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 29
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ternal affiliation is with the Maccabees. He and his wife are at- tendants of the Methodist Episcopal church.
On September 28, 1869, Mr. Lyle was married to Miss Matilda Sherrod, who was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Daniel and Hannah (Cole) Sherrod. Daniel Sherrod was born September 20, 1800. He removed to Paw Paw in 1855 and fol- lowed farming until his death, on March 6, 1888. His first wife was Rebecca Kite, born May 5, 1804, and died in February, 1833. To this union were born four children, namely: Michael, Mar- garet, Philip and Hiram, the daughter alone surviving. His sec- ond marriage, on February 5, 1836, was to Hannah Cole, born in New York state November 17, 1809, and died February 17, 1884. Their children follow: Hiram J., born November 29, 1836; Jesse A., born October 5, 1837, died April 5, 1897; David A .. born February 3, 1840, died August 25, 1896: Lorenzo, born October 22, 1841; Sarah A., born August 4, 1844; Almond A., born Feb- ruary 25, 1849; and Matilda, born September 14. 1851, the wife of the subject.
To Mr. and Mrs. Lyle have been born seven children, namely : Melvin, residing in Van Buren county; Nellie, the wife of Frank Patton, of Kalamazoo; Gertrude, who married Fred Webb, of Chicago; Beatrice, wife of Ernest Edgely. formerly employed in Chicago, but now residing on a farm in Decatur; Wave, the wife of Roy Mosier, of Antwerp township; Arlie, residing near home; and Alta, who is still beneath the parental roof-tree. Mr. and Mrs. Lyle rejoice in the possession of eleven grandchildren. Mel- vin Lyle's children are Leo and Vivian; Mrs. Patton's. are Lyle, Catherine. Donald. Max and Virginia ; Mrs. Webb's, are Howard, Lucile and Sylvia ; and Mrs. Mosier has a daughter. Evelyn.
The following appreciation of the character of Mr. Lyle has been given in another publication :
"A more honest, conscientious and upright citizen than Levi Lyle cannot be named. He has lived all his life in one neighbor- hood and it is not known that he has an enemy. His sense of right is such that he could not take even what is usually con- sidered a fair advantage of a fellow citizen. His life has been quiet and uneventful, but it furnishes an example of true citizen- ship which will be an influence for good in his community for generations to come."
M. F. RUSSELL, the enterprising and progressive publisher and proprietor of The Bangor Advance, at Bangor, Michigan, is purely a Bangor man, being born and brought up in the town, and has the distinction of being one of the very few business men who has made a success in the town where he was raised, it being generally conceded that a young man's chances for success are far better under different surroundings.
Mr. Russell has been in the printing and newspaper business all his life, and conducts his paper along lines that are somewhat original and considerably different from the ordinary country paper, and on these lines and principles he has built up a large and constantly increasing circulation and a business not exceeded by
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its kind in any town of the size of Bangor in the state of Mich- igan. He is an enthusiastic booster for his town, county and state, and firmly believes that Van Buren county, Michigan is, all things considered, the peer of any county in the north.
The Bangor Advance is always attractive in appearance and is welcomed weekly to nearly every home in a radius of many miles around Bangor. The proprietor of The Advance believes in prog- ress and his printing office equipment is an exceptionally good one. At one time there were three papers published in Bangor, but the principle of "the survival of the fittest" applies in the case of The Advance, and today it is the only one published here.
Mr. Russell was born in Bangor, January 30, 1868, eldest son of Lyman S. and Laura (Overton) Russell, natives of Jefferson county, New York. L. S. Russell first entered the newspaper field in Bangor in 1882, when he became publisher of The West Mich- igan Advance, conducting it until he turned it over to his son, M. F. Russell in January, 1891, who changed its title to its pres- ent style. In 1893 L. S. Russell went to Lansing, Michigan, where he became chief clerk in the state department known as the Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics, which position he filled for fifteen consecutive years, or until his death, which occurred April 4, 1908. His widow, who survives, now resides at Lansing. They had a family of five children, as follows: Maude E., who is the wife of John C. Frye, of Lansing; M. F., the subject of this sketch ; Allan M., residing at Washington, D. C .; Merton C., who died at the age of three years; and Mella O., the wife of S. T. McCallum, of Detroit, Michigan.
