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 13
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He was born in Antwerp township, Van Buren county, Michigan, on March 3, 1845, and was a son of John and Eliza (King) Hunt. They had nine children : Laurentio, who is now a resident of Ant- werp township, this county; Sarah, who has been dead a number of years; Harty, deceased, the former wife of J. J. Woodward, of Van Buren county ; Nathaniel K., who resides in St. Cloud, Minne- sota; Lydia, the wife of W. W. Dole, of Kalamazoo, Michigan ;
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Garrie W., the lamented subject of this brief memoir; Eliza, the wife of Edward Stevens, of Spokane, Washington; John, whose home is at Mattawan, Michigan; and Simeon, who died a number of years ago.
On June 7. 1883, Mr. Hunt was joined in marriage with Miss Adeline Palmer, who was born at Lyme, Connecticut, on October 15, 1845, and is a daughter and the only child of Elisha C. and Eliza H. (Fowler) Palmer, the former a native of Connecticut, who came to Paw Paw in 1856, and the latter a native of New York. Mrs. Hunt's father was a contractor and prominent in his business. He died at the home of his daughter on February 23, 1878. Her mother died on April 4, 1895. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt became the par- ents of one child, their daughter Ruth A., who was born on October 3, 1885 and died on March 27, 1886. Mr. Hunt was married twice, and by his first marriage became the father of one child, his son J. W. Hunt, who is now a resident of Aurora, Illinois.
Mr. Hunt was a Republican in politics and loyally devoted to the principles and theories of his party. He rendered it effective serv- ice at all times, and was regarded as a man of importance in its councils. But he had no aspiration to public office, either by ap- pointment or election, and never sought a political position. His standing in his community, however, was such, and the general es- teem in which he was held was so high, that it is probable he would have been compelled to yield to the importunities of the people and accept a position in their service if he had lived a few years longer, for they recognized his ability for official duties and his high character as a man as the best qualifications for effective and acceptable public service, and in time would have demanded that he employ these qualifications for the public good in the most prac- tical way.
He took a great interest in the Order of Patrons of Husbandry (the Grange) and was prominent and influential in its organiza- tion. In church relations he was what is known as a Presbyterian Baptist. His consideration for the welfare of his community was shown in many ways, particularly by his warm and helpful in- terest in public improvements, his ardent support of public educa- tion and all other beneficial and elevating institutions, mental, moral, civil and social, and his wisdom and energy in what he did to keep the shining wheels of progress in motion toward desirable ends. No man stood higher in his township and none better de- served the rank he occupied. For he was true to every claim of duty and every requirement of citizenship.
GEORGE W. DAVIS .- A well known farmer of Waverly township is George W. Davis, who in addition to his agricultural activities gives no small amount of interest to several other institutions, among these being the Republican party and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In the councils of the former he is indeed influen- tial and he can ever be depended upon to give his support to all measures likely to prove of general benefit. His forty acres of land are located in section 16. What may be said of a goodly pro- portion of the prominent citizens of the community-that they were born in the state of New York-may be said of him, his first Vol. II-7
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appearance on this mundane sphere having been made in Oneida county, New York, September 15, 1845. His parents were Delatrius and Harriet (Collins) Davis, and both of the older people lived in New York until after the demise of the mother, when the father went to Michigan to make his home with the subject. They were farmers and they reared a family of four children, all of whom have passed on to the "Undiscovered Country" with the exception of he whose name inaugurates this review.
Mr. Davis was educated in the common schools of his locality and subsequently entered the high school of Wilson, Niagara county, New York, from which institution he was graduated. When it came to a time when he must decide in his vocation in life he chose agriculture, to which his fathers had devoted their energies and in whose wholesome independence he found content. Many New Yorkers had preceded him to Van Buren county, Michigan, a section of great resource and natural wealth, and he came to the conclusion to cast his fortunes with it also. He came in February, 1876, and was so well suited with it that he has ever since remained here and here he has played a manly and conscientious part in the many-sided life.
