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 41
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Mr. Herron has been twice married. He married first Juliet Strong, who was born in New York state, a daughter of Philip and Louisa (Fancher) Strong. She died four years later, leav- ing two daughters, Etta and Elva. Etta married Albert Sisson, and they have eight children, Mabel, Oscar, Albert, Beulah, Jennie, Olive, Ray and Eva. Elva, the younger daughter, is the wife of William Holmes, and has five children, Arch, Nettie, Ida, Ruby and Nellie. Three years after the death of his first wife Mr. Herron married Mary Stoughton, who was born in Oakland county, Michigan. Her father, James W. Stoughton, was born in the state of New York but reared in Michigan. He spent his last years of life in Van Buren county, living in Almena township. He was of New England ancestry, his father, James Stoughton, having been born and bred in Vermont, but later being one of the early settlers of the territory of Michigan. Of his second marriage three children have been born, but none are now living, Emma having died at the age of twenty-one months; Evalina, when but four years old; and Mark H., at the age of ten years. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Herron are consistent members of the Baptist church.
DR. GEORGE FRANK YOUNG .- Engaged in an active general prac- tice of medicine in South Haven during the last eleven years, and by participation in the public affairs of the city and county of his home manifesting his interest in them and their enduring
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welfare, Dr. George F. Young has amply earned the good opinion of the people which he so largely enjoys, and has proven his title to the claim of good citizenship, which is freely accorded him by everybody who has knowledge of his progressiveness and public spirit, and the intelligent and helpful way in which he employs them for the general weal.
Dr. Young is a native of Van Buren county, Michigan, born in Paw Paw on July 26, 1875, and a son of Charles W. and Anna (Van Auken) Young. The father was born at Burbank, Wayne county, Ohio, and the mother in Bangor township, this county. They are both living, as are two of their three children, the Doctor and his brother Merle H., a sketch of whom will be found in this volume. The father of these gentlemen came to Michigan with his parents when he was a small boy. The family located in Van Buren county, and here he received his education. Here, also, soon after leaving school he began and conducted his life work at a merchant and farmer, in which he prospered for many years. He is now living retired from active pursuits, enjoying the rest he has so fully earned and the esteem and good will of the people around him, which has also been bestowed freely and without stint because of the genuine merit and estimable qualities as a man and citizen in the object of it.
He has been a man of prominence and influence, and been chosen to a succession of township officers and other positions of trust and importance, among them that of treasurer of the Michigan State Agricultural Society. He was supervisor of the township several terms, and the township never had a better one, according to the testimony of persons who have lived under many and watched the administration of them all. In church connection he is a Methodist Episcopal, and in fraternal relations a Freemason with membership in several branches of the order. including Lodge. Royal Arch Chapter and Council of Royal and Select Masons. Politically he is a loyal member of the Republican party and a zealous worker for its welfare.
Dr. George F. Young obtained a high school education in Paw Paw and made his preparation for his professional work in the medical department of the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1899. After his graduation he passed one year as an interne in the hospital, and then located in South Haven, where he has ever since been industriously engaged in a general practice of his profession with a steadily increasing body of patients and a rising reputation as a physician.
The Doctor keeps up with the progress of his profession by using all the means at his command for the purpose. He is an active member of the Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine, the Mich- igan State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and they receive and contribute benefits by his earnest participa- tion in the proceedings of each. He is also a student of the best current literature bearing on his work, and studies both theory and practice by close and reflective observation of its manifestations in his experience from day to day.
Dr. Young has taken a great interest in everything involving the
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progress and improvement of the city and county of his home, and always done his part in the promotion of any worthy under- taking designed to quicken the activity of the people in this re- spect. He is a member of the City Library Association and was one of the founders of the South Haven City Hospital. In politics he is a Republican, with firm faith in the principles of his party and a willingness to work for it on that account.
In the fraternal life of his community the Doctor also takes a deep and intelligent interest and a serviceable part. He is a Free- mason of many degrees, belonging to Star of the Lake Lodge, No. 158; South Haven Chapter, No. 58, Royal Arch Masons; and South Haven Council, No. 45, Royal and Select Masters. He is also a member of Pomona Lodge, No. 193, Knights of Pythias. He regards these fraternities as valuable forces in the moral and intellectual life of the city, and does all he can to make them as strong and serviceable for good as possible. His membership in each is highly valuable and fully worth the estimate placed upon it.
