, reared and educated among their people, married here, and having passed the whole of his useful life in this section, 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 gentleman, whose reputation for uprightness of life, close attention to business and enterprise and progressiveness 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 Vicksburg, 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, I83o, in Genesee county, N. Y., the son of Solomon and Ruth (Porter) Strong, natives of Essex county, Vt., where the American progenitors of the family located on their arrival from England in the early days. Mr. Strong's paternal grandfather, Ezekiel Strong, was a Vermont farmer and had two sons in the war of I8I2. The father of E. A. Strong was born in Vermont in 80oi, and followed farming in that state until the frontier of western New York opened a pleasing prospect to him, and he moved thither. In 1844 he came to Michigan and located near Centreville, 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 cultivation before his death in I888, 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 I840 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 I830, 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 Vicksburg. 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. 'Strong has been active and serviceable, looking well to the substantial advancement and improvement 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 treasurer 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 factors 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 Io, I827. His parents, I28 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF Daniel and Annie (Wisewell) Strough, were also native in New York, Herkimer county, and of German ancestry. The paternal grandfather, Baltis Strough, came to this country from Germany before the Revolution, and at the beginning of that war enlisted in a New York regiment, and was soon afterward killed by a neighbor distguised 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. THe 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 daaughter 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 township. 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 married in Kalamazoo on March 30, I869, to Miss Hannah Thurber, a native of Steuben county, N. Y., where her father, Loren Thurber, died. The mother, whose maiden name was Irene Hopkins, married a second husband and, bringing her family, came with him to this county in I854. 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 I904. In March, I865, 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 Sherman's march to the sea, and many others. Politically he is a strong Republican, and as such has been chosen to and rendered effective service 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 Michigan, was born in the village of Schoolcraft, Kalamazoo county, on March 6, 1837, and is therefore 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 enlisted. -In the pursuits of peaceful industry he has also been distinguished for versatility of talent and effort, and general success in his undertakings, 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 I8OI and the latter in New York state in I802. 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 Schoolcraft, and made a number of improvements on it before his labors were cut short by his untimely 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 I29 Whitcomb, of Wapello, Iowa; and Lucius V. The last named had a full experience of pioneer life in his boyhood, and has a distinct recollection 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 locality, 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 performing 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, I863, and during its detention there had a number of spirited contests with the enemy along the Virginia i)order. In April, I863, the regiment was ordered to ( o on his New Orleans expedition with General 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 opi)osed by the Confederate batteries along the.shore and the Confederate gunboats on the river, sixty of the latter being captured at New Orleans. 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!,eingc 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 engagements 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 ()rleans, 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, I864, the subject 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 township, 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. Fraternally he belongs to the Freemasons, the Odd Fel I30 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 happily 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. Snyder 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 continuous progress of civilization following in the track of the setting sun from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 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 Indiana and later in Michigan. He was born in Putnam county, Ohio, in I842, on March I7, 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 I842. 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 I863, his wife surviving him until I9oI. 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 excellent farm and enriched it with good buildings, all the result of his industry and systematic application to his business. He was married in Ohio in I868 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 Augusta Yohing, 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 transactions 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 competency through industrious and judicious efforts, the Holcomb family of Kalamazoo county is justly entitled to all the credit that belongs to both pioneers and their descendants of the best type, and to citizenship of the most elevated and sterling character. The Captain is a native of the state and was born at Lodi, Washtenaw county, on May 29, I833. His parents, Alanson and Nancy (Slaughter) Holcomb, were born in Yates county, N. Y., the father in I798 and the mother in I807. They were reared and married in their native county in I827, and the next year joined the mighty march of the industrial army which has conquered this country from the wilderness, jour — KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I3I 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 I853, when they moved to this county, locating in Charleston township. There the father bought a farm of Langford Burdick, 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 California, George in North Dakota, and Albert in this county. The grandfather of these sons, Ebenezer 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 country in I680. 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 I864, when he enlisted in the Union army, entering the service on August 2d of that year, in Company I, Twenty-eighth Michigan Infantry. The regiment 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 under his command to the close of the war. The Captain went into the service as a second lieutenant, but soon rose to the rank of captain, 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 possession of it in 1863. It originally comprised two hundred and forty acres, but by additions has become one of the largest, and by judicious cultivation 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 I890 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 children, 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 Republican 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 Washtenaw county, Mich., on March 29, I852, 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 advantage, carrying on his farming operations with vigor and success and also working at times at his trade as a carpenter. In addition to these industries 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 Catherine (Cassady) Pierce, the former a native of 132 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF the state of New York and the latter of Michigan. The father of Mrs. Guthrie died in Washtenaw county, and the mother died on August 2, I905. Mr. and Mrs. Guthrie have five children living and one dead. Those who are living are John H., Hiram P., Fred T., Bertha and Sherman. In political faith Mr. Guthrie is a Republican, 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 citizen who has grown old in the service of his people, 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 creation and development he has essentially and substantially contributed. Such a theme is presented in the career of the late Jacob K. Wagner, of Kalamazoo, who, on Friday, June 17, 1904, surrendered his trust at the bequest of the Great Disposer, 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 benefaction to American citizenship. Mr. Wagner came to Kalamazoo on January 13, I855, 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 preferment and consequence, or even to opportunities for employment, only heightens the value and impressiveness of his achievements and adds force to the lesson of his life. That fact and the subsequent productiveness of his energy andcapacity also illustrate the firmness of his inherent fiber of character and cogency of many qualities he inherited from a long line of forceful and enterprising ancestors, who on many fields of manly endeavor met fate with an unruffled front and dared the worst of her malignity in the contest for supremacy. Mr. Wagner was born in the state of New Jersey, at Stanton, Hunterdon county, on November 13, I83I. His parents, Jacob and Elizabeth (Poulson) Wagner, were natives of the same county, the Wagners being of German origin. The paternal grandfather, Jacob Wagner, was a well-to-do farmer of independent character 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 daughters are now living. Jacob was reared to manhood on the farm whereon he was born and was educated in the district schools in the neighborhood. 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 uninteresting life, which, however, gave him a good knowledge of himself and his fellow men, he came to Michigan in I855, arriving early in the year with 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 Taylor & 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 increasing business and profits. This enabled him to gratify his great taste for reading, and with his strong mental endowment, discriminating I i i KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I35 judgment and genial disposition, he became, in a few years, one of the most'cultivated and entertaining men in the city. But he had a keen insight into business of a larger scope, as well as a taste for literature, and an almost intuitive perception of the needs and possibilities of the community in the way of industrial enterprise. In 1876 he founded the Kalamazoo Spring & Axle Works by organizing a stock company for conducting the business, which was begun in a small way, but soon expanded to such ldimenlsions as to necessitate the erection of the large factory in swich 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 now, continuous expansion of its trade re(quiring successive enlargements and additions to its appliances. Mr. \'ag-ner acted as secretary and general manager of this establishment until 879, when he started the Harrow Spring Tooth Factory and becamle secretary of the stock conmpany. fornied for the purlpose, and g-eneral manager of its business, occupying this position until 1887. when he was elected presildent of the First National 1lank, and also president of this company. In 1893 he resigned the bank l)resi(lency, having Iore business interests lunder his imlmediate management than his advancing years mlade agreeal)le to him. At the time of his death he was a stocklholder in the First National and the Michigan National Banks, president of the Spring Tooth Comlpany and a stockholder in the King Paper C(lompanv and several other corporations, inclu(ling the Electric Light Conmpany of the city. Mr. Wagner was a great lover of travel as well as of good literature, and in spite of his large and cxacting 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 tendencies of their peoples. His travels in various parts of our own country were also extensive and profitable. On October 24, I858, 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 I)enlocrat, and in fraternal circles he fouidl enjoyment in the IMasonic order, of which he was for nianv years an enthusiastic m;eimber. While averse to l)ublic office for himself, he consented on one occasion to serve as a member of the village andl the city council for the public good. In 1896, deeming the policy of his party too radical for the general welfare, lie became indelpendent of party control and remained so until his death. Now gathered to his fathers in the fulness of years and of usefulness, his death has left a void in the businiess and social life of his city and county. and an example of stimulating potency to all w1ho knew him or know his record. STEPI EN HOWARD. Among the earliest settlers of Portage township, 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 liberal 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 9 I36 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF tivities that know no weariness at the age of eighty-five. Mr. Howard was born in Silver Creek township, Chautauqua county, N. Y., on January I, I808, and was the son of John E. and Lydia (King) Howard, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Rhode Island. The father 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 returned 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 lmaking it, building their own roads over swamps and cutting their way through miles of trackless forests. They reached their destination on A:ugust io, 1831, and built a little log house on their land in which they all lived the first year, the parents 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 ElizaC.Payne,whowas also an early arrival here. They had six children, four of whom are living, Harriet, widow of T-Ienry IE. 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 homestead. Their mother died on December 24, I890. Mr. Howard was a Whig and later a Republican, 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 I882, and his wife is also dead. They had four sons and three daltlghters, all of whomlT have passed away but their son Albert and their dautghter, Mrs. Glynn, both residents of Kalamazoo. Their son Henry was reared and educated in this county and began farming when he was a vountlg man. This occupation engaged his attention until the end of his life, which came in 1886, when he was but forty-nine years old. His early dleath cut short an honorable career and removed from the active productive forces of the county one of their most enterprising and useful factors. For he was a man deeply imbued with the spirit of progress and devoted to the promotio(n 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) Ilowarl. 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 ogivein utl to his farming operations. Fraternally he was a zealous Freemason, and in all parts of the county lie was well known and highly respected. JOT-N GIBB S. No publication which purports to be in any considerable degree the life story of the progressive men of Kalamiazoo county, would be complete without some mention, more or less extended. of one of its most resolute, resourceful. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I37 serviceable and inspiring pioneers, the late John Gibbs, who died in the county in 188I 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 institutions so great in number, varied in kind and t)rolific in good results which this people have erected. The narration of a career like his, although familiar to the American people as an ofttold tale, with differing names and differing features in the various sections of the country, always inspires the voung, encourages the struggling, consoles the good and cheers the patriot with an example that is elevated and elevating, strong and stimulating, pure and purifying. John G;ibbs was born in Middlefield, Otsego county, N. Y., on July 3, I796, and came of a family of pioneers. His grandfather was an early settler in tlherry Valley, (O)tsego county, N. Y., and in his dla! dared as mIlany dangers, endured as many hlardships an(d won as Inany triumphs as most i)ioineers have done anywhere. He was living in tliat beautiful valley on November II, I778, when tile village was sacked and its inhabitants massacred by the Tories and Indians under colmmand,f the notorious son of Col. John lM. Butler and the Mohawk chief Brant, and in that awful tragedy saw his wife murdered and scalped by the infuriated savages. The father of John Gibbs \as a farmer and his SOi1 relnaine(l itll Iiil. \\orking- on tile hlomestead iuntil le reached the at-e of mnanllood. He then learned the trade of a carllenter and joiner and also that of a nlillwrilght. And thereafter, although in this county an extensive and leading farmer, he wrought at these trades until old age admlonishled himn to lay aside the tools of his craft and take a long-needed an(l well-earned rest. In the autumn of 1832 he came to Kalamazoo county in colmpany with hiis brothers Isaac and Chester, and they together entered two lhundred and forty acres of land, all theyI had money to purchase. John and Chester at once settled on this land, while Isaac went b)ack to:, New York to settle up their business in that state. A simall log house was built and the clearing of the land was begun. IBut 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 dwellings, 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. HIe also assisted in building and equipping 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 I850, 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 lining, 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 i86o lhe again visited that territory. The next year he came lhoie to remain for the rest of his days. In i881, at the age of eighty-five. surrounled by his family, all of whom are in affluent circumstances and in the enjoyment of every colfort. he surrendered the trust he had so faithfully administered aand was laid to rest in the soil that was hallowed by his labors anid 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 comprised eight daughters and five sons. Jennette D., Marcia V., William A.. Rosa \nnis. Josephine K.. Joln. Jr., James O., Emeline P., I. W. Willard, James Martin, Alice M., H. Elizabeth, and L. Tsinella. Of these the first four were born in New York and the others in Kalamazoo. There are now living three of the daugihters and four of the sons. WILLIAM A. GIBBS, the third born of these children, is a native of Monroe county, 138 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF N. Y., where his life began on October 4, I828. 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 productive, 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 boyhood 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 beset 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 vigor and a heightened zest, and with no dregs of bitterness at the bottom. Mr. Gibbs remained at home until he passed his legal majority. anld the next year, I850, made a trip with his father across the plains with teams to California, starting on March 15th, and arriving on August I7th. They had no trouble with Indians, but experienced almost 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 purchase. He was married in Allegan county, on May Io, 1854, to Miss Jennette Prouty. They have four living children, Helen F, wife of Maurice 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.,on 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 I80o and the mother in I799. 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 cultivation 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 alnd 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 Osltemo township. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and made a good record in the struggle. Andrew Jackson Stevens reaihed 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 contentedly sharing the close quarters and inconveniences 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 off 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. I39 to the health and enjoyment of its members. And as his fowling piece, which was the family meat mlarket. 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 I852 ie botught 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 developiment, and enriching it in time with commodious;adl well-arranged buildings and other improvetnents, until he has made it one of the attractive and profitable homes of the neighborhood. In I M(;, when armed resistance threatened the inte-rity of the Union, he enlisted in response to tlhe first call for volunteers in its defense, but lois 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 an(l 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 daughter of James and Elizabeth (Blaine) Ray, who became residents of this county in I847. 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 E7. 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,'ame 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 in this state and began its conquest and the transformation 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 parents exlerienced; for the subjugation of a new country is not accomplished in a few years, however enterprising the people may be who are engaged 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 subduing army and aid with all its powers in the effort 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 arduous toil and ever present danger of the early days. AIr. Iuce 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, having 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. I-e was a tailor, but followed farming the greater part of his life. In I833, 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 improved them into a good farm and a comfortable home. On this land he lived until his death in December, I850. His widow died December Io, 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 I866, 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 present farm of one hundred and fifty acres in Portage 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 clearing and cultivating it, and enriching it as time passed with valuable improvements. His wifedied on this farm in I847. In 1853 he moved to Kalamazoo, where he died in about 1871, at the age of seventy-nine years, he having been born in I792. 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, dying in I847. He had but one child, his son Emanuel 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 Decenmber 20, 1819, and came to this colintv man- years ago. He assisted in building the asylumi in Kalamazoo, and for twenty-five years was connected with the institution as its carpenter. He also lived at Big Rapids twentyfive years. A\t eightv-five years of age he was hale, hearty and active, and exhibited an energy and zeal that might put many a much younger 1man to the blush. His death occurred on March I. 1905. MIc. M. BRYANT. One of the oldest, best known and most respected 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. He was born at China, in that part of Genesee county which is now Wyoming county, N. Y., on Janulary I, 1826. His parents were Damon and Anna (McMaster) Bryant, the former a native of Colchester, 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. I4I soldier and served as General W\ashington's bag(-agce master. He died in Vermont from the effects of exposure in crossing the Delaware on the memorable occasion which preceded the battle of Irenton. The father grew to manhood in Veriniot an(l in 1812 moved to western New York. The stirring activities of the period and the martial and patriotic spirit he had inherited from his father led hilll ito the war of 1812 and he sawactive service in the coltest..After a residence (,f soi(:lle ears ill,iving-stonl counity lie chanwged to.Allegany county, N. Y., andl afterward became:a residlent of \Wyominii countv, N. Y., where he died at the age of seventy —three. His offspring Inumlbered six sons and six ldatighters. Nine grew 1to miaturity. but all are (lead but the subject of tlis mIlemoir, and one of his sisters who lives at P'lainwell, ill A\legan coutlty. The father \was a \Vhig in politics and filled a number of offices in llis locality. Vllile lie was a voutng mian he taught sclhoo)l a umllllber of years ai(l assiste(l ill reariong lis father's fallnil\. ITe reached imail's estate ill v\\ omllillo couIt\, N. Y., and engaged in farming there until:I865, wS hen he came to Michigan and bloug-lt his plreselt farnm, which has ever since beeC his lho(me. ()n tllis lie lhas built a co()mfo)rt-;able dwellilng, commodi-os 1barns and( other necessarv outbuildlings. and bv assiduous andi wisely ppl)liedl industry has traiisformled a practically uncultivated tract of land iiito one of the most desirable farmls in the tow\lshilp. tHe was married il Nerw York in 1853, to Miss Mlarintha M. Smith, of the sampe nativity as himself. She (lied,11 May 15. 1880, and ii 1883 he mlarried Mr-s.A\Xussta (). C(halppeli. whose maiden name was (;ill, and wlho also was bornl ill the.;aile county as M.r. 1 r1-anlt. Th'lle have oine daughter, HIlelen L (iuise, wh() is 11() atteil(ling KKalamlazoo C(oll-ge. Mrs. I rvanlt had txwo sons!b her first marriage. F:red I. anld Earl \W. Chappell..\Mr. l/r\yant is intlel)endllent in politics. but lie las oftenl i)een nominllated for office although lie iiever so(-ughit a nominiation. -le is a member of the ATasonic order, belonginlg to the lodge at Cooler ( enter. In his religious views he is classed as a liberal. From every point of view he is a worthy! iand useful citizein and now has in abundance "such tilings as should accompany old age, as hiinor, love, obedience and troops of friends." (;E )RGE A-. HOLMES. George A. Holmes, of Cooper township, who is widelv and favorably known all over this c)uilt,. lhas been a resident of the township in w\ lich lie lnow lives ever since he was one year old, comling hither with his parents in I847. He was born at Strongsville, Cuvahoga counltv, Ohio, on Tanulary 3.:1846, and is the son of John H. and Rocena C. ( Beebe) H-olmnes, natives of the state of New York. The father was a shoemaker and farmer. HIe removed to Ohio when he was but twenty!years old and remained there until 1847, wXhen he came to this county, bringing his family, m-aking the trip with a team and conveying all his worldly possessions in one wagon. The famil! settled in Cooper township on the farm on which their son George A. now lives. The land on whicli they located was without improvements of any kind. The lkeen edge of the pioneer's axe had( not been felt in its deep woods of long standingll the glealingll plowshare of the husbandman had not entered its soil, no sound of the approaching civilizatioln had as vet frightened with the foretokening of their inevitable doomn the wild beasts which nmade it their lair. These hardy adventurers tool tle domnain as nature gave it to them, and p)roceeded with the all-conquering slpirit of their class to transform it into a cultivatetl farm, fruitful in the products of civilizationl alnd siililing with the comforts and the blan(lislhments of a comfortable homie. The parents lived here to see the change wholly effected, the mn(other (ying on this farm in I894 and the father in 1899. They had two children, their sons (eorge A. anl Alva W., of Schoolcraft township. The father took his place and performed his lpart of the public life of the cotmmunity and as anl earnest and loyal Freemason contributed essentially to its fraternal enjoyments and benefits. The grandfather was a soldier in the war of I812 and die(l at \est Bloomfield, N. Y. His name was John Holmles. George A. Holmes grew from infancy to manhood in Cooper township, working I42 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF on the farm and gathering a few of the priceless nuggets of book knowledge 'in the primitive schools of his boyhood. He has lived on this farm, which he helped to redeem from the wilderness, all his life so far, and has always been actively 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 i868, to Miss Adelia Souser, a daughter of Jacob P. and Lavina (Patry) Souser, who became residents of the county about 1852. They have three children, Albert H., Lillian A. and Raymond C. The head of the house is a Republican in political alliance, but he has never been either an office seeker or an active party worker. ORLENA BE11 E, an uncle of Mr. Holmes, who lived in this county at various times and for various periods since I837, and who died in Kalalazoo on Thanksgiving day, 1904, was born in Ontario county, N. Y., on March 26, I819. His parents. Abrahanm W. and Dorcas (Fuller) Beebe, were natives of WVaterbury, Conn., where they farmed until 1792, then moved to New York state, locating at what is now the town of Cortland and some little time afterward changing their residence to Ontario county. Later they moved to Medina county, Ohio, where the father died in 186o, aged eighty years. There the mother also died. They hladl 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 he came to this county and from then until 1852 lived in Cooper township. He then went back east and remained until I86o, when he again camne to Cooper township, and this time remained until 1878. Tn that year he removed to Van Buren county,where he engaged in fruit growing until 1Q02, when he became a resident of Kalamazoo, 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 Union 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 daughters. Mr. Beebe was a Republican in politics and filled several offices in Cooper township. Fraternally he belonged to the Masonic order, and was a member of the Congregational church. HENRY LITTLE. In the settlement of a new country, when everything toward even the planting of civilization is vet to be done, and the common conveniences of life have to be fashioned from raw material with such skill as mav be at hand, an accomplishel mnechanic 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 TTenriv Iittle, of Kalamazoo, into this county oni October 3. 1831, 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 ieeled 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 miechanic of great skill and resourcefulness, 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, I797, 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 apprenticed to the trade of a millwright and general machinist, and soon after completing his apprenticeship, during which he applied himself with earnest attention to the full mastery of everything connected with his trade, he began business for himself in St. Johnsbury, Vt., in 1815. 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 FVZANNIK LVL KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I45 lie went to Boston, Mass., and built several tnills,on the "Big Dam" there. The next year he returned to St. Johnsbury and entered the employ tf E. & T. Fairbanks. who were then conducting t foundry, iron works and machine shops on the sitte of their present extensive scales manufactory, and in 183o he superintended for thenm the -rection of a mill for cleaning and preparing lchell)m fiber for market. In the operation of this ill an implerative necessity arose for some ilmlproved apparatus for weighing hemp when it was br,-mght to the mill. To meet this necessity the Fairbanks brothers began experimenting on devising scales upon an entirely new plan, and Mr. little aided theml materially in originating alnd lrilnging to perfection the valuable invenition now kno1xwn all over tlie world as "the Fairbanks platforml scales." ()n March 1 I, T822, lie was united in nmarriage with Miss Ruthll Fuller, the dlauLghter o(.\lrahaml Fuller, a Revolutionary soldier with;t record of gallant service in the great war for inilepleendence. Nine years later the family camle to Michigan, arriving at (Galesburg., then knoxvw as Tolin P:rairie, this county, on October 3, 1831..o'Ire than six years were passed there, at Coin — stock and Gull Prairie, then in March, 1838, they took up their residence at Grand Rapids on o-overnment land, which was afterward exchanged for an improved farm near tlie old lhone on Gull Prairie. From 1838 to 1840 Mr. Little was en-,gaged in the erection and equipping of mills for tgrinding grain at Paw Paw, Yorkville and Kalaiiazoo. In 1863 he gave his farm in charge to liis two younger sons, William Henry and Albert, and became a permanent resident of the city o(f Kalamazoo. His only daughter, Mrs. Williala C. Travis, lied on February 21, 1878, and o)l February 8, I888, his faithful wife, who walked life's troubled way with him for sixtyisx years, laid down her trust at the behest of the (;reat Disposer, aged eighty-seven years. He survived her more than two years. dying at his city residence. No. 435 Lovell street, on May 25. 189o, at the age of ninety-three, and so remarkable were his vital energies that both his physictl and mental powers were well retained to the (ay of his death. His later years were devote(I to general reading and the writing of articles for publicatinons being h igohlvy_ap:- />g/,g preciated. 1Av~,sons survive him, /William Henry and Albert. Mr. Little was a man of positive convictions, indomlitable energy, perseverance an(l self-will. H-e was orderly, frugal, painstaking and inldustriolls through life, upright, reliable and exact in business affairs, and orthodox and unwavering' in his religious faith..-\s a citizen, neighbor and friend he possessed tlhe highest esteemi an(l confidence of his fellow 11e1 l. FRANK LITTLE, 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, 1)olitical and literary life of Kalamazoo county a11(l the state of Michicgan. lie was eight years ol(l when the falily moved to this state, and he grew to manhood and was educated here. On attaining his majority in 1844 he turned his atteltion to merchandising, and lduring the next ten years followed that line of business at Grand Rapids, Richland an(l Klalamazoo. 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 semiofficial station. In 1850 he was chosen clerk of Richland township, and after that was successively deputy l)ostmaster, 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 commissioner of the county, secretary of the State Sanitary Fair organized for the relief of Union sol(liers 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 secretary of the Kalamazoo County Agricultural Society; for eleven years first assistant secretary 146 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF of the State Agricultural Society; for seven years secretary of the State Association of Agricultural Societies, an organization largely of his creation; and was also connected with the Kalamazoo National Park Horse Association of earlier times. During all that long period, in connection 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, I874, the Millers' National Association of the United States, at its first convention, elected him secretary, and he was annually reelected 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 voluntarily the high compliment of publishing a sketch of his life with his portrait as a frontispiece, and said: "There can be no doubt that no inconsiderable share of the success that has attended the association is due to Mr. Little's efficiency 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 paidl 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 addresses read before various societies have always been regarded as models of clearness and accuracy. 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 efficient president. In the campaign of I888 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 co'.lu ty for over forty years. An article he wrote,)1 "Celery Culture in Kalamazoo," was published in the report of the department for i886. In tlhe "Biographical Sketches of Eminent Self-Made Men of Michigan," the editor gives the follow ing just estimate of Mr. Little's character: "fi 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 remarkable, discharging every trust to the satisfaction of all concerned. He is methodical, thoroughl and painstaking in business matters, a mai of very sound judgment, rare power of mind, (, much reading and general intelligence. Foir quite a number of years he has been a frequent contributor to the local press. treating varioul questions of public interest with such signal ability as to give direction to popular thought, a(nd call forth commendations fr)om persons of hilgh culture and intelligence." M.r. Iittle was married on November 21, 1846, to Miss Cornelia Elizabeth Rr e4w4, the only (laughter of Deacon and Celestia E. (May) Rikwe, natives of San(lisfield, Mass. Two children were born to the iunion, Isabella May, wife of John A. Weeks, a merchant of Yankton. S. D., and Frances I.. wife of Dr. Clarence A. Dolson, of Atlantic, I. WILTIAM IH. LITTLE, the secCnd son of Henry Little, was born in Kalamazoo count\y o, September 28, R837. FHe grew t() manho )(l in this county, and has given the wlhole of his life so far to the vocation of farming. Ite was e(ltlcated in the common schools and at Prairie Selinary in Richland. His parents were Iioneers il the county, and he was called on for a full share of the arduous labor of clearing the p)aterntal homestead and bringing it to pro(luctiveness; tlir state of high development and improvement,t 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 village of Richland. On January I. 1867, he unitcl in marriage with Miss Charlotte Brown, a na t I i II KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN I47 tive of this county, and the daughter of Charles B. and Marietta (Mills) Brown, and granddaughter of Deacon Samuel Brown, who was an early pioneer of Richland township, where he settled in I83I and died in I86i. 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, I873. Mr. and Mrs. lTittle had four children, Charles H., George E., ILucy E. and William F. The mother died February I6, I898, and Mr. Little was agaiin marrie(l ()ctober 31, 900o, his second wife being Miss Bell Jackson, a native of this township. Her parents, Steelman and Lucinda (Knappen) Jackson, were pioneers of this county, coming from Vermont in 1833. The father belongs to the Presbyterian 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 politics, and for a number of years he served as tovwnship 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 military service of his adopted country, bravely defending the Union in the Civil war and daring death on many of its most saguinary fields of battle. 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, 0., 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 I86i and lived here until I866, his death occurring in 1882, at Plainwell, 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 I86I, when, on August 6th, lie enlisted in the -Union arimv as a member of Company C, 'wenty-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 Mlountain, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. \t the last named Mr. \Venham fired four hundred rounds of ammunition. Soon after that great battle the regiment was transferred to the A\rmy of the Tennessee, under conmmand of General 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, lie 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 bough-t a farm, which they worked together until 1876, when he purchased his present home in Cooper township, and on this he has lived ever since. I-e was married in the autumn of 1869 to Miss Harriett Hart, a native of Trumbull county, Ohio. Tier father was born in Connecticut, and her mother in Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Wenham have three children, Carrie, wife of Wallace Breese, of Cooper township, Albert, a farmer of this township, who married Lottie Adams, of Alamo township, and Bernice, living at home. Mr. Wenham has served as justice of the peace two terms. He is a Republican in political 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 I48 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF a trustee for many years, and for two years superintendent 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 Michigan, traveling by water to Detroit and from there with ox teams to Kalamazoo county, locating in Cooper township on section 20. where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of government land. This he sold later and then bought another tract on section I6. 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 condition. He lived on his farm in the township until his death, on August II, 1882. The mother died there in I877. 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, Alien 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 finishing 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 pioneer 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 number of years as a justice of the peace, although never desirous of political office. To the Masonic order he has long been attached and devoted. He is a charter member of United Lodge, No. T49, at Cooper Center, and was its worshipful master for mans 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 supremacy, but makes one conquest the steppingstone to another, and even sometimes seeks difficulties for the joy in the triumph of overcoming them, is well illustrated in the family record of the Huntlev family, of which Anson W. Huntley, a well known farmer and highly respected citizen 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 England. 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 accomplished, it took a flight toward the sunset where KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I49 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, I840, in Ashtabula county, Ohio, where his grandfather, Ezekiel Huntley, who was born and reared in Connecticut, settled in 1812. There Mr. HuntIcv's father, Ezekiel W. Huntley, was born and reared, his mother having been born in New \(ork state. In October, I862, they moved to Kalamazoo county and located on the farm in 'ooper township on which their son now lives. 'lhev built the present dwelling on this land and lived here until summoned from their earthly lab)ors, the mother dying in I879, and the father in 8(()7. After the death of his first wife he married Mrs. C. Hart, of Plainwell. He had four s(ois all of whom are living in Cooper township, lbut one, Hollis, who died in June, 1905. Ezekiel I Iuntlev was a man of local prominence and filled a number of township offices. Fraternally he belonged to the Masonic order and was earnest in ldevotion to his lodge. His son Anson reached manhood and was educated in Ohio. l e becalme;A resident of this county in I863 and began farm — in<g one-half a mile west of Cooper Center. where lte lived until 1902, when he moved to his present homle. le was married in Ohio, in October,!862, to Miss Amelia L. Hare. a native of England. They have had four children, all deceased. In political affairs Mr. Huntley supports the Re1,iiblican party, and has filled a number of local offices, serving as township clerk, afterward as stll)ervisor, and now as highway commissioner. I [c is a Freemason and holds his membership in tlei lodge of the order at Cooper Center. The relputation made by his father in public and private life as an excellent citizen has been sustained by him in his own record, and throughout thle 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, whose forge has emitted its cheer ful glow in this community for twenty years, is a native of Ashtabula county, Ohio, born on September I8, I843. He is a brother of A. W. Huntley, whose sketch in another part of this work contains extended mention of the family history. In his native state he grew to manhood and received a common-school education. After leaving school he learned his trade, finishing his apprenticeship in I86I and working as a journeyman until I864, when he enlisted in the Twenty-fifth Ohio Independent Light Artillery, and during the remainder of the Civil war was under the command of General Steele on the Saline river and at Little Rock, Ark. He was mustered out of the service in December, I865, 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 Marshall. They have one child, their son Willard M., who is living at home. Mr. Huntley is a Republican 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 Masonic order in lodge and chapter. With capacity, intelligence and skill, and moreover with unceasing industry in his vocation, he has won the logical reward of his usefulness in a substantial prosperity and a firm hold on the confidence and regard 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 progressive farmer of Kalamazoo and Cooper townships, was essentially a pioneer in this county, although he did not become a resident of it until I851. 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 I50 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF was born in Cambridgeshire, England, in 1813, and lived there until he reached the age of thirtyeight years. Then emigrating to the United States, he came direct to Kalamazoo county and found employment with the old distilling company 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 village as it was in that period. Some years later he bought the farm in Kalamazoo township on which he lived until his death in I891, 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 I859 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 Henschel, of Cooper township, and William E., who was born in I862. 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 development of the community, and being highly en dowed by nature with physical strength and daring and intellectual qualities that have enabled him to twine the club of Hercules with theflowers of rhetoric, his personal achievements in mere bodily labor and his advocacy of moral, educational and spiritual forces for the advancement of his section of the country have been potential, important and of lasting effect. His paternal ancestors were of English origin and the American progenitors of the family were among the early settlers of New England. His father, Asa Stoddard, 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 1812 he served on the Niagara frontier, and in 1852 became a resident of Juniata, Tuscola county, Michigan, and here he lived until his death, in i868. 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 I555. His' maternal great-grandfather, when an old man, was slain in the Wyonling (Pennsylvania) massacre in July, I778. Mr. Stoddard's grandmother was among those who at this time found refuge in "Forty Fort," just above \Vilkes-Barre. 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 mnilk them. In a few minutes she hlad finished two and came in with two brimming pails, and she immediately began to distribute their contents 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 tol(l how the deadly messenger had done its work. The heroic woman made her escape with others by traveling on foot through forty miles of wilderness, 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. I51 grandfather served under Washington in New lersey in the Revolution and was in General Sulliva1n's famous expedition against the Six Nations in I779. He died at M-inisink, (range c,,unty, New York, in 1792, leaving eight chilIren, of whom Lucretia, the mother of Mr. Stod(lird(, was the youngest, save one. Mrs. Harding married a second husband, Benjamin Atwater, (nle of the pioneers of Wayne county, New York. 'lley settled at Williamson in that county, in i802, and there, on October 31, I814, Mr. Stod(dard was born. His mother (lying while he was \tt an infavt, he and his sister, the late Mrs. M. I'. Russell, of l'attle Creek, were reared in his (randfather Atwater's family, where he remained until he was eighteen years old. Being then tln-rown on his own resources, he worked on a farml 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 (luring the wintcr and attending an academy in the summer. He tatught twenty-four successive winters, six of them in one school district. In 1837 he married Miss Mary Ann Russell, of Williamson, a daughter of Daniel Russell,the first settler of that townslilp. She died in 1846, leaving one dauglbter, who dliel in 1853. ITn 1848 Mr. Stoddard married Miss.,Ann Elizabeth Anthony, a daughter of Silas Anthony, of Williamson. She died in 1849, and in 1852 he married Miss Laura Jane, daughter of \\illiam R. Sanford, of Marion, the same county. Thlis lady, like her husband, had been a successful sc(lool teacher. (f their union were born two son:s. William S. and Lucien H., the latter of \\wllon is a resident of this county, and lives on the old homestead. They came to the county with tlheir father as boys in 1863, and here William (lied'on July 20, 1898. The father has, from his young manhood, taken an earnest interest in public education, devoting his best energies to tllh advancement of the conmmon schools in New York and Michigan, and has at various times held inll)ortant positions in connection with the school!ystem. He has from boyhood been a zealous adlvocate 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 I854 he generally supported theRepublican party, it being, according to his views, "the more democratic of the two." Since 1884 he has voted the Prohibition ticket. Mr. Stoddard is a vigorous and graceful poetical writer, and has long been familiarly known as the "Farmer Poet," a sob)riquet very justly bestowe(l and one which he wears with becoming moi desty. XVILLIAM S. STODDIARD, 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. He beg-an his scholastic training in the schools of his native state and finished it in those of M\ichigan, \vin(in-g utp witl a course at the Kalamazoo high school. He was a farmer through life an(l purchased a place adjoining his father's, on which he lived to the end. He was united in marriage il 1874 with ]Miss Carrie E. Goodrich, a native of Cooper township, and a daughter of Tlholnas Goodrich, one of its prominent pioneers. They had five children, all living, Lucy MI., Elizabeth, wife of George Castle. Bessie, wife of Fred Sellers, both of Kalamazoo, and Shirley and William Sanford, livingl at home. Their father was a man of influence and filled a number of local offices in the township. IUCIEN STO)DDAR). the second son of A. H. Stoddard by his third marriage, and the one \who now lives on the homestead, was also born in New York, his life beginning there on May 28, 1855. He came to MAichigan when he was but eioght years old, and here he was reared and educatel, attendinog the common schools and finishingr with a one year's course at Kalamazoo College. Like his brother, lie 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 niarried 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 children 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 in the midst of its people, deeply interested in a practicable and serviceable way in its multitudinous industries and all its educational, moral and social activities. He was a native of Columbia county, N. Y., born on May 24, I805, and the son of Mathias and Gertrude (Michel) Milham, 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 observation 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 Kalamazoo. 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 agricultural 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 1831, 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, leaving 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, I866. 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 marriage, was born on September I9, 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, I888, 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 ilkP A J()HN M\ILHAIAM. i i i i I i KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I55 Kalamazoo and the neighboring counties, being a stockholder in the Bardeen Paper Company of (tsego, an(d 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 (90o5) serving as overseer of highways, in which capacity he has acted for over twenty years. Two children have been horn inl his family, his sons Robert L. and Clinton '. lie is a lKnight of lytias a a member of!lie Mletho(list Episcopal church near his home. It is high praise but a just tribute to his w\orth io say that he is a fine exemplar of the business thrift, publlic spirit and elevated citizenship so;:mply exhibitedl by his father. CYR-US 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, industrious and progressive people, an(l one of the most prosperous sections of the county. Its settleli)ent by the whites began about T833, and four years later the parents of Cyrus A. Walker located in the township oll the lalnd which is the present home of Mr. Walker and on which he was b1),rn on January 2, I859. H-e is the son of John.ntld Octavio (Cunningham) WValker, the former l-!rn in the state of New York and the latter in I.ake county. Ohio. They were farmers and came t1: Michigan in 1836, taking up their residence ali Kalamazoo, where the father taught school <'id acted as assistant postmaster for a year. In i1 37 he purchased of Luther Trask the home f:.rlm and moved on it at once. Here he passed the r,'mainder of his life, clearing his land, enlarging i! fertilitv and productiveness and enriching it v-ith good improvements as the years g-lided by. i i this farm he die(l in 1878 and his wife in 1904. i 'he had two children, both living, their son ('rus and their daughter Mary, the wife of J.:\. Travers, of Plainwell, Allegan county. The father was a man of prominence and influence in 'cal affairs and represented the county three IO0 terms in the lower hoise of the state legislature, going there in 1864, I867 and 1873. He was also township clerk and supervisor a number of years. In political adherence he was a pronouncedAbolitionist. and was earnest and zealous in behalf of the cause he espoused. The son received his education in the district schools near his home and was prepared for business at the Parsons Commercial College in Kalamazoo. On the death of his father he took charge of the farm, and he has lived on it and( conlducted its operations ever since. Itn 1883 he was married to Miss Lydia Earl, a native of Cooper township, this county, and(l daughter of Sandfor(l landl Elizabeth (Layton) EIarl, who settled in C(ool er township in tlhe '5os. Mr. and Mlrs. W\alker have two children, their sons John I. andl l.eo( (). Mlr. \Walker is a Republican in political faith and has served five years as sulervisorl an(l 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. lie is a member of the Congregational churcl. T-e has kept faith with his family an(l his sense of duty by faithfully carrying forward the work of local improvement begun by his parents, and has maintained in every relation of life the good name they won by their (emonstrated merit and sterling lives. TOM\I WIITLIAMS. This fine mechanic and superior business man, who is -one of the oldest millers in Kalamazoo county, botll 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 1by 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 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF children, over, and after a residence in the Empire state of a number of years, he made a trip to California 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 I864, 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 Kalamazoo 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 structure, 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, I904. 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 fortune to aid him along the dusty highway of endeavor. 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, I841. His parents were both natives of New York state and followed farming there until I837, when they moved to this state and settled on the farm before mentioned. The father was a soldier in the war of 1812, 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 revolution 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 endled some years later. Their son James was reared and educated in this county, attending district 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 Kalamazoo Business College. He taught school for a number of years and then began farming, an occupation which engaged his attention to the exclusion of almost everything else until his death, which occurred on the farm on which he settled in i886. He was married on December 23, 1873, to Miss 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 successful 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 skillfully cultivated in that part of the county. Tie has on it a good modern brick dwelling and all other needed structures to make it complete, upto-date and tasteful in appearance; and here he KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I57 pursues the peaceful and independent vocation of the old patriarchs, contented with his lot and undisturbed by the noisy contentions of political strife, the schemes of worldly ambition of the mercantile world or the follies of fashionable society. 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 Vanderbilt, was a second cousin to Commodore Vanderl)ilt. The father of Clarence came to Michigan and brought his family with him in I869. He located in Cooper township, where he had previotusly purchased land, and lived there until his death in I889, at the age of seventy-two years. Of his family of eight children, five are living. Clarence 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. H-e accompanied his parents in their removal to Michigan and was married here, in 1875, to Miss Emily Vandenburg, the daughter of Philo and Alice (Owen) Vandenburg, the former a native of Dutchess county, N. Y., and the latter of Vermont. The father came to this state in I833 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 excellent seminary in Montpelier, Vt., and is still living. Her husband died on October 5, 1887. fTe was prominent in local affairs and filled a number of township offices. Mr. Vanderbilt is a l)emocrat 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, and has won in his way as complete and signal triumph in material results as any man in the township of equal opportunities. Among the people 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 settlers was sporadic, one following another at irregular intervals and locating wherever chance or inclination led him, without any attempt at systematic 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 I898 after living fiftythree 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 1813, 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 T812, and for many years was engaged in works of construction and transportation in his native state, working on several old stage lines and the Erie canal. His son John grew to the age of twentytwo in New York, received there a limited education in the common schools, and until I835 he wrought at various occupations in the neighborhood 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 embrace of the great lakes. He first located near Detroit and some little time afterward moved to Schoolcraft, where he remained a short time. L ater he took up his home in Kalamazoo township on a farm he purchased just east of the village of Kalamazoo which is now a part of I58 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 I898. He was married in I852, il Cooper, to Mrs. Edwin F. Murphy, whose maiden name was Louisa L. Delano. She was the (laughter 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 ablle to make choice selections from the attractive oak openings and fine timber land, which he. transformed into a superior and well-cultivated farnl. Ile was the first clerk of the township, andl after many years of usefullllss andl productive labor in improving his own property, and of wholesome influence on the public affairs of the section, he died in 1871 on the landl he first entered. lMr. and Mrs. Mills had seven sons, four of whom are living, George C., at honme J. Irvin. of I(laho, Fred, an attorney in Kalamazoo, and Samuel W., also at home. In political affiliation M1r. Mills was first a Whig and later a Republican. Hte was a man of force andl influence, andl was generally known and respected throughout the countv. 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 industrial activities of the region to which it had but recently awakened fromn its long sleep of centuries, and also to look forward to the career of usefulness and credit which he was destined to have among its people. He was born in the state of * New York on October 8, I820, the son of Jonathan 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 native state until 1830, determined to try his hand on the virgin soil of the west, 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 already 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 MAichigan and settled in Cooper township, this county. The family then comll)risl seven sons and two daughters, and for a tinle they were crowded into a little log shanty whicl was hastily erected on the tract of wil(l land which the father entered as his future home. IButt all were cheerful with hope and the prospect of expanlding l)rosperity, andl all laboredl (liligentlv in clearing the lands and getting it ready for cultivation. In a fe\w years the shanty gave place to a comfortable frame dwelling, which was literally raised from the soil as the family had no income except what w\as realized fron the crops of the farm. The father lived to see the whole of this farm cleared andl rought to advanced cultivation, and tlen, on the land wvhich was hallowed hb 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 tllis wilderness. The mother died some years later in Kalamazoo. They were nmembers of the Methodist Episcopal church, and helped to build some of the first structures used 1) this sect iI this part of the country. For many years before his death the father drew a pension from tlhe government for gallant services rendered in tlhe war of 18T2. His son Cyrus was seventeen years of age when he became a resident of Michigaln. and accepting with alacrity his place in the working 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 wrhicll 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. I59 (lied. They cleared it of its wild growths and made a good farm of it which they improved with comfortable buildings and all other needed structures for their work. The end of life and labor camne to them after many years of peaceful and pro(luctive intlustry here. The father had consi(leralle local l)rominence anld filled many town-,lip offices. He died at Morley, this state, and the lmother at Yankee Springs. Mr. and Mrs. Travis.11adl three children, all solns George E., a Cooper township farmer, HenrVy M.. living at home, and lJa E., deceased. The father was never an active 1)olitician, luit exhibited an earnest andl practical interest in the general (levelopment an(d progress,)f the county\. He belonged to the Methodist I1tpiscopal church anti was active in supporting it. His wi(low is still living, on the homestead, alld enjoys, like a veritable imother in Israel, the respect and regard of the whole comunity and lhe surrounding cotuntry. DR. DAVnID E. DE)1\IrNG. "Not honored less is ihe who founds than he \wh o heirs a line." \While it is sel(lom that the presenlt gives the past a long- hearing, there is,tlways a (lee1) anll lastinl interest, romiantic, hlistorial alll pl)rsonal, whlich inlvest the founder,)f a new countr — hinl whlose advelnturmus footstcp) first invades a hitherto untrod(ld( section a(nd there plants the seed of civilization and erects a dIomestic shrine. This interest appertains in a forceful an(l imlpressive way to Dr. David E. I)neming, the first settler in Cooper township, this county, who there entered a portion of section 2 in 1833, and( became a permalnent resident of the township in March, 1834. The Doctor was born at Cornish, N. H., on June 14, 1796. He received a conmmon-school and academic education in his native state and then studied medicine there. He began his practice at Hinesburg, Vt., where he remaine(l several years, and while living at that place was united in marriage with Miss!1lecta L. Eldredge, a native of the town born On June 12, 18o8. They left Hinesburg on April -27 I833, for this state, and on June 2Ist following 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 comfortable. Thley took up their residence there on Alarch 20, 1834,' and they lived on the new possessiol until it wvas cleared and changed into a fine farii with all the comfortable and attractive accessories of modlern rural life. The Doctor's last few years were passed at Plainwell, Allegan countyi, where lie (liedl on September 2, 1879. His \widlowN then returtned to the farmi, where she died (on:\lpril 2, 1884. For some years after his arrival in this section of the country the Doctor practiced his p)rofession, but he gradually relinquishlel it for the pursuit of agriculture, and being an ardlent lover of nature, he gave himself with enthusiasm to his adopted vocation. Being a gentlemana of fine scholastic attainlllents and great force of character, lie soon becanie a leader in all publlic mlovemlents around him. He assisted in organizing the township and was its first supervisor. Some years afterwarl lie represented his district in the state senate, andl although not an active politician, he perforned his official (luties witli his accustomled intelligence and energ!y, and illcrease(l and intensified the hold he lhad already won\ol on the confidence and estecii of his fellow citizens. He was also a man of strong religious convictions and took a l)rolinent part in the church work of the township especially in connection with the Sunday school of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he and his wife were long earnest and active members. He (lied at the age of eighty-three, full of honors as he was of years, the patriarch of his township and an exanmple of the best form of sterling American citizenship. His family comprised two sons, born il Vertnont, 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 improved farm in Cooper township. GEORGE DEMING, the youngest son of Dr. David E. Deming, is a native of Cooper township, this county, which is still his home, and was born on November 30, I845. Mr. Deming was married in I875 to Miss Mary J. Machin, a native of Lincolnshire, England, a daughter of Stephen and Fannie (Gilbert) Machin, also natives of that country, where the father was a farmer. In 185I 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 the age of 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. Jackson, of Kalamazoo, Ada Belle and Fannie Electa, all of whom are living. Mrs. Deming is an active and prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal 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 Deming purchased a home in Plainwell, 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. (Deming) Crane, and was born in Cooper township on July 28, I868. His father, one of the early settlers 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 Detroit 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 lumber for which was cut in Kalamazoo and floated down the river. Cooper township was organized that year and Mr. Crane soon became very prominent in its public affairs. Here the son grew to manhood, assisting in clearing the homestead and obtaining his education in the primitive log schoolhouse of the district. He was married on February 17, I863, to Miss 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 succession. He was chairman of the county board one year, (luring which the county court house was built. He was also elected constable when but twenty-one years of age. During his long residence of sixty years in this township he was frequently sent as a delegate to township, county and state conventions of his party. He died on April I5, I894, and his wife on May 21, I902. They brought their farm of three hundred and twenty acres to a high degree of cultivation and improved it with first-rate modern buildings furnished with every comfort and all the most approved appliances for carrying on its work. Their son, Jay D. Crane, who married Miss Fannie AMunn in I892, has four children, Julian, Alice I., Lewis H. and Charles B. He is actively engaged 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 township, who at the time of his death, on September 21, I899, 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 where his life began on April 28, I80; and the mother, whose maiden name was Nancy Veeder, \was a native of the same county, of Holland descent. and born in 1805. They were farmers all tlheir lives. In 1833 the family removed to Michi-.(1an, coming by way of the Erie Canal and Lake i;rie to Detroit, and from there with ox teams through the wilderness to Washtenaw county, \here thev located two miles southwest of \nn Arbor. The father purchased a tract,of land there intending to make it his future home, but in April, I835, he changed his mind, and coming to Kalamazoo countv, 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. M\r. Skinner took up two hun(lred and forty acres of government land in 1834, wlhen not a tree had been felled in the township, an(l wild game, wild beasts and wild Indians \\ere plentiful. A. few families of Indians who were friendll lived half a mile north of his farm;nl(l the next year two men built shanties some tlistance south of his. It was a common occurrence 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 constructed of logs and was eighteen bv twenty feet in size. A mnore commodious and pretentious \dwelling was soon after erected. Very soon'after iIc settled on the land he cleared five acres which litc )lanted to corn, potatoes alln.buckwheat. 'lIhereafter he cleared ten acres each vear until thle whole tract was cleared and under cultivation,;n111(d o the imnproved homestead he lived until his (l'aith, in November. i885. He was a prominent iii(l useful man ill the community and filled the offices of higliway commissioner and assessor for tile township ilany years. He was also influential ill the organization of the Methodist Episcopal church in the township, and was well and favorably known over a wide extent of territory. After the death of his first wife, which occurred in 1845, he 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 acquired 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 hunting deer and turkeys, many of which fell beneath his unerring rifle. After game became scarce il the region of his home he made annual hunting trips il the fall in the northern part of the state. On December I, 852, he was married to Miss IAary M. Delano, who was born in Schoolcraft township, this county, on April I8, 1835. and was but six weeks old when her parents lmlved to Cooper township). In 185,3 thev began farming onl the place on which Mrs. Skinner still lives. She is the daughter of Ephraim i'. andl Nancy (Gillette) Ielano, natives of the state of Newv York, the father born in Orleans and the mother in Saratoga countv. They came to Mlichigan in 1832 and. after living in Washtenaw county two years, settled in Cooper towlnship ill 1835. Here they took up land and remained until death, the mother passing away in T848 and tile 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 t62 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF Democrat and frequently went as a delegate to the conventions of his party. Ile held a number of township offices, serving as highway commissioner for almost twenty years. He was a lember 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 colmmunitv. WILLIAM MILHAM. The pleasing subject of this brief notice, who is passing the evening of his days in a serene and cheerful ol( age on the farm, which he has made so beautiful and productive in Portage township, and who lives in the midst of value(l Iublic institutions which he has helped to found, foster and enlarge in benefaction for the people whom thev serve, is a native of Columbia county, N. Y., where he was born on Septemlber 5., 1824. H —is father, the late -ton. Johin Milhamn (see sketcl on another pag<e of this work), was also born in that county and there he married 1 iss Eva Poucher, who (lied in that county in 1831. In 1845 the 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 whomll Williaml was the first. He acconipanlied his father to this county and continued to live with him until the autumn of 1849, whell he settled in Portage township, where he has since made his home. In the year last named he united in marriage with M iss Anna Eliza faam, a native of Columbia county, New York, who died in Portage townshil) in May, 1862, leaving onie child. Anna E. Mlr. Milham's second nmarriage occurred in August, I864, and was to Miss Marietta Root. She (lied in August, I866, having had one child who died in infancy. On October 27, i868, he married a third wife, Miss Emma Scudder, a native of Newton, Fairfield county, Conn. They had one daughter, Flora E. Her mother (lied in Portage township on March 27, 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 development and fertility and enriched with fine build ings and other first-class improvements. With toil an(d latience and continued hope, he has pursued the even tenor of his way through life, looking 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 alnd thrift for the continuance of his steady a(lvance — ment, and by this means he has held every foot of the progress lie has ever made. The contentions of politics, the claims of mercantile life, the gildled 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 firmlv to the plow of his choice without a backward look or <, forward longing for anyl other vocation, finding in its (uties enolugh to occupy all his faculties. save what his devotion to the public good has taken for the advancement of the general weal of his Gommiiunity, and( in its independelice and abundance of returns sufficient to satisfy all his desires. He supports the l)rinci)les of the Demllocratic party with fidelity, but never asks any of the honors of public office. For manly years he has been an attendant at the Presbyterian church anid a liberal contrilutor to its various interests. Nearly sixty years of his useful and inspirinlg life have been passed in this county, an(l now when the shallows of age are closing around himn therc is nnte of its citizei1s whlo does not (1d liln revereince. NELSON H. DELANO. The son of one of the best known pioneers of Cooper township in this county. Nelson H. Delavo is a native of the township. born in October, T839. His parents, Ephraim and Nancy (Gillett) De lano, the former a niative of Rhode Island at(n the latter of Orleans county, N. Y., came to thi.i 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 comlpletet their journey to Washtenaw county, often cutting their way through the dense,woods or building a road over swamps. Some little time after locatingt in Washtenaw they sold out there and changed IW 14 II l VC. 1Q<FIZIIA I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. their residence to Kalamazoo county, locating on section I6, Cooper township, in the midst of heavy tinmber and surrounded by Indians and wild beasts. The father cleared his land and made it,ver into a good farm, living on it until his death il 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. 1 Ie was also elected to the lower house of the,tate legislature but declined to qualify for the,thice of representative. Taking a (leep interest in lhurch affairs, lie was of great assistance in f(,undling the Congregational church in his neighilorhood, andl to the end of his life gave that sect ti(l others cordial and liberal support. He was tlso( an active an(l earlest Freemason, joining this allcicllt an(l holnorable or(ler in the state of New Nork an(l renaining an interested attendlant upon ils rites until his (leath. His first wife died in 1848. leavinl seven children, who are all livinll t11(l all in: this county but one son who lives in te'xas. For a second wife the father married Mirs. E-liza (Johlnson) M1onta-gue, a widow, and:native of \crlmo()nt, who dliedl in tiis county in abl)outt 1878. Nelson I)elanlo was reare(l in Cool)er township n111( ecl(ucate(i ill tlhe lpu lic scholl( ls. lie assisted iiis father in clearing tie homlestead, an(l resi(led \ith his l)arents until he was t\wntv-seven years old. He then lbegan farmingli for himself within sighlt of his father's chimney, and has passel all his years in this township except one which he sl)ent in Iow a. He was married in Cooper in i8(:8 to AIiss Julia Janes, a native of Wisconsin. 1hev have had four children alnd three of them;ire living, '\lay E., wife of George W. Perrin, Iluna J., wife of C. AW. Sipley, both of Kalamazoo, anld H. Dale, living at home. Mr. Delano ihas taken an active part in all movements for tle development and improvement of the townslilp, but has steadfastly declined all offers of cifficial recognition from the people around him, preferring to render his service to the public from the post of private citizenship, although politically he supports the Democratic party. He is a charter member of United Lodge, No. 49, t'ree and Accepted Masons, of Cooper Center. His wife is an active and valued member of the Congregational church, to the goo( work of which he is also a liberal contributor. 'ET ER SWEET. Timie il 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 pon(ler and make choice. It is well for those who lave the vision to see their chance, and the alertness to seize and use it. Such men lma hope to leave behind them some lasting memorial of the lives they live and the work they (o; and however unal)preciative public sentimlent mlla\ seem at most times, the record they lialke will ever stand to their credit, ai(l on occasions at least will receive the attention and commled(ation of many!. Iuit happily the class whio are vigilant and active il their chosen sphere selldom look or care for the shoxv- rexward for fi(lelitv that comes il the form of men's l)raises, but fild sufficient lee(l for their labor in its material retturs an1d tle satisfaction of p)erformilg it well. To this class belongedl Peter Sxveet, one of the early settlers of this county, w\lho came hither w-lhen the work of conq(luering ature and her wildl lroo(l of ol))posi'ig forces was all vet to l)e ldone, c (l \ld ho set to (loilg it xith resolute determination. He has run his race of toil an(l tradle ad amblition; his (lay's labor is entirelv accoimplishe(l, and lie has enjoxed the fruits of it:ithl the added satisfaction that it has been well (lone, a:nd has won the alpproval of all those who knewx him. \Vhile he vwas alive lie was held in higoh esteem by all who came in contact with himn, and when lhe departe(l this earth his death was sincerelvy mourned( 1b a host of loving friends. Mr. Sweet was born in Wyominig county, N. Y., on October 22, I835. His parents, Robert and P'hche (Shader) Sweet, were also natives of New York state, where the father worked at the trade of a cool)er until 1843, when he came to Michigan with his family. For three years he worke(l on a rented farm on Genesee Prairie, and in 1846 bought a farm in Cooper township adjoining the one now' owned and occupied by the i66 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF wife of Peter Sweet. The father died on this farm in I853, and his wife in 1862. Their family 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 I843, and 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 before 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 settlers in this county. He is survived by a wife, niece and nephew. WILLIAM KILGORE. Among the progressive and wide-awake farmers 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 veomanry 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 I880 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) Cornwell, who settled in this county in I855. 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 having an earnest interest in local affairs and a genuine 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 township, Mr. Kilgore's name is prominently connected 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 nan and a citizen in a capable and estimable manner, performing his various duties with fidelity and ability and holling 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 Mlichigan invaded its untrodden wilds and began to hew out for themselves opportunities for advancement anlt homes for their families they opened the way to a gradual development of the unbounded wealthi of the section and the erection here of a great commonwealth, results which have followed granldll in their wake. But at the same time they left to their ilmmediate descendants a (lestinlv If toil and privation in carrying forward ami(l difficulties and (langers which they themselves confronted but did not wholly overcome, the great work they had begun. Among those to whomn this heritage came was George E. Kilgore, vwho wias born in Plortage tovwnship, this count y, the son of John and Catherine (Martin) Kilgore, and the brother of Hiram and William Kilgore, accounts of whose achievements are recorded on other pages of this volume. Born to the destiny of which mention has been made, and inheritiiin with it a firmness of fiber and a force of char KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I67 acter which fitted him well for his part in the work his parents had begun, he cheerfully accepted his lot and entered upon the performance of his duties as soon as he was able, receiving xwhat preparation for them was possible through the schools of the period of his youth in a new cuntry and through assisting in the later laborof clearing his father's farm and enlarging its tillable 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 triumlphs 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 occupation or the scene of its activities. He was married in Allegan county in I880 to Miss Rosa Baker, who was born in that county. Her parents, 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., Melvin and Martha R., all living at home. In politics Mr. Kilgore is a Democrat, 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 improvements. But being a progressive man, he has not rcsted 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 townslip. At the same time he has given due attention to the general needs of his community and lhas not suffered them to lapse or languish for want of any aid he could give to their advantage. -Te is regarded on all sides as a good citizen, an ienterprising 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, prominent 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 Pomeroy left the scenes made memorable by them in his voungi 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, Niagara county, on May- 11, 1823. His parents were Jabez and Phebe (Hopkins) Pomeroy, the former 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 western New York farm, dying in February, 1879. His wife died in Kalamazoo in 1870. They had six sons and three daughters who grew to maturity, 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 -Massachusetts 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 locality, working on the paternal farm in summer and attending school in winter, with but little outlook into the world beyond his immediate neighborhood. 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 previous, buying it of the government. He at once began to clear and improve his land, and to this work he devoted himself until I866, 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. II 1851 he was married to Miss Jane Chipman, whose parents were pioneers of this county, coming here from Vermont. By his marriage Mlr. Ponero! became the father of seven children. Willis IM., Wardell' J., Clara T. (deceased), S. Ada, Jennie B., Clemana C. and Orphia L. Their mother (lied in 1870, and in 1872 the father mnarried again, his second wife being M\rs. 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, B-eatrice and Alice G., all of whom are living. \lr. Pomeroy attended the Presbvterian church and took an active interest in its affairs. I-e was well klnown throughout the cotunty and everywhere was highly respected as a good farmer, an uprigilt mnla anl an excellent citizen. CH ESTER R A. VWIT Ii\NAMlS. The great state of New York challenges the 1worltl in its progress, develol)ment, in(lustrial. coimmlercial and educational wealth and political ower-. 'Thee ae lrcseeit ainl renifest evidleices of the indlustry, inglenuity, ~enterprises anll bireadlth of view of its 1people. IBut it has another claiin to the a(lmiration o)f mankind. and that is in the triumlphs of its offspring ii cololnizing the wills of the western country in tllis land b)evon(l its bor(lers, and the mighty commionwlealth they have helped to build up therein to add to the greatness of our Union, and the wealth a(nd consequence of the American people. Among- the nmost prominent and pros)perous of these, her foster children, is the state of M\iichigan, whose early settlers were in large part from her restless and all-conquering populations. They came hither when the region was a primeval wilderness, basking in the noontide sun with a wild vegetation of variegated beauty, whose annual decay had been enriching the soil for centuries, or deeply shadled by a forest growth that had run riot in luxuriance for ages before America, at the bidding of Colum bus, rose fromn 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 determination, and helped to p)ush 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 Alavlo towVnship, this county, \who was born in Seneca county, New York, on Novem-ber 5, 1825, and became a resident of AMichigan in 1854. He was thle sto of Robert Williams, himself a native of the Empire state, where he passed his life in the peaceful pursuit of farming. He and his wife hal! three sons and three (laughters. Of these, three of the dautghters are living. Chester was rear(l il his native state an(l there received a comlmonschool education. After leaving school he nmad(l choice of an occulpation as a farmer and followd(l it onl rente(l lan(l there tuntil 1854. Tlhen realiziing that there were better opportunities for llinl ill tlhe unbroken wilds of the farther west, \llere tllhe1 was vet an atln)illance of nloccuplied ltaidl for t11 thlrifty worker, lie cn1i.i to tllis countltv and s. cured 1y purchase eilghty acres of a (tlorlailn \Vllicll had never yet b1een furrowed b tlle )low anrl 'Vwns co',vrce(l 1)v a ldense g..rowthl of ti'lher. ()n thlis he lbuilt a smlall log cablin for a (lwellilg- al b1eganl to (levote Ihinlself exclusively to cleariin1' and inll)rovinlg his lan(l. He dlid all the wodrk,f clearing- it himself, andl for years tle soun:(l:f his gleaningl ax was a famniliar one il that viciilitv. He also replaced his first unambitious dwellilng with a conlmodlious and( comifortable rcsildence anil addedl other lbuildings that were nee(dd as ral)i(ll as he coul(l. nleanwxvhile bringinog the land to n111 advanced state of cultivation an(l real)ingl goodl.annual harvest as the result of hiis inldustry a(dl care. He made a model farm of his purchase ail(l was enjoying its fruits in full measure, whenl tile spirt of lmodern commercialism seized( upon it, and the postoffice of the same lnalne was estallished there. With proper consideration the villa-ge was named in his honor and he was appointed its first postmaster, a position which he filled accel)tablv for a number of years. One of the leading industries of the town is a large heading lill KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I6r) which does a flourishing business. Here he contiilued to live until his death, inl August, 1894. 1r. W\illiams was twice mlarrie(l, first in New \'ork to Miss Catherine Allen, who die(d in this counllt ill 1870, leaviiig' 11( childlren. iHis second marriage occurrel ill t871 a(nd was with Mliss llarriet Tallman, a (laughter of David andl Evalill( ( 'lriI)p ) Tillllan, who was borii ill W\'v)om'inl cullllt\,.. Y. T'l'hey had three cllil(lrren, lE!-.;tr. livi ig at hoime t farry. mail carrier ( f A.-\Iio x!,xow lil)p. ald(l d>l11e, the wife of C. V. Price. who is also( liNvil' at hIe. T' fatihe never too<k a:Ictive plart ill l)olitical co)ltellti(ons, l)t lit e 11C v r lmll'ed thle l)propl r (Iities of,ood citizenslilp ill lie \way of aidli:' the life andi( progress of all coin111111l(lal)lc cnitcrlprises for the welfare of the (-om.11111titv. A.\'t)l tile respected citizens (f his It-wnslip lie) stood in tlic first ranlk aiid lnonle )btItr (lcscrvcdl the station. TJOHN lM. SELKRIG..\lthoug li but tell years old wheli lie accompanied his parents to this county in 1851 from tleir New York homie, John M\. Selkrig began at once to perform his part in clearing tile wild land oi which the family settled, the exigencies of the situation requirinlg the aid of every available en(eri' in re(leemingr the tract from the wilderness an(ld maintaining a livingi on it. He ha(d but limil d( oppo)l)rtlunities for schooling and tllese were;tli(d the most primnitive facilities. The wxants of the body had to be first cared for by the pio-!leers, and those of the mind had to take care of '!)mcmselves in a larl-e measure, but as the tuition,f nature and experience w\as all aroulnd the'm. tlicse were not wholly neglected. In books used!h such teachers the words are too simple to need Imcli schooling, and their meanings are too coml-!rlehensive to leave their student without a rich fid(l of readyx knowledge and a preparation t,)r energetic action in any emergency. Mr. Selklri was born in Onondaga county, N. Y., on Ib'clruary 28, 1841, and is the son of William and \ligail (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 1851. He then moved his family to Kalamazoo countyl and bought a farm in Alamo township, on which he lived until his death in 187I, his wife surviving him eight years, and (Iying on the farm in 1879. The land on which they established themnselves was the virgin forest, densely covered wit tlhe wildl grow()th of centuries, and their first \work on it was the erection of a little log shanty for the accomln(lodation of tle faimtily. After this was co(iinileted they gave themnselves zealously to the clearing an(l cultivating of the farm, and kept on illI)roving it and enlarging its response to tlecir (liligent and systeimatic tillingl until it becaiiie a fruitful farm and comifortable homne, and (leatlh released tliei troiii their toil. Their family comlprised two sons ai(l tw\o dlaulhters, all of whliomi are living, John and his sister. Mrs. Mary (. 'p)ham. beino- the onlyl ones now resident in thlis county. H-e cleared the greater part of the farlm, andl on the death of his parents became its owner. It has been his life-long hone 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 p)trste their wonted way with good 1an:ual returns for their labors, in a material way, and crowned with tlhe lasting- esteeii of all their nleilghbors and acquaintances. M\r. Selkrig is an ar(lent Republican fromi firnm conviction,and gives his party his best support on all occasioas without a desire for any of its honors or emoluments for himlself. He is an earnest member of the Metho(list lEpiscopal church, and one of its main supports 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 utm:ost 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 1861-5 in this country, which settled long contentions between the sections and forever 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 farming 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 success and a competence for himself by his efforts and aiding in building up the county for the general 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 (Pierson) 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 unfarmed 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 productive farm and comfortable home. The mother died in 1843 on this farm and the father in I85I, 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 thorough 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 making his own living. In I86I 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, Ill. 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 public 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 sections 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, I829, and was fourteen years old when he accompanied his parents, Tilly and Nancy (Stetson) Satnford, 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 intervening territory of alternating hill and plain, wild and woodland, swamp and water course, between the old home and the new. His father was a native 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 farii in Alamo township. On this he built a frame cabin, which was still standing a year prior to KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I7I his death, and in I843 he 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 the age of fifty-nine. His \idow survived him thirty-five years. dying in 1894. She found the duty of rearing her familv and carrying on the development and cultivation 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 anl 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 vears later. Edwin passed from this life in 1852. Ariston, the second child in the order of birth, is a resident of Van Buren county, this state, and Adeline J.. the widow of Wilson TTenry, has her home at East Jordan. Mich. Zardis, who was the third born of the children, received 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 father greatly in clearing the land, breaking it for culture and building its fences and other improvenents. 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 gratifying his love of sport. He cherishes a fine pair of antlers from a deer that he killed in 1848. Inheriting his father's love of adventure and disposition to see and conquer new lands and enliven his experience with variety of scene and achievement, in 1851 he went to California by way of \Tew\ York and the Isthmus of Panama, leaving iome 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 hlis operations. On April 5, 1859. he started 1homeward and reached Michigan on IMay 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 California from February 7 to July 4, 186i. Before making this second trip to the Pacific coast, however, he was married in I86o to Miss Frances Bachelder, a native of Perry, N. Y., whose parents 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 lives at Kalamazoo; Clark is the husband of Millie Myers; Luella is the wife of Wilbur Snow, of Climax township, ex-sheriff of the county, and Newman is living at home. Their mother died on November 29, 1885, and on June i, I888, the Father married Miss Elizabeth Keech, a native of Canada, whose parents, George and Sarah (Cushman),Keech, natives, respectively, of New York and Canada, became residents of Allegan county, Mich., in I857. 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 helpfully interested. CHARLES SEARLE. Coining to Kalamazoo county from his home in western New York nearly forty years ago, andl living here ever since busily occupied in 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 requirements 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 interests of his township the best and most admired attributes of American citizenship. Mr. Searle was born in Wavne county, New York, on September 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 Vermlont and the mother of the state of New York. They were farmers and followed the inldustrv in New York until death released them from their labors, the father dying there in about 1892 and the mother in about 1875. Their famil! 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 developed and most highly improved in the township, its present condition being the result of his continuous industry and skill in farming it and his enterprise in providing it with good buildings *and other necessary structures. In 1858 he was married in New York state to Miss Caroline 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, E1mma, 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 as highway commissioner, and in other ways has rendered the township excellent service. He has 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 Episcopal church. He is one of the best known citizens of the county, and none has a higher or more firmly established title to the regard and esteem of the people. HON. ALIEN POTTER. The late HIon. Allen Potter, of Kalamazoo, was a man (listinguished in business circles and political affairs throughout southern Michigaln. In every un(dertakinll of his busy and useful lifi he succeelded well, and the various enterprises with which he was connected were many and ilmportant. Ilis life began1 ill Sarat)a c, oi' t!. N. Y., on (ctober 2, i8T8, andl he was tlle s1l of Elisha and Mlaria (Allen) Potter, both born and reared in New York state. The father was a farmer there and for a number of years a manufacturer of woolen fabrics. 