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 18
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EPHRAIM S. APPLETON .- The eventful life of Mr. Appleton be- gan at Buxton, Maine, on December 22, 1846. His parents were Samuel B. and Elizabeth (Morgan) Appleton, members of promi- nent families of that place. The family went west to Chicago and from there, at the age of seventeen, Ephraim went to the front at the call of the country for troops to save the Union and was six months in the service. He enlisted in the Chicago Board of Trade Battery. Mr. Appleton was discharged on account of dis- ability and still draws the pension granted him somewhat later.
For forty years after his return from the war, Chicago con- tinued to be Mr. Appleton's home. He was for a time a fireman on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, working at this for three years. Another three years he spent in California as a sheep herder, and while there he passed through the many ex- periences which are incident to that calling. Upon returning to Chicago, he learned the machinist trade and worked at that for the remainder of his stay in Chicago.
In 1905 Mr. Appleton came to Van Buren county and purchased a farm of forty acres. Mrs. Appleton was formerly Miss Frances L. Colf, of Allegan county, Michigan. She became the wife of Mr. Appleton in 1872 and is the mother of two sons. William C. Appleton is a graduate of a commercial school in Chicago also took a course in commercial law, and is now cashier of the Stan- dard Varnish Company of Chicago. Herbert is a bachelor of thirty-five and lives at home.
Mr. Appleton, like most of the Civil war veterans, is a Republi- can in politics. He and his wife are members of the Methodist church and he is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in Florada Lodge, No. 309. Although they have lived in
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the county but a short time, Mr. Appleton and his family have won a place among the best citizens of this section and are in all ways worthy of the regard in which they are held.
DR. JOHN C. MAXWELL, of Paw Paw, was born in Hamilton township, Van Buren county, Michigan, on March 5, 1866, and is a son of James Edward and Mary (Conway) Maxwell, who were born in Ireland. The father came to this country about 1846, and at once made his way to the West to take part in its development and improvement and secure for himself a share in the results of its progress. He located in this county on a farm but little re- moved from its state of primal wildness, and on this he passed the remainder of his life, which ended in 1884, eight years after the death of his wife, in 1876. He labored diligently and intelligently in the cultivation of his farm, and when he died left it in an ad- vanced state of development and productiveness, and well im- proved with good buildings.
Eight children were born in the family and seven of them are living, only Mary, the late wife of Joseph Godley, of Kalamazoo county, having died. The others are: Celia, the wife of Jacob Knowles, of Van Buren county ; Thomas C., who resides in Spring- field, South Dakota; Elizabeth, the wife of Otis Gould, of Law- rence, this county; C. Ella, who is dean of women in the Mar- quette State Normal School, and a teacher of history in that in- stitution ; Frances, the wife of M. S. Bullard, of this county ; James Edward, a prominent physician and surgeon whose home is in Decatur, Michigan; and Dr. John C.
The last named, when his father died, was the only one at home to take charge of the farm until it could be sold, and he was com- pelled to leave school and devote his time to its management. As soon as he was able to get away he entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor as a medical student, and while pursuing his professional course also followed the high school course of academic instruction. He was graduated from the department of pharmacy in the university in 1894, and from the medical depart- ment in 1895. When he left the University he at once located in Paw Paw, and here he has worked out his subsequent career, mak- ing an admirable record as a physician and surgeon. His prac- tice is large and active, laying all his time and energy under tribute except what is required for the duties of citizenship outside of pro- fessional lines, for these he never neglects in any degree whatever.
Dr. Maxwell was married in December, 1898, to Miss Cleo Lyle Stevens, a daughter of F. E. and Ida M. (Parker) Stevens, of Paw Paw. Three children have been born of the union, two of whom are living: James Hoyt, who was born December 15, 1902, and Catherine Frances, whose life began on December 1, 1908. The first born child, Helen, came into being on December 15, 1899, and died on March 13, 1902.
The Doctor holds to the principles and theories of government of the Republican party in political affairs, but he is not desirous of official station of any kind. He is a member of several local lodges.
