Untitled
BIOGRAPHIES
OF
VAN BUREN CITIZENS
Bangs F. Warner- Selected for
his appointment to the postmastership of Paw Paw in 1900, because of his
supposed special fitness for the office, Bangs F. Warner has demonstrated
in his continuous service in the position since his first appointment that
there was wisdom and good judgment in the selection, and that expectations
involved in making it have been fully met in the capable and faithful performance
of his official duties. He came to the office with his faculties
well trained and his knowledge of public affairs expanded to considerable
magnitude in a long and varied previous experience in several lines of
usefulness, in all of which he has exhibited a high sense of duty and every
quality of upright and enlightened manhood in the performance of it in
an able and satisfactory manner.
Mr. Warner's life began in Almena township,
Van Buren county, Michigan, on June 24, 1858. His parents, Elam L.
and Charlotte M. (Bangs) Warner, were born in the state of New York, and
further mention of the genealogy of this prominent family is made in the
biographical sketch of Jerome C. Warner, uncle of the subject, which is
found on other pages of this work. In this locality the father of
Bangs F. Warner grew to manhood, was married and reared his offspring.
He died in 1902, at the age of seventy-four years. The mother is
still living and has now reached the age of seventy-seven. The father
was a farmer all his life and at the time of his death he owned one hundred
and sixty-six acres of fine farming land in this county, which showed the
benefit of his well-applied industry throughout a long series of years
in its high state of development and cultivation, the complete and comfortable
character of its buildings and other improvements, together with its general
attractiveness and value as a farm and a rural home. The mother is
still living in Van Buren county and is now the oldest of its people in
continuous residence within its boundaries. She is venerated as a veritable
"Mother in Israel" on this account and she also enjoys the high regard
of all classes of the population because of her integrity of character,
uprightness of life and strong American womanhood. She and
her husband were the parents of four children, one of whom, Roy E., died
an infant. Those living are : Frances A., who resides in Paw
Paw; Bangs F., the immediate subject of this brief memoir; and Junia J.,
who resides in Oakland, California, and is the general passenger and freight
agent of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad in that city, having
held said position for number of years.
Bangs F. Warner grew to manhood and was educated
in this county, having been graduated from a high school in 1876, at the
age of eighteen. After completing his education he became a farmer
during the summer months and taught school in the winters of several years.
He conducted schools at Kendall, Breedsville, and other places in this
county and at Middleville in Barry county, continuing in the profession
until 1883, when he moved to Paw Paw and turned his attention to insurance
as an occupation and means of advancement.
In 1889 he went to Idaho, and there for three
years he bought range horses for shipment to the eastern markets.
In 1893 he returned to his farm of one hundred acres in Waverly township,
this county, where he remained until 1897, and made a specialty of dealing
extensively in hay. In the year last mentioned he again moved to
Paw Paw, but continued his transactions in hay and has done so to
the present time (1911). He has also been the postmaster of the city continuously
sine 1900, as has been noted, and enjoys an excellent reputation and general
popularity for the manner in which he conducts the office and provides
for the comfort and convenience of the people, whose welfare he makes the
first consideration in the performance of his official duties within
the law and the regulations governing the services which, of course, he
is obliged to obey.
Mr. Warner was married on November 2, 1882,
to Miss Clara Bray, a daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca (Clark) Bray,
and by this marriage became the father of one child, his son Leo E., who
is now a bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Paw Paw. The father
is a Republican in his political faith and allegiance and always loyal
to his party, but he never allows party considerations to interfere with
the faithful and impartial discharge of his duties. In fraternal
relations he is affiliated with the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias
and the Modern Woodmen of America.
The people of Van Buren county esteem him
highly for his upright and commendable manhood, his enterprise and public
spirit as a citizen and his ability and fidelity as a public official.
He also ranks high in business circles as a progressive and far seeing
dealer, modern in his methods and strictly square in all his transactions.
He well deserves the rank they accord him as one of their leading and most
representative men and in every feature of his daily life exemplifies it.
Henry F. Weber- The Germans in America
from an important class of good, reliable and industrious citizens, who
can be depended upon to work hard, save what they earn, and so invest it
as to obtain excellent results. The natives of the Fatherland posses
those excellent traits of character which go so far in the making of good
and prosperous citizens., and they have transmitted to their offspring
the habits of industry and thrift which have aided them so materially in
the attainment of success. One of the prosperous agriculturists of
Van Buren county, Henry F. Weber, of section 6, Bangor township, is an
excellent example of the thrifty, hardworking German-American citizen.
He was born in the Fatherland, June 17, 1844, a son of Henry and Christina
(Muller) Weber, who were also born in the old country.
Mr. Weber is one of the five survivors of
the twelve children born to his parents, and he came to America in 1867,
settling first in Chicago, where for the next fifteen years he was engaged
in the lumber business. He came to Van Buren county in 1882, purchasing
one hundred and five acres of good farming land in section 6, Bangor township,
and here he has continued to reside to the present time, carrying on general
farming and stock raising. He has been consistently successful in
his operations, and year by year has added to his farming equipment and
livestock, repairing such buildings as were in good condition, and erecting
new ones to take the place of those no longer useful, and he now has as
fine a property as any of its size to be found in Bangor township.
He stands high in estimation of his fellow citizens, who realize that he
may be depended upon to support all beneficial movements in his community,
and is looked upon as a good representative of the Van Buren county farmer.
On January 14, 1868, Mr. Weber was married
to Miss Louisa Depper,who died June 22, 1904, having been the mother
of twelve children, as follows: Henry, Louisa, William, Minna, Annie, Freda,
Fredericka, John, Herman, Anna, Bertha and Freda. Of these Louisa,
the first Freda, Fredericka, and Anna are deceased. In his political
views Mr. Weber is a Republican, and he and his children attend the German
Lutheran church. The family home is situated on South Haven Rural
Route No. 1.
C. Ray Pugsley.- Pursuing the even
tenor of his way as a quiet, unostentatious farmer and breeder of fine
registered cattle, with comparative indifference to the great, wasting
currents of life outside of his peaceful domain; with no desire to mingle
in or be a part of the bustle, hurry and distracting cares, yet alert always
to the needs of his own community and zealous in his efforts to aid in
providing for them, C. Ray Pugsley, of Paw Paw township, on this county,
has lived to this time a useful and productive life, and given to those
around him a fine example of sturdy manhood and serviceable citizenship
of the kind that the welfare of the country mainly depends on him.
Mr. Pugsley was born on a Paw Paw township farm,
on fact on the one he now lives on and cultivates, and the whole of his
life to this time (1911) has been passed within the boundaries of Van Buren
county. The date of his birth was February 12, 1883, and he is the
son of William H. and Sarah A. (Harris) Pugsley, the former a native of
England and the latter of Jackson county, Michigan. The father came
to Michigan in 1857, when he was but ten years of age, and he has been
a resident of the state ever since. He has been actively and profitably
connected with the farming industry of the state for more than thirty years,
and is even now deeply interested in it, although he has turned the management
of his home farm over to his son Ray. IN 1880 he bought the eighty acres
on which the family is now established, and to the cultivation and improvement
of this tract he devoted all his time and energy until 1904, when his son
took charge of the place and he retired from active pursuits. He
and his wife are the parents of three children, all of whom are living.
They are: Verne M., wife of L. H. Weldon, of Battle Creek, Michigan; May,
the wife of F. A. Dibble, of Paw Paw; and C. Ray, the interesting subject
of this brief review.
The last named obtained a high-school education
in Paw Paw and remained at home working for and under the direction of
his father on the farm until he reached the age of twenty-one. He
then took over management of the farm himself, under and agreement with
this father, and since that time he alone has cultivated it and conducted
all the operations pertaining to it. His father was a first-rate
farmer and he received good instruction while working under his direction.
Yet he is a progressive man and studies his business with a view to securing
the best possible returns for his labor and keeping in touch with the progress
in what he has discovered his business to be--one of the most rapidly improving
industries among men.
He is something of an enthusiast on the subject
of stock improvement, and in accordance with this theories he makes a specialty
of breeding fine registered Guernsey cattle, conducting this department
of his enterprise both for his own satisfaction and advantage, and also
for the good of the country around him. He also feeds and ships live
stock in general, and carries on a general farming industry with the utmost
vigor and all the information concerning his operations he can gather from
judicious reading and reflective and analytical observation.
On October 25, 1905, Mr. Pugsley was united
in marriage with Miss Frances Du Bois, a daughter of J. E. and Lucy Du
Bois, highly respected residents of Paw Paw. They have had six children:
Milly, who has been dead several years; Frances, the wife of Mr. Pugsley;
Claude; J. C., whose home is in Van Buren county; Vernon, who is also a
resident of this county; and Gerturde, who is still living at home with
her parents.
Mr. Pugsley has always taken an earnest interest
and an active part in all commendable projects involving the development
and improvement of the township and county of his home. He is a progressive
and public-spirited man, and at all times eager to see Van Buren county
as far forward in advancement of a wholesome character as judicious efforts
can put it. The public affairs of the township and county interest
him as a good citizen, but not as a man ambitious for public station or
prominence among his fellows. Therefore, although he is a firm believer
in the principles of the Democratic party and does his part to secure their
adoption of government of the country, general and local, he has never
sought or desired a political office for himself. His farming and
live stock industries interest and occupy him in a leading way, and he
prefers to leave the direction of public affairs to those who like such
employment. In church relations he is a Baptist and one of the mainstays
of the congregation in which he holds his membership. All who know
him esteem him and he is in all respects worthy of their regard, confidence
and good will.
Edwin P. Orton- The life of the subject
of this sketch in Arlington township, Van Buren county, Michigan,
spans a period of more than three score years, in which marked developments
and improvements have been made. And in this progress Mr. Orton as
a prosperous farmer and worthy citizen has taken a place and acted well
his part, and in his declining years has the satisfaction of seeing his
sons take up the work he has gradually relinquished.
Mr. Orton is a native of the Empire state.
He was born in Orleans county, New York, October 1, 1841, a son of Ira
and Cornelia (Fitcraft) Orton, the former a native of West Haven township,
Rutland county, Vermont, and the latter of New York. When a child
of four years he was brought by his parents to Michigan, and the family
home was then , 1845, established in Arlington township, in primitive pioneer
fashion. Here his father was engaged in farming the rest of his life,
and he died July 5, 1893. His mother had passed away in 1876.
Edwin P. was the third born into their family of eight children, of whom
the first died in infancy; Emeline and Louis are deceased; Emory is a resident
of Bangor, Michigan; Samuel lives in Waverly township, Michigan; Milo is
deceased; and Priscilla is the wife of J. N. Bigelow, of Bangor.
Mr. Orton remained with the father until he
was twenty-five years of age, when he bought forty acres of land in section
21, Arlington township, and began farming on his own responsibility.
That was in 1864. Later he bought another forty acres, and still
later added a third forty, the last tract being in section 29, and this
land, one hundred and twenty acres, he has utilized for general farming
purposes and has been fairly successful in his operations.
On April 18, 1867, he and Florence S. Slocum
were untied in marriage. Of the children given to them the first born died
in infancy; Alice is a resident of Arlington, Michigan; and Lewis and Royal
are engaged in farming in Arlington township, Royal being on the home farm
of his father.
Lewis E. Orton was born March 7, 1873.
On November 18, 1900, he married Miss Ella Krogel, and to them have been
given three children: Lewis, who died in infancy; Florence, born August
10, 1902; and Evelyn, born July 3, 1908.
Royal F. Orton was born October 12, 1879,
and has always lived on the home farm. On November 8, 1899, he married
Miss Bertha Krogel, and to them also have been given four children: Elsie,
Edwin, Irving (deceased), and Ethel.