In 1864, when a very young man, Mr. Davis married, the young woman to become his wife being Juliana Deland Carter, of New York, and a native of Canada. To this union were born three children : William D., who resides at Waverly and who has been three times married, his present wife having been a Miss Coulson ; Harriet M., the wife of Clinton Hungerford, of South Bend, In- diana; and Elmer G., of this township, and who married Lislia Davis. The first wife of the subject passed away on March 17, 1885, and on April 14, 1888, he was a second time married, to May- ette Bradley, of this county. They maintain a hospitable home and both are highly esteemed in the community.
As previously mentioned, Mr. Davis is an enthusiastic Odd Fel- low, holding membership in Glendale Lodge and holding the office of gate keeper on the Inside of the lodge. He gives heart and hand to the men and measures of the Republican party and has held a number of public offices with great faithfulness and efficiency, hav- ing been highway commissioner and for twenty-four years justice of the peace of the township. during which time he has married twenty-four couples.
FRANK E. STEPHENS, whose death occurred February 16, 1903, on the family homestead near Mattawan, Van Buren county, was one of the skilled agriculturists of his locality, and during many years spent in operations in this township displayed traits of char- acter that stamped him as a good citizen and enterprising work- man. Born on the farm which he was operating at the time of his death, July 10, 1857, Mr. Stephens was a son of Orange and Mary Ann (Armstrong) Stephens, natives of Vermont. Mr. Stephens' mother was for some years a school teacher in Van Buren county, her father being one of the early hotel keepers of Lawton. After coming to Michigan, Orange Stephens traveled west to California, where he worked for wages until he had sent back enough to pur. chase two hundred and forty acres, which became the family home-
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stead. Three children were born to Orange and Mary Ann ( Arm- strong) Stephens, namely : Ransom E., deceased; Mary Jane, who died in infancy ; and Frank E.
Frank E. Stephens attended the public schools of his native locality and always remained on the home farm, which he operated as a stock farm, breeding thoroughbred cattle and Shropshire sheep. He was considered one of the best judges of live stock in his part of the county, and his advice was often sought in matters pertain- ing to the raising of sheep and cattle. Mr. Stephens did not con- fine his interests to his own personal affairs, for he was ever found ready and willing to lend his aid to whatever promised to work out for the ultimate good of the community, and by his own ex- ample did much to advance and improve the standard of agricul- tural work throughout Van Buren county. He was a Republican in politics, and although he never cared for public office for himself, was always a hard worker in the ranks of his party. Fraternally he was connected with the Masonic order. He was a Universalist in his religious belief, as is his widow, who survives him and lives in the comfortable family residence on Mattawan Rural Route No. 2.
Mr. Stephens was married on December 3, 1878, to Miss Amanda Beardsley, daughter of Ransom and Susanna (Wood) Beardsley, whose other four children were: Capitola, who is deceased ; Lorene, who married Isaac Scott, of Mattawan; Fred R., who is deceased ; and Lincoln E., residing in Mattawan. Mr. Beardsley died No- vember 29, 1909, his wife having passed away February 21, 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Stephens had a family of three children: Elsie, the wife of Walter Hunt, living on the old Stephens homestead ; Gladys, the wife of Philbrook Munson, of Kalamazoo county, Mich- igan; and Orange R., born February 12, 1893, and now making his home with his mother.
ALONZO SHERMAN .- Merchant, mill man and banker, Alonzo Sherman, until 1887 one of the leading forces in the business life of Paw Paw, and whose useful career was then ended by death, gave to the people of this community a fine example of enter- prise and progressiveness in mercantile and commercial life and in elevated and serviceable citizenship, and in his career illus- trated what can be accomplished in this land of boundless re- sources and almost boundless opportunity by industry, thrift, business capacity and good management. He was a resident of Paw Paw forty-four years, and during that long period his life was an open book before the people of the city and county, and they never saw a blot on any page of it.
Mr. Sherman was a native of Massachusetts, born in Conway, Franklin county, on May 8, 1811. He was a son of John and Mary (Warren) Sherman, New Englanders by nativity and rear- ing, and thoroughly imbued with the spirit and aspirations of the people of the portion of the country which was their home from birth to death, and had been the home of their ancestors for generations before them.