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SAMUEL CULVER .- As the leading industry of Van Buren county is farming, and as that industry is in large measure the basis of the wealth, prosperity and progress of almost every land under the sun, its representatives are entitled to full consideration in any work that purports to give an account of the forces which have made a people what they are, and the steps by which they reach a stage of progress which may be the subject of the work. This volume is designed as a portrayal of the people of Van Buren county at the present time, and their advancement from the pioneer stage of the county's existence to the high state of development, improvement and prosperity to which its residents have brought it. The greater part of the population have been farmers from the start, and Samuel Culver, of Keeler township, is one of their best representatives in the generation to which he belongs.
Mr. Culver was born in the state of Ohio, Stark county, on July 2, 1840, and was the last of the eight children (three sons and five daughters), born to his parents, Christopher and Su- sanna (Chiesley) Culver. Three of the eight are living: William, who is a farmer near Howard City, Montcalm county, Michigan ; Polly, who is a widow and resides in La Grange county, Indiana ; and Samuel, the immediate subject of this brief review.
The father of this family was a native of Pennsylvania, and was reared, educated and married in that state. He was of Ger- man ancestry, his parents having come to this country from the Fatherland during our Revolutionary war. The mother of the family was also of German extraction and both she and her hus- band could speak the German language fluently. After their marriage they moved to Ohio, and some years later to La Grange county, Indiana, where the father died in October, 1861. He was first a Democrat in political allegiance, but when the Republican party was organized he espoused its principles, and to them he adhered to the end of his life. His wife died several years before his death. They were Presbyterians in their religious connection, and consistent members of their church from their youth, holding firmly to its teachings and exemplifying the Christian spirit in their daily lives.
Samuel Culver was a boy of four years when his parents moved to Indiana, and he passed the succeeding thirty years of his life in that state. He has always been warmly attached to the Union, and when the Civil war was raging he joined the forces enlisted for its defense and salvation. He was enrolled in September, 1864, in Company G, One Hundred and Forty-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and received his honorable discharge from the army in July, 1865. His company was commanded by Captain Schlegel, and the regiment to which it belonged by Colonel John Comparet. The regiment was assigned to the Army of the Ten- nessee and took part in the second battle of Nashville. In this contest Mr. Culver had a narrow escape from death, the band of his cap being shot away. But the regiment was fighting under the inspiration of the presence and heroic example of its great general, George H. Thomas, the idol of his soldiers, who called him "Pap Thomas" in the ardor of their affectionate devotion.
On February 21, 1867, Mr. Culver was united in marriage with
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Miss Maryette E. Emerson, the nuptials being solemnized in La Grange county, Indiana. Mrs. Culver is a daughter of Elial Todd and Huldah M. (King) Emerson, the former a native of the state of New York, born in 1814, near the Connecticut line, and the latter of Rhode Island, where her life began on July 1, 1817. She died on March 31, 1900, and her husband's life ended in 1894. He was a distant relative of the great American philosopher, essay- ist and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson. His occupation through life was that of a farmer, and his marriage occurred in Michigan, whither he came after attaining his majority and residing for a number of years in Indiana, moving to the latter state in 1841, after having bought land in La Grange county. IIe became a resi- dent of Van Buren county in this state in 1870.
On his arrival in this county he purchased the tract of eighty acres of land which now constitutes the old Emerson homestead, located on the township line between Keeler and Hartford town- ships, within four miles of the village of Hartford. During his life in Van Buren county Mr. Emerson took a great interest in the public schools and for a number of years rendered them valu- able service as school director. He and his wife were devout mem- bers of the Baptist church at Keeler, and were persons of strict in- tegrity and true to every duty. They reared their offspring in paths of rectitude and to useful lives. Mrs. Emerson was de- seended from old New England stock and English ancestry, one of her grandmothers having been a native of the Isle of Wight, Eng- land. Her grandfathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary war. This entitles Mrs. Culver and her daughter to membership in the society of Daughters of the American Revolution. They could certainly meet all the requirements of membership in respect to high character, intelligence and acceptable social standing, no matter how exacting they may be.