1n his later life 1e moved to Hillsdale county, Mich., and settle(d near IlMoscow on a farn, which he afterward disposed of and took up his residence with his sonl at Kalamazoo, where he died. He was a son of Dr. Stephen Potter, a surgeon in the Unite(l States armn during the war of 1812 and a wellknownvl 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 M\'ichigan, and here he followed his craft in a number of different places, among them Jonesville, in Hillsdale county, and later at Homer, at each place remaining several years. In June, 1845, he 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 partnership 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 afterward became vice-president of the Michigan National Bank. He also held stock in the gas com jeV L —l I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I75 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 afterward 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 knowledge of public affairs that made him a valuable iembner of the bodies to which he was sent as a representative.. Locally, although he did not desire 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 atturity and vigor of his powers and with ap)arently many years of usefulness yet before him. In September, 1845, he married with Miss (hlaritv P. Letts, a daughter of Abraham and Eliza (Smith) Letts, both natives of New York. ''he family moved to Michigan in 1835 and settled near Homer, Calhoun county, where the fatller engaged in farming. He died in Kalamazoo. Ilis father was John Letts, a native of New Jersey 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-:ca1)es from violent death and often was obliged to have recourse to skillful strategem to save lhim1self, being employed in a measure in the secl-rt service of the army. He died at a good old;lit in Orleans county, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Potter had three children. Their son. Allen Potter. (l. died in 1883. The daughters, Mrs. May Knight and Mrs. Lillie Gardner, live in Kala11!;azoo. JOHN N. RANSOM. Although not a pioneer of the state, John N. RKt1asom, a well-known, enterprising and prosperous farmer of Alamo township, this county, was unldoubtedly an early arrival in the state, being born in the city of Kalamazoo on March 2, 1840, II less than ten years after the foundation of the village 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 completing there the scholastic training he had begun in the common schools. He afterward attended 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 Putnev,Windham county,and then at Glens Falls, N. Y.. where he remained until 1837. In that year he came to Kalamazoo county and bought three hundred and twenty acres of government land in Alamo township, to which he added subsequent 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 Democrat, 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 I846 he was elected to the legislature. At the end of his term in that body lie 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 cultivation. His last resilence was in the city of Kalamazoo., lwhere he (lied in June, I867. He was twice married, his second wife being Miss Lucia Lovell. The first. who was the mother of John N., was Miss Elizabeth Noves, a native of Vermont. She died in I840, 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 stockgrower, and in those lines of productive effort he is still engaged. He and his brother cleared the home farm themselves and erected all the buildings on it. In the course of time he became the 176 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF owner of this farm, and lie 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 highl state of fertility. It is improved with a fine modern dwelling an(l other good( buildings of every needed kind, and provided with all the most approved appliances for carrying on its work, or ministering to the comfort and enjoyment of the family. Mr. 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, I869, to Miss Caroline 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 I845, locating then in Alamo township, where they passed the remnainder of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Ransom have four children, Fletcher C., who is an artist and lives in IB-rooklyn, N. Y.; Fannie E., nowr 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. He 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 wvas almost wholly experimental, the spread of its employment in this capacity has been wonderful and its use therefor is now universal in c'ties, 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 acconplish 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 h1abiliments of a more mature stature, it demonstrated its disposition to keel) pace with the march of progress then already 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 I856, 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 augmnent the number of its patrons. The company was changed into a larger stock company in I886, and J. P. Woodbury 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 I900, 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, secretary-treasurer; an(l J. J. Knight, manager. At this time (I904) 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 thousond 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 (o thirty per cent. a y'ear from the start. The coillpany- employs here sixty to seventy-five persons regularly. David HT. Haines, treasurer, was born at Salem, N. Y.. in 1844, his parents also being natives of that state. The family moved to Ohio KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 177 in 1853, and there the son grew to the age of se enteen. In I86I he came to Allegan, Mich., ar in August of I862 enlisted in' defense of tl Union as a member of Company L, Fourth Mid igan Cavalry. His regiment was assigned to tl Armny of the Cumberland under command < General Buell, and took part in the battle of Chicl amauga and other engagements of that time ar locality, beginning with Stone river. The reg inent then was transferred to the cavalry cort of the Military Division of the Mississippi, ar did active service in all the Atlanta campaign f ater it went with General Wilson in his marc across Alabama to Georgia and took part in ti capture of President Davis of the Confederac Mr. Haines was mustered out of the service July, 1865, and returning soon afterward 1 Michigan, settled at Kalamazoo, where he passe a year at school, after which he found emplom ment seven years with the milling firm of Me: rell & McCourtie. During the next ten yea: he was otherwise engaged, and at the end of th; period the company was re-organized as the Me rell Milling Company, and he returned to it an remained as its secretary until I890. For thr( years thereafter he conducted a milling busine: of his own, and in I9go became associated wit the gas company, with which he has been contii touslv connected since. He was married at Kal mazoo in 1873 to Miss Lila Thayer, a native c Ohio. They have one child, their son, Donald I AMIr. Haines takes an active interest in the frate: nal life of the community as a Freemason and member of the Grand Army of the Repubilc. SAMUEL A. BROWNE. The late Samuel A. Browne was one of Mich.an's best knownl and most enterprising' horst 1ien, breeding horses of the highest grade an *Iiving his stable an envied renown all over th country. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, Septen I)er 8, 1833, the son of William and Anna (IMe lade) Browne, who were also natives of the Iris capital. Late in life thev followed their son to tl United States and died in Chicago. Their so was reared and educated in his native city, an v- at the age of nineteen years came to this country id and located at Chicago. Here he engaged in the he lumber business and later in the lumber trade, alh- ways having large interests in his charge in this he line, even until his death, after he had begun to of devote a large share of his attention to other pur- suits. In 1885 he moved to Kalamazoo, and assoid ciated himself with Senator Stockbridge in the:i- firm of S. A. Browne & Company, bought a half )s section of land west of the city and began breeding id horses of the best quality for the track. Among.s. the renowned racers they bred and owned were:h "Grand Sentinel" and "Empire," both of which ie had excellent records, and afterwards "Ambassay. dor," which they refused an offer of seventy-five in thousand dollars, but which afterward died at to Kalamazoo. Later their "Anteeo" became a d leading stud and was sold by them for fifty-one y- thousand dollars, and their "Bell Boy" brought r- thirty-five thousand dollars as a two-year-old. rs They also raised "Vassar," which made a record at of 2:07, and "Dancourt," which won a ten-thour- sand-dollar stake at Detroit. In addition to these.d they bred a long list of fast horses including ee "Eminence," 2:8, trial 2:Io. The stallions won a ss wide reputation throughout the continent, and h as a horseman Mr. Browne was well known all n- over this and many foreign countries. He died a- on March 4, I895, at Los Angeles, Calif. On f November 15, 1899, he was married in Chicago to I. Miss Jane H. Hanna, a native of Ireland. They r- had five sons and one daughter, all of whom are a 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 an(l enterprise in promoting the substantial welfare of the comi- munity. While serving as alderman from the v- second ward he secured the paving of Main d street. He was also a presidential elector from is the ninth district in i880 on the Garfield ticket. i- in fraternal life he was a Freemason of the Y- tlirtv-secon(l degree. and( in church affiliation was; a Congregationalist. ie \WILLIAM H. BROWNE. his son and the 1 only member of the family now living in Kala(d nazoo, 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 Benjanin 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 I8, 1839. His parents were both natives of New Hampshire, of good old English ancestry, and on the mother's side he is closely connected with many eminent and distinguished men of the Bellows and Chase families. Among the mrost celebrated of these were Rev. Henry W. Bellows, of New York, who had a world-wide reputation as a clergyman, and also as the originator and the president of the Sanitary Commission, 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 Michigan 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 shoemaker made it up into the footwear for the whole family. During the first dozen years of their residence 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 I848. Moses Hodgman gave his children the best facilities for securing an education that his limited means permitted. They attended the.district schools and Francis studied in the select schools taught by Mary Norris in the old Farmers' Exchange, which stood on the corner now (I905) 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. IHe 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 entered 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 I862 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. Fronm there he went in I86o to Sandusky, O., where he worked for six months in a photograph gallery. From there, in the spring of I865, he went to Galesburg, Mich., where for three years he ran a photograph gallery except for the six months spent in Coldwater, Mich., studying lawi. 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 i868 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 surveyor, he was nominated for that office at the Republican convention and a few days later was appointed to fill a vacancy in that office. He hel(l that position with the exception of one term, when he was engaged in railroad surveys until KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I79 (193, when failing health compelled him to retire 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 (rande Western Railroad in eastern Utah. He wxas married November 14, I870, at Galesburg. Mich., to Florence B. Comings, making his home at Kalamazoo and Galesburg until March, 1874, when he removed to the old paternal hamestead 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 worker and organizer in that club in its earlier vears. He was one of the founders of the Michigan Engineering Society. and has been the secretary and treasurer of that society since i886. 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 vears an active member and leader in choirs wherever he happened to be. In T899 he published a volume of music of his own composition entitled "ITome's Sweet Harmonies." He was one of the founders of the Michigan Agricultural College Alumni Association, 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 "WVandering Singer and His Songs," of which two editions have been issued. Te has written much for the press. mostly on farming and engineering topics. He has recently 1)pulished a pamphlet of historical and reminiscent sketches entitled "Early Days in Climax." 1te is one of the contributors to the volume entitled "Michigan Poets aid Poetry." He is an artist of ability and has his house decorated from one end to the other with oil paintings and photographs, his own work. For the past twenty years he has edited the organ of the Michigan Engi neering Society, the "Michigan Engineer." In I886, under the auspices of that society, he, in conjunction with Prof. C. F. R. Bellows, of Ypsilanti, wrote and published the "Manual of Land Surveying." Three years later he bought out Prof. Bellows and re-wrote 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 authorities 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 reversed the decision. They could have paid him 110no 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 B. Tobey, a Climax farmer, and Lucy. mlarried to D. A. Davis, principal of No. 2 city school, Battle Creek, Mich. His first wife (lied in the spring of I888, 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. His present residence 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 standing 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 plentiful, 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 husker. He has seen the good old-fashioned, honest, steady, reliable, hard-working hired man disappear and his place taken by machinery, and wonders if after all we are any better or any happier than folks were fifty years ago. BIG 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. Harding; and secretary, Wells N. Adams. It succeeded 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 immense general merchandising business, with a large extent of territory tributary to its trade, and all conducted in the most vigorous and systematic manner. The present officers of the company are the same as when it was organized, except 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, I853. He came to Michigan with his parents, Abraham and Jane (Ransom) Harding, and their four other children. They located in Climax township, this county, where the father worked at his trade as a carriage maker, for a short time, then moved to Barry county, and some years later (lied in northern Michigan. He was a soldier in' the Civil war, and saw much active and arduous service in the memorable contest, participating in a number of its most important battles. The mother (lied 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 I835, and( died there after many years of successful farming. Mlr. and Mrs. Harding have had six chil(ren, three of whom are living: Zella M., wife of J. R. Campbell; Myrtie M., wife of Ross E. Adlals, 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 (lied. In politics Mr. Hardling is a Republican. He is a justice of the peace and has served six years as highway commissioner. He is a third(legree MAason, a Modern Woodman of America and a Knight of the Maccabees. Mr. Harding began life as a poor boy and was reared by strangers. He has mnade himself what he is, a wellinformed, high-minded an(l successful business man, an excellent citizen, and a social and industrial force of magnitude and influence. W\WALT ER C. SMITH. This esteemed citizen and farmer of Wakeshina township, in this county, who retired frow active work somie years ago and( took up his residence at Vicksburg, is a native of Oakfield, Genesee county, New York, where he was horn )01 March I, I843. His parents, Williaml and MlarE. (Shoemaker) Smith, were also natives of the state of New York and born in Mtontgomery KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. i8i 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 Calhoun 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 188i, il 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 during the last twenty-two years. They were married in 1867, the mother being Mfiss Josephine L. 1iurnham prior to her marriage, the daughter of Hiram 0. 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 1., now the wife of F..\. Robinson. of Vicksburg, aind the mother of two children, l\argerie and Walter N.. and their son Fred R.. who is living on the homestead. The latter married MIiss Anna L.. Ma'soii and has one son,,T. Mason. Mr. Smith has served four terms as township treasurer. He and his wife belong- to the Methodist,l)piscopal church, of which lie is a trustee. CHARLES V. MOTTRAM. M. D. Notable in his professional career, distin-:cuished in military service, and widely known;tlnd highly esteemed in private life, the late Dr. (Charles V. AMottram, of Kalamazoo. after his death, was laid to rest in Mountain Holne cemetery with every demonstration of popular regard and affection. He was born at Gilbertville. Otsego county, New York, on December 25. 1823, and \as the grandson of Colonel Jasper Bedient. a Revolutionary patriot who took part in the battle of Bunker Hill, Saratoga and Yorktown. The Doctor obtained his primary education inthecom mon schools and academy of his native place, and had partially completed a course of higher instruction at Hamilton College, New York, when he moved to Michigan and took up the study of his profession in the office of his brother, lDr. William Mottram, then located and engaged in a large practice at Nottawa in St. Joseph county. In 1847 he was graduated with distinction from the State Medical College at ILa Porte, Indiana, serving, during the last year of his course, as demonstrator of anatomy, a branch of medical science in which he was unusually lroficient. After his graduation he returned to Nottawa, and there practiced in association with his brother until 1850, when they moved to Kalamazoo, where he remained actively and successfully 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 hospital 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 appointed surgeon of the Sixth Michigan Infantry. and the following autumn the regiment was orlered 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 Mlichigan, Fourth Wisconsin, Twenty-first In(liana and Norris Battery being brigaded, Dr. \lottraml was appointed brigade surgeon, and was subsequently made chief medical officer on the staff of Geiieral B. 1F. Butler, whlo commanded the land forces of the expedition. He was with Colnmodore 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 nmedical director of the Department of the Gulf. and was particularly distinguished at the battles of Baton Rouge and Port Hudson for his hospital service on the field. He was with General Banks on the Red river expedition, in the battles of Alexandria and Grand Ecole, and participated in the capture of Forts Morgan and Gaines 182 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF and other defenses at the entrance of Mobile bay. In I864 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 retirement from the service he was offered the colonelcof his regiment, but declined the honor. For three years following his "muster out" he was an invalid 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 distinction as a physician and surgeon. He was a member of various local medical societies of both Michigan and Kansas, and a permanent menmber 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 mnonths on the continent 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 religious faith a firm believer in the doctrines of the Christian religion, and in practice a man of active charities and great humlanity. 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 cordial regard of the soldiers. OSCAR M. ALLEN, SR. To the interesting subject of this brief and inadequate review the city of Kalamazoo is probably 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 biography. As an extensive real estate operator Mr. Allen added several beautiful tracts to the municipality for residence or business purposes. He was one of the original and most effective promoters 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 mnany a poor man to good returns for his inventive genius. He has been for years largely interested in the paper manufacturing industry here and else where, has aided in founding and maintaining benevolent institutions, has been of material assistance in building and equipping an important railroad in the state, has contributed liberally 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 unostentatious citizen, performing with fidelity to dlutv 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 proniinence. Mr. Allen was born in Niagara county, N. Y., in 1828, and is the son of Thomas and Hannah (Chesbrough) Allen, natives of Vermont. The father was a tanner who brought his family to Michigan in 1837 and settled in Jackson county, where he became a prosperous farmer and passed the remainder of his life. His father was a soldier in the Revolution and fought under 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. -ie remained in Jackson county OSCAR 1\! ALLEIN. I I I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. i85 until 1845, then, a youth of seventeen and desirous 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 active work in this line in Detroit he moved to Sandusky, 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 lainting five years. He then returned to Detroit and there passed three years in the produce rad(le. In 1853 he moved to Kalamazoo and opl)ned a large establishment for the work of lpainting and decorating, papering walls and collateral 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 coldutcted a branch business in Chicago. At the c1n( of that tinme Mr. Rice retired and Mlr. Allen added a large stock of superior grades of furniture. After some time he sold out the furniture an11 a little later the entire business. He then olened the first dollar store in the city and found the project a (lecided success from the start..\fter conducting it for a number of years he disp)se(l of his interest in it and founded the Globe ('sket Manufacturing Company, the first establishment engaged in the manufacture of cloth covered caskets in this country. Selling his inttrest in this business, he became largely enagaed in real estate operations in and around the city, and, in company with Heber C. Reed, formed the South Side Improvenent Company and plattlcd for a residence section its addition of forty acres to the city, in which they built over five mniles of sidewalks and which has helped to make one of the most desirable residence portions of tlc town. He was also one of the earliest and lhaviest investors in paper manufactories and il'e of the early promoters of the Henderson\mnies Complany for the manufacture of uniforms,.'n account of which will be found on another Iage 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 Eln place, which together have a ten-thousanddollar 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 devices and those of other men,thirty-two inall,thus aiding more than one poor inventor to a proper compensation for his invention. He is a stockholder 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 Kalamazoo & Saginaw Railroad, in which he was a director 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 twentv-five thousand dollars, which is now worth a million dollars. Prior to going there he was engaged for a time in publishing steel plate engravings of the illustrious men and women of the world and had almost exclusive control of the business. His benefactions to religious 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 subscribers 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 I849 to Miss 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 twentyeight 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, progressive and successful farmers of southern Michigan, 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 186I, when he came to this county and( settled on the farm on which he lived until 1902. At that time he moved to Augusta, where, until death called him on August 29, 1905, he was actively engaged in overseeing the work on his farm and dloing his share of it. This land, which had never vet heard the voice of command calling it forth from its wilderness and lethargy to responsive productiveness when he took possession of it, yielded to his persuasive industry with alacritv, and rewarded his faith by developing into comeliness, fruitfulness and great value. On July 5, 1869, Mr. Crane united in marriage with Miss Flora E. Forbes, a daughter of Nathan and Laura (Willnoth) 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 Benjamin 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 nunihers of well-bred live stock, making this industry a specialty in which he took the greatest interest and found much enjoyment. He was very successful in his efforts, having made a studvr 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 alwavs prominient 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 frien(ds reckon him among those departed this life. WITLLIAMX WAGNER. \Villiani Wagner, one of the pioneer business men of Kalamazoo, and at the time of his retirement from traffic the oldest merchant of his line in this city, is a native of Germany, born in Se,tember, 1835. and the son of David and Mary Wagner, also natives of the fatherland. Tlie father was a government officer, and died when his son William was five years old. The soin grew to manhood in his native place and attended the schools there until he was fifteen. He thnl learned his trade as a tailor and followed it il Germany until 1851, when he came to the United States, being forty-four days on0 the ocean. (On KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 187 his arrival in this country he came at once to Ann \rlor, Mich., where he found employment at lis trade with an uncle, in whose employ he rena]ined 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, then came to Kalamazoo and \worked as a journeyman until I873. In that year he began the business for himself, and carried it on briskly with an increasing trade until December, 1903, when he retired from active pursuits. He is a stockholder in the Central Bank an(l 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 I859 to Miss Anna M. Yawager, a native of New Jersey and of German ancestry. They had one child, William W., who is a resident of Kalamazoo. The parents of M\rs. Wagner, James W. and Anna (Crater) Yawager, were among the first settlers of Lansilug, going there from Northville, Mich., and lmaking the journey by team through the unbroken 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 unilnlabited country: The father erected the first lo, cabin at the place, the commissioners who located 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, 1inda the outlook for comfort within a human life was far from promising. Indians were plentiful;<ll not always friendly, wild beasts and reptiles contested possession of the land with the new (l ellers, the conveniences of civilization were scant and hard to get, and, those who cast their lot 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, I905, at the family residence on west South street, in the city of Kalamazoo, after an illness which lasted three,lays. She was a woman of remarkable 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-(lefying might, showed the richness and strength of its soil, the high character 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 comprehensive breadth of view of its founders and early settlers. Among these, one worthy of slpecial 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 the family emigrated to Canada, and took tip 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 I9, I83I, 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 twentysix, 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: Adeline, wife of Frederick Shay (see sketch on another page) MIarquis, a prosperous farmer of Richland township; Lura, wife of Joseph Newell, of Portage township: MTary, wife of Gordon B. Brigham, of Richland township; Ella, wife of Sabin B. Nichols, of Kalamazoo; Albert, connected with the North & Coon Lumber Company, of Kalamazoo; Walter W., formerly on the homestead in Comstock, and Howard B., in business in Kalamazoo. The four decease( are Sarah, who was the wife of Ienr- Tolhurst at the time of her death, on May 9, i888; Emma, who died on May 22, I889; Clara E. wife of the Rev. John Humphreys, who died in October, 1894, and Robert, 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 b1 her parents to Michigan when she was but four years old. The journey was made with an ox team, and led through the famous M\taumee 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 improvements 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 articles. The country around them was a wilderness; there were no roads or other evidences of civilization near them. Their early yearswerehere 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 advanced cultivation, and improved with good buildings and all the appliances necessary for vigorous and successful farming. The farm comprised one hundred and ninetv-two acres, all of it under cultivation 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 deepenled 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 attention from the start and he rendered it good service in his long tenure of the office of school director. 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 coinfort 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 representative of progress than is Nathaniel H. Stewart, 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 andl time-honored race, and can trace his ancestry KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN I89 back to the time of Henry VIII, was born on Julv 20, 1847, at Johnstown, N. Y. He attended school and worked in his father's shops until I868 wllen he, like Benjamin Franklin,' left his native tow\n with only thirty dollars in his pocket, and calne to the then village of Kalamazoo, arriving there with but seven dollars. Soon afterward he entered the law office of ex-Senator Charles E. Stulart, Edwards & May. His great physical strength, as well as his mental and moral power, ailde(l him in enduring the privations he had to un(lergo, 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 adhered to the rules of self-respect, industry and economy. In I869 he went to Plainwell, where he worked for one year in an elevator and produce house, receiving a salary of seventy-five dollars 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 up1 the study of his beloved profession with the same law firm, wlich had changed to Edwards & Sherwood. Thlis firm, appreciating Mr. Stewart's fine bu1sincss ability, keen insight, and general alptitu(le for the profession, made a contract w:ith hini for three years. In March, 1872, he was admitted to tlie bar on his first examination. Whllen the firm of I(dwards & Sherwood dissolved. Mr. Edwardls rc(lenested Mr. Stewart to join hinii in his chosen 1pr, fession, which he did. On December 14, 1875. he married Miss Emily Frances Gates,a daughter of (I'launcey and Jane Gates, who came to Kalaia,,oo() from New York in 1868. Mr. and \lrs. Ste-vart 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 of his time and means to advance in every possille way the principles of Democracy. He is one of the most successful lawyers, and is a public speaker of great eloquence and force. In I882 he was chairman and congressional manager of the campaign, when by his shrewdness and skillful manipulation a Democrat overcame a Republican majority of five thousand in the district. When he ran the entire campaign in 1883, all the Democratic candidates for supreme judges and two regents of the State University were elected. Hle has served on all the executive comdmittees of the Democratic party, and has aided this party greatly in various ways. Mr. Stewart, aside from 'being a politician of the highest order, is a lover of all that is beautiful in art, literature, and nature, being extremely fond of paintings, poetry and flowers. As he prefers those poets that appeal to the heart and the sympathies, his favorite amnong them all is "Bobby" Burns, the Scottish poet. His great fondness for poetry and his wonderful memory are shown by his having commnitted to memory the entire poem of the Rubaiyat 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 selfmade mian 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, I903, 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 I90o BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF as himself. They were farmers and died when their son Daniel was a child. Of their six children 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 attended school to a limited extent in his native land, and by studious and judicious reading became a very well informed man. After a residence of two years at Ann Arbor, he came to Kalamazoo and for a time worked for D. S. Walbridge, a miller, for whom he drove team and packed flour. Later he bought wool and grain for Dudgeon & Coob. In I880 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 I859 to Miss Ellen Milan, a native 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 Kellev, a daughter of John Kellev, born in Cork, Ireland. Her father brought his family to *Kalamazoo in I845. He was employed in building the Michigan Central Railroad between Detroit and Niles, this state, and was popularly known as "Boss Kelley." He died in Kalamazoo in I847. By his second.marriage Mr. Harrigan became the father of five children. Of these, four are living, Ellen MI., 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, enterprise 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 dollars, the first officers being William L. Brownell, president; C. H. Williams, vice-president; A. -. 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 M\Tr. Williams and Mr. Brownell. of this company. Seventy-five to one hundren persons are employed by the company. They have the capacity for turning out one hundred and fifty dozen corsets a day. their product being sold by mail,-voluntary orders-no salesmen employed. The goods are sold in the central, western and southern states, and the business is constantly on the increase. W. I. Brownell, president of the conmpany, is a native 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 Kalatnazoo in the early dlavs and bought a tract of land adjoining the city limits at that time, and here he was engaged extensively in the manufacture of brick for more than twenty years, and during all of that period he was superinten(lent of the county poor. He made the brick used in the asylum and many other important structures. and had a high reputation for the qualit) of his product and the care with which his w',rk was done. He died in I879, having been lduriig the whole of his residence here lromlinent in Iulblic affairs and having filled a number of different local offices. His son, W. I.. 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. I9I trade for more than twenty years. He served as secretary of the Kalamazoo Corset Company one \car, but from the organization of the Puritan Company he has been its president 'and manager. [le is a Knight Templar Free Mason and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and the fraternal life of the colnmmlnity receives inspiration from his interest and active work in the order, as the business interests of the city do from his zeal and capacity ill colmmercial and industrial lines. It is largely tue to his shrewdness, influence and fine business ability that the enterprise of which he is the head 1ias grown to such magnitude and won so extcensive a trade. He knows through practical ex1icrience and close observation every detail of his ind(lstry from start to finish, and gives all phases alld elements of the business his personal attention. While "it is not in mortals to command success.' 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 William G. Dewing, a native of county Norfolk, England, where he was born on May 17, 1809. Mr. )ewing was one of eleven children, and was birought up under the most assiduous and con-. siderate domestic care, in a home circle abun(ldantly supplied with the comforts of life. After lbeing well educated in France and becoming master of the French language, which he spoke \\itli the accuracy of a native, he insisted on fol1,vwing the sea for which he had long had a desire. His father determined that if the son would 1kh a sailor he should know his business from the lbeginning, and apprenticed him so that he would tloroughly learn the sea-faring life. The chalnge froni the tenderness of nurture to which he had ieccn accustomed to the hardships he was now catlled upon to endure did not change his deter nination, 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 settled 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 stimulated 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. Dewing conducted the business alone, changing its nature several times and meeting with alternating 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 succeeded 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 reorganized and assumed the name it now bears, the firm of Dewing & Sons. The father remained in the business and gave it his personal attention 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 forward along the lines of liberality and progressiveness 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 I887, 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 l)roducts 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 industrial 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 serviceable part. While never desirous of public office for himself, he was zealous in aiding in the selection 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 local matters his genuine public spirit overbore all party considerations. In his nature he was essentially and practically benevolent, being one of the foremost men in Michigan in charitable matters, and one of the prominent figures in all conventions 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 philanthropic institutions. In this county his philanthropy, 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: b:it 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 supporters of the Kalamazoo County Pioneer Association. His life was a calm, full current of active 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 Kalamazoo with his parents when he was a boy. He was reared and educated in his new home, attendin, the common and high schools and Olivette College. On leaving school he atonce entered the establishment to which he has contributed so muich 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 il the P'uritan Corset Company, the Sugar Factory, the Chicago, Kalamazoo & Saginaw Railroal 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 I88I, 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 aid Abigail (Kimbell) Stevens, the former a native of England anid the latter of Scotland. They emigrated to thel United States early in their life and settled in Massachussets, and there they lived until (leatli 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 wer' born in the household, all of whom are now deal. One of them was the late John C. Stevens, foun(der of the New York Yacht Club, and its first con' modore, 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 education. At the age mentioned, in company with one of his brothers, he made a trip from Worcester to White Pigeon, Mich., on horseback, and ill PELICK STEVENS. MRS. LYDIA STEVENS. I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I95 this new section they bought a tract of land on the prairie near what was then known as Ed\ard sburg. Mr. Stevens made some improveiients on the land, then sold it and returned to lassachusetts. Soon afterward he came west a<a1in and located on a wild piece of land which lie bought adjoining the village of Schoolcraft. 'his also he improved and sold, after which he cleared another new farm on which he lived for m1o(re than thirty years. In 1862 he moved to Kalan1azoo, )purchasing a home on West Main street, w\llre his widow now resides. W\hile living in the cit- he devoted his attention to building Wlbouses, 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 desired public office of any kind, but did consent to serve a number of years on the school board. He was married on January 3T, I836, to Miss Lvdia Alexander, a native of Lyons, Wayne county, N. Y., where she was born on February 23, I818. She is the daughter of George A. and Margaret (Shaver) Alexander, the father born in Philadelphia and the mother in New Jersex. Mrs. Stevens came to Michigan alone at the are 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 conmercial wealth and advanced moral and social 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 noonday 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 possession 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, I832. He was born at Lyons, Wayne county, N. Y., on July 6, I8I6, 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 I744. This worthy gentleman, when he was seventeen years of age, after having 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 until he was several davs 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 I8IO he moved his family to Lvons, VWayne county, where he died in I830, at the age of forty-eight. Peter was at this time fourteen 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 I96 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 remained with his uncle and worked in his employ four years, and for a number thereafter worked at his trade of carpenter and joiner. In I840 he was united in marriage with Miss Sabra Anton, of Mendon, St. Joseph county, who was born near Utica, N. Y.,' on February 25, I820. 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. is first purchase of land, however, was made in I834. 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 position 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, 9goI. JOHN VANDEWALKER. Nothing in the history of the American people 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 dismayed them. With unyielding will they pressed their way over every obstacle, often challenging fate herself into the lists, and meeting her on almost equal terms. To this fast fading race belongs 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 redeeml it from the wilderness and make it fragrant with the flowers and fruitful with the products of cultivated life-that was to evoke its stores of hidden wealth, transform its wild growths inlto comely and valuable commodities and send into the channels of trade its bounteous resources for the sustenance and comfort of man. Mr. Vandewalker was born at Preble, Courtland county, N. Y., on October Ii, 1823, and is the son of William and Betsey (Bouck) Vandewalker, themselves 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 active 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 escape each time. John Vandewalker reached man's estate in New York, and received a limited education 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 Kalamazoo 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 Richond 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 CO long and faithful industry. He has been married three times, the first marriage occurring in 1849, when he was united with Miss Sallie Dailey, a native of New York, daughter of Garrett 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 I879, and the father married, in 1885, Miss Angie M. Case, who died in i891. 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) IHamilton, 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 active 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 waters, a cheerful, a hale, a contented old age, respected 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. Vandewalker 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 UNTY, MICHIGAN. I97 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. MIr. Montague was born at Hadley, Mass., on July 30, I813, and belongs to an old colonial family which settled there in i659, 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 homestead. He was a soldier in the war of I812 with the rank of sergeant, but his company was not called into active field service owing to the shortness of war. The son, Henry Montague, remained 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 father the habits of industry and thrift which have distinguished him through life. In 1835 he 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 on the building committee for the erection of the Michigan Asylum for the Insane, he put up1 the two principal buildings of the institution, serving on the committee until I859, when he was made steward, a position he filled until October, I884. He then resigned and retired from active pursuits, and he has since lived in the quiet enjoyment 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 i98 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, I898. Mr. Montague belonged at the dawn of his manhood to the Liberty 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 I854, 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 I854, serving that winter and in I855. In 1837 he joined the Congregational church, and in I838 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 I855, and he was chairman of its executive committee five years. He is now past ninety-one years old, having 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 became 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 freedom, having as many as five in his home at one time. In i852 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 capacity, 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 Kalamazoo 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 volume. 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, I852. 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 messenger 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 lBardeen Paper Company, with interests in other papelmills; treasurer of the Globe Casket Company: stockholder in the Kalamazoo Gas Company, an(l stockholder and president of the Star Brass lrorks and the Puritan Corset Company. In addition 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 apd faculties, yet such is his business capacity 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 inspiration to the social life of the community and aid KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 199 in directing its political affairs as an ardent Republican. 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 government service at Washington, D. C. They have one child, their daughter Dorothy. In the fraternal activities of the city Mr. Peck takes an active 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 managed 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 life was as a commercial traveler representing:he Seth Thomas Clock Company, in whose interest he traveled a number of years through the southern states. In 1838 he came to Michigan, and while passing through Richland in Kalamazoo county he learned of a desirable tract of tvo 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, 1905. He at once became a speculator in western lands, renting this tract to a tenant and purchasing large tracts of wild domain in Wisconsin and Iowa. These he later exchanged for improved 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 considerable, but his energy did not stop with caring for them. Desiring to aid the farmers of the county to increase and improve their live 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 RichAbnd until I868, 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 remained vice-president through all changes until a few years before his death. His broad and active mind could not, however, rest with one enterprise 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 Yorkville, where he died. Mr. and Mrs. Peck had six children, five of whom are living: Mrs. Susan C. P Campbell, of Ann Arbor; Horace B., late of Kala-, mazoo (see sketch); Mrs. Frances P. Burrows, wife of United States Senator Burrows, of Kalamazoo; 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, 1841, 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. I868. 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 I884, since which time he gave his entire attention to his large interests in other lines of business, he being president of several lumber companies in northern Michigan and Wisconsin and a director of the Berwick Lumber Company, of New Orleans, La., which does an immense business in cypress lumber in the south. Politically Mr. Peck was a Democrat and served as a delegate to theDemocratic 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 I870 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, thc Knights of Pythias and the Elks. In all the relations 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. EMANUIEL C. HENIKA. Coming to Michigan at the (lawn of his young manhood in I850, and from that time until near his death, in December, 1903, mingling with the stirring activities of the state and the useful industries of its people, the late Emanuel C. Henika, of Ross township, this county, had good opportunities for useful citizenship here and he improved 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 township and one of its leading citizens. He was born near the city of Canandaigua, New York, on February 14, I830. 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 I850 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 (lied. 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 common 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 Ayears 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 froml there. He gave himself wholly to its development and improvement, and in the course of a few years he had it raised to a high degree of productiveness and well provided with goodl buildings and other farm necessities. In 185I he united in marriage with Miss Susan Lavar, a dautghter of John W. and Maria (Graham) Lavar, natives of Tompkins county. N. Y., who came to Michigan in 1834 and entered land il Ross township, this county, which they improved. and for many years worked vigorously. Both KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 201 lied 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 business capacity and great enterprise, and the interests 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 nothing on this earth more interesting than its works. If we consider the department of mechanical skill alone we are amazed at the wonderful achievements of this proteus. Its power to plan and consummate, to confront and conquer difficulties, to (levise means to ends and operate them, to lay every substance and condition under tribute to its wants an(l make all subservient to its will, its overmastering supremacy in all forms of industrial potency and every phase of human need or desire, are manifestations of sublime and immeasurable 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 camle. Iron was dleep) in the ground, and well comnbined with stone; but it could not hide from his fires. Wood, lime, stuffs, fruits, gums and other materials were dispersed over the earth afnd sea, in vain. Here they are, within reach of 'very man's (lay labor,-what lie wants of them..nd the work of the pioneers of civilization-the iorest conquerors, before whose lusty strokes and sharp blades, the celnturv-crowned wood-monairchs, rank after rank, have come crashing, to the earth-what triumph of arllies andl navies can lsurpass this in majesty, in greatness of conquest. or in true glory? To this fast-fading armv of axmen belonged the interesting subject of this sketch, now the oldest living settler in Conmstock 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, challenging 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 anl(l Ietsey (Smart) Comings, the former a native 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 winter 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 buildings were provided. James R. was in his fourteenth 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, I840, with Iliss 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 eights and ninety miles away, the nearest postoffice and (lepot for groceries an(l other supplies. The present condition of the farm, with its two hundred an(l twenty acres of highly cultivated land and its beautiful large brick residence and other firstclass buildings, fences and other improvements, making it one of the most attractive homesteads in tlhe county, suggests nothing of the (dreariness anl suffering of its first occupancy, or the unremitting 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, I90o, 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 commissioner. 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 freely 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 oftheneighborhood and his physical training on the farm in the work of which he became an early laborer. His life began 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 early 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, broadminded and heroic men of which they are the types and to which they have materially contributed. That all which has occurred on this soil should take place within the limits of one human life is wonderful to think of and perhaps 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 elsewhere, and this forcibly illustrates the genius, enterprise 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 pioneers 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 lus today, in which he had his full share, is a native of Oneida county, N. Y., born on Marclh 24. 1822. He is the son of Tillotson and Clarissa (Byington) Barnes, who were born and reared ill 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 civilization, 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 I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 205 once, but, yielding to the necessities of the neighborhood, he erected a grist and saw mill at Yorkville, bringing the stone from Detroit by means of ox teams. This mill he operated until his death, in February, I836. The mother died in New York when her son was but four years old, and afterward the father married a second wife, Miss tUrsula Wilson, who died at Yorkville in I846. (f the first marriage three sons and two daughters 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 privations, trials and dangers of life for its hardy piot.eers. His education was obtained in the crude and ill-qualified common schools of the new country; 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 he assisted in founding the Yorkville MTitten Factory for the manufacture of buckskin gloves and mittens, with which he was connected until 1854, then passed two years in general merchandising at Centralia, Ill. At the end of that period he returned to Yorkville, and in I86I removed to Richland, where he kept a general store intil 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 interests of the township. IHe is a stockholder in tlhe Kalamazoo Savings Bank and the Kalamaz(o National Bank, the Superior Paper Company, the Upjohn Pill Works,and other important business enterprises. In December, 1854, he united il marriage with Miss Caroline Luce, a native of Vermont, whose parents were pioneers of Cook cutntv, Ill. Six children have been born to this uinion: Emilia B.: Carrie. wife of J. T. Upjohn, of Kalamazoo; Hattie, wife of A. J. Wylie, of Shelbv, Mich.; Mary, wife of George E. Little, of Richland; and Fannie M., at home. The family 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 country transformed from a habitation of wild denizens 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 incalculable value, over which the savage trod unconsciously in his haughty pride, without sagacity 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 privilege, 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 away from this life at his home in Kalamazoo on Friday, January 6, 1899, was a prominent business man in the city for over forty years, and at his death left many landmarks and imposing monuments to remind the older citizens of his close and successful attention to business. THe was one of the most extensive manufacturers in M\ichigan, being president of the Merrill Milling Company, which owns and operates four mills, two in Kalamazoo, one three miles south of the city, and one at Plainwell, their names being the Kalamazoo, Coldstream, Eagle and Plainwell mills, respectively. Mr. Merrill was born at Peru, Clinton county, N. Y., on June 6, 1833, and was the son of Arthur H. and Rhoda (Stearns) Mlerrill, natives of Claremont, N. H. He was the last born of nine children, and after receiving an academic 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 became bookkeeper in a mill, holding the position two years. For a sinilar 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 manufacturer. Three years later he became proprietor of the Coldstream mill, and in 1872 boun.'ht 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 I882. lut 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 I866 he and Mr. McCourtie plotted an additionof twelve acres to the city, and in I865 he purchased a one-half interest in the Stuart addition, in which he erected a number of dwellin'1 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 undertaking, as in all others which engaged his attention, 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 Bank and also a stockholder in the Kalamazoo Corset Company. In addition he was a stockholder in the Charlevoix Summer Home Association, of which he was one of the founders, and an owner of a cottage at the beautiful alnd healthful 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 Hatci, who (lied at Kalamazoo in April, 1859, leaving one son, Charles B., who died in I876, 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 was well known to the older residents of his homiet city. He was killed by being thrown fronim wagon, his head striking a telegralph pole, which brought instant death. This occurred severa1 years ago. The second Mrs. Merrill died on August I, 1890, at Petoskey. She was the mother of one child, their daughter Ida, now (leceased, who married G. W. Winans, the well known manufacturer. On September 15, I891. 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 lil)eral contributor to its needs for more than thirty years. He visited Europe in the summer of i8i) 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 I863. 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 b)elonged 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 practice of his profession for a plerio(l of forty-three -ears, has sounded all the depths of fame in his profession here and encountered all its difficulties in the trial of important and intricate cases, ai(l has made steady progress by his indomnitable will. studious habits and fine natural abilities, fronm the hour when he was first sworn in as an attornev in I86i until now. He was horn in Rutlanl county, Vt., on January 29, 183, 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 I836, locating in Alleganl KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN 207 county when almost the whole of the state was either the primeval forest or the unbroken soil virgcin to the plow and yet filled with its wild growth of luxuriant but practically useless vegetation. In I864 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 manhood and two are now living. One, William H., served in the Thirteenth Michigan Infantry during the Civil war and died in the service. The Judtlge was educated in the public schools and at K-alamazoo College, from which he was graduated with the-degree of Bachelor of Arts and afterward received that of Master of Arts. Later he pursued a special course at the State University. In I856 he was elected clerk of Allegan county for a term of four years, and during his term he studied law. In I86o he was chosen to represent Allegan and Van Buren counties in the state senate, 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 I86i alld rendered efficient service as chairman of the committee on, enrolled bills. At the end of the special session he resigned his seat, and having been admitted to the bar in Allegan county, located at Kalamazoo and began the practice of his profession, forming for the purpose a partnership with Hon. Charles S. May, the firm name being Maly & Briggs. In the fall of I862 he was elected prosecuting attorney and this firm was dissolved. FHe served four years as prosecutor, then resumed his private practice. In 1876 he was elected plrol)ate 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 alld filled the office of district attorney, and also farmed to some extent. In I896 he returned to Kalamazoo and since then he has been actively enlgaged in a large general practice. He is now referee in bankruptcy. The Judge is a Republican 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 assistant district attorney in this county.,He was married in I859 in Allegan county, this state, to Miss Myra R. Toby, who was born in Rhode Island. She died in I868, and on June I6, 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 organization 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 station, 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 wav the best attributes of American citizenship. JOSEPH DUNKLEY. If the man who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before is a public benefactor, much moire is the one who introduces a new product into a region and there multiplies its production so as to make it one of the leading elements 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 Kalamazoo, whose useful life ended on May 26, I898, at the age of sixty-two. He was the pioneer celery grower in this part of the world, and beginning his industry on a small scale, he expanded it to such l)roportions that he becamethe most extensive single producer of this palatable and nutritious plant in the whole world, having a the time of his deatli seventy-five acres of it fruitful with the best quality known to the markets. Mr. Dunklev was born in Somersetshire, 208 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF England, on October 6, I836, and was the son of George and Elizabeth (Knight) Dunkley, natives of the same country, who emigrated to Canada and died at London in the province of Ontario. The father was a contractor in construction 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 gardener. At the age mentioned he emigrated to Canada and located near the city of London, where he followed his craft of gardening until I857. 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 I880 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 I859 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 I877, and in I888 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 I837. 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 development and progress, aiding every commendable project conducive to these ends. He was a menmber 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 Mayhew family, who emigrated from England to this country and settled at Martha'sVineyard in 1642. From that time until the present, wherever members 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, I8Io, in Columbia county, N. Y., on a farm which was then the parental homestead. Soon after the close of the war of 1812 the family moved to Waterloo, 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 between its exacting labors he attended the district school in the neighborhood and there secured the rudiments of an English education. These, although no suitable and sufficient preparation for the important public duties he was afterward called upon to perform in exalted station, did futrnish pabulum for his naturally quick and strong mind and laid the foundation for that superstructure 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 study 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 inl 1835, while the state was still a part of the far frontier, he came to Michigan, and after some inspection of various localities, settled at Kalamazoo, where he formed a partnership for the practice of law with Gov. Epaphroditus Ransom. Tlle next autumn, drawn by the invisible but tenacious thread of sentiment, he returned to his Nc\ York home, where on November 3, 1835, he united in marriage with Miss Sophia S., daughter of George and Sophia (Lee) Parsons Returning to his new home with his bride, he entered vigorously on the career of active usefulness which he afterward had, devoting himself assiduously to his profession and with characteristic public spirit and patriotism giving public affairs a large part of his attention as a Democrat of firm convictions. He served one term in the legislature, then kept out of office until T847, when he was elected to the United States house of representatives. In I849 he was reelected, and in the winter of 1852-3 was chosen Unlited States senator for a full term of six years. In i86o he was a delegate at lafrge to the Democratic national convention which met at Charles ton, S. C., and owing to the irrepressible conflict then waging between the sections of our country, bhl' 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 gallantry on the battlefield during the memorable contest. In I866 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 attacked him, and becoming chronic and affecting his heart, compelled his withdrawal from public affairs. His last case was tried in I873. From that time until his death on May 19, I887, 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, I894. Both were universally esteemed in life and generally mourned in death. They had six children, three of whom, their son Charles Lee Stuart and two daughters, are living. FRANK H. MILHIAM. Highly endowed by nature with a good business capacity which has been well developed in the rugged but thorough school of practical experience, Frank H. Milham, secretary and manager of the Bryant Paper Company, has found ample scope for his mercantile and industrial faculties in that great commercial and manufacturing 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 I840. 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 National Guard. During Lafayette's second visit to the United States he was a member of the distinguished visitor's body guard. He was a Democrat 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 connected prominently with the commercial and manufacturing interests of the section, being a stockholder in the Kalamazoo Paper Company and one of the organizers of the Farmers' Mutual Insurance 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 beginning of it, at the Parsons Business College of 210 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF Kalamazoo. 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. Kauffer, 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 annual 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, president 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 Kalamazoo. 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 (I9o4) 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 October 20, 1885, to Miss Elizabeth Bryant, a daughter of Noah Bryant (see sketch elsewhere in this work). They have one child, their daughter Nora. He is a thirty-second-degree Mason, 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, I896, 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 I808, 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 native 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 occurred there. HIe was the father of three sons, all of whom grew to maturity, became residents of Michigan and devoted themselves to the medical 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 newspaper issued in that territory. He was also a surgeon in the Union army during the Civil war. A sister, named Helen, married Fenner Fergerson, 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 Upjohn passed from childhood to manhood amid the favorable influences of an excellent home anl the discipline an(t thorough training of goodl schools in England. He rellaine(l at home until April, I828: when he and his older brother, William, came to the United States, landing in New York in June. They spent the summer travellitng and prospecting through some of the eastern al(n southern states. The following winter Dr. Uriah taught school, and early in the spring of I830 returned to England to assist his parents in remloving to this country, where they arrived in his company in July. The family settled at Green KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 211 1)lsh (East Albany), N. Y. Here the' Doctor l)egan the study of medicine, or rather continued it. for he had already given the profession some attention in England, becoming a student under ille direction of Dr. Hale, a learned man of high character, a graduate of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and the husband of Governor (;corge Clinton's granddaughter, her father having been the well-known "Citizen Genet."' Dr. tIpjohn pursued the full professional course at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York and was graduated from that institution on March 25, I834. He had also attended the practice of physic and surgery in the New York HIospital and two full courses in anatomy and surgery under Professor Alden March, of Albany. T-le began his practice at Brighton, Monroe county, New York, and in June, 1835, he and his l)rother, William, started out to seek their fortunes in the far west, as it was then, crossing lake Erie by steamer. From Detroit they journeyed to Kalamazoo on horseback through the wilderness, and located on section 3I in that part of Richland township since named Ross. Building 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 between them, the conditions laying them under tribute for prodigious industry and the endurance of great hardships and privations. On September 15, 1837, he was married to Mliss Maria Mills, a (laughter of Deacon Simeon Mills, one of the pioneers of Gull Prairie. For a period of twenty years he rode horseback to visit his patients scattered through five counties, following the lew-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 lkinds of weather, giving his services as cheerfully to the poor who could not pay as to those who could. In 1845 he was nominated for con-,ress on the Free-Soil ticket, and while in the niclst of his practice he and his brother, William,. s(et a memorial numerously signed to the legislature 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 University, and Helen, Henry U. and William E. as physicians. Helen (Mrs. Kirkland) was well established in practice at Kal-amazoo, but died in I902; 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 menmber of the company along with another brother, Frederick L. The enterprise is a stock company well capitalized and has an enormous 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 consrlting 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 hardships 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 enjoyed 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 2'12 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 i1, I889, at the age of eighty, and the mother on March I3, I9oo, 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 running 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 affairs, 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 Democratic party. On October 6, 1875, he was mar-;ied to Miss Annette M. Lewis, a daughter of Hiram and Candice (Leeland) Lewis,pioneer settlers in Michigan, having come to Barry county in I836. They were farmers and came to Kalamazoo county in I865, and both died here. Mr. and Mrs. Davis had two children, both of whom are living, George C-, 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 extensively 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 Hampshire, England, on January 3, I844, 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 educated in his native land, and there he learned his trade, serving an apprenticeship of seven years. In I859 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 I871. 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 I871 he came to Kalamazoo as foreman of the old Kalamazoo paper mill, which he built up in its business and placed on a paying basis, remaining with the company for a period of eleven years. In I882, 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, YUN')AHI i{A NT. 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 stockholder in the MunissingPaper Mill, of Munissing, He also still holds stock in the Barden Paper Company. In I864 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 affairs 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 I864 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 Kalamazoo 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 enterprisI3 ing partners, and in I89o the company was organized 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. Goodale, 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, secretary 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 requirement of the business. In I893 it was reorganized, the capital stock was raised to twenty-four thousand dollars, and H. J. Fuller was elected president and general manager, Mr. Kauffer having disposed of his interest and retired 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 firstclass conveyances, and it is claimed that this company gives the best service in the United States for the least money. It controls the whole transportation 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 Pitcher street with accommodations for one hundred fifty horses, which, when completed, will probably be the largest one in this state. H. J. Fuller, the president and general manager, is a native of Kalamazoo county, born on a west end farm in I86o. His parents, George and Hester A. (Slack) Fuller, were born in the state of New York. The father settled in this county in I858 and farmed until I863, when he moved to Kalamazoo and engaged in manufacturing flour barrels. Some little time afterward he turned his attention to the grocery trade and followed it until I870. Two years later he started a livery business, and in this he is still occupied, the pioneer liveryman of the city. He has taken a lively interest 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 216 BIOGRAPHICAL 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 stockholder and director of the Recreation Park Company. He is besides the owner of valuable real estate in the city, among his possessions being the Fuller block, which he has recently greatly improved and made into an office building. Fraternally he is connected with the order of Elks. In I884 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 pioneers of Grand Prairie. Benjamin Drake was the first settler in the town of Oshtemo, locating there on September I, I830. The land he took up was not in the market at that time and was still occupied by Indians. In 1831 the government 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.log dwelling on his land, which was the first habitation for white persons 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 industry and frugality. He stood high in the county as a man of sterling worth and strict integrity. In political faith he was an unyielding Republican but never an active party worker. On December I9, I8I9, he married Miss Maria Og-.den, a native of Quinte, province of Ontario, HISTORY OF Canada. It was his happy fate to see the tlnoccupied prairie and unbroken forest in the midst of which he settled changed into comfortable homes, fields of golden grain, and cultivated landscapes, 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 weariness. 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 I833, and after a residence of a few months at Jonesville, Hillsdale county, moved to Coldwater, Branch county, where he built the third house put up in the town. In 1857 he moved to Kent county, where he died in I890. 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, remaining there until I888. During his residence in that county he began studying law under direction of Colonel Standish. In I889 he was appointed 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 I890 and at once moved to Kalamazoo, where he has since resided and conducted a large abstracting business in connection with his practice. On coming to Kalamazoo ihe 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 business 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 deserves the high regard in which they hold him. His services as an abstractor are in continual demand 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 everything 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 memorable struggle passed into history in the more congenial fields of peaceful labor and official service. He came into this world in Kalamazoo county on May Io, 1842, where his parents, Nemiah 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 cheerfulness and courage, they began to make a clearing 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 improved and well cultivated farm. There the father died July 20, I904, the mother having died on the soil hallowed by their labor in I895. 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 mastered the carpenter trade. He worked at this and farming until August 7, I862, 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 I865 at Salisbury, N. C., with the rank of sergeant, and immediately returned to Kalanazoo. Here resuming 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 supervisor, serving seven. On November 4, I902, he was chosen recorder of deeds for the county, and re-elected to the position in November, I904, and has been diligently occupied with his duties in this important office. On December 22, I869, 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 Workman, 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 position he is now filling. He has well earned the regard and good will of his fellow citizens which he enjoys in an unusual degree. 2i8 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE KALAMAZOO PAPER COMPANY. This large and important manufacturing institution was founded on October I, I866. Its present officers are Fred M. Hodge, president; Edward Woodbury, vice-president and treasurer, and William M. Loveland, secretary. In i899 the company purchased the Wolverine mill and later built an entirely new plant nearby of large dimensions and equipped it with the most approved modern machinery for its purposes, making it one of the most complete and capable paper 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 president and general manager, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., in I858; 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 I88o, the family having moved to Kalamazoo in I872. After leaving college he spent six years as head bookkeeper of the 'Michigan National Bank. In I886 he became associated with the late Samuel A. Gibson in the old Kalamazoo Paper Company as secretary, and he has been connected with the company ever since. On the death of Mr. Gibson in I899 he was elected president of the company and since then its destiny has largely been in his capable hands. He is also president of the Kalamazoo Stationery Company, treasurer of the River View Coated Paper Company and the American Playing Card Company of Kalamazoo, and a director of the Michigan National Bank. He was married June I8, I884, to Miss Susan Edith Gibson, daughter of Samuel A. and Mary A. (Farnsworth) Gibson, and has two daughters and two sons, all living. Mr. Hodge is a worthy successor of Mr. Gibson as president of this company, 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, I835, at New Ipwich, N. IH., 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, industry and ability for business of the New England people. At the age of twenty, having secured a good education, he became a clerk in the postoffice 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 I859 he started business for himself as a grocer at Fitchburg, Mass., and continued his operations there in that line for a number of years. He became a resident of Kalamazoo in I867 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 employed by the company as a mechanic and bookkeeper until I870, then became the superintendent of the business and later president of the companly, holding the last named position until his death in I899. He was fully conversant with every detail of the business done by the company and every feature of the manufacture of the different 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 I858, and for mansy years before his death was one of its trustees. Politically he was a firm Republican, 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, securing their ardent interest in his enterprise and general welfare. On October I4, I86o, he was married to Mrs. Mary A. Bardeen, the daughter of KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 2I9 Deacon A. Farnsworth, of Fitchburg, Mass. Their union was blessed with two daughters, 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, I899, 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 p)ublic grief over his departure, and his memory is enshrined in the hearts of the people of Kalamazoo as one of its best, most serviceable and nmost representative business men. EDWIN A. CARDER. This pioneer furniture manufacturer and undertaker 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, he was married to Miss Sarah A. Green, a native of England. In 1848 they moved to Kalamazoo, and here, soon after his arrival, Mr. Carder started a business in the furniture trade and undertaking, also manufacturing chairs to some extent for a number of years. Then, in partnersllip with Henry Gilbert, he engaged in the manufacture of furniture at Jackson, using convict laIbor 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 factory 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, I9OI, 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 members of the First Methodist church and gave liberally 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 became a member of the firm of E. A. Carder & Son, and soon afterward began to take the burdens of the business off his father's shoulders. The second son, George H., is a physician at Passadena, 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 respected in their several communities, and it is enough to say of them that they are worthy exemplars 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 during 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 substantial 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 struggling 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 I862, at Waterloo. The mother survived him fourteen years and passed away in I876. They had thirteen children, of whom four are living, the subject of this review; Mrs. William A. Wood, of Kalamazoo; a brother who still resides in Waterloo, 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 ancestry 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 extensive 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 educated 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 185I. He then entered the Geneva grammar school under Dr. Prentice and Professor W. T. Gibson, a celebrated school of those days in that part of New York. In 1853 he became a resident of Kalamazoo and was made assistant postmaster under his brother, William H. De Yoe (see sketch of himelsewhere in this work), and afterward under Hon. N. A. Balch, serving until I86I. During 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 business for the Phoenix Company of Hartford, 'Conn. In I86I 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 married on January 9, I862, to Miss Harriet P. Freeman, 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 i8, 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 candidate 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 I869, he was village clerk one year. In I883 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 mavor. About this time he was his party's nominee for the office of state senator, but was beaten by a small majority. Fraternally, Mr. De Yoe belongs to the Masonic order, having been made a Master MIason in I857 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 fron 1862 to I876. In I89o 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 quickeningimpulse 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 I850, and to Michigan in I876. The father was a farmer and located for following his vocation near the city of Kalamazoo, where he (lied in 1894. The mother is still living. Their son George was educated in New York and accompanied his parents to this state in 1875. He worked with them on the farm until he was about twenty years of age, then, in I880, moved to Kalamazoo, and after teaming in the city two years, passed two in farming. He then again turned his attention to teaming and followed this line until I886, when he started an enterprise in the sale of wood, which he continued until I894. 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 I904, 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 I890 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 patrons he secures. He takes no very active interest 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 citizen, 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 Michigan since 1856 and of Kalamazoo since I86I. 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 I, I828, and is the son of Ezekiel and Betsey (Jeffers) Titus, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father was a farmer and one of nine men known as the Nine Partners who emigrated to Pennsylvania in i8oo and purchased a tract of land four miles square which they dlivided into nine parcels and then drew lots to determine each one's location. This land. they heldl in severaltv 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 Susquehanna and their nearest mill at Binghamton, N. Y., neither being less than fifteen miles distant. The Titus family to which the subject of this sketch belongs descended from Robert Titus, who came from Harford, England, to this country in I636 and settled at Boston, whence the family removed to Long Island in I655. The father of Edward Titus followed farming through life and died on the old Pennsylvania homestead on March 22, I870, aged eighty-three years. His political affiliation was with the Whigs as long as that party existed and after its decease with the Republicans, but he was never an active or office-seeking partisan. He married four times and reared a T-bT Atf-T- A 7-ITT T - T T-TTOP~'%-%'%%7 rT1 222 B1IUlKANl 1-LAL large family of children, of whom Edward and one of his brothers are all who are left, the formet being the only one resident in this state. He remained 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 slavery in all its forms. This made him an ardent abolitionist, 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 I856 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 I86i he moved to Kalamazoo and began contracting and buil(ling, and in this work he aided in the erection of manv dwellings and business houses in the city. Mr. Titus was married at Buffalo, N. Y., onl) ecember 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 1812 and had a brother killed in the contest, but he saw no active service himself. Mr. and Mirs. 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 prominent 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 section and business. Mr. Titus has been an active Republican from the foundation of the party, casting his vote for its first presidential candidate, General Fremont. Since I853 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., MllD UK UVr 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 winning 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 devoted himself assiduously to the requirements of his professional work with a special attention to the criminal practice. Anl 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 wvas born at Hastings, Barry county, this state, on September 27, I854, and is the son of.shmun A. and Sarah J. (Stafford) Knlal)lell. the former a native of Vermont and the latter of lPennsylvania. Tle father was for many years a lawyer and afterwards a minister of the gospel. He came to Michigan with his parents in I833. when he was four vears 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 I857. He passed the next three years at Gull Corners engaged in nmerchandising, and while there he studied law in comlpany with present U. S. Senator J. C. Burrows, being admitted to the bar of the state supreme court at Detroit in 1859. In I86I he began the practice of his profession in partnership with Mr. Burrows at Kalamazoo. He was active an(l zealous in his chosen work until 1870, then turned his attention to the Christian ministry in thb Methodist Episcopal church and preached tintil 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 F;red, 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 Congregational 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 conimon and high schools of Kalamazoo and the Northwestern University at Evanston, I1., being graduated from the latter institution in 1877 in the classical course. He then entered the office of Briggs & IBurrows, of Kalamazoo, as a law student, and in October, I878, he was adniitted to practice in that city by the supreme court of Michigan. Entering at once on his profcssional work, he pursued it with such energy and success that in i880 he was elected prosecuting attorney, holding the office until I889. 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 Knappen & 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 I899 to Miss Nina A. Ward, a native of New York. Politically he is a zealous and unwavering Republican, 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 vas 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, I844, 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 1831,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 capacities 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 hundred acres additional, and lived on the farm until I867, when he sold it and p)urchased one six miles east of South Haven on which he resided until his death, in I879. He was the father of two children, George W. and a daughter who died in infancy. The mother died in I857. He afterward, in I865, 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, attending the common schools and working on his father's farm until lie was eighteen years old, after which he was variously employed until I870, when he formed a lartnership with C. H. Hurd to carry on a butchering business. The partnership lasted three years, and in the spring of I874 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 i866, to Miss Laura A. Norton, whose parents came to this county in I855. 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 I889, 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 engaged at his trade as a carpenter and builder. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, on the banks of the Rhine, on December 8, I830, 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 common-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 remained two years working at his trade. On September I7, 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 active 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, I856, to Miss Francesco Hotop, who, like himself, is a native of Germany, and came to Kalamazoo in I854. They have had five children, August, Otto, Fred and Fannie, who are living, and Theodore, who is deceased. In church communion the members 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 upright 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 anchor on which the ship of state relies with confidence and hope. The fathers of the republic proclaimed it as a necessary constituent of popular 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 citizenship without some training for its duties. The question is no longer an open one. Everybody knows the immense value of the public schools and looks upon them as among the most inmportant features in the life of a community. Whatever 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 be thrown awav with prodigal liberality-let shipping 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 regard is the fact that when she finds 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 Wr. Hazard, the accomplished KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN 227 an(l 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 wisdolm gained in an extensive experience as a teacher in several different places under a variety of circumstances, and which ripened his scholarship 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 I866, when he came to Michigan with his family and located on a farm near Fulton, this countv, 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-grandfather, was a Revolutionarv soldier. Professor Hlazard was educated in the district schools of this county, at Athens high school and the Norinal 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 I897 he was elected commissioner of schools for the county, a positionwhich 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 I9OI he was married in this county to Miss Cora Lapham, a native of the county. They have three children, all daughters. Professor Hazard, although occupying 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 lie gives them close attention as a Republican. As such he served as supervisor of his township prior to his election as school commissioner. Fraternally 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 I870, 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 become familiar with from actual experience, and in all he has sustained his high reputation for legal learning, forceful advocacy, tact and readiness 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 prominent and eloquent advocate began in Cass county, Michigan, on May I8, I846, and he is the son of George T. and Eliza (Parsons) Howard, natives 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 dyilng in I88o 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 Maryland. 