The senior Mr. Orton and his son Royal class
themselves with the Independents, politically, while Lewis Orton supports
the Democratic ticket.
George Alexander Wallace, one of
the enterprising and prosperous young farmers of Arlington township, Van
Buren county, Michigan, dates his birth on the farm on which he now lives,
October 29, 1879, and is an only son of Seymour and Frances (Worthy) Wallace.
He has an only sister, Effie, wife of Samuel Kelly, of Lansing, Michigan.
As a boy he attended district school in winter and in summer assisted his
father with the work on the home farm, finally assuming the responsibility
of the farming operations. He still lives at the old home place with his
parents and carries on general farming and stock raising. This farm,
comprising two hundred and thirty-five acres, is in Section 26, on the
Lawrence Rural Route No. 2.
On October 29, 1898, George A. Wallace and
Miss Edna Hinckley were united in marriage. Mrs. Wallace is a daughter
of Phillip and Rebecca (Simmons) Hinckley, and is fourth in their family
of five children, her brother and sisters being as follows: Hervey, of
Cass county, Michigan; Grace, wife of Claud Peck, of Grand Junction; Gertrude,
wife of Floyd Lockwood, of Lawrence, Michigan; and Mildred, of Grand Rapids,
Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace have three children: Neva, born December
10, 1899; Clark, January 6, 1905; and Frances, September 8, 1906.
Mr. Wallace is an Odd Fellow and a Modern
Woodman. He votes the Republican
ticket.
Jason J. Lyle.- Having passed the whole
of his life to this time (1911) in Van Buren county, and Paw Paw township,
Jason J. Lyle has an unusual and impressive interest in its welfare and
that of its people. He has mingled with its residents from childhood,
obtained his education in its schools, taken his place and faithfully filled
it in its industrial life, and contributed his full share to its improvement
and advancement and the proper administration of its civil affairs through
his activity as a citizen. He is therefore in full sympathy with
its people, and one of their most representative and useful men, as well
as one their most progressive and successful farmers and live stock breeders
and dealers.
Mr. Lyle is a native of Van Buren county and
Paw Paw township, and his life began here on August 4, 1879. He is
a son of Marshall and Mary (McWilliams) Lyle, also natives of Van Buren
county, and a grandson of John and Ann (Armstrong) Lyle, who came to Michigan
from their former home in England in 1848. More extended mention
of the family may be found in the sketch of Levi N. Lyle elsewhere in this
volume. Mr. Lyle's father, Marshall Lyle, passed the whole of his
life in the township, and on the farm with his father. They were stock
breeders and general farmers, and made steady gains in their business as
the years passed by. The father died on April 3, 1899, leaving his
father, the grandson of Jason, then well advanced in years, in charge of
the business. His widow, Jason's mother, is still living, at the
age of over sixty years.
They were the parents of two children: Jason
J. and his sister Ethel, who is now the wife of Dr. W. E. Collins, of Kalamazoo,
Michigan. Jason attended the district school near his home and afterward
the high school in Decatur, this county. His course of instruction
at the latter was cut short, however, by the death of his grandfather,
which laid upon him the burden of taking care of the farm and conducting
its operations. He has managed it ever since, and in addition to
this two hundred and thirty acres he has one hundred and sixty of his own,
which he cultivates according to the best methods of present day farming.
On this he is extensively engaged in raising live stock, having ever in
view the large and active dairying business he is carrying on in connection
with his other industries. For this he breeds Holstein cattle, of
which he has a fine herd.
On October 30, 1901, Mr. Lyle was united in
marriage with Miss Maud Goodenough, a daughter of Nelson and Adella (Wright)
Goodenough, natives of Michigan, and their only child. Her father
had been married before, and to his first union one child was born also,
his son Ralph, who is a resident of Cass county, this state. The
grandparents of Mrs. Lyle came to Michigan and located in Cass county,
and were among the most respected residents of that portion of the state,
filling their places and performing their duty as builders and improvers
of the state in full measure according to their powers and opportunities.
Mr. and Mrs. Lyle have one child, their son
Kenneth Marshall, who was born on February 18, 1906. His father is
a Republican in politics and earnestly loyal and serviceable to his party.
He desires no place on the official roster of the township or county for
himself, but takes an interest in public affairs for the purpose of doing
what he can to promote the best interests of the people. In church connection
he is a Methodist. He is universally recognized as one of the best and
most useful citizens of the county.
Levi Nelson Lyle.- It have been given
to some to help develop the country, to shape their surroundings
according to their needs, and to bring forth the present high degree of
civilization. Van Buren county, Michigan, became the home of many
a sturdy pioneer who did not ask for anything more than wild timber land
to work upon. Bravely, uncomplainingly, there forerunners of civilization
went to work and now many of them have laid down the burdens of life, although
it was given to most of them to see in some measure what they had accomplished.
The son of a pioneer and a citizen who has himself developed an excellent
farm from what was before only a tract of wild woodland is Levi Nelson
Lyle, residing in Paw Paw township.
Levi Nelson Lyle was born in a rough hewn
shanty in the woods of Paw Paw township, Van Buren county, March 29, 1846,
his birthplace having been about thirty feet from where now stands the
home of his nephew, Jay Lyle. His parents were John and Ann (Armstrong)
Lyle. His grandfather, John Lyle, Sr., was a native of Cornwall,
England, and was born on Christmas Day, 1793. With his family he
immigrated to America in 1832 and in the spring of 1835 came to Michigan,
locating his home in the wilderness, a mile and a half north of Paw Paw.
He died December 4, 1867, leaving a wife, ten children and numerous grandchildren
to mourn his loss.
John Lyle Jr. eldest of the ten children of
the foregoing, was born in Devonshire, England, January 5, 1818, and came
to Michigan with the family. At that time the only fashion in which he
could find his way from his farm to Paw Paw was by marking the trees, this
primitive method of blazing the trail being the forerunner of the beautiful
roads of today. The farm which he cleared became one of the best
in the country and was his home until his death, October 5, 1899.
He hauled his wheat to St. Joseph with a yoke of oxen, taking three days
to make the trip, and received for it fifty cents per bushel, which was
considered a very good price in those days. He was married here to
Miss Ann Armstrong, who had come to Paw Paw from New York at a time when
the village of Paw Paw consisted of two log stores and a hotel. He died
on his farm, having survived his wife three years. They were the
parents of four children: Levi Nelson; Olive and Oliver, twins, who are
deceased; and Marshall , also deceased.
Levi, the eldest of the children, grew to manhood
on his father's farm. He first went to school in an old log schoolhouse
on the Henry Hinckley place, but later a new schoolhouse was built on the
crossroads corner, about forty rods from the family residence, which made
it much more convenient. He later attended school for a time in Paw
Paw, boarding with a family in the west part of town, and also attended
school for a time in Decatur. Professor Bellows being at the head
of the high school. At the age of twenty-one years his father gave him
eighty acres of land, which at that time was covered with a heavy
growth of beech, maple and basswood timber that, were it all standing today,
would be more valuable than the land, but not foreseeing its future value
Mr. Lyle cut it down mercilessly, and in clearing the land he resorted
to what was called "niggering it out," that is, he would lay pieces across
each other on the tree and about twenty-five or thirty feet from the butt
would build a fire, burning out the limbs and in many instances consuming
the larger part of the tree, thus saving a great deal of chopping.
Mr. Lyle boasts that he has gone to bed at times leaving as many as thirty"
niggers" working for him, or in other words consuming the fallen timber.
The method and the expression were common in pioneer days, though the young
people today would scarcely understand the significance of the latter.
Both Mr. Lyle's father and his grandfather made a vast amount of maple
syrup from the trees now cut down and Mr. Lyle still owns a small grove
of maples from which he gets syrup each year, his output last year being
about fifty gallons. Mr. Lyle has added to his property from
time to time and now owns about two hundred acres, on which he carries
on general farming. He is also interested in dairying, owning a fine
herd of cattle, at the head of which is Dexter, a three-year old registered
Guernesy bull and the registered cow, Belinda Hillcrest. He is considered
one of the skilled farmers of his district and is known as a food neighbor
and a public-spirited citizen. A staunch Republican in his political
views, Mr. Lyle has served as township commissioner and his fraternal affiliation
is with the Maccabees. He and his wife are attendants of the Methodist
Episcopal church.
On September 28, 1869, Mr. Lyle was married
to Miss Matilda Sherrod, who was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, the
daughter of Daniel and Hannah (Cole) Sherrod. Daniel Sherrod was born September
20, 1800. He removed to Paw Paw in 1855 and followed farming until his
death, on March 6, 1888. His first wife was Rebecca Kite, born May
5, 1804, and died in February, 1833. To this union were born four
children, namely: Michael, Margaret, Philip and Hiram, the daughter alone
surviving. His second marriage on February 5, 1836, was to Hannah
Cole, born in New York state November 17, 1809, and died February 17, 1884.
Their children follow: Hiram J., born November 29, 1836; Jesse A., born
October 5, 1837, died April 5, 1897; David A., born February 3, 1840, died
August 25, 1896; Lorenzo, born October 22, 1841; Sarah, born August 4,
1844; Almond A., born February 25, 1849; and Matilda, born September 14,
1851, the wife of the subject.
To Mr. and Mrs. Lyle have been born seven
children, namely: Melvin, residing in Van Buren county; Nellie, the wife
of Frank Patton, of Kalamazoo; Gertrude, who married Fred Webb, of Chicago;
Beatrice, wife of Ernest Edgely, formerly employed in Chicago, but now
residing on a farm in Decatur; Wave, the wife of Roy Mosier, of Antwerp
township; Arlie, residing near home; and Alta, who is still beneath the
parental roof-tree. Mr. and Mrs. Lyle rejoice in the possession of
eleven grandchildren. Melvin Lyle's children are Leo and Vivian;
Mrs. Patton's are Lyle, Catherine, Donald, Max and Virginia; Mrs. Webb's
are Howard, Lucile and Sylvia; and Mrs. Mosier has a daughter, Evelyn.
The following appreciation of the character of Mr.
Lyle has been given in another publication:
" A more honest, conscientious and upright
citizen than Levi Lyle cannot be named. He has lived all his life
in one neighborhood and it is not known that he has one enemy. His
sense of right is such that he could not take even what is usually considered
a fair advantage of a fellow citizen. His life has been quiet and
uneventful, but it furnishes an example of true citizenship which will
be an influence for good in his community for generations to come."
Isaac W. Van Fossen.- The venerable
and venerated patriarch to whom these paragraphs are dedicated and the
story of whose long and highly useful life they briefly chronicle, entered
upon the great field of newspaper work at the age of sixteen and continued
in it until long after he passed the meridian of life. During the extended
period of his connection with that spectacular and sparkling line of human
endeavor our country expanded and grew in power and importance as nothing
in human history has ever done. It planted new commonwealths of vast expanse
and almost boundless resources where but a little while before the Red
Man roamed, the panther leaped, the deer disported, in a security that
was undisturbed save by the ravages of one upon another. While it was passing,
too, opposing political theories and their advocates were making history
on our soil with the elevation of Man, the betterment of the race, as the
prize of the contests.
The hereditary lord of the soil, although
for the greater part of the time sullenly accepting his fate, occasionally
rose against the advancing civilization, and our people had to reduce him
to subjection, sometimes at a great sacrifice of life and treasure. The
majestic march of mind, the advance of science and art, the progress of
discovery and invention, the expansion of education for lofty and lowly,
and all the other concomitants of a militant and strident civilization
kept pace with the flight of time and the sequence of events. And
throughout the whole of it Mr. Van Fossen was in touch with the leading
thought and some of the leading actors in the great progressive performances.