Mrs. Culver grew to womanhood in Indiana, and there received a very good education, although she had only the facilities afforded by the public schools; nor did her husband have any other, and, he, too, is well informed and has a well trained mind. The fruit of their union is one child, their daughter Grace Belle, who is the wife of Theodore Samuel Allen and has had two children, a daugh- ter named Maryette Isabelle, who died at the age of fifteen months, and a son named George Lial, who is now in the fourth grade of the public school he attends. Mrs. Allen was born in the Emer- son homestead and educated in the district schools and at the high schools in Hartford and Benton Harbor. She is a member of the Baptist church, the Sunday-school of the congregation to which she belongs, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union.
Mr. Culver is a progressive farmer and studies his business in all its details with a view to securing the best returns and most. satisfactory results from the labor and care he bestows on his farm. He is also an enterprising and public spirited citizen, with great interest in the development and enduring welfare of his township and county. In political faith he is a Republican, and at all times serviceable to his party, although he has no desire for any of the honors or profits it may have to bestow on its faithful and capable adherents. He cast his first vote for our martyred
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president, Abraham Lincoln. In addition to their farm the Cul- vers own a residence property in Hartford. Mr. Culver and his wife are deeply interested in the cause of public education, and this fact has induced him to serve on the school board. Like their daughter, the parents are members of the Baptist church and zealous workers in the Sunday-school of their congregation. All the members of the family stand high in the regard of the people, and the record of their useful, upright and estimable lives shows that they are worthy of all the respect and good will that is so richly bestowed upon them. Van Buren county has no better or more serviceable citizens.
JOHN J. MARKILLIE .- Among the men who have given the farm- ers of Van Buren county their high name for industry and pro- gressive methods is John J. Markille, of Hartford township. He comes of sturdy old English stock. He was born March 17, 1849, in Longsutton Crosses, Lincolnshire, Old England, the son of Ed- ward and Mary (Skeels) Markillie, neither of whom ever came to this country, and both of whom have now passed away. The early life of John Markillie was spent upon the farm, and his education was slight, for he was obliged to be busy early and late at his farm duties. He worked on the farm until he attained his majority, not accumulating, however, very much of this world's goods. On Christmas day, 1871, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Chris- topher, of Lutton, England. The young couple made their home on a rented farm and the husband not only ran that but was em- ployed by other farmers as well. Mrs. Markillie was born on the 15th of November, 1851. Mr. Markillie came to the United States, landing here on the 11th of October, 1881, and settled near Gobles- ville, his wife joining him in the following spring. Mr. and Mrs. Markillie were the parents of twelve children, concerning whom the following brief data is here inserted: Carrie became the wife of Frank Webster; Samuel is deceased; Sarah is now Mrs. Charles Koons; Florence was united in marriage to Charles Baldwin ; Alice married Odis Curtis; George remains on the home farm and he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Walter W. is single; Clarence married Miss Cecil Olds; Grace is the wife of Clair Leach; Ella M. graduated from the Hartford high school and is now engaged in teaching school; Ralph is a graduate of the public schools. The family are not members of any church.
Mr. Markillie carries insurance in the Order of the Maccabees. He is affiliated with the Republican party, and has for the past two years served the community as path master. He went to live on the Olney farm, in section 33, seven years ago, and has since raised some very fine short-horned Durham cattle, which he pur- chased from the well-known Rutland stock farm, and he is the owner of a half interest in the stock, produce and tools now on the place. He and his family are well liked in the neighborhood, and have many friends.
DR. WILBUR F. HOYT, of Paw Paw, is a native of this state and was born in Battle Creek on January 25, 1863. His parents, Ben- jamin Franklin and Frances (Warner) Hoyt, were natives of New York state, and passed the earlier years of their lives within
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its borders. The father came to Michigan in 1847 and located near Battle Creek, some years afterward moving to Paw Paw. He was a carpenter and worked at his trade in both localities with profit for himself and benefit to the places in which he labored. During the Civil war he was a soldier in the Union army, and although he lived to see the end of the gigantic sectional conflict, he died in 1866 from disabilities due to his military service.