M. F. Russell received his education in the Bangor schools, but was obliged to quit before finishing the High School course, and associated himself with his father in the printing office. He learned the printer's trade and has never had occasion to regret it. While at the present time he does little in the mechanical department of his business, he still does sufficient to keep in the front rank of the printing profession, and is a critical judge of job printing and advertising.
Barring three months which he spent in North Dakota, in 1887, he has resided in Bangor all his life. He edits his paper energet- ically, has always been an open champion of what he considered right and fearlessly attacked what to him looked wrong. The Bangor Advance and one other paper of the county took aggressive action against the old convention system of nominations and largely through their influence succeeded in establishing the primary sys- tem of nominating candidates for office in the county, a system which has proven popular with the masses and verified the judg- ment of the promoters.
Mr. Russell takes an active interest in every charitable move- ment and is a liberal contributor to charity and the church. He has a part in every movement for the betterment of his town and is ranked among its most public-spirited citizens. He is a pro- gressive Republican in politics, and the Odd Fellows is the only secret society to which he belongs. The Church of Christ denomi- nation is his church home.
Vol. II-15
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On August 26, 1891, Mr. Russell was united in marriage to Miss Lissie M. DeLong, daughter of Henry and Eliza DeLong, and to this union were born two children: Zelpha L., born August 14, 1893, who lived with her parents, enjoying all the advantages pos- sible, was taken ill and died December 10, 1911, after eleven days sickness, at the age of eighteen years, three months and twenty- six days; and Henry M., born April 20, 1904, died in November, 1905.
GEORGE SHINE .- In the year of 1816 Jacob Shine came from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania, where his countrymen had already done so much for the land of their adoption, both by the valiant service they had rendered in the war for independence and by their skill in the pursuits of peace. Jacob Shine was mar- ried to a native of Pennsylvania, Mary Master, and they moved to Stark county, Ohio. There were eleven children in their family, eight of whom grew to maturity. These were Jacob, Sarah, Chris- tian, Annie, John, Kate, Charles and George. At present but two survive, Kate, who is the widow of John Gertie, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and George of Bangor, Michigan. They moved to Hancock county, Ohio, during Polk's administration, and in 1850 the mother died. Jacob bought a piece of wild land. consisting of one hundred acres, and cleared about eighty acres of it.
George, the subject of this sketch, was the fifth child of Jacob and Mary Shine. He was born in Stark county, Ohio, in 1834, in February. At the age of fifteen he moved with his parents to Hancock county, Ohio, where he greatly assisted his father in clear- ing the farm. At twenty-five years of age he married Mary Gar- man, of Ohio, and they began farming for themselves on land which George had rented from his father. Here they remained until the close of the Civil war, when his father sold out, and they moved to Pulaski county, Indiana. There Jacob bought one hundred and sixty acres of land. George remained with him about one year and a half, when Charles, his younger brother, married and worked his father's farm. George and his family then came in 1867, to Michigan.
Jacob, his father, died about ten years after George came to Michigan. The latter purchased a farm of eighty acres in Bangor township, Michigan. He added to this until he owned one hun- dred and five acres. All but forty-five acres of this he has given away to his two sons. This land was all in timber when Mr. Shine purchased it, and he has cleared and improved it all, getting it into fine condition and putting up the best of buildings.
There were four children born to George and Mary Shine. namely, John, William L., Elizabeth and Ellen. The two sons reside in Bangor township and manage the fine places which their father has given them, and to which John has added nineteen acres and William forty-six acres. This land all adjoins, making in all a solid body of one hundred and seventy acres. Elizabeth is the wife of George Monk, of Geneva township. Ellen married John Edwards, of Geneva, but died in 1896.