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 graduated 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 I870 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 I878. It was then harmoniously dissolved and the finr of Brown, Howard & Ross was formed. Two years later Brown retired, then the firm of Howard & Ross continued until I899, 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. Howard 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 commercial and industrial life of his chosen city, being a stockholder in the Kalamazoo Ice Company and the Home Savings Bank, also in the Kalamazoo National, City National and First National 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 I870 and mayor of Kalamazoo in 1899. He belongs 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 I870 to Miss Melissa A. Cooper, of White Pigeon. They have two sons, Harry C. (see sketch on another page) and John A., of Dowagiac, 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 legislature, Sheridan F. Master has lived in this community 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 pastor of the church of his denomination and later as presiding elder of the district. He died in I903 at Big Rapids, where he was presiding elder at the time. The mother is still living. The grandfather, John Master, was a native of Pennsylvania. In company with the maternal grandfather, 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 estal)lish another colonv 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 maiihood in this state, and was graduated from Albion College in I888. He at once began studying law in the office of Osborn & Mills, of Kalamazoo, and was admitted to practice before the state supreme court in 1891. He then became a member of the firm of Osborn, Mills & Master, and remained 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 (19o4) 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 Pulblishing 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 welfare of his party, he has stumped his county and KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 229 other portions of the state in its numerous campaigns, 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 Kalamazoo, who has been prominently connected with the business interests of the city for a long time, was born in the city in April, I868. 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 I848. The father was a mason in his native land, but on his arrival in this country entered mercantile life as a dealer in wood and coal at Elmira, N. Y., where he remained until I852. He then came to Kalamazoo and began dealing in real estate, purchasing 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 fortunes 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. Holding 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 i896. Their son, J. W. Ryder, was their only child. He was educated in the schools of Kalamazoo, being graduated from the high school in I886. He began his business career as a clerk for Dudgeon & Cobb. with whom he rerained a short time, then entered the employ of Conrad Miller, in I887, with whom he remained t::ttil 1893, when he became a member of the firm., which was then rebaptized tinder the name of Miller, Ryder & WVinterburn. The firm lasted until Mr. Ryder retired from it in April, I904, an(l 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 throughout the city as an upright man, fair in his dealings 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 Republican 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 I895, and includes in its membership all the retail dealers in both states. Mr. Ryder was married in I893 to Miss Rose E. Kelley, of Kalamazoo. In fraternal relations 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. I70 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 straightforward 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 admission 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 preparation for the issues of life and faithful performance 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 prepared himself for his professional work. He was graduated from this department in I896, 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 attorney, 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 practicing alone and continued doing so until I9oI, 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,andhave also exhibited tact, fertility and eloquence in their conduct of them. Mr. Carney was married in I902 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 Mendon, St. Joseph county, on the 7th day of February, 1874, and is a son of George L. Yaple, circuit 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 I897. He then entered the law department of the Northwestern University, from which he emerged in I899 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He began practicing at Kalamazoo in I9oI, as a member of the firm to which he now belongs and with which he has ever since been connected. He was married in I902 to Miss Charlotte Willmot, a resident of Kalamazoo. They have two children, their daughters, Frances and Dorothy. Mr. Yaple is a Republican in political allegiance and fraternally lie belongs to the Freemasons and the Elks. H. BROOKS MILLER. One of the oldest and most extensive real estate dealers in Kalamazoo, H. Brooks Miller has done a great deal in his business to increase the size, augment the wealth and multiply the adornments 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, I834, 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 I899, in his ninetieth year. The mother died in 1879, aged sixty-eight. The grandfather was Judge Manoah Miiller, 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 daughter 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 Plattsburgf, in his native state, and entered the employ of the G. W. & M. C. Railroad. securing 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 number of years in the furniture trade, then begaan the manufacture of linen collars, which he carried KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN 23T on several years. In I880 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 I, 1882. At that time he became interested in the real estate business in partnership with J. Frank Cowgill, undcr the firm name of Cowgill & Miller. This partnership lasted to the death of Mr. Cowgill, in I898, 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. IMiller'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 I864, 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 influential 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 enterprises and to all he gives close and careful attention, 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 I8, I859, at Hillsdale, this state, where his parents, Joseph and Esther ( Hecht) Folz, natives of southern Germany, settled in i856. They came to this country separately when they were young and were married here. In Hillsdale the father engaged in the clothing trade until I86o, when he moved to Chicago and continued in the business there until the great fire of 1871. He then returned to Michigan 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 began 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 he came to Kalamazoo 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 I884 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. Franklin, 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 I895, 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 I9oo he was elected a member of the board of education 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 community, and in this he has been potential and successful 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 connected 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 committee of the Kalamazoo Trust Company. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, holding the rank of past chancellor in Lodges No. 25 and I70, 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 Orphan Asylum. In addition he has served during the last ten years as president of the Humane Society. He was married in I886 to Miss Jennie Friedman, of Kalamazoo, and has three sons. PHILIP SCHAU. Whatever may be said of the pursuit of agriculture, its independence and freedom, its pleasures and profits, it is a life of toil and exaction, laying all the resources of him who follows it under 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 retirement in an interesting and busy city like Kalamazoo, where all the activities of industrial and commercial 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 measured time for many years with the busiest of men. and has reaped an abundant harvest from his diligence. Philip Schau comes from a sturdy German 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 families. 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, I885, 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 generations, 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, remained in his native land and helped to manage a portion of his father's estate until I853, 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 brother-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 tinime 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 I898, at the age of eighty-one years. The mother died in I892. 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 instruction in a business college. After leaving the lat z 2LC4 I 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 years had charge of his father's farm. During this period he invented a broadcast grain seeder, and in I88I a wheel harrow, entering into partnership 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 I890, when he sold it and returned to the paternal homestead. This he purchased on the death of his father in I898. In I900 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 interest. In politics he is a Democrat, and as such has been chosen for a number of local offices. He was married in I882 to Miss Anna J. Travis, a daughter of Wellington and Abigail (Wentworth) Travis. Three children were born to them, all of whom are living, Philip L., Edith and Florence C. Their mother died in I9oo, as has been stated. The father is a member of the First Methodist church, and is looked upon everyrwhere 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 likeness of this worthy man, who has worked so untiringly for the good of his state. LOYD NICHOLS. It is one of the glories of our country, and a great source of strength to it, that while its people are proverbially fond of peaceful industry, and give their attention almost wholly to the operation and development of its productive and civilizing 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 pursuits 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 American valor at a higher standard. When the Civil war tore the land asunder and arrayed the sections 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 Bonnie 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 review bore an honorable part and he still carries the marks of its fierceness. He was born in Allegany county, N. Y., on June 3, 1843, and is the son of Solon J. and Sophronia (Griffin) Nichols, 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 remained until I884, then changed his residence to Topeka, Kan., and there his wife died in January, 1893, and he on December 30, 1899, atthe 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 remained in his native county until he reached the age of eighteen, obtaining his education in the common schools and a two-year course at Rushford Academy there. In August, I86I, he enlisted for the defense of the Union in Company F, Eighty-fifth New York Infantry. The regiment 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 I888, 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 settling here in I840 and the mother coming with her parents in 1833. On his arrival in the state the father located in Barry county on sixty-five acres of land, for which he had paid his brother-in-law two hundred dollars, money he earned before attaining 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 entered 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 service 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 he 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 I86I put up the one which now adorns the farm. In I844, on March I3th, 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 township. 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 Presbyterian church, and are among its most zealous and useful members. With fidelity to duty in every line of life, showing an abiding and serviceable interest in the welfare of his community, and holding 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 township. 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 inadequately 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 nature and its brood of hostile forces, and afterward in all the forms of industrial, commercial, educational and refining greatness, all of which bred in them and stimulated a resolute independence and self-reliance that defied outside dictation 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 everywhere 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 involved not only the subjugation of a new world to the uses and benefits of mankind, but the creation and development of a new political system which recognizes enlightened public opinion as sovereign and relies on the moral forces engendered thereby. And when the story embodies a repetition of its salient features in several succeeding generations, as it does in the case of the Whitney family to which the subject of this narrative belongs, it is many times multiplied in interest and importance. The American progenitor of this family was John Whitney, a native of El1'land, who emigrated to America in 1635 and settled 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 labout 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 1812, and lalrried there on March 30, 1836. He was a machinist and cast the first cast iron stove made in Iiis native place. He also manufactured fine shears for shearing the nap off the cloth. He b1rought his family to Michigan in I854 and took ul) 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 (lied in October, I876, and he in 1877. They had five sons and one daughter, all 1,ow deceased but three of the sons. Two of his onso 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, workon, 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 has 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 since disposing of his interest in that enterprise he 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 intelligent interest in local public affairs as a Republican, and has been rewarded for his zeal and wisdom by being chosen to office time after time, serving as township supervisor for nine consecutive years and township treasurer two years. In the fraternal life of the community he is serviceable as a member of the order of Odd Fellows. On September 3, I86I, he united in marriage with Miss Augusta Nevins, a native of Middlesex, Vt. She came to Kalamazoo county with her parents, Alfred and Cinthia Nevins, in I844. 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 Mirs. 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 manufactured saltpetre for the colonial army to make gunpowder with during the Revolution, and that he was a man of remarkable endurance and energy, one proof of which he gave by walking from Springfield, Vt., to Spencer, Mass., a distance 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 Richland 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 I3, I837, and the son of Samuel and Mary (Kelsey) Whitlock, also born in the Empire state. They moved to Michigan in I839 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 I846 the mother died and then the family was broken up and scattered. The father married a second wife in I869 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 fighting 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 trying struggle he returned to his Michigan home broken in health and largely incapacitated for active work. But he resolutely resumed his farming operations and continued them until his death, on February 2, I886, 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 I9, 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 II, I877. 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 improvement in his vocation and continued on the place the, spirit of vigorous husbandry and advance ment which his father inaugurated. On December I2, I900, he united in marriage with Miss Electra Crane, a sister of Jay Crane, of Cooper township, a sketch of whom will be found on another page. Mr. and Mrs. Whitlock have one child, their daughter Helen M. The elder Whitlock 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 ofther parts of the county and the neighboring country. HENRY KNAPPEN. The late Henry Knappen, who died in Richland township, this county, on January 2, I862, 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 I820, 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 followed his sacred calling in his native state until I833, 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 Richland township, which is now owned by his gran(lsons, 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 unsettled 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 settlers. He lived on the farm until his death in I862, having survived his wife but six weeks. She was his third wife and the mother of the subject 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 (see 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 facilities 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 subsequent years, the cultivation of the soil. When his father retired from its active labors and control he assumed charge of the farm, and he managed its operations until his death, continuing the ilnprovements 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 I832 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 living, as is their mother. Their father was a Republican 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, and 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 future 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 I892, 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 universally 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 civilization, and in the new world established themselves and founded households from which widening streams of benefaction have flowed forth to enhance the worth and augment the power of every line of useful activity among men, was born in Bennington county, Vt., on September I, 1836. 24o0 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 generations. The father was a shoemaker and wrought at his trade to the end of his days. He moved to Kalamazoo county in I857 and located at Richland, where he kept a hotel a number of years, then turned to his trade again and worked at that until his death in I874. His wife survived him three years and died in I877. 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, Edward 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 I863. 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 active 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, I867, 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 I8o2. 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 i885. 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 I857, 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 I899. Mr. Buell was a great worker in the Presbyterian 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 Fellows 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 Gilkey, who settled in Waldo county, Maine, in I750, 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 hundred and fifty years, and the natural decay of nmaterial 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 tlhe course of time, located in various parts of the neighboring states, New Hampshire and Vermont. one son, bearing the same name as his father, taking up his residence in the latter state and becoming the grandfather of the subject of this KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 24I brief memoir. This, the second John Gilkey, and his son were farmers in Windsor county, Vt., and it was from there that John F. Gilkey 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 brothers, 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 active part in the development of the new region and the establishment and administration of its government. He prospered by reason of his continued 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 I857, leaving four sons, Edgar W., Patrick H., George L. and Julian F., all of whom are yet living but Edgar WV., who died a few years ago after a career of more than ordinary interest and success in farming and mercantile life. Like both their parents, the sons all grew to unusual height, each being over six feet tall. Their father was not an active politician, but through life took enough interest in political affairs to discharge 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 I877. 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 record 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, I843. He received a good scholastic and business education, attending the common schools and Prairie Seminary for the first and Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., for the latter, being graduated from this institution in 1865. On October 13, I869, he was united in marriage with Miss Adella Parker, a native of this county, where her parents, Amasa S. and Celestia C. (Barnes) Parker, the former born at Washington, Litchfield county, Conn., in I805, and the latter at Camden, N. Y., in 18I3. The father came to Michigan in 1830, and for a time thereafter he taught school at Beardsley's Prairie, Van Buren county. In June, I834, he was married to Miss Celestia C. Barnes, who taught one of the first schools in Richland township, and her father built the first mill at Yorkville 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 marriage 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 I865, 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 until 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 I898. They had two sons and three daughters, who survived 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, under 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 I886, and after that time Mr. Gilkey carried on the business alone until I903, 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 township, and for many years he was engaged in raising 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 2:30 and under. A few years ago Mr.Gilkey disposed of his stud andquit the raising of horses. He is now living quietly in the enjoyment of an ample fortune and the universal esteem of the people of his county, which is freely accorded to him on his merits as an excellent citizen and genial and accomplished gentleman. He is a director of the Union Bank of Richland and a stockholder in the Kalamazoo National Bank, the Kalamazoo Paper Company and the Phelps & Bligelow Wind Mill Company of Kalamazoo. In politics he is an ardent and influential Democrat, one of the leaders of his party in the county and one of its most effective workers. He has frequently been its candidate for offices 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 private life he has lived to a lofty ideal of manhoodl 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 building 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, without ever having a word of disagreement over anything. For some years after they began operations 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, I856, and while it prospered from the start the first cash job it did was the erection of the first fair buildings in I859 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 I840, 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. Hle was then apprenticed to the trade of a carpenter under the direction of A. Kneer, and he remlained with him until I848. In that year he returned 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 structures. 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. Paterson, whom he had met in New York, to join hint 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. Theyl were busily occupied all the time, erecting most of the principal buildings in those days. The partnership lasted until the death of iM\r. Bush in I892, 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 T861, and another who died in infancy. In I869 the firm built the present jail and also remodeled the old court house. In 1867 they added a plaiiing mill to their plant and began the manufacture of legs for billiard tables, which they continued five years. Then they added a factory for making sash, doors and blinds and a general lumber and building material trade. The academy was erected bv a stock company which could not run it successfully, and Messrs. Bush & Paterson purchased 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 forward the progress of the city and the surrounding country. He was one of the early promoters and most diligent spirits in building the Chicago, FRED BUSH. TH()MlAAS PATTERSON. I 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. TrlTMAS PATERSON, the senior member of the firm, was born in the city of New York in 1828. His parents were Scotch by nativity and emigrated to this country about the year I8i6. The father was a machinist and died of the cholera in New York in 1832, when the son was but four vears old. The mnother 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 I856, when he joined M-r. 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 lifelong Democrat in political allegiance, but has not sought or desired public office. Since Mr. Bush's (leath he has lived retired from active pursuits, secure in the possession of a competence and enjoving 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 I90I 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 financier. The first officers were Arthur Pratt, president, George O. Comfort, vice-president, August Sheid, secretary, and John K. King, superintendent. 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 company, 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 plotential business factor from the time of his entry 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 contentions and never indulging an ambition for public 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 business, 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, intlustry 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 enterprises and carry them on with wisdom and success; and he has won the guerdon of his worth and ability, of his energy and constancy of purpose, in the general regard and good will of his fellow 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 manufacturing and commercial industries, and we can scarcely estimate them too highly, there is no interest 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. Th'e earth is the source and sustenance of all animal life, and without its yield in abundant measure all forms of human enterprise would languish and die. Moreover, the vocation of the farmer is steadily becom-ing more and more an intellectual and expansive 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 giving an example of high worth to others who aspire 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 farmer 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 usefulness. 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 volunteers to defend the Union against its armed assailants, 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 Antietam 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 released the command from duty there and it was sent in pursuit of General Johnston through Mississippi, overtaking and engaging him in battle 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. Shav and ninety-seven other members of it were taken prisoners on May l2th. They were sent to Andersonville, where Mr. Shay was confined until.the following September, then transferred to Florence, North Carolinia, from there to Wilmington, to Goldsboro, and back to Wilmington. 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 Ioo pounds. He was mustered out of the service in the ensuing June. His prison experience 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 BPattle Creek, where he passed twelve years in the employ of the Nichols & Shepard Threshing Company. In I886 he bought the farm on which he now lives and on which he has since ma(le his home, devoting his energies to its improvement and proper cultivation. On May i, 1883, he was married to Miss Adeline Jickling, l (laughter 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, I885. 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,belonging to the lodge at Richland and the chapter and commandery at Battle Creek. CHARLES BELL. The late Charles Bell, one of the leading merchants of Kalamazoo for many years, and one of its best known and most respected citizens, was horn at Hadley, Mass., on October 24, I814, the son of Reuben and Aletha (Smith) Bell. The father was of Scotch ancestry, was li 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 merchandising in partnership with his brother, remaining there and in business until I857, 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 I88I 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, acquiring 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, I894, at the age of nearly eighty years. He was married in Kalamazoo on March I, I86o, to Miss Eliza Phillips, a native of England, who died on April 30, I9o04. 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 I862 and received his education in the Kalamazoo public schools. After leaving school he went to farming in Portage township and remained there until I895. He then came to.Kalamazoo and in I899 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 I889 he was married 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 followed 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 elevation of his citizenship. Throughout the county he is well and favorably known, and in many localities has hosts of cordial friends. THE CITIZENS' MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. This admirably managed and well supported company, which has been one of the bulwarks of the commercial and industrial interests of Kalamazoo, and has saved the homes of hosts of the citizens for them, is now thirty years old, having been organized on January 26, I874, and started business with one hundred thousand dollars of insurance already in force. Its original promoters and organizers were F. W. Curtenius, Robert S. Babcock, Homer O. Hitchcock, Martin Wilson, E. O. Humphrey, L. C. Chapin, Benjamin 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 I886, except the year I884, 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 hundred thousand dollars insurance in force, and has paid many thousands of dollars in losses to policyholders. It carries policies both in this county and in Van Buren county, its patrons being residents in all parts of each, and has been able to carry all risks at a rate of eighteen cents per hundred dollars. George E. Curtiss, the capable and obliging secretary and treasurer, was born in Livingston county, N. Y., on May 26, 1831, and came to this state in I836 with his parents. Medad and Miranda C. (Thayer) Curtiss, who were natives of Connecticut. The father was a contractor and builder and followed his craft in his native state until I836, 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, consuming 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 capacity in I864. Here he was in charge of the station for some time and was then made division 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 I886, 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 I854, 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 Masonic 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 garnerhouse profound," and also amid the peaceful pursuits 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 II, 1841 and while a man of peace himself, came of military ancestry on both sides of his family. He is the son of Platt S. and Mary A. (Platt) 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 Miiss Mary Hunting in I757. 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 soldiery on many a hard-fought field, but escaping KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 249 without wounds or other disaster except the hardships and privations incident to service in a hardworked and ill-fed army, whose very existence was at times at stake. The Doctor's maternal grandfather, Joshua Harris, was also a soldier in the Revolution, and had previously fought in the French and Indian war. The father of the Doctor, following the example of his father and his grandfather, promptly enlisted in defense of his country in the war of 1812, 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 I855 moved to Kane county, Ill., where he continued his attendance at school and also sold goods on the road until I860. He then entered the medical department of the University of Michigan, having previously read medicine for a time under the direction 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 Hundred 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, I863, he was commissioned assistant surgeon and the next year post surgeon at Vicksburg, remaining in the service until I866, 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 he was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in that city. During the next fourteen years he practiced in New York, and in 188I 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 director 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 usefulness he takes a zealous and helpful interest, being an active member of the 'Kalamazoo Medical Academy, the County, State and American Medical Societies and the Association of American Railway Surgeons. He is the surgeon at Kalamazoo 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 Freemason, 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 cheerfulness, he is an ornament to the city of his adoption 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 thirtyfive years, Dr. Albert B. Cornell is one of the oldest practitioners in the city, and he has been one of the most energetic and successful. He is a native of the city, born on June 22, I843. His parents 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 I80O, and received his early education in the schools of his native city. In his voung 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 remained until I84I, then came to Kalamazoo, being 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 physician 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 became 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 native state. Dr. Albert Cornell secured his academic education in the public schools and at Kalamazoo College. He read medicine with Dr. Joseph Sill for a while, then entered Bellevue Hospital, New York, in I867 and was graduated in I869 from the Ilahnemann 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 maintaining 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 business and his genial and obliging disposition. He is president of the Southwestern Homeopathic Association 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 Kalamazoo. In I877 he was married to Mrs. Sarah E. Mabee, a native of New York state. In church affiliation they are Presbvterians, 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 peoples, who have fled from the heavy hand of religious 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 benign institutions, is entitled to a higher regard than the colony that came from Holland to Kalamazoo in I850. In this colony was the interesting subject of this review, who was then a boy of fourteen, having been born in southern Holland on October 25, I836. He came to this country with his parents, John and Martha (Houmaeter) 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 Belgium. In this short, sharp and decisive contest he saw much active service, but escaped without disaster. In I85o 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 Amsterdam on August 15, I850o, in a sailing vessel for New York. Their passage across the Atlantic consumed thirty-six days, but was uneventful except for its length and tediousness. The colonists arrived at Kalamazoo on October Ist, and within a week thereafter a number of them died of the cholera, among the number being the father of Mr. Hoek. His death left his widow with four small children, Walter, aged thirteen, being the oldest. She was resolute and resourceful, and found a way to provide a home for herself and family and rear her children to usefulness and credit. Her life ended in Kalamazoo,,August 23, I887. 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.' 25I \ears after completing his apprenticeship worked at the trade. Prior to entering upon his apprenticeship, 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 Burrell and by Burrell Brothers, and passed some time in business for himself. Being versatile, as well as persevering and industrious, he was successful from the start, and being long-headed, as well as handy, le turned his attention to various lines of business activity and profit. He plotted Hoek's addition to the city and sold a large number of lots for homes. Accepting with cheerfulness his destiny 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 Kalanmazoo in I849. They have had six children, of whom a daughter named Martha died and Anna M., Nellie, John, Margaret and Harry are living. 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 I904, but the entire ticket was defeated. FIe 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 Sundav 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 homestead and bringing it to a high state of cultivation, 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 usefulness in this portion of the state. Mr. Bacon was born onl February 28, I826, in Lincolnshire, England, where his parents,.John and Sarah (Crookston) Bacon, also first saw the light of this world. The father was a farmer and followed this occupation in his native land until April, I85I, when he brought his family, consisting of his wife and two sons, Martin and William, the latter of whom is now deceased, to this country. After a residence of two years at Medina, Orleans 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 I3, Portage township, comprising eighty acres, and this they cleared and cultivated many years, the mother dying on it in July, I866, and the father on August 8, I886. Their son Martin reached the age of twenty-five in his native land, and after leaving 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 wilderness, 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 vigorous cultivation. The farm is now worked and managed by his son David. Mr. Bacon was married in March, I86I, to Miss Luetina Harris, a native of this state. Thev had three children, two of whom are living, their sons Ellsworth M. and David H. Their mother died in I885, and in i886 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 2I, I905. 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 attendant and a liberal supporter. 252 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF CONRAD MILLER. Since I882 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, forethought, 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 I9OI 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 I903, at which time W. F. Winterburn was elected vicepresident. 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 province of Ontario, Canada, in I848. The family moved to New York state in his childhood, and in I862 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 hundred and sixty acres, which he still owns. He continued farming on this land until I882, 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 bus;iness alone. He then formed a partnership wita W. F. Winterburn in the feed business, and later one with W. J. Ryder in the wood and coal trade. Then in I9OI the stock company was formed which includes both of these firms. This business has prospered and increased greatly, and the company stands in the first ranks of Kalamazoo'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 interests and his domestic life completely satisfying him. He was married in I871 to Miss Grace Mason, a daughter of Cornelius Mason, and granddaughter of Edwin Mason, one of the early settlers 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 people around him. His life began in Richland township on March 14, I857. His parents were Henry and Harriet (Bears) Kester, natives of Onondaga county, N. Y., who moved to Kalamazoo county soon after their marriage, when all their hopes and aspirations pointed to a career of usefulness and credit, and they wisely chose a new country in which to develop them. Here the conditions 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 performances and widens the mind to unsuspected possibilities. Moreover, close and continued communion 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. Kester's parents grew and flourished by their own efforts, winning a home from the waste and helping to build the region into fruitfulness and beauty. On their arrival in the county they bought a partially improved tract of land in Richland township which they developed into a good farm, and when their life's work was done they surrendered their trust on thb tlace, which was at KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN: 253,lnce 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 anl uncle. After receiving his education and,eaching his legal majority there, he returned to liis native place and bought a farm, on which he has lived ever since. It has been well improved 3\; him and carefully cultivated, and stands forth now to his credit as a work of merit wrought out b\ his own industry and fidelity to duty. In 1,82 he was married to Miss Mary A. Peak, a native of Richland township, and the daughter of ll(onored pioneers of the county. Two children are the fruit of the union, their daughter Hazel I'. 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 NewYork 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 civilization behind them, produced a development, a commercial and industrial activity and fruitfulness, a;ocial culture and an educational svstem in all respects equal and in many superior to that which they had abandoned for the wilderness. They were vlen 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 It) see the on-coming glory of the far future. The;sbject of this article, while not among the first, was one of the early arrivals in this countv, and came hither with his parents at the age of fifteen years, his young life crowded with the beautiful l]opes and aspirations of vouth, 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, happened 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 community, 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, N. Y., on December 2, I834, and is the son of Michael and Fannie (Shepard) Chandler, 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 comforts of a good home, the father died during the Civil war. The mother survived him many years, dying on March TO, I892, in Richland township at the home of her daughter, Mrs. WilliamSimons, aged eighty years. Their son David grew to manhood on the paternal homestead and completed 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, he united in marriage with Miss Adeline J. Peake, the daughter of Ira and Sarah (Miller) Peake, early settlers in this county, and four vears later they located on the farm of two hundred acres in Richland township which was the home of the family until 900o, when Mr. Chandler moved to the village of Richland, selling the farm in I902. Mrs. Chandler died on June 28, I88I, 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 I895 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 2 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 I855 he was actively engaged in the practice of his profession here. In that year he removed to Bureau county, Ill., where he devoted his time to farming and raising Percheron horses of a high grade, and died in I895, 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 I834, 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 pronounced Democrat. He has taken an earnest interest in township affairs and served the community 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 regard 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 organizied and incorporated in I870, and during the twenty-four years of its life it has given employment 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 tributary to its coffers, until it has the whole of this country for its market. As it was the first mercantile 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 company 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 I887. Then the company was reorganized with a capital stock of fiftyseven thousand five hundred dollars and tlt( following officers: O. M. Allen, president R. D. McKinney, vice-president; George H. Henshaw, secretary; and J. Alleii, treasurer. Mr. Allen continued as president until I899, when he retired and Mr. McKinney succeeded him. At that time C. A. and Horace Peck, Edward Woodbury, George A. Bardeen and G. L. Gilkey became interested in the enterprise. The factory was erected in I9oo, 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 burial 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 business is constantly on the increase. R. D. McKinney, the president and general manager of the company, is a native of Hamilton, Ohio. He came with his parents to Michigan, and with 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 Lawton, 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 I88I, and being connected with the business continuously since then. Within his observation and by his aid thlbusiness has grown from a very small beginnineg 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 Mystic Shrine, and also as an Elk. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 255 DR. J. L. W. YOUNG. Born on February I8, I849, in the upper end o{ the Shenandoah valley, Virginia, at a time lwhen our country was rapidly preparing for the li,,rnentous Civil war which soon afterward p!lnged it into sanguinary strife and stifled all tihe productive energies of his section, Dr. J. L. \r. Young, of Kalamazoo, began life under unfavorable auspices which did not improve during is 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, fervent in his loyalty to his section, was among the first to enter the Confederate army at the beginning of hostilities, becoming a member of the Second Virginia Cavalry under command of General Fitzhugh Lee. In that very active fighting organization 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 I868 he entered the medical department of the State University of Michigan, and after passing two years in that institution he completed his course of professional training at the Missouri Medical College in St. Louis, where he was graduated in I87I. In the meantime, in I870, his parents had moved to Muncie, Ind., and he began practicing his profession in that state. But soon afterward changed his residence to Big Rapids, this state, and in 1874 settled at Cooper, Kalamazoo county. Here lih remained eight years, then moved to Lowell il Kent county, where he passed ten years, all the while engaged in an active general practice. In the autumn of I892 he became a resident of lKalamazoo, and in that city he has ever since lived a'd practiced. He is a member of the Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine and secretary of the National Practice Association. In 1872 he was married 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 I902, is a native of Allegan 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 IO, I905. The paternal grandfather, Henry Jackson, who was born and reared in Vermont, came to Michigan in about 1849, and settled near Richland. 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 I889. 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 graduated in I896, paying his way through the institution 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 I898. He filled the office one year, then resigned and was admitted to the bar in I899. Soon afterward he formed a partnership with A. S. Frost, which lasted until Mr. Jackson assumed charge of his present office on January I, I903. In political matters he gives an ardent and serviceable 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 always 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 himself chiefly to his profession as the matter of supreme 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 November 7, I850, 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 I869 he became a resident of Kalamazoo and soon found employment in the asylum, where he worked two years. He then attended the Parson'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. FHe was admitted to practice in I873 and after his return from the South opened an office by himself, and he has been alone in the practice ever since. In I884 he was elected judge of the recorder's court, serving a term of four years. In I891 and I892 he was prosecuting attorney, and later for three years was city attorney of Kalamazoo. He has always been in an active general practice except when he was on the bench, and has achieved success and prominence in his profession, being accounted one of the leading lawyers and most representative citizens of the county. He was married at Kalamazoo, in 1877 to Mrs. Mary Webster, of Detroit, by whom h(, had two sons and one daughter, the sons being now residents of St. Louis. The mother died ill 1893, and in I9OI the Judge married a secondwife, Miss Clara M. Masch, of 'Kalamazoo. Ill 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 committees and chairman of the city and county conlmittees. He was chairman of the county committee in the contest of I896, and was at the time a candidate for the office of probate judge, but lacked twenty-nine votes of a majority at the election. For many years he has been prominent ill 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 Miclligan. He also represented the grand lodge of the state in the sovereign grand lodge of the order at Baltimore in i885 and at Boston in I886. 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 Association. 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 bv the host. EDWARD A. BISSELL. The army of axmen In this country, whose sharp blades and lusty strokes leveled the mollarchs of the forest which for ages kept apart tlche sunshine and the soil, and whose arduous toil KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 257 lltzed the way for the onward march of civilizati(n, has been a race of heroes at all times in our history and in all parts of our country, and is,)lie the less entitled to be sung as such because tl?,'ir undertakings and achievements have been Ilostentatious rather than showy and quiet raflier than noisy. To this race belonged the part1;s of Edward A. Bissell, of Richland township, thli county, and in his day he was a member of it hitisself. They were pioneers in Portage county, h)iio, pitching their tent there almost on the heels of the retreating red man, and in his turn he did thel 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 accomplished for our country and the world is likely to lbe 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 forefront of adventure and accomplishment, of contest 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 thllnl almost trackless waste with teams to Buffalo, tlien by boat to Cleveland, and from there again witih teams to their destination in the heart' of the wilderness. They were Elijah N. and Flora (Ioomis) Bissell, and by their efforts and enduralice built a good home in their new domain and rose to consequence and prominence, among its peol)le. The father cleared two good farms of heavy timber land, and lived on them until 1844, wheni he sold them and moved to this county, buyin- 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 I864 and his in 1852. They had six sons and three datihters. One of the daughters died in Ohio, an(l the rest of the children in this state, except thr.:e 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 incitement and trend to public opinion. His son Edward grew to the age of twenty-one in his native county, and in tile primitive country schools of the place and period obtained the rudiments of an education. In the fall of 1844 he 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 attractive homes. He was married in Illinois in I855 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, the son, was ilarried in I886 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 local schools and has passed the whole of his life among the people of this region. He is therefore well acquainted with their needs and aspirations 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 Democrat 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, bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, though baffled oft is ever won," is happily illustrated in the career 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, I840, 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 I867, when he sold it to his son George and moved to Galesburg, 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, Andrew Evers, was born on the ocean, while his parents were emigrating from their native England to this country in colonial times. As a young man he ardently espoused the cause of the colonies 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 commo!l schools. He began life as a farmer and continued to follow that vocation until I870, except during the greater part of the Civil war. Tn I862 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 battles of South Mountain and Antietam, in Maryland, Fredericksburg, Va., the siege of Vicksburg and Jackson, Miss., the battle of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania Courthouse, and the siege of Petersburg, Va., and finally helped to receive 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 Wilderness 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, I865. Returning then to Michigan, he purchased his father's farm, as noted above, and farmed until I870, when he moved to Richland Center and started a mercantile enterprise with a branch store at Prairieville, which he conducted until I880. In 1884 he built a grain elevator and from it shipped the first carload 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 interested 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 tlhir own immediate community and the whole sur KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 259 rounding country. In politics Mr. Evers is independent, 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 f:, 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 business, and the genuine esteem of his fellow men, he is not only one of the patriarchs of its expanding greatness, but as well one of its chief supports. WILLIAM H. BENNETT. William H. Bennett, at present (I905) 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, I856. He is the son of Robert and Ann J. (Newell) Bennett, both natives of the Dominion, tile former of Irish and the latter of English ancestry. 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 harwnoniously developed by careful home training under the benign influences of American institutions, he presents the most desirable attributes of g:ood citizenship, honesty, industry, persistency, resourcefulness and frugality, with progressivenlss of spirit and breadth of view. The father vvas a farmer in his native land until I857, when he emigrated to this county and settled in Rich-'and township, on land which he farmed until I9S2. 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 tilling its soil, William H. Bennett is not only substantially 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 I855 he was joined in wedlock with Miss Mary C. Whitney, a daughter of Norman S. and Augusta (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 I9o2, and on December 23, I903, the father married again, being united on this occasion with Miss Alice I. Clark, a native of Calhoun county, this state. Mr. Bennett is a zealous and active Republican in political relations, and as such has been the supervisor of the township since 1902. He has also served as township treasurer, holding this office in i886 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 showing 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 surrendered 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 inaugurated. He was born in Cooper township on January 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 I849 he accompanied his uncle to California, where they mined successfully two years. He then returned 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 I899 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 wedlock with Miss Florence Wilson, a native of Barry county, on March 8, I883. 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 steadfastly 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 considerations, 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 progressive forces and most worthy and representative 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 Kalamazoo, has passed the subsequent sixty-nine years of an active life among its people, earnestly engaged 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 cordial regard of his numerous friends and the benefits of the civilization he aided materially to inmbed and cultivate in what was, when he came, a far western wilderness. His life began in Cayuga county, N. Y., on November 4, 1828, where his parents, Henry and Mary E. (Casey) Hopkins, were then living. The father was a native of Washington, and the mother of Dutchess county, that state. They were farmers, following the vocation of the old patriarchs in their native state until I835, then transferring their energies 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 tille in the lower house and part of the time in tlte senate. In 1812 he departed this life after a longcareer of usefulness and public renown, havinlg rendered efficient service to the cause of the Federalists in politics. He was a cousin of Stephen JAMES H. HOPKINS. I I L I 1 I I I i i II I.1 KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 263 l lpkins, a signer of the Declaration of Indeindence. He left a family of seven sons and five (ilaug-hters who grew to maturity. In 1835 the parents of James Hopkins removed their family t,o Michigan, making the trip by way of the Erie c(Tal to Buffalo and from there by steamer to Detroit, 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 lhe worked land on shares. In 1837 he moved to \Kalamazoo county and settled on a tract of wild lanll in Charleston township, which was named for one of his uncles. Here he cleared forty acres of land, and afterward moved to Bedford, Cal'holun county, where he cleared a good sized farm 01 which he and his wife died, he in I865 and she in 1896, aged ninety-nine years. He was a' soldier in the war of I812 and fought in the battle of Plattsburg, N. Y. In politics he was an active l)emocrat, but he never sought public office or (lesired it. Five sons and three daughters were born in the family, of whom two sons and one (faughter are living. James grew to manhood in this and Calhoun counties, and in 1860 returned to this county, settling near Galesburg on a farm which he bought and which was his home for twenty-eight years. In I888 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 capital for putting up more than eighty dwelling houses, which he has sold to people on the installmnent plan, thus adding to the growth of the city and the welfare of its people. He erected nine houses in 1904 and two in I905. He was married in 186I to Miss Jane McNulty, who died in I900, leaving one daughter, now Mrs. Frederick Shelleto. 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 (;alesburg, and during his residence there was i zealous participant in its work, serving at its first secretary and pushing its growth by his influence and enthusiasm. His long and prominent residence in the state has mnade 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 renowned, John G. Haskins, of Cooper township, where he is one of the leading and most progressive farmers, on coming to this county in 1857, began at once to see opportunities for good profits in buy-ing 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, I834. 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 Wisconsin 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 vield 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 growing: in value at a rapid rate. Mr. Haskins was married in I86o to Miss Janet Hoyt, a daughter of Theodore Hoyt, one of the pioneers of Richland township who settled there in I836, 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 legislature for two consecutive terms, has had an interesting career and has seen in it many forms of life and public service and met many men of different classes under a great variety of circumstances. He was born on September 6, I840, at Franklin, Delaware county, N. Y., and is the son of Stephen S. and Nancy 0. (Strong) Foote, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of Massachusetts. The father was a farmer who moved with his parents in I802 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 public 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 Connecticut, and his father, Ichabod Foote, was a Revolutionary soldier in a Massachusetts regiment. Hon. Charles E. Foote was reared and educated in his native state. In I859 he 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, I86I, 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 sections 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 Winchester and Edwards Ferry, and from that section 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 being discharged on August ii, I864. After his return home he finished his trade and thereafter worked at it until 1873, when he engaged in business for himself in his native state. In I878 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 department 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 i888, 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 I883, remaining until July, I885. At that time he was transferred to Wauseon, Ohio, and in the fall of 1887 established his headquarters at Toledo, having sixteen counties in northwestern Ohio under his charge in the official work to which he was assigned. In March, I888, he became a resident of 'Kalamazoo and started his present business, which he has conducted with ability and success. In the fall of I895 he 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 I897 he was re-elected and became chairman of the committee on railroads and also of the committee on fish and game. In I896 he was appointed quartermaster general of the Grand KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 265 Army of the Republic, Department of Michigan, under General William Shakespeare, department commander. On January 23, I868, Mr. Foote was married in New York to Miss Laura C. Gillett, a native of that state. They have two children living, their son George E., who is in business with his father, and their daughter Cora A. iNIr. Foote has been a life-long Republican, having cast his first vote for Lincoln for president in I864. He has also been a very active member of the Grand Army of the Republic since I873. He organized a post in this organization at Cobleskill, N. Y., and served two years as its commander. In I886 he was transferred to Orcutt Post at Kalamazoo and also served as its commander. 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 entertaining 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 enthusiastic 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 committee. CONDON J. BROWN. Born and reared to the age of sixteen in Washington 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 untamed 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 I, 1825, and is the son of Condon and Selva (Hitchcock) Brown, the former born in Rhode Island and the latter in New York. The father's life began on March I3, I8oi, 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 I841. He then gathered his household goods about him and set out for a new home, as his father had done before him,and comingtoMichigan, bought one thousand acres of unbroken land in Eaton county. A year later he moved to Calhoun county, where his wife died in I863, and four years after this event he took up his residence in Kalamazoo county, where he died in I898. 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, however, 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 I84I, 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 I867 he became a resident of this county, locating 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 I862 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 effort to advance their best interests. For a period of thirty-five years he operated a threshing outfit 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 hardships and dangers of frontier life gained in passing through its trials and exacting labors, and he is therefore well qualified to enjoy in full measure the splendid development and striking progress 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 realestate men in Kalamazoo, owning now Taylor's and the Linden Park addition to the city, and improving his property with commendable activity 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, coming 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 I867, 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 I892. He was among the first to raise celery for market in this neighborhood, beginning the culture of it in I856. He had a struggle to get it into general use, but after considerable effort succeeded in working up a good trade and made large shipments to other points. He was also the pioneer nurseryman in this region, and carried 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, attending the common schools and Parson's Business College. After leaving school he associated with his father in business and remained with him until his death in I892. 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 serviceable, 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 COMPANY. STORAGE This fine and enterprising organization, which conducts an enormous trade in all parts of the United States and Canada, was founded in I891 with a capital stock of twelve thousand dollars as a limited corporation. The first officers were: J. N. Stearns, president; F. C. Balch, vice-president; A. C. Balch, treasurer, and J. B. Balch, secretary. The company erected a plant on Walbridge street, forty by eighty feet in size and three stories high, with commodious dry warehouses for the storage of non-perishable merchanlise, 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 company 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,natgnitude of its business. In 1897 a reorganizaion, was effected with the same capital stock but ni new directorate, the officers chosen at that time:Id still serving being J. B. Balch, president, and i. E. Pierce, secretary, treasurer and manager. ar1. Balch was born in Allcgan county, this state, i September, I868. He is a son of A. R. Balch, l) rother of the late Hon. Nathaniel A. Balch,,le of the leading lawyers and public-spirited citi/cns of this county, whose forensic efforts and,1blic services won him high renown throughout fle state and gave him a high reputation far bevond( its borders. A. R. Balch, the father of the ullbject 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 I872. I ike his brother Nathaniel, he was prominent in politics, and to the end of his life was a faithful tand 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 Kalamazoo Baptist College. He entered business as a clerk for Robert R. W. Smith & Sons, of Kalamazoo, 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 ',usch Cattle Guard Company, through the South, remaining with that company until the organization of the cold storage company, of which he is now president. In I897 he married with Miss Mabel S. Severance, a daughter of Judge Severance (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, being 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 Democratic party for secretary of state in I904, 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 engaged in the production of a great variety of choice marketable products, was organized on January II, I90I, with a capital stock of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, the stockholders being nearly all local men. The company manufactures high grade sized and super calendared and machine finished book and lithograph, catalogue, French folios and other specialties in paper. The officers are W. S. Hodges, president and general manager, H. H. Everard, vicepresident, 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 enterprise 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 I855. His parents, 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 township, where he farmed a number of years, then moved to Galesburg. In I86I he enlisted in defense of the Union in Company I, Second Michigan Cavalry, and was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland. He remained in the service until the close of the war and saw much active field duty, participating in many important engagements, among them the battles of Franklin, December 24, 1863, Franklin, January 4, 1863, and Mossy Creek, December 29, I863, and the campaigns 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 business. He died in I878, 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 I883. In I887 he went with George E. Bardeen to Otsego, Allegan county, and helped to organize the Bardeen Paper Company there. He remained with this company until I899, and in I9OI 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 stockholder in and director of the Home Savings Bank, the Kalamazoo Paper Box Company, and the Kalamazoo Railroad Supply Company. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic order in lodge, chapter and commandery, and with the order of Elks. In I882 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 influence, uniting in his methods an enlightened conservatism 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 Neumaier, of Kalamazoo, there learned the art of brewing the popular and palatable beverage of his native land, which he has so successfully practiced on this side of the water. His life began in Baden on April 27, I842, and he is the son of Christian and Frances (Schaub) Neumaier, also natives in that country, where their forefathers 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 remained in the fatherland until he reached the age of twenty-four. When he was seventeen he began to learn the trade of a cooper and also that of a brewer. In I866 he emigrated to this country, 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 foreman in a brewery. In the fall of I872 he changed his residence to Kalamazoo, and on his arrival in this city rented the old steam brewery on Territory Road which he operated six years in partnership with Leo Kinast, then in I878 bought the plant on Portage street known as the City Union Brewery. This he conducted until I896, 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 produce 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 I868 to Miss Valentina Savert, like himself a native of Germany. They have had six children, all of whom are living 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 Workingmen's Society and is a member of the Catholic church. In I892 he visited his old home and passed three months amid the scenes and associations of his youth and young manhood; but returned to the United States more than ever devoted to the institutions and its interests of this country. Here he has found freedom of movement and opinion and amplitude of opportunity, and has found that his thrift and industry, along with his business capacity, have been duly recognized 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 t, 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. TIe was born on her soil, educated in her schools, a.cquired his professional training in the office of jne of her prominent attorneys, was married to ile of her accomplished ladies, and has won professional distinction among her people, in advocacy of their rights and the protection and development of their industrial and commercial interests. Although somewhat a traveler and familiar with other parts of the country, his home has been Ilis regular anchorage and the seat of his useful and successful labors. He was born at Girard, Branch county, this state, on February 4, i86i, 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 I852 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 matriculated at Sherwood College and pursued a literary and classical course in that institution. Removing to Kalamazoo in 1884, he took a course of commercial 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 I888 he formed a partnership for practice with James H. Kinnane, under the style of Kinnane & French, which lasted three years. At the end of that period the partnership was hariioniously dissolved, and since then Mr. French!!as practiced alone. He has given his time wsholly to his practice, in connection therewith serving for a number of years as justice of the peace and circuit court commissioner, and while lie 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 representative 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 I890 to Miss Emma Daryman, who was born in Pennsylvania. They have three sons, Robert L., Paul and Norman, 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 oneof the largest producers in its line and one of the most vigorously and successfully managed 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 Railroad and began the manufacture of road carts. In I888 the present company was organized and incorporated with a capital stock of twenty thousand 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 I897, 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 dollars. The Newton Carriage Company's plant, which this company now occupies, was then purchased and the business moved to it. Mr. Burnell 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 establishment 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 increasing its trade in new territory while holding firmly to the old. Mr. Doyle, the president of the company, was born in Kalamazoo in' I856. 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 tinme and energy to the affairs of the company, and the results are commensurate with his efforts. Political 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 I874, the late George Fuller, who departed this life on March 25, I905, in Kalamazoo, after long years of business success in that city, started the livery business which he conducted there until his death, and which he had in his ownership and under his personal 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 every 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, I833, and was 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 I835. 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 I857 or I858, 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 Jalles into partnership with him, the firm being knoNwll 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 noble 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 Canada. In 1852 he was married in New York t(c 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 alderman, being a member of the first board after the incorporation of the city. He was a Freemason of the Knight Templar degree, and belonged also to the order of Elks. During his long residence of more than forty years in Kalatnazoo he lived among his fellowmen without reproach, having their unstinted respect and meeting all the duties of his citizenship with commendable fidelity and enterprise. At his death, on March 25, 1905, he was laid away to rest ill GEORGE FVLLER. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 273 Mountain Home cemetery in Kalamazoo with evcry demonstration of popular esteem. His livery business is still in the hands and under the manalement of his sons Horace J. and James H. The father took pride in Masonry and gave the intercst of the order his close attention and his most active and serviceable support throughout his colection with it, and was known as one of the l-rilghtest and most enthusiastic members of the craft in this jurisdiction. TIONSELMAN CANDY COMPANY. This valued enterprise, which is a source of pride and credit to the city of Kalamazoo, and o0e 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 "minister to a mind diseased," do, by their palatable sweets, help to ease the cares and soften the burdens of many a life, and smooth away untold domestic wrinkles. The business was founded on February 24, I880, 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 I880. 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 a. small way, keeping the retail business going a.lso until I902. He started manufacturing can(lies in the Waterbury block, but by I896 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 tributary to its progress and success comprises Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and several adjacent states. The company also handles large quantiiies of peanuts and California walnuts in its products, and makes every form of confection known to the trade. In addition to his interests in this I6 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 educational and moral agencies, but he has never been an active partisan in political affairs. He is prominent also in fraternal circles, being a Freemason with membership in the commandery of Knights Templar and the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the order of Elks. Without ostentation or self-seeking, except 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 portion of the burdens of good government and public improvement, and by his integrity, business acumen and public spirit he has won the' lasting 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 prominent 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 company was organized in January, 1876, and succeeded 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 necessary 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. Woodbury, who held the office until I88I, when he retired in favor of his son, Edward Woodbury, who still occupies the position. Mr. Phelps continued to serve as general manager until his death in I883. The business has prospered greatly, each year witnessing an increase in the output of the factory and an enlargement of the territory tributary 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 especially in foreign countries, particularly in South America, South Africa and Australia. Mr. Bigelow, who has been the secretary and treasurer of the company from its organization and the impelling and directing force of the industry, and who succeeded Mr. Phelps as general manager, was born in Essex county, N. Y., in I844, and was reared and educated there. He came to Michigan in I866 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 almost exclusively to this enterprise. He was, however, instrumental also in founding the Kalamazoo National Bank in July, I884, and has since served as its vice-president and one of its directors. He is also president of the Riverside Foundry Company and the Kalamazoo Galvanized Iron Works. In these diverse and exacting industrial operations he finds full scope for his active and fertile mind, and very profitable employment of his time. So that, although a firm Republican 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 Company. 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 secretary 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 extensive and enterprising real-estate men of Kalamazoo, whose untimely death, on April I, I9o4, deprived 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, I858. 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 I855, settling at Kalamazoo, where he was married. He returned with his wife to England in I89o and 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 hundred acres. For a number of years he was secretary, treasurer and general manager of the' Kalamazoo 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, besides 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 Saviiogs Bank and assisted in founding many of the largest and most important manufacturing enterprises in the city. In political thought and action 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 I897 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 0. and Marian,.who survive their father. Mr. Parker was prominent in social and fraternal circles, in the latter being a zealous Freemason in lo(lge 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 deserved the high regard in which he was held, whether measured by the volume and value of his work, his sterling and upright manhood or his genial and entertaining social qualities. 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 inhabitants of the county, and the whole of his life so far has been passed within its borders. Here he was born on October I6, I840, 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 wilderness, and has witnessed its transformation, under tlhe 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 I82I, the father came to the United States with his parents and his three brothers and one sister. The family took up their residence in Genesee county, N. Y., and there the parents passed the remainder 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 Kalamazoo. 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 afterward 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 I874, his wife dying some time later. He served as supervisor of Portage township, was a zealous member of the Presbyterian church, and in other ways took an active and helpful interest in the development 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 became 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 I876 but this mill was destroyed by fire in July I905, at a loss of over seven thousand dollars. He also owns a part of the old family homestead which is operated by his brother's son. In I866 he was married in this township to Miss Anna M. McKay, a daughter of Joseph and Eliza (Nesbith) McKay, early settlers on Prairie Ronde. They have one son living, Robert N., and one daughter, Mary, the wife of Thomas Richmond. Mrs. Richmond died in 276 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF I902 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 institution with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars and doing an extensive business, whose patrons are in many parts of the country. The company is the outgrowth of the old firm of North & Coon, which was formed in I888. This firm carried on an extensive business, which increased to such proportions that its members concluded it was best for them to organize a company to conduct the business and thus enlarge their resources and augment their force. Accordingly in January, I904, the present company was formed, with Mr. North as president, H. C. Coon as vice-president, L. W. H. Jones as secretary, and A. C. Jickling, treasurer and general manager. Mr. North was born in St. Joseph county, this state, in I85I. His parents were William T. and Emeline (Chapin) North, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of New York. The father was a farmer and came to Michigan in I844. He settled on a tract of wild land in St. Joseph county which he cleared up and made habitable and productive 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 I878 he engaged in the lumber business at White Pigeon, St. Joseph county, where he carried 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 formation of the firm of North & Coon in I888. During the next six years this firm grew and flourished 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 elements 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, I880, 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 coime thither from Sharon, Litchfield county, Conn., where the father was born on October I2, I807. He died at Sharon, Mich., in I897. A pioneer of this state, and an active worker for the advancement of its interests in every commendable 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 architectural 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, afid he and his family are members.of the Methodist Episcopal church. Althouglh a Republican, firm in the faith and zealous in desire 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 relations have absorbed his time and attention, and in them he has found congenial employment, profitable industry and peace of mind. Throughout 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 citizens. FRANK B. LAY. Frank B. Lay, vice-president and treasurer ot the Michigan Buggy Company, of Kalamazoo, is a native of Allegan county, this state, born oil November 29, I856. 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 Pennsylvania, and there he grew to manhood and attended the district schools, working on the paterInal homestead until he became of age. Then, in IS43, he came to Michigan and located in Allegan countty. He soon became extensively engaged in lumbering, rafting his product down the KalamaZoo river to Lake Michigan and then shipping it to Chicago. He followed this business for a rnumber of years, and was also engaged in farmingr and handling agricultural- implements. In 1883 he aided in organizing the Michigan Buggy Company, and was a director and its vice-presi(lent until his death, on March 13, '9oI. He was also a stockholder in the Comstock Manufacturing Company. An active and enterprising business man, and highly endowed with business capacity of a high order, he built up a large trade for every enterprise with which he was connected 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 township, 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 prominence and great responsibility, but he failed of election because of the large adverse majority in the county. In religious faith he was an Adventist, 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 'wo 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 secretary and treasurer, serving as such until I903, 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 began 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 'havre a wide and active market. Mr. Lay is also largely interested in breeding a high grade of fine carriage and track horses on the old homestead in Allegan county and is the owner of "'Strongwood," one of Michigan's greatest sires.; "Noteboly,"' "Cashwood," ' 2:07 I-4; "Elmwood,' 2':07 I-2; '"The Puritan," 2:09 3-4; "Stormwood," 2:I' I-4; "Verna Strongwood," (3) 2:I2 I-4; "Englewood," '2:I2 3-4, 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 of 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. Inn church affiliation he is a Presbyterian. M. HENRY LANE. This energetic and progressive business man, who is president of the Michigan Buggy Company, and in that has given Kalamazoo one o f its best industries, has had a career of great usefulness in this community, and although on two separate occasions has been burned out by disastrous 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 numberoof men whom it employs. He' is a native of Cayuga county, N. Y., born in January, I849. In I88I he came to Kalamazoo and organized the Kalamazoo Wagon Company, composed of himself, F. W. Myers anii 278 'BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF Ira V. Hicks. In 1.883 he 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 dollars, which was afterward increased to one hundred 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 ihn 1883 in the northern part-of the city. This was destroyed by fire in' I896, with a loss of sixty-three thousand dollars, on whichi they had an insurance of only forty thousand dollars. They at once enlarged a small factory which they owned and continued the business. After greatly enlarging this plant and coimpleting its equipment with all the most approved machinery for their 'work it was also destroyed by fire, the loss on this occasion being two hundred and forty-nine thousand dollars and the insurance eighty thousand dollars:'..The blow was a serious one, but, nothing daunted, they began immediately to rebuild, erecting the present factory along the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad 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 Recreation Park, and was at'one timea, stockholder in the First National Bank. He is also extensively 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, having 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 business 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 entered upon his inheritance in this useful line of productive industry in his childhood, as. his father 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 avenues' in Kalamazoo, was born in that.city. on March 9, I85I,. and is the son of Lovett' and Lucy C. (Morgan) Eames, both' natives of Watertown, 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 machine 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 1831 he moved-to Kalamazoo county and bought a tract of land 'on Grand Prairie on which he settled, 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.I844 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 machinery. He built the first hydraulic water system in KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 279 this part of the country in 1863, and this supplied the State Fair Grounds with water, but soon after its completion and before the end of that cear 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 I862. He was extensively engaged in business, operating saw mills in various parts of the state and conducting other enterprises in collateral lines. At Watertown, N. Y., in 1831, 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 organizations and the means of supplying them with information 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 comprised six sons and two daughters, and of these, three of the sons and the two daughters are living. Their mother died in June, I9oo. 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 Kalamazoo, and at the age of thirteen became an apprentice in the office of the Kalamazoo Telegraph. He afterward became a machinist and has followed this craft ever since. His first venture was in the manufacture of hubs and spokes in the old factory, where he started in 'I868. In I887 he began the manufacture of wooden pulleys and sometime afterward of drill grinders. He has steadfastly adhered to his chosen lines of enterprise and has made the business profitable to himself 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 I88i 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 fname 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 Burnham, 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 (Chittenden) Burnham, both natives of Vermont. The father was a civil engineer and brought his family to Michigan in 1830, not long before the birth of the son Giles. He settled at Saline, and soorr afterward began surveying in the northern part of the state where he did a great deal of professional work. Early in the '5os he went to California 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''record in the field and on the march. Giles Burnham was reared' and educated in this state, receiving 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 surveying, and in this he became very familiar with all northern Michigan. 'He also accompanied his father to California, where he passed one year 280 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF working in the mines. He then returned to Michigan and located at Battle Creek, where for a number of years he was in the employ of the American Express Company.: In I860 he removed to Detroit, and after remaining there six years changed his residence to Kalamazoo, and here he lived until his death, on March I, '9oo. 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 vestryman 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 i864, when the Civil'war 'was nearing its close, but when the end was not yet definitely determined, he enlisted in the Union army, but his company was never called into service. The later years of his life were passed in practical retirement from active pursuits, but in earnest consideration for the good of others, who'were still in the ardent struggle of business industry. In June, I864, he 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 in' Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Burnham had three children, one son and two daughters. The son has died, but the daughters, Annie H. and Madge M., 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 seventy-seven, after fifty-six years of useful manhood had rounded out their full course i'n his career, fifty-two of them in this state and sixteen in Kalamazoo county, was a native of Erie county, N. Y., born on November 17, I819, 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 blacksmith in times of peace and also a farmer; an( when the war cloud darkened over the land in 1812, he left his forge for the camp and battlefield 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, he migrated to Orange county with the members of his family then at home, making the journey by ox team, and from there to Erie county. Subsequently he brought his family to Michigan, coming to Calhoun county, where he lived until his death at Bedford. He had three sons and three daughters, all of whom are now'dead.' Huntington M. Marvin grew to manhood in his native state afid there received a common-school education. After leavihg school he learned the blacksmith trade under the direction of his father, and at this he wrought in New York until' 844. In that year he was united in nmarriage with Miss Lucinda C. Riley, of Genesee county, where the marriage occurred, 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 I880 he took up his residence at Augusta, this county, purchasing a mill there, which he operated until his death in I896. He and his wife were the parents of two children, 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 always giving his party an earnest and loyal support, he never aspired to public office, being well contetit to serve his' county' and state fromt the honorable post of private citizenship, and lend his aid to local improvement without regard to V/ I 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,i private bank at Augusta. The son took his place in business and also in public esteem as a v:orthy and useful citizen, showing at all times an h1onest 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 Comstock township, this county, was a native of Monroe county, N. Y., born on July 14, I836. His parents, William' and Esther (Myers) Oliver, were also born and reared in 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 leaving 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 several years. Returning to Kalamazoo, he remained until I878, then purchased the farm in Comstock township on which he lived until his death, in 1899. He was married in New York on September 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 in Kalamazoo 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 politician 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 enterprises 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, 189I, 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 continued it ever since with an increasing volume of trade and profit.. In I899 he 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 Lansing, where he worked in a sash and blind factory seven vears, then in I879 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 i's now engaged. He employs thirty-five persons in his factory and a number on the road, and...... \ 284 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF as he gives his personal attention to every department 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 lifelong 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 educational and moral life and.its substantial progress 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 enterprising citizen, wide-awake to his own opportunities and the general weal, and ever: ready to make the most of any opening for their advancement; while in. social and fraternal life he has a high rank as an earnest and,.erviceable factor., LEONARD.. B3RAGG. 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. foundation as to become almost a classic, so to speak, in a business way,-if these are not proofs of excellence and worthy of. the highest admiration, it would be difficult to designate what are. Whatever tribute to.excellence is involved in. these conditions properly belongs.to Leonard G.. Bragg, founder and manager. of the Union' Nursery Company, or more properly speaking,. of the firm of L, G. Bragg & Company,. which owns and conducts 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 I857 and moving it to Kalamazoo in I869. 