His life is like a mighty bridge, spanning a wide, swift current of running
water. Its one abutment rests on the undeveloped condition of the country
and its simplicity in life during our earlier days; and the other, when
it shall have been completed- for he is still among us- will have its base
in the full flower of fruitage of our twentieth century advancement and
all that is involved therein.
Mr. Van Fossen was born at Livonia, Livingston
county, New York, on July 24, 1826, and is the son of Isaac and Mary (Codding)
Van Fossen, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of New York.
They were the parents of eleven children, of whom only Isaac W. and his
brother Thomas D., of Springfield, Missouri, are living. The father
and his elder brother, John, owned large mills at Livonia, New York, and
were the most prominent men in that locality. Through the failure
of banks in 1829 they lost their business and property and then came to
Michigan. After a prospecting tour of the wild western territory, which
was to be his future home and that of his family, the father returned east
and reported conditions and prospects. In 1831 he and his brother
William, who lived in Ann Arbor, purchased a section of land where Concord,
in Jackson county, Michigan, now stands. He was still in the east
and from there shipped the machinery for a new mill to his brother William,
who had moved to the new section on Kalamazoo river. In 1833 the
family came to this state, where he had erected a new log house, journeying
by way of the Erie canal to Buffalo, and thence over Lake Erie by steamboat
to Detroit. On their arrival in the Detroit river they found it full of
Indian canoes, the day of their arrival being one on which the Indians
received their annual allowance of money and presents from the government.
The family secured horses and wagons in Detroit and then made the journey
overland to their new home in Jackson county, a distance of ninety-five
or a hundred miles, as the crow flies, and the greater part of it through
an almost unbroken wilderness in which there were no conveniences of travel.
Isaac W. Van Fossen, who was then about seven
years of age, stopped with an uncle at what is now Ann Arbor, and which
received its name in honor of his uncle's wife, Ann Van Fossen. As soon
as the family was settled in its new home the brothers bestirred themselves
to get things in order for the beginning of their business as millers.
William had already begun damming the Kalamazoo river at Concord to get
power for the mill and as soon as the dam was completed and the mill erected
operations were begun in a new industry which was soon appreciated as one
of the greatest conveniences and benefactions of the region.
Mr. Van Fossen's mother died on November 30,
1839, but his father lived to the age of eighty-seven. He remained
at home, aiding in breaking up the farm with ox teams and with the other
farm work, until the death of his mother. He then took up his residence
with a relative, Mr. Morgan, who lived at Homer in the adjoining county
of Calhoun. From Homer he went a few months later to Spring Arbor, riding
a two-year old colt as his means of transportation. He worked at Spring
Arbor about eighteen months, then move to Jackson, where he secured employment
in a window and other woodwork factory for a short time. Here his newspaper
career began. He got into the office of the Jackson Democrat, George W.
Raney, editor and proprietor, as an apprentice, and remained in connection
with the paper three years, having his home with his employers.
They sold the paper to Messrs. Story and Cheney,
proprietors of the Jackson Patriot, and Mr. Van Fossen worked for them
two years. His father owned a mill in Waterville, Ohio, and he went there
on a visit. For about a year and a half he worked on the Maumee City
Times and after that his engagements on newspapers were numerous.
He was on the Toledo Blade, and later on the Detroit Advertiser. During
the campaign of 1848, when General Cass was the Democratic candidate for
the presidency, he worked on the Jackson Patriot. While working on
the last one named he wrote an Indian story dealing with events in the
history of the Ottawa and Pottawattomie tribes, which had been at war between
themselves. The story made a great hit, for the war between the Indians
had excited universal interest at the time.
During his wanderings Mr. Van Fossen attended
school at odd time, when he had the chance, and kept on improving his education.
On one occasion he rode from Jackson to Lansing on horseback, stopping
over night at Mason. There he found a gentleman who had a Washington iron
hand printing press, but did not know how to set it up. Mr. Van Fossen
put it in working order for him and it was soon thereafter dispensing the
news and keeping the people enlightened. At the request of Messrs. Story
& Cheney, of Jackson, his old employers, he went to Leslie, Ingham
county, and took charge of a publication to secure the "Tax List," of that
county and was successful. The material and appliances he had to work with
were very crude, but he did the best he could with them, as he had always
done under all circumstances, no matter what the difficulties.
While living in Jackson he was first corporal
of the Jackson Light Guards for six years, and was then promoted quartermaster
of the Eighteenth Brigade, Ninth Division, of the Michigan Militia, now
known as the Michigan National Guard. During a session of the state legislature
in 1852 (December 23) he began working on the State Journal, published
in Lansing, Michigan, by Hedges & Peck, state printers. He remained
with this paper and after the legislature adjourned the assisted in getting
out the reports of the work of the legislature during that session as one
of the three compositors who were chosen. A position was offered him in
Detroit by Bagg, Patten & McDonald, printers, book-sellers and dealers
in stationery. Here he had charge as foreman of the book and job office.
While here, on November 5, 1853, he joined the Detroit Typographical Union
and is today its oldest living member.
He remained with the concern until June, 1854.
At that time John R. Baker, the district attorney of Van Buren county,
arrived in Detroit, having been sent there by the business men of Paw Paw
to secure a man to take charge of the Paw Paw Free Press, which they had
recently bought from S. T. Conway. Mr. Baker had been a student with Mr.
Patten and he laid the situation before him, and he immediately recommended
Mr. Van Fossen for the place and granted him leave of absence to come to
Paw Paw and look into the situation. He did so, and as a result of what
he saw he, in June, 1854, moved to the village and bought the paper and
office.
The Free Press was at that time the organ
of the Democratic party and the only paper published in the county then
in the control of the political situation in Van Buren county, but in 1855
the state passed into the hands of the Republicans and Mr. George W. Fitch,
of Kalamazoo, was induced to send a printer-lawyer named Butler to Paw
Paw to edit and print what was then and is still known as The True Northerner,
and which was at once given the political and official patronage of the
political party then coming into power.
Mr. Van Fossen still continued and being a
thoroughly practical man, his business increased and at the end of six
months he was compelled to put in another press to take care of his increased
business and job printing. In 1858 his office was destroyed by fire,
but he succeeded in saving his newspaper files and books and immediately
bought new material and continued the paper some months later. This
continued until 1875, when he sold the paper to Landphear & Matthews,
after which he went to Florida and assisted in establishing a new Democratic
paper, The Pensacola Advance. He then returned to Paw Paw, where
in the meantime had been formed a central Greenback club, which had begun
the publication of a paper-The Michigan Independent- but it had not been
a remarkable success and was discontinued. He was solicited to buy
an office and start a new paper, which he did on June 1, 1880, called the
Paw Paw Herald, and this he continued to publish until December 31,
1889. He then retired from the publication of this and later published
for a while a campaign paper called the "People's Alliance" for Sullivan
Cook, the editor, of Hartford, Michigan. He also operated a job office
up to 1902, when he sold out and retired from active business. His
newspaper career covers a period of fifty years, in which time he has seen
many advances and reverses in the course of his connection with it, and
has established himself firmly in the esteem of newspaper men wherever
he and his work are known.
Mr. Van Fossen purchased his present residence
and was married on June 23, 1858, to Miss Irene P. Simmons, the first white
girl born in Paw Paw, then called the town of Lafayette, and by this union
he became the father of three children, namely: Zell, who died in
infancy; Vern, who is a dentist and living at home; and Rena R., who is
a school teacher in Rossville, Illinois. The father was an ardent
Greenbacker in the day when the Greenback issue was a prominent one in
our politics, and he still adheres to the doctrines of the party.
For some years he had not been active in political matters, but he still
retains all his old- time interest in public affairs. In 1858 he
was appointed deputy United States marshal for the District of Michigan
by U.S. Marshal John S. Bagg. In 1866 he was made Department Collector
of Revenue for the Second District. In 1884 he was nominated by the
Greenback and Democratic parties for the State Senate, in opposition to
C. J. Monroe, Republican, and was defeated by a small majority.
Fraternally he is a Freemason, having been
initiated in the Jackson Lodge, No.17., on February 8, 1849, and soon thereafter
took the R.A.M. degrees. When he became a resident of Paw Paw he
took a demit from the Jackson lodge and joined at Paw Paw, July 15, 1855,
and from the chapter in 1860. He holds the rank of past high priest
in his chapter and is the only charter member now living. He also
was a member of Peninsular Commandery, Knight Templars, of Kalamazoo. His
religious connection is with the Episcopal church.
Benjamin A. Murdock.- having rounded
out the full score of years allotted to man by the sacred writer, and almost
one more, the late Benjamin A. Murdock, of Paw Paw, who died November 29,
1895, surrendered his trust at the behest of the Great Disposer of Events
after working out a career that was interesting in all and remarkable in
some of its features. He was for many years a school teacher, and
although persons who follow that pursuit, especially those who teach in
country or districts schools, usually eke out only a slender living, he
became a man of extensive possessions in a worldly way. He was a traveler
of some note for the period in his young manhood, yet he passed the greater
part of his subsequent life almost wholly in the locality of his home and
warmly attached to its attractions. His live began soon after the
close of the war of 1812, in fact but nine days after its latest and greatest
victory was won for the citizen soldiers of our country, and he lived through
two wars of magnitude the arbitrament of fate forced on our people, and
in addition through a number of Indian wars, some of them of great atrocity
an at times of threatening proportions. He also witnessed the expansion
of our territory, the marvelous increase in our population, our wonderful
strides in the arts and sciences and all the broadening and improving forces
of eduction and to these he did his part to bring about the results that
have no parallel in human history.
Mr. Murdock was born in Hamilton, New York,
on January 17, 1815, a son of Ariel and Tryphosa (Bonney) Murdock. The
father was the captain in a company of volunteers in the war of 1812, but
did not long survive the war, dying in September, 1826, when his son was
less than twelve years old. His wife belonged to the Bonney family
of distinction and had an extension and varied experience. Their children
are all now deceased: Sophia, Benjamin A., Hannah and Carey. Benjamin
obtained a first-rate education, being graduated from Hamilton College
at Clinton, New York, and for some years thereafter taught school in that
state. He came to Michigan in 1836 and located in Van Buren county,
taking up one hundred and sixty acres of government land near South Haven.
During the next two years he taught school in that vicinity, and in 1839
made a visit to his native state and afterward an extended tour through
the south.
In 1842 he returned to Kalamazoo, Michigan,
and for some months was the companion and chum of James Fennimore Cooper,
the celebrated novelist. He again turned his attention to teaching,
and continued his devotion to the profession for twelve years. At
the end of that period he became a druggist in Paw Paw. In this business
he was occupied until failing health induced him to retire and from that
time until his death he gave his time and attention to looking after his
large farming interests. At one period of his life he owned more
than sixteen hundred acres of Michigan land, and at the time of his death
possessed between six and seven hundred acres.
On May 1, 1859, Mr. Murdock was married to
Miss Mary Victoria Anderson, a daughter of LeGrand and Catherine (Shaw)
Anderson, natives of Virginia and the parents of ten children: Cornelius,
Lydia Anne, William, George, John, Eliza, Harriet and LeGrand, all deceased,
and Mary, who married Mr. Murdock, and Jane, who is now Mrs. Dewey and
living in Van Buren county, Michigan. LeGrand Anderson, the father
of these children, came to Michigan in 1828 and located near Decatur.
In 1832 he brought his family to his new home in the wilderness, and several
Ohio families with him, whom he induced to settle in the same neighborhood.
He bought five hundred acres of Government land, to which he added by subsequent
purchases until at the time of his death, which occurred in July, 1869,
he was the possessor of about one thousand acres. His wife died in
1842. Mrs. Murdock was well educated in her youth, living for a time
in Ohio and having as her first tutor in that state Professor John Purdue,
the founder of Purdue University at Lafayette, Indiana.
