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 4
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Mr. Pugsley was married on May 24, 1882, to Miss Jennie F. Cash, a daughter of Erastus and Jennie (Pierson) Cash, an ac- count of whose lives will be found in this volume. They were the parents of three children, Mrs. Pugsley and her sister Carrie, who is the wife of C. L. Bowen, of this county, and a child that died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Pugsley have had three children: Earl, who is a lawyer in good practice at Hart, Michigan; Henry Paul, who died at the age of two years; and Clifford Gale, who is still living at home with his parents.
The oldest son, Earl Pugsley, was graduated from the Paw Paw high school and then taught in a district school one year and in the high school two years. While teaching he prepared himself to enter the law department of the University of Michigan, and from that institution he was graduated and admitted to the bar in 1909. The father is a Republican in his political belief and a faithful worker for his party, although he does not seek or desire any of its honors or emoluments for himself. In religious faith and church affiliation he is a Baptist, and has long been active and effective in church work, being associated with the church in Gliddenburg. He also takes an active part in the work of the Sunday-school, and has been the teacher of a class of about twenty- five young people for many years and takes an interest in all that tends to improve the people around him and minister to their wel- fare in any way.
Mr. Pugsley has taken a very earnest interest and a very active part in matters of importance to the community connected with his business and some that are not. He is president of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Van Buren county and the Wolverine Nursery Company, and he is also one of the directors of the Southern Michigan Fruit Association. Wide-awake, alert, progressive and intelligent, devoted to the welfare of his town- ship and county, elevated in his citizenship and useful and loyal in all the relations of life, he is universally conceded to be one of
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the best and most representative men in Van Buren county, and he is fully deserving of his rank.
HUGH BROCKWAY .- New York has given Michigan a number of her best citizens and the newer commonwealth cheerfully ac- knowledges her indebtedness to all the older states who have sent their enterprising sons westward in the track of the course of empire, and to none does she render sincerer thanks than to New York state. Mr. Brockway is a typical representative of these adoptive citizens of Van Buren county and though he was not early enough to be called a pioneer, yet he has lived here long enough to have been a factor in the advancement of the region.
Hugh Brockway was born in Delaware county, New York, on December 5, 1865. His father, Delos Brockway, and his mother, Mary Gillespie Brockway, were both also natives of New York state. Both are now deceased. Hugh is the eldest of four chil- dren. Alexander, the next oldest, is dead; Cora and Frederick M. still reside in Delaware county, New York, the former being the wife of David Calhoun. The father was a farmer all of his life and the children grew up in the country.
A district school education constituted Mr. Brockway's school- ing and until he was eighteen he remained with his father. In 1893 he came to Paw Paw and bought one hundred and four acres of land and on this place he does general farming and makes a specialty of dairying. His cattle are of the Durham variety and of an unusually fine strain. His methods are those approved by the best modern authorities and his success is not due to chance, but to intelligent and scientific application of the prin- ciples of agriculture.
Mrs. Brockway is Allie, the daughter of Aaron and Maria (Labardie) Harrison. She was married to Mr. Brockway Decem- ber 31, 1901. There were ten children in the Harrison family besides Mrs. Brockway. Their names and places of residence will be found in the sketch of their father, Aaron Harrison. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Brockway consists of two daughters and one son. Genevieve E. was born June 27, 1903; Delos A., Au- gust 8, 1905; and Charlotte E., January 12, 1911.
Mr. Brockway is a Republican in politics. He and Mrs. Brock- way are loyal supporters of the work of the Christian church, of which she is a member. In the lodges of the county Mr. Brockway belongs to the Modern Woodmen.
ISAAC GEROW .- Having taken up the battle of life for himself when he was but eight years of age, and in the beginning of the struggle worked laboriously in the pine woods of Maine getting out timber for the industries; then living in various places and work- ing at several different occupations for a number of years under great difficulties, but with his eyes steadily fixed on the goal of his ambition, Isaac Gerow, of Paw Paw township, this county, is en- titled to high credit for the progress he has made and the success he has won, wholly by his own efforts, unaided by any of Fortune's favors or propitious circumstances at any time. He is now a man of substance in a worldly way, and a citizen of consequence in the township and county of his home.