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 unvarying 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 tlie market up to the highest standard. The head of the company, Leonard G. Bragg,, was born in Monroe county, New York, on August I9, I830, 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 homestead 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 I869 it was moved to Kalamazoo, and here its expansion and prosperity.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 I853 to Miss. Mary Sherwood, a daughter of Anson Sherwood, of Orleans county, New York. They have one child, their daughter Lena, wife of.Charles A. Burton, of Chicago. Mr. Bragg owns considerable 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 hundred and forty acres, well improved with firstclass buildings and in a high state of cultivation. MEYER DESENBERG, SR. That thrift and industry in the careful conservation 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,, whoop began operations in this part of the world as a foot pedlar of small wares and from that: labor. rious but interesting occupation rose to the rank (of a wholesale merchant, successful miner and ext.,nsive general business man. He was born in Prussia on February 28, I834, 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 Kalamazoo. 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 I868 separated this branch of the business from the retail branch. In I879 Meyer sold his interest 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 I896. 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 development 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 'Sos. In I865 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 Republican, 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'naiIsrael congregation o-f 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. I863, and during all of his pilgrimage among the mystic symbolism of the order he has been an attentive and devout student before the triple lights. Widely esteemed in the business 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 contributing 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 religious 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 American 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 leviedr, 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. Campbell, 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 Kalamazoo county on November 8, 1851, and is the-son of Hugh and Mary (Gilmore) Campbell, the former a native of Scotland and the' latter of Ireland. The father was a baker.-: He came.to- the United States and went direct' to Kalamazoo in I844. 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 I883. 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 grew 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 Schoolcraft township. In I899 he became a resident of Kalamazoo and here he has since had his home. For six years he triveled, and in I901 was appointed city assessor, an office which he is still filling. He was married in 1875 to Miss! Ella S. Wagbr, a native of Texas township. They have one son and 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. 'I'his 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 I879 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 SS.. cCamly, secretary and general manager. These gentlemen died in I894, then J. L. Houghteling was made president and Fred V. Wicks vice-president and treasurer, with J. E. Bidwell secretary, Mr. Wicks served as general manager until John G. Rumney was chosen to that position, with tlie office of vice-president, at which time Mr. Wicks became secretary and treasurer. The business is the pioneer in the manufacture of springs in the West, and it is now the largest 6f its kind in'that section of the country. The conripany's output is more than two thousand tons' a year and its products are sold all over the United States. ' It employs regularly about one hundred persons and. is conducted with' great spirit and KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 287 (enterprise, laying all markets under tribute to its trade and keeping the reputation of its work and,;:terials up to the highest standard. Fred V. i 'icks, the treasurer, is a native of Kalamazoo, l)rn in I86o, and the son of Edward S. and,mlarv (Vail) Wicks. His father was a prosperous farmer of Cooper township who came to the county in the early days. The son grew to ilmanhood 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 becan working for the Kalamazoo Springs Company in 1879, and he continued his association only with that establishment and its successors until 1903, when he became secretary and treasurer of the French Garment Company, a stock company engaged in the manufacture of French (arments for ladies, another business enterprise in which his capacity and genius for successful management finds congenial occupation. Throughout the business world of southern Michigan he' is well and favorably known as a leading business 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 community he is everywhere recognized as wise in counsel and prompt and energetic in action. Fraternally 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 useful 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 hundred 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 investment 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 enormous 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 company 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 membership 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 organizing the company, and from its start its efficient 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 I885 he located in Kalamazoo and after attending the Parson's Business College through a course of business instruction accepted a position as bookkeeper with the Zoa Phora Medicine Company, 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 organization of the Fidelity. In this he has found proper scope for his fiscal ability and business capacity and through his enterprise, energy, force of character and general knowledge, he has built up for it its great business and won its pronounced success and wide reputation for skillful management. He is a trustee of the First Congregational 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 contentions have never been to his taste and he has taken no part in them. DOUBLEDAY BROS. & CO. The original of this flourishing and enterprising 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 I898 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, I903, 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 output 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 establishments of its kind in this part of the country, and enjoys an excellent reputation throughout the trade, laying all of Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin 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, became 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 gallantly in our war with Mexico, and throughout the Civil war with distinction, firing the first gun on the Confederate forces at Fort Sumter, commanding a division at the deluge of death at Antietam 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 commonschool education Captain Doubleday began teaching 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 followed mercantile life for seven years, doing business 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 beginning 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 io, 1864, at Cold Harbor, Va. During the continuous fighting at Petersburg, his superior officers being killed, he acted as captain and adjutant on the same day. On August I5, 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 accordingly resigned, but his resignation was not accepted until I865. 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 I853. He afterward sold this farm and bought a small one KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 289 a(ijacent to Kalamazoo, which in I883 he divided into town lots, forming Doubleday's addition to the city, which is now all built on and is one of tile most attractive subdivisions of the town. The (C.aptain was married on January I, I857, to Miss M.Iaria 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 t!he war of I812 in a New York regiment, being hltt eighteen years old and just married when he entered the service. He died in his native state. IHe was one of the founders of the Republican party, voting for General Fremont, its first presi(lential candidate. His ancestry was German and that of his wife was Scotch-English. Captain 'I)oubleday's father was a native of Connecticut who moved to New York in his young manhood and to Michigan in I835, dying in this state about I862. 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 enterprise of man through which they may have countless 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 available. 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 people 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, I805. 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 Michigan in I836 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 drygoods trade. Afterward he entered into partnership with Hon. Allen Potter in an extensive hardware 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 I858, 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 I865, 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 I833, 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, I887, 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 usefulness and his sterling manhood. It should be mentioned that among the important enterprises with which Mr. Woodbury was connected was the first paper mill in the city, of which he was the originator 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 independence, perseverance and good sense brought profit not only to themselves but to the county. The Trask fanmrily 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, i807, 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 engaged in manufacturing for five years, at the end of which time he turned his attention to farming. He was married in October, I828, to Miss Louisa Fay, of Southboro, Mass. Two children, George, who died in I875, and Hannah, now Mrs. Hannah L. Cornell, of Kalamazoo, were born to them. In I834 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 several 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 I836 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 I839 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 he was inspector of the State Prison, and in I858 was appointed a member of the board of trustees of the Michigan Insane Asylum, and was president of the board until I878. His interest in and love for education made him active in public school work, and he was one of the founders and members of the executive board of the Michigan 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 I852, having taken a partial course of study at the University of Michigan. He was engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York until his death, which occurred in I875, in New Orleans. Luther H. Trask was one of the prominent men in developing 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, I888, 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 I89I. 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 varied 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 helpilg heart and hand, his earnest and independent spirit, and his noble character. JAMES 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. IHe enlisted in the United States army for the war of 1812, but was not called into active service. tames 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 nianhood and was educated in his native county, tand after leaving school was apprenticed to a carpenter, serving an apprenticeship of four years. In the fall of I856 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 business on his own account by superintending the erection of many of the best residences in Kalamazoo, Jackson and other cities to which he was called for similar work, and he kept at this line I7 of duty until I9oo, when he retired from active pursuits. In I86I 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, I877, Mr. Kent married her sister, Miss Mary J. Wolcott, whose father came to this county from Lewanee county in I857. He located there in 1835 and was the 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 partisan or desired public office. Mrs. Kent's grandfather, William Wolcott, served in the Revolution. Her mother was Mary A. Penninen, of English ancestry, her progenitors having come to the United States in I630 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 (I905), having come here with his parents in I835. He was born at Middlebury, Vt., on November 13, 1824, and is the son of Emmor and Caroline (Conant) Hawley, the former 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 the family 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 I840, 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, I870. 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 afterward 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 whatever 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 attention 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 I888 to Mrs. Sarah Pratt, a widow, who died in I890. 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 devbtion to his country by enlisting in the Union army in 1862 as a member 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, being 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 tile 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 I9, 1832, as the Western Star, and on December 31, 1833, 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, I837, the name was changed to the Kalamazoo Gazette, and under that name the paper had a varied existence of prosperity and adversity until March 20, 900o, when by consolidation with the Kalamazoo News it became the Gazette-News, under which name it was issued until January I, I904, when it once more became the Kalamazoo Gazette, as it is now called. F. F. Rowe, the general manager, through whose efforts it has been built up to its present condition of prosperity and influence, is a native of Mineral Point, Wis., born on March I9, 1862, and after receiving his preliminary education in the district schools, attended Beloit College at Beloit, Wis. His father, Francis James Rowe, published 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 Rockford, Ill. 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 papers, and from that time until January I, I904. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 295 hiis 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 paper has flourished under that name ever since. \'lhen he took hold of it it had but six hundred alid( eighty-nine subscribers, whereas it now has a circulation of over twelve thousand, and covers int its beneficent work of information to the public the whole of southern Michigan and nearly all of northern Indiana, while its advertising patronage 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 signalizes 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 direct its activity through healthful and productive channels of enduring benefit and substantial service to the communities in which his efforts are made. In keeping pace with the march of progress 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 Democratic party as the one of his faith, and the one holding, in his opinion, the best theory of popular government, h'e has been diligent in exploiting every phase of the multiform activity and developlment 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. MIoreover, he has taken an active and helpful interest in other forms of business enterprise, being a stockholder in the Kalamazoo Trust Company titld the Rowe College of Shorthand, whose speci;lty is a new system of stenography with its kinldred teachings, and in other enterprises of great benefit and advantage to the community. Hle was married in I886 to Miss Mary L. Frost, of Rockford, Ill., and they have one child living, tllcir son Everett F., and one daughter deceased. i1r. 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 successful and has shown ability of a high order, with abundant honey for his editorial quill in reference 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 burying the dead, who is highly esteemed as one of Kalamazoo's most enterprising and upright business men, was born on August 8, 1853, at Rochester, 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 I850 and located at Rochester, N. Y. Two years later they moved to this county, taking up their residence in Kalamazoo, where the father remained until his death in I893 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. Cornelius 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 he started a similar enterprise for himself, and this he has conducted without interruption ever since. He has built up a large and profitable business and is held in high esteen both in his craft and as a citizen of progressiveness, pub 296 BIOGRAPHICAI lic spirit and breadth of view. On October 28, I878, he united in marriage with Miss Belle Woodworth, a native of St. Joseph county, Michigan, 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 resources along lines of wholesome and enduring progress. GEORGE W. CROOKS. This enterprising gentleman, who is the junior 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 pioneer business men of Kalamazoo, and is universally 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 I802 and the mother in I808. The father was a farmer and the family moved to Kalamazoo county permanently in I839. 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 township, on which he built a little log shack. This property he soon afterward sold and then re L HISTORY OF turned to New York. On his second arrival here he brought his family by team to Buffalo, anld 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 tlh(cre were no roads the journey was tedious and difficult 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 i'rcat labor and difficulty for a number of years, tild transforming it by continued effort into a ha1tlsome and fruitful farm on which he died in iSSi, at the age of seventy-nine. He became an active and important man in the progress and development of the region at once, leading the way and stimulating others by his industry, influence and example. He started the first school in the lcality, 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 mien and maidens of the township were first made acquainted with the rudiments of learning a;nd 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 neiglhlorhood and building the church in which it wdorshiped. The later years of his life were passed in full communion with the Congregaticnal church. His widow survived him nineteen ycars, dying in 900o. In political faith he was an earnest working abolitionist before the war, malking 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 organize 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 years a justice of the peace, and was widely respected for the uniform wisdom and justice in a(llinistering his duties. There were four sons anld three daughters in the family who grew to m]aturity, and of these two of the sons and three (hd, llhters are living. Two sons were killed in the Civil war, finding death on the bloody battlefi(l s of that momentous conflict in defending the Irjion. They were members respectively of the 0Fourth Kansas Cavalry and the Twenty-fifth Jliclhigan Infantry. George W. Crooks passed his o1hllood 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 earl1v!age began taking part in the work of developiiig the section which then called into requis.itiol every able hand. He wrought on his fatlcer's farm with industry and ability, at times (driviiig a breaking team of ten yoke of oxen, also haullliln lumber in the winter, drawing the tim)ers for the first steam grist mill at Kalamazoo. -Te followed farming until 1870, then moved to the city and during the next seven years was etngaged in the implement trade. In i880 he purclhased a one-half interest in the George C. Winslow Marble Works, with which he has since been conllected, the firm being known as Winslow & Crooks. The business was started in 1848, and fromn its start has had a steady and healthy progress and growth. It is extensive in monumental and building stone work throughout the county. Alr. Crooks is also a stockholder in the Comstock Mlanufacturing Company. In politics he is a kle)publican and has served as supervisor of Portage township. Fraternally he is a member of the Mlasonic order. Mr. Crooks was married January 22, I869, 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., 11o Mrs. W. O. Agnew. JOEL WATERBURY. A\mong the highly respected citizens and prorcessive and successful business men of Kalamazoo, Mich., is Joel Waterbury, the second liverynMan 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 complete 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 business, adding that feature in I905. To this enterprise, 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 prominence and valued public service, being the supervisor 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 I877 he purchased the livery business of Captain Hodges on that street, which he has since owned and magnified 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 Freemason 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 -Kalamazoo 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 respected for his genuine worth and the correctness and uprightness of his life. THE P. L. ABBEY COMPANY. This company, which is engaged in the manufacture 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 Medicine Company, bearing that name until I897, 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, I865, and is the son of Lewis C. and Nellie (Loring) Abbey. The father was for many years a leading photographer 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 i886 he began business for himself as a manufacturing 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 become 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 I903 he was elected colonel of the regiment, a position in which he has rendered excellent service to the organization. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic order through lodge, charter and commandery, 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 entertainment. CALVIN FORBES. Successful and prominent in business, standing high in the social life of the city and county, prominent as a promoter of the city's best interests, 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 realestate 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, respectively, in Connecticut and New York. The father was a contractor and builder who became a resident of Kalamazoo county in 1837, comingl 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 1851, a(n 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 I864, andl resided there continuously until recently, when he moved to Lawton, where he died in April, 1905. The son reached manhood on the farm al(l received his education in the public schools, attending 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 training 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 andii other supplies in carload lots. His father joined him in the business after a time and remained 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 Petoskev and carried on a flourishing business in the manufacture of these commodities and general woodenware for a period of four years, when the factory was destroyed by fire, and he returned to Kalamazoo and again engaged in buying and improving city lots, opening in his operations Douglas avenue, 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 man- tracts which were plotted for building purposes. He now has charge of Pleasant View Park, which is a Forbes addition to the city, His improvements have been ladle 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 mIost imposing and substantial business blocks he has added to the city is the Lawrence & Chapin )uilding, on North Rose street. While supporting with loyalty the principles of the Republican party, Mr. Forbes has never been active in political affairs. He was married in 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 VI's 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 I874. In the following January he went to Paw Paw and formed a partnership with Judge Richards, the firm name being Richards & Mills, which lasted until he was elected probate judge of Van Buren county in I876. Ait the end of his term of four years he was renominated for that office by acclamation, but declined to accept the nomination. In I88I he was elected circuit judge and two years later again toolk 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 I888 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 reappointed 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 I874 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 foreign 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 Southerland 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, I820, the son of Lot and Lydia (Bliss) Southerland, who were also native in the Empire state. The father was a farmer and busily followed the business in his native state until I837, 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 insufferable 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 Genesee 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 arrival in the work of the farm, arduous and unremunerative as it often was on new ground, and in addition frequently worked on other farms, earning 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 dwellings of the dawning civilization of the region. In the vears 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 Kalamazoo township in I832. The father belonged to a family of pioneers. his grandfather havini been an early settler in Cherry Valley, N. Y., where at the time of the massacre on November 1. 1 778, he saw his wife killed and scalped y1 the Indians under the half-breed Brant. Mr. Gibbs remained on his father's farm until lie 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, a(nd built the first three barns on Grand, Genesee andc Dry prairies. He also aided in building many of the early mills in the county, being always successful in making a dam stand when others had SMITH H. S()LUTHERTI.\ND. IMRS. SMITH SOUTHERLAND. I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 303 failed, and when the railroad reached Kalamazoo lie assisted in building the first bridge over the lKalamazoo river. In I850 he fitted out a team of hlorses and a wagon with a large supply of provisions and went to California. The party was months on the way and suffered many hardships. I'ley passed three years in the new Eldorado ingaged in mining and returned home by water. Tn 1859, still imbued with the spirit of the pioneer and the love of adventure, accompanied by his second son, John, he visited Colorado; and lie made another visit to that state in I86o in company with his son Willard. In I86I he returned to his home and there he remained to the end of his life. When he first came to Kalamazoo with his family, they stopped with John Hascall. Mr. Gibbs selected a building site. and then lltlng his hat on a bush to show his wife where lier future home was to le. In building some of thle first saw mills in the county he was obliged to carry on his back the iron used in them. In politics he was always a Democrat, but never an active partisan. On June 29, T824, 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 daughlters are living. Mr. and MIrs. Southerland have had three children, two of whom are living, Lydia M., wife 4f D.. Williams, living on the home farm, and John S., a resident of Benton Harbor. Their mother died in I885. Mr. Southerland is now,ne of the oldest citizens of the countv. and one of the few of its earliest settlers left to tell the story of its infant days; 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 profession, 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 profession in his native state until 1869. He then removed to Three Rivers, Mich., where he remained ten years, and in 1879 changed his residence to Belmont, Iowa. There he rose to distinction 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, after which he entered Union College at Schenectady, N. Y., from which he was graduated in the scientific course in I883. While in college the Judge was, on account of his high standing, one of ten allowed to compete for the Blatchford oratorical prize, which he won, as he also did the Allen essay prize. He was a member of the Greekletter 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 I889. The next year he formed a partnership for the practice with his preceptor, Mr. Boudeman, with whom he remained until his election to the circuit judgeship, the position which he is now filling with so much capability and such satisfaction to the people of the circuit generally. In 1896 he was elected prosecuting attorney for a term of two years. In I899, by a large majority; of the electors in the circuit he was elevated to the 304 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF office of circuit judge, and is now occupying that highly honorable and important position, having been, in November, I904, re-elected to that position for the term of six years. The life of a circuit judge is in the main only a continuous performance of important duties, without the spectacular and striking features of official life often found in other posts of prominence; and it is perhaps one of the best proofs of his worth and merit that he introduces no such features into his official round himself. This has been the course of Judge Adams. Faithfully meeting the requirements of his daily routine, with continuous diligence and always with a high sense of his responsibility, 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, I888, and in June, I893, the Judge celebrated a second marriage 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, cryptic 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, I839, the son of Hiram and Betsey (Massey) Arnold, natives of Jefferson county, N. Y., where they were married in I83I. 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 dispose 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. Moffet & 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 retired from the firm after a few years of active business it became Arnold & Cobb, and so continued until I859, when Mr. Arnold retired and turned his attention to farming and keeping a private banking house for a few years. He continued to farm until his death, in 1892, at the age of eighty-four years. He was a Democrat politicallv 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 MIr. Arnold died in St. Joseph 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 I86I, 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 service 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 Washington in 1863, and at Cedar Mountain had a horse shot under him, which fell on him, injuring him seriously. In I864 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 service. After leaving the army he worked two years as a bookkeeper in Detroit, then returned to Kalamazoo, where he remained until 1869. In that year he married MIiss Ida W. White, a native of New York, and thereafter he was engaged in fruit culture until I891. Then he once more became 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 900o 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 company was organized in 1863 with John Milham as president and Mloses F. Kingsley as secretary and treasurer. M r. Kingsley was the organizer of the company and also of the Citizens' Mutual Insurance Company. The Farmers' has prospered steadily and now has 3,100 members and $6,368,ooo of risks in this county alone, its average gain in membership being nearly one hundred a year. The officers of the company at this time (1904) are: \V. 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 I896. Since then he has been a Republican, and has from time to time taken an active and serviceable part in the campaigns. 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 interesting 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 of 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 Cavalry. 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 confined 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 business 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 and followed that line of work until 1894, when he once more became a resident of Kalamazoo and engaged in undertaking in 306 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF partnership with his son, George S. Harrington, the firm being G. W. Harrington & Company. This firm lasted until his death, in I896. 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 I865. 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, I887. He was an enthusiastic 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 I812. 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 member 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 leaving school he has given close and intelligent attention 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 discoveries in the business. He belongs to the Michigan Funeral Directors and Embalmers' Association and the United States Embalming Association. 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 I896 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 Harrington 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, I865, 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 I866 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 official business, serving from 1893 to I897 as under sheriff under his father, from the age of twentyone 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, I889, he was married to Miss Geneva R. Vail, a native of Plymouth, Ind. They have two children, 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 peaceful, 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, adl 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 commendable, and nothing in the future but what is promising, and the shorter the step over the chasm which divides them, the better for the departing soul. Such was the fate of the subject of this brief review, and such were the circumstances 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 I 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 Wsas 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 districts 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 formative state, he guided them through that dangerous 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 lwho worked under him. I-e was "long" on system and a firm believer in teaching the fundamental principles of learning to all school children 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 familiar and welcome guest at almost every fireside, 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 edtucator 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. MIr. Clapp was born at Syracuse, N. Y., on September I, 1844, and was thus a little over sixty vears 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 I865, and then located in Kalamazoo county, where he worked for a year at his trade as a carpenter, and clerked in a store for another. In I867 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 Kalamazoo College. He then went to Vicksburg, where he lived six years, and acted as superintendent of the public schools there. In I88I he was made county secretary of schools, a position 308 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 I898, I9oo and again in I902, as the Republican candidate, and received a large majority of the votes cast each time. In I869 he was married to Miss Frances V. Drummond, of Oshtemo, 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, I899, 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 I88o, 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 I830. 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 NA. Drake, on other pages of this work. The younger Benjamin grew to manhood in this county and received his education in the public schools. In I85o, under the impulse of the excitement over the discovery 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 I870, 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, I857, he was united in marriage with Miss Soledad De La Vega, a stepdaughter 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 WV. 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. Fraternally 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. Benjamin Drake was born in Sussex county, N. J., on January Io, I787, and on reaching his majority 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 fortune in those days. Unfortunate speculation in land during and after the war of 1812 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 buying and selling cattle and working a farm on shares. On September I, I830, he became a resident of this county, locating on section 13, Oshtemo 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 danger 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. HI-e 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 wvas 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 I850, 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 untold hardships on the way. For a number of years he mined in California and Arizona with indifferent success, then went to packing supplies to Marysville and Placerville with two pack teams which he owned. In this venture he prospered, 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 I853, two years after he went to California. One child was born to them, their (laughter Mary F., who is living in Kalamazoo. The father was with General Crook in his Indian 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 desire for adventure and conquest. It frequently descended from sire to son, so that after one generation camped in the wilderness and reInained there until a civilized community grew up around it, the next found the conditions intolerable 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 companionship 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 parents 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 obtained. Mr. Parker was born in Champaign county, Ohio, on February Io, I8Io, 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 I8oo. The father was a farmer and also a renowned 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 I831, 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 priimeval wilderness. They journeyed hither by way of Toledo and the Black Swamp with teams and passed their first winter in what is now Portage 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 domain into a productive farm and comfortable home. The family lived on that tract until I849, 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 I852, and the father in I86I. The father served in the war of I812 in an Ohio regiment, 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 convictions. All of his children are now deceased except his son Solomon, who lives in Cooper township, this county. The son James, who is the immediate subject of this memoir, grew to manhood amid the usual conditions of the frontier, imbibing manly self-reliance and love of independence from nature and the habits incident to his situation, and with but meager opportunities for education 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 inherited 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 I9OI, when she died at the age of ninety years. The Parkers have been among the leading farmers and developers of this county, and have always 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 November 13, I820, 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 positions 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,.Villiam 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 another 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 I86I Mr. Burtt bought a farm south of Kalamazoo on which he passed the remainder of his life, dying there on September I6, I895. His wife died in Kalamazoo in I86I. On January 13, 1847, he 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, bringing forth out of the earth a vast amount of raw material and fashioning it into marketable commodities, thus quickening and enlarging the cur 4ih \NTILLIAM '.\I. BIJLRTT". I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 313 tirets of commercial life in this region and giving employment to a large number of persons. Their e terprise was successful and prosperous from the start, and turned out to be a source of great prosperity and benefit to the city in which it was conlducted. 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 thle 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 enterprise and their accurate business knowledge and fine public spirit. HULBERT SHERWOOD. (n June I9, I9oo, ended the life of this estimable citizen and enterprising farmer, sixtyseven years of which were passed in this state, an(l 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 II, 1822, and remained there until he reached the age of eleven years. Then, in I833, he came with his parents, Labearce and Sophia (Noble) Sherwood, also natives of New York, to Michigan, making the trip by water to I)ctroit. There ox teams were purchased and the journey was completed overland. Along this tryin-' portion of the trip Indians and deer were frequently seen and the howl of the wolf often heard. M\any miles of it was through the trackless wildernless, and the little party was obliged to literally hew its way through. The family settled in Allegan county, where two years later the father died. This said event deprived the son of further opportunity for schooling, and he was obliged to go on with almost no supplement in the way of education to the elementary training he had received in the common schools of his native state. He assisted his older brothers in clearing the homestead until he was twenty-two, when.he began farming for himself three and one-half miles west I8 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 I849, 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 convenience and with good taste. In I844 he was married to Miss Philena Drew, a native of Canada, who died three years later. He contracted a second marriage with Sarah Spencer, who died in the same year and in I849 he married Miss Annie Crawford, of Canada, a daughter of Robert and Cynthia (Brown) Crawford, the former born in Massachusetts and the latter in New York. Mr. Crawford, 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 I849 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 Arbor, and Kirk, who lives on the homestead. Politically 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 December 6, I859. 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 314 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF young manhood. He was married in I882 to Miss Nettie McGregor, also a native of Cooper township, who died in I895, leaving one child, their son Lloyd, born February 28, I885. The father was again married on December 23, I897, choosing on this occasion as his wife Miss Laura Delano, daughter of William Delano, now dead. They have two children, their son Hulbert A., born October 30, I9OI, and Viola M., born July 3I, I905. Mr. Sherwood has filled several local offices, among them that of justice of the peace, which he has administered a number of years with' credit to himself and benefit to the community. He is a model farmer and has a model farm, applying to his work on it the results of his extensive reading and close observation on agricultural subjects, studying the nature of his soil and generously meeting its requirements. In the community he stands well on.his own merits independently 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 I864, 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, I829. His parents, Henry P. and Catherine (Diedrich) Snyder, were also natives of Columbia county, N. Y., and of German ancestry. They were farmers; and their son Andrew was born and reared on the paternal homestead. The father was a man of local consequence and intimately acquainted with many of the leading New York politicians of his day. He was a close friend of President Martin Van Buren, and enjoyed his confidence in a large measure. In about I846 the family moved to Ontario 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 honie farm and received a country boy's usual education in the district schools. In his native state he farmed until I859, then became a resident of Michigan, locating for five years in Washtenaxv 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 extensive 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 MartC. 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 interests of the section in which they live they have given a stimulus to every phase of local advancement and substantial contributions of time, energy, 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 I833 and prospected for sites for future homes in Comstock township. The first named was a native of Livingston county, N. Y., and his wife was Martha (Johnson) Crooks, a native of Vermont. He came into the county in I832 and en KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 3I5 tered a tract of government land in Portage townNlship near Indian Fields. The next year he brtight his family by water to Detroit and with teauIms 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 g'ood 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 year 1884, and his wife some years earlier. They had three sons and three daughters, all now deceased 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 purchased 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 reniained with his father until the death of the latter, then settled on the land which is now his hIome. His wife was Miss Fannie Burdick before her marriage, and she is a native of Vermonlt. They were married in this county, and have three sons and one daughter, all residents of the county except one son. Two of the father's brothers fought for the Union in the Civil war, being members of the Twenty-fifth MichigIan Infantry. His son Charles G. Crooks, the immediate subject of this sketch, was born in Kalamazoo township on October 4, I864, and remained at home until he reached the age of thirty-five years, then moved to where he now lives, in Comstock township. This property he has,-reatly improved and wisely cultivated, and has found in his profitable labors on it both pecuniary reward and the gratification of his taste for advanced agricultural pursuits. He was married in '890 to Miss Carrie Farley, a daughter of John and Sarah (Richfield) Farley, both natives of t his county. Their parents settled here about I840 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 Republican, but he has never been an active partisan. As an independent, upright and highminded citizen, he is well esteemed, and as a public official 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, reaching 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 township, 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 February I8, 1811. 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 enterprising 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 circumstances-making weapons and wings for his progress out of all retarding forces, realizing always 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 (McArthur) 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 brothers, 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 seventyseven; Christina, at seventy-six; and John P., the fifth in the order of birth, at eighty-nine, passing away on April 29, I9o00. 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 began business for himself, buying and selling cattle, and renting two farms as a further venture. He was occupied in farming and the cattle industry in Scotland until I850, 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 I855 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, cattle 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 married in Richland township, this county, on December 29, I862, to Miss Jeannette Redpath, a daughter of Robert and Christina (Purvis) Redpath, and a native of Roxburgshire, Scotland, born on July 27, I840, the third daughter and sixth child of her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell 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, I904, he married Miss Mary Louise Schlobohm, of Kalamazoo 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 I858. They died some years ago, but three of their sons and one daughter are living. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell united with the Presbyterian church many years ago. Mr. Campbell was a devoutly religious man, and performed one part of his duties in this regard by readingo 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 Hanip)shire. Ten years later they moved to Kalamiazoo county, where they lived usefully for a nunllber of years, and then laid down their labors with the assurance that they had performed with diligence and fidelity the tasks allotted to themr and left no blemish on their fair names. Their son Henry remained in his native land until I847. working at his trade as a wool comber, after obtaining 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 I85i the song of the golden siren of California 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. 317 ultil 1854, then came to this county, and, in cot:mpany with his brothers, bought a farm of Wd(l and densely covered timber land. They cleared this and cultivated and improved it into a line farm, and Mr. Chenery lived on it until 17,8 or 1879, when he bought his present farm, wllich was at the time also in a state of unbroken nature and covered with the growth of ages. He hlas cleared all his land and made it valuable with good buildings and other improvements, andl the high condition of fertility and productiveness to which he has brought it. Content with his chosen vbcation 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 vears 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 venerated 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 assurance of having (lone his part toward securing the result. He was married in New Hampshire, in 1849, to Miss Ann Rayner, a native of Yorkshire, 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 CL\RK. 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, I845. His parents were George and Clarissa C. (Bogardus) Clark, the father a native of England and the mother of Pennsylvania. The father came to the United States a young man and settled in this county late in the '3os, 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 I847 and 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 volunteers 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 defeat. 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 Christianburg, 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 corporal. 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 returned to this county and took charge of the home farm. Some little time afterward he entered 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 318 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 I899 sold it and purchased his present home just east of the city. He was married in this county in I874 to Miss Annie M. Stacy. They have three children, George W., Roy W. and May A. Their mother died in I889. Her parents came from Canada and her father was for many years the leader of the Kalamazoo band. In I892 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. VOSBURCG. Ex-sheriff and well known as a leading and progressive citizen of Kalamazoo county, William B. Vosburg, in his residence of nearly forty years in this community, well sustained the reputation of his ancestors for uprightness and forceful manhood and that of the region in which he was born and reared for enterprise and successful grappling with the problems of life. He is a native of Onondaga county, N. Y., born on September 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 Newport, in his native state. He died at Newport in I85O and his wife at Syracuse in I902. 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 country 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 Svracuse as a man of high character, fine mental development and patriotic devotion to the land of his adoption. William B. Vosburg was reared and educated in his native state, and remained there until I865, when he came to Michigan and located at Kalamazoo. Here, he found employment in various lines from time to time, and being handy and capable, and withal willing to work at whatever was upright and renumerative, was never witlhout a job of some worthy kind. He was employed for a time by Thomas Sherwood and afterwar(i 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 uiitil I892, when he was elected sheriff of the county, and at the end of his term in I894 he was re-elected, serving four years in all. Prior to this he had served two years as township treasurer. He was married in I865,before leaving New York, to Miss Margaret Brown, of the same nativity 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. Hudsoll, also of this township. Recently Mr. Vosburg disposed of his farm here and moved to Los Angeles, 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 occasions 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 township, 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 reducing it to civilization and fruitfulness. He was KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 319 bornl in Onondaga county, N. Y., on July 2. 1842, and is the son of Samuel and Lucretia (R(lbinson) Tripp, natives of Massachusetts. The father 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 Y\rk 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 i-mmcber 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 andi farming there for a number of years. In i86I he came to Kalamazoo and entered the emplo( of Merrill & Chase, taking a contract to furnish all the flour barrels they used. While workill for them he bought land in Pavilion township, 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 I90I, when he determined 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 I862 he was n!arried, in Kalamazoo, to Miss Sarah Kilgore, a sister of Hiram Kilgore, a sketch of whom will 1)e found on another page. Mr. and Mrs. Tripp lhave had four children, two of whom are living, their son, Lewis J., a resident of northern Michigran, 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. Tripp 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 enterprising and prosperous farmer was born, on June 3, I850, 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 civilization 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 native 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 allowed 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 productiveness and beauty as a home. Here the mother died in I86o, and of her two-sons and five daughters all are yet living but three of the daughters. The father married as his second wife Mrs. Caroline Smith. He died at Richland in 1884, and she in September, I904, at the age of eightyseven. 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 efforts to promote its enduring welfare. The son was educated in the public schools of the township and at Prairie Seminary, passing his summers 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 I872 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 rccept 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 advancement of the township, and in aid of its business interests he was a stockholder in the Richland Bank and one of its directors. His retrospect 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 Kalamazoo, 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 I8, 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 I830, 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 I836 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 thev 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. I-e 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 manufacturing 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. The business grew gradually into larger proportions, 'necessitating a corresponding increase in the factory and its equipment, and was continued until I888, 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 harrows and steel goods, a line in which he continued some years. He is now interested in the Colnstock 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 lie has been very serviceable, being a director of the First National, the Kalamazoo National and the Home Savings banks. In I890 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 November, I856, 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 HVIIV'HHHN I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 323 1844 and settled in Allegan county, where thev 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 Kalaviazoo; Jennie E., wife of E. E. Ford, now of I)etroit; Alice D., wife of E. F. Hawkins, of California; James B., Edwin W. and Jay G., all of Kalamazoo, James B. and Jay G. being in busiielss with their father. Mr. Chase is a Republican in politics, an Odd Fellow in fraternal life;mld he and his wife are Presbyterians in church membership. DR. JOHN M. RANKIN. This eminent physician and well known (lruggist of Richland, this county, is a native of the rich and progressive county of Franklin, Pa., wAhere he was born on February 12, 1833, and has applied in his professional and mercantile career 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 Margaret (McCurdy) Rankin, who were also natives of Pennsylvania, and were life-long residents of that state. They had four sons and four daughters, all now deceased but three of the sons and one (laughter. the Doctor being the only one living in this state. His scholastic training was secured in the district schools and at Millnwood:Academy. For a few years after leaving this institution he was occupied in farming, but in 1855 began reading medicine and some time later entered Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, where he spent the winters of 1855 and 1856. In 1858 he moved to Illinois, and until I863 he practiced his profession in that state, when he returned to Pennsylvania. The winter of 1862-3 was passed by him at Rush Medical College in Chicago, and' he was graduated from that institution in the spring of I863. From then until February, I865, he practiced in Clarion county, Pa., and on the date last given he enlisted as assistant surgeon in the Eleventh Pennsylvania Infantry. 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 Arcola, Douglas county, Ill., 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 I898 and carrying on a prosperous drug business during the last twenty years. In I858 he was married in his native state to Miss Harriet Sharp, who died in 1871, leaving three sons, Edmund, Charles and James. His second marriage occurred in 1873 and( united him with Miss Susan Rankin', by whoin he had one son, John M., who died in I9oo, his mother having passed away in 1879. In I88I 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 organization to which he belongs. He served as presi(lent of the village three years and his administration of its affairs was generally and highly commended. His religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church at Richland. He is a member of the Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine and of the State Medical Association. His active practice for so many years brought him into intimate 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 artshas hallowed and exalted the pathway of honest, 324 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 subservient 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 conquering army of millions westward over the unoccupied 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 privations 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, I820. 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 I862, his wife passing away here in I87I. 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 I845 he became a resident of Kalamazoo county, traveling 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 I874. He was married at Richland, Kalamazoo 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 I784 and the latter in I793. They moved to this county in I845 and settled two miles west of Kalamazoo. Some time afterward they changed their residence to Barry county, where the mother died in I85i and the father in I873. 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 prominent 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, I864, and grew to manhood amid'its stirring activities in which he took an industrious 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 College in Kalamazoo. He has had control of the farm since he was fourteen years old, and has managed it with vigor and success, showing always a progressive spirit and an ardent determination to improve it to the highest degree. On November 14, I894, 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 ancestry the indomitable courage and perseverance of the race, Robert R. Telfer, of Richland township, one of the enterprising and progressive farmers of Kalamazoo county, has well maintained 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 citizenship. Although his parents, George and 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 rnow 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 emigrated to this country in I855, 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 proinounced 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 under his skillful hand and theirs clad in the vestments 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 I864. The father survived her thirty-six years, passing away on May 22, 190o. Two years after her death, in I866, 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 residents 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 Kalamazoo. The father was a leading member of the Presbyterian church. 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 outside of school offices, but rendering efficient service to the common weal in these for many years, supporting, however, the Republican party in all state and national contests. He was married in i866 to Miss Mary E. Abbott, a native of Lansing, 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 hundred 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, I839, 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 fertility 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 actively or passively hostile to the new comers, the former looking upon everything available as lawful 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 measure 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 all inquiring mind and even through the difficulties of his situation he found a means of gratifying its cravings in general and extended reading, which has made him an unusually wise and well informed man. On April 21, I862, 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 settlers in the township and prominent in all phases of its civil and social life in their day. Mrs. Barber was in her third year when the family moved to Michigan, in I845, and when she was seventeen she lost her mother by death, the father dying 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, I904. Mr. and Mrs. Barber also have had seven children, of whom five are living, Oliver L., of Richland; Francis, of Detroit; 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. Fraternally he belongs to the Odd Fellows lodge at Richland, and has long been active in promoting its best interests. He is progressive and publicspirited, 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 commerce and manufactures, was born at Gorton, Tompkins county, N. Y., on July 29, I812, 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 I830, 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 himself, and coming to Michigan, located in Washtenaw county, where he lived two years. In May, I838, he moved to,Kalamazoo, then a hamlet of small population and in the midst of a territory still abounding in Indians. He passed the ensuing winter as teacher of the village school, and the next year started an enterprise in handling real estate, which he continued until I870. Through his efforts the Kalamazoo Paper Company was organized in I868, and from then until his death, on September 9, I894, he was connected with it and, vitally interested in its welfare. 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 pajer mill at Otsego in addition to his interests ill the Kalamazoo paper mill. In October, 1854, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary oomnis, of Hudson, Mich., the daughter of Danicl and Caroline (Seelye) Loomis, and that union wNas blessed with three daughters, Caroline I., now the wife of Carl G. Kleinstueck; Mary H., the deceased wife of H. B. Hoyt, both of Kalaiiiazoo, and Frances I., who was the wife of R. D. Kuhn, of Cleveland, Ohio, and died on February I, 1892. Mr. Hubbard assisted in the founding of the Republican party "Under the Oaks" at Jackson, this state, in 1854, whose fiftieth anniversary was recently (1904) celebrated with imposing ceremonies, and he steadfastly adhered to the party to the end of his life. He rendered good service to the county as supervisor and assessor and in other positions of honor and responsibility 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. lHe had experience in the use of peat for fuel in his native land, and soon after his arrival in Michigan 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 acquiring the ownership of such land, of which he now has one thousand acres in this and adjoining 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 I891 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 results to its people and its other industries in cheapening fuel and increasing the supply. Mr. Kleinstueck is also connected with other institutions in manufacturing, being a director of the,Kalamazoo Paper Company, the Comstock Manufacturing Company and others. He is a Republican in politics but never seeks or desires public office. He is a member of the German Workingmen'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, Mr, Kleinstueck applies to its development and the discussion of its merits the wisdom, and intelligence 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 convenient 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 January 31, I856. He was reared and educated on the soil of his nativity, and from his childhood has been connected with and interested in the business 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 I840. The Lawler family is of Irish origin, the American progenitor of its numerous members having come from that country to Connecticut in early colonial days. As the tide of emigration flowed westward 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 remaining days, dying there on June 4, I886. 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 interested in the cause of public education, and looked after its interests in an influential and serviceable way many years as a member of the local school board. His marriage occurred at Battle Creek, this state, in I850, and he and his wife became 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 interests, 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 business as an undertaker and furniture dealer at Augusta until I893, 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 manager 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 I887 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 establishments in that town. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, and in politics is a Republican, zealous for his party's success, but seeking no office for himself. REV. JOHN GRAY, D. D. This devout ecclesiastic, profound scholar and fine gentleman, who since I9oo 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 reputation, is a native of Toronto, Canada. His parents, John and Annie (Corley) Gray, were born, respectively, in Scotland and Dublin, Ireland, and emigrated to Canada about the year I820. 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 citizenship, and true to his manhood in every relation of life. The son was educated in the public schools, at Toronto Collegiate Institute, in University College and in the theological department of Knox College. Soon after leaving the theological school he became the pastor of St. Andrew's church at Windsor, Ontario, where he remained 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 commendations 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 pastorate of the First Presbyterian church of Kalainazoo, and took charge of its interests in I893. Il' this important position he was occupied until April, o900, when he became president of the seminary. While ministerial and pastoral duties fwere 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 established him in the confidence and esteem of the patrons of the institution firmly and lastingly. The Doctor was married in his native province ill 1871 to Miss Bessie S. Sutherland, a daughter of Donald Sutherland, of Newmarket, Ontario. They have two daughters, Gertrude S. and Muriel 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 I893. 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 institution, which has enabled hundreds of the wage earners of Kalamazoo to save their earnings and acquire homes of their own, was organized in 1893 with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, which still remains the same. Its first presi dent was Hudson B. Coleman, with Frank Orcott as vice-president. Mr. Coleman served as president until January, I895, and was then succeeded by Hale P. Kauffer, who served until January I, I905, and was succeeded by V. T. Booker. Some little time after the organization W. G. Howard was chosen vice-president and attorney. The institution does a general banking business, with special attention to the savings feature, and enjoys in a marked degree the confidence 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. Kauffer, who was its impelling and directing power, is a native of Lawrence, Mass., born on January I, I840. He was reared in New Hampshire, going 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 newsbov. Afterward he worked in a cotton mill for a short time, then in I857 he moved to Fitchburg, 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 work as clerk in an iron foundry. In this he rose by merit to the position of manager and remained until 187I, except that during the Civil wnar he was in the service of the government in the forage department operating in Virginia. In I873 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 I88I he became interested in the handle factory with K. W. Page, and they conducted it together until Mr. Page died in I887, after which time Mr. Kauffer carried the business on alone until I893, 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 methods and its spirit of enterprise. Mr. Kauffer was also one of the founders of the Bryant Paper Company and is its vice-president, holding the 330 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF same office in the Superior Paper Company, which he helped to organize, as he did the Kalamazoo Corset Company and the Kalamazoo Hack and Bus Company. He is not now connected with the last named corporation. In I890 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 active 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 bv several changes of fortune and a variety of pursuits in many different places, Jarvis H. Skinner, of Cooper township, one of the substantial and progressive farmers of that section, has made steady progress in the struggle for supremacy among men, holdiing always every foot of his advance and finding strength in his very difficulties for new and greater efforts. His parents, William and Hannah (Tabor) Skinner, were among the earliest settlers in Cooper township, locating here about the year I839. The father was a man of original force of character and conquered adverse circumstances as he advanced in life by determined and dogged persistency. He was born in Saratoga county, N. Y., on December Io, I805, and died in Cooper township, this county, in I885. 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 I833 he came to Michigan and during the next two years he taught school in the vicinity of Ann Arbor. In I835 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 I5, I8I7, the daughter of Peleg and Rebecca (Hicks) Tabor. They passed the first four years of their married life in New York, then the family, consisting of the parents and one child', moved to Michigan and settled in Cooper township where the father bought eighty acres of land in section i6. It was heavily timbered and altogether unimproved. 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 extent 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 township supervisor one term, clerk four terms, treasurer 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 September I6, 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, I86I, leaving three children; and fourth to Mrs. Ellen W. Mosher, who died in April, I898. Jarvis H. Skinner, the third child of the first marriage, was born in Cooper township on May 27, I842, and grew to manhood on the farm, assisting in its labors from an early age and attending the district schools in the neighborhood 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 mirling, gardening and doing carpenter work. In I874 he returned to this county and Cooper township and has since \WILLI:\AI SKINNIR. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 333 been engaged in farming here. In I875 he was nrIrried to Miss Annetta Hackley, a daughter of JT1.ius and Dorothy (Fox) Hackley, pioneers of Alimno township, where they settled in I837. The fatter had made several trips to this region previ, lsly and bought large quantities of land, at o-w:' time owning one thousand, seven hundred al(i sixty acres in the township. He and his bride mnlde their wedding trip from New York, where the': were married, to their new home with an ox team n and brought their household goods with tlic;. They erected a shanty on their land and as sot(1 as it was completed moved into it. At that tinic 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 demanded 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 belonged 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 Congregalional church. They have four children, Jay H., Edna L., Bernerd W. and Orlo G. HENRY BECKWITH. On July io, i905, 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 inhabited 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 I9 in any walk of life. Henry Beckwith was born on November 27, I830, at Alexander, N. Y., in that part of Wyoming county which is now Genesee county. His parents were Warren and Mary (Terrell) Beckwith, natives of the Empire state, where the father worked at the trade of a blacksmith until 1836, when he moved his family to Michigan. The trip was made by steamer to Detroit, 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 Portage 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, I836, and his wife on January 28, 1898, leaving three daughters and itw 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 Miller's Company, DeVaas' Regiment of the Massachusetts 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 I8I2, 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, assisting 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 familiarwith all thehardships 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 civilization. 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 ill the county. For a number of years he was president 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 political faith he was a Democrat, never seeking or holding public office. In I853 he was married to Miss Hannah Tabor, a native of New York, who died on March io, I86o, leaving one child, Ray, who now manages the farm. In I864, Henry Beckwith married a second wife, Miss Mary J. Milham, who was born in Columbia county. N. Y. Both were earnest workers in the Congregational church. The parents of Mrs. Beckwith, John and Almyra (Rathbone) Milham, settled in this county in I845, 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 wilderness 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 reluctant resources of this new land, and with the conquest assured in advance because it was so positively willed, they set to work in radiant confidence to make their faith practical. Among them, few if any, were men of greater determination 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 I833 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, aLnd knowing beforehand the possibilities of the country, they began at once to develop those of their new possession and continued in this laudable work until it had almost totally changed tile habiliments of its barbaric splendor for the more comely and profitable garb of cultivated life alid fruitfulness. On this farm the mother died, and some little time afterward the father moved to Kalamazoo, where his final summons came. Ile 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 Republican from the organization of the party, and made his faith practical in good works in behalf of his convictions. His ancestors were from Holland, his grandfather settling in this country in early days. His son Hosea, who was born in Cayuga county, N. Y., on September I, I833, 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 caine 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 became interested in the Globe Casket Company and was connected with it for some years. Ite then formed a partnership with M. F. Carder in furniture and undertaking, which lasted until about two years before his death, on February I, IgoI. He was also a director and first vice-president of the Rose Street Improvement Company and a stockholder in the Kalamazoo Corset Company. 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 olne child, their son, John H. Henika, who lives at Jacksonville, Fla. He was married a second timie in I878, being united on this occasion with 5iiss 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 antl interested attendant of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in its fold and without throughout the county he was held in high respect. JOSEPH B. CORNELL. Among the pioneirs of Kalamazoo county was Joseph B. Cornell, a prominent and successful business man of Kalamazoo, who was greatly respected and loved for his fine qualities of mind and heart. Joseph Cornell was born in Clinton, N. Y., on January 25, 1829, the son of Dr. Joseph Cornell, a prominent physician, who removed to Kalamazoo in I840. 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 Burrell, and Abigail, wife of Lewis Starkey. He returned to New York, and learned the carriagemaking 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 beint done by hand. His factory was located at the northeast corner of Rose and Eleanor streets, wihere 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 tile position of chief of the fire department. Although he never sought to hold public office, he was the recipient of many positions of responsibility and trust. On September 17, I856, he was mrarried 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 politics 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. Cornell, who resides in the Cornell home on South Rose street, opposite Bronson Park. Mr. Cornell 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, I844, his parents settling in Kalamazoo county the following year. He attended the public schools of Kalamazoo until he was twelve years old, when he entered the Telegraph printing office. Later he became 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 graduated 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, i86I, 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 Cincinnati, thirty-three days later, did these terrible wounds receive attention. Returning home after recuperation, he was clerk in the office of the provost-marshal until the close of the war. At the .336 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF youthful age of twenty-one he was editor and proprietor 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 I878 he was admitted to the bar, and formed a partnership with one of Michigan's foremost lawyers, the Hon. N. A. Balch. In August, 1867, he was united in marriage with Miss Lydia A. DuelMarkham. 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 received several nominations at the hands of his party. In I88I he was appointed brigadier-general 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 Independent 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, I896, he established the Central Bank of Kalamazoo, of which he was owner and president for a number of years. In the fall of I899 he' decided to retire from active practice of the law and gave his splendid law library of about thirteen hundred volumes to the Kalamazoo County Law Library. Mr. Shakespeare is also vice-president of the Kalamazoo 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, natives of Pennsylvania, came to Kalamazoo county on May 5, 1845, and 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, the mother died about I9oo. The patefnal gtandfather, 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 Kalamazoo county has been a regular resident of Michigan and during the greater part of the tinme one of the leading lights in his profession in this part of the country. He is a native of Laake county, Ind., born at Orchard Grove on September ii, I844. 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 government land, on which he and his wife lived until death ended their labors. His family was of English 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 whoni 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 graduated from the latter in I868. In 1869 and I870 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 during portions of the time when he occupied official positions. He served three terms as a justice 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 he filled eight years, and KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 337 at ihe end of that period was elected to the lower (house of the state legislature. In the session following 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 thlcn he has given his attention to his active general practice and to farming, owning one hundred ari(l sixty acres of excellent land in Kalamazoo township, this county, which he devotes to general farming and dairy products. In I867 the Judge was united in marriage with Miss Estella L. Eldred, 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 daughter is vice-principal of the American Girls' School, at LIovetch, Bulgaria, a missionary school of the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics the Judge has been a life-long Republican, and a leading worker in the affairs of his party. Fraternally 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 member. 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 no'w retired from active professional work, is a:native of Lake county, Ohio, born at Kirkland. ('" August I8, 1834. His parents, Ezra and \'aria (Pelton) Holmes, were natives of the silate of New York, where they were prosperous farmers, and from where they removed to Lake c)unty, Ohio, and became early settlers in that tlhen new country. There they had a family of sixteen children, seven of whom are living, and tlhere ended their days, highly esteemed throughci(t the county they had helped materially to settle and civilize. The Doctor is the only one of their children residing in Michigan. His ancestry 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 until I862, 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 I867 he came to Michigan and located 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 residence to Kalamazoo, where he was in active practice until I904. In I86I 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 I866 he was married in Ohio to Miss Victoria Wood, who died one year later. In I868 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 dentistry 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 resided 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 returned 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 338 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF gent help. He is a native of Barnet, Caledonia county, Vt., born on April 28, I835, and the son of John and Jane (Duncan) Gilchrist, natives 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 I843, aged forty-seven years. In political contests he supported 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 belonged migrated from their native land to Londonderry, Ireland, whence George Duncan, the American 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 another page of this work. Mr. Gilchrist's grandfather was John Gilchrist, a native of Scotland, reared in Glasgow, and a weaver by trade. He came to America in I796 and took up his residence in Vermont, and from him the Gilchrist family in this country is descended. He died at McIndoe Falls, Vt., after working at his trade there many years. It should be stated, however, that his father, James Gilchrist, was the first of the family to arrive in this country, coming to Vermont in I773, 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 resident of this county. John Gilchrist, the third, of whom these paragraphs are written more especially, passed his early life in Vermont and New Hampshire, and was educated at the St. Johnsburg Academy in the former state. In i854 he came to Kalamazoo county and located in Prairie Ronde township. Three years later he went to Missouri, where he remained until August, I86i. He then returned to this state, and in July, I862, enlisted in the Union army as a member of Coinpany D, Twenty-fifth Michigan Volunteer Infantry. 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 engagements 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 discharged from the service in July, i865, 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 engaged in the lumber trade. After passing a year in Louisiana he again returned to this county, and in I89I took up his residence at Schoolcraft, where he has ever since lived. He was married at Muskegon, Mich., in I897, 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 leading 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 ilnproved farm of ninety acres in the township of Prairie Ronde, which he has acquired by his owil assiduous industry and attention to business, Leroy Nichols, one of the prosperous and progressive 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 tilh 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, Ill., and during the next seven or eight years kept a hotel there. He then went to California, making the trip overland in complany 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 I893. Before goingl 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, Belmonit and Shiloh, and several minor engagemcnts. He remained in California about three years, then returned home by water, and after a short residence at Galesburg, came to Kalamazoo 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 ldeath, in 1876. His wife died in this county in 1854. They had four children, three of them living, Leroy, Mrs. William Cobb, of Schoolcrv-ft. and Mrs. H. H. Willsie, of Galesburg, Ill. IT'he father married for his second wife Miss Eunice Simmons, of Madison county, N. Y. She is (lead, as is her one child. The father was a str-ong Republican, but although an active and serviceable party worker, he was never an office seeker. Leroy Nichols passed his boyhood and y Mnuth in this county, at Galesburg, Ill.. and in Aladison county, N. Y. He began life for himself as a farmer, working some time by the 'n,)nth 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 except seven years during which he lived at Schoolcraft. 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. Nichols died June 14, I905. For more extended mention of the parents see sketch of George Franckboner, 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 prosperous 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 Connecticut, the Cobb ancestry in America being originally from Wales. Jerome was a boy of nine when the family came to this country in the fall of I830, 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 I865, where he lived until his death on November 15, 1893. He followed 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 340 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF "Branch" he taught successfully during the next four winters in the good old days of "boarding 'round." In February, I873, he became a member of Schoolcraft Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, and in April following was elected secretary of the State Grange of the order. From then until I890 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 successfully 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 engaged in it. He was also prominent and influential 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 inspector for four years, county agent for twelve years, and supervisor of Schoolcraft township several terms, besides occupying other local offices 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, I89I, through ex-Governor Luce, presented him with a beautiful goldheaded 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 living, their son William B. Cobb. The mother died on September 20, I850, 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 Schoolcraft township on December I, I847. He obtained 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 wvas graduated in I86I. 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, I869, he united in marriage 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; Della, 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 Boston, Mass. The son is a student at the State Agricultural 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 (degree, with membership in the commandery at Three Rivers. Well and favorably known in all parts of the county, he is one of its leading citizens, 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 know!i and esteemed throughout the county and all tlch surrounding territory, came with his parents to Michigan in March, I837, their journey hither being one of unusual features and uncommon interest. They came from Oswego county, N. Y.. traveling in sleighs to Detroit and from there to Jackson, where the sleighs were abandoned. Foutr weeks were consumed in the trip, and while it was Canhi~ate for Congress. I I t KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 343 fraught with some hardships and danger, it was also full of incident and excitement. Mr. Snow \v-as eight years old at the time, but he remembers tle long ride with vivid clearness, and was wont t, recount its many picturesque phases with enthusiasm. He was born in Oswego county, N. Y., on September 27, 1829, and was the son of Anscl and Arbelia (Wilmouth) Snow, natives of,Massachusetts, the former born in 1784 and the latter in I795, and both of English ancestry. On their arrival in this county, they located on Grand Prairie, four miles northwest of Kalamaz7o, 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 "Openilis," 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 opportunities they had for attending school were few and irregular. They were, however, boys of native force and strong spirit, and have never found themselves without a resource in the battle of life. Their father died on October 15, I864, on the farm, and the mother in August, I880, 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 family comprised three sons and four daughters, who z4rew 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, I904. 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 I889, 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 attractive buildings, and making it a productive and valuable farm. In the spring of igoI he changed his residence to the village of Richland, where lie lived until his death. Before beginning farming 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 adventure, 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 country, 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 experience, but never adequately depicted in the narration. After a year and a half of unsuccessful mining in the promised eldorado, Mr. Snow returned 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 wellearned release. On April I6, I865, he was joined in wedlock with Miss Catherine M. Hill, a daughter of Augustus H. and Catherine (Chandler) Hill, who were born and reared in the state of New York, and come to this county in I837, settling first in Oshtemo township, and after clearing and improving a farm there, moved to Alamo township, where they cleared and improved another, 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 Republican, 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. Hendrick, of Kalamazoo. Their father was influential in the public life of the county, serving many years as a justice of the peace and township supervisor 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 wisely than they knew, meeting every requirement of an exalted and exacting duty, and handing down to posterity a firm and enduring fabric of excellence in material and workmanship in the civilization they planted and the institutions they bap — tized into being. Mrs. Snow, the widow of the noble man whose portrait appears on the opposite page, is still living in Richland. JOSEPH S. THOMAS. The late Joseph S. Thomas, of Schoolcraft township, this county, who died on March 20, I882, at the age of sixty-two, and after a residence 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 developing its resources, and in every phase of its educational, social and moral life, was a native of Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, born on January 30, I820. 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 elsewhere 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 I84I. Then, purchasing a farm of eighty acres in Schoolcraft township which was partially cleared and improved, he turned his attention 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 bacame a prominent and influential citizen of the township. On October 8, I85I, 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 November 4, I893. The father was a Freesoiler when that party was organized and continued to support its principles until the birth of the Republican party, when he became one of the most earnest members of the new organization, which he supported with ardor and enthusiasm during the remainder of his life. He was a strong abolitionist throughout his manhood, and for years was an active and effective worker in the "Underground 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 possessed 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 populated, 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 comprehensive as the sweep of human attributes. It is required 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 ministers to human needs although unostentatious in their work, and most frequently not actively appreciated for its benefits. Like the air we breathe, they are so habitually at our command, and seemingly. 