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 24
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L. R. Wagner attended the school of Grand Rapids, after leav- ing which he settled on his father's farm, and for the five years
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that followed assisted him in his operations. Deciding upon a business career in preference to the life of an agriculturist, he entered Mclaughlin's Business College, at Grand Rapids, from which he was graduated in bookkeeping, and then took a four- year apprenticeship in the drug business. Later he entered the Ferris Institute at Grand Rapids, and after his graduation in 1906 went to Decatur for one year, spent a short time in Hart and a year in Coloma, where he had charge of a pharmacy, and in February, 1909, came to Bangor and purchased the business of H. D. Harvey, in company with his father-in-law, John DeKruif. Mr. Wagner has applied modern methods in his carrying on of this drug business, and has built up a large and lucrative trade. He has a completely-stocked establishment, centrally located. and it is equipped with all modern appliances and appurtenances.
On December 25, 1907, Mr. Wagner was married to Miss Hattie DeKruif, natives of Michigan, whose other children are: Delia, the wife of Benjamin VenKlossen, of Grand Rapids; and Anna. who lives with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Wagner had one child : Ora Leona, who was born August 17, 1909, and died September 21, 1909. Politically Mr. Wagner is a Republican, and his fra- ternal connection is with the Elks. Progressive in his ideas, he is always ready to support matters which promise to be of bene- fit to his community, and he is looked upon as one of Bangor's rising young business citizens.
MICHAEL, ENLOW .- An excellent citizen and able farmer is Michael Enlow, who is engaged in the operation of eighty 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 follow- ing 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 last 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 town- ship, and after finishing his milling affairs he moved onto this farm, where he has ever since been engaged. Here he engages in general farming, stock-raising and horticulture, and has been very
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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 fol- lows: 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 Congregationalist in their religious views and the head of the house is to be found marching beneath the ban- ners of the party which produced Jefferson. Jackson and Cleve- land. Mr. Enlow has given conscientious service in several minor township offices.
WILLIAM S. BRADLEY .- A valiant soldier in defense of his country in time of war, and an industrious and progressive merchant and farmer and afterward banker and potent force in educational and civic affairs in time of peace, William S. Bradley, of South Haven. Van Buren county, Michigan, has demonstrated his manliness and usefulness and his devotion to the public weal, local and general. in widely different fields of action and under circumstances varied greatly in character and requirements. Wherever he has been, and whatever he has been engaged in. he has met all the demands of duty with fidelity that is above price and a capacity and readi- ness of resources that have always commanded admiration and been highly commended.
Mr. Bradley is a native of New England, and has all of the typical New Englander's versatility-shrewdness in business, quick- ness in seeing and vigor in seizing and using opportunities for his own advantage. He has also all the lofty ideals of citizenship which obtain in the section of his nativity, and has followed them through life to this time. He was born in the village of Lee. Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on March 11, 1834, and is a son of Elisha and Sophronia (Jarvis) Bradley, also natives of Mas- sachusetts, and members of families resident in that state from early colonial times. Both have passed to the life beyond, and only two of their nine children are living. William S. and his older sister, Cordelia.
The father was a farmer, and removed from his native place to Oswego county. New York, many years before his death. In his new home he continued farming and also carried on a brisk and profitable dairying enterprise with advantage to himself and greatly to the convenience of his patrons. He was a member of the Congregational church in his religious connection and an old line Whig in his political faith and allegiance. In his com-
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munity he was a man of force and influence, and in all the rela- tions of life an estimable and highly respected citizen.
His son, William S. Bradley, was educated in the public schools of his home county, and after leaving school engaged in the tanning curriers line until August, 1862, when he responded to duty in another and far more tragic field of endeavor. On Au- gust 28, 1862, he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Tenth New York Volunteer Infantry, Nineteenth Army Corps. He served for awhile as second and afterward as first lieutenant of his com- pany, remained in the service from the time of his enlistment to the close of the war, and took part in every contest his regiment was engaged in. He finally rose to the rank of captain through his ability and fidelity to duty, and as such was mustered out of the army on August 28, 1865, at Albany.
When the war was over and the great armies of conquest melted away in the far greater armies of peaceful production, Mr. Bradley moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was engaged in the manu- facture and sale of leather goods until 1881. In that year he moved to Chicago, and there he passed three years in the wool, hide and fur trade. In 1884 he came to Michigan and took up his residence in South Haven. Soon after his arrival in that city he bought a farm and turned his attention to general farming and fruit grow- ing. In these industries he prospered and his operations became extensive. But he had idle capital in his mental force as well as in his bank account, and he determined to use both in a way that would be agreeable and profitable to him and, at the same time. afford some additional conveniences and advantages to the com- munity around him.
In 1892 he helped to found the Citizens Bank, and in 1897 was elected president of this institution, a position he has held con- tinuously ever since his first election to it. He was also one of the founders of the City and Township Library, and is now (1911) a member of its board of directors. In addition to these great and serviceable institutions others of a public or semi-public character engage the attention and have the practical personal assistance of this enterprising man of comprehensive and varied activities. He is president of the board of directors of the South Haven City Hospital Association and one of the directors of the South Haven Telephone Company, and he takes an earnest interest and an active part in the affairs and all the work of each of these commendable agencies for good.