Their son, Alonzo Sherman, grew to manhood and obtained his education in his native place. After leaving school he learned
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the trade of a shoemaker. He went to York, Genesee county, New York, in search of better opportunities in life than his native town seemed ever likely to afford him, and there he worked at his trade two years. But the work he had to do was journey- man work only, and his ambitious soul longed for something better. He therefore opened a shoe factory at Leroy in Genesee county, in the same state, and carried it on for ten years. To dis- pose of the output he opened a boot and shoe store of his own, and this he also conducted with success and general approval for ten years, and in addition to this he owned a farm. By the end of that period the Western fever had secured a firm hold on him and he could no longer resist its demands. In the spring of 1844 he traded his business and farm in Leroy for a half interest in a store in Paw Paw, forming a partnership with E. J. House to conduct a general merchandising business. The firm as originally organized lasted two years. Then H. L. Dickenson was taken in as a member of it, and two years later its numbers were increased and its forces augmented by the addition of Joseph Sherman, a brother of Alonzo. In 1848 Thomas L. Stevens was taken into the firm, and this continued until 1849. When Joseph Sherman died, the other partners continuing until 1866, when fire destroyed the store. But it was rebuilt and the business continued up to 1868, in which year Mr. Sherman sold the store to his partner but was obliged to repurchase it, and operated it alone until 1870, when he sold it to Mr. Thomas R. Ross. The house was popular, and its trade was large and active. But its affairs were not sufficient to fully occupy Mr. Sherman's energetic, resourceful and ver- satile mind. He therefore, in company with T. L. Stevens, bought the Paw Paw Mill Company in 1849, and this he conducted and managed until 1868. In that year Mr. Ross purchased Mr. Stevens' share of the mill property and rented Mr. Sherman's share, and this continued until 1870, when the mill was sold to Mr. Anderson. In 1873 Mr. Sherman again repurchased his half of the mill and continued to operate it up to 1880, when he deeded it to his son John D.
In 1864, in connection with Thomas L. Stevens, he founded the First National Bank of Paw Paw, he being elected its president. From this position he retired in 1886, and on December 21, 1887, his useful and instructive life ended, at the age of seventy-six years and seven months. His death was a great loss to the com- munity, as he was a man of fine public spirit and had been one of the potential factors in building up and improving Paw Paw and Van Buren county, and promoting the substantial welfare of their people in every way available to him.
Mr. Sherman was united in marriage with Miss Lucy Ann Dickenson, who died in 1883, at sixty-five years of age. By this marriage he became the father of five children: Charles, John D., (a sketch of whom is to be found in this work). Delia P. who died in 1873, Frank and George W. The mother died and the father took to himself another wife in the person of Miss Elizabeth Boyington. She died and he contracted a third marriage, uniting himself on this occasion with Miss Eugenia T. Esterbrook, a daughter of Dr. Joseph H. Esterbrook, of Camden, Maine ..
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The third Mrs. Sherman is one of a family of nineteen children, fourteen of whom grew to maturity. She and her husband be- came the parents of one child, their son Joseph Hubbard Sher- man, who was born on July 13, 1869, obtained a high school ed- ucation, and has been engaged in mercantile business ever since leaving school. He owns and occupies the old homestead in Paw Paw and has a large block of stock in the First National Bank. In politics he is independent; an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias in fraternal life; and a Baptist in religious faith and church connection.
CHARLES B. ALLERTON .- To plant one's feet in the wilderness, amid the unpruned growth of ages, with the wild life of man and beast indigenous to the soil still prevalent in full vigor and unre- strained freedom in the region, is an experience no longer possible in this country, and the few remaining men and women who have had it are always interesting in themselves and their history. To this steadily diminishing number belong Andrew J. and Martha J. (Babcock) Allerton, of Van Buren county, the parents of Charles B. Allerton, one of the enterprising and prosperous farmers of Keeler township.
When they located in this county in 1865 there were only two small stores in the village of Hartford, and there was not a railroad anywhere in this part of the state. They saw the country in its primeval wildness, became familiar with the sight of its untamed denizens of the forest, savage beasts and still more savage men, and they have witnessed and contributed to its progress from that condition to its present high state of development and advanced im- provement.