In politics Mr. Shine is a Democrat. He is a member of the
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Church of God, to which his wife also belonged. She passed away August 10, 1911, leaving behind her the memory of a life of love and usefulness. These parents brought up their boys to respect God, and to despise swearing, smoking and drinking. They now are respected citizens of Bangor township and can be depended upon to vote for local option.
CHESTER P. BAGGERLY .- Both Mr. and Mrs. Baggerly belong to families who have helped to make the history of our country. While, in America, each man may stand upon his own achievements, regardless of what his ancestors have done, still the inheritance from a long line of men and women whose ideals and purposes were of the highest, is an advantage which any one may well covet and the pride in belonging to a race which gave soldiers to the Revolution and loyal citizens to every generation is a credit to him who possesses it.
The Baggerlys settled in New York state before the Revolution and the great-grandfather of Chester Baggerly fought in the Con- tinental army. His father, Charles A. Baggerly, was born in Ontario county, New York, in 1820. He grew up in that county and received his education there. During his long life he was remarkable for the tenacity with which he held to what he con- ceived to be his duty. He was at first an old line Whig and later an active Republican. When the first nominee of that party, General Fremont, was selected. Mr. Baggerly was one who cast his vote for the first representative of the new party. He was a staunch supporter of Lincoln and all his life was influential in the politics of his district. He died in 1909, being almost ninety years old. The wife of Charles A. Baggerly was also a New Yorker, her birthplace being Yates county. Her maiden name was Mary A. Putney and she was a granddaughter of Adams, a Revolution- ary soldier, and a cousin of the second president of the United States. She was a devout member of the Congregational church. She died in 1903, in Ontario county, New York. Chester Baggerly. of this sketch, is the eldest of a family of four children and also the only son. The three daughters are all married and reside in New York state. Kate is Mrs. B. C. Hobart, of Stanley, New York. Previous to her marriage she was a successful teacher. Her hus- band is a farmer. Both of the other sisters were teachers too. Nettie is the wife of M. S. Lonsbury, a farmer and dealer in gen- eral merchandise of Potter, New York. Mrs. Arnold Palmer, of Caledonia, New York, was formerly Elenor Baggerly. Mr. Palmer is a retired farmer.
Until ten years ago Mr. Baggerly lived in the county where he was born in 1855, on September 19. Since 1901 he has been one of the prosperous farmers of this county. who gives especial at- tention to raising fine horses. The farm of the Baggerly family is an estate of eighty acres known as the Maple Avenue Farm. The land is some of the best in the region and the residence both tasteful and comfortable.
Mr. Baggerly has been twice married. His first wife was a Miss Flora Van Auken, who died leaving one son, Hershel. The
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boy was educated at Clifton Springs, New York, where he grad- uated from the high school. He is now a farmer and resides on the old Baggerly estate with his wife, Lena Francis Baggerly. Both he and his father were born on this farm. The union of Mr. Chester Baggerly and' Miss Ida B. Peters took place on February 7, 1901. Mrs. Baggerly was born in Yates county on February 4, 1855. She is the second in a family of four children, three of whom are now living. The brother Philip is a prosperous hardware merchant at Benton Harbor. He is married to Miss Ida Baker. Myrtle Peters became Mrs. F. F. Warren, of Hartford, Michigan, where her husband conducts one of the leading mer- cantile establishments.
Mr. Peters was born in Yates county, New York, on December 15, 1824. His ancestry is of Pennsylvania German stock. Until 1861 he lived in his native country but at that time the family sold their old home and came west to Van Buren county. Here Mr. Peters bought a quarter section of the Arnour homestead and Mrs. Baggerly now resides on the place her father bought half a century ago, half a mile north of Keeler. Mrs. Peters was born in the same county as her husband three years after the date of his birth. She died in 1903, at Hartford, where she and her hus- band had retired from their farm several years before.
Mrs. Baggerly was a child of seven when she came to Van Buren county. Every year she and her husband revisit their native state and so keep in touch with the old home and with the new as well. Mrs. Baggerly is a member of the Congregational church of Hart- ford and for five years taught a class in the Sunday-school. Mr. Baggerly follows his father's political preference. He is a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Modern Woodmen of Keeler. Mrs. Bagerly is a valued member of the Thursday Club of Keeler, an organization of literary nature. The families of Mr. and Mrs. Baggerly are people of prominence in their native state and their position in Van Buren county is not less dignified. They are types of the best product of our Ameri- can civilization and well merit the esteem in which they are held by all who know them.