Some time after his death the mother contracted a second mar- riage, in which she was united with Frederick S. Eldred, of James- ville, Wisconsin, now deceased. She died on August 25, 1908. She and her first husband were the parents of two children: Lu- cius W., who died in 1910, and Dr. Wilbur F. The latter attended school in Paw Paw and Grand Rapids until he reached the age of sixteen, then became a student in the State Agricultural College in Lansing, from which he was graduated in 1883.
Having completed his scholastic training, he turned his whole attention to the work of preparing for his professional career, which he did at a medical college in Columbus, Ohio. He received his degree from that institution in 1885, then passed one year as resident physician at St. Frances Hospital in Columbus. In 1886 he located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he remained actively engaged in the practice of medicine until the winter of 1890-91, when failing health obliged him to give up the practice for a period of two years.
In the summer of 1892 he pursued a special course in clinics at Bellevue Hospital in New York city, and after concluding that located in Paw Paw, where he has resided most of the time since and been actively occupied with a large and exacting practice. During 1903 and 1904 he served as clinical assistant in the Samari- tan Hospital of London, England, but at the end of his connec- tion with that institution returned to Paw Paw, and here he has ever since had his home and been one of the strong forces in his profession and one of the leading citizens of the community.
On July 7, 1903, the Doctor was married to Mrs. Amanda B. Bartram. She has a son by her former marriage, E. W. Bartram, who is living in Boston, Massachusetts, where he is connected with the United Drug Company. Dr. Hoyt is a member of the Masonic order and its adjunct, the Order of the Eastern Star, and of the Knights of Pythias. He is a Republican in politics and a member of the Park Street Congregational church of Grand Rapids.
EDWIN A. CHASE .- A citizen of very considerable prominence and public spirit in Van Buren county is Edwin A. Chase, a pros- perous agriculturist and supervisor of Waverly township. He is a man of influence in public affairs and has brought about more than one good thing, while any public trust given into his hands is sure of such intelligent and conscientious attention as to re- dound to his credit and the honor and profit of the people.
Edwin A. Chase is a native of the state of New York, his birth having occurred in Genesee county on September 2, 1848, his parents being Johnson and Almira (Baker) Chase. The birth of Johnson Chase was in Vermont and the mother was a New Yorker.
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They were married in New York and in the fall of 1864 came to Michigan and located on a farm nine miles from Paw Paw, where the father lived until his demise. The mother is still living (in 1911), a venerable lady approaching her ninetieth year. (She was born in 1824.) Mrs. Chase lives on the old homestead, just across the road from her son, E. A. Chase. She and her husband had six children, four of whom are living, namely : Edwin A .; Wallace F., of Waverly township; Albert L .; and Ella, wife of Charles A. Fox. The father, by a previous marriage, had one daughter.
The immediate subject of this review was reared on a farm in New York state and in the district schools he obtained his educa- tion, attending until his eighteenth year, when he came to Michi- gan. He worked in the meantime, however, and soon became familiar with the many secrets of seedtime and harvest. He practically was thrown upon his own resources from his thirteenth year, for at that early age he began to work for his living. He was a strong and sturdy young fellow and a good assistant. At the age of twenty-one years he was still without property, but by twenty- eight he had begun to get a start and owned forty acres of land, a tract which had not yet been improved and which required an expenditure of much time and labor.