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 adsl is employing him in its needs with a steadily increasing demand; and by using with diligence aeld fidelity the benefits of his earnest study and his close and judicious observation, he is meeting the growing requisition to his own advantage and tlie general benefit of all around him. Dr. Russell;,-as born in Comstock township, Kalamazoo county, on May 23, 1872, and is the son of Darwvin J. and Alpsie (Adams) Russell, natives of Ohio. The father was a farmer and came to Michigan to live in I865, 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 ()hio 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 he is a graduate. He also attended Kalamazoo College. After leaving school he taught two winters, and for a time traveled portions of the country selling agricultural implements. He began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. McBeth at Galesburg, and in 1894 entered the Homeo-!)athic School of the medical department of the State University at Ann Arbor, where he remained one year, and then matriculated at the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, from which he was graduated in I897. He at once began practicing at Ludington, where he remained from 1897 to I9OI, and then came to Richland and has been here continuously ever since except while he was pursuing a post-graduate course of instruction at the Detroit Post-Graduate Medical School. He was married at Ludington, Mason county, on January I, 900o, 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. Fraternally he belongs to the order of Odd Fellows, and in church affiliation is a Congregationalist. He has a large practice which is steadily on the increase 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 vocation 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 I, 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 he came to this county and located in Richland township, where he maintained his home until his death, on March 5, I896. During all of his residence here he was devoted to farming and raising fine stock of superior breeds, doing in all things his utmost in care and energy to secure the best results, 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. positions from time to time. His church affiliation was with the Presbyterians, and his fraternal relations 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, I830, 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 I858, and the mother in I883. 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 manager 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, I868, 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 industry he has attained a high rank in the county for the wisdom of his operations and the vigor of their management. On October 26, I892, 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, I905, who are living, and two who have died. Neither political activities nor fraternal associations have interested Mr. Jones. On his farm and in his family he finds full occupation and enjoyment, and devotes himself wholly to thenm, 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 matters of moment and the narrative is one of en — grossing interest and great importance, being a faithful portrayal of the passing life of the conimmunity through its various stages of early and later development. His prominence and general acquaintance in the county gave him good opportunities for full and accurate knowledge of men and occurrences, and the record he has left is in brief a graphic history of the section ill 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 systematic 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 prolific and highly favored region at the age of eleven years, in I837. It is difficult for an imagination tutored in the experiences of the present conditions, which are so obtrusively and impressively 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 present dangers, that it involved. And that even the memory of it is dim and vague, and its reproduction 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 immediate 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 industry and skill. Mr. Wheeler was born at Woodhouse, Norfolk county, province of Ontario, Canada, on March 12, I826. His parents were John B. and Joanna (Walker) Wheeler, the former a native of New Hampshire and the latter of Canala. The father was a carpenter and moved to Canada when a young man. There he was liarried in 1817, 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 eightyfour, he having been born in I794. His wife, who was born in I799, died in 1876, at the age of seventy-seven. He served with a New Hampshire regiment in the war of I812, 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 Charlotte Austin, who was born in I807, married in 1826, and died in 1879. By the first marriage he had three daughters and one son, all now deceased; and by the second marriage three sons, two of whom are living, and two daughters, who have died. He served many years as a justice of the peace and several as township treasurer, and was an active and earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church, always deeply interested in the welfare of his sect and helping to build its first house of worsllip in the township. His son John grew to maniood 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 boyhood. 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, purchasing 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 compensation a bushel of potatoes a day. All the ferocious beasts peculiar to the section were plentiful, the wolves being especially threatening and obtrusive, and often making night hideous with their howling at his very door. Notwithstanding their hardships both Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter lived to advanced ages in good health and cheerfulness. By marriage Mr. Wheeler became the father of one child, his daughter Lydia, who died in -infancy. Her father died on October 23, I902, 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 leading farmers and best known citizens of the township, 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 Bochone, 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 dimensions. 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 shipments 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 elsewhere in this work. He has been a resident of the city since I854, and has long been prominent 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 politics, 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 I905 they purchased thirty acres of land on the south side of the city on which they erected greenhouses 300x 27 wide. Five were erected in November, I905, equipped with all the latest improvements and are devoted to the culture of roses and carnations, and in which will be produced 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 exacting as they often are, with diligence and fidelity, 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, I855. His parents, Ansel and Harriet (Foote) Tyler, were natives of New York, where the father was an industrious farmer. He came to Michigan in I833 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, Ill., where he spent three years. He then matriculated 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 I88o. He began his practice at Sturgis, St. Joseph county, this state, and two years later moved to Mount Pleasant, 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 I891 he took a post-graduate course at the New York Polyclinic and in I902 one at the PostGraduate School in New York. He is a member of the State Homeopathic Medical Society. It will be seen that his preparation for his professional duties has been ample in scope and judicious in means, and that he is keeping abreast of the science of medicine by studious attention to the available sources of instruction and inspiration. This would be sufficient explanation, if any were needed beyond his daily walk and elevated personal and professional character, for the mastery 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 families of the city and the surrounding country, and it makes no draft on his time and energies that is not promptly and fully hon red, Tbe Dotor was married in I885 to MissPlS (, 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 member 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, I837. He passed the first fourteen years of his life with his parents, Leonard C. and Phoebe (Crandale) Goodale, natives of Chenango county, N. Y., who came to l\ichigan in the early '30s, making the trip from D)etroit 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. Goodale 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 I86I. Some little time later he engaged in the furniture trade in partnership with 0. M. Allen and others, remaining in the firm several years. Then selling his interest there, lie became a manufacturer of furniture and enjoyed an extensive business, making the first furniture 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 exclusively engaged. In I9oo Mr. Goodale took as a partner his eldest son, Edward L., who was born in this city and who assisted his father for vears in the business before becoming a partner. The firm is now known as J. C. Goodale & Son. He was married in Kalamazoo in I86I 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 campaign work and has never sought a public office of any kind. He and his wife belong to the Congregational 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 greatness, and in this faith he has not been disappointed. He has witnessed its steady and substantial 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 (I905), is a native of the county, born.in Brady township on November 20, I86o. 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 Kalamazoo 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 I875, 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 350 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 leading Republican in political affiliation. Arthur Tiffany was reared and educated in Kalamazoo county, and remained at home until I887, when he rented a farm and later bought the place on which he now lives. He was married in I88I 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 I863 and settled at Vicksburg. The father died in I893, 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 commissioner for two terms, and as supervisor five years. Fraternally he is connected with the order of Odd Fellows, with membership in the lodge at Vicksburg, and also the Grange and Ancient Order of Gleaners. THOMAS B. FINLAY. Coming to Kalamazoo county in his childhood more than sixty years ago, and passing nearly the whole of his subsequent life on its soil, contributing to its development and improvement, helping to build up its industries and its educational and moral agencies, Thomas B. Finlay, of Schoolcraft township, now living retired at Vicksburg, is entitled to all the honor a grateful 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 embraces, in the sweep of a single human vision,' the transformation of a goodly domain from it3 state of primeval wilderness to that of high development 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 winning the mighty triumphs of human power, patience 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, I829, 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 I834 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 forme- Massachusetts neighbors were already living. 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 I850, 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 California and the possibilities of rapid rise to fortune it promised those who were hardy and courageous 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 Placerville, about one hundred and twenty miles northeast of San Francisco, in July of the same year, makling 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 AIRS. THOMAS 1. FINLAY. THOMSAS B. FINLAY. I I I. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 353 ohis, and while it met with plenty of incidents a:ld adventure, it was not molested by the terrors of the plains, roving bands of hostile Indians. -'lhe Finlay boys mined at Placerville until the following August, when James, the oldest of them, died there. William and Thomas continued 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 m;iing were now firmnly planted and well developed in the daring argonaut, and after two years o; quiet life at home he again started, in the spring of I852, for the Pacific coast region, accompanied by his twin brother Hugh and a numbeP.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 antd partially successful effort in the gold fields. The next two vears he clerked in his father's store at Vicksburg, then, in 1854, bought the business, and during the next four years he conducted it with vigor and close attention. In 1858 his roving disposition again got the better, 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 Michigan and purchased a small farm in Brady township, this county, which he afterward enlarged z 1 on which he lived until I897. Since then he has made his home in Vicksburg. He was married on May 5, I855, to Miss Adelaide C. Cannon, a New Yorker by nativity, who came to Michigan in childhood with her stepfather, James Wilson, and who died on February I2, I899, leaving no offspring. Politically Mr. Finlay is a Jacksonian Democrat with loyal and unwavering devotion to his party. He has filled a number of local offices, among them membership on the village board of Vicksburg and village assessor. 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 substantial 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 faculties. He was born at West Springfield, Mass., on October 7, I821, the son of Jonathan and Graty (Leonard) Parsons, natives of Massachusetts and belonging to families resident and prominent in that state from the -earliest colonial times, the Parsons family having been founded there in I630 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 devoted 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 Parsons, 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 hundren 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 I840 he became a resident of,Kalamazoo and engaged in the dry-goods business in partnership with William A. Wood. Later he was associated with the late Hon. Allen Potter and Henry Gale in the hardware trade. In I86o he formed a partnership with Henry Wood in the hardware business, which lasted until March I, I888, 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 completion. 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 Seminary in that city, of which he was treasurer. He was a director of the "Michigan National Bank and a heavy stockholder in the Kalamazoo Paper Mill Company and in the Parsons 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, I847, he was married at Hinsdale, Mass., to Miss Mary B. Colt, a daughter of Oliver P. and Mary (Brewer) Colt, who belonged to old families 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, I892, and their mother April 6, I9O4. 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 industrial 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 17, I903, of typhoid fever, was universally 1;1 -mented. It removed from the business activities of the city one of their most prominent and useful promoters and from its citizenship one of tlhe most highly esteemed, useful and ornamenta,! men. For two months prior to his death he W\tS in poor health, and in an effort to regain his f(rlmer vigor he made a trip to West Baden. So(on after his return he was stricken with the malalv which proved fatal, and such were the complications 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 colntemplate. He was a remarkable man in many ways and all the resources of his active and versatile mind were continually in play in the development of industrial enterprises of magnitude an(l 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 National Bank and later cashier. In 1878 he turned from fiscal to industrial engagements and etgaged in the manufacture of spring-tooth harrows in company with his father. For more than twenty years thereafter he was secretary, treasurer and general manager of D. C. & H. C. Reed & Company, originators and makers of springtooth 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 demand for the harrows caused many infringements on the patents and led to numerous suits therefor, all of which, as well as the general management of the business, passed under the personal 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 t'o the Standard Harrow Company, of Utica, N. Y., in I895. Mr. Reed then became connected with numerous other manu KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 355 facturing institutions in this city and began makin,' corn cultivators, riding-harrows, hay presses acid broad-cast grain seeders, and other useful iinplements of husbandry, carrying on the business in the old Reed factory under the name of t-. C. Reed & Company. In December, I9oo, the Reed Manufacturing Company was organized to take charge of and conduct the business, the caplital stock being twenty-five thousand dollars, an(l 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 ai(l J. E. Welborn as secretary and treasurer. Tihe business of the establishment is prosperous al(l 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 treasurer 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 usefil 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 caplable and efficient hands, and that the same spirit of liberality, enterprise and progressiveuess that has marked its management in the past w ill 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, l hose death, at the early age of fifty-eight years, on January 4, 1899, was generally deplored as a -lreat 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 1851 moved his family to Michigan, settling in Cass county, where he followed farming 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 I869. 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 I86o he moved to Kalamazoo and found employment in the Walker hardware store, where he was a clerk until I866. He then formed the firm of Henderson & Brown, which carried on an extensive 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 I868 he began the manufacture 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 continued to expand his trade and increase his output until I893, 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, I899. In I90I 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 institutions 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-thirddegree 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, I868, 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 I835. For many years he farmed land adjoining the city and owned the site of Mr. Henderson'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 denomination in the city. He was always readyto 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 corporation, which has grown to large proportions from a small beginning, was incorporated in 1893, with a capital stock of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, with Frank Henderson as president, O. M. Allen as vice-president, and J. W. Woodworth as secretary and treasurer. Mr. Henderson continued to serve as president until his death in I899, when he was succeeded by John R. Hunter. These officers, with Otto Schling and J. A. Pitkin, compose the directorate. The business was founded by Mr. Henderson and T. M. Giddings, who formed a partnership for the purpose of manufacturing Knights Templar uniforms. Mr. Giddings 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 I9OI the fivestory factory, one hundred and twenty-five by one hundred and seventy feet, was erected and now the establishment gives employment to five hundred 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 requisites 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 Australi'a, 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 I877. 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, including 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 Association of Nurserymen, member of the American Protective and American Retail Protective Association of Nurserymen. In I883 he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Cone, of Detroit, KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 357 alnl has one daughter, Miss Ethel, aged nineten. Mr. Maxson is widely known throughout southern Michigan among the business men and especially among the fruit growers of the state, wi-h whom he is popular and enjoys their confi(lence to a high degree. His business, which ha;, engaged his attention almost exclusively for years, is thoroughly understood by him and he conlducts it with a master mind. JOHN A. LAMB. This widely-known and highly esteemed citizen of Kalamazoo, who has made substantial contrilbtions 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, I835. His parents were Peter aliI Mary (Preston) Lamb, the former born in county Louth, Ireland, and the latter in this state. The father, whose life began in I800, grew to maturity in his native land, and there learned the tra(le 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 I86I. In political faith he was an unwavering Democrat, but he never sought or filled public office. His wife's death occurred somne years prior to his own. They had four sons and four daughters, all now deceased except Jo!?n and one of his brothers. John A. Lamb reached manhood in his native county and received his education in its public schools. He followed farming there until I86I and then entered the freight department of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad at Toledo, where he remained until the death of his father, when he returned home and had charge of the farm unftil 1864. In the spring of that year he enlisted in the Union army as a member and second lieutenant of Company D, Eleventh Michigan Infantry. His regiment became a part of the Army of the Cumberland and saw hard service in Tennessee and Georgia, taking part in a number of battles, among them those at Buzzard Roost and the siege of Atlanta. In the fall of I864 he was made first lieutenant of Company A, and he served as such until his discharge in the fall of I865. Returning to his Michigan home, he operated the farm for a year and then engaged in contracting at Monroe until I869. 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 I9oo 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 municipality. On June Io, I866, he united in marriage 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 belong 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 I9, I862. The Taft family came to Massachusetts in I670, 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, emigrated to Vermont and from Henry the subject of this sketch is descended. From Aaron is descended Governor (now secretary of state) Taft. The subject's grandfather,' Amos Taft, came to Fulton county, Ohio, in I844, 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 Massachusetts on the "Mayflower" and were leaders in the- Plymouth Rock colony. Great-greatgrandfather Cole served in the Revolutionary war and Daniel Cole in the war of I812. 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 I859, and from the theological department in i86I. He then preached in Ohio two years, and in the winter of I864-5 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 I885 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 University of Michigan, from which he was graduated in I889. Some time was next passed in Ohio and Illinois on canal, railroad and sewer construction work in connection with George S. Pierson, M. Am. Soc. C. E. In I891 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 arind at times as assistant city engineer, and did other general construction work in different parts of the state. In I903 he was again appointed city engineer and he is still filling the office with pronounced 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 sewerage improvements and similar work of magnitude. In I892 he was united in marriage with Miss Mary J. Hogg, a native of Scotland. They have three children living, all daughters. I r. 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 intelligent interest in the welfare of the city, and( in his daily walk and demeanor has ever shown the best attributes of an elevated American citizenship. JAMES TALLMAN. James Tallman, an early settler of Alaimo township, was born in Geneva, Ontario county, N. Y., in I796. His father, Henry Tallman, born in I754, was for many years a prosperous farmer in the state of New York. In 1837 James Tallman, with his family, became a resident of Washtenaw county, Mich., and two years later located in Alamo, where he bought of Mr. Godfry five hundred and sixty acres of wild land, on sections 20 and 2I, 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 township. In two weeks a comparatively comfortable cabin was erected, they taking immediate possession. About two years later a school house was KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 359 built at Alamo Center, where the children attended school a few months each year, the sons working with and for their father until they were of age. Mr. Tallman was a Whig and later a Republican, he with his wife being members of the Presbyterian church for many years. Mrs. Tillman died in 1863 and five years later Mr. Tallian married Mrs. Martha Whipple, of (Grand Rapids, Mich., who survived him, his (leath occurring in 1874. Esther, the older daughter, married George Kendall, of Vermont, settling in Grand Rapids, Mich., in the early '5os, 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 homestead 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, I824, 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 I879, Horace Jay, whose death occurred in 1873, Esther Ellen, Mary C., who died in 1876, and two sons dying in infancy. Mrs. l'allman died in 1885 and three years later Mr. 'Tallman married Miss Lizzie, daughter of Nicholas; and Ann Elizabeth Miller, natives of Gerllany. Mrs. Tallman now owns and occupies the old home, Mr. Tallman having died in I900. liaston Tallman, second son of James Tallman, b)trn in 1827, came to Alamo when twelve years oi age, beginning life for himself when twentyolne years old, on eighty acres of land just east (o his father's farm. Two or three years later he nl-oved to his present home. In 1855 he was married to Miss Helen S., daughter of' John G. and o-,uisa Tarbell, natives of New York. To them were born five children, John, Nellie, Mary, Frances and Esther. Mrs. Tallman died in I880 aild 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 Tallman and Agness, "the twins," were born September 26, I830, 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 they exchanged farms, returning to the homestead where they remained. Two daughters, Caroline D. and Anna B3., came to them. Mr. and Mrs. Tallman, 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 I867. Mr. Tallman 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 standard-bred road horses for market. A good Republican always, casting his first vote for President in I856. 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 I86o. "They will make a shade for some one," long after the pleasant, comfortable old home passes into other hands. Henry A. Tallman, born in 1833, became a resident of Alamo at six years of age. On February 26, I854, he was married to Miss Pheby, daughter of Pheby and Garrett Vanarsdale, natives 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 Augusta, this county, while not among the first settlers here, was an early resident of this state, coming hither with his parents in I86o 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, I847, and is the son of Orin and Betsey (McElhaney) 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 1is native state, traveling over the country and making his sales from a wagon. He also manufactured on a small scale the commodities he handled. He came to Michigan in I86O, 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 I884, then moved to Hastings and built the Farmers' Sheds, which he managed until his death, on February I I, I897. The mother was killed in the destruction of their dwelling by a cyclone in I882. 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 active part in local affairs, rising to prominence and influence in the councils of his party and rendering it good service in many a hard-fought campaign, but not aspiring to public office, his party loyalty and zeal being inspired by earnest conviction and not by a desire for personal honors or aggrandizemenit. The grandfather, George Rorabeck, 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 native 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 without modern machinery in its stupendous development of today and dependent on manly muscle for its work, and the habit of supplying his o wn needs educating the body to every man to wonderful performances. At the age of twenty-one he set out for himself as a farm hand, and soc;n afterward passed some little time at clerking in a store at Hickory Corners. His mind was, however, attuned to farming, and he soon quit merlcantile life and rented a farm on which he lived and labored ten years. He then moved to Anigusta, 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 tile Atlantic coast. On September I3, 1874, he was joined in marriage with Miss Maria Elliott, a native of Hickory Corners, Barry county, where her parents, Adam and Katharine (Malloch.) Elliott, 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 father died some years ago, but the mother is living, in the midst of the development she helped to start, but still not unmindful of the early har(lships and struggles which founded it. Mr. Rorabeck is well known as a leading Democrat in political affairs, with an earnest interest always in the welfare of his party, which he always hell)s to promote, and as an enterprising, wide-awake and far-seeing citizen, with patriotic devotion to his county and state, and a commendable energr and zeal in leading and concentrating public sentiment in behalf of their best interests. EDWIN MASON. Foremost among the early settlers of Richland and in this country is Edwin Mason, who cotrageously 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 hardshlips and vicissitudes of his early frontier life 1o never once swerved from his high principles f living, but clung tenaciously to his own con-,ictions. He not only believed his creed, but what is far nobler, he lived it. Edwin Mason was born at Litchfield, Conn., (n August 17, 1803, one of twelve chil( ren. His father, Elisha Mason, served for t ree 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 lie 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, performing every duty of citizenship with fidelity and energy. He was accompanied to this state l)y 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 Miller's grandfather was the well known Rev.!Teonard Slater, who was one of the most promilent pioneers of the state. THOMAS ANDERTON. The late Thomas Anderton, of Ross town"hip, was a Kalamazoo county pioneer of 1852,:lnd from that year until his death lived in the township and gave intelligent and energetic attention to its development and progress. He became one of its leading farmers and public men, and by the geniality and cordiality of his manners 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 I849, the 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 operations, and after accumulating a considerable fortune 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 almost any emergency, he harkened to the persuasive 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 I84I, 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. Fourteen 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 cultivation, bought additional land until he owned nearly five hundred acres, which he worked until his death on November 26, I892, 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 subsequent to that time, other necessary buildings, providing his farm with all the required equipment 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 advantage and the benefit of the community around him. On April I6, 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 acquainted. 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 Libbie; Esther is now Mrs. William Robinson, of Yorkville, and a widow; Annie is now Mrs. Matthew 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. Robinson was formerly Mrs. Porter Smith, and by her first marriage had three children,Edna A.,thewife of Clifford Flower, of Ross township, Charles A. and John W,, the last some years deceased. Mr. Anderton was a Republican politically. -Ie 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 connected 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 I859, and is the son of Huntington M. and Lucinda (Riley) Marvin, natives of Orange county, N. Y., who settled in this state in I844, 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. Under the instruction of his father he learned his trade as a miller, remaining at home until I88I, when he moved to Augusta, and at that place was associated in business with his father until the death of that worthy gentleman and energetic 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 extensive lumber merchants and business men in other lines in the village which has the benefit of his useful and inspiring citizenship. In 1902, desiring to confine his operations specifically to lumbering, and the trade incident thereto, he sol( his mill at Augusta to the Hubbard Food Company, but in addition to his large and exacting lumber interests he conducts a private bank which is one of the stable, serviceable and appreciated fiscal institutions of the place. In the public life of the community he takes an active and helpful interest as a broad-minded and publicspirited 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 Kalamazoo Lodge, No. 50, of the order. In I88o 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, accomplished and resourceful business man, and a successful one, Mr. Marvin has met every requirement of his duty in a manly and straightforward manner, applying with skill and sagacity the lessons 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 methods and citizenship in the second generation which it had from his father in the first. And while starting with the family name well established in the esteem of the mercantile and social world around him, he has kept it up to the standard it attained before him, and abated naught of its force as a synonym for integrity in trade, enterprise in behalf of the public weal, and potency in every form of useful effort, mercantile, industrial, social and civic. HON. SIMPSON HOWLAND. The parents of Hon. Simpson Howland, Edward 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 I8, 1822. Both 1,arents were of English ancestry, whose AmericanI progenitors became residents of the United States in colonial times, three brothers Ilowland, on the one side, settling at New Bedford, Mass., before the Revolutionary war. On their arrival it this county the family located on a tract of land i, Ross township, and on this land the son now resides, living retired from active pursuits after lnearly seventy years of active usefulness in proiioting the development and progress of the section 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 (lawn of civilization 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(luous requirements, and depending on their own resources for every step of their advancement. The many-voiced forces of nature were their tutors, 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(luirement, rather than prodigies of scholastic attainments 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 useful general information. Their father died in 188I 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 utmost fruitfulness. On March 9, 1848, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Berger, a native of New York state. Thev had three children, 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 II, I896. Their mother is a daughter of Henry and Hannah (King) Berger, honored pioneers of Calhoun county, this state. Mr. Howland'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 affairs, serving for years as a justice of the peace and as supervisor and treasurer of Ross township. He was elected to the legislature in 1875, and again in I877, and served in the body with distinction to himself and advantage to his constituents, 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 capacity. 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 denomination, 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 assistant postmaster with active control of the office at Augusta, this county, also now village clerk and hitherto village president, clerk and treasurer 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 Charleston, born on January 9, I859, and the son of Harlow 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 I814, and lived in the state of New York from the age of five years until I833, and there received what education he was able to get in his few and irregular 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 attention 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 bod\ of land and making it habitable and productive. In I866 lie moved to Augusta and there he livel until his death in I896, keeping a large and serviceable grocery store for a period of more thalT twenty years. He also became a leading man ill political and public life, serving as a justice of thel peace twelve years, and as township clerk an(t 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 I836 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 Union, being killed in the battle of Kenesaw Mountain in July, I864, while fighting under the gallant Sherman. He was a member of the Fifth Iowa Infantry. The mother died in I892. Victor G. Burdick grew to manhood at Augusta and was educated in the village schools and at Kalamazoo 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 manufactory. In I893 he was appointed postmaster at Augusta, and at the end of his term of four years, he became the assistant postmaster, a position which he filled with active charge of the affairs of the office, retiring January I, I905. 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 I898 to Mrs. Mary (Ridley) Sprague, a widow with two daughters. Mr. Burdick is a Democrat 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 effective 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 efficienllcy in action in behalf of all good projects; aril( with a genial and obliging manner, which Nwins 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 lea(ling representative citizens of the township, is a native of this state, born at Grand Rapids on August 25, i862, and has lived all his days so far in the state. His parents, Richard and Altania (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 1)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 district schools, and working at the forge with his father, and also did lumbering in the woods during a number of winters. After reaching manhood he moved to Kent county, and soon afterward to Barry county, where he is now a prosperous farmer in the neighborhood of Middleville. 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 sclholastic training in the public school at Hastinlgs, and then taught school eight years. He be'all the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Ferguson at Middleville, and in the fall of I89o entered the Detroit College of Medicine, where he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the spring of I893. He at once located at:\'lgusta and began practicing his profession, and i, this laudable work he has since been continuo1sly engaged at that village. While his practice has steadily increased in magnitude and demands on his time, he has kept up his professional stu dies diligently, noting all the while the most advanced thought and discoveries, and applying the results of his reading and observation with discrimination and good judgment,.and retaining his position abreast with the times in all departments of his useful labor. He is also an earnest and effective worker in the organizations formed for the benefit of the science to which he is devoted and its practitioners, being an active and serviceable member of the Calhoun County Medical Society, the State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine. In fraternal life he is a Freemason of the Knight Templar degree. In I886 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 enterprises as one of the progressive forces in matters of public interest, and one of the bright examples of good citizenship. His voice is potential in directing public opinion, and his work in moving 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 influence to lead others the same way. And as his counsel and example have been found trustworthy 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 overseeing 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, I832, in Elba township, Genesee couinty, N. Y., where his grandparents settled 368 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF about 1817 or I8i8, moving there from Connecticut, where the family had long been domesticated. The grandfather bought a tract of wild government land, which he cleared and transformed into a good farm on which he lived to the end of his days. He was a valiant soldier in the war of 1812, 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 I862, when he moved to Kalamazoo county, purchased a farm in Ross township, and settled on it for permanent occupancy. He devoted the remaining years of his life to its improvement and cultivation, and in I89I passed away at the home of the subject in Augusta, amid the fruits of his industry 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 I862, and died on the farm in Ross township in I869. 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 until I860. He then came to Michigan and located for a short time at Battle Creek. Purchasing a farm in Ross township, this county, soon afterward, he moved on it, and there he made his home until I886, when he built a house at Augusta 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 seventy-five acres, and has all in an advanced state of development and productiveness, and provided with good buildings and other necessary improvements. 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 excellence and usefulness of his citizenship. In I846 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 living: Emma A., wife of T. W. Will, of Barrcounty, 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 I885 the father married a second wife, Amanda Pettit, of the province of Ontario, Canada. Politically Mr. Hall is a Republican, with a commanding influence in the affairs of his party, but without political ambition 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, overspread with mighty forests of changing garniture, the wild red man its lord and master, and savage beasts its most numerous and omnipresent denizens, and now behold it clothed with the habiliments of civilized life and productive usefulness, 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 husbandman's song-those interesting links in the chain of human existence which connect the electrical 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 number is Nathan F. Pool, a retired farmer, who was the postmaster of Augusta in Ross township up to I905, and who became a resident of the state in 1847 and of the county in I854, and has lived here in active usefulness ever since. He was born in Geauga county, Ohio, on January I. I840, the son of Abijah and Lucy (Foster) Pool, KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 369 the former a native of Massachusetts, and the latter of the state of New York. The father was but a boy when his parents moved to New York alln took up their residence near Hamilton, Madison county. In 1836, following his father's examiple, he strode into the wilderness to build for himself a home and make a name, migrating to Geauga county, where he lived until I847, when lc again sought the frontier and brought his famlily to Michigan, locating on land which he )ulrchased in Kent county. He bought one hunldred and sixty acres there, and was so much more fortunate than the otler settlers as to own the olnlv team of horses in the township (Caledonia), 1)bt was obliged to pay for this distinction by doillg all the marketing for the neighborhood at (;rand Rapids, fifteen or twenty miles away. He cleared his land in that county and lived on it until I854, when he sold it and moved to Augusta, 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 I I, I868, and his wife on December 29, I876. He was born in 1796, and she in I8oo. 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 Congregational 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 I847. He attended the district schools near his home, and learned farming under difficulties on the new and uncleared land of the paternal homestead. He began life for himself as a farmer, and was so occupied until Auglust, 1862, when he enlisted in Company D, Seventeenth Michigan Infantry, for the Union army under Captain 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 engagements, and also in the siege of Vicksburg. His health failed and he was discharged from the service in I864 with the rank of corporal, having enlisted as a private. Returning to Augusta, he started a carriage building and general blacksmithing 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 i897 was appointed postmaster at Augusta, a position 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 I I 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 engaging 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 taking 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 extensive business in the store he first occupied until it was destroyed by fire. After that event he built, in i868, 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 I847 with her 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 integrity, 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 attention 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 community 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 steadfastness 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 direction of Rev. Jonathan Going. He proved himself 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 I836 he bought eighty acres of land in Barry county, where he established an Indian mission and school, known as Slater Station. He was always very much interested in the welfare of the Indians and labored long and faithfully to convert them to this religion that he loved so well, and they in turn referenced him as their chief. In 1852 he moved to Kalamazoo, where he died on April 27, i866. 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 regularly to his devoted Indians at Slater Station, ~4 H -4 A, 0-~ CA A0 -4L I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN 373 riding there on Saturday and returning on the following Monday. His wife died on June 7, 185I. 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 tile 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 suffering his ready presence and ministrations relieved in the long course of his successful and appreciated 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 cherished in the community. Mr. Weeks was born in Greene county, N. Y., at the town of Coxsackie, on December 25, I835. 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 number 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 I867, 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, I903, 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 compounding them, and thus he had the confidence and esteem of the community throughout his business career at this place. In I875 he was married to Miss Charlotte Eaton, a native of Allegany 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 practicing 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 California, 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 adventure 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 determination as resolute as those of any of the "fortyniners," who braved the dangers of the plains on their way to the golden shores of the Pacific coast, for they confronted equal perils and privations, and without the chance of as speedy returns 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 I849, 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 Calhoun county, which they cleared up and lived on until the death of the father in I867, the mother afterward dying at the home of her son, Lorenzo, in I872. 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 sister Mary E. being residents of Augusta. Lorenzo 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 I867. 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 I894 he started a grain business of his own, in which he has since been continuously engaged and with great success. Meanwhile 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 influential force in business and social circles, and on all occasions has shown a commendable enterprise in behalf of the improvement of his section and the promotion of its best interests. Having 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 mailhood, William Strong, of Kalamazoo township, this county, has steadfastly withstood all temptltions 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, I838, 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 I836 he started with his family to Michigan, but they halted at Huntsburg, Geauga county, Ohio, where the father assisted in buil(ding a church. In I839 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 ill I898, 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 useful of our pioneer citizens. His father, Paul Strong, grandfather of William, was a soldier in the war of I8I2, 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 educated in this township, attending the district schools and the Baptist College in Kalamazoo. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 375 I-Te 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 lhas developed his property and made a steady alivance 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 (ldied 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, i88i, AMr. 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 lhave a prominent place in all the benevolent un(lertakings around them. Mr. Strong edited the agricultural department of the Kalamazoo Telegraph for a number of years and was later conlnected with the News in the same capacity. EDWARD STRO NG. Edward Strong, a highly respected pioneer of Kalamazoo county and now serving his thirtyseventh consecutive year as its accomplished and hihly serviceable surveyor, was born near Mt.! olyoke, Mass., on December 3r, 1836. He is a brother of William Strong, of this county, inL whose sketch, found elsewhere in this work. an account of the history of their parents is given. In his childhood Mr. Strong moved with 1his parents to Geauga county, Ohio, and after a residence of three years there came with them to MIichigan, making the journey by way of the old canal to Detroit, and 'from there through the almost trackless wilderness by teams to Kalamazoo, 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 of his mind was directed in the primitive schools of the day, kept in the uncanny and uncomfortable 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 reading and extensive general information. The school he taught was at Charleston, Ill., 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 I867 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 popular 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 drainage commissioner. Pursuing peacefully and without ostentation his chosen work in cultivating 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 — lic spirit, to whom prominence has come through merit in his young manhood, who is now serving as supervisor of Kalamazoo township, was born in the township on August 22, 1865. His parents, 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 Edward, 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 district 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 I89o, when he took up his residence in Kalamazoo, where he lived until his death on July I5, I902, 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 I862. They had two children, their son Edward 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 supervisor. He was also for ten years a member of the city council, being chairman of the committee on streets and bridges, and for a time street commissioner of the city. His church affiliation 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 Company. 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 occasions. His son Edward was reared on the paternal 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 I892 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 I899, and has also served two years as township treasurer. Almost from the dawn of his manhood he has been prominent 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 conventions. 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 character and unusual promise. WILLIAM F. MONTAGUE. Having come to live in Kalamazoo county iiI I858, when he was but nine years old, and havingc 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, in Hampshire county, Mass., at the town of Hadley. His parents, Stephen F. and Lucy W. (Kellogg )Montague, were born aiid reared in the same place as himself, and removed from there to the state of New York, where the father engaged in railroading, being a conductor on the old Albany & Northern Railroad until 1858. The family then came to Michigan, and located in this county, the father purchasing the old Eames farm on Grand Prairie, on which his parents passed the remainder of tleir days, the father dying in June, I885, and the mother in I886. Their only child was their son, William. He grew to manhood on the homestead, and was educated in the common and high schools of this county. He remained at home assisting his parents on the farm until I876, when lie 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 postiaster under A. J. Shakespeare for one year. In I886 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 supervisor of his township and as township treasurer. MIr. Montague is now serving his third year as president of its Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company. On MIay 9, 1876, he was married to Miss Susan A. Latta, a daughter of Albert and Lois ((rton) 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 velfare of his section and a thorough adaptability to its people and its institutions, although inheriting the traditions of an older portion of the country, he has sedulously devoted himself to the performance of every public and private duty, and in so doing has contributed 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, although 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 I787. 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 Newport, St. Clair county, where he passed six years buying and selling cattle, and working a farm on shares. The summer of I835 he 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 Kalamazoo 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 influential and respected man and lived in the community he chose as his home until he reached the age of ninety-six, dying on his farm in September, 1883, his wife dying three years later, aged eighty-nine. Their family comprised four sons and four daughters, all of whom are now deceased except George M., the subject of this review. 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 active partisan, or sought public office. Frater-. nally he is a Master Mason, holding his membership in Kalamazoo Lodge, No. 22. He was educated 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 I6, I892, he was married to Miss Nettie Allen, a native of Barry county, this state. They have two children, George 0. 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 I893 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. Under 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 community in which it is located can be better imagined 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 I86I 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 I840 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 I9oo. 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 daughter, 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 I883. He began the study of medicine under direction of Doctor Hitchcock, and in I884 entered the scientific department of the State University at Ann Arbor, where he secured the degree of Master of Science in I885 and that of Doctor of Medicine in I888. After practicing a year in Wisconsin he went to Chicago and entered the Rush Medical College and the Cook County Hospital, also taking a course in homeopathy in the Chicago Medical College. In I89o he returned to Kalamazoo 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 hnd American Microscopical Associations. He is also a prominent member of the Association for the Advancement of Science. Deeply and intelligently interested in the welfare of his home city, he has consented at considerable personal sacrifice 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 Freem~,son of the Knight Templar degree and also a Knight of Pythias. He was married in Wisconsin, on September 13, I888, to Miss Alice M. Albert, a native of Illinois. They have one son and oie 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 improvement. was a native of Rockingham county, N. H., born in I8io. His parents, Moses and Nancy (Wilson) Barnard, were also natives of New Hampshire, where they farmed for a number of years, then in I8I6 moved to Allegany county, N. Y., where they remained engaged in the same pursuit until I833, then came to Michiglan. 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 rilcord in the war. Both died in New Hampshire. 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, <nd after leaving school farmed in that state until 1832, when he started with a company of emi-,'rants for Michigan. They made the trip with (ix teams by the way of Detroit in true pioneer sysle, and on arriving in this county-Mr. Barnrdl, being without means, found employment in helping to raise and build the old Kalamazoo lotel. 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 I876, 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 Southerland, 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 township; Mrs. Harriet Reed, of Portage township; and Miss Marion Barnard, who lives on the home farm. Mr. Barnard was never an active politician, although in national affairs he gave his support to the Democratic party, and he never allowed 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 general 'excellence as a citizen and a man, endeared himself to his whole community. He was highly respected in life, and his death was universally regretted. In addition to considerable property, he left to his children the priceless heritage of a good name and an inspiring example. ALBERT R. WHITE. This well known farmer of Kalamazoo township, this county, is a native of Cayuga county, N. Y., born on February 17, I840. His parents. James M. and Fannie M. (Pickard) White, who were born in Massachusetts and New York, respectfully, 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 380 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, he married with Miss Fannie M. Pickard, a daughter of Abram Pickard, a prominent member and deacon 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 rescued 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 Arnold and Jay M. are now living. On arriving in this state the father bought one hundred and seventy-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 I896. 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, I698, 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 I86o. 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 I870 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, I798, and the latter on December 8, I806. 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 fifteeni when he went to the city and worked for a number 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 hardware 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, I874, he had made of it a fine farm with many valuable 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, however, 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 on 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 whichlies a thousand feet above the level of the sea and invites the attention of the tourist by this phenomenal fact as well as by its picturesque environment, John C. Bailey, a farmer of Comstock township, in this KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 383 county, and later a resident of Kalamazoo, had the awakening imagination of his youth quickened 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, hi. mnore mature fancy had an abundance of the same enjoyment. His life began November 2, 883, his parents being Samuel and Abigail (Chase) Blailey, 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 years 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, excel)t the oldest daughter and John, whose death, after a life of great usefulness, was universally nlourned on January I6, 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 I866, when he moved to Michigan and located in Comstock, 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 I896, and then retired from active work and moved to Kalamazoo, which was his lastabiding place on earth. He was married on November I4, 1856, to Miss Eliza Young, a native of New Hampshire, the daughter of Esek and Harriet(Woodard) Young, the father born in New Ilampshire 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 satisfaction the retrospect of his life, all of which had been devoted to useful pursuits and duties beneficial 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 I, I840, and is the son of Henry and Olive (Stearns) White, also natives of New Hampshire and belonging to families 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, I775, 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 I867 he moved to Johnstown, Pa., where he started a woolen mill, which he operated thirteen years. Then impelled by failing health, he came to Kalamazoo county in I88o and purchased a farm in Comstock township, in which he lived a number of years. Tiring of active work 384 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 management has been busily occupied. He was married at Johnstown, Pa., in I878, 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 furnishing 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 conservatism, 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 securing 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 earnest persons, especially the history of the founding and settlement of new regions of a country, in which courageous and determined men and patient 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 simplicity 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, I8I9, and died at Comstock on August 5, I878, 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 parents, Isaac and Mary (Rice) Gleason, being pioneers in Lewis county, N. Y., as some of their ancestors were in the section from which thev 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 excellent farm of it. On that farm the mother died on October i I, I838, 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, I86o. They had four sons and one daughter, all now deceased. Their son William grew to manhood 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 I849. 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 destination in July, I850. He followed mining two years successfully at Placerville, and then returning 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 excellent farm of it, and then passed away, leaving his work and its results as a lasting memorial to his industry 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 township. 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 MIrs. 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 Comstock; Sarah E., wife of George Allen, of Comstock; and William Gleason, Jr., who is living on the old home farm. The last nained was born on that place on April 22, i86I, an(l has passed all his life so far on it. He received 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 attention to all its details in every branch. He has devoted his life to the calling and has made a very creditable record in it. On April 27, I898, he was married to Miss Sadie Peer, a native of Comstock. 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 inspire the soul of one who is properly attuned to their martial music, and such are furnished in thc life-story of Henry J. Luttenton, an honored pioneer of Comtock township, Kalamazoo county, a:(dl one of the few bold invaders and van(cishers of the wilderness yet left among. us to tell over the tales of the morning of our history, wiho is also a veteran of the Civil war that beheld and fought on its fields of carnage where American valor was put to its severest test and tl(ost 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, I831. 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 (lying in 1857 and the mother in I88I. 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 felling 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 selfdefense; 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 selfreliance, the sleight of woodcraft and boldness in the face of danger. In I864 he enlisted in 386 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF Company B, Tenth Michigan Cavalry, and to the close of the Civil war fought under General Sherman 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 Infantry, 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 I856 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 Gamet, 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 extended 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 development, and was besides a pioneer in Portage county, Ohio, where he settled with his parents in I836, when he was but seven years old. He was born in Wyoming county, N. Y., on November 8, I829, and was a son of Joseph and Ruth (Olin) Stratton, natives of Vermont, where the father was born in 80oo and the mother in I804. Early in life and in the history of the region they located at or near Perry in Wyoming county, N. Y. Theiy were married in i824 and became the parents of eleven children, ten of whom are living. In I836 they took another journey in the wake of the setting 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 I878, and solne 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, i887. 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 opportunities were afforded for intellectual training, so far did physical necessities overbear loftier aspirations. Like other boys of his day and condition, he was obliged to be content with brief and irregular terms at the country schools and depend on his native force and the stern discipline of experience 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 farmn 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 himn better, on his return to this state in I882 he bought land in Comstock township, this county, on which he afterward lived. This he improved and reduced to cultivation with gratifying results, and had one of the choice farms in the township. Onl September I I, i853, 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, andI 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 citizenship. His death occurred on August I6, I905. 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, I840, and has lived in Kalamazoo county from the time when he was but three years old, enjoys in an unusual dcrree the confidence and regard of his fellow citizens of the county, and has deserved their good will by his industrious and upright life. His parents 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 arrival here, and living on that farm until they had nmade 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 possession 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 timte makes his home, and the other buildings with which the place is improved. Here the mother died in I86I and the father in I880. 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 convictions, 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 I843. 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 possession 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 standard 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 household and all are living. They are Grace, wife of George B. Stebbings, of Kalamazoo, Myrtle, a resident 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 region, he having been born there on June 22, I834, 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 Massachusetts and the mother of the state of New York. He was a farmer in New York, and in 183I traveled 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 I836, 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 township on which he lived until I869, then moved to Porter township, Van Buren county, where he lived ten years. At the end of that period he returned to this county and Portage township, I BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF 388 where he died in I88o. The mother died in I840, and he married Miss Caroline Newton for his second wife. She died in I878. 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 I755. Edwin J. Cooley, after reaching the age of twenty-five on his father's farm, began life for himself as a farmer and followed that vocation in this county until I859, 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 I86o, 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 I86I, mining and carrying on a grocery trade, then returned to this county and here he has since resided, purchasing his present farm in I866. 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, I9o4. 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 conversation 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 towxl-_ ship since his birth, which occurred here on liis 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 hoinie place until I884, 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 connected with other industrial and commercial institutions. Mr. Milham is the only member of a large and prominent family who has never married. 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 community, where he is universally recognized as an enterprising and broad-minded farmer and business 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 knowingf representatives. He has mingled little in public affairs except as a promoter of the best interests of his community and county, to which he hlas 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 I7, I903, at the early age of fifty KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 389 onei years, cast a gloom over the city which it robbed of one of its most representative, progressive and energetic business men. Mr. Reed was born on March 12, 1852, at Climax, this state, lwhither 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 nalme 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 1 ichigan. On arriving in this state they purchased a large tract of farm land near Climax, and on that they lived until I863, 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 manufacturing enterprise which built up an extensive trade in spring-tooth harrows, which it made in large quantities and of superior quality. The cl(ler Reed was also interested in the First National bank and several other leading Kalamazoo business enterprises. He was descended from ol( English families long resident in this country. his American progenitors having settled in Simsbury, Conn., as early as I635. His wife died in I877. 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 filled acceptably three years. He then formed a partnership with Mr. Kauffer in the oil business, an undertaking they afterward sold to the Standard Oil Company. In I880 he b-:came a member of the D. C. & H. C. Reed (Company, manufacturers of spring-tooth harrows, 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 buildiitg its trade up to enormous proportions and winning 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 time of his useful and industrious life. At the time of his death he was actively interested in many other commercial and industrial undertakings in and about the city, being president of the Imperial Coating Mills and of the Kalamazoo Railroad Supply Company, in addition to being president of the Reed Manufacturing Company, and also treasurer of the Bryant Paper Company, and a director of the Home Savings Bank of the city and of the Illinois Envelope Company. In addition he aided in starting and conducting the Southside Improvement Company and several other real-estate movements greatly to the benefit of the city's growth and development. In political relations he was a Republican, 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 I9, 1876, he united marriage with Miss Emma Cameron, a daughter of Hon. Alexander Cameron, a native of Oneida county, N. Y., born of Scotch parentage. He came to Michigan in 1834, and after landing 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 married on March 14, I838, 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 legislature. He was one of the most active and influential 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 represent 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 discharged his duties with fidelity and intelligence, winning the praise of all classes of his fellow citizens, holding throughout his life here an exalted 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, I902, and Mr. Reed on April 17, I903, death coming to him at an age when his faculties seemed in full vigor and promised him yet many years of usefulness and productice life for the advantage of the city which was the scene of his labors and his enterprise 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 sincerely mourned by a host of loving friends and admirers of this man's lofty character when the sad news was learned on the I5th of September, I905. I-is death was very sudden and occurred 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 triumph in peace and comfort and had in the retrospection 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 others had wrought out substantial results of enduring value. He came into this world at Mendon, Monroe county, N. Y., on January 7, I833, 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 I89I, having survived by nearly forty years his good wife, who passed away in I852. He served in various local offices in his time, and was a man of force and influence in his community. There were three children born in the family, all sons, and all living except Lyman AT. 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 Antietam, that deluge of death where "carnage replenished 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 I870, 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,Kalamazoo Publishing Company, which he managed a short time, holding the office of sheriff until i88I, except during this 'interval. 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 I89I 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 president of the First National Bank, a position which he filled with ability and general commendation for a period of nine years. He also, in I9O2, organized the King Paper Company and was its president for some time. In March, I854, he was married, in the state of New York, to Miss Marv 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 LYMI A N AM. (;AVTES. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 393 church since I859. 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 filled 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 iwidely differing characteristics, in various 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 eventfulness. He was born in Ashland county, Ohio, on Jully 23, 1844. His parents were John and Elizabeth (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 I827, 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 within 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 followed farming there until his death, in 1876. I-Tis widow survived him fourteen years, passing away in I89o. 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 lhe 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 Antietam, Md., Cloyd Mountain, W. Va., and a number 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 captor and brought him a prisoner into the Union camp. He was mustered out of the service with the rank of sergeant in August, I864, and returned to his Ohio home, where he remained until I877. 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 I896 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 company at Alamo. On November 24, i863, he was married in Ohio to Miss Elizabeth Powers, a native 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, I904. 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 was its first conimander in Kalamazoo. He is a Knight of Pythias, an Odd Fellow and a Freemason of the Knight Templar degree, and is now captain general of the commandery at Kalamazoo, which he has also served as treasurer and recorder. He has long been a member of the Congregational church, and for thirteen years was superintendent of its Sunday school. Whether soldier or civilian, official or plain citizen, pushing 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 regard 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 uprightness 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 I836'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, Ill., where he was in business fourteen 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 & Lanard, and the partnership continued to the death of L HISTORY OF Mr. Prindle on February 15, I9go. The firm flourished 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 (Whitconml) 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 considerable loss. Still he continued in business many years and then retired with a competence. IHe and his wife died in Kalamazoo. All of the family 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 Boston. Although not an active partisan and not desirous of official station of any kind, Mr. Prindle served two terms as city treasurer of IKalamazoo 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 example of excellent citizenship in every sense of the term. Throughout their married life Mrs. Prindle 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 benevolence. 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 I, I867, and his par KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 395 ents, Martin and Harriet A. (Harrison) Van Dtzer, also were born there, the father in 1838 and the mother in I839. The grandfather, Alonzo Van Duzer, was a native of New York state, a cooper and farmer, and came to this county in ab(-out 1835 and located on government land on the northwest corner of Prairie Ronde township, swhere he operated as a cooper, supplying the early inhabitants with barrels and kindred commoditics. He also cleared and farmed some of his land, (lding on his farm in I846, 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 followed farming and threshing, owning and operating 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 extensively engaged in raising Jersey cattle, PolandChina 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 an(l considered the best posted and brightest member of the craft in this section. The mother died in 1892 and he in December, I902. 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 Parso.'s Business College in Kalamazoo. He clerked One year at Schoolcraft and since then has follov,,ed farming, being interested also in the creamery 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 Allbert 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, 184I, and was the son of Arthur and Roseanna (Hughes) Shields, who were also natives of that county and descended 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 Michigan he became a farmer. In I853 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 I863 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 development and cultivation. The father remained on this farm a number of years, then moved to Kalamazoo, where he died, the mother also passing away 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 farmer 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, I9oI. He united in marriage in I868 with Miss Anne McHugh, 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 Catholic 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 wellknown 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 passing the later years of his useful life retired from active pursuits at Schoolcraft, is a native of Vermont, 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 native state, and in 185I 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 I86I he returned to this county and bought land in Prairie Ronde township. The land was partially improved and he devoted his energies to its further improvement 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, I866, he was married 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 township and has served as treasurer two years and supervisor eight years. In I880 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 Schoolcraft high school. After leaving school he was continuously engaged in farming. In 1891, in the month of December, he was united in marriage 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 chairman of the township committee of his party. Fraternally he was an active Freemason, with membership in the lodge of the order at Schoolcraft, and a Knight of the Maccabees. He was tile youngest member of the county board of supervisors, 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 Jolathan C. Hoyt, one of the leading farmers of Prairie Ronde township, a sketch of whom appears 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, I842. His parents, also natives of Pennsylvania, were Alexander \V. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 397 all Elizabeth B. (Livingston) Davis, and after the death of the mother, which occurred in her naive state, the father came west to Illinois, anl for eight years made his home in Will coCtnty, moving from there to this county in 1862, anl died here in 1882 mourned by a large circle of acquaintances. William L. passed his childhod(l in the Keystone state and came with his father to Will county, Ill., 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 I, I867, he was married at Lawton, Mich., to Miss Mary C. Hoyt, 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, I850, in the township which is now her home, and is highly esteemed by the people am-ong whom the whole of her life so far has been passed. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have two children, 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 farnming interests to devote any considerable attention to political matters, and is neither an active partisan nor an office seeker, but he suplports 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 I854. He is the son of Christian and Mary (Coddington) MAnnger, who also were natives of New York, the father born in Dutchess county on March 3, T8oT, and the mother in Tompkins county in I800. l'lev 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 nloved to Millersburg, Holmes county, Ohio, and from there not long afterward to Lima, Ohio. In 1854 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, I870. They were the parents of six sons and four daughters, of whom the following are living: David and Isaac, of this county; George, who was a Union soldier in the Civil war, serving in the Fourth Michigan Cavalry; Jane, now Mrs. Niles Kinney, of Benton, Iowa; Ann, now Mrs. Albert Wagar, of this county; and Angeline, 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 abolitionist, was first a Whig and afterward a Republican, and filled a number of local offices. Both parents belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church. Isaac G. grew to manhood in Ohio, where he attended the common schools and learned the trade of a carpenter, which he followed until coming to Michigan in 1854, and since then he has been continuously engaged in farming. On December 30, I869, he was married 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, I854. Mr. Munger 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 BIOGRAPI-lCAL HISTORY OF when the country all around him was yet wild and numerously populated with the savage denizens of the forest, man and beast, and began his long and useful work in promoting the development and improvement of the section. He was born on November 6, I829, 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 Pennsylvania and New York until I849, when he moved to this county and located temporarily at the village of Schoolcraft, soon afterward renting a farm southeast of the village. In 1855 he bought a farm of eighty acres in the northwestern 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 parents 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 I812. The grandparents on both sides of the house were natives of Germany 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 I850, 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 I872 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 improvements. In I854 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, I829, 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. Itle was married in Crawford county, Ohio, in I823, and settled on Prairie Ronde, this county, on Christmas day, 1828. His first work was to buill a log cabin fourteen by twenty-eight feet, a fire place in each end, as he said, "t6 hit the wind oy 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 neighbors." They reared a family of eight children. Mr. Shaver died on September Io, I872, and his wife on January 23, I877. 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 an(l 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 conimissioner, a position in which he served three years. In I9OI he began growing grapes, an(d he now has a vineyard of ten acres which annually yields large returns for his labor expended on 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 duties allotted him, and lived to witness the fruits of 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 citizells. 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 (W\ade) Monroe, the former born in New Hampshire and the latter in New York. The father wfas a carpenter and farmer. He lived in New York and Ohio until I836, then came to Michigan and bought a tract of land in Porter township, Van Buren county, one mile from the county line. The land was unbroken and heavily timbered, 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 wliich are still standing. He passed the remain(der of his (lays in Van Buren county, dying there in 1872 and his wife in I88I. They had two sons anl seven daughters, all now deceased but I;benezer 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 sMn Ebenezer was reared in Van Buren county anl obtained his education in the district schools. At an early age he went to work clearing land, tlat 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 improvements sold it. In September, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, Third Michigan Cavalry, under Captain Hudson, of Paw Paw. His cominand was assigned to the Army of the Cumber land and took part in the siege of New Madrid, Island No. Io, and Corinth, Miss., being one of the first regiments inside the works of defense. 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 com'ing out as a corporal and acting sergeant. He came home and at once went to work clearing his land. Afterward he moved to Washtenaw county, where he lived ten years, at the end of that period returning to this county and buying his present farm on sections 7 and 18, of Prairie Ronde township. In I868 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 I895. Mr. Monroe has served as highway commissioner, and in politics is a leading 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 multiform 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 members. From there branches of the family were established in other states, one of them in Pennsylvania, and from this branch sprang John O. Lee, of Prairie Ronde township, this county. He was 'born in MoKean county, Pa., on May 21, I832, 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 marriage they migrated to this county in 1844, and located on Gourdneck Prairie, where the father died on December 20, 1845, the mother passing BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF 4o0 away a few years later, on March 17, I850, in Porter township, Van Buren county. They were the parents of seven children, of whom John 0. 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, I858, 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 I856 and his widow on November I I, I88I. 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, I843, 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 ability, 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 Michigan, 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 I827. They were well-to-do farmers and lived to advanced old age, the father dying in I899, aged ninety-one years. He was married in I832 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 members of the Methodist Episcopal church, prominent 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, I862, when he enlisted in the Union army as a member of Company K, One Hundred and Eighteenth New York Infantry. His regiment soon afterward becanme 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, however, soon placed on detached service, and passed nearly the whole period of the war at Norfolk, Va. After the close of the war in I865 he re — mained.the rest of the year in North Carolina engaged in merchandising. In the early part of I866 he returned to his New York home, and ill the ensuing October came to Kalamaz6o with relatives. Here he began his career in the employ I e , " " I ", At& k \VALLACIE- NX\V. BALDWIN. I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 403 of M. J. Bigelow, for whom he worked several Ilonths. In I867 he opened a small store in the abandoned barroom of the hotel. His venture prospered from the first, and as it grew he enlaired his operations and expanded his accQmmo(dtions for his increasing stock until he now has thl most extensive and comprehensive in the village of Comstock. One of his leading industries is shipping celery to distant markets, and his trade ill this toothsome vegetable is very large. In 1(o4 his shipments amounted to a value of twenty tlhl,)sand dollars, and there are many indications that they will aggregate a still larger sum this year (I905). He also controls large bodies of productive and well improved farm land and is one of the substantial as well as one of the progressive men of his township. In I869 he united in marriage with Miss Cordelia Huff, a native of Genesee county. They had one child, their laughter Blanch, now the wife of Dr. Parmenter, of Lake Forest, Ill. Her mother died in 1874, and two years later her father married a second wife, MAiss Elsie L. Bailey, a daughter of John and Eliza (Young) Bailey (see sketch of them on another page). Mr. and the present Mrs. Baldwin have one child, their daughter Mabel B. MAr. Baldwin has always been a vigorous and energetic promotor of the welfare of his township, taking an active part in its public affairs and aiding by every proper means all worthy enterprises 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 offices. In politics he is a Republican, and fraternally is connected with the United Workmen, tlhe Odd Fellows and the Grand Army of the Republic. He has been a member of the Metho(list Episcopal church since his sixteenth year, and has always taken a zealous interest in religious affairs. When he became a resident of Comstock this denomination had no established organization in the neighborhood, and he was instrumental 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. WILLIAMI 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 Io, 1822, and was the son of Henry and Susan (Carle) Southard, natives of New Jersey. His ancestors were among the early colonial settlers of this country, locating on Long Island, and many members of the family 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 congress, and others walked with dignity and commanding influence in the pathway of scientific and professional activity. The family is of Scotch origin, the patronymic having been formerly 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 I749. 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 1812, served nine years in the state, legislature, and was a member of congress from I80I to I8II, and again from I815 to 1821. 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 I804, and later was admitted to the bar in Virginia. He became law reporter for the state of New Jersey in I814, and the next year associate justice of the state supreme court. In I820 he was a presidential elector, and in I82I 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 I823 to March 23, I829, and during this period served at times as secretary of the treasury and secretary of war. In I829 he became attorney general of New Jersey, and in I832 was elected governor. In 1833 he was elected to the United States senate and he remained a member of that body until May 3, 1842. When Vice-President Tyler became President, Senator Southard was chosen president of the senate. He died at Fredericksburg, Va., on June 26, I842. The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by the University of Pennsylvania in i833. 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 distinguished member of the family was his son, Samuel Lewis Southard, who was graduated from Princeton in I836, 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, untarnished names and excellent examples of manliness 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 became 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 visiting 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 turning his attention to mercantile life, he passe(l eighteen months in a store at Elizabethtown, N. J. At the end of that period he began his professional studies, and returning to the scenes antd friends of his childhood and youth, became a medical student in the office of Drs. N. P. Colvin & 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 I85o. 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 I858 he returned to New Jersey. and during the ensuing four years built up an extensive and lucrative practice in Newark. Finding 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 accordingly came to Kalamazoo, where he soon regained 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 medical examiner in the order. His professional activity, skill and learning gave him high standino in his chosen work, and his business acumen wont him considerable worldly wealth. He owned a valuable farm three miles from Kalamazoo. where he made specialties of bee culture and raising 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, he was married to Miss Hulda A. Jones, a native of Wayne county, N. Y., born on September 23, I826. 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 are living excepting the last named, and are residents of Kalamazoo. Dr. Eugene C. Southard was graduated from the Rush Medical College of Chicago in I88o. As a fitting conclusion to the niemorial sketch of the elder Dr. Southard, we extract as follows from a resolution passed by the Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine on March I, 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 Februarv 21, I904. He was ripe in years and in experience, 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 consciousness 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 members of our profession, but with all with w3hom 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 awas to serve well, faithfully, and to the best of his ability those whose lives and welfare were Iplaced in his hands, and we hope the ennobling example of his latent energy to stimulate us to renewed endeavors for the relief of human distress." 