Dr. Young was married on October 12, 1904, to Miss Harriet Bradley, who was born, reared and educated in South Haven, and who has a strong hold on the regard and good will of the people of the city, among whom she is very popular and very highly es- teemed. Her interest in the social life of the community is ardent, and her aid in every good work undertaken by its residents is hearty, energetic and helpful in a high degree. She and the Doctor are accounted as among the most estimable and representa- tive citizens of South Haven and Van Buren county, and well deserve the rank they hold.
HENRY MOORE .- Prominent among the courageous pioneers of Van Buren county was the late Henry Moore, who bravely relin- quished the advantages, privileges, comforts and pleasurers of life in one of the large eastern cities and settled in the wilds of Michigan. Neither railways, telegraph or telephone lines then spanned these broad acres, and but few evidences of civilization then existed. Little indeed do the people of this day and genera- tion realize what they owe to those energetic spirits of old, who first uprooted the trees, ploughed the sod and made a broad track for the advance of civilization.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Mr. Moore was left an orphan at an early age. He was given excellent educational advantages, having been a college graduate, although he never adopted a pro- fession, his first business venture having been as a merchant in Boston. About 1842 he determined to try the hazard of life on the frontier, and coming to Michigan became one of the first settlers of Kalamazoo, where he bought a tract of land that is now in- cluded within the limits of the Fair Grounds of that city. The greater part of Michigan was then in its original wildness, land being owned by the government. He subsequently moved to Van Buren county, and having entered a section and a half in Bloom- ingdale township he was here a resident until his death, in the eighty-fourth year of his age.
Mr. Moore married Sarah Hale, who was born in New York
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state. She passed to the life beyond soon after coming to Bloom- ingdale township, leaving two children, namely: Susan, wife of John Hodgson, of Bloomingdale township; and Joseph, who died in California, unmarried, at the age of twenty-seven years. Mr. Moore was identified with the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.
STANLEY SACKETT .- A man of pronounced business acumen and tact, and of exceptional financial ability, Stanley Sackett is one of the leading bankers of Van Buren county, being proprietor of the Bank of Gobleville, a well-known and substantial banking institu- tion. He is an excellent representative of the native-born citizens of his community, his birth having occurred on a farm in Pine Grove township. His father, Frederick P. Sackett, and his grand- father, Dr. Joel B. Sackett, were both born in Niagara county, New York, while his great-grandfather, Charles Sackett, was a native of New England, and was of Welsh ancestry.
Joel B. Sackett was reared in Niagara county, New York, where his parents were pioneer settlers, and was there educated, becom- ing a member of the medical profession. Removing to Indiana, he practiced there awhile, his home being in Elkhart county. About 1846 he came to Michigan, settling in Porter township, Van Buren county, being the first physician to locate permanently in this part of the state. He was a man of much force of character, and in addition to healing the sick ministered to their spiritual needs, as an evangelist preaching the gospel in different places and mak- ing his influence for good felt throughout the community. His death, which occurred in Porter township, was mourned as a public loss. He married Mary Kinsman, and they became the parents of three children, Frederick P., Pluma and Charles.
But a child when he came with his parents to Van Buren county, Frederick P. Sackett grew to manhood in pioneer times, and hav- ing availed himself of every offered opportunity for acquiring knowledge became a teacher in the public schools of the county. Soon after the outbreak of the Civil war, he enlisted in Company H, Thirtieth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and went South with his command, acting in the capacity of a musician. He was captured by the enemy and was confined in Libby and Andersonville prisons seven . months. During this incarceration he endured all the hardships and sufferings of prison life, among the latter being the loss of all his teeth. When released he re- turned home on account of ill health and was honorably dis- charged. After regaining his health he again enlisted in an Iowa Regiment for one hundred days, and was in the service till the close, when he was again honorably discharged. Returning home, he resumed his professional labors, becoming the first teacher in district number two, Pine Grove township. Subsequently he pur- chased a tract of timber land in Pine Grove township, and for a time devoted his time to clearing the land and tilling the soil. He after- wards sold that farm at an advance, and having bought another farm in the same township conducted it successfully until his death, in 1904, at the age of sixty-eight years.