Moreover. his genuine interest in the welfare of his home city has led him to accept the position of city councilman in its service. which he filled for several terms; and the fraternal life of his community has always been, in his view. a source of benefit to the people generally and of special value and enjoyment to those who participate in it. He is a member of the Masonic order in Lodge. Chapter, Council and Commandery, and an enthusiastic devotee be- fore the altars of them all, helping to give life and sparkle to their meetings and direct their energies into beneficial channels, and make them as serviceable as possible.
Mr. Bradley was married on December 27, 1882. to Miss Frances
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HIale, a native of Oswego county, New York, and a daughter of Colonel William and Amanda Hale, also natives of New York. The family moved to South Haven, where the father became one of the prominent lumbermen of this region, and was also con- spicuous as a real estate dealer. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley have four children, three sons and one daughter. They are universally re- garded as among the leading and most representative citizens of the city and county in which they live, and are held in the highest esteem as such by all classes of the people.
ERASTUS CASH .- The life of the ordinary farmer in this country generally has few spectacular features or incidents of unusual in- terest. 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, in 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 Genesee county, New York, on June 14, 1837, one of the ten chil- dren 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 Reuben 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 enter- prise 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
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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 at 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 on September 26, 1875, and died on December 9, 1905. Mr. Cash is a pronounced Democrat in his political faith, a firm be- liever 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 teach- ings of his 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.
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ALPHEUS A. McNITT .- This enterprising, progressive and stu- dious, and therefore successful and prosperous, farmer of Keeler township has been a resident of Van Buren county for more than forty-eight years, having been brought to the county by his par- ents when he was about two years old. He grew to manhood there, drawing his stature and his strength from the soil of this county, obtained his education in the public schools of the lo- cality in which he now lives, and acquired his social training in mingling with its people. He is therefore, practically, a real product of the county, and has no recollection of any other home. although he was born in Niagara county, New York, on Decem- ber 16, 1851. Moreover, he is a thorough and creditable repre- sentative of the citizenship of the county, although his modesty would never allow him to think so.
Mr. McNitt's parents, Sylvester and Susan (Brown) McNitt. were of British ancestry, and the father was a native of Great Britain, born in Scotland. He. died in this county when he was about fifty-three years old, on November 8, 1864. He was a me- chanie and farmer, and was successful and prosperous in both
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Alphens A Ane Kitt & Family
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lines of his industry. In 1853, after a residence of some years in the state of New York, he moved to Van Buren county, Michi- gan, and bought sixty acres of land in Hartford township. Some- time afterward he purchased eighty acres more in the same town- ship, and was possessed of both tracts at the time of his death. During his life he was a great friend of the cause of public edu- cation, through which he received his mental training, and did everything in his power to aid in making them better and more useful. In politics he was a firm believer in the Jeffersonian principles, and therefore, a staunch adherent of the Democratic party, which represented, according to his views, the greatest good and safety for the people, locally and nationally.
Mrs. McNitt, the mother of Alpheus A., was born in Pennsyl- vania in 1821, and grew to womanhood in her native state. Her parents came to this country from Ireland and passed the re- mainder of their lives in the state of her nativity. She, also, was educated in the common schools, and always felt a cordial in- terest in them and their work. Her upright and useful life ended in Van Buren county, Michigan, in 1898. She was a loving wife and mother, and gave the people around her an excellent example of American womanhood, and her offspring the best training and counsel.
Of the seven sons and four daughters born to this estimable couple six are living: Charles, who is a resident of Casco, this county, and one of the progressive farmers of his locality ; Thaddeus, who is a resident of Bangor, Michigan; Julia, who mar- ried Ezra Curtis, a farmer of Hartford township, this state; Archi- bald E., a structural steel worker and engineer living in Chicago; Flora A., who is the wife of Marion Hoover, a skillful and highly respected blacksmith of Hartford; and the subject of this memoir. All the sons are married.
Alpheus A. MeNitt obtained a common school education in the schools of Van Buren county, and has passed all the years of his life, since leaving school, in farming and working at his trade as a carpenter, following in the footsteps of his father in both lines of effort. His progress in life has been the result of his own industry, frugal living and excellent management. He began with very little capital, but, with the aid of his estimable wife, he has accumulated a comfortable estate, which puts him, with his prudent scale of living, beyond the reach of adversity.
He is independent in his political sentiments, always casting his vote for the men he considers best fitted for the offices sought and most likely to work for the good of the township and county and their residents. In this respect his stand is well known, and he is highly respected for it, as well as for his excellent character as a man and his usefulness and publie spirit as a citizen. He and his wife have a beautiful farm of two hundred and twenty-five acres, all in Keeler township, and located six miles from Hartford and four from Watervliet. The farm is devoted to general farm- ing, but the land is admirably adapted to the culture of fruit. It is well improved with good buildings, and completely equipped with everything needed for its advanced and profitable cultivation.