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-;l-hip, is entitled to all the distinction which belongs to the early settlers of the county, as well as that belonging to their descendants who have so bravely, so vigorously and so successfully carried on the work which they began here. He was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, on January 4, I830, and is the son of Ira and Serepta (Buckman) Carpenter, natives of the state of New York and pioneers in Ashtabula county, Ohio, as well as in this county. The father was a carpenter by trade. He was married in Ashtabula county, Ohio, and in I833 moved his family to Kalamazoo county, after a short residence near Springfield, Ill., 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 (lied. 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 altogether too familiar for his comfort and safety. Living on the frontier where wild game was plentiful, he of course became somewhat of a hunter, and brought home from time to time many trophies of the chase. In 1852 he united in marriage with Miss Sarah E. Munger,'a daughter of Russell 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 I835 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 daughters 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 treasurer and path master. His fraternal relations are with the M4asonic 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 township, this county, where he has lived seventvseven years, is a native of Clark county, Ohio, born on March 9, I820, 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, MAd., 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 testimony, on March 15, I77I, 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 before 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 Harrison, of Indiana. The Judge's parents lived irn Frederick county, Md., until he was about nine years old, then moved to Virginia, settling on ac farm near 'Winchester in that part of Frederick county in the old Dominion which is now Hampshire county, "r. Va. Five years later the! 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 inl 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 I792 and he voted at every subsequent presidential 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 I8io, with his family, he moved to Kentucky, just opposite Cincinnati, and while in this city he visited his distinguished cousin, Gen. William Henry Harrison, 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 frontier. In the meantime the Judge was distilling in Kentucky.' At the close of the war of 1812 he bought a farmn 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 children, and their wives, husbands and grandchildren, n'ineteen persons in all, he came to Michigan, locating on Prairie Ronde, the first settler on that fertile plain and hence the first in Kalamazoo county, arriving there on November 22, 1827. The Indians guided him to the shore of KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 407 I iarrison Lake, and here he took up land and tibuilt a log cabin for the accommodation of his family, the Indians helping in the work. In the lnsuing 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 dollar and a quarter an acre; and on this farm he:<id his wife lived until the end of their days, the iiother dying on June 7, 1857, after sixty-seven years of wedded life, and at the age of eightythree years, and the Judge on August 30, 1874, at the age of more than one hundred and three. Judge Harrison was early commissioned by Governor 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 number of years a justice of the peace. In both positions 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(Ired sixty-six years. After the formation of parties 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 Bolen," the principal character 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 organize it and also the township in which he lived, aiding in forming its youthful government and administering many of its important trusts, establishing its schools, building its churches and founding its industries. He and his wife were devout 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 impressiveness in his physical appearance and bearing, and was also thoroughly generous in his nature. 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 fortune 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 childhood 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 boyhood 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 seventy-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 408 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF fellows, and seeing what he first beheld and inhabited as a howling wilderness growing into grace, beauty and power under the benign influence of advancing civilization. And now, as the evening shades of his long day of toil and triumph 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 materially to bless and develop. Hle was married in 1842 to Miss Louisa Baker, a native of Ohio, whose parents became residents of Kalamazoo county in I84I. 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, I9OI. 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, I868, and was reared and educated in the county, attending school at Schoolcraft and the college in Kalamazoo. 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 I902 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 locality. On December 20, I893, Mr. Harrison was married to Miss Ida F. Shirley, a daughter of John Shirley, who was born in England and settled in Kalamazoo county in I839. He died here in the spring of I9o04 on his farm in Texas township, which he bought after reaching years of matit. rity, having come here with his parents in boyhood, and passed his early life on Grand Prairie. where the)y took up their residence on their arrival in the county. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison had two children, their son Paul C., who was born inl I896, and another who died a number of years ago. In fraternal relations Mr. Harrison bclongs to the Knights of the Maccabees. He is a vigorous and skillful farmer, an excellent citizen 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 way. NEWTON LUCE. This well-known farmer of Prairie Ronde township, whose untimely death in I88o, 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 i6, 1835, and was therefore one of the first of the offspring of the hardy pioneers in the county, who laid the foundations of its present development and prosperity 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 whatwasin his boyhood and youth literally a howling wilderness, 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 townslhip, and on this farm he lived until his death, clearing it and advancing it to excellent productiveness, and enriching it with good improveiments. He was married on February 21, I86o, to Miss Sarah Smith, a daughter of Martin and Mlary (Miller) Smith, natives of Pennsylvania anld early pioneers of this county. After their marriage they moved to Wyoming county, N. Y., \where they lived until I855, then came to Kalaiazoo county, and here the father passed the remainder of his life, dying in Prairie Ronde townslip in March, I88I. The mother of Mrs. Luce (lied at Casselton, N. D. They had five sons and three daughters, and of these children five are living, Mrs. Luce being the only one residing in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Luce were the parents of four children: Levi A.; Lisette, now AIrs. L. J. Henderson, of this county; Helen, now MArs. Fred Welch, of Kalamazoo, and 0. 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 Nwas an earnest and zealous working Democrat and a leader of his party. Fraternally he belonged 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 citizen, a useful and progressive man, and an excellent 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 I865. He was born in Whitley county, Ind., on August 4, J852, the son of Truman and Mary L. (Mitchell) T-unt, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of Maryland. The father was born on January 2, I809, near Roxbury, Conn., a son of William 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 Truman 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 I863 he came to Kalamazoo county and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, on which his son, Washington, now lives, and in I865 moved his family to this land and began the work of clearing it and bringing it under cultivation. He lived in this county until his death in I900, his wife passing away here in 1895. They had three daughters and two sons, four of whom are living, Washington being the only one resident in this county. The father was a Whig until the death of that party, and then became a Republican. 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, attending the district schools and Notre Dame Academy at South Bend, Ind. He has been prosperously 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 I877, and in February, I89I, 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 generally respected. LEWIS S. BURDICK. This pioneer settler of Texas township is a native of Madison county, N. Y., born on February IT, I820, 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 I789. He was a farmer and moved to Madison county, N. Y., when it was a new coun 410I BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF try, and there he lived until I834. 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 deceased but Lewis and one of his sisters, Mrs. Corner, 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 itnproved with good buildings, making it a farm of the first rank and in keeping with his surroundings in that progressive township. He married in I842 with Miss Mary Towers, a native of Vermont and daughter of Albert Towers, a pioneer of the township. She died in i881, 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 respect 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, Kalamazoo 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 neighborhood 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 promotion 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 I847 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 I903, at the age of ninety-one., his wife dying in August, i898. 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 grandfather 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 DR. MALCOLM HILL. WARREN W. HILL. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 413 in the neighboring district schools, and has followed farming on this place all his life. He assisted in clearing and breaking up a great deal of tihe 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 I855, and (lied in Texas township after serving as a justice of the peace many years. Mr. and Mrs. Warren H.ill have had eight children, Herman J., James 1. (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 leaders of his party. He served as township clerk one year, justice of the peace two years and supervisor 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 nmch 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 sull)ervisor 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 f;ithlfully 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 renmained in his native state until he became a young man, then accompanied his parents, Lyman and Lucinda Parsons, to this state, where his grandfather bought the land on which the grandson now lives. The place was partially improved with some buildings, and was in part un23 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 I889. 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 'Wr. Hill, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. In political faith Mr. Parsons has been a life-long Republican, 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 administrative 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 Maccabees, 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 results of their well-placed and productive energy. LEVI B. FISHER. The review of a life like the one under present consideration, however often and with whatever 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 highest and most sterling expression of its citizenship. Levi B. Fisher, well and favorably known throughout Kalamazoo county as a builder, farmer 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 nature with indomitable will and pluck, a keen eye for business opportunities and the wisdom which seizes and converts them into tangible and substantial results. His success in his various ventures 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 therefrom, unless prevented by death or some supreme calamity. Mr. Fisher was born at Lexington, Stark county, Ohio, on August 17, I825, and is the son of Reuben Fisher, a farmer from Pennsylvania, and the grandson of Lanta Fisher, an Englishman 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. He settled in Macomb county, this state, in I840, and died there in 1851. He married 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 carpenter 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 adjoining townships. In February, 1847, he bought his farm in Cooper township, which was then little more than a wilderness, and this he has enriched 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 butclering business in KEalamazoo, Englewood and Chicago. In 1851 he united in marriage with Miss Louisa Chamberlain, who was born at Le\iston, Niagara county, N. Y., in I830. She is a d(aughter of Luther and Martha (Bemer) Chainberlain, 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, l,cated on a tract of government land which they entered in Cooper township. They passed from this life aged respectively eighty-six and sixtytwo 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 Prohibitionists. 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 fortythree 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 usefulness 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 aind greatness, that commercial wealth, industrial activity, 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 natives of New York, who moved to Ohio inthe early '30s and remained there until 1836, then calme to Michigan and entered a tract of government land in Cooper township. The tract comprised KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 415,,,I hundred and seven acres and is in sections 9;t, o I. On February II, 1836, not long before tli family left Ohio, the subject of this review \\;,s born, so that he came into this state an infant, and almost the whole of his life has been p),ased in this county. The township had been ci.ctred by the daring pioneer scarcely more than i,\, years before this family came hither, and the land on which they settled was in the midst of a v; t forest and heavily timbered. To it and tl:-outgh it the father was obliged to cut his own1 r-( lds, and for some years after locating here lhis axe was kept warm in clearing his land an(l l)rel)aring it for cultivation. His first work was to Iput up a log cabin with a bark roof, and in that tlie family lived a number of years. There has lten 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 (ldas, the mother dying in I874, and the father ill 1888. They had two sons who grew to manlood, MIace S. and his brother, John C., who lives at \Vaverly, Neb. The parents were Congregati, alists and helped to erect the first church lbilding belonging to that sect in the township. \lr. Borden's paternal grandfather was a native of Rhode Island and a sailor. After following tlhe sea for many years and meeting with all kinds of adventures and thrilling experiences, he came to Mlichigan 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 c(u!llty. Mace S. Borden, the younger, grew to man1hood on the Cooper township farm, on which lic i(now lives, with Indian boys for playmates, the \ ild exuberance of nature for inspiration and the lal)orious duties of rural life in a new country as lhis training school, which was very moderately slppl)lenlented by the elementary instruction given il lprimitive conditions and with rude appliances in the schools of his boyhood. Deer, bear and ttirkevs in abundance invited the sport of his rifle; and the voracious predatory wolf often Iad(le its use necessary. He was married on JanIaryl 20, 1864, to Miss Rhuba A. Barto, a daughter of Orin M. Barto, one of the pioneers of the cnunty, an account of whose life will be found in the sketch of another son-in-law, Cyrus E. Travis. 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, andl 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.the farm in Schoolcraft township on which he died on January 29, 1887, and on which he passed the whole of his life, except three years, during which he lived at Schoolcraft. His parents were Stephen and Zila (Stanley) 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 holding that office he lived at Bronson, now Kalamazoo. Afterward he moved to the farm in Schoolcraft 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 represented 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 surveyed in I831 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 treasures of many volumes which he had read. Mrs. ickery, his wife, was a sister to Mervin Stanley, 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 twenty-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, I894, and there is no living member of the earlier generations of the family in the county. Wallace Vickerv grew to manhood in this county and was educated in the schools at Schoolcraft. tie began in boyhood working on the old homestead, and on it he lived, nearly the whole of his life. On December 29, I859, he united in marriage 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 Vickerv 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 politics Mr. Vickery was a leading Democrat and served as supervisor and treasurer of his township. 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, Wallace 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, I799, 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 returned to Ohio and was married. For their wclding 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 montv 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 Ca,-s county a year or more, then, in I830, came to this county and settled in Schoolcraft township, where they passed the remainder of their lives. By industry 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 Wallace 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. iHe saw service in the war of 1812, although he was but a boy of twelve years when it began. He also enlisted for the Black Hawk war. His death occurred in I88I, and that of his wife in I887. Their son Wallace was reared to manhood on the old homestead and obtained his education in tihe primitive schools of his boyhood and youth. lie assisted his father in clearing and breaking up) the farm, and later became the owner of a part of it. In 1859 he 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 township, 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 people, 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. 417 tl-. Indian and the planting of civilization in this rc:ion, and he has helped to build it up to its pr sent splendid development; and now, in the ev:!ing of life, he rests secure in the enjoyment of the results of his work and the regard and g(o,(l will of all who know him. EDSON W. COOK. The restless energy of the great Empire state wxlhich has not only developed that commonwealth ts, such gigantic proportions of commercial, industrial and intellectual growth, but has also laid now regions under the dominion of its all-conq(turing spirit, was one of the most potent factors in redeeming the wilds of southern 1Michigan and making them fruitful in the products of the fatrm', rich in the domain of manufactures, powerful in fiscal agencies, and sound, substantial and commanding in civic, educational and moral institutions. iAnd among the men from that state xwho are to be mentioned with credit in any comi!lation of the motive powers of progress here, T(lson W. Cook,the well known farmer and stock )l-eeder 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 (( alkins) Cook, themselves natives of New York. and prosperous farmers in that state. They hTcalme residents of this county about the year I 852, and located on a tract of wild land in Brady township, which some years later they sold, afterva;rd owning several other farms in the county. In 1863 they moved to Allegan county, where tlhey passed the remainder of their days. Their family comprised three sons and three daughters, five of whom are living, Edson W. being the only,iie resident in this county. The father was a lu,'ading Whig until the death of that party, and a terward a Republican; but he never sought or accepted a political office of any kind. The son lwas educated in this county, and has passed all of lhis life here since he was ten years old. He clcared the greater part of his present farm, and,;i it, unpromising as it was when he took hold (ef it, he has made a model place, bringing nearly ll uinder vigorous cultivation and improving it with first-rate buildings and other necessary conveniences. On this farm he has resided thirtythree years continuously, and during that period he has been one of the most active and serviceable promoters of every commendable enterprise for the good of the section. He was married in 1872 to Miss Lavina French, a native of Kalamazoo 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 engiaged in breeding draft horses of the Percheron strain, and has become one of the leaders in this industry in the county. Much of his product 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 townshi), and is always earnestly alive to the lest interests of his party, as he is to the best interests of the countv in every way. But lie is not an office seeker, and desires none of the honors of public life. In the fraternal life of the community he is active as a Freemason of the Knight Templar degree. GEORGE G. BOND. Born on the farm which is still his home in Bradv township, this county, where his life began on March 15, I843, the interesting subject of this brief review grew to manhood under the influence of the stimulating pioneer life that prevailed in his boyhood and youth, and had not wholly disappeared when his young manhood dawned. He went to school in one of the primitive 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 former a native of Vermont and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father was a farmer and became a 418 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 he entered a quarter section of wild land which is the splendid farm on which his son George now lives. The land when he took possession 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 development 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 Companies 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 remainder 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 towrnship a number of years. He was also a charter member of the first Masonic lodge in the county, which was organized 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 I, I8II, 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 army 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 disa;ter in the contest except that at Union Mills, Va., he was thrown from his horse and rendered senseless 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, I866, 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, I841, and is the daughter of Conrad and Lena (Setzler) Eberstein, pioneers of that county and natives of Germany. The father came to America in I829 and the mother in I830. He passed a year in Boston and six months in Detroit. Froml 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 swimming the Maumee river. After a married life of fifty-three years they died in I89O, 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 hundred 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 Normanl horses and roadsters, and has a flock of fine wool sheep. He is greatly interested in national politics 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 sul)ervisor of Brady township, this county, was b)-r-n in the township on the farm on which he nlw lives, coming into the world on March 9, j87o. His parents, Francis and Clarissa M. (Nash) Jenkinson, were early settlers in the county, locating here first about I841. 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 I832 the father emigrated to this continent and joined an older brother in Canada, where he remained two vears, then moved to Buffalo, and during the next two vears was a sailor on the lakes and lived at various 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 Kalamuazoo river assisted in building a large saw mill, at which he worked in winter, sailing the lakes ill the summer. In 1841 he located in Kalamazoo county, entering eighty acres of government land in Bradyr 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 he moved 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 I858 he returned to this state by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and again engaged in river work, takinll flour down to the lake. Two years later he once more turned his attention to farming in this c(utnty. and in this he has been engaged ever since. He and his wife were married in 1859, al(d 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 I8, 'o04. The father is an earnest and zealous membler 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 ancestrv. They were the parents of eighteen children. Robert D. Jenkinson, the immediate subject of this sketch, grew to manhood and was educateed in this county, and has followed 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 political 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 I867, when they came to Kalamazoo, and soon afterward bought the farm on which their son now lives. The father was born on June i, 1821, and the mother on April 20, 1818. 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 supervisor in 1873 and I874, and was also a justice of the peace for a nunber of years. He was a leader in the Republican party, and a man of influence in its councils. The mother (lied in New York in 1866. They were the parents of two sons, Willis W. and his brother James K., who is also a resident of this county. In I868 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 Ayear 1870. Wil 420 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF lis Morrison became a resident of Kalamazoo in i866, 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 December, I896, 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 Kalanazoo. He was a citizen of prominence and influence 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 representative business mnen. He came into the world on June I, 182I, 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 I866 in New York. In that year he came to M\ichigan and purchased a farm in Pavilion township in I867, on which he lived until I885. He then moved to Kalamazoo and became a prominent lumber merchant, continuing in the trade until his death in 1894, and adding largely to its volume and importance in this section. He was married January 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 diedl June 2, I905. Their mother died in I866, and o1 December 30, I868, the father married a second wife. Miss Matilda Bogardus, a native of New York. Of their union one child was born, theildaughter, Anna B. Morrison. Mr. Morrison iwas 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 development 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 enduring welfare of his section and the permanent benefit of its people. MRS. HULDAH M. ARMSTRONG. This venerable lady, who is now treadiing upon the edge of four-score years, and who hlis been a veritable "mother in Israel" in Kalamazoo, county, came hither as a bride sixty years ago. and is now one of the few of the very early settlers left among this people who can recount from personal experience the trials, privations a!nd dangers of pioneer days, and the resourcefulness and personal courage necessary to overconie them and establish a civilization in the wilder — ness, which she can at this time see bloomingl around her as a garden, rich in all the elements of material, intellectual and moral greatness. Slc was born in Monroe county, N. Y., on March 3, T826, 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 womanhoo(l in her liative state, attending the district schools when she could. On December 25, 1845, she was united KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 421 iI marriage with John Moore, of New York state, and the next year they came to Michigan in o mlpany with another family, making the whole of the journey with teams, coming by way of Toiolo to Hillsdale and Sturgis, an(l spending a few weeks in Lagrange county, Ind1. They then came oi to Pavilion township, this county, and joined (;,lld Richardson, a cousin of Mrs. Armstrong's mother. In the fall following they purchased eci'hty acres of wild land and built a log cabin for a dwelling in which they lived until the death of Mr. Moore on January Io, I857. Five childroen were born to them, and Mr. Moore died w!hen the youngest was three months old. Mrs. \ loore reared them and also built the frame house in which she now lives, remaining a widow un;til 1863, when she married William P. Armstrong, a native of Ohio. They had three childr-en, two of whom are living, Albert J. and (;icnnevicve Cr. i XMrs. Armnstrong is an ardent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and takes an active interest in all its good works. She has been an indlustrious andl prudent woman, faithful to every duty, and accepting every con(lition ill life that has come to her with resignation and a spirit of cheerful determination to make the most of it, and her long career of usefilness 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 Spanning as she does in her one life the long interval letween the remote dawn of history in this reionll 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 ioundations of the development and progress \llich now signalize this part of the country. JOHN H. RICHARDSON. A pioneer of Pavilion township, who became t resident of the section when he was but eight years of age, now sixty-seven years ago, and participating 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 pleasing reflection that the work of himself and his companions of the early (lays was so well done that the superstructure built upon the foundations of civilization thev laid here is solid, substantial and enduring as well as comely in all respects. Mr. Richardson was born in Cattaraugus county, N. Y.. on October 14, I830. His parents, Gouldand Eunice (Hawley) Richardson, also were natives of New York state, where the father farmed until 1831, then moved to Pennsylvania, where he remained until I838. 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 daughters are living. The father was a leading Democrat in the public life of the county and filled xith credit a number of local offices. His father was a Revolutionary soldier, and the grandson, John I. Richardson, still has the rifle the gallant patriot usled in the memorable contest. John H. Richardson, as has been noted, was but eight years 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 homestead which were as vet uncleared and unbroken, and which he has now nearly all cleared and under cultivation. In I856 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 merchants 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. Richardson is a Democrat, and has served in a number of local offices. He is highly esteemed as a useful 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 impressively the power of persistent industry, frugality and thrift, when coupled with business sagacity 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 December 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, Hulcah M., Benjamin C., Jeannette and himself are living. The father was born on August 8, I802, and lived until I894. The mother's life began on November 14, I806, 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 married 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 forests, and a few years afterward took tip his residence in Wayne county whence he came to Michigan in 1846, journeying from Rochester to Buffalo 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 possession 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 manl valuable improvements. In his political views he always adhered steadfastly to Democratic principles, 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 Vermoht. 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 beingon it several large frame barns built at different times, and a commodious brick residence of attractive architecture and fitted up with every modern convenience. Here he and his son carry on an extensive business in general farming, and make a specialty of fine wool sheep and Durham cattle. On December 20, I857, Mr. Collins was united in marriage with Miss Harriet Westoll. 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 potential influence in the county, and has been conspicuous in the management of public affairs in a ntimber of official capacities. He has been township treasurer four times, township clerk one years, and overseer of highways many years. In KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 423 1)plitics he supports with the ardor born of firm conviction the principles and candidates of the IDemocratic party. One of the wealthy men of his township, he is also one of the most modest ad(1 unassuming. He looks upon all his fellows as worthy of his regard until they prove themselves 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 human nature, and he is not easily imposed upon. ALBERT W. SMITH. Albert W. Smith, a former treasurer of Kalaanazoo county and a prosperous and progressive farmer of Pavilion township, was born in Windsor county, Vt., on October 29, 1849. He is the son of Henry F. aiid Arvilla (Whitmore) Smith, natives also of Vermont. The father, whose whole life was passed in industrious and profitable farming, came to Michigan in 1853, and located in this county two miles and a half south of Schoolcraft. In 1859 he bought the farm on which his son Albert noiw lives, which they cleared by their joint labor, and on which he resided until his death in f889, 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, Albert and his three sisters are living and all residents of this state. The father served as a justice of the peace and in other local offices. The grandfather, Thaddeus Smith, was born in Massachusetts, but lived nearly all his life and farmed in \Vermont. Albert W. Smith passed his boyhood from 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 elementary 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 almost entire control of it from the age mentioned. Hle made a full hand in all the work of clearing and breaking the land, and took a very active part in 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 I9OI. His official record is one of the best, his clearness of vision, excellent judgment, pronounced fairness to all the interests involved, and general ability redounding greatly to his credit and being of decided benefit to the county. On October 9, 1883, he was married to Miss Mattie H. Oliver, a native 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 children, three of whom are living, Albert F., Shepard H. and Clyde W. Mr. Smith has been a lifelong Republican. In addition to being county treasurer he served a number of years as a justice 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 citizens of the county, and is held in the highest esteem by its people. KALAMAZOO STOVE WORKS. With a capital stock of three hundred and fifteen thousand dollars, a very much alive and energetic directorate, a large body of influential stockholders 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 production in vigorous and fruitful motion. The company was organized in I9OI with Edward Woodbury as president, William Thompson as vice-president and general manager, Charles A. Dewing as treasurer, and A. H. Dane as secretary. The list of stockholders includes W. S. Dewing, James Dewing, Stephen G. Earl, Benjamin 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 company is one of the pioneers in this line of manufactures 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 respectand stand at the head of the market. The business is conducted with the closest attention to every detail in construction and management, and no effort is omitted necessary to secure the best results in every way. William Thompson, the founder and general manager of the company, is a native of Louisville, Ky., where he began his business career as a boy in his uncle's foundry and store. In I885 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 Comnpany 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 increasing business, and at the same time has established 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 Kalamazoo & 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 conmmunity he has taken an active and helpful interest, and while without political ambition for public office, he has shown always a good citizen's activity in public affairs wherein the general welfare of the people is involved. No man stands higher in Kalamazoo, and none is more worthy of the regard in which he is generally 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 alnost 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 developnment, productiveness and industrial activity. He is a native of Venice, Cavyua county, N. Y., born on August 8. I830, and the son of Thomas J. and Amelia (Craft) Cannon, natives of New York. The grandfather, also nanied Thomas Cannon, was born in Ireland and emigrated to this country prior to the Revolution, in which he took an active part, serving moire than seven years as a private soldier in the Continental arniy. After the close of the war he settled in Ca!yuga 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 (lied in 18.34. He was married twice and had two children h1) each wife, by the second his son Leander and a (daughter, Adaline, who married Thomas. Finlay; she died February 12, I899. After his deatl his widow was married to James Wilson, and inl 1837 the family moved to Michigan and first located in ILeroy township, Calhoun county, entering government land on which they lived until the winter of 1842-3, when Mr. Wilson exchanged the land for the farn 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, move( on the place in the spring of 1843, making their home in a small log cabin which they built. The step-father died in California, but the mnother passed away sonie years before on the farm. Mr. Cannon grew to manhood on this farm, which he still owns, and cleared the whole of the place. The humnble dwel KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 425 lilng, which he erected in 1854, is still standing on the place, but in 1882 he built his present resi(idnce on it, which is one of the best in the county. ()n February ii, 1855, he was married to Miss c'harlotte M. Boughton, a native of Genesee county, N. Y., and a daughter of Amos H. and IDesire (Wolcott) Boughton, who came to Michi':an in 1837 and located in this county, in Pavilion township, where Mrs. Cannon's grandfather, klrastus Wolcott, had settled five years before. tIer parents lived and died in that township. \lir. andl Mrs. Cannon have five children: Mayhelle, wife of E. D. Heetcr, of Dayton, Ohio; ''Thomas E., who is married and has one child, a dlaughter; Warren B., of Kalamazoo; Gertrude, wife of E. A. Edmunds, of Wisconsin; and Claud G., of Appleton, Wis. Politically Mr. Cannon has always adhered to the Democratic party, but he has never sought or desired public office. lIraternally 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 living 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, loan and beast and reptile, already in occupation;ind armed against them. And while the dispossession of the aboriginal denizens looks harsh;Iid 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. T'o maintain the type and develop it to ultimate perfection is the scheme, and in the effort the destruction of individuals, hostile tribes and races, and all other opposing forces, is one of the essential 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 I844, when the parents of Ozro M. Hale settled on its soil, it was plainly their duty to make their enemies of field and steam and forest give way to their superior right and subserve their wants. The sunset of the red man was already approaching, and by the rule of the general advance of civilizing forces he was obliged to accept his destiny; and the beasts, birds and reptiles of prey, which had so long lived on the land without improving it, were necessarily doomed to the extinction in their turn which they 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 development 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, I780. 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 momentous 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, I776, without even the form of a trial. David Hale, the grandfather of Ozro, was reared in his native state, and in his early manhood moved to Orleans county, N. Y., and in I838 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 Medina, and in which his ventures were unsuccessful. InI84o 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 I888. 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 parents 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 prominence in New York and this state. The immediate subject of this sketch was but four years old when the family located on the Comstock farm, and his childhood, youth and early manhood were passed in a virgin country amid all its difficulties and dangers. His schooling at the country schools was neither extensive nor thorough, 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 devoted his time to its improvement and cultivation ever since except during his military service in the Civil war. For this contest he enlisted in I864 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 Io, I865. He was afterward in the grand review at Washiniiton, D. C., and a short time later was mustered out of the service. Returning then to this count-, he resumed his farming operations, in which lle has been continuously engaged from then to thei present time (1904). In I866 he started tlie 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 I873 he 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 AVaupauton, Wis.; Milton (deceased); Frederick S., Arthur B., Mlay 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 thunders 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 themn, 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,,f his power. Obliged from an early age to help i, providing for his wants, the late Luther Burrolughls, of Comstock township, this county, learned in his youth this valuable lesson, and its force never escaped him in after life. Hie 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 (lay 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 followed farming during the latter years of his life. The mother died in their New York home in I841 and the next year the father came alone to Kalamiazoo 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 Comstock, and some little time afterward bought a tract of land in the township and turned his attention to farming. He died at the home of his son, Luther, on August I9, 187I. Of the four sons and two daughters in the family only one son is now living, Dr. O. F. Burroughs, of Galeslburg, this county. In political faith the father was first a Whig and afterward a Republican. anld he was strong in advocacy of the principles of his party. Luther Burroughs grew to manlhood in his native state and was educated there. lie passed one winter of his minority with his father in Michigan, and came here to live permuanently in 1849. Soon after his arrival he bought one hundred and sixty acres of government land in Comstock township, which was his home until his death, on March 25, I899, at the 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 making it comely and productive. In this he suc ceeded well, and left it at his death well improved with all the comforts and supplied with all the needed equipments of an excellent farm. On February 27, T857, he united in marriage with Miss Rebecca Smith, who was born in Hampshire, 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 New York, and there her parents, Henry and Lydia (Nargate) Smith, died. She and Mr. Burroughs 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 member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and active in behalf of its every interest. Bearing a family name honored in many parts of this country, as well as in England, he ever bore it without reproacll, and made it wherever he was known a synolnym for honesty of purpose, uprightness of life, enterprise and an elevated though not ostentatious public spirit. His widow is now living at Galesburg, where she has a beautiful and hospitable 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 resident 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 I8, 1828, at Hoosick, Rensselaer 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 endeavors 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 Michigan to reside permanently in 1852, locating then on the land of his early purchase. From Detroit 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 I, I881. Before he went hence he cleared much of his land and converted it into a good farm, being an indefatigable 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 I895, 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 educator 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, locatilw; at Schoolcraft. Mr. and Mrs Adams have four children, Fannie M., the wife of William Smith, Josiah J., a lumberman of northern Michig,-an 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 '5os, 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 village, 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 commanding influence in the public life of the state as state senator from this county, Hon. Jesse R. Cropsey, 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, I866, and is the son of Alexander and Anna (Valentine) Cropsey, both natives of the state of New York, the father born at Pulaski on September 24, 1844, and the mother at Nassua, September 27, I843. 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 i86I, 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 August 7, I862, being later made corporal of Company K. He served to the close of the awful contest, being mustered out in I865. 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 Thompson's Station, Tenn., Resaca, Ga., Cassville, Newhope Church, Golgotha, Culp's Farm, Peachtree Creek, siege of Atlanta, siege of Savannah, Ga., Following that they moved into North Carolina JESSE, R. (ROI-SEjY. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 431 and were at Averasboro and Bentonville. They served through the Carolinas and in the Grand Review at Washington. Mr. Cropsey was present when the city of Atlanta was surrendered and was among the very first to enter after the surrender. At the battle of Thompson's Station, 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 entered the service in 1863. Returning to Kalamazoo 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 Vicksburg. 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 Kalamazoo, and in I890 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 senator, 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 connection with governmental affairs. He has frequently 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 resourcefulness, 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 following 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 Northern Normal. He is now serving his fourth year as president of the village board of education. Highly endowed by nature with force of character and intellectual power, and trained in the routine 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 I891 to Miss Carrie B. Yates, of Brady township, whose parents were early pioneers there. One child has blessed their union, their son, Robert E. The Senator is a zealous member of the MJasonic 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 educational 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 Comstock, this county, has at Galesburg such agencies in the banking house of Messrs. Dunn & Clapp, a private bank which does a general banking business, receiving deposits, issuing drafts, making.loans, and conducting every other feature'of the banking line as at present managed in such institutions. This bank was founded in I894 by Sidney 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 reputation 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 patrons 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 descended 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, I630, 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 seventeenth 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 command of the local militia and chose him to represent the town in the General Court. In I665 this body appointed him commander of "the Castle" in Boston harbor, the chief fortress of the province. He died on February 2, I69o. The parents of Thaddeus S. Clapp were Edwin and Mary (Stedman) 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 I83I came to Michigan in company with William Earl. After prospecting. through various parts of the state, he located in Kalamazoo county on two hundred and twenty acres of land in the present Charleston township. On this he lived about ten years, then sold it and moved to Comstock township, where his son Thaddeus was born on January I3, I846. The elder Clapp was a man of prominence and at different times filled almost every office in the gift of the township of his residence. Being the second permanent settler on the south side of the river between Goguac Prairie, Calhoun county, and the village of Kalamazoo, as it was then, he saw all there was of pioneer life, 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 afterward 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 district schools and at the business college at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. After leaving school he gave his attention exclusively to farming until I894, and( still owns and manages four hundred and eighty acres of fine land in this county. In I89o 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 addition 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 I86o. Three sons have been born of the union, Edwin S., Carl C. and Paul T. The oldest is engaged at farming ill KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 433 Oregon. Mr. Clapp holds his political allegiance with the Republican party. He has filled a numbr of local offices and is now president of the village. He is one of the solid business men of tihe county, with a high order of capacity, and one of 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 complete 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 l)llrsuit until I902 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 position already won in the regard of the people and rendered them good service in an important official 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 cunty, in Richland township, on April I, 1863, and is the son of David and Adeline (Forder) ('arson, the former a native of Pennsylvania and lite latter of Ohio. They were farmers and bec(tie residents of Kalamazoo county in 1852 or!853, locating on wild land which they improved '-!d lived on until death, the father passing away in 1887 and the mother in July, I903. They had three sons and three daughters, all living and three of them residents of this countv. The father was a leading Republican and for years 'erved the township faithfully and to the satisfaction of the people as a justice of the peace. i e was a charter member of the Masonic lodge;tt Galesburg and took a great interest in the fratlernal life of the community. His father, the grandfather of Oliver, was born and reared in Pennsylvania. He served in the war of I812, and at other times during his life was a progressive 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 progressiveness. In I886 he united in marriage with Miss Maria Campbell, of this county. They have one child, their daughter Adeline. Mr. Carson 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, and 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 I855, then moved to Kalamazoo 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 dangers bravely and steadfastly, and overcoming the obstacles to their progress with unceasing industry and thrift. In the course of a few years they had transformed their unbroken wilds into a comfortable 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 parents died, the father in 1887, aged eighty-three years, and the mother in I892, 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 blacksinithing 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 I898, when he bought a home at Galesburg, where he and his wife have since resided. He was married on December I8, I856, to Miss Barbara Meyer, a native of Switzerland who came to the United States with her parents in I853. 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 I857 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 inflexible determination in a course wisely chosen, looking 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 V\oshurg, of Comstock township, this county, was a positive, high-minded man, with his positiveness all on the right side and his high-mindedness resting on true manliness 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 advanced and all-conquering civilization. He was born on January I8, 1827, in Columbia county, N. Y., which was also the place of nativity of his parents, Richard and Caroline (Van Dusen) Vosburg. 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 practical education in its schools. On December 26, 1850, he was united in marriage with Miss Laura KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 435 Vosburg, a native of the same county as himself, her parents, Cornelius and Catherine (Whitbeck) Vosburg, being born in the same place. She was t!ie fifth child and second daughter of their nine children, and was carefully reared in the family ho)me, where she remained until her marriage. Soon after this event, the young couple, the hus1aind 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, Nwhich was just then generally attractive to homeseekers 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 I in Coinstock township. Here, notwithstanding the dang-ers which surrounded them and the hardships of tleir lot, in a sparsely settled portion of the wil(lerness, 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 Captain's death it was, as it is now, one of the best cultivated and most highly developed rural homesteads in the county. The Captain, although a stanch Democrat, was a strong Union and antislavery 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, Thirteenth Michigan Infantry, of which he was commiiissioned captain, and in addition he helped to ruaise a company at Kalamazoo. His military career brought him hard and dangerous service on southern battlefields, but he proved himself a true soldier and an officer of intelligence and valor. After the war he was one of the leading spirits i, organizing Bronson Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was an active and zeal('us member until his death, and which buried his remains with military honors in the cemetery at Galesburg, assisted by Kalamazoo Post of tile 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 Captain, was born on March 9, I864, 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 I896, 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 frequently 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 civilizations, dignifying and adorning all walks of life, coalescing with all nationalities, making themselves at home amid all circumstances, and showing 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 member, is entitled to a high rank and due consideration. His parents, Andrew and Jane (Lang) McBeth, were born in the land of Scott and 436 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF Burns, the former in I795 and the latter on August I3, I807. 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 I864, 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 Saginaw; James, a resident of Sanilac county, Mich.; and Andrew, who is still living at Bradford, Canada. 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, I84I. His scholastic training was completed at an excellent grammar school there, and his habits of useful labor and physical development were obtained in the work on his father's farm, on which he lived' and toiled until he entered the Victoria Medical College at Toronto, fram which he was graduated in I870. Immediately after his graduation he came to Michigan, and after practicing his profession a year at Sherwood, Branch county, as the partner of Dr. Fraser, he located at Prairieville, Barry county, where he was actively engaged in practice for a period of five years. In I876 he moved to Galesburg, this county, and there he has since been continuously in the practice of his profession, covering a large extent of country in his beneficent 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 marriage with Miss Jennie R. Gwin, of Branch county, the daughter of James and Julia r: (Hedger) Gwin, of that county, where they were early settlers and are highly respected citizens. The Doctor and Mrs. McBeth have had two children, their daughter Nellie and an infant whbo died unnamed. The Doctor is liberal in his poliical views and while living in Canada belonged to) the Reform party. His fraternal associations aie with the United Workmen, the Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees, and Galesburg Lodg,, No. 92, Free and Accepted Masons. BENJAMIN HUGGETT. Scarcely anything is more inspiring to the imagination or pleasing to the fancy than the longcontinued 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 Benjamin Huggett, of Comstock township, Kalamazoo county, who was born in England on December 12, I833. 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 foiur daughters to the United States, and some years later she died in Chicago. Benjamin was educated 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. 11 I853, when he was but twenty, he reached this land of promise and opportunity, and located at Syracuse, N. Y., where he lived until I855, 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 improved. 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 improvevnents and extending and raising the standard of its cultivation. This he has done so effectively that he has now an excellent and highly productive place, with good buildings and other necessary structures, proclaiming in every way his skill and diligence as a husbandman, and steadily increasing in value. While pushing the developmnent of his farm, and waiting for the larger results 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 frugal and industrious, and his prosperity was steady and continued; and he is now one of the substantial and influential citizens of the township. In I857 he was married in this state to his second cousin, Miss Sarah A. Huggett, who died in December, I903. 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 Congregational church at Galesburg, as did his wife during 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 oldtimers 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 (Barkley) 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, was 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 Revolution, took up at that time and on which all the family including the generation to which the subject of this review belongs were reared. The farm comprised more than two hundred acres, and grew in value with the progress of the important 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 I844, and purchasing a farm near Syracuse. He afterward acquired a large extent of real estate in that county and remained there until I871, 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 married on October 25, 1837, to Miss Maria Crary, a native of the same county as himself, born at the village of Knox in I815. They had a family of seven children, six of whom grew to maturity and are now living: Mary and Elizabeth, twins, born in I840, residents of Kalamazoo; Eveline, born in I844, living at home; George, born in I848, a prosperous farmer in Kalamazoo township; Alice, born in i85I, 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, exhibiting 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, I844, and passing the remainder of his life on the farm which he then located. He was born in Ontario, N. Y., September 9, I8II, 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 I8I 2, 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 carpenter, at which he worked inthe 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 residence. 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, I9oo, 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 Richardson, and they had four sons and four daughters, three of whom are living, all in Michigan. The mother died November I2, I872. 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 January 19, I876, 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 trot at any time been an active partisan and has had no ambition for the honors or emoluments 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 dealings with his fellow men and following with constancy and earnestness a lofty ideal of citizenship. 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 orcer that the work may be carried on with proper system. To meet one feature of this necessity the Kalamazoo Railway Supply Company was organize(l and is carried on with an increasing volume of trade and profit. The nucleus of the present company was formed in I884 with a capital 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 thel business of that company until I896, when \Ilr. 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 colnpany was again reorganized with F. H. Milham as president, H. H. Everhard as vicepresident, Charles B. Hays as secretary and manager and H. P. Kauffer as treasurer. The company manufactures hand and push cars, motor inspection cars, railroad velocipedes, jacks, tanks n(nd fixtures, 'stand pipes, the Root scraper and simiilar 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. Hlays, the secretary and general manager, is a native of Kalamazoo, born in 1862, and was reared and educated in the city, attending the comm1on schools, graduated at the high school and finishing 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, financing, and building up many of the most useful and valued enterprises here. He organized the Bryant lPaper Company, and was its secretary one year. lle also secured the capital for the Superior and the King Paper Companies, financed the C. B. l'ord Planing Mill Company, placed the bonds for the Michigan Buggy Company, reorganized the Railway Supply Company and built its works, and has handled several of the most important and valuable additions to the city's extension, among them the Balch & Hays, the Balch & Thompson, the Scheid & Hays, and the Charles Il. 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 I889 to Miss Luella M. Phillips, a daughter of the late Colonel Delos Phillips, of this city. They have two daughters 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, I895, 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 increase of the business, and from time to time the officers have been changed. Those serving at present (1904) are Judge J. VW. Adams, president, H. G. Dykehouse, of Grand Rapids. vicepresident, W. C. Hoyt, secretary and treasurer, an(l Louis Larsen, manager. The company emlloys 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 washboard factory on the line of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad. Three years later this property 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 degree the confidence and admiration of the community, 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 I895, then came to Michigan and located at Lansing. For some months he traveled in the interest of the Lansing Lumber Company, and in I896 moved to Kalamazoo 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 Kalamazoo on February 9, I900, 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 prominently with its business interests, its public affairs, its growth and development and its social life. He was born at Potsdam, N. Y., in October, 1828, and was the son of the Rev. O. P. and Mary (Clark) Hoyt, who were born in Vermont. The father was the first Presbyterian clergyman stationed in Kalamazoo, where he died in I866, 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 education 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 I856, then returned to Kalamazoo and opened a clothing store which he conducted for a number of years. Afterward he engaged 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 filrm and unyielding Democrat, being the leader of his party in the county during many years, althouth never seeking or accepting public office for himself, his party allegiance being a matter of stroig conviction with him and not at all dependent fin political preferment. In the advocacy of all conlmendable undertakings for the welfare of the city or the advantage of its people he was insistent, influential and diligent, exhibiting breadth of view, good judgment and a high order of public spirit. He was married in Barry county, in 1850, to Miss Mary M. Lewis, whose father wvas 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, fragrant with the blossoms and rich in the fruits of the most advanced civilization and progress, the country around it, which he knew as a wilderness teeming with the products of skillful husbandry and beautiful with the happy homes of a great, progressive and resourceful population. He died on February 9, 900o, 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 followers of his excellent example. HON. JOHN M. EDWARDS. The Hon. John M. Edwards was born It Northampton, Mass., June 22, 1820, of English ancestry, and from a distinguished family. Htis 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. TTe finished his studies in I84I, and entered the law office of Taggertt & Chandler, at Batavia. lie was admitted to the bar in I847. The following year he removed to Kalamazoo, where he established a law practice, and won a reputation as KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 44I a: able lawyer. His specialty in court was in c:.nducting cases in equity. Although he held decided political views, he was not a politician, aid never sought public office, but never shirked piblic duty wnen placed upon him. In I850 he v\as appointed by President Fillmore receiver of p-blic moneys at Kalamazoo. He served for a iimber of years as president of the board of education. Mr. Edwards married, on May 28, I850, MIiss Emma S. Knettles, of South Lansing, N. Y.,:iughter of Joseph Knettles, a native of Germiany. 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, I897, 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 unusually clear and logical mind. JOHN J. SALES. This respected and valued citizen of Kalamazoo, 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(on, England, where he was born on February 9, 184I. His parents, John and Priscilla (Sutter) Sales, were also natives of that great city, and there the father passed his life and died. The iiother died there in I905, at the age of ninety-!our. The father was a mason and plasterer, wvorking especially in cement, and followed his craft in his native city from the time of beginI;ing his apprenticeship. There were two sons:nd five daughters in the family, John J. being tie only one of them living in the United States. After receiving a common-school education he learned his trade as a plasterer under the instruci'on of his father, with whom he remained until lie was nineteen years old, and later serving seven vears' apprenticeship under a special craftsman il the trade. He worked as a journeyman in London until I871, when he came to the United S'tates 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 Palmer House in Chicago, and was employed there at that compensation some six months. Then returning 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 living in Kalamazoo. In I903 Mr. Sales was married 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 I85I and died there about the year I888. Mr. Sales has never taken an active part in political contests 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, I854. 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, I865. 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, I844. They had six children, all dead but one daughter, Orphie, of Fulton. In 1873 the family moved to Wakeshma township, Kalamazoo county, where the mother died in I889. Her son Augustus J. grew to the age of twenty in St. Joseph county, attending school at Mendon and assisting his mother to support 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 I898. He then moved to Climax township, and since that time he has been a resident of that section of the county. In I878 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 Fellows, 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 professional and business man and farmer of Wakeshma township, this county, has been connected with the industrial and commercial life of Michigan, 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 William and Eleanor (Clark) Brown, who were born and reared in New York city, the former an extensive 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 timnlur land, which he partially cleared and improve(l, and on which he and his wife passed the,emainder of their lives, his ending in the '50s and hers in 1885. They had seven sons and six daughlters, 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 I86o 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 he entered the medical department of the University of Illinois at Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1878. The samlie 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 presenlt sta.te 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 VW. 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 fruitful service to his kind and his section of the country, 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 (lone 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 industry and usefulness, was one of the first-born sonl of the soil in this county, coming into the -wcrld in Climax township, where he now lives, oli January 2, 1840, the place of his birth being on- 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 beginning of civilization in his locality. His parents, H-enry H. and Subrena C. (Cassar) Howard, were natives of the state of New York, the form nr 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, making the journey by way of the Erie canal to Buffalo 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 I856, bought a farm which he cleared up and lived on until his death, in March, 1897. The mother passed away in I847. They had two sons andl 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 schoolhouse 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 (Campbell) Wolcott, the former born in the state of New York and the latter in county Down, Ireland. 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 undertaking 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 ii, 1832. He is the son of Silas and Julia A. (Harding) Tobey, who were born in Massachusetts 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 married 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, I864. 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 grew to manhood in his native county and farmed there until I864, when he came to Michigan, but returned to New York the same summer on account of illness. In I868 he came back to this state and located in Montcalm county near Greenville, 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 I858 to Miss Ann J. Rappleye, a native of the state of New York. They have had three children, Laura A., deceased, Archer R., who lives on the farm, and Blanch I., 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, dangers 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 incident to them. Among these is Thomas S. Lawrence, of Climax township, who is perhaps now the oldest inhabitant of the township by continuous residence, and who was born in the village of Climax on March 17, 1836. His parents, Daniel and Amy (Eldred) Lawrence, were pioneers in this county, being among the first of the invading whites who located here. They were natives of the state of New York, where the father was born in 1796 and the mother in I804. After their marriage they farmed in their native state until I834, when they came to Michigan and settled 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-greatgrandfather of Thomas, had a son named Jonathan, 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 tihe 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, remained on his father's farm until after his marriage in 1828, when he embarked in life for hinlself. He bought a farm in Ulster county, N. Y., but not liking the location, sold it, and in the autumn of I834 came to Michigan, reaching Detroit by water, and there finding teams sent by Judge Eldred awaiting him. After renting a farni for two years in Climax township, he moved on one he had bought in I835. It was all new and unbroken ground, not a furrow having been plowed or a rail split on it when he took possession. 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 offices. On July 17, I828, he united in marriage with Miss Amy Eldred, a daughter of Judge an(d Phebe (Brownell) Eldred. Six children blessed their union, three of whom are known to be living, Thomas S., Mary, widow of William Toby, and George W., who lives in Kansas. Georgeand a son named Blackman E. were soldiers ii the Union army during the Civil war, and the former rose to the rank of captain for meritoriour; service. Their mother was the daughter of Judg,;: Caleb Eldred, and was born at Laurens, Otsego county, N. Y., on February 25, I804. 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 member of the legislature two terms, and during on(l 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 Goverlor 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 I830, 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. After 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 whlom 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 I877, he was one of the leading'citizens of Kalamazoo county, being especially active as a leader of the temperance cause, and almost suffering personal violence for his stern and vigorous advocacy of the issue. His wife died in April, I853. The father of Mr. Lawrence died on his first Climax farm on July I8, I880, aged eighty-seven years, one month and twenty days. His wife passed away on September 12, I887, 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 tlien 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 lwhich he lived until I905. He was married in November, 1862, to Miss Jennie S. Loomis, a n;ative 'of Cattaraugus county, N. Y., and a d;aughter of early pioneers of Barry county, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence have two children: George, a farmer of Climax, who married >iiss Dollie Pierce and has two children; and VWellis L., who lives in the village of Climax and is married to Miss Ida Selby. While a loyal Republican in political faith, and earnestly interested 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 offices, 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 Climax 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 I898 died at the home of his son Albert Jerome. The mother died in I864. 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 destroyed by fire. He also, during the greater part of this period, manufactured staves and headings. In I892 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 Miarch 28, I8Io, 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 accompanied 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 tlWe 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, I836, he was married to Miss Emily Spencer, who was also a native of New York. They had five children, 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 I903, and again in I904, 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 promotion of this issue. Mrs. Sager is a devoted member 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 Michigan migrated to this section from the state of New York, bringing with thenm the spirit of restless and all-conquering energy which characterizes 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, 182I. His parents, John and Parmelia (Smitlh) 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 1812. 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 survived him five years, passing away in 1859. They had eight sons and two daughters, all now dead but Albert. Albert grew to manhood, was educated 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 beel made so by his efforts and continued and skillful industry. He was married in New York on October 21, 1847, to 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 Niagara 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 affiliation, but although he gives his party loyal support, ;-k I, l}Lk'l,,,,I I, \T TA. 2\IRS. Al-IIERT LATTA. J., KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 449: he does not seek or desire official station of any kind, being devoted to his farming interests and w ishing for no other occupation. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal chulrch. 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 production of two generations of sons and daughters of thle soil, who have bravely carried forward the work of redeeming the wilds from savage donlinion and transforming them into beneficent activities for the sustenance and comfort of mankind, and the augmentation of all forms of inlustrial life and the swelling tides of commerce. A well-known member of the first generation, who has long been one of the progressive and successful farmers of Climax township, is Morris Roof, who was born in Charleston township on December i, I86I. 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 township, 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 comprised three hundred and twenty acres and in buying it he went in debt $I4,000. He subsequently paid the debt and bought more land, until at the time of his death, in I897, on this farm, he owvned 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 tlis county. The father was a leading Democrat a<td influential in the councils of his party; but he Nxas never an office seeker. The mother belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church. Her father Vwas A. V. C. Hallett, an early settler in Charlesto)n 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, he 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 I6, I892, and the father married a second wife on July 30, -893, being united on this occasion with Miss Lura Rundel, a native of Calhoun county. They have two children, Martha and Merritt R. In connection with his general farming Mr. Roof has carried 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 Master 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 skillful 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 September i, I856. 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 I8 I, was a baker and gardener and where he died in I896. 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 I878, 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 Christmas day, I878, 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 and lived here until his death on July 26, I901, and whose wife died here in I888. 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 industry 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 450 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 system 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 product 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 Oshtemo 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 Mitchell, 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 settled 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 children, three of whom are living, James, John and Edward. In religious affiliation Mr. Pattison belongs to the Congregational church of Kalamazoo; 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 Buckinghalmshire, England, born on September 28, 1853, an-I the only representative of his family living in the United States. His parents were James and Rebecca (Ruder) Buckham, the former a native of Scotland, and the latter of England. The father was steward of a large estate in Scotland and afterward one in England. Still later he was employed 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 boyhood 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 Kalamazoo county his residence. Here he found eimployment 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 ii the county and using all the knowledge gained ii his long and varied experience to secure the best returns for his labor. In i886 he was united ill marriage with Miss Agnes Pattison, a native of this county, whose parents, James and Helen (Forsyth) Pattison, were early settlers here. U'v this marriage Mr. Buckham became the father of one child, his son Valentine, who is living 'it home. His mother died in I888, and in I889 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 t!h founder of the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Corpany, of which he was secretary for many years. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 45I iy 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 lie was elected supervisor of the township in -903, and at the end of his term in 1904 was reelected, and again in 1905. He also served as township clerk, holding the office eight years betore 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 township began about the year 1830, it was still a sparsely populated region in I866, 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 continuously resided, having found conditions largely to his taste and ample opportunity for the profitable 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"esentatives of families resident in that section of the country from colonial times, their American progenitors having been among the early Puritan arrivals in New England.. The parents,vere farmers and moved to the state of New 'ork soon after their marriage, and there they 1vred until. 1852, when they, still moved by the spirit of the pioneer and the frontiersman, took mnother flight into the newer regions of the country, locating in Ashtabula county, Ohio, where ite father died in 1874 and the mother in 1882. i Ohio they conducted a hotel for a number of,ears in addition to their farming operations. 1 heir 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 I861, enlisted in defense of the Union in the Second Ohio Independent Light Artillery, which was soon assigned to duty under General Fremont in the Army of the Southwest. Mr. Randall 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 marine fleet under General Elliott. This branch of the service patrolled the Mississippi and its tributaries until I865 and saw much active and dangerous service along the river banks and on their waters. Mr. Randall held the rank of corporal when mustered out of the service. In I866 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 Everett & Wise in connection with their farm, and for the past eleven years has resided in Oshtemo township. He was married in Ohio in I86o to Miss Susan Butts, a native of Pennsylvania. They have seven children, Laura, George, Jennie, Will and Luella, twins, Nettie and Myrtle. 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, contributing 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 notice of whom is given on other pages of this volume. He aided his parents in clearing and improving the homestead and lived on it until he reached the age of thirty-one years. He was educated 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 I872 he moved to Oshtemo township, and'after remaining there three years passed the next two in Kalamazoo township. In I878 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 excellent quality and he has applied to it all the more advanced methods of husbandry, assisting the bounty of nature with systematic and wisely bestowed industry, and he has his reward in one of the most attractive and productive farms and comfortable homes in the township. In I872 he united in marriage with Miss Fannie Anderson, a daughter of Duncan and Mary (Beckley) Anderson, respected pioneers of.Kalamazoo county. Five children, Albert, Wilfred, Mary Ettie, Walter and Janet, have been born in the household and all are living. Mr. Strong is a Lincoln Republican and has been zealous, earnest and constant in the service of his party. He has been found so capable, upright and worthy of confidence that he has been chosen by his fellow citizens 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 administration. 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 settlers 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 I8I3 and the latter in I807. The father passed his early life in his native state, during some years being employed by the Erie canal riding a horse along the towpath to draw a boat. In I833 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 I836 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 serving the settlers around with the fruits of his enterprise 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. MIr. Coleman lived to clear his farm and get it into good condition, dying on it in I886, his wife passing away in the spring of I887. He was a devout 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 Abolitionist 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, I853. He reached maturity in Oshtemo township and was educated in the common schools and at the Baptist College in Kalamazoo. Farming an(l 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 township, well esteemed on all sides, and with a helpful and healthful influence in all matters of pub KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 453 lic 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, Daniel, Eunice and Margaret. Mr. Coleman is a Republican in politics. the 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 Rochester, N. Y., on September 4, I833. 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 exposure and he located at Rochester, where he married 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 few 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 18I3 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 Indians 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 Oshtemo, this county, and with this he stared a nursery, 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 (laughter 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 183I. Her maternal great-grandfather, Chester Gibbs, was killed by the Indians in New York. Soon after his marriage 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., Leatha (deceased), Sarah J., John B. (deceased), Lillie M. (deceased), Hattie (deceased), Alvernon, Perry and Geneva. The two oldest sons received 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, I898. During the summer of I891 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 excellent stock, which he raises on his farm. Merino 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 possesses 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 esteemed throughout the county. NATHAN S. KINNEY. Postmaster and general merchant in the village 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 I800. When he was eleven years old the family moved to Huron county, Ohio, and settled at Sandusky. His father, Dydimus Kinney, who was also a native of New York, was an eye witness 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 openings. He lived to clear the whole tract and died on it in I856. The mother died there about I849. They had four sons and two daughters, all now deceased but their son Nathan and their daughter, 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 positions. His son, Nathan, assisted in clearing the farm in Prairie Ronde township, and received his education in the district schools there. In I86I he enlisted in the Union army for the Civil war in Company H, Twelfth Michigan Infantry, being enrolled in October. His regiment became a part of the Sixteenth Army Corps under General 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 I866 with the rank of corporal, then returning to thi. county lived three years on Prairie Ronde. Ai the end of that period he bought a farm in Osh temo township and lived on it until I898, whei he opened a store in the village of Oshtemo which he is now carrying on. He was appointed postmaster here in 1897 by President McKinley, and was re-appointed in I9OI by President Roosevelt. In I885 he was elected supervisor of the township and served in this office in all nine years. He was also a justice of the peace for a number of years. In I869 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 Freemason, 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, I86I. His parents, James and Catherine (Ripr ton) McLaughlin, were born and grew to maturity in county Mayo, Ireland, where they wern married, and whence they came to the Unite" States in I857, becoming residents of this count, the next year. They located in Richland towship, where they remained until I869, then moveto Oshtemo township, where they still live. Thei{ family comprised three sons and four daughters. five of whom are living. James reached manhood. in Oshtemo township, attending the distric' schools, and afterward teaching for a period o; ten years. In I891 he was graduated from th' English course in the State Normal School, an(c in I898 from the Latin and scientific courses ir that institution. He has since continued teach KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 455 ing, conducting schools at Climax, this county, and at Keeler, Van Buren county. He served tour years in Oshtemo and two in Texas township as school inspector, and from his youth has taken an active part in local politics as a Republican. In I889 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. ]-le has high rank as a teacher and a public official, and meets all the requirements of an elevated 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 living on April 26, I856. His parents, Royal T. and Ruthanna (Davis) Balch, were natives of Athens, Vt. The father was born at Athens, that state, on December 17, 1817, 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 Oshtemo township and bought the farm on which his son Curtis now lives. He continued farming there until his death in 1884. His marriage occurred at Athens, Vt., in i844, and his wife died in Oshtemo township in I889. 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 activity and a great temperance worker. He was one of the founders of the Methodist Episcopal church at Oshtemo in I86o, 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 attention 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, I88o, 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 living, 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 father 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 M/fississippi 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 admirable 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 enterprises for which the city and county of Kalamazoo 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 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF 456 ity of its products than that which is the subject of this notice. It was organized as a stock company in I9OI and began the manufacture of steel hand sleds in a small way on July 5, 1902, in a little plant on Manufacturers' Square, the output for the year amounting to forty thousand dollars in'value. This found a ready market in various parts of the United States and Canada, and made a largely increased demand for the commodity at once. The capital stock of the company is one hundred thousand dollars. The first officers were George E. Bardeen, president, Dr. Lacrone, 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 throughout except the top, the patents covering the method of fastening to the runners. In I903 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 dimensions, two stories high, with steel coating. After the removal of the business to this new plant earnest efforts were made to supply the demand for the sleds, but it was impossible to meet all the requirements, notwithstanding I04,403 sleds were turned out in a year, the orders aggregating 125,000. More than one hundred persons 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 his boyhood his parents moved to Fort Wayne, Ind., and afterward 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 I886 and 1887 he took'out sixtee:l patents on devices for road carts which were used by twelve of the largest carriage manufactories in the country. Mr. Howard came to Kalamazoo 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 Union as a member of the Eighth Ohio Cavalry, but was rejected 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 export the goods to Europe and are the largest manufacturers of steel sleds in the world. DR. JOHN F. CHAPIN. This venerated and universally popular physician 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 suffering 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 Connecticut and the latter in Massachusetts. The father became a resident of Pennsylvania in boyhood, and passed the remainder of his life in that state engaged in farming, and died there in I865, 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 -117'A Ir '~ 1 A -7I-, l- 1 - I - Ir1 1%I 1 ", r- -- - KALAMAZOU LO and Female Academy at New Columbus, in L uzerne county. He read medicine with Dr. W. 1.. Barrett, of Cambria, Pa., three years, and duri;ig that time attended lectures in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, taking a final course at the University of Vermont, from which he received his degree in I86I. Beg-inning 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 I879, 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 representative families of the neighborhood. Before coming to this state he sought additional qualifications for his life work through a post-graduate course il the University of Pennsylvania. In 1865 he was married in Pennsylvania to Miss Mary Bidle-:nan, of Bloomsburg, that state. They have one child, their son, Dr. C. B. Chapin, of Benton Harbor, who is a graduate of the Schoolcraft high school (or graded school) of the Agricultural College; at Lansing, Mich., and of the medical department 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 relations 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 supports the principles and candidates of the Demo('catic party generally, but he is more interested in the general welfare of his county and state, vnd 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 to(wnship, one of the best known and most successful farmers of this county, who departed UNTY, MICHIGAN. 457 this life on January I, 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 industrious 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 twenty-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 government land which he cleared and cultivated until I853. He then moved to this county and located on eighty acres of unbroken timber land in Alamo 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 cultivation before his death. He was married at Elkhart, 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 (Breemer) Simmons, natives of New Jersey and early settlers in Alamo township. Mr. Simmons died in I886, 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 people. 