Mr. and Mrs. Murdock became the parents of
two children, their daughter Mary Eva, who died at the age of a few months,
and their son Benjamin LeGrand, who lived to be only two years old.
Although their own home was childless, they found comfort in ministering
to the happiness of the children of other households and made themselves
foster parents to many, so to speak, by their numberless acts of kindness
to them and their interest in everything that ministered to the happiness
of all who came within the reach of their generosity and proved worthy
of it.
Mr. Murdock was a Republican in politics from
the founding of the party and prior to that he was a Whig. He was
always warmly interested in the success of his party and worked to win
it, but he did not care for official station for himself. His regular
affiliation was with the Christian church, of which he was a devout and
zealous member, and in whose work of making men and women better and happier
he was an active participant, a wise counselor and a greatly valued aid.
An incident of special interest in the history
of the Murdock and Anderson families should not be overlooked: Mr. Lambert,
the private secretary of John Quincy Adams, came to Kalamazoo for a rest.
Later tow nephews of George Washington, Spottswood and George by name,
who were then being educated at West Point, left there on a vacation and
came west looking for Mr. Lambert. The latter in the meantime had moved
to the home of Mr. Anderson, and there they found him. They later
obtained positions as school teachers in that section. Spottswood
Washington taught the school nearest the home of Mrs. Murdock's father,
Mr. Anderson, and lived in the family. His brother George taught
another school a short time in the same neighborhood, and he also was a
member of the Anderson household.
Almiron Robinson.- Mr. Robinson's
parents were, like so many of the county's best citizens, natives of New
York. Both Alfred Robinson and his wife, Esther Baird Robinson, were
born in the Empire state and came to Michigan early in life. The
father was a soldier in the Civil war and a life-long Republican. Both
he and his wife were members of the United Brethren church. The mother
is still living in Hartford, Michigan. There were five sons and two
daughters in the household to which Almiron Robinson belonged and four
of the children are still living. Edward is a resident of Keeler
township; Charles lives in Hartford; Alfred is a merchant in Berlamont;
and Almiron lives in Keeler township.
The date of Mr. Robinson's birth was March
22, 1875, and this county has been his home all his life. He was
educated in the common schools and not until he was twenty-one did he begin
working for himself. When he began his career as a wage earner he
did not have a dollar to his name. In 1895 he was married to Miss
Frankie V. Jackson and together they began to work for a competence.
She is the only child of Andrew and Eliza St. John Jackson, of this county,
and was born February 15, 1879.
The first home of the young couple is now
a part of their present farm. They were obliged to go in debt to buy it,
but thrift and good management, as well as hard work, enabled them in time
not only to pay for this but to acquire forty acres more. In 1899
they built a tasteful frame house, which has since been enlarged and modified.
Three years afterward they erected a large barn, which was destroyed by
fire four years later and all its contents lost. Misfortunes are
said never to come singly and the Robinson's experience was no exception,
for shortly before their valuable barn went up in flames Mr. Robinson was
confined to the hospital for five months. Adversity only develops
fortitude in strong souls and these two were of that sort who refuse to
be discouraged. They built another barn, who dimensions are thirty-six
by seventy feet and in 1911 were able to look out on their pleasant estate,
"Ingleside" with the satisfying consciousness that there was not a dollar
of indebtedness on it. This place is situated four and a half miles
from Keeler and five and a half miles from Hartford, and is one of the
pleasant homes of the county.
There are four children in the family of Mr.
and Mrs. Robinson and all are in school. Lloyd is in the eighth grade;
Leon D., in the seventh; Glenn, in the fourth; and Laura Belle, in the
third grade. It is the intention of the parents to give their children
the education which will fit them to carry out their chosen careers to
the best advantage. They are deeply interested in the question of
education and are especially friendly to the public schools.
Mr. Robinson endorses the political principles
for which the Republican party stands and, though he is no politician,
he is very much interested in public affairs. Both he and Mrs. Robinson
are always prompt to give support and encouragement to all undertakings
which are for the general good. They have built up their fortune
from nothing and it has been sometimes very much like making bricks without
straw, but their satisfaction is all the keener for the conquered difficulties
and their record will be a proud tale for their children to tell and to
hear.
Henry Moore.- Prominent among the courageous
pioneers of Van Buren county was the late Henry Moore, who bravely relinquished
the advantages, privileges, comforts and pleasures of life in one of the
large eastern cities and settled in the wilds of Michigan.
Neither railways, telegraph or telephone lines then spanned these broad
acres, and but few evidences of civilization then existed. Little
indeed do the people of this day and generation realize what they owe to
those energetic spirits of old, who first uprooted the trees, ploughed
the sod and made a broad track of the advance of civilization.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Mr. Moore was
left an orphan at an early age. He was given excellent educational
advantages, having been a college graduate, although he never adopted a
profession, his first business venture having been as a merchant in Boston.
About 1842 he determined to try the hazard of life on the frontier, and
coming to Michigan became on the first settlers of Kalamazoo, where
he bought a tract of land that is now included within the limits of the
Fair Grounds of that city. The greater part of Michigan was then
in its original wildness, land being owned by the government. He
subsequently moved to Van Buren county, and having entered a section and
a half in Bloomingdale township he was here a resident until his death,
in the eighty-fourth year of his life.
Mr. Moore married Sarah Hale, who was born
in New York state. She passed to the life beyond soon after coming
to Bloomingdale township, leaving two children, namely: Susan, wife of
John Hodgson, of Bloomingdale township; and Joseph, who died in California,
unmarried, at the age of twenty-seven years. Mr. Moore was identified with
the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.
Lavoisier W. Disbrow was born
in Bangor township on October 13, 1865--the three hundred and seventy-third
anniversary of the discovery of America. His parents were both
natives of the state of New York, who had come to Michigan and settled
in Van Buren county, adding to their labors to the development of
the new country. There were born to Lodwick and Sarah Whitcomb Disbrow
three children: Viola, Lavoisier and Alberta. The father was a farmer
and his son followed that calling also.
At the age of twenty-one Lavoisier Disbrow
bought forty acres of land and began farming for himself. By his
careful management and intelligent methods he has increased this to one
hundred acres, upon which he does general farming and stock raising.
Success has attended his efforts and he has added many improvements to
his estate, including a beautiful and commodious dwelling house.
Mr. Disbrow celebrated his twenty-first birthday
by holding his wedding day upon that day. He was then united
to Miss Cora Easton, the daughter of Sylvester and Sarah Easton, both of
whom are now deceased. Mrs. Disbrow is one of six children. Of the
others in her family, Albert, Warren and Annie are deceased. Wilbur
and Delbert live in Van Buren county. Eight children have been born
to Mr. and Mrs. Disbrow, but Pearl, the eldest, died in infancy. The others
are all still living at home and are Leta, Warren, Albert, Viola, Erwin
and Merwin, twins, and Donald.
In political matters Mr. Disbrow is aligned
with the Republican party and though not active in the party in the sense
of being a practical politician, he takes the greatest interest in public
affairs and in matters of national policy. He belongs to the society
of the Gleaners and is known as one of the most progressive of the farmers
in this county.
George Davey, one of the respected
farmers in Arlington township, Van Buren County, Michigan, has lived at
his present home since he was ten years of age.
He was born in Kosciusko county, Indiana,
July 1, 1855, a son of James and Hannah (Morrison) Davey, the former a
native of England and the later of Pennsylvania. James was a farmer
all his life. In the spring of 1865 he left the "Hoosier State" and
with his family came up into the neighboring state of Michigan, landing
in Arlington township, Van Buren county, on April 1st, where in section
4 he purchased ninety-five acres of and where he made his home the rest
of his life, carrying on general farming and stock raising. He died February
11, 1890. Of his family of five children, George is the eldest, the
others being as follows: Mary Ellen, deceased; Henrietta, wife of Fremont
Byers, of Arlington township; James Francis, of Benton Harbor; and Elfaretta,
wife of Joseph Martin, of New York city.
In his boyhood George Davey attended the district
schools during the winter months and in summer worked in the fields.
He continued to assist his father with the farm work until he was twenty-two
years of age, when he assumed the management of the farm and cultivated
the land on the shares. This he did until his father's death, when there
was a division in the property, forty acres being his share.
On November 2, 1898, Mr. Davey married Mrs.
Annie (Morse) Green, who was born in Indiana, a daughter of Charles and
Lomira (Squires) Morse, natives of Indiana. Charles Morse was a soldier
in the Civil war and died while in the service. His widow now lives in
Columbia township. She reared four children, Mrs. Davey being the
oldest. Her brother Frank is a resident of Columbia township, and
her brother Charles resides in the northern part of the state.
Mr. Davey, while he has never taken an active
part in politics, has always been a conscientious voter, casting his franchise
with the Republican party.
Milton H. Pugsley.- One of the enterprising
and progressive general farmers of Van Buren county for a number of years,
and now one of the leaders and most successful of its fruit growers, Milton
H. Pugsley, of Paw Paw township, is contributing to the advancement of
the county and its mercantile and commercial influence in a very material
and substantial way, and has been doing so for a long time. He has
tried his hand at other occupations and made a success of them, too.
But his inclination has always been in the direction of the farm, and notwithstanding
strong temptations to remain away from it he returned to the vocation of
the patriarchs and has never had occasion to regret his choice.
Mr. Pugsley has a special interest in the
welfare and progress of Van Buren county and Paw Paw township, for here
he was born, grew to manhood and was educated. Here also he was married
and established his domestic shrine, and here he has kept the fires burning
brightly on it ever since. His life began in Paw Paw township on
December 29, 1856, and he is the son of Henry M. and Mary A. (Prater) Pugsley,
the former is a native of England, born in 1823, and the latter of the
state of New York.
The father came to Michigan in 1845 and located
in Van Buren county. He bought first eighty and then forty acres
of land, and to this he added by subsequent purchases until, at the time
of his death in 1901, when he was seventy-eight years of age, he owned
two hundred and eighty-three acres. His widow survived him five years,
passing away in 1906. They were the parents of seven children: William
H., who is a resident of this county; Alice E., the wife of Harland P.
Waters, of Paw Paw; John K., deceased; M.H., the subject of this writing:
Dora M., the wife of Charles Lake, of Paw Paw; Myra A., the wife of L.E.
Shepard, of Paw Paw; and Eliza, who died in infancy.
Milton H. Pugsley remained with his father
until he obtained a high-school education, pursued a course of instruction
at the Normal College at Valparaiso, Indiana, and was graduated from a
business college. He had obtained his first certificate after leaving
the district school, and began this profession at that time, teaching at
intervals up to the time he was graduated from the business college.
He then taught school six winters, and at the end of that period was offered
an excellent position as a teacher, But he preferred to return to the farm,
of which he then took charge, being twenty-four years of age at the time.
The next year he married and continued his farming operations, in which
there has been no break since, except that he followed general farming
in particular, having forty acres of these under cultivation; and keeping
from fifteen to forty employees during the fruit season. He has gradually
been drawn into this interesting and profitable line of production.
Mr. Pugsley was married on May 24, 1882, to
Miss Jennie F. Cash, a daughter of Erastus and Jennie (Pierson) Cash, an
account of whose lives will be found in this volume. They were the
parents of three children, Mrs. Puglsey and her sister Carrie, who is the
wife of C. L. Brown, of this county, and a child that that died in infancy.
Mr. and Mrs. Pugsley have had three children : Earl, who is a lawyer in
good practice at Hart, Michigan; Henry Paul, who died at the age of two
years; and Clifford Gale, who is still living at home with his parents.
