USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > A history of Van Buren County, Michigan a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests Volume II > Part 12
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Adam Beach spent his earlier boyhood and school days in the Buckeye state and was eleven years of age when he came with his parents to Van Buren county, Michigan. He pursued his studies in the public schools of this section and did not conclude his educational discipline until about sixteen years of age. At that early age he embarked upon his career as a farmer and has ever since continued thus engaged, employing the most enlight- ened methods in his agricultural endeavors. He has brought his land to a high state of improvement and his stock is known for its high quality.
Mr. Beach laid the foundation of an independent household when, in 1895, he was united in marriage to Rena Hollister, of Waverly township, born in Paw Paw township on May 24, 1879. She is the daughter of Cyrus L. and Clara E. (Richmond) Hol- lister and received her education in the common schools. Mr. and Mrs. Beach share their pleasant home with three children : Claris E., aged thirteen ; Mildred, aged eight; and Lawrence W., aged four. Mrs. Beach is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Glendale, as is also her eldest daughter. The subject is a popular member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is in harmony with the men and measures of the Democratic party, but has never taken an active part in political affairs, his agricultural duties leaving him little time for other considerations.
WILLIAM KILLEFER .- A volunteer in the defense of the Union at the age of eighteen, and remaining in the service of his country until the Civil war was ended and for half a year longer; then a merchant, afterward an insurance agent for some years, and since 1896 a public official standing high in the appreciation and esteem of the people to whom he is giving faithful service, William Kille- fer, of Paw Paw, has tried his hand at several occupations and found it skilful and ready for any duty in them all.
Mr. Killefer was born at Richfield, Ohio, on August 5, 1846, and is the only son and one of the two children of Henry and Abigail (Coolman) Killefer, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Connecticut. He therefore unites in his inherited traits the sturdy industry, perseverance and frugality of the true Penn- sylvanian with the shrewdness, resourcefulness and self-reliance of the New Englander, and in his career he has exemplified the most sterling attributes of each.
The father came to Michigan and Van Buren county in 1857, and located in Bloomingdale, where he was engaged in general mer- chandising until his death, which occurred on November 23, 1872. The mother died in April, 1864. They were the parents of a son and a daughter, William and his sister Mary, the latter being now a resident of Los Angeles, California. Their mother was their father's second wife. His first was Jane Ann Curtis, and of their union three children were born: John, who resides in Los Angeles,
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California; and Henry and Elizabeth, both of whom have been dead a number of years, leaving three of the five born in the two families to represent them and perpetuate the virtues and practice the teachings of the parents.
William Killefer was practically but a schoolboy when his pa- triotism led him into the military service to aid in saving the Amer- ican Union from being torn asunder in sectional strife. He en- listed in 1864 in Battery C, First Michigan Light Artillery, and in this battery he served until October 27, 1865, when he was mustered out at Detroit. On his return to his home in this county he became a part of his father's mercantile establishment in Bloomingdale, and continued as such until 1888, then moved to Paw Paw, where he was in the insurance business for five years.
In 1896 he was appointed postmaster of Paw Paw, and he held the office for a full term of four years. Since retiring from that position he has been a justice of the peace, and has also carried on an insurance business in addition to his judicial duties. But he gives the duties of his office his first consideration, and does not allow any other claim on his time or attention to interfere with them under any circumstances. He is energetic and resourceful, however, in pushing the insurance end of his activity, making use of all his power to render his days of usefulness profitable to him- self and serviceable to the community.
Mr. Killefer was married on June 3, 1880, to Miss Emma Fergu- son, and they have had four children : Carl, who was born on June 23, 1881, and was accidentally killed on October 13, 1895, while hunting; Ola, whose life began on October 10, 1883, and who is still living with her parents; Wade, who was born on April 13, 1885, and is now a professional base ball player on the team at Minne- apolis, Minnesota; William M., who came into being on October 10, 1887, and is also a professional base ball player, formerly a member of the team at Buffalo, New York, and now with the Phila- delphia National team.