This interesting couple were born and reared in Ohio, the father in Stark county, where his life began on May 21, 1831, and the mother in Wood county, where she came into being on April 6, 1841. She was a daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Roberts) Bab- cock, and had four brothers, being herself the only girl in the fam- ily. She and her husband made the trip overland from their native state to Michigan and Van Buren county nearly fifty years ago, and on their arrival in this locality they bought twenty acres of land in Keeler township, for which the purchase price was three hundred dollars. On this they built a log cabin, which was called "The Bass Wood Cabin," as it was constructed of split bass wood logs, with the smooth side inside the dwelling as a finish, and hum- ble and unpretentious as the cabin would look now, it was a habita- tion of more than ordinary consequence when it was put up. A few years later they sold their little farm of twenty acres and made other purchases, adding to their acreage as time passed until they were the owners of a considerable quantity of good land. They helped to lay the foundations of the township in its civil govern- ment, aided in the erection of the little log schoolhouse in which their children began their education, and bore their full part of the labor and responsibility incident to speaking a new region into being as a civilized community and starting it on its career of progress and development.
This gentleman and his wife were distinguished in their an-
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cestry as well as in their own achievements. Mr. Allerton's grand- father was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and connected with the immediate command of General Washington. The Allertons came to this country in the Mayflower and from the time of the arrival of the first of the name members of the family have been prominent in American history. They have dignified and adorned every worthy walk in public and private life, and the same is true of the forefathers of Mrs. Allerton. Their children and their chil- dren's children are entitled to honorary membership in the socie- ties of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. They are themselves the parents of three sons and one daughter, all of whom are living: Curtis O., the first born, is a contractor and builder in Battle Creek, Michigan. He completed his education in the high school in Hartford, is married and has an attractive resi- dence in the city of his home. Ella E., the second child, married Henry Harmon, a prosperous barber who now lives at New Buffalo, Berrien county, Michigan. Charles B. is the third child in the or- der of birth, and the fourth is William F., who is also married and carries on extensively as a contractor and builder in the state of Florida, where he has lived for a number of years.
Charles B. Allerton was born in Van Buren county, Michigan, on October 5, 1867. He was reared on his father's farm, attended the common school in its vicinity and completed his education in the high school in Hartford. He also pursued a two years' course of instruction in the literary and business departments of Mount Union College in Ohio, being graduated in the busi- ness department. While attending this institution he paid his own way out of money he had earned and saved.
After leaving the college he located in Grand Rapids, Michi- gan, where he did office work for a time. From there he moved to Chicago and accepted a position as shipping clerk in the em- ploy of T. A. Shaw & Company, dry goods commission mer- chants. At the end of a year sickness compelled him to give up his position, and his next engagement was as city bill clerk for Kelly, Maus & Company, hardware merchants on Lake street, Chicago. He was with this company during the World's Fair of 1893, and afterward became a traveling salesman for the Tack and Nail Company, of Grand Crossing, Illinois.
On December 28, 1892, Mr. Allerton was married to Miss Jennie I. Gould, who was born in Van Buren county on August 2, 1870, and is a daughter of Gilbert and Mary (Garrett) Gould, prominent residents of Keeler township. She was educated in the public schools and at the Collegiate Institute in Benton Har- bor, and after completing her education was one of the success- ful and popular teachers of the county for three years. Mrs. Allerton is a lady of unusual sunniness and cheerfulness of dis- position and makes her home one of the most popular resorts in the township of its location.
After his marriage Mr. Allerton took a position with the Anglo- Swiss Milk Company at Dixon, Illinois, to which he rendered valuable service as a salesman for two years. He then became the superintendent of the shipping department of the Reynolds Wire Company, of Dixon, Illinois, but at the end of one year in
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that responsible position he found himself weary of business and determined to turn his attention and devote his energies to farm- ing. With this end in view, he bought forty acres of land, which is part of his present farm, and two years later he added twenty acres of timber and pasture land. In 1910 he purchased one hun- dred and twenty acres of choice land in Berrien county, and he also owns a valuable piece of property, one hundred and sixty- four by one hundred and thirty-seven feet in size, on Broadway in Benton Harbor, which is steadily increasing in desirability and value.