The oldest son, Earl Pugsley, was graduated
from the Paw Paw high school and then taught in a district school one year
and in the high school two years. While teaching he prepared himself
to enter the law department of the University of Michigan, and from that
institution he was graduated and admitted to the bar in 1909. The
father is a Republican in his political belief and a faithful worker for
his party, although he does not seek or desire any of its honors or emoluments
for himself. In religious faith and church affiliation he is a Baptist,
and has long been active and effective in church work, being associated
with the church in Gliddenburg. He also takes an active part in the
work of the Sunday-school, and has been the teacher of a class of
about twenty-five young people for many years and takes and interest in
all that tends to improve the people around him and minister to their welfare
in any way.
Mr. Pugsley has taken a very earnest interest
and a very active part in matters of importance to the community connected
with his business and some that are not. He is the president of the
Farmer's Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Van Buren county and the Wolverine
Nursery Company, and he is also one of the directors of the Southern Michigan
Fruit Association. Wide-awake, alert, progressive and intelligent,
devoted to the welfare of his township and county, elevated in his citizenship
and useful and loyal in all the relations of life, he is universally conceded
to be one of the best and most representative men in Van Buren county,
and he is fully deserving of this rank.
Erastus Cash.- The life of the ordinary
farmer in this county generally has few spectacular features or incidents
of unusual interest. It is a continual succession of attention to daily
duties, performed without ostentation or blare of trumpets, and with little
or no notice on the part of the great, busy world. Yet these duties
are all important in themselves and in the good they do, both for him who
performs them and the public in his community, and the man who attends
to them faithfully and discharges them as well as he can is entitled to
full credit as a sterling and useful citizen, and one of the great body
of men who fix the standards by which manhood and citizenship must be judged.
Erastus Cash, of Paw Paw township, this county,
is such a man and enjoys the esteem of his fellows in the large measure
such a man should win, and always does if the people around him are right
in their own conduct and aspirations. He was born in Genesse county,
New York, on June 24, 1837, one of the ten children and the third son of
Benjamin Franklin and Lucy (Deming) Cash, both of the same nativity as
himself. The other children of the family were: Andrew, Eliza and Hiram,
all of whom have died; William, who is a resident of New York state; Mary,
the widow of William Whitcher who lives in Batavia, New York; Fannie, the
wife of Albert White, also of Batavia, New York; Isabelle, the wife of
Bennett Waterman, of Genesee county, New York, Stafford township; and Rueben
and Benjamin, deceased.
Erastus Cash began life for himself at an
early age. When he was twenty-two he associated with one of his brothers
in buying and shipping live stock, continuing his connection with this
line of mercantile enterprise until some months after his marriage, although
that event made him eager for a permanent home and more stable business.
Soon after it occurred, therefore, he bought one hundred acres of land
in his native county and settled down to general farming. He kept
this land and cultivated it five years, then sold it and moved to Michigan,
locating in Van Buren county. Here again he bought one hundred acres
and began a new enterprise as a farmer and raiser of live stock. He owned
this tract only three or four years, however, as he found something that
pleased him better. He sold his one hundred acres and bought the
eighty he now lives on in section 4, Paw Paw township, and which has ever
since been his home and furnished him occupation in farming and raising
fruit as a commodity and to aid in supplying an extensive and exacting
market. His product, like that of his son-in-law, Milton H. Pugsley,
a sketch of whom is to be found in this work, is abundant in quantity and
first grade in quality. He gives its culture careful attention at all times,
and makes every endeavor to secure the best possible results from his labors
in connection with it, as he does in everything else he undertakes.
On November 2, 1859, Mr. Cash was united in
marriage with Miss Jennie Pierson, and by this union became the father
of three children: Jennie, the wife of Milton H. Pugsley; Carrie, the wife
of Chan Bowen, of Kalamazoo county, Michigan; and Lucy May, who is deceased.
Their mother died on May 24, 1866, and on March 11, 1867, the father contracted
a second marriage, uniting himself this time with Miss Cordelia Phillips,
a daughter of Aaron and Trephonia (Chapin) Phillips, respected residents
of Decatur. Twelve children were born in the Phillips family, nine
of whom are living: Charles, who resides at Arlington; Horace, a resident
of Indiana; Mary Ann, the widow of Joseph Edmonds of Goshen, Indiana: Adeline,
the widow of Monroe Selby, whose home is in Branch county, this state;
Aaron, who is a citizen of Indiana; Mrs. Cordelia Cash; Eliza, the wife
of Frank Wood, of Decatur, Michigan; William, who lives at Galesburg, this
state; and Alexander, whose home is at Bangor, Michigan. Mr. and
Mrs. Cash have had one child, their daughter Franc A., who was born September
26, 1875, and died on December 9, 1905. Mr. Cash is a pronounced
Democrat in his political faith, a firm believer in the principles of his
party and an energetic worker in its behalf, but only because he believes
in it, and not because he desires for himself anything it has to bestow
in the way of public office. In church affiliation he is a Baptist, and
while not showy or desirous of prominence in his membership, he is true
to the teachings of this sect and devoted in his interest in the welfare
of the congregation to which he belongs. Van Buren county has no
more sturdy or sterling citizen, and none who is more generally or highly
respected by all classes of its people.
Michael Enlow.- An excellent citizen
and able farmer is Michael Enlow, who is engaged in the operation of eight
acres of land in Covert township, section 11, and who preceded his present
occupation by many years in the sawmilling business. He was born
in Monroe county, Ohio, June 5, 1850, and is the son of John and Elizabeth
(Blair) Enlow, both natives of the Buckeye state and both deceased.
In having adopted agriculture, which Daniel Webster has called the most
important labor of man, he is following in the paternal footsteps, for
John Enlow was a farmer. The family removed to Covert township, Van
Buren county, in 1857, when the subject was a small lad, and here the father
secured eighty acres, which he improved and cultivated. There were
seven children in the family, namely: Amelia, deceased; James of Covert;
Mr. Enlow, of this record; Sarah Jane, widow of John Carpenter, of Kansas;
Henry, located in Northern Michigan; and Margaret and Elizabeth, twins,
the former the wife of A. N. Logan, of Nebraska, and the latter of
O. W. Helvy, also of that state.
Having secured such education as the district schools
had to offer, Mr. Enlow, at the age of eighteen, secured a position in
a sawmill, and continued in this field of industry until 1890. He
did the sawing done in the Packard sawmills that were located in Covert
township and he was familiar and proficient in every detail of the business.
Previous to choosing another line of activity he had made a purchase of
eighty acres of land in Covert township, and after finishing his milling
affairs he moved into this farm, where he has ever since been engaged.
Here he engages in general farming, stock-raising and horticulture, and
has been very successful in these lines, being a foremost representative
of the great basic industry on which Van Buren county so securely founds
its wealth and standing.
On February 26, 1871, Mr. Enlow laid the most
important stone in the foundation of his prosperity by his marriage to
Lillian Hunt, daughter of A.P. and Cecelia (Frier) Hunt, both natives of
the state of New York. Into their happy home have been born five
sons and daughters, namely: Eva C., wife of Watson Reed, of Covert; Gertrude,
at home; Ralph, deceased; Glendora, at home; and Alice, at home.
The Enlow household is a pleasant and popular abode. Mrs. Enlow was
one of a family of eight children, as follows: Ella, wife of A. T.
Breed, of northern Michigan; Mrs. Enlow; Dennis R., deceased; Charles,
of Grand Rapids; Frank, of South Bend, Indiana; Allen, of Michigan; Clara,
widow of Dan Lamaroux, of Grand Rapids; and Eugene, of Grand Rapids.
The family are Congregationalists in their
religious views and the head of the house is to be found marching beneath
the banner of the party which produced Jefferson, Jackson and Cleveland.
Mr. Enlow has given conscientious service in several minor township offices.
George G. Hall, proprietor of the
only agricultural implement establishment in the southeastern part of Van
Buren county, located in the village of Lawton, and one of the most progressive
and enterprising business men of this community, has resided in Lawton
all his life and is well and favorably known to its citizens. His
birth occurred in Lawton September 5, 1867, and he is a son of A. J. and
Mary (Lee) Hall, the former a native of New York and the latter a Southerner
by birth.
A. J. Hall came to Michigan when he was a
lad of seven years, was educated in the district schools, and grew up on
the farm of his parents in Plymouth. He was reared to agricultural
pursuits, which he followed throughout his life and became a well known
and successful farmer. He and his wife had three children: Charles
G.; Hattie, who is the wife of Calvin Kinney, of Porter township; and Reed,
a resident of Seattle, Washington. Charles G. Hall's education was
obtained in the district schools in the vicinity of his father's farm and
in the Lawton high school, which he attended for one year, and in 1891
he established himself in the restaurant business, continuing therein for
one and one-half years. At this time, seeing the opportunity to better
himself in a different field, Mr. Hall entered the agricultural implement
business in Lawton, starting in a small way and gradually increasing his
stock until he now conducts one of the important enterprises of his section.
His establishment filled a long needed want, and the farmers of this part
of the county were quick to realize the advantages offered in being able
to purchase their machinery close at hand instead of having to send a great
distance for it or make extended trips to look over stock. Naturally
Mr. Hall's business has steadily grown, and he now represents some of the
leading implement houses of the country, among which may be mentioned the
Syracuse and International Harvester Companies, located at Chicago, and
the John Deer Plow Works and Studebaker Brothers of South Bend, Indiana.
Progressive ideas, enterprising methods and faithful nd conscientious work,
backed by inherent business ability, have made Mr. Hall one of the substantial
men of Lawton, and his honest dealings have won him the confidence and
patronage of the countryside.
On April 17, 1890, Mr. Hall was married to
Miss Jennie Gibson, daughter of Hugh and Mary (Cummings) Gibson.
Mrs. Hall's parents had the following children:Jennie; William; Mattie,
married and living in Los Angeles, California; Robert, of Chicago; Fred,
residing in Lawton; Maud, the wife of Mancil Hough, of Lawton; Belle, of
California; and Harry, residing in Lawton. Mr. Hall is a Republican
in politics, and has served for two years as township clerk and as a member
of the board for three years. Fraternally he is connected with the
Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Elks and the Modern Woodmen.
With his family he attends the Methodist Episcopal church.
Glenn S. Easton.- Although he has
lived in many places and mingled freely with the residents of them all,
manifesting a cordial interest in their welfare and contributing to their
advancement by every means at his command, Glenn S. Easton, of Lawrence,
this county, had devoted all his years since leaving school to one line
of effort, that of newspaper work, with which he has been connected in
large cities and several small ones, in this state and New York.
He has lived in Lawrence and been the editor and publisher of the Lawrence
Times only two years. But even in that short period he has won a
high place in the regard of the people as a capable and straightforward
newspaper man and a wide-awake, enterprising and progressive citizen.
Mr. Easton was born in Union City, Branch
county, Michigan, on February 19, 1878, and is a soon of the late Major
D. J. and Della (Stowe) Easton, the former a native of Elmira, New York,
and the latter of Coldwater, Michigan. They were parents of seven
children, four of whom are living: Ora C.; Glenn S.; Elva, now the wife
of H. R. Robedee; and Lynn. The father passed a portion of his boyhood
in his native city, and was brought from there to Michigan by his parents
while he was yet young. The family located in Coldwater, Branch county,
this state, and there he grew to manhood and obtained a part of his education,
completing it at some college in the East, from which he was graduated
after a full course of academic instruction.
The parents were pioneers in Branch county
and took a hearty interest in the progress and development of that portion
of the state. When the Civil war began the young man and future military
hero of the family was living at Sturgis in St. Joseph county, and was
editing the Sturgis Journal, which was published in that city. Prior
to this he had shown a very strong support of the principles of the Republican
party and taken a great interest in its campaigns. His zeal and fidelity
in its behalf brought him a reward in the form of an appointment as internal
revenue collector for the district in which he lived, and he filled the
office with great acceptability to the government at Washington and the
people of the district as well.