The father is a Republican in politics and one of the wheelhorses of his party in the county. He serves its best interests with judg- ment and energy at all times, and his counsel is always appreciated by both the leaders and the rank and file as worthy of weight. He has held the township offices of every grade, some of them for lengthy periods. He was supervisor five years in Bloomingdale and five in Paw Paw. In fraternal circles he is also prominent in the Masonic order and the Order of Odd Fellows, taking an earnest and serviceable interest in affairs of his lodge in each. His church affiliation is with the Baptists, and among them, too, his in- fluence is strong, as he is helpful in all the work of the congrega- tion in which he holds his membership and true to the Christian teachings of the sect in all the relations of life. As a citizen, as a business man and as a public official he meets all the requirements of uprightness, integrity and enterprise, and his loyalty to these requirements has not only given him force and influence with the people of the city and county, but has won for him their enduring confidence and regard.
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SYLVESTER H. JONES .- The untimely death of the late Sylvester H. Jones, of Paw Paw, on January 22, 1887, at the early age of fifty-seven years and in the prime of his manhood and fulness of his usefulness, enshrouded the whole community in grief and gloom. He had been a resident of Van Buren county twenty-one years, and during one-third of this period had lived and been in business in Paw Paw. His worth as a man, his business ability, his public spirit and enterprise as a citizen, and his genial and companionable nature had given him a high place in the regard of the people and greatly endeared him to all who knew him in- timately, and each felt a sense of personal loss in his death, which was universally lamented.
Mr. Jones was a native of Maine, and was born at Camden in that state on July 21, 1830. He was a son of Johnson Jones of that place, whose wife died when her son Sylvester was but two years old, and as all the members of the family have passed away her maiden name cannot now be given. There were four chil- dren in the family, of whom Sylvester was the second in the or- der of birth. The place and circumstances of his nativity deter- mined his first pursuit in life, and might have been expected to give him more robust health than he had. For Camden, Maine, is on the coast of the Atlantic, and its air is supposed to be full of life-giving elements.
Mr. Jones grew to manhood and obtained his education in his native town, and as soon as he left school began work in its prin- cipal industry, shipbuilding. He wrought in this industry, at first for others and later for himself, until he reached the age of thirty-six years. Then, in 1866, he came to Michigan and Van Buren county, and took up his residence at Glendale. There he owned a steam saw mill, where he sawed large quantities of butternut and ash lumber, which he sold to be used in the build- ing of churches and other fine buildings in Paw Paw, where he was well and favorably known among the contractors. This mill had long been a landmark in the locality and is familiarly spoken of as "the Old Pioneer Mill" through all the country around, the name indicating not only something of the age of the structure, but also some measure of the attachment the people have for it and its interesting history.
Mr. Jones moved to Paw Paw in 1880 and started an enterprise in the furniture trade. He conducted the business for a few years, then sold it, owing to his failing health, but retained the ownership of the building in which it was carried on. But he did not live long to enjoy the rest he had promised himself. On January 22, 1887, as has been noted, he passed away. He was married on December 2, 1858, to Miss Mary Adelia Thorndike, a daughter of David W. and Betsy Jane (Hilt) Thorndike. They were born and reared on the coast of Maine also, and the father became a sea captain.
When the Civil war began he offered his services to the govern- ment in defense of the Union, and was soon in the midst of active naval operations. In the course of the conflict his ship was blockaded in the port of Cienfuegos, Cuba, by the Confederate terror of the sea, the Alabama. The climate was so hot and ener-
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vating during the period of the blockade that the whole ship's crew and all the officers contracted ship's fever, and many of them died of it. The Captain passed through this ordeal safely, but in the subsequent exposure incurred the illness of which he died, not many months later, as scarcely any constitution could have resisted the extreme heat to which he was subjected and the great change he suddenly encountered in a debilitated and wasted condition.
He and his wife were the parents of five children : Mary Adelia, the widow of Mr. Jones; Sarah, the wife of John T. Clapp, of Paw Paw, and Washburn W. and Francella, both of whom have been dead for a number of years. Emma, the last born of the family, is also deceased, leaving Mrs. Jones and her sister, Mrs. Clapp, the only living representatives of the family. But they do it credit in their worthy aspirations and the elevated Ameri- can womanhood with which they work toward them in their daily lives.