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Mr. Gerow is a native of the state of Maine, where his life began on October 10, 1855. His parents, Isaac and Martha (Taylor) Gerow, were also born and reared in Maine, and both are now deceased. The father was a farmer from his youth. He and his wife were the parents of three children; Isaac, of this review; Isa, who died in 1891; and Phebe, who died two years ago. Isaac was compelled by the condition of the family estate to begin earning his own living when he was only eight years old, as has been stated, and his educational opportunities were necessarily of the most limited character. At the age of fourteen he secured employment in the pine woods of his native state in the logging or lumber busi- ness, to which he adhered for six months. The work was hard, the pay was meager, and the privations and hardships of his situation were numerous and burdensome. But he bravely toiled on and saved his earnings in the confident belief that he would in time secure better chances for advancement. At the end of the season in the woods he returned to his home and gave his attention to farm work. When he was twenty he went to the oil regions of Pennsylvania, where he remained two years in search of the profits which did not come his way.
In 1880 he came to Michigan and worked on farms and at what- ever else he could find to do. He kept this up five years, and at the end of that period rented forty acres of land in Arlington township, Van Buren county. He remained on this farm two years, then moved to one of one hundred and fifty-five acres in Law- rence township, which he also rented, but gave up at the end of the first year of his tenancy. His next venture was on another farm of forty acres, which he occupied two years, and his next on one of one hundred and twenty-three acres, on which he lived five years. From Lawrence township, Van Buren county, he moved to Oklahoma, but returned at the end of eight months to this state and Lawrence township, for another residence of one year, followed by one of a year on a rented farm in Paw Paw township.
By this time he was able to select and secure a permanent home of his own, and bought fifty acres of first-rate land in Paw Paw township, and on this he has ever since lived, made extensive im- provements and conducted a highly progressive farming and stock-raising industry. His farm is in section 30, and the fine improvements he has made on it and the high state of produc- tiveness to which he has brought it have made it one of the most valuable and desirable of its size in the township, and he has not yet made it all he intends it shall be if industry and good man- agement can bring about the conditions for which he is striving.
Mr. Gerow was married on February 7, 1878, to Miss Louisa Gilger, and by this union has become the father of five children: Isa, who is a resident of South Dakota; Daniel, whose home is in Kalamazoo; Millen, who also resides in this state; Martha, the wife of Emory Hulbert, who lives in Bloomingdale township; and Orvilla, who has her home in South Dakota.
The father is a firm and faithful working member of the Re- publican party in his political faith and activity, and has filled a number of township offices as such, but has administered them
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all for the good of the township and the welfare and betterment of its people. Mrs. Gerow's church connection is with the Meth- odists, and in the congregation is one of the reliable and energetic workers for its advancement and general well being. Mr. Gerow is zealous and effective in his support of all worthy agencies working in his community for the progress and improvement of the region, and is esteemed on all sides as one of the sterling, sturdy and repre- sentative men in the citizenship of all Van Buren county.
JASON J. LYLE .- Having passed the whole of his life to this time (1911) in Van Buren county, and Paw Paw township, Jason J. Lyle has an unusual and impressive interest in its welfare and that of its people. He has mingled with its residents from child- hood, obtained his education in its schools, taken his place and faithfully filled it in its industrial life, and contributed his full share to its improvement and advancement and the proper ad- ministration of its civil affairs through his activity as a citizen. He is therefore in full sympathy with its people, and one of their most representative and useful men, as well as one of their most progressive and successful farmers and live stock breeders and dealers.