In 1860, when the sectional war cloud became
very ominous and gave unmistakable signs of bursting with fury over the
country, he was impelled by his strong sense of patriotic duty to oppose
the dismemberment of the Union and raised a company of volunteers for the
purpose of aiding in defending it from that disaster. He went to
the field as captain of his company, and remained with it to the end of
the sanguinary contest, being promoted major for gallantry in battle and
the capacity and faithfulness he showed in other work in the service.
The regiment with which he was connected suffered severely in the war.
He was severely wounded at the battle of Resaca, and in all received nine
bullet wounds. He was taken prisoner and was confined in Libby prison for
several months.
After his discharge from the army he returned
to Coldwater, and during the next two years he published the Coldwater
Republican. At the end of the period mentioned he sold his interests
in the Coldwater Republican and moved to Union City, where he founded and
for twenty-eight years published the Union City Register. He died
in the harness, working on this paper, in August, 1900, and then for one
year and a half his son Glenn edited and published it. The Major
was postmaster of Union City sixteen years, and represented that town in
the state legislature one term.
Glenn S. Easton was reared and received a
high school education in Union City, a year in Albion college following,
and after leaving school he took up his residence in Detroit. As
he had been trained in newspaper work under the direction of his father,
he determined to devote himself to that line of endeavor. He worked
on the Detroit Free Press, then on the Buffalo (New York) Daily Courier.
From Buffalo he returned to Union City and took charge of his father's
paper when death ended the labors of that gentleman, as has been already
noted. He was connected with other papers for a time after leaving
the Union Register, then for four years he published the News at Onsted
in Lenawee county. In 1909 he located at Lawrence, Van Buren county,
where he has ever since been publishing the Lawrence Times.
On August 17, 1910, Mr. Easton was united in marriage
with Miss Lucile Hess, a daughter of S. M. and Jennie (Ridlon) Hess, of
Lawrence. One child has been born of the union, Edwin Paul Easton,
whose life began on August 16, 1911. Mr. Easton belongs to the Masonic
fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, holding his membership
in the former in the lodge at Onsted and in the latter at the one in Lawrence.
He and his wife are members of the Congregational church, and in political
relations he is a firm and faithful member of the Republican party.
To all his duties of citizenship he is steadfastly attentive, and to every
commendable enterprise for the good of his community and county he gives
ardent and intelligent support, both through the columns of his paper and
by his personal influence and helpful services. He is appreciated
throughout the county as one of its best and most progressive citizens,
and is fully deserving of the rank in this respect so cheerfully and readily
bestowed on him by the estimate of the people in whose service he is laboring.
George Milton Harrison.- Doubly
orphaned at the age of one year by the death of both his father and his
mother, who were victims of an epidemic of spinal meningitis which raged
with great violence in the city of their home in 1847, George M. Harrison,
of Paw Paw, where he has been engaged in general merchandising during the
last forty-six years, passed the greater part of his boyhood under the
shadow of this great bereavement, and was forced by it to begin the battle
of life for himself at a very early age.
Mr. Harrison was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan,
on June 4, 1846, and was the last born of the thirteen children of Benjamin
and Jane (Stillwell) Harrison, and one of two of them who are still living.
The father was a native of Virginia, born January 21, 1799, and he died
December 13, 1847, aged forty-eight years, ten months and twenty-two days,
and the mothers life began in Maryland, May 12, 1804, and she died December
13, 1847, on the same day as the father, aged forty-four years, seven months,
and one day. They were married on February 21, 1822, and moved to
Prairie Ronde, near Schoolcraft, Michigan, in 1830, and remained there
four years. In October 1834, they changed their residence to Kalamazoo,
which was then called Bronson, and there they met their tragic fate, which
hurried them out of the world in the prime of life and left their helpless
offspring to the mercy of whatever fate might befall them. Both died
in 1847, during a destructive epidemic of spinal meningitis, as has been
stated, the disease being of the most violent type and sweeping hundreds
of the residents of Kalamazoo and the surrounding country into their graves.
The father was a millwright of skill and ability,
and wrought industriously at his trade during all the years of his manhood
until his untimely death. He and his wife were the parents of thirteen
children: Joseph, who was born on September 6, 1822, and died in October,
1824; Sally or Sarah, who came into being on August 30, 1824, grew to womanhood,
became the wife of Liberty H. Bailey, of South Haven, and died in 1868,
at he age of forty-four; Nancy, whose life began on April 3, 1826, who
became the wife of Walter Russell, of Decatur, this state, and who died
in 1895; Benjamin, who was born on March 26, 1828, and died July 3, 1830;
John Strange, whose life began on March 4, 1830, and ended in December,
1905; Emily Jane, who lived from February 5, 1832, to October, 1906, and
was the wife of John Simmons, of Santa Barbara, California; Henry, who
was born on September 26, 1833, and died February 16, 1834; Lucinda, who
was born on November 9, 1934, became the wife of Rufus Bigelow, of
Arlington township, this county, and died in 1854; Harriet, whose life
extended from March 23, 1837, to 1893, and who was the wife of Joseph R.
Bonebright, of Constantine, Michigan; Charlotte, who came into being on
January 16, 1839, and who is still living and the wife of Rufus Bigelow,
of Lawrence, this county; Arvilla, who was born on November 4, 1840, and
is the wife of Jefferson Archer, of South Haven; James Madison, who was
born on September 3, 1842, and died May 18, 1844; and George M., the immediate
subject of this review.
At the age of fourteen Mr. Harrison took up
his residence with his brother-in-law, Mr. Russell of Decatur, with whom
he found a home for four years. In March, 1864, he secured a position
as clerk and salesman in a general store in Constantine, with which he
was connected for a year and a half. Then in 1865, on October 1,
he arrived in Paw Paw to take a position in the store of E. Smith &
Company. From the clerkship which he then accepted and was glad to
get, he rose by demonstrated merit and capacity to membership in the firm,
and is now the only survivor of those who composed it when he went to it.
His residence in the city and his service to the people in mercantile channels
has extended over a period of forty-six years, and now all classes of the
population respect him highly, and those who know him well have the most
cordial esteem for him.
Mr. Harrison was married July 23, 1871,
to Miss H. Ella Fraley, and by means of this union became the father of
five children, four of whom are living: Julia H., who was born in 1874,
and is the wife of Rev. A. J. Holland, of Owosso, Michigan; Jesse G., who
was born in 1876, and is the wife of Thomas J. Cavanaugh, a prominent attorney
of Paw Paw; Edmund S., who was born on November 30, 1877, and has his home
in Paw Paw; and Besse M., who was born on May 28, 1881, and resides in
Paw Paw.
Mr. Harrison married a second time, on April
2, 1892, being united on this occasion with Miss Maud Cornell. They
have had four children, two of whom are living: Doane C., of Paw Paw, who
is a graduate of the high school; and Thomas Cavanaugh, who was born in
1901. Geraldine and Rex Milton died in infancy. The two sons
who are living still have their home with their parents.
Although his father was a Whig and he was
reared under circumstances of strong bias towards the tenets of his father's
party in political affairs, Mr. Harrison is a Democrat in his own political
faith and allegiance. His religious connection is with the Baptist
church, and he is one of the most loyal and serviceable members of the
congregation to which he belongs. In addition to the duties of his
business he takes an interest in other matters involving the welfare of
his community and does his part toward promoting it in every way open to
his efforts. For years he has been the vice president of the First National
Bank of Paw Paw, and connected with other enterprises of value in service
to the people and in helping to advance the progress and prosperity of
the city and county in which he lives.
John Martin Klett.- It is always
gratifying to true citizens of this Republic to note the readiness of many
men, born under foreign flags, to become loyal and patriotic supporters
of the United States Government when they adopt this country as their home.
This can never be misconstrued as an act displaying lack of fidelity to
their native land, for which they must always hold the warmest affection,
but it is evidence that they are men who recognize their duty as citizens
in common with the native-born of the Republic, and do not hesitate to
perform it. One of these representative men not living in Keeler
township, Van Buren county, served faithfully in the Union army during
the Civil war, and is now living in quiet retirement, his many years of
industrious labor having brought him a comfortable competence. John Martin
Klett, was born in Wittenberg, Germany, April 15, 1832, a son of Christopher
and Katherine (Nagel) Klett. Mr. Klett has one brother, Christopher,
for thirty years a wagon maker and now an agriculturist of Whitehall, Michigan,
the four other children of his parents being deceased.
Christopher Klett, father of John M., was a native
of Wittenberg, Germany, was reared and educated in the Fatherland, and
left his native country only for a short time when he made a visit to America.
He and his wife both died in the old country in the faith of the Lutheran
church, of which they were devout, life-long members.
John Martin Klett was a young man of nineteen
years when he boarded a sailing vessel from Havre, France, and six weeks
later he landed in New York city, from whence he made his way to Rochester.
He then located in Monroe county, New York, and for three years worked
by the month, and after coming to Keeler township, Van Buren county, Michigan,
he continued to be thus employed until his enlistment, December 30, 1863,
in Company I, Nineteenth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, which was
assigned to the Twentieth Corps of the Army of the Cumberland, and he continued
in the service until the close of the war. Under the command of "Fighting
Joe" Hooker the regiment participated in the battles of Resaca, Carrville
and Dollys Woods, at which latter battle Mr. Klett fell, badly wounded
in the hip by a grape shot on inch in diameter. This shot, which
was cut from his hip by the surgeon, is still in Mr. Klett's possession.
He was disabled from May 25, 1864 until April 1, 1865, when he was transferred
to the Veteran Reserve Corps, at Johnson's Island, Sandusky, Ohio, where
he was kept until his honorable discharge, July 23, 1865, although he was
always desirous of rejoining his regiment. For this brave and faithful
service Mr. Klett now receives a pension of twenty dollars a month, although
it might seem as though a grateful country could afford to reimburse its
defenders to a little greater extent, especially when they have endured
such suffering as fell to Mr. Klett's lot. On his return to Michigan,
Mr. Klett resumed the civilian's garb, and shortly thereafter purchased
seventeen acres of land in Keeler township, later adding tracts of forty
and sixty acres, and during the remainder of his active life he followed
agricultural pursuits, proving just as good a citizen in times of peace
as he was a soldier during times of war. Politically a Republican,
he cast his first presidential vote for the Martyred President Lincoln,
and he has served as township treasurer for two years and as school director
for nine years, both he and his wife being active friends of and hard workers
in the cause of education. An honored member of Gilbert Post, G.
A. R., at Dowagiac, Michigan, Mr. Klett has been as popular with his comrades
as he has been esteemed and respected by his fellow citizens, and in every
walk of life he has proven himself an upright, law-abiding and public-spirited
citizen.
On February 2, 1862, Mr. Klett was married
to Miss Mary Klett, in Berrien county, Michigan, she was born in Wurtemburg,
Germany, July 31, 1844, and came to the United States when thirteen years
of age. She is a prominent member of the Evangelical Association.
Mr. and Mrs. Klett have been the parents of seven children, of whom six
still survive.
Harry A. Martin.- Well educated academically
for almost any calling in life, nerved by nature for arduous effort in
any department of useful labor that may enlist his interest or engage his
faculties, and trained to skill by continued practical experience in several
lines of work, Harry A. Martin, one of the leading merchants of Lawrence,
this county, and head of the firm of Martin Brothers & Company, has
made good use of his endowments, acquisitions and opportunities, and given
Van Buren county one of its most impressive examples of progressive citizenship.
Mr. Martin is a native of this county, born
in Paw Paw township, where his life began on December 2, 1865. His
parents, Oscar and Henrietta (Smith) Martin, were farmers during their
years of activity, and energetic and prosperous in their work. Oscar Martin
was born, reared to the age of thirteen and partially educated in the state
of New York. He is a son of Harry and Emily (Hungerford) Martin,
also natives of New York, where they were married and all their offspring
were born. When their son Oscar was thirteen years old they moved
to Michigan and located near Paw Paw in Van Buren county, and here Oscar
grew to manhood and completed his education. Here also he was married,
and has passed all his subsequent years, except during three of the Civil
war which he passed in the army.