Vol. II-21
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Frederick P. Sackett married Susan Earl, who was born in 1843, in Cattaraugus county, New York. Her father, James Earl, was born in the same county, a son of Henry and Isabelle (McLain) Earl. He was reared and married in his native state, and in 1848 came from there to Silver Creek township, Allegan county, Mich- igan, being accompanied by his wife and children. After living there for a time he then removed to Trowbridge, Allegan county, and lived there two years. Coming then to Van Buren county, he bought a tract of heavily wooded land in Pine Grove township, erected a log cabin in the midst of the wilderness, and immediately began the pioneer task of redeeming a farm from the forest. The settlements in this part of the county were then few and far be- tween, and the intervening woods were filled with all kinds of wild game, while Indians were still numerous. He was a man of un- daunted courage and energy, and not afraid of work. He partly cleared and improved several tracts of land near where he first located, selling each one at an advance from the original price. After disposing of one of his farms, he moved to Trowbridge town- ship, Allegan county, but his stay there was of short duration, and he returned to Pine Grove township, and continued his residence here until his death, at the age of sixty-two years. Mr. Earl's wife, whose maiden name was Delilah Waite, was born in New York state, and died in Michigan, at the age of sixty-two years. They reared nine children, as follows: Laura; Lucinda; Sarah ; David; James; Susan, widow of Frederick P. Sackett, now lives in Gobleville, Michigan; Evlin; Mary; and Newton. Mr. and Mrs. Sackett also reared nine children, namely: Earl; Andy ; Grace; Stanley, the special subject of this sketch; Harry; Fred; Frank; Logan; and Pearl.
Having completed his studies in the rural schools of his native district, Stanley Sackett, whose home was four miles from the village of Gobleville, subsequently attended the graded schools of that village, for some time gladly trudging back and forth night and morning in his efforts to obtain a good education, al- though during the last few months of his attendance he lived with Dr. Carpenter, earning his board as hostler and general chore boy. Ere he had finished school he accepted a position in the Gobleville Exchange Bank, of Gobleville, of which Mr. S. B. Munroe was the proprietor, his first compensation having been but one dollar a week. He lived with his parents during two years of the time, walking to and fro night and morning. Devoting all of his energies to his new work, Mr. Sackett soon proved his worth and ability, and was promoted according to his efficiency until made manager of the institution. In 1901, leaving Gilbert Mitchell in charge of the Gobleville Bank, he went to Bloomingdale to estab- lish, for Mr. Munroe, a private bank, and remained there a year. Returning then to Gobleville, Mr. Sackett, in company with Mr. Mitchell, bought the Gobleville Bank. Mr. Mitchell died a year later, and Mr. Sackett operated the institution, with the Mitchell estate as a partner, for three years when he bought out the Mitchell heirs and has since continued as sole proprietor of the institution, which is one of the safest and best in the county. In addition to
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banking Mr. Sackett carries on a general insurance and real estate business, in each line being especially successful.
Mr. Sackett married, in 1904, Lena Frank Crosby, who was born in Gobleville, a daughter of William S. and Ella (Pike) Crosby, and they have one child, Elaine Sackett. Mr. Sackett is an active member of the Michigan State Bankers' Association and of the American Bankers' Association. Fraternally he belongs to Goble- ville Lodge, No. 393, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and to the Encampment; he is also a member of Hudson Lodge, No. 325, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; of Paw Paw Chapter, No. 34, Royal Arch Masons; of Lawrence Council, No. 43, Royal and Select Masters; of Peninsula Commandery, No. 8, Knights Templar; and both he and his wife are members of Lily Chapter, No. 230, Order of the Eastern Star.