Mr. and Mrs. Jones had two children, both sons and both liv- ing. Winfield Scott, who was born in 1862, is now a resident of South Bend, Indiana; and Ralph Sylvester, who was born in 1876, has his home at present in Chicago. The father was a loyal and devoted member of the Republican party in politics, and always energetic and effective in the service of its principles and can- didates. His religious faith was expressed by active and ser- viceable attendance in the Congregational church. In business, in relation to public affairs and the welfare of his community and in private life he was true to every claim of duty, and the citizenship of the county found him worthy of its highest esteem from every point of view and freely bestowed this upon him.
CHARLES A. FINCH, farmer and owner of the creamery at Al- mena in Almena township, was born in this same township on Octo- ber 25, 1877. He is the son of George A. and Sarah Rhodes Finch. the former a native of Oswego county, New York. His father Chauncey P. Finch, was a New Englander of the state of New Hampshire. He grew up there but when a young man went to Oswego county, New York, where he was married and where all his family were born. Five children were born to him, but only three lived to grow up and the father of Charles of this sketch was the middle one of the three. He was but eight years of age when the family came to Michigan in 1854. Edward Finch was a vet- eran of the Civil war. He belonged to the Michigan cavalry and served throughout the entire period of the war. His death oc- curred in 1903. The other one of the three children of Chauncey Finch, Mrs. Helen Finch Daily, died in 1910. Her husband, Wal- ter Daily, died in 1904, at Mattawan. The Finches first settled in Pine Grove township of this county, and for over half a century they have lived there and in Almena township.
George Finch grew up in the county and was married to Sarah Rhodes. She died in 1886, when Charles was not ten years old, leaving two little children. A few years later the father married Miss Georgia Thomas, and they are still living at Mattawan, Mr. George Finch being agent for the Fruit Belt Line in that place.
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Charles A. Finch lived at home until he was fourteen years old and then began to make his own way by hiring out in the summers. He continued to go to school in the winter until he was seventeen. At that age he finished the district school course, and then worked for wages for another year. At eighteen he purchased forty acres of land and kept bachelor's hall on it until he was married, on March 17, 1896. Mrs. Charles Finch was Miss Hettie Palmer be- fore her marriage, the daughter of George Palmer, of Almena township. Her mother died when she was four days old and her father now resides in Nebraska, where he is telegraph operator for the Northern Railroad. The mother of Mr. George Palmer was Selina Downing. She was born in Cayuga county, New York, April 29, 1828. Her father, Isaiah Smith Downing, was born in New York state and came to Van Buren county, Michigan, and settled in Al- mena in 1836, at the present home of his daughter, Mrs. Palmer. This country was then nearly an unbroken wilderness and Mrs. Palmer, now in her eighty-third year, vividly remembers the events of those pioneer days when the wolves and bears were often the un- welcome intruders into the small brood of chickens, or occasionally the sheepfold, and when the Indians were far more numerous than the white neighbors. Mrs. Palmer's mother was Hannah Barnum, also born in Cayuga county, New York. She had three children, but Decatur and Eliza are both deceased, Mrs. Palmer being the youngest. The mother died at sixty years of age. Mrs. Palmer has spent her entire life since eight years old in the town of Al- mena where she received her education in the district schools and in Paw Paw, and at the age of sixteen, in 1844, she began teaching, which she continued for seven terms, two in Almena, one in Law- rence and the other four in nearby towns. In 1850 she married Chauncey B. Palmer, who was born in New York state, and as a young man came to Almena, where he followed agricultural pur- suits all his life and died in 1900. She is the mother of four chil- dren : George, mentioned above; Chauncey; Flora, residing with her mother on the farm; and Hannah, now deceased.
Lois, the only child of the union of Charles and Hettie Finch, was born in December 19, 1898, and is now attending school in Al- mena. Mr. Finch holds membership in several of the best known fraternal orders. He is a Mason in lodge No. 268 at Mattawan. In Almena he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen, No. 9333, and the A. O. of G .. in both of which he carries insurance. Mrs. Finch is a member of the Methodist church and in politics Mr. Finch holds with the Republican party.