When that memorable contest burst with all
its fury on our unhappy country in 1861, he enlisted in Company C, Third
Michigan Cavalry, and in his company he served until late in 1864.
His regiment was kept most of the time in the West, and was part of the
army of General Grant for a time and afterward in that of General Rosecrans.
It saw a great deal of very active service and considerable fighting of
the hardest kind, and Mr. Martin took part in all its engagements with
the enemy and all its other work.
After his discharge from the army Mr. Martin
returned to his father's home, and soon afterward was married. He
and his wife became the parents of two children: Their son Harry A., the
subject of this brief memoir, and their daughter Nellie, who is still living
at home with them in Lawrence, they having moved to the township of Lawrence
in 1882. The father is now (1911) seventy-three years of age, and
the mother is seventy years of age.
Harry A. Martin remained at home with his
parents until he was seventeen, working on the farm and attending school
in Paw Paw township, and then moved with them to Lawrence township, where
he assisted in the farm work three years longer. In 1885, after his
graduation from the Lawrence high school, which occurred that year, he
began teaching school in the winter and attending the State Agricultural
College during the rest of the year, until he completed its full four years'
course of instruction in 1889. On October 16 of that year he was
united in marriage with Miss Eva C. Sheldon, a daughter of Julian and Melvina
(Wallace) Sheldon, of Paw Paw township, and during the first year of his
married life he still remained on the farm with his father and worked under
his direction, but continued teaching two winters more.
His next move was into mercantile life, but
after a trial of ten years and a half in that, as clerk in a store in Lawrence,
he returned to farming. For this purpose he bought a farm in Lawrence
township, which he cultivated for six years, but lived in the village of
Lawrence during the whole period. Since the beginning of this year
(1911) he and his sons have had entire ownership and control of the store
in Lawrence which they are now conducting, and which they bought just before
they took charge of it. They are making this one of the most complete
and satisfactory mercantile establishments of its kind in the county, and
rapidly building up its trade to large proportions and strengthening and
widening its hold on the confidence and good will of the people throughout
the surrounding country for many miles in every direction.
Mr. and Mrs. Martin have had six children,
all of whom are living and still members of the parental family circle.
They are: Marguerita G., who is a graduate of the Lawrence high school
and the State Normal College in Kalamazoo; Rex S. and Robert D, who are
also graduates of the Lawrence high school, and are now associated in business
with their father; Roscoe J. and Ruth, who are attending school at present;
and Wayne O., who will begin going to school in 1912.
Mr. Martin has long been prominent in the
Masonic order. He belongs to Rising Sun Lodge, No. 119, at Lawrence,
and served as its Worshipful Master five years. He also holds membership
in a Royal Arch Chapter and a Council of Royal and Select Masters in the
order, and has occupied the leading offices in each. He was High
Priest of the Chapter several years, and is at this time (1911) Thrice
Illustrious Master of the council. In politics he is a Democrat,
and has served as township clerk at various times, as a member of the village
council, and two years as its president. He was also a member of
the school board for nine years in succession. His ancestors were
English, Irish and Scotch in their nationalities, and he has exhibited
in his highly creditable career the best attributes of the citizenship
of each of the countries from which they hailed. In Van Buren county
he is regarded as a leading and thoroughly representative citizen.
Frank L. Spencer.- The treasurer
of Lawrence township was born in Van Buren county, Antwerp township, on
December 10, 1851. His parents had been married eleven years before
and had come to Michigan to begin their wedded life. The father,
William B. Spencer, was a native of Connecticut and the mother, Nancy A.
Borden Spencer, of New York. There were two other children on the
family besides Frank L. These are Mary, the widow of D. C. Rush, and Edith,
the widow of David E. Hinman. The family resided in Antwerp township
for about fifteen years and then they went to St. Joseph county, Indiana,
where they lived for about twenty-four years before returning to this county.
In 1875 they bought a farm in Lawrence township and lived there until they
died. William Spencer passed away in January, 1891, and his wife
in August, 1889.
Frank Spencer attended the district school
near his father's farm in St. Joseph county, Indiana, and then the graded
school of New Carlisle and that of South Bend, where he was in the high
school. After this he worked for his father and on New Year's Day
of 1874 was married to Edith E. Stryker, of Berrien county, Michigan.
She was born in the state of New York on April 3, 1855, the daughter of
G. C. and A. S. Chamberlain Stryker, both of New York state. Mrs.
Spencer has lived in Michigan since she was ten and was educated in the
district schools of Berrien county. There were three children born
to her and Mr. Spencer: Albert E., born December 12, 1877, Carrie M., in
1883, and Edna L., in 1885. All attended the Lawrence schools and
the girls both graduated from the high school. Edna is now a stenographer
in South Bend, Indiana. The son is a member of the Independent Order
of the Odd Fellows and of the Knights of the Maccabees, to both of which
lodges his father belongs. In the former organization Frank Spencer
is treasurer of the Shady Grove lodge, No. 499. In the Maccabees
his tent is No. 205, and he is a secretary of the lodge.
In politics Mr. Spencer is a loyal Democrat
and, although the township is predominantly Republican, he was elected
treasurer, from which fact one may deduce the correct conclusion that he
is a man of unusual personal popularity and high ability. No man
stands higher in the esteem of his fellow citizens and his affable manner
wins him an easy liking which closer acquaintance deepens into regard.
His farm of eighty acres on sections twenty
and twenty-one is a flourishing and profitable estate, conducted on modern
principles and, like its owners, representative of the best of the country.
William Bennett.- As a sterling
citizen who has the interest of the whole community at heart, a veteran
of the great Civil war, and as one of the leading hardware merchants, a
progressive and thoroughly honest business man, has William Bennett, of
Hartford, won the respect and friendly regard of Van Buren county.
He holds high place among those whose industry and unselfish interest have
laid the foundations of a general prosperity. Mr. Bennett was born
in Columbiana county, Ohio, on August 16, 1841, the son of Samuel and Ruth
(Hannum) Bennett. The father was a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania,
the son of James Bennett, well known in that part of the state. Samuel
Bennett and his wife were quiet, unassuming people, who lived and died
in the state of Ohio. They were the parents of five children, two
of whom are living at this date, 1911. Caroline became Mrs. Joshua
Whinery. She died, and her husband has since remarried and become
the father of a family. Ruth was united in marriage to Hiram Cameron,
and her sister Anna married Joseph Whinery. Lee Bennett is deceased.
William Bennett was raised on his father's Ohio farm, and educated in the
local schools and academy. Before his school days were over the war cloud
that had cast its shadow over the nation for so many years finally broke,
and the country became "the North" and "the South." William Bennett
at once enlisted in Company I, Nineteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the
date being October, 1860. He was appointed a non-commissioned officer,
and was later promoted to the rank of orderly surgeon. He was in
the Army of the Cumberland and was present at twenty-three engagements.
In all his active service he was never wounded and was mustered out in
December, 1865. He is now the recipient of a monthly pension of seventeen
dollars in recognition of his gallant and faithful service.
At the close of the war Mr. Bennett returned
to Ohio, and was there engaged in farming until his removal, in 1870, to
Van Buren county, Michigan. In 1867 he was united in marriage to
Miss Pheniah Beatty, the daughter of Mahlan Beatty. Mrs. Bennett
was born in Carlton, Carroll county, Ohio, where she attended school until
her eighteenth year. As a wife she has shown herself a capable helpmeet,
a cheery companion and a tender mother. She was a member of the Order
of Eastern Star lodge of Hartford, and of the Hartford Ladies Club, of
which she was several times an office-holder. Upon his advent in
Hartford, Mr. Bennett purchased a stock of hardware. He now owns
his place of business, and through his careful management has achieved
a large patronage. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett are the parents of two sons:
Eugene B., born July 23, 1870, was educated in the public schools and later
attended a business college. He married Miss Alice L. Babbolt, and
has since become the father of two children, Eugene B. Jr., aged nine and
Alice L., aged six.Their mother is an Episcopalian. Eugene Bennett
is a member of Florada Lodge, No. 309, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,
and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, lodge No. 544, at Benton
Harbor. George W., the second Bennett son, was born in March 1873,
at Hartford, Michigan. He is both a Mason and an Elk; he married
Miss Mary O'Brien, of Lansing.
William Bennett is a member of the Charter
Oak lodge, No. 231, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is a
past noble grand. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic
and is a past commander of his post. He had the honor to be the first
commander of the Elsworth post. In the field of politics Mr. Bennett
is found under the standard of the Republican party. He has served
as village president, and as township clerk and treasurer, and for five
years under the McKinley and Roosevelt administrations held to the eminent
satisfaction of all the postmastership of Hartford. Mr. Bennett well
deserves the esteem and affection in which he is held by all who know him.
Anson D. Pease.- Holding a prominent
and well assured place in the affairs of Almena township, Van Buren county,
is Anson D. Pease, one of the representatives of the agricultural industry,
which more than any other factor contributes to the unusual prosperity
of this favored section of the United States. Mr. Pease was born
at Eckford, Calhoun county, Michigan, on July 14, 1857. He is the
son of John L. and Julia E. (Osborn) Pease. The former was born in
Onieda county, New York, and was the son of John W. Pease, a native of
Connecticut, who lived to the great old age of ninety-six years.
The father survives at the present time, a gentleman of eighty years, still
hale and hearty and greatly interested in the progress of the time.
He makes his residence at Cadillac, Michigan. He is a veteran of
the Civil war and his father John W., carried a musket in the war of 1812.
As previously mentioned John L. Pease was born in New York and there resided
until the attainment of his majority. Then, favorably impressed with
the newly opened northwest, he concluded to cast his fortunes with this
section and accordingly took up his residence within the borders of the
state. Two years later he was followed by his father, who secured
land in the vicinity of Eckford and there resided until his demise in 1879.
He then removed to Wexford county, near Cadillac, and farmed there until
1901, when he retired and took up his abode in Cadillac, where he is an
honored citizen. He is the father of five children, Anson D. Pease,
the immediate subject of this record being the only one surviving at the
present time.
The boyhood of Anson D. Pease was passed in
Eckford, Calhoun county. When he was about ten years of age his mother's
death broke up the home and five children were left without a mother's
care. The children found various homes and Anson lived in the neighborhood
until he was thirty years of age, when he established an independent home
by marriage. He has prospered in very definite manner and is now
the possessor of two hundred and ninety acres of Almena township's best
land. The entire tract is paid for and almost the whole of it he
has gained himself. He is of that typically American product,--the
self-made man.
Mr. Pease was married on September 20, 1887, the
young woman to become his wife being Euphemia Crofoot, daughter of Asa
Crofoot, of Almena township, a native of the state of New York, and a man
of considerable affairs in this township. His demise occurred some
twenty-four years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Pease are the parents of two
children, Roy D., aged twenty-one, holding an excellent position with the
American Express Company, of Kalamazoo, Michigan; and Kyle D., aged fourteen
(born August 25, 1897), a student in the public schools. The Crofoots
are an eastern family. Asa Crofoot married Elenore Erkenbeck.
His father's name was Joseph Crofoot.
The subject is a Mason, belonging to Hudson
Lodge, No. 325 at Gobleville and to the Chapter at Paw Paw. He is
likewise affiliated with the Gleaners. He is a Republican in politics,
and he has been honored by the bestowal of public office, he having served
as treasurer and highway commissioner, and in an eminently satisfactory
manner.