THE FOSTER SISTERS .- Whatever there may be of high emprise and noble achievement in subsequent years, since the foundations of the county were laid either in carrying on to successful ful- fillment projects already started or originating new ones nothing can rob the pioneers of Van Buren county of the full measure of credit that is due them for what they accomplished in their day and generation for the baptism into the domain of civilized life of this portion of the state and the start they gave it on the high- way toward its present condition of advanced development, rapid progress and fruitfulness in all the concomitants of civilized life and aspirations toward higher development. They were men and women of heroic mold, fashioned by their time for sturdy work- fit progenitors of the followers they begot. No toil deterred, no danger daunted, no hardship dismayed them. With unyielding
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will they pressed their way over every obstacle, often challenging Fate herself into the lists and meeting her on almost equal terms.
To this class belonged Ira Foster, who boldly strode into the almost unbroken and savage wilderness of this region in 1837 and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, which was the nu- cleus of the present Foster homestead, located three-quarters of a mile north of Keeler, and now owned and occupied by Misses Joseph- ine and Ida Foster, the interesting subjects of this brief memoir. The father afterward added to his domain forty acres of school land, and the first dwelling he erected on it was a little log house, in which he sheltered his family and built the altar of his hopes.
The region had not then surrendered to the commanding might of mind which was to dominate it in the future, and in the main it was still given up to the dominion of the wild denizens of the forest and plain. The Red Man roamed at will through its path- less depths, beasts of prey made night hideous with their revels, bear and wolves levied their tribute on other forms of life, and wild-eyed deer, gazing with wonder on the savage propensity of man and beast, took their chances for continued existence between wild men and wild animals on the one side and the forerunners of civilizaton on the other. The Indians in the neighborhood be- longed to the Potawatami tribe, and while they were in the main friendly, they sometimes showed the other side of their nature.
Mr. and Mrs. Foster of that day, however, courageously met the requirements of their situation and dealt with it according to its needs. They came to the wilderness with the settled purpose of redeeming at least a small portion of it from the waste, and res- olutely and persistently they devoted themselves to the task they had laid out as their portion. They were devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the first services held in the township of their home, under the auspices of this sect, were conducted in their residence. They were also potential factors in the erection of the first church edifice of their faith at Keeler, and at all times ready and responsive supporters of all benevolences in the locality worthy of their consideration.
The father was an unwavering Whig until the organization to which he belonged went to pieces and the Republican party was organized on its ruins. He then joined the new party, and cast his vote for its first presidential candidate, General John C. Fre- mont. Following that expression of his faith, he was, until the end of his life, a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln and James G. Blaine. To the principles which they advocated, and the aspira- tions to which they devoted themselves for the good of the country, according to his view, he adhered to the end of his life, and at all times gave them his unwavering and energetic support.
The mother was born in Madison county, New York, on October 11, 1812, and died in Van Buren county, Michigan, on January 15, 1889. She grew to womanhood in her native county and ob- tained her education in its district schools. After leaving school she was a teacher for some years, devoting her energies to that occupation until her marriage. Some of her forefathers were sol- diers in the Revolutionary war, and throughout her own life she
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exhibited traits of character that would have made her a heroine in any sufficient crisis. As it was, her early years in this state were passed in heroic endurance of privations and hardships, and in the constant presence of danger. She was a woman of high character, of a stern and unrelenting sense of duty, and of great amiability of disposition, devoted to her family and constant in her zeal for the welfare of its members. Those of her children who survive her cherish her memory with the reverence that is due that of a faithful wife and mother and a noble pioneer matron. Her remains and those of the father rest in Keeler cemetery, and their graves are marked with imposing and suggestive memorial stones.
The offspring of this interesting couple numbered eight, four sons and four daughters, seven of whom are living.