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It is on the line between Keeler and Hartford townships and known as the "Walnut Avenue Farm."
Mr. McNitt was married on October 7, 1875, to Miss Emma Havens, a daughter of William H. and Eleanor Jane (Lewis) Havens, and the third of their six children, all of whom are liv- ing. The other five are: Olive, the wife of Marcius Olds, a coal merchant doing business and residing at Fergus Falls, Minnesota. and the mother of eight children; Metcalf E., a Hartford township farmer, and the father of two children; William, also a resident of Hartford, and married; Charles, another of Hartford township's successful and representative farmers; and Ella, a widow with two children, whose home is in St. Joseph, Michigan.
William H. Havens, the father of these children, was a native of Coshocton, New York, born in 1828. About the year 1853 he located in Michigan and Van Buren county, where he died in 1891. He was a Republican in politics until the formation of the Populist party, and then joined that organization, to which he adhered faithfully to the end of his life. At the age of sixteen he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and throughout all his subsequent years he was true and faithful to its teachings, taking a great interest in its work, wherever he lived. and for a long time being one of the chief singers in the choir of the congregation in which he held his membership. He was also a strong advocate of temperance and the restriction of liquor traffic, and took high ground on this great moral and economie question. Mrs. Eleanor Jane (Lewis) Havens, his wife, now his widow, was born in the state of New York on April 30, 1835. She is of German ancestry, and in all the years of her long, upright and serviceable life has exemplified the best traits of the thrifty, persevering and sturdy race from which she came. For some generations her forefathers lived in Pennsylvania. She is now living in Hartford, this county, where all classes of the people hold her in the highest esteem. Her religious connection from her youth has been with the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. and Mrs. Alpheus A. MeNitt have two sons and one daugh- ter, all living, and all practitioners of the art of healing accord- ing to the theories of the Chiropractic school. They are Leslie, who resides in Benton Harbor; Nellie, the wife of Hermie War- ren, whose home and business are at Casnovia, in this state; and William, who is located at Niles, Michigan. The special trend of these young people is so unusual in its uniformity and their achieve- ments in it are so highly creditable to them and the family and so beneficial to their fellow men and women that each deserves a separate notice somewhat in detail.
Dr. Leslie A. McNitt is what is called, in the nomenclature of the new art of healing which he practices, a chiropractor, and the theory of his science is that all human ills can be cured by removing the cause. Then nature will restore the organism to a normal condition. The method of operation is adjustment of the spine, the center and force distributor of the whole nervous system, which largely controls all the rest of the body. When the spinal column is properly adjusted and performing its func-
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tions in a proper way, and the nervous system acts as it should, the other organs of the body will soon be in harmonious accord, and local ailments will fade away like mists in the sunbeams of the morning.
Dr. Leslie A. McNitt is in years a young man, but he is full of the right spirit, has been well prepared for his work and is rapidly attaining prominence in his profession. His patients are among the leading men and women of the community, and as he gives them positive benefits in what he does for them they realize that he is capable and that his science and art, for his profession includes both, are worthy of confidence and open a new avenue to human welfare, comfort and happiness.
Dr. Nellie (MeNitt) Warren, as she should properly be called, completed her academic education in the Hartford high school, being graduated in the class of 1901. For several years thereafter she was a successful public school teacher in her home county. She then studied chiropractry at the Grand Rapids institute of this school of the healing art, and was graduated from it in 1910. She has been very successful in the practice of her profession, and her reputation in it grows as the years go by. Mr. Warren, her husband, is a farmer, and he also does well in his business.
Dr. William McNitt, who is located at Niles, Michigan, and steadily growing into popular favor as a professional man and estimable citizen there, is, like his brother, Dr. Leslie McNitt, and his sister, Dr. Nellie Warren, a graduate of the Chiropractic Col- lege in Grand Rapids, from which he received his degree July 1, 1911. Since leaving the Grand Rapids institution, which is de- voted to the dissemination of the new and very rational method of dealing with human ailments that he and his work represent, he has been active in propaganda work in behalf of his theory and in practical demonstration of its verity and value. He states its claims to consideration clearly and forcibly in his professional card, which says : "Chiropractic is the science of adjusting by hand the subluxations (displacements) in the spinal column, com- monly called the back bone, for the purpose of removing pressure from nerves.
"The spinal column is the only place where nerves pass between two hard or bony surfaces that are movable, therefore, practically the only place where nerves can be impinged, or the nerve re- stricted, and it matters not what part of the body or organ is affected, the cause is in the spinal column. I ask no questions. I simply analyze the spine, and I tell you every place you are affected. Chiropractic is the only science that removes the cause of disease, and this is done without pain, drugs or knife. I use nothing but my hands, and it takes but the fraction of a second ; the whole object is accomplished when the nerve is released. Paralysis, deafness, loss of voice, cancer, catarrh, gall stones, over weight, rheumatism, appendicitis, neuralgia, neurasthenia, eye, ear, throat, lung, stomach, liver, kidney, bladder trouble, etc., all quickly and permanently disappear under chiropractic adjustments prop- erly given.
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