Mr. Lyle is a native of Van Buren county and Paw Paw town- ship, and his life began here on August 4, 1879. He is a son of Marshall and Mary (McWilliams) Lyle, also natives of Van Buren county, and a grandson of John and Ann (Armstrong) Lyle, who came to Michigan from their former home in England in 1848. More extended mention of the family may be found in the sketch of Levi N. Lyle elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Lyle's father, Marshall Lyle, passed the whole of his life in the town- ship, and on the farm with his father. They were stock breeders and general farmers, and made steady gains in their business as the years passed by. The father died on April 3, 1899, leaving his father, the grandfather of Jason, then well advanced in years, in charge of the business. His widow, Jason's mother, is still living, at the age of over sixty years.
They were the parents of two children: Jason J. and his sister Ethel, who is now the wife of Dr. W. E. Collins, of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Jason attended the district school near his home and afterward the high school in Decatur, this county. His course of instruction at the latter was cut short, however, by the death of his grandfather, which laid upon him the burden of taking care of the farm and conducting its operations. He has managed it ever since, and in addition to this two hundred and thirty acres he has one hundred and sixty of his own, which he cultivates ac- cording to the best methods of present-day farming. On this he is extensively engaged in raising live stock, having ever in view the large and active dairying business he is carrying on in con- nection with his other industries. For this he breeds Holstein cattle, of which he has a fine herd.
On October 30, 1901, Mr. Lyle was united in marriage with Miss Maud Goodenough, a daughter of Nelson and Adella (Wright) Goodenough, natives of Michigan, and their only child. Her father had been married before, and to his first union one
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child was born also, his son Ralph, who is a resident of Cass county, this state. The grandparents of Mrs. Lyle came to Michi- gan and located in Cass county, and were among the most re- spected residents of that portion of the state, filling their places and performing their duty as builders and improvers of the state in full measure according to their powers and opportunities.
Mr. and Mrs. Lyle have one child, their son Kenneth Marshall, who was born on February 18, 1906. His father is a Republican in politics and earnestly loyal and serviceable to his party. He desires no place on the official roster of the township or county for himself, but takes an interest in public affairs for the purpose of doing what he can to promote the best interests of the people. In church connection he is a Methodist. He is universally rec- ognized as one of the best and most useful citizens of the county.
HARRY J. LURKINS .- Representing the third generation of his family in continuous ownership of the same farm in Van Buren county, and never having known any other home, Harry J. Lurkins, of Paw Paw township, has an especial interest in this part of Mich- igan and the country. He was born and reared on this farm; he was educated in the public schools of the county; he acquired his social training in association with its people; and he is indebted to its industrial opportunities for all he possesses in the way of worldly wealth. He is therefore wholly a product of the county, and in his career as a farmer, a citizen and a man he is a credit to the region of his birth.
The farm upon which he now resides has been in the family for three generations. It was formerly owned by his grandfather, who, when he died, left it to his son Charles, who resided upon it until his death, in 1889, and it is now owned by Mrs. Charles J. Lur- kins and her two sons, George W. and Harry J., and is known as the Lurkins Keepsake Home.
Mr. Lurkins' life began on November 9, 1878, and he is a son of Charles H. and Angie (Sanders) Lurkins, the former a native of Geneva, New York, born in 1850, and the latter of Canada, born in 1854. The father was brought to Michigan and Van Buren county when he was but four years old by his parents. His wife, the mother of Harry J., was brought to this county by her parents in 1864. She is still living on the old homestead in Paw Paw and Harry J. has his home with her. Three children were born in the family : Harry J .; his older brother George W., who now lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and his younger sister, Maud B., who died when she was ten years old.
Harry J. Lurkins obtained a high school education in Decatur, being graduated in 1897. He at once returned to the farm and has ever since lived on and cultivated it. He does general farming, employing a judicious succession of crops to secure the best results, and raises live stock for the general market on a scale of some mag- nitude. Of late years he has been giving special attention to the production of grapes, an industry of recent introduction in this part of the state, but one which promises to become a leader and a source of great profit to those engaged in it and of decided benefit
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to the mercantile interests of the county. Mr. Lurkins' farm com- prises two hundred and twenty-eight acres, including the interests of the other members of the family in it, but he cultivates it all and in so progressive and enterprising a way that he makes every acre yield its due tribute in return for the intelligent and careful labor bestowed upon it.