Edwin S. Douglas.-Although a resident
of Lawrence, Michigan, only during the last seven years, and unostentatious
and retiring in his life during that period, Edwin S. Douglas, now one
of the prominent and successful real estate dealers in this part of the
state, has won his way to a high place in the confidence and regard of
the people, and has shown at every step of his progress that he is fully
entitled to their faith in him and the generous manner in which they manifest
it, both in patronage for his business and in esteem for his manhood and
citizenship.
Mr. Douglas brought to the service of his
interests in this county acquisitions secured in the great Empire state,
in which he was born and reared, and with whose business he was connected
in an important way for many years. He was born in Delhi, Delaware
county, New York, on August 12, 1864, and is the son of Robert and Frances
(Sheldon) Douglas, also natives of the state of New York, the father of
Scotch ancestry and the mother descended from an English family long resident
in New York state.
Robert Douglas was the son of Adam and Jennie
Douglas, natives of Aberdeen, Scotland, who were reared, educated and married
in the old country, but came to the United States at an early date, located
in New Kingston, Delaware county, New York where their son Robert was born,
grew to manhood and was educated, graduating at the end of his course of
academic instruction from the Delaware Academy at Delhi, New York, the
curriculum of which he went through from beginning to end. After
his graduation from this institution, having no desire to follow in the
footsteps of his ancestors for many generations in tilling the soil, he
entered mercantile life as the proprietor of a general store, which he
conducted for ten years. From general merchandising he turned to the wholesale
clothing trade, with his establishment located in Albany, New York, where
he remained five years carrying on an active business and winning an excellent
reputation as a man and a merchant. From Albany at the end of the period
named he moved to Chicago, and in that city also engaged in the clothing
trade, remaining until 1894. He then moved to Montague, Muskegon
county, in this state, where he died the same year and where his widow
died in 1898.
Their son Edwin S. Douglas, was their only
child. He moved to Chicago with his parents in 1875. There
he attended school until 1884, when he engaged in the real estate business.
In 1904 he moved to Lawrence in this county, and here he has ever since
been actively and extensively engaged in handling real estate. He
is one of the best known and most esteemed men in the business in this
part of the state, and his judgment is always relied on by purchasers and
sellers who are familiar with his ability and his complete and accurate
knowledge of properties and their values, as to which he is a widely accredited
authority. He has been engaged in the handling of Michigan real estate
for the past twenty years.
Mr. Douglas was married on February 22, 1887,
to Miss Mary M. Power, a daughter of Colonel John M. and Lydia A. Power.
Colonel Power was a valiant soldier for the cause of the Union during the
Civil war, and won his title and military rant in that memorable contest,
entering the army from New Castle, Pennsylvania, and making an excellent
record in one of the hard-fighting regiments enrolled in that state.
Mr. Douglas and his wife are members of the
Episcopal church, holding their membership in one of the congregations
in Chicago. He is a Free Mason, belonging to Rising Sun Lodge, No.
119, at Lawrence in this fraternity, and he also belongs to Chicago Lodge,
No. 4, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
His great-grandfather on his mother's side
of the house was Corporal Job Sheldon in the Revolutionary war and one
of the faithful soldiers who captured Major Andre, the British spy, during
that struggle for liberty and independence. The grandfather of Mr.
Douglas was also a man of prominence and influence in Delaware county,
New York, where he passed the greater part of his life, and where he served
as county clerk for twenty-four consecutive years. Mr. Douglas also
takes an active interest in public affairs, but only in the performance
of the duties of citizenship and with no aspiration toward public office
or prominence in the affairs of any political party. He and his wife
stand well in the county, and are regarded as most worthy, estimable and
useful citizens.
David Lytle.- Industry, perseverance,
intelligence and good judgment are the price of success in agriculture
work in these modern days of farming, when the hard, unremitting toil of
former years has away to scientific use of modern machinery and a knowledge
of the proper treatment of the soil. Van Buren county, Michigan,
has many skilled farmers who treat their vocation more as a profession
than as a mere occupation, and take a justifiable pride in their accomplishments,
and among these may be mentioned David Lytle, the owner of a well-culitvated
tract of farming land located in Antwerp township.
Mr. Lytle was born December 11, 1860, in Porter township, Van
Buren county, and is a son of Dewitt Clinton and Mary Jane (Wilcox) Lytle.
Dewitt Clinton Lytle, who was a native of
the Empire state and a carpenter by trade, came to Michigan in the year
1853, settling on eighty acres of land on which the southern part of Lawton
now stands. He engaged in agricultural pursuits, but after holding
this property a short time, sold it to buy one hundred and sixty acres
Porter township, and to this he added from time to time, being the owner
of eight hundred acres of valuable land at the time of his death, which
occurred June 27, 1898. His wife, who was a native of Michigan, died
February 18, 1904, having been the mother of the following children: Charles
S., who resides in Porter township; David; John, also living in Porter
township; Wilber, who makes his residence in Lawton; N. Verne, the wife
of Woodson N. Shaffer, of Paw Paw; and Robert, who is operating the old
homestead in Porter township.
The education of David Lytle was secured in
the public schools in the vicinity of the old homestead, and he was reared
to the life of an agriculturist, being early taught the value of industry,
economy and clean living. He remained on the homestead farm with
his parents until he was twenty-eight years old, at which time he started
working for himself on a farm, and in 1892 he purchased his present farm
of ninety-three acres, situated in section 9, Antwerp township. Mixed
farming and fruit raising have claimed his attention, and he is one of
the most progressive of farmers, being prompt to experiment with the new
methods for devices.
On February 20, 1889, Mr. Lytle was united
in marriage with Miss Belle F. Ellison, daughter of Joseph and Mary Ellison,
of Lawton, Michigan, and she died April 16, 1904, having been the mother
of two children: Gladys M., who died in infancy; and Theo. Belle, who was
born July 4, 1899. In his political belief Mr. Lytle is a Republican,
and he takes an active interest in those movements which his judgment tells
him will be of benefit to his community, although he has never aspired
to public office. Fraternally he is a popular member of the M. W.
A. He ranks high among the agriculturists of his section, and is
known as a good neighbor and public-spirited citizen.
Henry Waite.- When a man has resided
in a community for a number of years and has proven himself always industrious,
energetic, responsible and public spirited, his death is keenly felt in
the community and his place is not readily filled. Such a man was
the late Henry Waite, who for many years was engaged in agriculture pursuits
in Antwerp township, and was closely identified with the development of
this part of Van Buren county. Mr. Waite was born September 10, 1825,
in Washington county, New York, son of Green and Lida (Moon) Waite, also
natives of the Empire state.
Henry Waite was one of a family of fifteen
children, all of whom grew to maturity, and he was only fifteen years of
age when he left home with his blankets on his back and the sum of ten
dollars in his pocket. After a long and tedious journey on foot he
arrived in Adrian, Michigan, his money meanwhile having dwindled to two
and one-half dollars, but after spending about two years and six months
at that point he returned to New York. In 1847 he again came to Michigan,
remaining only a short time, when he once more went to his home in the
East, but in 1855 came to Michigan and purchased seventy acres of wild
land in Van Buren county. Here he spent ten years of hard, unremitting
toil, and when he succeeded in clearing his land and putting it under cultivation
he disposed of it at a good profit and purchased eighty acres in Antwerp
township, which he had increased one hundred and thirty acres at the time
of his death, January 6, 1888. His father had passed away in 1869
and his mother in 1867. Mr. Waite's whole career was one which should
encourage the youth of today in their efforts to gain a competence.
Starting in life a poor boy, with but ordinary educational advantages and
practically no assistance of a financial nature, he won success through
the sheer force of his own industry and perseverance, and made a name and
reputation for himself among the substantial men of his community.
Always alive to opportunities to better his own condition, he was also
considerate of the rights of others, and his honest dealings with those
who were associated with him in a business way won for him a respect and
friendship of his fellow townsmen.
On March 26, 1850, Mr. Waite was united in
marriage with Miss Caroline McCrossen, who was born in New York state,
December 5, 1831, daughter of natives of Ireland and New York, respectively,
whose other children were : George, who is deceased; Ellen, the widow of
George Owen, of Ontario county, New York; and Christopher, living in Grand
Rapids, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Waite had no children of their own,
but became the parents of an adopted daughter, now the wife of Asa Sheldon,
of Van Buren county. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon have two children : Asa
Ford, born February 10, 1896; and Alma Marie, born September 25, 1903.
Mr. Waite was a stanch Republican in politics and a consistent member of
the Christian church. Mrs. Waite survives her husband, and has reached
the advanced age of eighty years, but is in the best of health and spirits
and in possession of her full faculties. She is well known in this
vicinity as was her esteemed husband, and has many friends and acquittances.
Edward Aaron Morehouse.- Van Buren
county is the home of some excellent citizens who have employed themselves
in tilling the soil; many of them have spent their lives on the farm, but
there are others who have been engaged in other lines and have returned
to an agricultural vocation, and among these may be mentioned Edward Aaron
Morehouse, who ranks high among the farmers of Antwerp township, a man
of many sterling characteristics, and a public-spirited citizen whose influence
is always cast in favor of those movements which have for their object
the advancement or development of his county and township along any line.
Born in Branch county, Michigan, Mr. Morehouse is a son of Daniel and Elizabeth
Ann (Robinson) Morehouse.
Mr. Morehouse is a direct descendant of Ethan Allen,
the Revolutionary patriot, and the British spy, Major Andre, was captured
on his grandfather's farm. The latter, Aaron Morehouse, was taken
prisoner by the British on account of his Revolutionary tendencies and
for quite a long period was made to work at making clothes for the British
soldiers. Daniel C. Morehouse, the father of Edward Aaron, was born
February 13, 1815, in Ballston Spa, Saratoga county, New York, and came
to Michigan in 1823, settling at Coldwater. He had begun to study
with the idea of entering the legal profession. He was later admitted
to the bar in New York state, but returned to Coldwater, where he practiced
his profession until 1878, and for ten years served as justice of the peace.
In the year mentioned above he purchased a tract of eighty acres of farming
land in Antwerp township, and here he continued to engage in farming and
fruit growing until his death, May 7, 1896. His first wife, who bore the
maiden name of Ann Robinson, died January 16, 1857, at Coldwater, having
been the mother of two children: Edward Aaron; and George Amos, the latter
born December 31, 1856, and died May 12, 1858. On November 24, 1858,
Mr. Morehouse was married to Eunice Gager Graham, who now makes her home
with her stepson, there having been no children born to her union with
Mr. Morehouse.
Edward Aaron Morehouse was reared to manhood
in Coldwater, Michigan, and as a young man took up carriage painting, and
occupation which he followed until his father's lost his health, at which
time he considered it his duty to return home and take charge of the farm.
Since taking over the management, Mr. Morehouse has made numerous improvements,
and has set out numerous fruit trees and grape vines. He is an excellent
example of the live, progressive, up-to-date farmer of the twentieth century,
who knows how to make his land pay him a good profit, and how to enjoy
life among congenial surroundings.
On May 3, 1876, Mr. Morehouse was married
to Miss Clara Mead, daughter of Henry and Maria Mead, of Genesse county,
New York, and she died May 3, 1877, leaving one child: Daniel M., now a
resident of Seattle, Washington. On October 5, 1882, Mr. Morehouse
was married to Mary Williams, who was born September 15, 1851, at Burr
Oak, St. Joseph county, Michigan, daughter of Erastus and Lucy (Cummings)
Williams, and a descendant of Chief Justice Waite. Two children have been
born to this union; Harry E., born July 28, 1883, superintendent for Thompson
& Starritt, contractors of Chicago; and Percy E., who was born July
20, 1900.
Mr. Morehouse's political views are those
of the Republican party. His fraternal connections are with the Masons,
the Maccabees and the Eastern Star, and he and Mrs. Morehouse are consistent
members of the Congregational church.
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