After his marriage, Mr. Finch bought forty acres of land ad- joining the forty he already owned. Two years later he sold the eighty and then came to Almena and started in the grocery busi- ness. At the end of one year he sold out and went into the cream- ery business, where he learned the butter-maker's trade. Not con- tent with the knowledge he acquired from conducting the business for some time, Mr. Finch went to the Agricultural College at Lans- ing and finished a course in butter making. He received his di- ploma and then returned to the creamery business, being associated with the Worden Co-Operative Creamery, near Detroit. He spent three years with this concern and then went into business for him-
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self at Lake Odessa, Michigan, where he stayed for six months. He desired to learn still another branch of the milk business, so he sold out and went into a condensed milk factory and learned that trade. Upon leaving the factory where he had been employed he bought the plant at Almena and since February, 1905, he has been in business in this county. In addition to his creamery Mr. Finch owns one hundred and forty acres of land in sections 33 and 34 and he is building a ten-room house in the village of Almena. The thorough preparation and the practical experience have put Mr. Finch in the ranks of the foremost men of his trade and his plant is one of the best assets of the county from a business standpoint.
JOHN T. CLAPP .- The late John T. Clapp, of Paw Paw, who died on November 17, 1891, on the verge of seventy years of age, was at the time of his demise one of the most prominent and sub- stantial citizens of Van Buren county. He had accumulated the greater part of his estate by industry and ability in the county, and he had therefore a particularly cordial interest in its welfare and the advancement of its people, as they had a warm admira- tion and a high regard for him. For, although he looked after his own interests with the utmost care and diligence, he never neglected those of the county, and was an ardent practical sup- porter of all worthy undertakings designed to promote them with- out reference to any personal advantage for himself, but wholly with a view to the public good and general well being.
Mr. Clapp was a native of the state of New York, and his life be- gan in one of its most enterprising and interesting cities. He was born on March 12, 1823, in Rochester, where the tides of industrial, mercantile and commercial life flow in strong and steady progress, and never seem to ebb. He came to Michigan and located in Van Buren county, and all his subsequent years of activity were devoted to farming and buying and selling wool, in which he was an extensive dealer. He also dealt with some energy and considerable success in real estate, especially farming lands, and made a widely extended reputation for his judgment of land and its value.
Mr. Clapp did not, however, let everything go by him in his transactions. He began as a farmer on a small scale, but added to his possessions until at one time he owned and farmed four hundred and sixty acres of excellent land. To this he applied his industry with such skill and judgment that every acre was made to yield its full recompense for the care and labor bestowed upon it, and thus strengthen his hands for more extended opera- tions. He also owned several houses in Paw Paw, and as he kept them in good order he always secured the full measure of revenue from them that he had a right to expect.
These facts prove that Mr. Clapp was an excellent business man and made the most of his opportunities. But his record also includes a long course of first-rate and upright progressive citizenship, and the people esteemed him highly and revere his memory for that. Some years prior to his death, desiring to en- joy the remainder of his days in quiet, freedom from care and the rest he had so richly earned, he sold all his farms and moved
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to Paw Paw. He was a Democrat in his political faith and al- legiance, and always gave his party energetic and effective serv- ice during his period of active life. The party rewarded his zeal and efficiency by nominating him for several township of- fices in turn, and the people of the township eagerly embraced the opportunity thus afforded them to secure service of high char- acter in connection with their local affairs by electing him to each. He was affiliated in religion with the Presbyterian church. and was an active worker in his congregation.
Mr. Clapp was married three times. His first union was with a Miss Rickerd. They had two children, both of whom died in infancy. The second was with Miss Eliza Rickerd, a sister of his first wife, and the fruits of it were seven children: Julius, whose home is in Ithaca, New York; Willis, who is a resident of Paw Paw; Eva, the wife of Charles Bailey, of Boston, Massa- chusetts; Frank, who lives in Portland, Oregon; Ida, who mar- ried Samuel Mawrey, of Three Rivers, Illinois; John, who dwells in Bay City, Michigan; and Nellie, the wife of Frank Francisco, whose home is at Chicago, Illinois.