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 conducted 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 ambitions 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 Kalamazoo county, both in years of life and continuous 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 subsequent 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 advance of the white man was contested by the untamed denizens of the wild, and won over their persistent, crafty and resourceful opposition. And he lived to behold the region with an enterprising 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-certainly a wide range of experience for a single human 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 carried on successful farming operations for many years. In I837 the 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 tealm through a portion of Canada, and arrived at I:is destination in May of the year named. Fori.v acres of unknown land densely covered with tiniber were assigned to him to clear, and for doi;, this he was to have the proceeds of the land fc-r a period of five years. The work to which he h'l(1 given himself was arduous and trying, but lie was inured to the life of privation and toil which it involved, and kept at it without regret or nelect. He had been a soldier in the war of I8T2, 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 I86o and the father in I864. They had four sons and three daughters, all now deceased but one of the sons. The father became prominent in the early history of the township and filled a number of local 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 I839 he came with the rest of the family to Kalamazoo county and joined his father in the new home the latter had built up in the waste. I-e at once began to aid in clearing and farming the land, and remained with his parents until lie reached the age of twenty-four. He then turnc( his attention to cutting cord wood in the winter months as a means of clothing himself and providing the other necessaries of life, and later lie found employment on the boat line of D. S. Walbridge, which was engaged in transporting floir down the Kalamazoo river to the lake on the wav to Buffalo. Thirteen days were required to mal:e a trip down the river to the lake and pole the boat back to the city, and for this service he r: — ceived seventy-five cents a day and his board. At this employment he saved two hundred dl!lars with which he bought the forty acres of laTd: his father had cleared. He next worked for V G. Patterson, the owner of extensive stage linedriving for thirteen years between Kalamaz(-:> and Grand Rapids, and to other points, meaiwhile saving his wages and purchasing additional KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 459 la d until he owned two hundred and seventeen acres, nearly all of which was uncleared. His prents lived on this land until death called them to a higher sphere. On November I6, 1859, he \.:s married to Miss Laura A. Russell, a native of C autauqua county, N. Y., the marriage being solemnized at Ripley, that county. He then took ui, 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 dc^d, Charles W., a farmer of Alamo township, Earl, a farmer of Cooper township, and Grace i., living at home, are living. Soon after locatiin- on his land MIr. James built a good frame dwelling there. This was destroyed by fire in 1'79, 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 Inlians, who were numerous in the region then. A meeting of the old stage drivers was held at the holme of Mr. James a few weeks before his death at which three of his old companions were present. HIRAM REESE. Hiram Reese, one of the leading and representative farmers of Alamo township, this county, was born in Cambria township, Niagara county, Y. Y., on November 13, 1829, and came to Kalavrazoo county when he was fifteen years of age X\ith his parents, John and Eunice (Jeffers) K cese, who also were natives of New York state. l'ley were farmers in their native state until I844, x.hen they brought their family to the wilds of "!ichigan and bought one hundred and seventyS.x acres of land in sections I and 12 of Alamo 1 Nwnship. The land was partially improved at the tine and had on it a new log dwelling in which Ite family lived until it was replaced by the presctit large and comfortable residence. All hands,inited to clear and cultivate the remainder of the l;nd, young Hiram doing steadily a man's share {IF the work. On this farm the mother died in a)out 1872 and the father in I866. 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 1812, 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 Hiram 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 (Crittenden) Sherwood, who were pioneers of Allegan county. Mr. and Mrs. Reese have one child, their son Elasco IM., 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 morality and benevolence. More than three score years of his life have been passed among the people who surround him, and in all that time he has not been known to fail in close and prompt attention to every private and public duty; and in consequence he is one of the most highly and generally respected citizens of his township. The period embraces in its scope the whole of the transformation of this region from a howling wilderness, inhospitable in all its forms of life and every condition, 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 effecting the change. In his own person he confronted 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 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF 460 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 Kalaj,,mazoo county to found a new home for himself, but in that period what he found to be the unbroken wilderness, still in the thrall of the untutored red man and filled with the ferocious denizens of the forest, has been transformed into.a region of fruitfulness and beauty, smiling with all the concomitants of civilization and rich in all the activities of a vigorous, progressive and energetic commercial and industrial life. He saw the dawn of civilization here, aided its first feeble struggles into the brighter day, and lived to behold its high noon of surpassing splendor, bringing a new and mighty commonwealth into the galaxy of American states and filled with an enterprising, 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 I845, then came to this county to pass the remainder of his life. From the time of his arrival here he divided his time between farming and shoemaking until his death in I853. 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 improvements on the land. The place was then divided between the two owners, each taking half, 'and Mr. Barbour settled on his portion and gave hiimself up wholly to its development, beginning the work by going out one morning before brealkfast and cutting down the first tree. The stump of this was preserved as a memorial until time (lecayed and crumbled it away. A few years lattr, that is in I847, he was married to Miss Harriet Hathaway, who lived with her parents in a small log house near the present residence of John Ransom. 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 endling 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 chldren, all now deceased but Mrs. Libbie Pratt, of Battle Creek, Mich. Meanwhile 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 motler 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. 46I Colo.; Wallace M., of Otsego, Mich.; Inez E., a school teacher in this county; Milo S., of Hickorv Corners, Barry county; and Alice G. and Arthur G., twins. Their mother died in I902. Mr. Barbour had not been long in Michigan before he was joined by his brother Charles. Each marde several visits to their old New York home, andi on returning from one of these Charles Barbour, at the request of his brother, brought back some chestnuts packed in earth in a tin basin. Tliis was in I842. The chestnuts were carefully planted on the farm and from them great trees grew and yielded abundant fruit. In I898 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 anid 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, I873. 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 eid a substantial comfort for himself and those ('.pendent on him, and give his offspring a bettcr start in life than he had himself. The charactt:ristics of the race are potential and seem never to lose their force., Not by imperial proclamation b1t by the might of persistent industry, self(enying thrift, constancy of purpose, and a gencral 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, furnished forth for the struggle before him with nothing but a sound body, a clear head, a common-school education and a good trade, but although 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 required, 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, I86I, 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 I86I. 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 begin making his own way in the world. He learned the trade of a brickmaker and remained in his native state working at it until he came of age. Then, in 1882, he came to Kalamazoo county and began farming in Comstock township, where he has since lived. In I884 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 consecutive years. He' then bought his late farm of one hundred and thirty-two acres, which was already well improved, and on it he from that time had a pleasant home and profitable employment until he sold it it 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 development and cultivation, he increased its value by additional improvements and more vigorous and varied tilling. In I89I Mr. Dardinger was married 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 I85o. 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 Manila, in the Philippine islands, having occupied his position during the last five years. When the war with Spain began he enlisted in the Twentysecond 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 order, 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 village, 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 November II, I840. His parents, Robert G. and Rebecca (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 I812 and died in I888, "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 I9oo. 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 attention chiefly to farming, and in this line of tctivity he rose to the first rank in his neighb,;rhood. The family is of Irish ancestry, the American progenitors of it emigrating to this cotuntry and settling in Pennsylvania about the close of the Revolutionary war. Sidney Dunn grew to manhood amid the healthful pursuits and pleasures of his father's farm, and was prepared for the battle of life in the public schools of Wat:rford, in his native county, and at Iron City Conlmercial 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, Ilis 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 honmestead under his father's instructions, and made his farm one of the most attractive and productive 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 I888 to 1892 as county treasurer, winning golden opinions in both positions for the fidelity, industry, firmness and general excellence with which he discharged hi.; official duties. In I894 he started the bank (-4 which he is the head, in conjunction with Mi. Clapp, and with this institution he has ever sincei been closely connected, giving it his best attel — tion and capabilities, and by his business tac;, foresight and breadth of view aiding greatly ii making it what it is, one of the chief fiscal eti terprises within a large scope of the adjacent territory. His character and standing, with his widely known capacity for the knowledge of th:! science of finance, giving a guarantee of itstrength and proper conduct, and his affabilitX and general popularity bringing to its coffer large volumes of trade. In I866 Mr. Dunn unite! in marriage with Miss Adelia Flower, a nativof the same county as himself, whose parents moved to Michigan in I865, and located in Barry KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 463 county. Mr. and Mrs. Dunn have four children, their sons Lewis and Lyman and their daughters Lillian (now married) and Lena. In pvlitics the father has long been an influential a- d leading Republican, and he and his wife are,iembers 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 splirit 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 developnlent of the section and the comfort and welfare 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 carpenter 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. ILater he built saw and grist mills, which were known as the Edmunds Mills, and which he operated 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 I842 and bought an interest in his father's mills, and then operated them until about I86o, when he turned his attention to farming, n which he passed the remainder of his life, dying on the farm now owned by his son Judson.:le acceptably filled a number of local offices, and was widely known for his honesty and liberality. -lis 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, I905, and by whom he had three children. Of these two are living. He was first a Whig and afterward a Republican, and always a noted abolitionist, actively assisting in conducting the underground railway in this county for the escape of fugitive slaves from the South. Judson A. Edmunds 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 I895, when he moved to Schoolcraft, where he is now living retired from active pursuits. His first marriage occurred on July I6, I856, and was with Miss Jeannette Terrell, a native of Medina county, Ohio. They had two sons and four daughters, three of whom are living, Della, now Mrs. E. G. Smith, of this county; Jeannette, now Mrs. William Mayo, of this county; and Obadiah, who lives at Battle Creek and is in the employ of the Grand Trunk Railroad. Their mother died in 1872, and in I875 the 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 commissioner 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 citizenship and influential in public affairs, and is accounted 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 foremost 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, I808, 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 married Miss Harriet Bair, a daughter of Christopher and Susanna (Baum) Bair, and a native of Crawford county, Ohio, born on September 15, I820. Her father was a pioneer in several localities, and a man of sturdy integrity and upright life. His parents emigrated to this country from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania, where their son Christopher was born in I769. He saw service in the war of I812, 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 Presbyterian in his religious belief. His wife, whose maiden name was Susanna Baum, was born in Pennsylvania in I776 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 fourteen 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 Methodist 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, I892. JONATHAN C. HOYT. Formerly a prosperous and successful farimer on section 25, Prairie Ronde township, aill having been engaged in agricultural pursuit! throughout the whole of his active life, Jonathal 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 improved and skillfully cultivated, which he acquired 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, I8o8, 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. Coming 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 severest 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 Hartman. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Hoyt married Miss Harriet Bair, a native of Way-ne county, Pa., and a daughter of Christopher an(d Susanna (Baum) Bair, natives of Pennsylvania, who emigrated to Kalamazoo county in I829 and JO)N2AfHiAN C. HOYT. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 467 located on a farm in Prairie Ronde township, where they passed their remaining years. They h1tad fourteen children, of whom Harriet was next to the last born, coming into the world on Septelnber 15, I820. Mr. Hoyt and his second wife cre 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 oi township offices. He was an earnest member oit the Methodist church and was alwavs interested in church work. He was very successful in farming and at one time owned several hundred acres of good land. His demise, which occurred 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 actual settlers on the Prairie, but the father was here prospecting a year before the Harrisons caine. He was a leading Democrat and prominent in matters of public interest of every kind. lHis 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 frequent encounters with its savage residents, man and beast, afforded, his early winters being spent in the common schools and his summers in working on the farm. On April 9, I874, he was married to Miss Vienna Smith, who was born in the same township as himself on May I2, I853. Her parents, John and Catherine (Ennis) Smith, caine to the township in 1852, and Mr. Smith (tied April 17, I905. To Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt have been born six children, Monroe R., Vere C., Vinson (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 iidertaking for the advancement of the county a!:d the welfare of its people, taking an earnest an-d intelligent interest in farming and educational matters especially. He was a Democrat politically from strong conviction and an ardent s'pporter of the cause of his party. Realizing his fitness for administrative duties, his fellow citizens called him to various posts of public serv26 ice, among them those of school director, drainage 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, I905, and his remains 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 wilderness, 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, Delamore 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, I805, at Lyman, N. H., and from I8IO until I8I5 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 1821, 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 I742, his son William, 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 remained so occupied until 1824, then removed to Syracuse, N. Y., where he also engaged in lumbering for a year. In April, 1825, in company with his son Delamore, who had joined him at Syracuse, he started for the territory cf Michigan, then an almost unknown country. They made the trip on the Erie canal, then just c(ompleted, 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 family in Ohio, and on October 5, I829, 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, I830, 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 present county of Kalamazoo and a large region lying to the north of it. And on August I7th following he was commissioned county clerk by Gov. Lewis Cass for a term of four years fiom October I, I830. 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 becoming 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 business there until the autumn of I844, when he exchanged his property in Iowa for land 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 I9, 1852. His son, Delamore Duncan, joined him in Syracuse, N. Y., in I825, 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 grandfather in New Hampshire. The next spring he engaged in lumbering at Mclndoes Falls, Vt., and in 1828, in company with a brother and a sister, moved to Huron county, Ohio, where he taught school until February, I829. Then, in company with Elisha Doane, he once more started for Michigan, driving an ox team and wagon carrying 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. Wilmarth, he returned to Ohio, where he married Miss Parmela Clark on September 8, I829. 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, I829, 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 country, his wife remaining with her father, who was to follow in January, I830. 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 procure money for the purpose. On October i, 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 February, 183I, 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 Kalaniazoo and the south end of Prairie Ronde, and was one of the leading stockholders in the company. In I858 he was a member of the legis1lture, and from I855 to 1865 he was engaged in mercantile life at Schoolcraft in association wvith A. H. Scott & Company. First a Whig, then a Free-Soiler and later a Republican in politics, he always took an active part in public affairs, and had the distinction of being a delegate to the first state convention of the Republican party, which met at Jackson in I854. 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 convention in I867, 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 I, I870. Thus in all the relations of life, and in every form of industrial, comniercial 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, I839. 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 parenits on the farm, and also worked with his father il 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 general merchandising at times as side lines. On July 3, I860, he was married in St. Joseph county, MIich., to Miss Mary H. Field, a native of this c!unty 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 township, and in other local offices. He is a member of the Masonic order of the Knight Templar degree, 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 development 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 enjoying and the general esteem in which he is held throughout the county. WILLIAM A. KLINE. Having devoted many years of his life to arduous 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 enjoying 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 general welfare of the people around him. He was born on February 17, 1843, in 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 I854, 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 improved his farm with good, new buildings and brought it to an advanced state of cultivation before his death, which occurred in I876, his wife passing away in I893. They were the parents 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 bnly 470 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF ones of the family now resident in this county. The parents were among the leading citizens of the township, and ou all sides were highly respected. The paternal grandfather of William Kline was David Kline, also a native of Pennsylvania 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, I865, 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, afterward 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 I845, while he was yet in the prime of life, and the mother in I86I. 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 easil 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 o-i, September 3, 1846, the son of Charles and Nancy (Doyle) Brown, natives of county Down, Ircland, where they were reared and married. The father was born on April 4, I804, and the mothler on February 2, I805. 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, landing at Quebec after a stormy and eventful vowage 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 I830 moved to Newburg, Ohio, now a part of the city of Cleveland1, 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 I837 he located on land in Brady township, on which he lived a short time as a squatter. Previous to coming here he had entered land in Cooper township, and this he sold sometime later. In about 1840 he entered a tract of bne hundred and six:v 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 cul tivation. Indians were numerous around him and wild game and beasts of prey were plentiful. Tlv wild life of the frontier, which was the portion o 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 uncertainty which lent zest to it, and in its very naturbroadened the faculties, strengthened the body and spirit together, and developed a heroic self reliance and resourcefulness. Mr. Brown lived to clear all his land of this tract and much mor-e owning at one time three hundred and sixt' acres. His wife died on the farm on June I, I883 KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 47I: id he on June 29, I879, four years earlier. They lhad six sons and seven daughters, all now dead )-,it Charles and his sister, Marian, who has her lI,me with him. The father took an intelligent;lnd serviceable interest in all the public affairs of the township, serving as supervisor, highway c mmissioner, justice of the peace twenty years, irainage commissioner, and in other positions of i:plortance. In politics he was first a Whig and afterward a Republican, and always a strong al1)olitionist, making his faith effective in aiding iM the escape of fugitive slaves from the South. Ie was reared a Presbyterian, and the mother a ()uaker; 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 imember of the lodge of this order at Vicksburg. ()ne of his sons, Jefferson, was a member of the lFirst Michigan Cavalry during the Civil war. Clharles Brown, the son, grew to manhood in this county and obtained his education in its district schools. After leaving school he followed farming on his own account until I897, when he mnoved to Vicksburg and was appointed postmaster, an office he is still filling with credit and to tile general satisfaction of its patrons. In 1883 lie united in marriage with Miss Phebe Notley, a (daughter of Francis Notley, of this county (see sketch of him elsewhere in this work). They have two children, their son, Charles F., and their (aughter, Florence M. Mr. Brown has been a Republican from the formation of the party and served well and acceptably as supervisor seven::ars, school inspector six years, and representative in the legislature in 1883 and I885. He is n Freemason of the Knight Templar degree, and a Knight of Pythias. He is an excellent farmer w'ith an admirable spirit of enterprise and pro-:.ressiveness, and an equally good postmaster. Ilis citizenship is an ornament to the community iri 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 region of happy homes, blessed with all the comforts 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, I830. and the son of Preston J. and Christianna (Middleton) McCreary, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of the neighboring state of New Jersey. The father was born in Erie county, Pa., on October 28, I805, 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 I830 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 dying in December, I868, and he on October 30, I886. 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 contest. 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 magistrate, 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 attention to farming, which he followed steadily as long as he was engaged in active work. Remaining at home until he reached the age of twentysix, he then bought a farm in company with his father and his brother Samuel. This was afterward divided among them, and Mr. McCreary later increased his portion to one hundred and ninety acres, all of which he still owns. In I856 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 Schoolcraft, 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 service by the earnest appeals of his fellow citizens. Seeing the country first when it was new to civilization 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 undertaking for its improvement and the enduring welfare of its people. He is now one of the patriarchs of the section and enjoys in full measure the benefits of the progress he has helped so materially 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 I894, Samuel S. McCreary, one of the oldest residents of the county and one of its most venerated pioneers, may review with satisfaction 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 lie was a boy in the early days of the county's history, 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 concomitants 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 county. Pa., on November 15, 1828, the son of Preston T. and Christianna (Middleton) McCreary, an account of whose lives is given in the sketch If his brother, George McCreary, on another page. He was just two years old to a day when he arrived 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 Harrison, and on it the son grew to manhood, attending the primitive schools of his day and l1 -cality, and acquiring habits of useful industry in 17 A T A ni A '7Cnf n r'\TTXTm-7 -l f-T-TTfA A 1I-VVtXLALJU UJI 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 lhe 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 purchased 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 retired from active pursuits and moved to Schoolcraft, where he has since lived. He was married 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 living, 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 counties. 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 U1N I1, lVli tlu AliN. 473 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 completely 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 during 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 candidate of the Republican party, which he has always cordially supported. In I88I 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 faculties 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 prominent 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 labor 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 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF 474 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, I882, 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 occurred, Mr. and MIrs. Notley have five children, George C., Blenn, Florence, Marion and June. In politics, as has been noted, the father is an unwavering Republican. He served as one of the village trustees in 1883, then on the board of education, and afterward as township supervisor five terms, the last term being chairman of the county board. He was president of the village of Vicksburg in I904 and I905. 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 engaged in productive industries, Spencer J. Wing has been a useful citizen wherever he has lived, contributing in various important and commendable ways to the welfare of the community. He is a native of Yates county, N. Y., born on February I6, 1840, and the son of Jaduthon and Margaret (Cross) Wing, the former a native of Massachusetts 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 T. Wing grew to manhood in the state of NecYork 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 scholol three terms in St. Joseph and Cass counties, this state, and Yates county, N. Y. After completingr 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 I866. 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 he came to Kalamazoo 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 destroyed by fire, at a loss to him of over twenty thousand dollars. In I876 he was united in marriage 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 Kalamazoo 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 I904-5, and who was, in March, I905, elect KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 475:d president of the village, is a native of:t. Joseph county, this state, born on April 1o, I844. His parents, John and Nancy (Poe) Hamilton, were born and reared in Ohio. 'hey 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 I897,;~t the age of eighty-six years and six months. The mother passed away twelve years earlier. 'i'he father was a man of prominence and influence 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 Democrat 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 resident 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 I890 he purchased a farm in Brady township, this county, and on this he lived until I902, 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 Iis wife belong to the Methodist church. Both are well known and highly respected. CHARLES H. McKAIN, M. D. Among the professional men with whom KalImazoo county is so signally blessed, no member of the medical profession enjoys a more enviable reputation as a skillful practitioner or a more expensive 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 investigation, and is not only a physician of great success in practice, but also a surgeon of unusual ability. H-e 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 professional brethren and been favorably noticed by the press. Dr. McKain represents the fourth generation in descent from the American progenitor of the family, who was a native of Scotland 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 invading 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 necessary to carefully pen up sheep and swine to save them'from the ravenous depredations of these wicl beasts. At the age of eighteen Allen Mclain began life on his own account, clearing a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, on which he farmed until I880, when he retired and moved to Vicksburg, where he died in February, 476 KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 1899. He had long been an influential Republican, holding numerous local offices, and taking an active and serviceable interest in public affairs. 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 township, 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 I, 1875, he began to study medicine under the instruction of Dr. Malcolm Hill, of Vicksburg, and on October Ist of the following year entered the medical department of the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated on March 27, T878. After practicing one year with Dr. Hill, he went to Kansas, where he was examined and admitted to the United States army as a surgeon. He remained in the service until I88I, and was stationed at Forts Elliott and Supply in Indian Territory. In I88I he entered Bellevue Hospital, New York city, from which he received his degree on March I5th, of the ensuing year. He made a specialty of diseases of the eye and ear in that department of the Manhattan Hospital, where he was stationed until May I, i882. Since that time he has lived at Vicksburg, where he has an extensive and lucrative 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 was' born in Pavilion township, on May I6, 1856. In political faith Dr. McKain is an unwavering Republican, and while not a member, he is a liberal contributor to the Methodist church, also aiding all other commendable enterprises with generois donations of time and money. For years he ha: served as a member of the local school board. His fraternal relations are with the Knikhts of Pytl,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 Medical 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 remained in Paris while he made an eight months' tour through France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland 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 I86I, and has seen the region transformed from an almost unbroken wilderness into its present state of advanced 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 I804 and the father in I806. 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 I844. He continued to reside in Pavilion township until his death in 1859, his wife passing away there in about I880. They were the parents of four sons and five daughters, all now dead but three, Stephen F., Benjamin F.. 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 Australia 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 I86I, 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 locating 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 I902. He was married in I862 to Miss Annie Mathers, a native of New York state, and a daughter of James and Margaret Mathers, who settled in Pavilion township in I836. 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 township 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, conscientious and progressive men. In every element of good citizenship he has shown himself entitled to be considered in the first rank. And in the great work of building up a great commonwealth 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 pioneer merchant of the village of Vicksburg, Kalamazoo 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 I812, and the latter in Genesee county in I8I9. 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 department of the State University at Ann Arbor. He opened an office on his farm and from there engaged in practice in association with his preceptor. continuing to have his office on the farm until 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 I88I. He was a man of great progressiveness 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 leading part in political affairs as a Jacksonian Democrat, having cast his first vote for General Jackson 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, I839, 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 I893. Mr. Hill's grandfather, Adino Hill, was a native of Connecticut, and for many years farmred 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 I874 he opened a grocery and crockery store in __ _ 478 BIOGRAPHICAL the first frame house put up in Vicksburg, and to this trade he has devoted his energies continuously 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 promoting 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 exercise 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 inheritance 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 exacting duty. He was born at Hume, Allegany county, N. Y., on March 21, 1847, the son of Rev. John and Lucy (Carter) Van Antwerp, also natives of New York, the father born near Albany, in 1820. He was reared and obtained his scholastic training in his native state. He was ordained in the Presbyterian church and had his first charge at Hume, N. Y., where he remained six years. In 1854 he moved to Oswego, Ill., and there he joined the Congregational church and preached three years, then took charge of a pastorate at DeWitt in that state, where he preached fourteen years. From there he came to Lenawee county, Mich., and a year later moved to Morenci, this state, making that place his home for ten years, during all of which he was actively engaged in the ministry. The next three years he passed at Alma, Mich., and the following five at HISTORY OF Augusta, this county. At the end of that periocl he took up his residence at Vicksburg, where 1;; remained until his death on June 9, 1902, his wit, dying at Vicksburg in I898. He was a finishe'r scholar, deeply learned in Gieek and Hebrew. devotedly attentive to his pastoral duties, and eli quent and impressive in the sacred desk. WheJ ever he lived he was dearly beloved by his paris!h ioners, and in every respect was well worthy of their regard. He and his wife were the parentsof two children, the Doctor and a (laughter, the latter of whom is deceased. The paternal grandl 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 independence. 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 Illinois and Iowa, and while pursuing his academic studies at Oberlin College, Ohio, enlisted in defense of the Union in May. I864, 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 I864. 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 remained until I868. Returning then to his home in Iowa, he taught school one year, and while doing so read medicine. In I870 he entered the medical department of the University of Michigan, 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 Medicine, and has served as president of the County Medical Society. In 1872 he was married to KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 479 \Iiss Isabelle Beverage, who died at Orland, ind., in 1874. He was married a second time at \:iles, Mich., being united on this occasion with Miiss Carrie L. Clapp, a daughter of George S. lapp, a leading attorney of southwestern Michi-.ran, who enjoyed a large practice throughout ihis part of the state and before the supreme,ourt and the United States court. He died at N:iles, Mich., on October 9, I895. He had served:s prosecuting attorney of Barry county, \lich. Fraternally he was a Knight Templar M\ason, and was widely known. He is a Republican 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. lie has also been the local health officer for some time. Fraternally he is a Freemason and a Knight of the Maccabees. He is one of the leading physicians of the county, as well as the pioneer practitioner at Vicksburg, and has an extensive practice throughout all the surrounding country, being everywhere highly esteemed. LEWIS C. BEST. Largely engaged in the lumber trade at Vicksburg, 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, I857, the:-on of Jacob and Elizabeth (Harman) Best, natives of Pennsylvania, who came to Kalamazoo county in I849 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 I903. The family comprised four sons and one daughter, all living but only Lewis and his brother John, residents 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 I897 he moved to Vicksburg, 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. Humbertsone, 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 township, whose long and useful life of over eightythree years came to an end in Vicksburg in January, I9oo, 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 I816, and accompanied his parents to America in I826. 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 insurrectionist, and after the close of the conflict was kept 480 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF in a jail six months. He and his wife, whose maiden name was Lucy McGuire, came to Michigan in I840, 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 I839 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 preempted one hundred and sixty acres of land which was then a part of the Indian reservation, and began trading at several places, among them Schoolcraft, 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 I852, he joined a party of twentyseven men in a jaunt across the plains to California. 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 saddened by a number of deaths on board the vessel from cholera, which was very bad among the passengers and crew. In I862 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, I9o00. Mr. Jenkinson was married in I851 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. Jenkinson 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 I864, and the fine barns and other outbuildings some years later. A staunch Democrat 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. Fraternally 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 remembered 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 residing in the county ever since. He was born on June I, I857, in Will county, Ill., the son of George and Mary (Deming) Morse, the former born in the state of New, York on January Io, I833, and the latter in Schoolcraft township, Kalamazoo county, on April I8, I836. They became residents of Kalamazoo county in I857, and here they passed the remainder of their lives, the mother dying here in 1872 and the father at Vicksburg in IgoI. Their son Charles was reared and educated in this county and farmed at home until he was twenty, then taught school. He followed farming until I895 in Brady township, then moved to Vicksburg, and during the next five years carried on a flourishing undertaking busi KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 48I 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 conducting, and in which he has been engaged from the time when he purchased it. He was married in this county in I879 to Miss Mary C. Platt, a iiative of Clarion county, Pa. Her parents, Samuel and Lavina (Gilbert) Platt, were also natives of Pennsylvania, and located on a farm in Brady township, Kalamazoo county, in I864, where they lived until the death of the mother in I890o, since Awhen the father has lived a retired life in Vicksburg. Mrs. Morse is a most estimable and cultured 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 chairinan of the county board in I890o, and all the while taking an active part in its legislation of a general county character, while conducting vigorously and wisely the affairs of the township immediately under his control. He was also highway commissioner 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 township; the first one of eighty acres he occupied until I883, and on it he made mahy 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 industry and raising large quantities of grain and stock. He formerly owned a large flock of fullblooded 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 attractive dwelling which now adorns his farm was built in 1884, and of the two large barns on the place, one was put up in I89o and the other was remodeled in I884. Mrs. Morse is a valued and consistent member of the Lutheran church. Fraternally Mr. Morse is connected with the Masonic 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 families a varied and generous share of capacities of more than usual usefulness and value, while to others she gives almost nothing out of the ordinary, and even within that limit is painfully parsimonious. One of the families on which she laid her benefactions with freedom and in abundance is the Kimble family of this county, whose members have displayed in the three generations of their life here a wide diversity of manly qualities 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, I837, 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 exposure 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 reservation and not then in the market, so Mr. Kimble became a squatter, a year or two later receiving a deed for a quarter section, on which he lived until his death, on November 20, I852. His son, Lewis C. Kimble, was born in Wayne county, Pa., on January I2, I815. 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 elearing and im 482 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF proving of the place was effected mainly by his labor and management. The family was the second 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 township, being elected to the office when he was still a very young man, and holding it during fourteen 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 accustomed to walk to Kalamazoo and back, a distance of thirty-six miles. He also served a number of terms as a justice of the peace, and filled other local offices from time to time. In his official positions he worked for the best interests of the township, and filled them with credit to himself and benefit to the people. In politics he was an unwavering Democrat; in religion, a broadminded liberal. On October I3, I844, he was married to Miss Amanda M. Osborn, a daughter of Judge Nathan Osborn. She died on June I6, I853, 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 resident of Vicksburg. Mr. Kimble died on July 12, I889, and his second wife in March, I89I. 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 homestead, 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 I844. 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 I885, 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 brother and Dr. Charles McKain, organized the Eclipse Governor Company, of Vicksburg, which also his brother invented, and which was made by 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 Company, in I899, 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 I870 he was married in St. Joseph county, this state, to Miss Alice E. Holmes, a native of that county. They have one child, their daughter Eudora, now the wife of Clinton Scott, of Marcellus. Mr. IKimble is a Democrat in politics, but he has never been an active partisan or filled public official positions of any kind. In fraternal 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 I89o, 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 results. He is a native of Ireland, county Leitrim, born on April 6, I828, 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 tenderly laid to rest in the soil on which they had lived and from which they had drawn their stature 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 9I,,URATNCIlS NIOTLEY. 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. Francis was reared and educated in the Emerald Isle, and farmed there until I850. Then in the full flush of his young manhood, and burning with (lesire for better opportunities than his own country offered to carve out a destiny of credit to himself, he determined to come to the land that had opened the way to fortune and distinction for so iiany of his countrymen. Accordingly, he set sail for the United States, and on his arrival located 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 mnake 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 I890. 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(lustry. _Mr. Notlev 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 stockholder in the paper mill at Vicksburg, of the Lee Paper Company, and other industrial enterprises, and has other commercial interests in the county. He was married on July I, I854, 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 living 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, I890o 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 I86I to I865, 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 reputation 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 development 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, I845, 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 I853, bringing his family with him and landing at New York. The ocean voyage consumed seven weeks and two days, and was enlivened by a collision with another boat in midsea, 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 calculation, he got a start, and in I857 was able to buy eighty acres of land in the woods. He built a log house, developed that farm, bought additional ground, and in time owned one hundred and eighty acres of fine farming land, which he improved with first-rate buildings and other accessories, 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, MIary, John and Sarah E. Another son named John died. Arthur attended school one year in England, and at the age of seven accompanied 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 summers at the carpenter trade. On August I9, I864, 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 although 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 hardships and privations he had endured. On November 8, I866, 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 I870. 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, I869, to Miss Sarah 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 I840, and located in Lenawee county, while those of her mother came in the early '30s and settled in Washtenaw county. Mrs. Longman's parents are dead, the father dying in I893 and the mother in I904. The father was a soldier 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 Republican, with strong Prohibition proclivities. Fraternally 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 I4, I826, 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 1)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 dlistance 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 behind 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 engineers 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 I844. He faithfully shared with them the hardships and tribulations of their life in a wild, new country, where Indians were plentiful, 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 frequent menace to the lives of the family. They were in poor circumstances, having but ten dollars with which to begin life in their new home, and nearly all were sick on their arrival, thus necessitating 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 attainable 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 return 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 I866, he and his brother owning it together until he bought his brother's share. I-le has one hundred and ten acres of choice land, nearly all of which is under cultivation, and he has made substantial improvements which compare favorably with the best in this part of the county. He was first married on March 3I, i872, to Mrs. Julia (Meers) House, a native of Canada who came to Michigan with her parents in 1850, and died on June 3, I879, leaving two children, Oakley D. and Gracia J. In I885 Mr. Worden was married to his present wife, formerly 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 distinguished in the lumber trade, building the first steam sawmill in this part of the country in partnership with Andrew Kellicott, which he operated two years in company with that gentleman, then sold his interest in it. He attended the first election 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 dinner 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. Worden 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 oldest 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 region, 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 Pacific,-it is nearly three-quarters of a century since the outposts of this army were 'planted on the'virgin soil of Michigan to begin the work of Jo i."..;,_.'., settling and civilizing the until then untrodden wilds of this great state, and among the early progeny of the pioneers here was Albert C. Minnis, of Wakeshma township, this county, who was born in Washtenaw county on January 9, I845, 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 still 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 arduous toils and stirring adventures of such an existence, acquiring at the same time resolute selfreliance, 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 it' to productiveness. They were married at Ann Arbor, and the father (lied in that county, the mother passing away in Ingham county. They had seven sons and four daughters, and all of them are living but one son and one daughter, but only two of the sons are residents of this county. The father 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 enterprise. The son was reared and educated in his native county, and followed farming there until I870, 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 comprises two hundred and eighty acres and is one of the model farms of the township, being skillfully cultivated and brought to a high state of development. Mr. Minnis was married in Lansing in I873 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 Ilngham county, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Minnis have two children, twins, their son Claud and Xheir daughter Claudia. The daughter is now A[rs. 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 beiongs 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 resourceful agriculture, converted it into fertile fields, rich in smiling harvests and plentifully decorated with happy homes, laying the foundations 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 valley 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, I843, 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 I836 and the mother in I838. The father came first to Canada, then to Detroit, where he was married on September II, I839. He followed contracting and building in various lines of construction, building a large part of the 'M1ichigan Central Railroad in Washtenaw county. In.the course of time he met with disaster in his business and lost all he had. He then engaged in farming and cleared his farm, after which lie 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, I862, 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 Vicksburg. There M'Ir. Guthrie was taken ill and soon afterward was sent north and assigned to the Reserve Corps, from which he was mustered out of the service in June, I865. He then returned home, and in I867 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 I872.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 institutions 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 natives 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 maturity and was educated and married in his native land, and farmed there until I870. 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 located 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 improvements are in keeping with it. In I866 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 elevated 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, moral 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 section 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, natives of Somersetshire in the mother country. The father was a peat digger and followed that occupation during the greater part of his life. Both parents died in their native land. They had eleven children, of whom two, Wade and his b)rother Christopher, came to this country. Christopher was a soldier in the Civil war and also in the regular army of the United States. He died in April, I905. 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 I86o 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 mnitted 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 dangers of his situation. Before him lay all the arduous 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 fruitful 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 dwelling, 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, I892, and in November, I893, 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 marriage Mrs. Porter had three children now living. Mr. Porter has been a Republican from the foundation 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 times 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 everything valuable and nourishing and fragrant. And to the men who have wrought the change all credit is due for heroic endurance of great privations, courage in great dangers, and unyielding industry in the face of great undertakings. In this number there is no more estimable and worthy unit than the interesting subject of this brief memoi-, 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 I&836, then came to Michigan, traveling by way of the Erie canal to Buffalo, then by steamer to Detroit, and from that oldest of the lake cities with an ox team to his land. His father, Robert Harper, 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 WArashtenaw and moved to this county, buying a farm of one hundred and sixtyseven 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 I9OI and the mother in I904. 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 Republican 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 bringing 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 homesteadl, and now owns one of the best farms in the township, a great part of which he cleared himself. In I867 he was married to Miss Sarah Merritt, of St. Joseph county, Mich., and has two children living: Norman, a farmer in this county; and Gertrude, 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 member 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 foundations 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 Prussians 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 commonschool education and learned the trade of a carpenter 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 whatever. he found to do and saved his earnings, and in I86o, 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 alnd comfortable dwelling. In September, I858, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Brown, a sister of Charles Brown, of Vicksburg, a sketch of whoml will be found on another page of this work. Mrs. George died in I893, leaving no children. 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 conveniences and utilities in the township. In political 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 proceeded 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 progressiveness to his credit. The old days have passed away, but the spirit of the pioneers is still prevalent 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 accelerated 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 region, 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 iumber Daniel E. Kuhn, one of the leading farmers of Brady township, is entitled to special mention 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 nativitv, learning more of value in his subsequent career from the ruggced 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 working 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 official 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 Freemason of the Royal Arch degree and a past master 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 October 14, I851. His parents, Frederick and Barbara (Ernst) Kuhn, were born and reared in Alsace, one of the provinces wrested from France by Germany by the fortune of war in 187I. 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 daughters. Philip's father and one of his sisters came to the United States, but all of that generation of the family are now dead. Frederick 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 he came to this country in a sailing vessel, being forty days in crossing the Atlantic. He remained 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 married. In the spring of i859 he brought his family to Kalamazoo county and bought the farm in BIrady 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 acceptably 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 remained 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. Platt, a native of Clarion county, Pa., the daughter of Samuel and Lavina (Gilbert) Platt, who came to Kalamazoo county in I865. 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 Margia L., both living at home. Mr. Kuhn is an active Democrat and has served often as a delegate 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 I816, 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 oppression in his soul, and learned at an early age to appreciate 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 900o was an American, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of our institutions and in full sympathy with all the aspirations 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 lived 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. During 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 I839, a few months prior to the arrival of the rest of the family, and at the age of eighteen was apprenticed to learn his trade as a machinist. His trip to Michigan was made over the lakes from Buffalo to Chicago, and there he bought an ox team and drove to his future home in what was then a wild and unsettled country. He preempted 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 atid Montana, and then engaged in the lumber business at Humboldt, 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 I862 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 1851 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 I893 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, I9oo, 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 universally 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 December 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, Kalamlazoo 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 renlainder of his days, dying in I880. The mother passed away in I896. 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 (luring 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 wXell applied labor. He was married in I868 to Miss Elizabeth A. Weinberg, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of William and Christina (Shick) Weinberg, who came to Michigan and located in this county in 1864, and here they died. Mir. and Mrs. Hoch have had two children, their laughters 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 seventyeight at the time of his death, on January 31, I902, 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 barbarism to the high state of development and cultivation which it now enjoys. He was born on December 8, I824, at Danville, then Columbia, now Montour county, Pa., and was a son of John and Mary Rishel, natives of Germany and prosperous 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 purchase, and was all wild and covered with heavy timber. Sometime afterward the father purchased 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 I890. 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 I812, 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 23, 1856. He was reared in this county and educated 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 I89I 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, earnestly 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 associated with him so long and who have had the benefit of his public services. He was born at Rochester, N. Y., on May I7, 1843, and is the 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 dentist and practiced his profession at Rochester twenty-five years. In I853 he brought his family to Kalamazoo county and located on a farm in Washtenaw township. There were but six families 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. 11 I86I 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 disbanded. 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 convictions, and on November 7, I863, he once more enlisted, becoming a member of the Fourteenth Michigan Light Artillery, and a part of the Twenty-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 I865 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 I882, 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 I879 he 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 Republican. He has served as treasurer of Wakeshma township one year, as drain commissioner of Brady township ten years, and as village treasurer 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 (rand 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, I863, 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 boy100oo(, 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 imp)roved, and afterward moved to Brady township, where he now lives. He has been influential in lublic 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. William H. grew to manhood and was educated in this county, and remained at home until he reached the age of twenty-three. He then purchased a quarter section of land in Brady township, and later engaged in the farming implement tiade at Vicksburg. Sometime afterward, in company with his brother Oscar, he bought the grain elevator, and a little l ater 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 company 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 connection 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 became the owner of Judge Buck's stock. In October, 1877, the Ihling brothers leased the bindery plant and conducted the business for some time. In February, I880, 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 binding department was added by the purchase of the tools and appliances of E. P. Flynn & Company. The company began the publication of the Kalamazoo Telegraph, and in I88I, owing to the rapid increase of its business, the capital stock was increased to thirty thousand dollars. In I888 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 stockholder 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 under the name of the Gazette-News. The bindery was also sold, Doubleday Bros. & Company becoming 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 manhood 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 completing 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 company in I888. 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 I892, 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 leading 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 unclouded 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 I832 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 Schoolcraft township, where they lived the remainder of their days, the mother passing away on March 7, I863, and the father on February 20, I887. Theyr entered actively upon the arduous labors of frolltier 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 perseverance 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, I876. 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 I893 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 Schoolcraft and Prairie Ronde townships, this county, seven hundred and twelve are in St. Joseph county, Ind., and devoted to the culture of peppermint, and the remainder is in northern Michiganl. 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, I874, to Miss Grace Lawther, who was born in county Down, Ireland, on March 8, I837, and is the daughter of Thomas and Ann (Donnie) Lawther. They have -an adopted daughter, Miss Ma KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 499 bel E. Knight. Iln the political affairs of his county and state Mr. Knight has taken an active part from his vou1n manhood as a firm and loyal Democrat. Iie started in life with almost nothing and now is one of the mlost prominent, influential and wealthy men in the county, and what he is and has he has matle himself. M\oreover, he is a nlimrol of wide celebrity, and annually (luring the last forty-seven years he has gone to the northern lart of the state on successful (leer hulting exp)e(litiolls. I is youngoest 1brother, Hon. Godfrey I. Knight, was lorn on( the home farm on September 15, 1838, and obtained his early education in the common schools, later matriculatiing in the literary (lldeartnent of the State University at A\1nn A\rlor, from which he was graduated in 186o. Tie then stu(lied law for about a year and a half alnd farmed for two years. Then he followed mercantile pursuits seven years at Schoolcraft, andl (lduring that period was elected president 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 tile state house of representatives. lThen for a nlumber of years he was tle proprietor of the (liver hotel at South Bend, Indll. Since returning to Schoolcraft he has made ills home with his brother William. Both are widel\ known and highly esteemed throughout this and the neighboring counties. JAMES STOCK. It is thirty-six years since the subject of this lrief mention became a resident of this county, and in that period lie has witnessed the transformation of what was a wilderness when he came here to a land of peaceful industry' an(l smiling plenty, strenuous in industrial and commercial life and enriched with all the concomitants of an elevated and progressive civilization. He was born in Summit county, Ohio, on October I9, 1843, and is the son of Richard and Mlary (Perhamus) Stock, the former a native of Liverpool, England, and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father was reared to manlood 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 before. They settled on a tract of unbroken land forty-five miles south of Cleveland, where the grandlparents and tle parents of \ Ir. Stock diel, his fatler passinlg away there in 1862 and the mother inl 1882. There were five sons il the fanlily, all of whomli are living, two in this county. James Stock grew to manhood in his native county an(l renlained tlere until 1869. He then canme to 1Kalamazoo county and bought a farm in \\akeslhma township, which at the time of his purchase was all unbroken forest.:le has cleared his land and brotught it to a high state of fruitfulness, and improvel it with good farm buildings. -He also operated a saw mill for a period of twenty -years, sawing tlhe lumber for most of the dwellings andl other buildings in his neighlborhood and contril)uting )by his general ind(ustry alnd enterprise to the developnlent aidl imlproveiment of the townlshil). He livel on his farim until 1900, when lie niovel to IFulton, wlere lie has since made his homre. Iin 1866 lie was married in Ohio to Miss Saralh Hlouglanld, a native of Mle(lina county, that state. lThey have had( five children, Cora I.. now M\ rs. Frank ( )we\ns, T1hurston R., AMary (decease(l), Sarah, now MArs. Charles C. \Vedel, and I)are. 11 lpolitics Mr. Stock is an active Republican, but he 1lcithler seeks nor lesires public office. Fraternally hle belongs to the Knights of tle M[accabees and takes an earliest andl helpful interest in the affairs of the order. In his lonog resi(dence in this communlity lie has seen many of his old neighbors lie (lown to their long sleep, and has helped to bury their remains. He has also witnessel the p)rogress of events so beneficial to the section, andl has aided materially in helping along everything likely to advance the best interests of the section. Now amnong the older resi(lents of the township, lie is also one of its most resI)ected citizens, and is looked upon as a wise counselor regarding all matters affecting the general welfare. LEMUEL W. COON. The late Lemuel \V. Coon, one of the leading lumber imerchants andl builders of Kalamazoo, was a native of this state, and.was born in Cal 500 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY (OF houn county on August 24, 1857. Her parents, Lnyman and Laura ( Beard) Coon, were born and reared in Vermont and came to Calhoun county, Mich,, as pioneers. The father died there in I869. 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 vwhdno he worked. Returning to \lichigan an(l joining his mother at Mancelona, in Antrim county, where she still resides, he there engage(l in the clothing trade for three years. In 1886 he andl lr. North came together to this county and at \'icksburg established the lumbering firm of North & Coon. Three years later they moved their business to Kalamazoo, where the business is still conducted and is in a flourishing condlition. During the remainder of lhis life Mr. Coon gave his entire attention to this business an(l by his i(ndustry, close attention to the trade and farseeing business intelligence built up a very large an(l profitable traffic, and attaine(l a high rank in business circles as a capable and resourceful merchant. - le also aided largely in improving alnd building up) the city by purchasing vacant lots and erecting on them business and (lwelling houses. His useful life was en(le(l by his (leath, on May 7, 1893, and( since then Mlr. North has carried on the business alone. Mrs. Coon still retains her interest in the business. In I882 Mr. Coon was married to Aliss H-arriet North, the sister of his partner. They had four children, of whom those living are l)eulah, Hazel and Cora, and one wxho diedl, Ieila. In fraternal life the father was a Freemason, an(l in religious faith a MIethodist. C()RNELIUS OSTERHO T. Of Hollanl DuItch 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 I873, long enough ago to have become a classic, but who is still remembered with admiration by a grateful pcople for whom he.did much in providing the conveniences of life in the early days 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 (lifferent places and leaving behind him everywhere when he leftl substantial monumeiits to his skill as a mechanic and his enterprise an(l 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 bv stage coach to luffalo, where he embarked on the sailing vessel "Elclipse" for I)etroit, reachingo the latter city after fifteen dlays of leisurely progress over Ilikc Erie enlivened 1b) an occasional storm. At Detroit he bought two four-house teams with whicll to transliort his family and household effects to A-\1nn Arbor, which was then a hamlet of eigllt families, a few log cabins, ad(l a number of projecte(l streets.:Five dlays more were consulme(l in the overland trip, for there were few roads and the way was rough andl difficult. Iocating' then at this infant townl, lie built alnd operated the first saw mill in the neighl)orhoo(l, I)ut upl the first franle house, erected the first store anl( churclh, and several of the first comfortable (dwellilngs tlere. He also built the first bridge across the I-Iuron river. Sometinie afterward he move(l to the village of l)exter, and there also he put upl the first saw m-ill a(l the first frame house. After a residlence of three years at Dexter, he removel in 1835 to.llegan county anll built a saw mill on IBlack river, which lie operated for two years. then in 1837 becanme a resi(lent of Prairie Ron(le towiship, this county. I —ere he mlarrie(l his seconl wxife, Mrs. Jacob He1ndricks, a vwidow, his first wife having (lie(l on BIlack river, and the next year brought his chil(lren to his new home. Irom that time on for a number of years he gave his attention to farming. later running a brick varl which furnished brick for many of the earlier houses in the county. Then he started the manufacture of lobl sleighs, which he continued until I86i. He kept his residence on his farm ,-MW rF7", — I k N :,A 1 i.: CORNELIUS OSTERHOUT. KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN 5o3 until 1871, when he moved to the town of Schoolcraft, where he died in I873. 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 organization 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 belonged 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 determined 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 advanced instruction to the Mayfield Academy, which stood at that time on a corner of his father's farm. The first of the family to settle in this country came hither from England about I700 28 and located in Litchfield county, Conn., and his son, Jonathan Gates, served in the Revolution under 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 I8oo was married to Miss Ann Keeler, who died within a few years thereafter, and on March I4, I807, he was married to Miss Eunice Thomas. He served a short time in the war of 1812. Truman Gates, the first born of his eight children, was born in the wilds of Onondaga county, N. Y., on June 6, I8o8, the section being then on the remote frontier. On August 20, 1835, he 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 I845 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 Mayfield Academy six terms, passed one year at Geauga Seminary at Chester, Geauga county, and then taught during the winters of 1859 and I860. In August, I862, 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 marching, skirmishing, raiding and drilling, the regiment was assigned to duty under General Burnside, 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 engagement at Dandridge, and many others. On May 4, I864, the command crossed the line into Georgia, and was put into the Twenty-third Army Corps under General Schofield; and while in this command Mr. Gates was wounded in the side of the right heel while charging the enemy at Resaca. He was under fire over one hundred days until the capture of Atlanta, was promoted corporal in the fall of 1862, and sergeant in I863. On October 4, 1864, he was detailed as commissary sergeant at General Schofield's headquarters, 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 Mississippi. From there he went down the river to Cairo, Ill., 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 present 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 hostilities and was mustered out on June 23, I865. On September I3th following he was united in marriage 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 I866. 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 I869-70 and again in I870-7I, 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 remainder of their lives, the mother dying in February, I892, aged eighty years, and the father in I898,.aged ninety. Two children have been born in the Gates household, Walter F. and Anna B. In October, I892, Walter married Florence Steadman, 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 I9, I902, Mrs. Gates died. and on November 4, 1903, Mr. Gates married Mrs. Hannah (Bonner) Cramer, a native of Orwell, N. Y., born on June 4, 1842. On November 20, I860, she was married to Abram W. Cramer, of Orwell, who served in the Civil war more than three years as a sergeant in the One Hundred 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' expedition to Texas. In the summer of I864 the regiment 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 August 28, 1865. The next fall he and his wife came to this county and located on a farm on section 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, I889, and has two children, Gladys and Howard A. Minnie M. married Wilbur Fenwick in November, I896. They live on the farm on section 3 which Mr. Fenwick's father cleared and improved. Owing to failing health Mr. Cramer rented his farm to his son in the spring of I898. and moved to Fulton, where he died on September I6th of that year. Mr. Gates sold his farm to his son Walter in June, 90oo. 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 township 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 prominent and enthusiastic member of the Grand Army KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 505 of the Republic, and has served well as commander 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 Pacific, in nearly every state and territory in the Union. IRA A. RAMSON. One of the leading business men and promoters of Kalamazoo, Ira A. Ramson has been connected 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 industrial 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 genial and companionable gentleman. Mr. Ramson 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 education there in part and in part at the Flushing Institute 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 whatever offered that was profitable and gave scope for his faculties. He passed two years in the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad and followed 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 interests of the company and giving them his close personal attention. Under his management the operations of the corporation were greatly increased and its revenues correspondingly augmented. 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 I892, but he has maintained his connection 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 productiveness a number of other manufacturing industries, among them the Kalamazoo Corset Company and the Comstock Manufacturing Company, in each of which he was a stockholder, the American 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 I869 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 patriotic 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, I834. His parents, Benjamin and Lucinda (Foster) Cook, were also natives of the state of New York, where they died. The father was a farmer, millwright and surveyor. He was a soldier in the 5o6 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF war of I812, 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, however, but immediately began the erection of a brick business block, and as soon as it was completed he opened the business again. Sometime afterward he disposed of his groceries and substituted hardware in their place, also letting his son have the drug trade. He continued in business until Igoo, and since then he has lived retired from active pursuits. In 1857 he was married in Jefferson county, N. Y., to Miss Maria Churchill, a native of Ontario, Canada, and the (laughter 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 married Miss Julia Mosgrove, of Wakeshma township, and has one child, his daughter Maud. Daniel J. is also a resident of Fulton. He mnarried MIiss Jessie Hampton. They have three sons and one daughter. Mrs. Cook died in I902. 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 Fulton, 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, the son of 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 located near Athens, Calhoun county. There they passed the remainder of their days, the father dying in I88I, and the mother in 900o. They were the parents of five sons and three daughters. of whom three of the sons and two of the daughters are living, Benjamin being the only one resident in this county. The parents were active and zealous members of the Methodist Ep)iscopal church. Benjamin reached the age of ei-ghtecn in Indiana, then came to Michigan, where he has followed farming all of his subsequent life. He was about twenty-four when he started out for himself, and in 1875 came to Kalamazoo 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 considerable value. The father is still living there. Mr. and Mrs. Fleisher have three children, Rose H., the wife of Daniel F., Bartshe, Roy M., a(n KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 507 Ira D. In politics Mr. Fleisher is an ardent Prohibitionist, and he and his wife are devoted members 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 furnishes 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 preferred and the other common stock, and was organized and incorporated under the laws of Michigan on July i6, I903. The following are the officers: President, Fred E. Lee, of Dowagiac; first vice-president, George E. Bardeen, of Otsego; second vice-president, A. B. Gardner, of Dowagiac; general counsel, William G. Howard, of Kalamazoo; treasurer, E. S. Roos; secretary, Norman Bardeen: superintendent, W. H. Goodenough; and WV. J. Ustick, general sales manager. These officers also constitute the board of directors. 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 natural advantages, and the superior railroad facilities at that point: and in order to secure the plant the village granted valuable concessions to the company. The erection of the buildings was be1gun in the spring of I904 and they were completed about January i. 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 Michigan equipped to make the higher grades. The company owns over thirty acres of ground including 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 Mlichigan 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. Mlr. 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 Bardeen Paper Company at Otsego, where he has three mills, and also of the Michigan Manufacturers' Association, and is a director in several other companies located in Kalamazoo, Detroit and Chicago. A. B. Gardner, the second vicepresident, 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 Barleen and a director in the King Paper Mill, vicepresident 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 lawy-ers in the state. He is vicepresident of the Home Savings Bank of Kalamazoo, and an officer and stockholder in a large number of other successful Kalamazoo enterprises. WX. H. Goodenough, the superintendent of the mills, is one of the most expert paper manufacturers 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 508 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 engineer, who has had extensive experience in erecting 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 materials and coal have been built so as to insure the utmost economy in management. The buildings were put up at a time when the cost of materials 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 success of the undertaking was assured in advance. It has largely increased the population of Vicksburg 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 I89I with a capital stock of seventy-five thousand dollars, and employed at the start but twenty-seven persons. At this time (I905) it has a paid-up capital 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 gaining an extensive foothold in foreign countries, the company having a large trade in Canada, Mexico and South Africa. This rapid growth of the business is due to both the efficient management of the company and the superior workmanship, style and material employed in the manufacture of its product. 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 Novermber 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 I89I. He was married in I88o to Alice Chamberlain, a native of Three Oaks, and they have one son, James C., secretary and treasurer of the company. Mr. Hatfield is a director of the Kalamazoo Trust Company, organized in I904, also a director of the Robt. N. Bassett Company, manufacturer of corset steel, etc., of Derby, Conn.; a director of the Standard Cloth Company of New York, manufacturers of corset cloth. Prior to coming to,Kalamazoo Mr. Hatfield was largely interested as a stockholder and officer of the Featherbone Company, of Three Oaks, this state. In I891 he secured an option on that company's corset department, and he at once came to Kalamazoo and organized 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. Kauffer. president of the Home Savings Bank, and H. )B. Rick (deceased). The company's present officers areJames H. Hatfield, president and general manager, E. S. Roos, vice-president, and J. C. Hat KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 509 field, secretary and treasurer. In 1905 the company 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 Salesbook Company, Limited. The last named is a new company recently organized for the manufacture 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 nachine. 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 Kalamazoo county was born in Niagara county, N. Y., on January i, 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 overland through the trackless wilderness, of alternating hill and vale, forest and swamp, long and perilous as the way was, to the wilds of Kalamazoo 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, anl here thev lived and labored until death sum1oned them to another sphere, the father dying on January 29, I8.57, aged sixty-eight years, and the mother on February 12, I885. Their family comprised 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 congregation. Milton Chamberlin grew to manhood in Cooper township, working on the farm, and attending the primitive schools of the time and locality when he had opportunity. In childhood 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 twentyfive 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 I898, when he moved to Alamo township, where he now lives. In I866 he was married, in Cooper township, 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 duties 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-inlaw, was born at Gum Plains, Allegan county, Mich., on August 4, 1851, and was reared and educated there. In I891 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 serviceable part in the local affairs of the county, performing 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 progressive Christian civilization, was born in Loudoun county, Va., on December 31, 1819, and in 1830, when he was but eleven years old, accompanied his parents, John and Nancy (McPherson) Brown, to Michigan from their home in the Old Dominion, where the family had long been domesticated. 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 wilderness. Stephen was the second born of the seven children of the household, and( grew to manhood in this county, learning thoroughly under the instruction of his father all the duties of progressive and discriminating husbandry, and the estate he left shows how-wiselv 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 tilling 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 married in Oshtemo township to Miss Maria L. Patrick, 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 II, I876. 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 sectional strife, being a member of Company C. Sixth M1ichigan Infantry, for a short time, until he was discharged on account of physicial disability, and then re-enlisting in Company L, Fifth Michigan Cavalry, from which he was later discharged 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 affairs, and became a leading citizen of the county. In Ti856 he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature, and in 1858 was re-elected. In I86o he was chosen state senator, and this office he was again elected to in T864 and in I884. He was a gentleman of quick and comprehensivc 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 Republican 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 Husbandry, 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. 51I 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 proceedings and its lasting welfare. In the summer of 1885 the state senate presented him with a goldheaded 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 national distinction in the congress of the United States, or in other positions of prominence. Now resting from his labors'after a long life of usefulness, 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 grew to maturity, the other four dying in one week of diphtheria. Zechariah Fletcher, of Schoolcraft. this county, is also the last survivor and only living member of the family. F-e was born in [-ampshire countv, Virginia. now \est Virginia. on January 7, i828, and was four years old when his parents canme to this co(nty, vet lie well remembers the beautiful September (lay when the party left the old Virginia honme for their long jaunt to the then distant wilderness. It colmprised fifteen persons, including the fanily of his father's brother Benjamin. His mother made the trip on horseback, and the vounger children in a wagon loaded also with the familxy effects, and the journey required one month and one day. Benjamin Fletcher located eighty acres of government land on section lo, Prairie Ronde, on which he lived until I854. He then sold this and moved to Iroquois county, Ill., 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 I783, 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 wife, 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 education, and in 1804 was married to Miss Elizabeth Ilillison, a native of New Hampshire and one year his junior. Of their six children who crew 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. Farnler. HIe located at Schoolcraft in 1834 and (lied there in I846. Elias migrated to Palmyra, M\o., an(l there engaged in merchandising and became one of the leading citizens of the place, dyiig there in 185o. John M. was killed at the age of sixteen by an accident near his father's farm o(n Prairie Ronde. George W. was a farmer, and at the age of twenty-one married Miss Lydia loniroe. He (ied 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 MAethodist church in the county, he was one of itsliberal 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 I837, and about I840 he married a second, Miss Hannah 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 I849 he was married to Miss Malanry 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 Schoolcraft. 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 flourishing farmer of this county. Their mother died on the old farm on March 4, I902, 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 i86I, 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, I846. 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 Columbiana county, Ohio. The father was born in 1803, and was a son of Aaron Burson, a leading merchant and planter of Loudoun county in the Old Dominion, who moved, about the year I827, 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 I. Three of the sons took up government land on Prairie Ronde and the other one on Gourd Neck Prairie. The father, Aaron Burson, dealt extensively in real estate, buying and selling partially 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 and the mother in I86I. All the children of that generation are also now deceased. Aaron Burson was a leading Whig politician 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 accompanied them to Michigan. He entered land in this county, as has been noted, and also aided in breaking tp 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 i899. He was married in Columbiana county, Ohio, and had four sons and four daughters, 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 contest, but was never called into active service. 