In the meantime Mr. Chase married, the young woman to be- come his wife being Nettie Burns, of Almena township. She was born in 1854 and was a daughter of Able and Sarah (Bidgood) Burns, who came to Michigan at an early date from the Empire state. By Mr. Chase's first marriage there were two children, one dying in infancy. The other, Lottie, is the wife of Leroy Hutchins, of Waverly township; she was educated in the Waverly schools and taught one term; she has one child, Clair. The first wife of the subject passed away in June, 1880, and in 1884 he was united to Ruhany Huey, and to this marriage were born three children, two being deceased. The surviving child, Lena, is the wife of Frank McGary. Upon the demise of the second Mrs. Chase the subject married, on November 26, 1893, Mrs. Celia (Congdon) Davis, widow of John Davis. She is the daughter of Daniel and Eliza (Stoddard) Congdon, both natives of Connecticut, who came to Michigan in 1837 and settled in Washtenaw county. She was born November 28, 1852, in Kalamazoo and received her educa- tion in the common schools. By her first marriage she became the mother of three children, two of whom are living. Earl received a commercial education and is now a farmer, and Leon is single and lives with Mr. Chase. He now owns forty acres in section ten and pursues successful operations in general farming.
Mr. Chase is a prominent Mason, holding membership in the Bloomingdale Lodge, No. 222, A. F. & A. M., and he and his wife are members of the Bloomingdale Chapter, No. 58, Order of the Eastern Star. He is affiliated with Glendale Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also with the Grange. In politics he is found valiantly marching under the standard of the Democratic party, for whose policies and principles he has stood since his earliest voting days. He is serving his twelfth term as supervisor of Waverly township and was elected in a township that is largely Republican. He was at one time chairman of the board of super-
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visors. He was a member of the building committee of the Van Buren county court house and his name is inscribed on the corner- stone. In that, as in other things, he played a valuable part.
Mr. Chase is one of the best known hunters in Michigan and each year devotes a month to the hunting of deer and other large game. He has laid low many splendid animals, his prowess in this line being remarkable. His hunting takes him north each year, and each year adds new laurels to the share of this Van Buren county Nimrod. He has moreover done much to secure juster game laws for the state, his lobbying at the state capital having probably done as much as any one factor to bring about this re- sult. His wife has a natural ability for the raising of flowers and has many beautiful specimens.
DWIGHT FOSTER .- One of the oldest and most highly esteemed families of Keeler township, Van Buren county, is that of Foster, members of which have been prominent in every walk of life. One of its worthy representatives is Dwight Foster, one of the lead- ing agriculturists of this part of the county, who during a long and useful career has established a reputation for probity and in- tegrity that does credit to himself and the family name. Mr. Foster was born in Keeler township, December 10, 1854, the eighth in a family of nine children born to Ira and Caroline (Bishop) Foster, a complete review of whose lives will be found in the sketch of the Foster sisters in another part of this work.
In common with other farmers' sons of his day Mr. Foster's early education was secured in the district schools near his father's farm, attending during the winter months when his services could be spared from the duties of the some place, and in the summer months learning the details of practical and scientific farming. Later he was sent to the Northern Indiana University, and after graduation returned to the home farm for some time. After his marriage, which occurred September 22, 1881, to Miss Mary Lil- lian Buck, he began renting the Foster homestead, which he suc- cessfully operated for a period covering sixteen years, and at the end of that time purchased eighty acres in Keeler township, to which later ten acres were added by inheritance. Feeling that they wished to own their own property Mr. and Mrs. Foster had gone into debt for this land, then but a fairly productive tract, with no buildings on it. To-day there is not a more highly culti- vated tract to be found in this part of the township, and the build- ings are of the most modern architecture and equipped with up-to- date improvements in every way. Mr. Foster has proven himself an able farmer, and today he stands as one of the substantial men of his locality, his property being entirely clear from in- debtedness. He has also shown himself a good and public-spirited citizen, and one who is ready at all times to lend his influence to those movements which he feels will be of benefit to his community. Reliable in all matters, conscientious in what he believes to be his duty, an honest business man and kind husband and father, Mr. Foster wields a power for good among his neighbors and fellow townsmen, who expressed their confidence in him by electing him to the office of supervisor of Keeler township from 1896 until 1902.
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Although Mr. Foster is a Democrat, he is very progressive in his views and is a great admirer of the ideas and principles of Robert LaFollette. Fraternally he is connected with the K. O. T. M. of Keeler township, and believes earnestly in the benefits to be de- rived from life insurance, holding a good policy in the North- western Life Insurance Company. He is a trustee and member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Keeler.
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