In the public affairs of the township and county of his home Mr. Lurkins takes a warm and helpful interest. He is always ready to aid in promoting any worthy undertaking for the improvement of the locality and the welfare of the people, and he gives attention to the government by doing a good citizen's duty in reference to political matters, according to his convictions. Firm in his faith in the principles of the Republican party, he supports its candi- dates in all campaigns, if they are worthy, and does what he can to secure their election and keep up the general strength and spirit of the party. But he desires no political office for himself. His mother's church affiliations is with the Baptists. In all the relations of life he gives a fine example of progressive, enterprising and in- dustrious manhood and elevated American citizenship, and the people of the county esteem him as one of their most useful, up- right and representative men, always faithful to every duty and sincerely devoted to the best interests of the region in which he lives.
CHARLES HOOD, who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in sec- tion 29, Paw Paw township, is one of the successful farmers of Van Buren county, and the owner of one hundred and forty acres of fine land. The farms of this section are as well regulated as any to be found in the state, and Mr. Hood's land is no exception to this rule, as he is a skilled agriculturist and through years of hard, faithful endeavor he has brought his tract into an excellent state of cultivation. Charles Hood was born July 4, 1861, in county Norfolk, England, and is a son of Samuel and Rachel (Butcher) Hood.
Mr. Hood came to the United States as a young man, and was followed four years later by his brother, George Hood, who is now engaged in farming in Paw Paw township. Charles Hood has always been engaged in agricultural pursuits, and he is now the owner of good land. He is a stanch Republican in politics, and his friends credit him with being an advocate of more liberal edu- cational facilities and stringent laws governing the same. He has won the respect of his fellow citizens for his fair dealings and hon- est methods, and is self-made in the full sense of the term, having, from a start of nothing, accumulated the comfortable property which he now enjoys and richly deserves.
On April 14, 1897, Mr. Hood was married to Miss Annie Kay, daughter of Joseph and Jennie (Sheppard) Kay, and one child has been born to this union : Max, who was born March 7, 1904. Mr. Hood is a popular member of the Gleaners, and socially no family in Paw Paw township stands higher.
FRANK G. HUDSON .- The son of a druggist who passed thirty- three years of his life in the trade in Paw Paw, and himself for
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some years engaged in the same department of mercantile enter- prise, Frank G. Hudson, now one of the leading retail merchants of Van Buren county, has seen a considerable amount of human suffering and been able to minister substantially to its relief. In his present mercantile enterprise, handling clothing, boots and shoes for the general trade, he is engaged in providing for the comfort of his fellow men in another way, and his services in the latter are as highly appreciated as those in the former were when he was rendering them. For in all undertakings he is faith- ful to every requirement and leaves nothing undone on his part to secure the best results for his patrons and himself.
Mr. Hudson is a native of the Pacific slope, having been born in Sacramento, California, on April 22, 1857. His parents, Major G. J. and Maria (Prater) Hudson, were born in the state of New York. The father came to Michigan, and located in Almena township, Van Buren county. He later moved to Paw Paw and in company with Mr. Kilmer, opened a drug store, the firm being known as Hudson & Kilmer, and this he kept without interrup- tion, except during the four years of the Civil war, until his death, which occurred in 1883. His connection with the drug trade in one locality covered a full generation of human life, and as he had fine qualifications for the business, and a stern sense of duty in the use of them, he always gave satisfaction to the patrons of his store and stood high in the regard of the com- munity, both as a business man and a citizen.
He was a major in the Third Michigan Militia when the Civil war began, and his regiment was one of the first to offer its ser- vices to the government for the defense of the Union. He was in the war four years, and although he faced death on many a hard-fought field in the sanguinary sectional strife, he escaped unharmed and was mustered out of the service at the close of the war. He and his wife were the parents of three children, all living and all residents of Michigan: Charles H., who lives at Marcellus in Cass county ; Frank G., the immediate subject of these paragraphs; and Lizzie, the wife of Dr. J. C. Reynolds, whose home is in Battle Creek.