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 l'urson, 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, becoming the owner of it some years before his father's death. In I878 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. Smlith, 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 anmong the oldest residents of the township and are respected and treated with consideration in accordance with the merits of their long and useful lives in the section which their citizenship 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 production 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 consciousness that he had Aiever knowingly neglected a duty or wronged a fellow being, this honored patriarch surrendered his earthly trust on April I2, I899, 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 I6, I809, 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 Hawkden, Suffolk county, England, who, on April 24, 1655, married Esther Makepeace, of Boston, Lincoln county, of the same country. Theyimmediately 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 educated, and being naturally of a quick and strong mental organism, she improved her opportunities to the utmost, becoming a well read and accomplished 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 throughout 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 intelligence of his mother were duly and harmoniously 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. Ebenezer 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 manhood amid the inspiring scenery of the Green 514 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF Mountain region, alternating his labors with reading and such recreations as the neighborhood afforded 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. Being 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 1831, he arrived at Schoolcraft in this county on November 5th, determined to make his permanent 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 resolute spirit triumphed over them all and in time he became prosperous and substantially wealthy. He also took an active and leading part in p1ublic affairs in the primitive community, where men of force, breadth.of view and culture were at a high premium of appreciation, and in I837 he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners, following this service in I840 by membership 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 principles his most pronounced convictions on the subjects of negro slavery and the liquor traffic, he joined that organization, and in I854 was elected to the state senate as its candidate. In this body he had as colleagues Mir. 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 welfare, 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, I837, he was married to Miss Amelia W. Scott. They had four children, of whom the only survivor is their (laughter, Amelia Ada. Her mother died on October 9, I848, and four years afterward he married M'iss Mary Ann Miles, of Hineburg, Vt., who bore him three sons, Edward Miles, George Lakin and Addison Makepeace, the second of whom (lied in boyhood. Edward is professor of English literature in the University of Cincinnati and Addison is secretary of the State Agricultural 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 nemory: 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, deceased 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 prosperity. 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 district. 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 515 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 capably for six years. He had filled many positions of trust and honor in his county and village, and in all the official positions that he filled, and throughout his career as a private citizen, he exemplified the Christian gentleman, prudent and careful in the discharge of his duties, and manifested the integrity and sterling qualities of a long, honorableand 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 resolutions be suitably engrossed and delivered to the family 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. LooNIs, President pro tem. CHARLES S. PIFECE, Secretary. EVANS IMEREDITH. The late Evans Meredith, who (lied in Kalamazoo 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, (lying at the age of sixty-eight. He was born at A\lexandler, Genesee county, N. Y., on November 25, I836. 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 I843, when the family moved to Michigan and located in Pavilion 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 received 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 Oshtemo 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 I86I 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 productive 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 career of transcendent glory in the history of mankind, 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 reverence as the first practicing physician in Kalamazoo 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 calling through difficulties and trials of every sort, and met its requirements with the determined persistency of a man wholly and religiously devoted to his duty. He was born at Mount Pleas-* ant, Jefferson county, Ohio, on January 2, I803, 5I6 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF the son of Jesse and Avis (Stanton) Thomas, 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 Palmer, and after attending the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati, he was examined in that city by the censors of the First District Medical Society of the state, and licensed by them to practice physic and surgery. He practiced nearly two years in Ohio, then came to Prairie Ronde, this county, and began practicing here in June, I830. 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 temporarily 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 improvements had begun at Schoolcraft, and the indications were that this village would be ere long the center of business for Big Prairie Ronde, Gourd Neck, and a large extent of the surrounding country. He thereupon changed his residence to that place, and his practice grew rapidly to large proportions. He applied himself closely to business, during the first five years after hei 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 horseback, 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 T836. 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 Doctor. 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 opportunity for other business, or even for the ordinary 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 attracted 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 I847. So Dr. Nathan was forced to continue in active practice awhile longer. But he invested his accumulations 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 therefore 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 I840 helped to form the Liberal party, having pre KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 517 viously united with four hundred and twentyone 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 Columbia, and against the admission to the Union of any more slave states. In 1839 he joined a movement for the establishment of an anti-slavery paper in this state, the enterprise requiring of its promoters a vast amount of labor and considerable pecuniary sacrifice. In 1845 he was the candidate of the Liberal party for the office of lieutenant governor of the state, and in 1848, when the Liberal party was merged into the Free-Soil party, he lbecame a prominent member of the new organization, 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 committee 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 supported 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 began he was the Schoolcraft agent of the "Underground Railway," having been, in fact, one of its organizers. This enterprise was in active operations more than twenty years, and during that period about fifteen hundred slaves escaped through this part of Michigan to Canada. On March 17, I840, the Doctor was united in marriage 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. Hopkins, Stanton, of Cassopolis, 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, I799. 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 himself 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 married 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 completion 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. Dyckman 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, 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 distilling high wines, in the firm of I. W. Pursel & Company in milling and buying and selling produce and merchandise, and also in other manufacturing. He was interested in the banking firm of M. R. Cobb & Company from I867 until the First National Bank was organized; he was president of this bank during the five years it was doing business, and president of the private bank of E. B. Dyckman & Company from the time it was organized until his death in I88I. 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 established. When the village of Schoolcraft was first incorporated in I866, M\r. 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, I824. 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 T832, 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 I812, 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 Medina 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, except 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 I849 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 living, 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. Daniels 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. Having 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 esteemed in all parts of the region and among all classes of its people. MOSES RUSH COBB. Moses Rush Cobb was born July 9, I8I5, at Springfield, Vt. He came to Schoolcraft, Mich., in 1837, and was engaged in the mercantile business with his brothers until 1845. He then spent nearly four years in Wisconsin. Returning in 1849, he was again in the mercantile business until I85I. 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 extensive dry goods business, which was continued until Mr. Cobb withdrew in I857. The business was then continued under the name of M. N. // - I I HIENRY 1. DA'NIE-LS. I KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 52I Duncan & Company. Mr. Cobb spent part of I857-8 in Missouri. He returned in I858 and was married to Elizabeth Dyckman. From I859 to I865 he was interested in the drug business with O. R. Hatch, the firm name being O. R. Hatch & Company. He was in the grocery business with M. Hale for one year, part of I865-6. In I867, in company with E. B. Dyckman, 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 organized in I870. He was cashier of the First National for the five years they were doing business, and then cashier of the private bank of E. B. Dyckman & Company from I875 to I882. From I882 until his death in I9o4, his time was spent with his family. HON. NATHANIEL A. BALCH. Mr. Balch was born at Athens, Vt., January 2, i8o8, and died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. John denll Bleker, in Kalamazoo, February I, I894. Mr. Balch made the most of his early educational advantages, and at seventeen years of age commenced teaching and preparing for college. He graduated at Middlebury College in I835, and from this institution received the degrees 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, being principal of Bennington Academy. In I837 he came to Kalamazoo and taught in the Huron Literary Institute, which afterward became Kalamazoo 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 identified with the Presbyterian church, and was active and prominent in the religious and social meetings. 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 Centreville, St. Joseph county, in March, I840; 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 I847, and took a prominent part in the business of the legislature; was postmaster of Kalamazoo in 1857 and held that office for nearly five years; was Democratic candidate for congress in I86o; president of the village of Kalamazoo; president of the board of education of the village and of the KIalamlazoo Bar Association for more thantwentyfive 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 William 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 thorough scholar than Mr. Balch, and few equally well-read attorneys. His practice was large and extended into surrounding counties. No one impressed 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 opposing 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 especially 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 remaining bitterness on his part, and scarce ever any on the part of his brothers at the bar. Mr. Balch wasi a strong, honest man, a strong, though not polished speaker, public spirited, kind of heart, sympathetic, ready to help the unfortunate 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 I8, I8I7. The farm was his home, with only such meagre advantages as country life then afforded a boy and young man. That those advantages 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 general 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, I838, 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, I84I, young Graves was admitted to the supreme court, and the winter following was journalizing clerk in the senate at Albany. In May, I843, he 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 children. There he now lives, the same bright, genial, 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 days 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 generally, are greatly his debtors. The meager salaries he received were small compensation for services rendered. He was circuit judge from January, I858, till July I, I866, when he resigned. In the spring of i867 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 partiessixteen 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 measure enjoyed the confidence and esteem of the community 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, I830. When four years old he removed with his parents to Richland, 'Kalamazoo county, Mich., and spent his boyhood days on the farm. After completing his academic education at the Kalamazoo branch of the University of Michigan, he studied law at Bennington, Vt., and RBattle Creek, Mich. While thus engaged he became thoroughly enlisted in the anti-slavery movement, and contributed various articles upoti that subject to the journals of the state. He was admitted to the bar in I854, 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.:855, to October following. He returned to his professional work in I856, practicing both at Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. In November. i86o, he was elected prosecuting attorney of Kalamazoo county and held that office till Jantuary, 1863. He helped to raise the first volunteer company from Kalamazoo-Company iK, 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 General Richardson. Ill health necessitated his leaving the army, and in the summer or fall of I86I he returned to the practice of his profession. In the fall of 1863 he was elected lieutenant governor of the state, and presided over the senate at the sessions of I863-4. In August, I866, he presided 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 he was the Democratic candidate for United States senator. 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 determining 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 platform. 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 therefore 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 interests 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-president of the national Unitarian conference; and in I870 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 I888, on account of failing health, Mr. May retired from active practice of his profession and built a country home, "Island View," on a favorite 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, I89I, 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 1817, in Winsted, Conn. The family removed to the territory of Michigan in the early '30s, and settled in Richland, Kalamazoo county. His father 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 Richland, 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. Stuart, 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 partisan, but liberal toward those who disagreed with him. He held the office of prosecuting attorneyof the county, and was United States district attorney for Michigan during President Buchanan's administration. The state then formed one judicial district. He performed his official duties with fidelity and special ability. A well read, strong, well rounded lawyer, he was at home and successful in all branches of the profession. Oratory was not his fort, but his fair, strong way of presenting a case to court and jury carried conviction. Mr. Miller died April 9, I864, while the struggle for the Union was still on. He was cut off before reaching the position which his ability, integrity and industry fitted him to attain. Neither his brother attorneys, nor the community generally, had reason to complain of treatment at his hands. He was public spirited, and highly respected 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 building and contracting enterprise with a planing mill and plant for the manufacture of house furnishings 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 I893 as a stock company with a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars. The present officers are Richard Van Bochone, president, 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 I871, confining his operations to contracting and general building. The next year the planing mill and the plant for making house furnishings was added, and in I89o a lumber yard with a large stock of all kinds of lumber. The father is a native of Holland, born in I8i8 near Nieuwe Beijerland. He was reared in his native land where he received 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 I846, when he came to the United States. After passing two years there in carpenter work he became a resident of Kalamazoo in 1853 and began contracting and building on a small scale, putting up solme of the' earlier buildings of consequence (lick street and the gravel house for Dr. Sill. He in the town, among them the gas house on Burreturned to the East for a short time, but in I86I again came to Kalamazoo which has ever since been his homne and the seat of his laudable and serviceable enterprise. In politics he is a Republican of firm convictions and great activity, and before the Civil war he was a zealous abolitionist. 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 performed its duties with credit to himself and advantage 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 I853. 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 beginning to an annual volume of one hundred thousand dollars. The company, although organized many years ago, is not behind the times or wanting 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, I805, in New York city, inheriting from both grandfathers, who distinguished themselves in the Revolutionary 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 dollars, 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. Frederick W. Curtenius' father, Peter Curtenius, was a general in the war of I812, and commander of the troops in the barracks at New York, afterward being marshal of the state of New York, at -which time he arrested Aaron Burr for treason. He was repeatedly elected to the state legislature, 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 College 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 seventyseven years old, the faculty reconsidered the matter 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 lieutenant in the army of Samuel Bolivar, the worldrenowned 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 little money by various enterprises, he set out for the west, arriving in Kalamazoo, where he bought a farm in I835. In 1842 he was appointed one of the board of visitors to West Point Military Academyl. He raised a company for the First Regiment of Michigan Infantry in 1847, and saw active service in the war of Mexico. From I855 to I861 he was adjutant-general of Michigan. When the Civil war broke out he was appointed colonel of the Sixth Regiment of Michigan Infantry, and sent to Baltimore, where he remained six months in garrison, after which he took an important part in the expedition against New Orleans, 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 ordered from there to Baton Rouge, where, on account 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 owners. 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 T856 and 1867 he was elected to the state senate, 526 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF and was appointed by President Grant in I869 collector 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 Seminary. In I866 he was elected president of the village of Kalamazoo. For several years he was president of the Kalamazoo City Bank. In religion he was a Presbyterian. In I826 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Fowler, of New York, who died in I867. In i868 he was married to Miss Kate Woodbury, daughter of the late J. P. Woodbury, of Kalamazoo. His death occurred at his home on July I3, I883, and is survived by his wife and three children, Mrs. H. O. Statler, and Alfred and Dwight Curtenius. At his death appropriate resolutions were adqpted by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Grand Army of the Republic, 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, I88o. His parents, Rockwell and Celestia E. (Underwood) May, were of the old New England stock and, coming west in I834, 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 attendance at district schools. In 1842 he entered the Kalamazoo branch of the University of Michigan, then under the charge of Rev. James A. B. Stone. By devoting his leisure time to tutoring he prepared for college, and in I846 entered the sophomore class of the University of Michigan, graduating from the classical department in I849. 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 society, 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, I850, was admitted, to practice in the supreme court of the state. The following month he opened an office in Battle Creek, where he remained about two years. In I852 he removed to,Kalamazoc and formled 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 I854 and held the office three terms, six years. He was school inspector two years, and from I853 to I856 was superintendent of the village schools, a work in which he evinced much interest. In I866 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 I874 and was re-elected the following year. In April, I86I, Mr. May became a private in the Kalamazoo Light Guards, and shortly afterward was chosen captain. On President Lincoln's first call for troops, these guards became Company F of the Second Michigan Infantry. Expecting to be mustered in for three months, instead of three years as was the case, because of unfinished legal business, he was compelled to resign his commission, and, in December of the same year, returned home to give attention to personal and legal business. October 8, I864, he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-fifth Michigan Infantry, then at Bolivar, Tennessee, and served throughout the war. In June, I865, he succeeded Colonel W. H. Graves, and was soon afterward brevetted brigadier general. He was mustered out of service with his regiment, March 6, I866, having participated in the battles of Blackburn's Ford, Manassas, Middleburg-where he especially distinguished himself-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, I849, to 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. Mav 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 duties 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 active and prominent member of the community. He was a man of upright life, unflinching in his devotion to every principle and cause his convictions led him to support, a firm friend and citizen, whose honor and devotion to city, state and country 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. TBurrows, 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, coming 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 Volunteer Infantry, of which he was made captain, serving in that capacity in several battles. Returning home in I864, he again entered professional practice, and was made prosecuting attorney of Kalamazoo in I866. 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 convention in I880. As a legislator he has not only brought credit to himself and his district, but to his state as well. He is a pronounced Republican, and an eloquent and persuasive speaker. Senator Burrows has been married twice-to his first wife, Miss Jennie S. Hibbard, of Ashtabula county, Ohio, in I856. He has one daughter by this marriage, now Mrs. George McNeir, of New York city. He was married to his present wife, formerly Miss Frances Peck, daughter of Horace Peck, of Kalamazoo county, Mich., in I865. 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 Appleton Gibson, who was superintendent of the Kalamazoo Paper Company. Mr. Gibson was born at New Ipswich, N. H., on August 17, I835. 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 Ipswich. 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 I859, 528 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF and remained there until I867, when he removed to Kalamazoo, Mich., where he spent the rest of his life. Mr. Gibson was married in I86o 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 I866, 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 hundred thousand dollars. Here they commenced the manufacture of paper, and Mr. Gibson entered 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 additions were made to the business in every way. Mr. Gibson was interested in various other enterprises-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 extensively and has branch offices and an active trade in Australia, South Africa, England, Germany and Switzerland, and in New York and San Francisco. The company was founded by Mr. Kauffer and Mr. Kidder, and the latter has been its active manager 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 IO, 182I, 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 he entered the Kimball Union Academy at Meridian, N. H., but left the following year to manage his grandfather'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 I868 he retired from active business, and devoted his time to looking after his numerous business interests. In 1873 he was made commiissioner 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 I865, 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 Bardeen Paper Company, of Otsego. In I885 he was appointed treasurer of the Michigan Asylumn for the Insane, and was elected a member of the board of trustees for the villiage of Kalamazoo, 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, I891. The father was a Whig until the organization of the Republican party, when he joined its ranks. He filled a number of local offices in Schoolcraft township and some il the city of Kalamazoo, of which he became a resident in 1862, having his home in the city fromi then until his death, on January T, Io02, at the age of eighty-nine years. He was one of the founders of the Michigan National Bank, and served as 6te of its directors until his death. IHe wuas also one of the first stockholders of the old Kalamazoo Paper Mill, but soon after it got well under way disposed of his stock. Although a regular attendant of the Protestant Episcopal church, he was liberal in his views and gave liberally of his means and influence to all denominations. T-He had decided views on many subjects of current interest and permanent importance, and when he saw the end of life approaching, he wrote his own funeral sermon. As an antiquarian in local history he was regarded as a high authority, and his testimony went far to settle any disputed point. Everywhere known throughout the countv, he enjoyed the high respect of everybody. HENRY L. BISHO', the son and only surviving child of Henry Bishop, was born at Schoolcraft 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. Tn 866 he entered mercantile life as a clerk in the dry goods store of Kidder & Brown, where he remained one vear. In i868 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 I880, 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 Massachusetts, who c,?me with her parents to Kalamazoo in I866. Mr. and Mrs. Henry L. Bishop have four children, Charles A., H-enry, Sarah M. and Edward M. Mr. Bishop has been a Knight Teniplar for thirty years, and is also a Knight of ITvthias. lie 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. VILLITAM R. SHAFTER. Gen. William R. Shafter, the well known commlander of the American forces at the battle of Santiago, in the Spanish-American war, is one of the prominent men in Kalamazoo county, althou-gh he now makes his home in California. He was born in Kalamazoo county, Mich., on October I6, 1835, and entered the military service as a first lieutenant of the Seventh Michigan Infantry in I86i, being promoted the following year to major of the Nineteenth Michigan Infantrv, of which regiment he became lieutenantcolonel in I867. The next year he was made colonel of the Seventeenth United States Colored Troops, this being one of the first colored regiments organized. Colonel Shafter was a participant in the siege of Yorktown, in the battles of West Point, Fair Oaks, Savage Station, Glendale, Malvern Hills, and in the affair at Thompson Station, and in the battles of December 15 and I6, i864, in front of Nashville. Passing through the Civil war with great credit to himself, he was, in 1865, brevetted brigadier-general, 53o BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF and mustered out of the service in I866, having been made lieutenant-colonel in the regular army, and assigned to the Twenty-fourth Infantry, and entered upon duty on the western frontier, in which service he was engaged until his promotion to the colonelcy of the First Infantry in 1879. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, General Shafter, who was brigadiergeneral in the regular army, was appointed by President McKinley major-general of the volunteers, 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 post 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 families of Kalamazoo county, whose name is recorded on almost every page of the county's annals 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 character, 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-grandnephew of Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. a cousin of the third generation of President William Henrv 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 I874, at the age of one hundred and three years, five months and fifteen days. More extended 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 district 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 temptations to go into other business. His farm comprises one hundred and forty-five acres of choice land and is one of the most highly improved 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 industry, 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 I870 he was married to Miss Ora A. Fletcher, the oldest daughter of Zachariah and Malansev (Monroe) Fletcher, an account of whose lives is given elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison have one child, their daughter Mabel I., the wife of Rev. F. W. Nickel, a resident of Illinois. In politics Mr. Harrison is a stern and unvielding 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 Episcopal 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 parents, Philip J. and Catherine (Ferman) Schau, were natives of Germany in one of the river provinces, and there his life began in I848. In his native land the father was a farmer and mer TTr A T A A Ar A '7f-%f % f t-%T K T -Ir t rI rlk r Te e -K T 1&.ALAU1ALVUU U I chant. In 1853 he 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, purchasing a farm in Cooper township, on which the parents lived until death, that of the father occurring in I898 and of the mother in I892. 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 paternal 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 187I to Miss Christina Kiltz, who was born in Erie county, Pa., and came to Michigan with her parents in I865. 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 patriotism its institutions and aims, Mr. Schau has performed 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 higbly 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 section. He was born on March 3, 1831, in Niagara county, N. Y., and is the son of Isaac and Catherine (Archer) Pierce, the former born in Berkshire county, Mass., on July 28, 1803. He was a man of firm constitution, great physical strength and indomitable will, seemingly formed by na JIN1I, VIILI-ItjAIN. 531 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 I8II he became a frontiersman in New York, buying a tract of wild land in Livingston county, which he improved and lived on until I830, 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 education mainly in the rugged school of experience. In I835 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 improved 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, creditably 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 I836 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 cultivating 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 buildings 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 he 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 father died in her native state, and soon afterward the mother and children came to this county, locating in Charleston township. The mother died in Barry county, Mich. Mr. and Mrs. Horace Pierce have five children, Herbert H., an undertaker of Climax; Ida E., wife of O. M. Best, of Dillon, T ont.: Jessie, deceased; Judson W., living 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 rendered good service to the township and county in several local offices, and in all his life has exemplified 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 Kalamazoo county pioneers, whose grandparents were the first settlers in Climax township, has carried on in his life in this region the lessons of his ancestors, 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, I841, the son of Thomas B. and Eliza (Bonney) Eldred, the former a native of the state of New York and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father was a son of Judge Caleb Eldred, who came to Michigan in I830 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 enterprise 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 IB. Eldred, father of Louis S., was fifteen when he became a resident of this state, and the development of the county progressed under his observation 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 Deno)crat in political faith until 1884, when he became an ardent Prohibitionist. IHe served eight years as a justice of the peace and held other local offices. He lived a useful and upright life, devoted 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 public 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 Agricultural 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 I8, I875, to Miss Laura M. Sinclair, a daughter of George and Jane (McLain) Sinclair, the former of whom was born in Vermont and the latter in Ireland. The father settled in Schenectady, N. Y., in 1847 or 1848. Mr. and Mrs. Eldred have had three children. The first born died in infancy unnamed. The others are Estella, a school teacher in northern Michigan, 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 Kalamazoo county, but to the entire state that he so ably represented in the nation's highest legislative 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 I847 Francis B. Stockbridge came to Chicago,where,in partnership with another man, he opened a lumber yard. In I853 he 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. TIe organized, in I887, the Kalamazoo Spring and Axle Company, of which he was president. He was largely interested in various successful enterprises in all parts of the country. In i869 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 GunPlains, Allegan county, daughter of Daniel Arnold, 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 College. He died after a life of great usefulness and service, and is survived by his widow, who still keeps up the magnificent Stockbridge residence in Kalamazoo. CHARLES C. DUNCAN. This valued and influential citizen and successful and progressive business man of Vicksburg, who is president of the Kalamazoo County Bank of Vicksburg, which he owns and operates under the style of C. C. Duncan & Company, was born in Prairie Ronde township, 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 College in Chicago. He returned from the business college to this county and here he followed farming until I893, 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 under its state organization until I898. 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 progressive 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 I891. Their mother died in 1891. Mr. Duncan, in I893, 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 prominent place in all phases of the public and social life of the region. In political faith Mr. Duncan 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 commlendation 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 I818. 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 children, 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 I836 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 removed 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 candidates at the polls to make up two tickets, and several of those on one were elected without opposition. The trials of his early life in this region were numerous and various. Although nature 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 perseverance, and although his progress for a time was slow it was continuous, and in time he made his farm rich in agricultural wealth and improvements, and became a man of influence in the township, being frequently called to official positions of trust and responsibility in its government. 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 I886 and he afterward married a second one at Petoskey in this state, whither he moved in I883. A. D. WMINSLOW, 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 I868, and the fruit of their union was three children, Minnie R., wife of WM. H. Engel, Finley A. and Roy A. Mr. Winslow died on July 6, I900, and was aged fifty-nine years, eleven months and fifteen dlavs. 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 father born in Genesee county and the mother in Chautauqua county. The paternal grandfather was Alexander Anderson, a native of Montgomery 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 I838, when he came to Michigan and settled on one hundred and sixty acres of land in Oshtemo township, this county. He lived to clear up this farm and make extensive improvements on it, dying there in January, I897. He was a man of high standing locally and was called by his fellow citizens to fill a number of township offices. He was a prominent and active member of the Congregational church of Kalamazoo. 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 I840 and was married to Mr. Anderson in I850. Their son Edward grew to manhood on the home farm and lived on it until he purchased his present farm in I884. 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 I898. In I900 he married a second wife, Miss May Bell, a native of Kalamazoo. 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 families in the county and is everywhere highly respected. A. L. PLUMENBERG. During the last twenty-four vears the subject of this brief memoir has been a resident of Kalamazoo, 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 citv's most extensive and best known merchants, positions 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, i866. 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 I890, 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 thirteen in his native city and received his scholastic training in its public schools. At the age mentioned 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. Desenherg & 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 conducted 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 commodities 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 politics as a Republican. Mr. Blumenberg has declined all offers of public office, finding plenty to occupy his time and engage his interest in his extensive 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, conducting with enterprise and success one of the important 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. ' ^ t- i, 2 / h. 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 leading business men of the county, and by his farseeing 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, I868, and is the son of Richard and Mary (Still) Hudson, natives of England, the father born at Canterbury 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 household, 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 I885, when he came to Pentwater, Mich., and passed two years at the high school. In I887 he moved to Kalamazoo and entered the college, from which he was graduated in 1894. He passed the summer of I895 at the Chicago University, and after leaving that institution located at Schoolcraft as pastor of the Baptist church, a position 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 ministry, and in the spring of I896 he engaged in general 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 Schoolcraft 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, I894, he was united in marriage with Miss Mildred Gilchrist, 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 representatives in the legislature, and in the deliberations 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 public- official of Charleston township, Kalamazoo county, who is now serving acceptably as township supervisor, was born on the farm on which he now lives on September 5, I856. 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 I846, when he came to Michigan in company with his half-brother, George W. Steward, of Galesburg, and bought eighty acres of land in Charleston township, a part of which is GRANT Ai. 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 185I to the mother of Emmett. They have had three children, Alice D., now Mrs. J. C. Carey, of Comstock township; Willard E., an attorney of Houghton county, Mich.; and Emmett, the immediate subject of this brief review. The mother, who was born in Livingston country, N. Y., on January 22, I824, died on the farm in I900, 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 station 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 deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Gray have had two children, 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 (Swetland) 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 I858, 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-second year, assisting in the management of the home farm after leaving school. In I876 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 finish a course in science in June, I9o6, at the University of Michigan; Dr. George W. graduated from the Rush Medical College and is now engaged in the practice of his profession at Millersburg, Ind.; Harold E., who graduated from the University of Michigan and the Michigan State Normal School, is superintendent of manual training at the Kearney Military Academy, Kearney, Neb.; Miss Nina is still at home with her parents. In I89o he began raising stock there, having at the head of his stables the celebrated horse "Harry Noble," which he reared from a colt, and which made a record in I890o of 2:I7'2. Afterward he owned "Apollo Wilkes," 2: I9T4, "Emma Balch," 2:20X4, and "Albatross," 2:16. He has trained and given records to one hundred and fourteen horses from 2:I034 to 2:30, twenty of them in the 2:20 list, one of them, "Glenwood," making a mark of 2:I034. 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 halfmile tracks in this part of the state. In addition to the attention given to his own output, Mr. iKirby'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. 54o 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 distinction 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, exciting the widest and most enthusiastic attention and bringing together thousands of the' people who are devoted to the sport and the improvement 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 cultivated it with the ardor of a devotee and the systematic industry of an excellent business man, winning wide reputation for his skill and profitable returns from his business acumen and excellent 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, I896, was a native of near Otsego. N. Y., born on July 6, I823. He was the son of Henrv 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 I836, bringing their family. The father died of consumption the next fall, and the widow and her three children remained on the land the father 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 supporting 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 married in 1847 to 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 Michigan, and here she lived with an older sister, Mrs. Alfred Eldred, until her marriage. Of her nine children seven are living, Wilbur, Walter, Melvin, Frank, Nancy E., Flora and Lilly A. Their father was a Republican, but never sought or filled office. He was a successful farmer 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 section 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. Later he moved to Iowa and operated a saw mill near Cedar Rapids, a business he followed also inl Michigan, being a sawyer by trade. In I86I he returned to Ohio and enlisted in the Sixty-second Ohio Tnfantry for the Civil war, and in I864 he died from exposure in the service. He was a Republican in politics and attended the Presb — terian church, of which his wife was an earnest and zealous member. She died in T856. 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 United States army in the war of I8i2. He was born in Kentucky but moved to Michigan while it was yet a territoryand 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 I903. 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 improved in every way, building good fences, putting 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 Dinninv, 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 wa- with the improvement and development of his township and county, and enjoys a marked degree of esteem on, all sides for his progressive spirit and.upright manhood. MELVIN SCRAMLIN. This well known farmer of Charleston township, 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 parents, 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 recently, 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 improved his farm, building the improvements himself, 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 he was married to Miss Olive Hunt, a native of Vermont, and daughter of David and Nancy (Brown) 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 Climax: 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 educated 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, I887, and in I889 the 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 Elizabeth 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 Climax. He has also filled all other township offices, and made an excellent record in each. Fraternally 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 I, I864. He is a son of Robert 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 whenever he had opportunity to go. In I848 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 he did a thriving business in buying and shipping grain and horses, making his headquarters a part of the time at Kankakee, Ill., although maintaining his home in Michigan. In 1855 he bought sixty-three acres of unimproved land in Charleston township and located on the place that same year, renting a house to live in while developing and improving his land. Four years later he purchased an addition of one hundred and thirtythree 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 I896, 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 capital when he took up the burden of life for himself was fifteen dollars, and from that small beginning he amassed a fortune that made him one of the richest men in the county. He was married 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 children two died in infancy. The others are living. The father was a true Democrat in politics, but was ever independent of party control. Fraternally he was a member of the Masonic order for about forty years. He and his wife died at the same time in I898, and their remains were buried in the same grave. Their son George was reared in Kalamazoo county and educated in the district schools and at Paw Paw College. Tie remained at home managing the farm for his father many years prior to the death of the latter. giving his whole attention to farming and raising live stock. In 1892 he became interested in the Exchange Bank of Climax, and since 1901 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, I890, he was married in this county to Miss Lorena Bradley, a native of Charleston township and a daughter of Wilson 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 membership in the lodge at Climax. He owns nine hundred 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 successful, 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 supervisor 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 familiar with its needs and the desires and enterprise of its people. Knowing well what is wanted in the discharge of his official duties, and being earnestly desirous of promoting the best interests of his section, he is performing them with a skill and industry that wins him general commendation 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 I831 came to this county with his parents, William and Alice (Yates) Smith, who settled at Schoolcraft, where they lived many years, movingl finally to Portage township, where they died. Albert Smith's father grew to manhood near Schoolcraft, and when a young man moved into Portage 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 I903. 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 neighborhood, and began life as a farmer. This occupation 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 returned 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 mother died in I879, and in I880 Mr. Smith was joined in a second marriage with Miss Sarah A. McEldowiey. 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 I869, 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 secured 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 I899 removed to BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF '544 Vicksburg. His reputation as a thoroughly competent and artistic photographer was speedily established and from the beginning he has enjoyed a large and lucrative business. His studio, which is connected with his residence, is thoroughly 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 Elizabeth (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 I843. Arriving in Michigan, they settled on the farm where their son was born, and also two other children, Oscar, a resident of Kalamazoo, and Susan, who is Mrs. Doughty, of Grand Rapids. When the boy Romine was ten years old he made the trip to Castile, New York, alone. Here he visited his grandfather and attended school, remaining until he was seventeen years of age. At that time he returned to his home, where he remained until I869, 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 marriage with Miss Emma Gregson Longbottom, a resident of Kalamazoo, whose parents, Dr. an(! Mrs. George Longbottom, came to Kalamazoo from Liverpool, England, in 1849. In December I884, a daughter, Blanche Elizabeth, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Buckhout, and she is their onl, child. In I883 Mr. Buckhout served as trustee of Kalamazoo village, and in I885 was a member 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 secretary and treasurer. He has always been a devoted member of the Episcopal church, having served for over fifteen years on St. Luke's vestry, of which he is now a member. Mr. Buckhout 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 Stuart 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, generosity 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 honored 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 I836. 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 daughters 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 operations of his own farm when he moved to it directly after his marriage in 1853. In this important 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 I, 900o, 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 eightythree, 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 factor in its early settlement and subsequent development. 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 English ancestry. The father was a successful farmer and a man of patriotic spirit. In the war of I812 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 Massachusetts and New York and was educated in the common schools. After leaving school he followed peddling in New York state until I830, 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 Bronson, and entered government land in Kalamazoo township. To the development and improvement of this land he devoted his whole time until I866, 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 Louise, 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 deacon for a period of five years. From its foundation 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 annals 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 signature of President Martin Van Buren. When Judge Harrison came to what is now Kalamazoo 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 Harrison, a descendant of Benjamin Harrison of Revolutionary fame and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, two of whose descendants have been Presidents of the United States, is supposed 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 township 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 public 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) Sliter. She was reared in her native place and came to Michigan with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison had four children, Clarence U., a druggist, who is now deceased: William S., Cassius J., and Dottie Belle, now the wife of E. J. Stevens, of Kalamazoo. Joseph Harrison's whole career has been an honor to his family and his native 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 township treasurer two years. His fraternal affiliations are with the Grand Army of the Republic and the Masonic order, in the latter being a member of the blue lodge, chapter and commandery. 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 enterprise. He was born on March 3, I86o, on the farm which is now his home, and is the son of James H. and Susan (Dvkeman) Neasmith, the former a native of Manchester, England, and thelatter of the state of New York. The grandfather. 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 M1. 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 improved 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 I896, 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 Vicksburg, and the son, Fred WV. 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 parents, 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 Freemason 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 universally esteemed as an excellent farmer, a good citizen, a wise counselor in reference to matters of public improvement and development, an obliging 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 0. tMuchmore, and the manager of the William 0. 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 occupation 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 0. Muchmore and Joseph IL. 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, T904, when Mr. Muchmore purchased the whole business, owning also the Golden Hill Nursery at Fremont, Ohio, and Mr. Baldwin has since managed 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 hundred persons in all. It is one of the largest and most successful undertakings of its kind in southern 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 satisfies 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 position in its lines, unite to make a high tribute to Mr. Baldwin's energy, capacity and business genius, 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 I890 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 diseases, their remedies and preventives. Fraternally 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 incitement 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 serviceable men. DR. PAUL T. BUTLER. The medical profession is one of the most exacting lines of useful activity known among men, and lays its votaries under tribute for every sort of privation and endurance at times, and frequently without adequate recompense in a financial 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 extremities 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 confers on the race are none the less great in magnitude 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 resident 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 without 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 I I, T858, 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 Pennsylvania. The father was a merchant and kept a country store at Springboro, Pa., many years, dying there in T863. 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 1812, 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 Horace Greeley. Hiram BPutler 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 childhood, and was there reared and educated, attending the public schools at Hastings and Middleville. 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 I879, and soon afterward entered the Cincinnati Medical College, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in I88I. After practicing a year at Manchester, failing health induced him to return to Michigan, and in I883 he located at Alamo, this county, where he has since lived and built up a large, exacting and remunerative 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 I887 he was married 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, I893, 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 working Democrat and a leading man in his party. He has long been a favorite delegate from his district to county and state conventions of his party, and has filled a number of local offices at its behest. For a time he trained with the Prohibition party, on one occasion attending its national convention 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, I904, 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, I848. 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 I837. 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 remainder of their lives, both dying in I897. 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 occupancy 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 gradually 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 uprightness 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. He was educated in the common schools and at Olivette College, and on coming of age became the manager of the farm, conducting its operations until his death. He also dealt in live stock, handling annually for many years large numbers of cattle and horses of superior grades. On January 3, I870, he was married to Miss Ellen S. Fellins, a native of Hudson, Ohio, the daughter of Philip and Anna B. (Case) Fellins, long resi 550o BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF dent at that place. In political faith Mr. Sherman 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 township 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 founding and developing them. The American progenitors 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 unknown 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 arrival here the father of this subject bought a farm in Charleston township, Kalamazoo county, containing one hundred and sixty-six acres of unimproved land, most of it still covered with the forest 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 office, 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 remained at home assisting in clearing the farm and cultivating it until about I860. He then went to Iowa and remained until I863, when he returned to this county and took up his residence at Augusta, living there four years and carrying on a flourishing hardware trade. In I868 he bought the farm on which he now lives, and which has ever since been his home and the scene of his industry and prosperity. Its development, cultivation 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 i864 he was married to Miss Harriet Woodward, a daughter of John and Sarah Woodward, who became residents of Ross township in I853. 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 local 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 respected 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, I832, the son of Nathan P. and Lavina (Swick) 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 eighteen 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 California 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 shingles. One year in California was enough to satisfy him, and at the end of it he returned to this county and bouglht a farm in Cooper township, which he sold after improving it to some extent. THe then bouglht 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 country, carrying on an extensive trade in this necessary comlmodity. He was married in Cooper township on July 25, 1852, to Miss Eveline Smith, a daughter of Ira Smith who was among the earliest settlers in the towinship. They have eight children,.'lmvra M., wife of Charles H. Fisk, Ira N., Iva, wife of Frank Lillv, of Kalanmazoo, Ida, wife of Frank Fisher, Ada, wife of 0. H. Milhon, Mystie, wife 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 postmaster. 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 worthily honored as one of the serviceable pioneers and venerable patriarchs of this part of the state. He was born on March 4, 1835, in 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 latter of Pennsylvania. The father was a carpenter 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 I838 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 mechanic and found his accomplishments in this line under constant requisition, building many of the first steam mills and other important structures in this part of the state. He died at Alamo in I880 and his wife in 188I. They had three sons, all of whom are living, and two daughters who have died. By a former marriage Mr. \Vheeler was the father of three daughters and one son, all of whom are dead. He was an active 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 neighborhood. Many years ago he was made a Freemason, and for a long time was active and zealotus 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 managing 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 township 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 I835. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler became the parents of six children, all daughters, four of whom are living: 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 failing 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 lifelong 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. GE..ORGE V. TOWNSEND. Whatever the conditions of life mav 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 climates, of boundless variety in its range of productions, and of multitudinous topographical features. Yet in every portion of it the people are prosperous and jndustrious, turning. the raw material 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 attentive to their duties. Most of the first settlers gave their attention to farming here, and many have adhered to that occupation through succeeding generations. Among these one who has prospered in his labor and at the same time contributed 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 engaged in tilling the soil. He was born in Chautauqua 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 I868, 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, I903, 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 followed raising and dealing in live stock in addition to his farming enterprise, and prospered in his undertakings after the first few years of hardship and privation in the new country were passed. H-e 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 education 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 consequence from year to year. In his young manhood he bought two hundred and forty acres of well improved land, and to the further development and improvement of this tract he has devoted 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 rendered it good service as township treasurer. He supports the Republican party in politics, and fraternally has long been an earnest and energetic Granger. In I9oo 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 deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Townsend are zealous nembers 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 contribute to its progress and development in many ways of enduring potency and value. When he was born at North Stonington, Conn., on October 28, 1812, we were in the beginning of that struggle 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 vet robust but altogether daring navy. Our territory practically settled and civilized extended but little beyond the Alleghanies. Our people numbered less than eight millions. Our commerce was small, our industries were vet 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. AWhen 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 drenche(l 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 commanding proportions and power as to challenge the wonder and compel the admiration of the world. Mr. Hull took a keen interest in the expanding 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 (Browning) 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 became eminent in public life. He died at Stonington and his widow spent the last years of her life with her son at Kalamazoo, dying when nearly ninety-three years old. Two sons sanctified the domestic shrine, Latham and his brother William, the latter of whom still lives in his native town and is president of a bank at Westerly, R. T. 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 Connecticut 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 village in I86I, and treasurer from 1863 to 1876, 554 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF also membership on the school 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. Duncan, a lawyer at Independence, Kan. Charles was a banker at Blair, Neb., and died while on a business trip to New York. Edgar was killed in a cyclone at Sauk Rapids, Minn., on April 14, i886. He was a banker at St. Cloud in that state. Their mother died in Kalamazoo on June i6, 1877, and on May 5, i88i, Mr. Hull married a second wife, Miss Fannie M. Abbott, a daughter of George and Hannah (Brownell) Abbott, natives 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 i868 she came to Kalamazoo with her parents 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 modest and unostentatious, a ladv 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 foundations of its present greatness, and! prosperity, are few in number, venerable in age and character, 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 heritage and possession of their descendants. Among the number none stands higher or more deservedly 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 native of Ireland and the latter of Scotland. They came to the United States when young, the father, who was born in 800oo, 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 trying 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 demand 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 Schoolcraft on May io, I834, 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 communion of their little cabin, and with only the scanty conveniences their condition and surroundings -\RI-(l IIAL) AND \WILLIAI\f FINLAY. t. I 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 cultivation and making it productive. The father engaged 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 I844, and he, after surviving her thirty years, passed away at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Mary Judson, on Gourdneck Prairie, in I874. He was three times married and the father of seven sons and three daughters, 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 neighborhood and through the experiences of life in a wild country ind heroic age. He became a daring and skillfil 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 I855 he mace 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 until I865, when he made another trip west, Virginia 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 3I on it until I89I. In that year he bought the hotel in Schoolcraft which he conducted four years, and then retired permanently from all active pursuits. He was married in I856 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 I89I. The mother of these children died ih I862, and in I867 the father married a second wife, Miss Sarah W. Sickler, who was born in St. Joseph county, Mich. Politically 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 force4 which have been engaged in the work. When the character of the early settlers is considered and the examples and teachings of thrift, industry and enterprise which they gave their descendants are recalled, and, moreover, 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 commonwealth 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 ancestry on the father's side. They moved into this 558 BIOGRAPHICAL county in I836 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 cultivation, and here they died, the father on April 15, I867, and the mother in I888. On this farm in Texas township their son Charles was born on December I, 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 living. 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 I868 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 Io. 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 Jessie 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 Republican, 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, I848. His parents were George W. and Lavina (Clark) Winslow, natives of Massachusetts. The father was a marble 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, HISTORY OF from there by stage to Kalamazoo. Here he entered 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 occupied by holz's clothing store. Their enterprise prospered until the panic of I837 drove them to the wall. After this the elder Winslow worked at blacksmithing with Warren Beckwith and in the machine shops until I850. In that year he joined the first train overland from this section to California, the men walking the greater part of the long and trying journey. They encountered some hostile Indians but had no serious trouble with them. He mined in California successfully one year, and then with his accumulations, aggregating some twenty-five hundred dollars, returned to Kalamazoo and started a marble store on Portage 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, I898. 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 Republican 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 earnest 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 I870 he became a member of the firm of George Winslow & Son. The partnership was dissolved in 1875. and after that Mr. Winslow carried on the business alone for a number of years until George W. Crooks became his partner and the firm became Winslow & Crooks, and thev built the marble 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, 1901, 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 I886 and again from 1902 to 1904. On August 27, I873, he was married to Miss Abbie J. Smedley, a native of New York, whose parents moved to Kalamazoo in 1866 from Lockport, that state. They have no children. In politics Mr. Winslow is a Republican, and in fraternal life he belongs to the Elks and the Masonic order in lodge, chapter and commandery. HENRY W. FELLOWS. While the prominent and conspicuous positions 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 speedwell grows along the common beaten track." It is along this track also that the most useful and substantially productive lines of American citizenship are developed, independently of all considerations of personal happiness to the individual. The men who have great opportunities and rule great empires of thought or of material interests, have their important functions in the general 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 managed 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 entitled 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 carpenter and joiner and followed his craft in connection with his farming. About the year I870 he moved to Minnesota, but some years afterward returned to this county, where he died in I889. aged over eighty-one years. His widow survived him two years, passing away in I891. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, but his company was not called into active service. Two sons and one daughter of the children born in the family are living. Henry W. grew to manhood in this county and was educated in its district schools. He has followed farming all his life, having begun at an early age working by the month. I-ie owns a good farm in Texas township and a residence in the village of Oshtemo. In I859 he 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. Fellows 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 I900 was elected county treasurer, an office in which he has rendered very acceptable service. Fraternallv he is a member of the Masonic order. Well known throughout the county, he is highly respected in every part of it as a capable and conscientious official and an excellent citizen. SAMUEL McKEOWN. The life record of this worthy and enterprising 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 intervening obstacles, joins our great army of industrial progress and secures his share of the fruits of the conquest. Mr. McKeown was born on November 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. McKeown worked on farms in his native land until his marriage in I850 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 Livingston county, N. Y., and there they made their home for a short time, then moved to Steuben county, the same state, remaining until I865, 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 characteristic 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 g'ood 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 welfare in every desirable wav. Of their three children Mary E. and Louise J. have died, and Samuel T. is now a resident of Battle Creek, this state. The parents belong to the Presbyterian church, and the father is an energetic and cordially interested member of the Masonic fraternity. To have lived for more than a generation of human life in one community and suffer no reproach, 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. McKeown, yet they are modest in their worth and make no claim' to unusual consideration, being well satisfied wfith 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 i891 retired from active 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 contact with him, was born in Berks county, Pa.. on November 22, I836. 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 i838 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 receiving a common-school education there learned the trade of a blacksmith in that state, which he followed five vears. In I862 he enlisted in the Union army as a member of Company A, One Hundred and Seventh Ohio Infantrv, 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 Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. In the latter he lost his left arm in the first day's fight, but he was KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 56I not discharged from the service until I864. 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 township. This he lived on and worked until 1887, then moved to Oshtemo township, where he lived and farmed until I89I. 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 children living, Peter M., of Kalamazoo, Margaret, of this county, Emma and Theodore W., of Detroit, 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 organization. In politics he has never been an active party worker, finding his greatest comfort in performing the duties of citizenship well outside 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 manv 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 coming to the front in the ranks of institutions of a like nattre. 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 become 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 history takes one back to the pioneer days of Michigan, when this college was founded by the Rev. Thomas Merrill in 1835, at which time the residents of Kalamazoo subscribed two thousand five hundred dollars with which one hundred and fifteen 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. I-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 untiring effort, and the school is to be congratulated 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 evident advantages of a smaller college are combined with the stimulus of constant intercourse with a great university. Kalamazoo College has a large endowment fund, at present three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Scholarships are given along various lines. Their real estate is valued at one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. Four 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 liberality of the late C. C. Bowen, of Detroit, which was dedicated June I6, I902. A splendid and rapidly increasing library is owned by the college. At present 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 Sherwood Rhetorical Society, 1851; the Philolexian Lyceum, 1855; the Eurodelphian Society, I856; and the Century Forum, I9oo. The faculty consists of cultured and competent instructors, who have the interests of Kalamazoo 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 entitles one to a diploma from the latter university. All students that graduate in pedagogy are given college teacher's certificates by the state board of education. Eleven of the class of I903 are at present teaching in high schools and colleges. The faculty, which has done so much for Kalamazoo College, is as follows: Arthur Gaylord Slocum, LL. D., president and professor of mental and moral philosophy; Samuel Brooks, D. D., Latin and literature; Stilman George Jenks, B. S., chemistry and physics; Clarke Benedict Williams, A. M., mathematics; Herbert Lee Stetson, D. D., LL. D., psychology and pedagogy; George Abner Williams, Ph. D., Greek language and literature; Elias John MacEdan, A. M., English language and literature; Orlando Clarke Charlton, A. M., biology and geology; Peter A. Claasen, 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 Michigan, and during the whole of the subsequent period of trial and triumph, of arduous toil, deferred hope, much privation, yet steady progress, he has given of his best endeavors to the development of the section of his residence, the promotion of its best interests and the enduring welfare of its people, illustrating in his daily life and fidelity to duty the best attributes of American 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, 1831, and is the son of Joseph and Betsey (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 afterward 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 educated 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 Augusta, 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 comeliness 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 commendation from all who inspect it, is the best proof of the wisdom and intelligent system he has applied to it. He was united in marriage in T854 KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 563 to Miss Keziah Trowbridge, a native of the state of New York, who died in 900o. 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 wilderness, 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 I89I, 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 remained 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 acquired also a knowledge of the drug trade. In T846 he came to the United States and located at Detroit, entering the employ of his brother, Anthony Dudgeon, who was then carrying on a commission business. The Captain afterward clerked in a drug store in Detroit until I848, when he moved to Kalamazoo and engaged in the grain trade, buying the commodity and shipping it East, in which he continued until his death in T891. 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 organized 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 I849 he united in marriage with Miss Cornelia Clarke, a daughter 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. Dudgeon had two sons and one daughter. One son is dead, and the other, Frank C., lives in Kalamazoo. 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 people, 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 everywhere. 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. NATHAN VIH IE ALDRICH BALCH. This distinguished advocate, accomplished scholar and genial gentleman, whose long professional career and life of active usefulness in the city and county of Kalamazoo was an ornament to the section and an inspiration to its younger men, was born at Athens, Windham county. Vt., on January 22, i808, 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 Bennett, of New Jersey. John Balch, the great progenitor of the family, arrived in America from Somlersetshire. in 1623; they set sail from Plymouth. 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 occupied by Europeans on the shores or territory directly 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 opportunity to attend school regularly, until he was sixteen, when he passed three months at a select one in Townsend. Here he made such proficiency, that at the end of his term he was considered 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 I835, when he was graduated from Middlebury College, 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 become principal of that institution, and this position 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 Bennington he began the study of law under the direction of John S. Robinson, of that city, an advocate of great ability and national reputation. He studied medicine and theology in order to make himself a more competent jurist. On the completion of his term as principal of the Bennington Academy and after securing his second degree of Master of Arts at Middlebury College, he and his brother Samuel came west and arrived at Kalamazoo about August 20, 1837, and here Mr. Balch passed almost all of his subsequent 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 I838 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 enterprise 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 twentyfive years president of the board of education in Kalamazoo. He was admitted to the bar at Centreville, St. Joseph county, this state, on March 19, I840. In 1842 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Kalamazoo county and the same Vear was appointed by the circuit judge prosecuting attorney for Barry county. There being no lawyer in that county, he held the office for several terms to the satisfaction of the judge and the people of the two counties. In the early history 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 engaged 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 profession: and he has been associated, from time to time, with a number of the leadinc lawyers of the state in partnership. Mr. Balch's profound study and extensive reading enabled him to speak fluently and impressively on almost any subject at a moment's notice, and g.ave to his conversation a breadth, versatility and piquancy which made it hizhlv agreeable and instructive. In 1846 he was-chosen to represent his district in the state senate, and in I8S7 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 I862 the Democratic party, to which he always gave his support, nominated him to represent his district in the congress 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, philanthropic, 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 accomplished lady who died of consumption on May I8, 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, Walter 0. Balch, lived to be thirty-four. He was a good student, was graduated from the law department of the Michigan University, and practiced his profession for a number of years with the firm of Balch, 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 mistress of the French and Spanish languages, as well as the English, and possessed an extensive knowledge of history. Her conversational powers were of the highest order. Bv 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 PBLEYKER, 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 farming, and has one of the most beautiful and productive 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. On October 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 Bleyker owns one hundred and eighty-five acres of fine land. He has bred Holstein and Jersey cattle 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 general welfare and progress of his township he is alwavs earnestly and actively interested, being a director and stockholder in the Kalamazoo National 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 politics 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 announced the death of Thomas Clarage, who had been a resident of Kalamazoo for upwards of thirty-five years. Mr. Clarage was about sixtyfive 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 possession of some property which was left him by his parents. He was so badly whipped and illtreated 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 became 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. Trvon'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 Dewing place, sent for him and he returned to Kalamazoo, 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 & Chapin'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 Clarage & Sons, on the retirement of Mr. Bird, under 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 temperament 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 member of the Presbyterian church since taking up his abode here. He was of a modest and rather retiring disposition, never courting honors or favors, although he was twice elected as city alderman. He was married in the year I854 to Elizabeth 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 appreciated to the utmost the kind sympathy of his many friends. Thus ended the eventful life which was begun under such adverse circumstances, and which at the end achieved exceptional 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 active 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 1860 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 postoffice five years under 0. B. Kenday. He then engaged with the Bird Windmill Company and for some time served that concern as manager at Lincoln, Nebraska. In January, 1884, he joined his father in the business 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. 567 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 wellto-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 enterprising and useful farmer of Comstock township, this county, who forms the subject of this memoir. He was the only child of his parents. but instead of being spoiled for serviceable activity in either youth or manhood, he has zealously followed the good example and fully justified 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 establishing himself from childhood to age in the regard and good will of all who have known him. Walter E. Oakley was born on November o0, I842, in Columbia county, N. Y., where his parents, Peter and Charlotte E. (Tenebrooke) Oakley, were also born and reared. The father was an extensive farmer there and successful in his business. In I863 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 extensive 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 counity and educated in the district schools. He remained at home until 1878, removing to Comstock township in I880, where he has since lived. In 1863 he was married to Miss Emma J. Schofield, 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 engaged in the coal trade in Kalamazoo. His mother died in March, I877. 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 large scale. and also in the dairy business. His second marriage, which occurred in 1878, was with Miss Sarah M. Lamb, a native of Niagara county, N. Y., where her parents, 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 daughter, Mrs. Oaklev. By the second marriage Mr. Oaklev 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 dav 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 material 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 annals 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 generation will maintain the elevated standard of excellence and worth reached and occupied by his father 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 greetings 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 adventure, and scarcely worthy of more than a passing thought. But it was not so in I837, 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 deadly reptiles. And all the more credit is due to the hardv pioneers who endured its dangers and hardships in that they knew there were, if possible, worse conditions at its end, all to be overcome before they 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 especially fortunate in having lived to see the splendid noon of the civilization of which he witnessed the unpromising dawn. His life began at Leroy, Genesee county, N. Y., on June II, 1827, and he is the son of Edward and Naomi (Hosher) Coe, natives of New York who moved to Michigan in I837 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 Kalamazoo, 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 arrived in this state his only earthly possessions besides the clothes he wore was a team of horses and ten dollars in money, but such were his industry and frugality that in a few years he accumulated a comfortable estate, and from that time on he steadily enlarged it. Seven children were born in the household, all of whom four are living, one son and three daughters. The son, Walter 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 I850 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 Sacramento. In I855 he 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 beauty in a short time, enriching it with good buildings and other improvements, adorning it with tastefully disposed shade trees and shrubbery, and all the while cultivating it with assiduous 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 engaged in raising high bred stock, particularly Percheron horses, Poland-China hogs and Hereford 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 became 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, I837, 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. Fraternally the father is a Freemason and politically he supports the Democratic party, without, however, 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 respect of its people which is so liberally and generally 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 father 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. Richland 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 T83I. At the time of their arrival in this state the family comprised three sons and six daughters. The father (grandfather of William) bought a tract of land in Richland township on which the only improvements were a log dwelling and barn of small dimensions and rude construction. He lived on this farm until his death, on August 2I, I852. He had been a soldier in the war of 1812 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. I888. The mother is still living there. They had three sons and three daughters, all now deceased 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 during the Civil war a recruiting officer, enlisting a large number of men for the Union army. A note signed by leading citizens of the township for the payment of money to secure them exemption from being drafted by the purchase of substitutes 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 religious institutions, being a regular attendant and liberal supporter of the church, although not a member. The son grew to manhood in his native township and was educated in the county schools, finishing with a course at Parson's Business 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 occupation. He has devoted himself wholly to this and has made his farm a model of thrift and skillful cultivation, home comfort and advanced improvement. While he has but little taste for public 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 native of Detroit but living at the time at Greenville, this state, where the marriage was solemnized. They have had five children, of whom Jeannette Helen, Mary Jane and Wilbur F. are 570 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF living. Their mother died in June, 1904. The family is one of the oldest and most highly respected in the county, and deserves in full measure 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 commonwealth, 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, feeling more impressively the pride of well used opportunity and the incitement to emulation in honest effort it affords. He was born on January I, I85o, on the farm on which he is living. His parents, Samuel and Matilda (Whitney) Knickerbocker, were natives of New York, the former born in Dutchess county and the latter in Genesee. 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 I840, 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 keeping 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, I897, leaving no children. The fruit of the first marriage was a son and a daughter, the latter 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 College. Early in life he began assisting his father on the farm and he remained at home so occupied many years. For a time he was in the employ 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, i888, he was joined in wedlock at Kalamazoo with iM\iss Christina Lamper, a native of the city. Her parents, Lewis and Gertrude (Van Ness) Lamper, 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 esteem. Both parents are worthy citizens and deserving 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 representative of one of the oldest families in the county, was born on the farm on which he now resides on July 6, I854. 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 father 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 I886, and on which the mother died in I891. This is now the KALAMIAZOO 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 maturity. 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 married to Miss Sarah E. Long, a native of Pennsylvania. They have three children, Ida M., wife of Frank Qualy, Berbice S., who is living at home, and Margaret, who is attending school in Kalamazoo. 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 exhibiting 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 bespeaks his possession of a sterling, upright and serviceable manhood. I I I 3 I 4 I il I m I