Mr. Allerton began the battle of life for himself before he went to college. He paid his own way through that and has been steadily progressing ever since. He now owns one hundred and eighty acres of fine, productive land, which he has enriched with good buildings and other improvements, and of which he is mak- ing model farms. He does general farming and raises live stock. He was the first farmer in Keeler township to raise alfalfa, the production of which he started as an experiment on nine acres of land. In 1911 he cut three crops from this tract and secured an average of four tons to the acre.
In politics Mr. Allerton is independent. He has no time or desire for public office himself, and will not allow himself to be bound by party ties, but bestows his suffrage on the candidates he deems best fitted for the offices sought and most likely to promote the general welfare of the township, county or state. At this time (1911) his father and mother are among the oldest living residents of Van Buren county who came here as pioneers, and he is one of the county's most wide-awake, intelligent, en- terprising and progressive farmers, as well as one of its most es- teemed and influential and useful citizens. His beautiful farm is on the line between Keeler and Hartford townships, five miles distant from Hartford, Keeler and Watervliet, and has many ad- vantages in its location.
Mr. and Mrs. Allerton have five children, two sons and three daughters, but only two are living. Their daughter Helen is in the third grade in school and is making a record in her studies of which her parents are justly proud. The other child is their daughter Marian M., who is not yet old enough to go to school. Their home is a social center and one of the popular resorts of the county, throughout which it is renowned for its intellectual atmosphere, many artistic attractions and genuine hospitality. It is like its occupants, full of life's brightness and cheer, and a source of betterment and refined enjoyment for all who come within its influence.
I. P. BATES .- In the year 1776 there was born to Israel Bates, of Vermont, a son, Jacob. The father went into the war a little later and fought for the independence of the colonies, so the little boy grew up in an atmosphere of rumors of battles and of the fine indifference to small matters of personal comfort which char- acterized these earlier Americans whose faces were set as a flint toward the goal of liberty. Jacob Bates went west when he grew to manhood and settled in New York, where his son Daniel
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was born in Herkimer county. Daniel married Eliza Pinkham, of Onondaga county, and of this union was born in 1835, on the thirtieth of December, I. P. Bates, the subject of this review.
There were twelve children in the family of Daniel Bates, eleven of whom grew to maturity. Lydia is the widow of Isaac Nelson, of Pennsylvania. John D. Bates also lives in the Key- stone state. Eliza Jane is the widow of Webster Johnston, of Arlington township. Perry is now dead, Lovina is the widow of J. L. Williams, of Kansas, and Ellen is the widow of L. G. Cunningham, of the same state. Otis is judge of the probate court in Lane county, Kansas. Russell is a United States mar- shal in Nome, Alaska. Mansel is a contractor and builder in Kansas. Emma is the wife of Henry A. Gerdes, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where her husband is a cement contractor for the city. The father moved to Kansas in his latter years and died there at the age of sixty-one. The mother lived to the age of eighty-eight and died in 1901.
Israel P. Bates was the third in the family and until he was twenty he stayed with his father. At that age he came to Ar- lington Centre, Van Buren county. He had attended the May- ville academy in New York for one year and after coming to Van Buren county in the years 1856 to 1859 he went to school at Law- rence and then was for two years a student in Hillsdale College. When the war broke out he shouldered a musket to preserve the country his great-grandfather had fought to make a nation, en- listing in Company G, Second Michigan Cavalry, under Captain Fred Fowler. He served for three years and was mustered out October 3, 1864, at Washington, D. C.
Mr. Bates had begun preaching in 1859, his first sermon having been given in April, of that year, and after returning from the war on May 6, 1866, he was ordained for the ministry of the Baptist church and began the work of preaching, which has been his work ever since. He is still active in this profession after more than forty years in its service. He is of that company who, like the pioneers of Kansas, take a rifle and a Bible to guide their course by, and while they do valiant service both with their muskets and with "the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God," they are in no whit lacking in what we term the prac- tical concerns of life. Mr. Bates not only preaches the gospel, but he farms his place of forty acres besides.
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