Mr. Clapp's third marriage took place on November 6, 1883. and united him with Miss Sarah A. Thorndike, a daughter of Captain David W. and Betsy Jane (Hilt) Thorndike, members of old New England families, and born and reared on the coast of Maine. The salient points in the life of Captain Thorndike are given in a sketch of Sylvester H. Jones, deceased, the husband of his other living child, Mrs. Mary Adelia Jones, which will be found on another page of this work. Mrs. Clapp is still living in Paw Paw, and is always numbered among its best and most ad- mirable matrons. Her home is a center of gracious hospitality, and a popular resort for the numerous friends of the family, who always find the time passed there agreeable, and the influences emanating therefrom stimulating and helpful.
GEORGE HOOD .- When George Hood became a resident of Van Buren county in 1887 he added to its active and productive forces something of the spirit of the "bright little, tight little islands" of England and Scotland across the sea, the spirit that has made the British empire the great civilizing force of modern times, and one of the greatest agencies of progress the world has ever known. He was born in England on February 14, 1866, and is a son of Samuel and Rachel (Butcher) Hood, natives of that country, who passed their lives within its borders and died on the soil that had been hallowed by their labors and which now piously covers their remains. The father passed away in 1906 and the mother in 1907, leaving four of their five children to mourn their death. The children who survive them are: Frede- rick, who lives in England: Charles, who lives in Van Buren county ; Alice, who is the wife of Frederick Whissel and also has her home in England; and George, the subject of this brief re- view. Lucy, the fifth child in the order of birth, died a number of years ago.
George remained in his native land until he reached the age of twenty-one, and then came to the United States. He did not
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linger on the Atlantic seaboard, but came at once to Michigan and located in Van Buren county, where he engaged in farming for a number of years, on rented land. He then bought forty acres in Decatur township, which he owned and cultivated six years. At the end of that period he sold the forty acres and bought eighty in section 34, Paw Paw township, on which he is still living and conducting an industry in general farming. In addition to this he has an interest with his wife in sixty-four acres adjoining his eighty, and forty acres of timber land, and in con- nection with his farming operations he raises and feeds cattle for the general market on a considerable scale.
On November 27, 1891, Mr. Hood united himself in marriage with Miss Mary Burnett, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Watton) Burnett, natives of England, who came to Michigan in 1852 and took up their residence in Paw Paw, where they died many years ago. They had three children, Mrs. Hood and her sisters Annie and Kittie, both of whom are deceased, leaving her the only living representative of the family. Mr. and Mrs. Hood have had one child, their son Carl, who was born on June 9, 1893 and died on June 23, 1893. Kitty, a sister of Mrs. Hood, married George Andrews and they had one child, Lillian, born May 18, 1899. Her mother died when she was ten days old and since that time she has been a member of the household of Mr. and Mrs. Hood, who are greatly attached to her and have given her all the care of a daughter. Mr. Hood is a Democrat in ref- erence to national political affairs, and true to his party in all campaigns. Locally he looks only to the substantial and endur- ing welfare of the people, and exerts his influence to promote that. He is now the treasurer of the township school board, and has been a member of the board for several years. In fraternal life he is a member of the Order of Gleaners, and in church con- nection both he and his wife are Methodists. The people of Van Buren county esteem him highly and he is entitled to the regard in which they hold him, for he is a citizen deeply interested in the enduring welfare of the township and county of his home, and a man exemplifies in his daily life the best attributes of American manhood.
GARRIE W. HUNT .- The late Garrie W. Hunt, of Paw Paw, whose untimely death on December 17, 1891, at the early age of forty- six years and nine months, was universally regretted, was in his young manhood a storekeeper and in his later years an extensive buyer and shipper of live stock. He was recognized in all parts of Van Buren county as an excellent business man, an upright and progressive citizen, and an exemplar of the best attributes of Amer- ican manhood of the most sturdy and sterling kind.
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