HENRY M. KINGSLEY .- Eminently worthy of mention in a work of this character is Henry M. Kingsley, of Kendall, Van Buren county, a man of sterling integrity and upright principles, who in all of his business transactions has ever acted with strict regard to veracity and honor, and has fully established himself in the esteem and confidence of his associates and neighbors. A native of Michigan, he was born May 27, 1845, in Kalamazoo county, a son of Moses and Clarissa (Beckley) Kingsley, of whom a brief account may be found elsewhere in this volume, in connection with the sketch of Herbert Lincoln Root.
Laying a substantial foundation for his future education in the public schools, Mr. Kingsley completed his early studies at the Kalamazoo College, in Kalamazoo, and when nineteen years old taught school one term. Locating on the parental farm at the time of his marriage, he managed it successfully until 1878. Com- ing then to Van Buren county, Mr. Kingsley bought land in sec- tions twenty-six and thirty-five, in Pine Grove township, and was there actively engaged in agricultural pursuits for nearly three decades. Going from there to Oregon in 1907, he lived at Hood River two years, and on returning to Michigan settled in Kendall, which has since been his home.
Mr. Kingsley married, in 1872, Carrie Beckley, who was born in Bergen, New York, a daughter of Ward and Eliza (Trumble) Beckley, and a lineal descendant of Sergeant Richard Beckley, the line of descent being thus traced : Richard, Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, David, Ward and Mrs. Kingsley. Richard Beckley, who was born in Hampshire, England, was living, in 1638, in New Haven, Con- necticut, where he was prominent in church and civic affairs, and was sergeant in a company of militia. Moving to Connecticut about 1661, he bought land of an Indian chief, and there resided until his death. Ward Beckley, Mrs. Kingsley's father, lived in Genesee and Orleans counties in New York state. In 1871 he located in Michigan, and he died in Mendon in 1880. His wife survived him, passing away in 1895.
Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley have three children, Mabel Clara, who married Le Vern Waber, and has two sons, Henry and Clarence ; Henry Ray, who married Mabel M. Downey and has two children,
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Barnard and Margaret; and M. Leland, who married Nellie Tate. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley are members of the Congrega- tional church, and they have reared their children in the same faith.
ALLEN ODELL .- Standing prominent among the prosperous and progressive agriculturists of Van Buren county is Allen Odell, who is now living, practically retired from business, in the village of Kendall, although he still owns a finely appointed and valuable farm in Pine Grove township. A son of Amasa Odell, he was born in Huron county, Ohio, May 21, 1847, and since a lad of seven years has lived in Michigan.
His paternal grandfather, Benajah Odell, was born in New York state, of Revolutionary stock, and was a lineal descendant of one of three brothers who immigrated from England to the United States in colonial days. As foreman of a gang of men he assisted in the construction of the Erie Canal, living at that time in western New York. Subsequently journeying with ox teams to Ohio, he bought wild lands in Huron county, and was there engaged in clearing the land and tilling the soil until his death, when upwards of eighty years old. To him and his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Wells, eight children were born and reared.
Amasa Odell was born in Cayuga county, New York, in 1807, and as a young man learned the carpenter's trade. Becoming a pioneer settler of Huron county, Ohio, he purchased a tract of timber lying on the old plank road leading from Norwalk to Ashland, and having erected a log cabin in the wilderness cleared forty acres of his land. Disposing of his farm in 1854, he again started westward in search of a new home, making an overland trip to Allegan county, Michigan, and becoming one of the first settlers of Trowbridge township. Buying from the government one hundred and sixty acres of land, at one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, in the center of the township, it was not long ere the ringing blows of his axe might be heard as he felled the mighty giants of the hitherto unbroken forest to make a space on which he might erect a humble log cabin to shelter himself and family. Deer, wild turkeys, bear and wolves were abundant, and the pio- neers depended largely in those days upon wild game for their meat, the mother in the meantime spinning and weaving the home- spun in which she clothed the family. For sometime after placing the ground in a productive condition he used to have to team his wheat to Kalamazoo, twenty-five miles away, to market it. He labored industriously, clearing a large part of his land and erecting a good set of buildings, doing the carpentering himself. Subse- quently selling his original farm, Mr. Amasa Odell purchased a near-by farm, on which he resided until his death, at the age of sixty-seven years.