Frank G. Hudson obtained a high school education in Paw Paw, and after leaving school entered the drug trade and con- tinued his connection with it for a number of years. He then turned his attention to farming, desiring a more outdoor life, and in this interesting but exacting pursuit he passed the next twenty years of his life agreeably and profitably. At the end of that period he determined to return to merchandising, and came back to Paw Paw for the purpose. He opened a clothing and shoe store, and this he has been conducting ever since, with increas- ing advantage to the community and good results for himself. His store is one of the most satisfactory and popular in the county. The people find it always up-to-date in the completeness and variety of its stock, the reasonableness of its prices and the strict integrity that controls every transaction.
Mr. Hudson is not an active partisan in politics, but a good citizen in attention to public affairs and the performance of his duty to the city, county, state and nation. He is an Episcopalian
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in church connection, and full of zeal for the advancement of the best interests of the community in every way. His father was very active and prominent in the Masonic fraternity, and at one time was Grand Master of the state.
CHARLES C. SEARLS .- This venerable citizen of Paw Paw town- ship, Van Buren county, who has passed the age of four score years and is now living retired from active pursuits, making his home with his son John, has been a resident of Michigan for over forty-four years, and has passed the most of them in this county. His life has been long and useful, and the people of the county esteem him highly for the genuine worth of his manhood, the services he has rendered in several lines of active effort and pro- ductiveness, for his patriotism which took him to the battlefield during our Civil war, and for his sterling, upright and estimable demeanor in all the relations of life.
Mr. Searls is a native of Genesee county, New York, where his life began on March 3, 1830. He is a son of John and Hannah (Stocking) Searls, the former born in the state of New York and the latter in Connecticut. The father passed his life on a farm and cultivated it with skill and energy. Both he and his wife died in 1875. They were the parents of four children, all of whom lived to good old age, and two are still living, well ad- vanced in years. These are C. C., who is eighty-one, and his brother Isaiah, who is still a resident of Genesee county, New York, and is eighty-three. Their sister Clarissa died at the age of eighty-five, and their brother Stephen D. in 1909, aged ninety- one.
C. C. Searls remained on the home farm with his parents until he reached the age of thirty-seven. In 1867 he came to Michigan and located in the southern part of the state, where he remained until 1871. In that year he changed his residence to Paw Paw, and here he has been living ever since except for some years, which he passed in Grand Rapids. In his active years he was a builder and contractor, and worked at that occupation here and in Grand Rapids, and also in other places.
On July 4, 1849, Mr. Searls was married to Miss Hannah Shep- pard, who died on December 31, 1909, after sixty years of peace- ful domestic life and faithful devotion to the interests and wel- fare of her household. . She and Mr. Searls were the parents of two children: Mary, the wife of C. L. Fitch, of Grand Rapids, who has been the clerk of the United States court in that city during the last twenty-five years; and John, who is a resident and prosperous farmer of Paw Paw township, this county.
C. C. Searls is a firm and faithful Democrat in political rela- tions. He served two terms as assessor, and has been of value to the people in other ways by his fidelity in serving them and the force of his excellent example as a man and citizen. He be- longs to the Grand Army of the Republic and enjoys the meet- ings of his post in the organization. They bring vividly to his mind the memories of the Civil war, in which he served for a time, until a serious rupture disabled him from further military duty. He enlisted in April, 1861, in Company F, Twenty-eighth Vol. II-3
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New York Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged on Septem- ber 29 of the same year on account of the disability already alluded to.
John Searls, the only son of C. C. and Hannah (Sheppard) Searls, was born in Byron, Genesee county, New York, on April 29, 1857. He received a high school education in Paw Paw, and when he reached the age of twenty began farming, continuing his operations in this pursuit two years. At the end of that time he joined his father in contracting and building, and in Grand Rapids had entire charge of the building operations of the firm for twelve years. In 1898 he returned to this county and bought eighty acres of good farming land in Paw Paw township. He has increased his farm by subsequent purchases until he now owns one hundred and sixty acres, on which he does general farming and raises live stock for the markets.
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