Morris is married and successfully engaged in farming at Hector, Minnesota. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and was a high school teacher at Bay City and Benton Harbor for a number of years. He married with Miss Katharine Folwell, whose brother, Dr. Folwell, was president of the University of Minnesota from the beginning of its history to 1884. In politics Morris Foster is a Democrat.
Josephine was educated in the common schools and the high schools at Dowagiac and Decatur. She was a successful teacher in the public schools of this county for a number of years.
Riley is a prosperous and progressive farmer living at Hubbard, Minnesota. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and passed several years of his useful life as a teacher in the public schools. He is a Democrat in politics and takes an earnest in- terest in the public affairs of the county in which he lives. His wife was Miss Alice Flanders before her marriage, and she and her husband are esteemed as among the best citizens of the great and progressive state in which they have their home.
Olive is the wife of Isaac P. Newton and their home is in Muske- gon county, Michigan. Mr. Newton was prominently connected with the lumber trade of this state as an enterprising and pro- gressive merchant for a number of years. He is now living re- tired from business and devoting himself in a quiet and unostenta- tious way to the progress and improvement of his home county and the state of Michigan in general.
Ida occupies the old family homestead in company with her sister Josephine. She received a high school education in Decatur, and the whole of her life since leaving school has been devoted to the service of the public in lines of usefulness which are highly appreciated, although they attract no noisy or special attention. She has been a successful teacher in the public schools of Van Buren and Kalkaska counties.
Miss Josephine and Miss Ida, "The Foster Sisters," as they are called in the respectful and appreciative language of the whole community in which they live, are active members of the Keeler Thursday Literary Club, which is one of the great promoters of social enjoyment and literary culture in the town. Miss Josephine is a leading member of the programme committee of this club.
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She is a devout member of the Episcopal church and one of its most efficient workers in behalf of the people of the town and township. She has traveled extensively in many parts of the United States, going where natural beauties or interesting works of man have led her, and having her love of country intensified by both. They have a fine library of hundreds of volumes of choice literature, and are ladies of extensive information and high culture.
Dwight is one of the prosperous and progressive young farmers of Keeler township, and one of the young men of influence in connection with its public affairs. He is a zealous member of the Democratic party, and his wisdom in counsel and energy and effectiveness in action in behalf of his party are highly appreciated by its leaders in the county and also by its rank and file. He mar- ried Miss Lillian Buck, and they have three children.
Dean Foster, the youngest of the living members of the family, is a resident of Alaska, where he is vigorously engaged in pros- pecting for a portion of the seemingly inexhaustible mineral wealth of that wonderful country. He began his education in the com- mon schools of Van Buren county and completed it at the high school in Kalamazoo. There were many opportunities open to him in his native state, but being of an adventurous disposition he determined to seek his fortune in a far away region, and while his success in his venture has not been phenomenal or spectacular, it has been steady and substantial and given promise of much greater results in time to come if he continues his operations in our hyperborean territory.
The Foster Sisters are representatives of the forces in human character, human endeavor and human worth that have made Van Buren county what it is, and in their record, their activities and their aspirations they show impressively the high development to which it is tending and the ultimate lofty standard of living its people will attain to. Each human life, and every human life, however unnoted, embodies some substantial indication of the general trend and tendency of all human life, and the serviceable diligence of the Foster Sisters in the lines of usefulness open to them, unconscious as they may be of the fact, is contributing es- sentially and inevitably to the high destiny and prowess of Van Buren county in working out the full measure of Michigan's part in the general elevation of the human race toward its imperial posi- tion in God's empire.
GEORGE E. BROOKS .- Numbered among the influential and well known residents of Van Buren county is George E. Brooks, whose home and farm is in its township of Almena. His ancestry is Scotch Irish, and he is a grandson of Michael Brooks, a native son of the land of "hills and heather," and on the maternal side a grandson of George Brown, who was born in the north of Ireland. The latter, however, left his native land in his youth and came to America, establishing his home in the east. His daughter Mar- garet became the wife of George F. Brooks, the son of Michael Brooks.
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