Amasa Odell was twice married. He married first Maria Coon, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Kozad) Coon. He married for his second wife Eliza Coon, a sister of his first wife. She was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and died in Van Buren county,
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Michigan, in the ninety-second year of her age. Six children were born of their union, as follows: Elizabeth, Samuel, Aaron, Maria, Louisa and Allen.
Allen Odell had lived in Trowbridge township, Allegan county, three years when, in 1857, the first school building in that dis- trict was erected, and in which he received his early education. In 1864 he enlisted in Company A, Third Michigan Cavalry, and joined his regiment at Brownsville Station, Arkansas. He sub- sequently went with his command to New Orleans, thence to Mobile, and from there rode two hundred and eighty miles, much of the way through woods and swamps, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He continued with his regiment in its various marches, battles and campaigns until the close of the war, when, in June, 1865, he received his honorable discharge. Returning home, Mr. Odell began farming in Trowbridge township, on a tract of twenty acres of land which he had purchased when eighteen years old. In 1879 he removed from Trowbridge township to Pine Grove town- ship, Van Buren county, and having purchased a tract of partly improved land on section twenty-seven, erected a substantial set of buildings, and continued his agricultural operations until 1891. Taking up his residence that year in the village of Kendall, he still supervised the management of his farm, to the area of which he added by purchase, and all of which he still owns. In 1899 Mr. Odell erected his present residence in Kendall, and, though not now actively engaged in farming, buys and ships produce, a business which he commenced while still living on his farm.
Mr. Odell married, in 1867, Alice Estella Stockwell, who was born in Trowbridge township, Allegan county, Michigan, of excel- lent New England ancestry. Her father, Seth Stockwell, Jr., and her grandfather, Seth Stockwell, Sr., were both natives of Vermont, the birth of her father having occurred October 29, 1827.
Seth Stockwell, Sr., migrated from Vermont to Canada, where he resided until 1844, when he became one of the very early settlers of Trowbridge township, Allegan county, Michigan. Purchasing a tract of timbered land of the government, he built the customary pioneer log cabin, and devoted his time to clearing the land and tilling the soil, living there until his death, in 1889, at the age of four score and four years. He married first Hannah Everett, who died at the age of sixty years, and subsequently he married Mary Brundage. His children, eight in number, were all by his first marriage.
Seth Stockwell, Jr., was seventeen years old when he came with the family to Michigan. He assisted his father in clearing a home- stead, and when he became of age his father presented him with forty acres of standing timber. Immediately beginning the pioneer task of clearing the land, he soon had a sufficient space made, and on it erected a log house, in which he and his bride began house- keeping. Four years later he sold his farm, and having pur- chased eighty acres of land in the same neighborhood resided there several years. Selling out in 1877, he bought the homestead prop- erty in section twenty-nine, Pine Grove township, now occupied
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by his widow, and was there engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, October 29, 1891.
Seth Stockwell, Jr., married, July 18, 1851, Lydia Jane Price, who was born in New York state, August 10, 1835, a daughter of John Price and granddaughter of Benjamin Price, who spent his last years at the home of a son in Ohio. Reared and married in the Empire state, John Price came from there to the territory of Michigan in 1836, performing a part of the long journey by lake and part with teams. Becoming one of the early settlers of western Michigan, he took up government land lying four miles from the present city of Allegan, and began hewing a farm from the wilder- ness. A few years later, in order that his children might have better educational advantages, he moved to Pine Creek, three miles away, but did not sell his land, continuing its management until his death, at the age of fifty years. His wife, whose maiden name was Lydia Sanford, died at the age of forty-nine years. They reared eight children, namely: Horatio, Lucy Ann, George, San- ford, Barton, Oliver, Milo and Lydia J., the latter of whom be- came the wife of Seth Stockwell, Jr. But an infant when brought by her parents to Michigan, Mrs. Stockwell was educated in the rude log school house, with its puncheon floor and slab seats that had wooden pegs for legs. Since the death of her husband she has lived at the homestead in Pine Grove township. She reared three children, namely : Alice E., now Mrs. Odell; Miles; and Flora.
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