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 42
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Mr. and Mrs. Odell are the parents of six children, namely : George C., who married Addie Porter, and has four children. Pansy, Fern, Clifton and Roselin; Birt P., who married Lillie McGregor; Charles B .; Millie, wife of John Leeder; Pearl E., wife of Earl Hudson, has two children, Florence E. and Lawrence ; and Gilbert A. Mr. and Mrs. Odell are worthy Christian people and valuable members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Kendall.
WALLACE W. CRANDALL .- Quietly and unostentatiously but ef- fectively and profitably engaged in general farming and raising live stock for the markets for nearly fifty years in this county, the late Wallace W. Crandall, of Paw Paw township, acquired the ownership of one hundred and fifty-five acres of excellent land in the way of worldly possessions, together with some additional prop- erty, and attained a high place in the regard and good will of the people as a sterling, upright, progressive and useful citizen and estimable man in every relation in life.
Mr. Crandall was a native of the state of New York, born in Orleans county on September 13, 1834, and a son of John L. and Hannah (Brown) Crandall, also natives of that state and the parents of nine children: Daniel B., Wallace W., Albert W. and Lewis, all now deceased; Sarah, also deceased, formerly the wife of a Mr. Burnett; Mary, deceased, formerly the wife of Henry Beardsley, of Orleans county, New York; John B., of Albion, Orleans county, New York; Ray L., deceased, formerly the wife
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of Frank Prussia, of New York; and Alcetta, the wife of Byron Densmore, of New York, where she has long had her home.
When he was twenty-five years of age Wallace W. Crandall left his parental home and started out to make his own way in the world. He had obtained a district school education and acquired a thorough knowledge of farming under the direction of his father, as the industry was conducted then, and felt prepared for what- ever duty might fall to his lot and equal to the task of working out his own advancement in any situation. He worked at what- ever he found to do for two years in his native state, and then harkened to the voice of the awakening West for volunteers in her great army of conquest, development and progressive enter- prise.
In 1861 he came to Michigan in response to the persuasive force of that voice and located in Van Buren county. He bought a farm in Antwerp township, which he owned and cultivated for a time, then sold it and bought sixty acres in Paw Paw township, on which he lived and labored to the end of his days. By sub- sequent purchases he increased this to one hundred and fifty-five acres, which he owned at the time of his death, on March 4, 1909. On this land he carried on a general farming industry with energy and profit, and also raised and fed live stock extensively for the markets. He was successful in both line of his business, for he conducted both with skill and ability, and gave every feature of each the most careful and intelligent attention.
On December 24, 1856, Mr. Crandall was united in marriage with Miss Elmira M. Pitcher, a daughter of Burnett and Mary ( Brown) Pitcher, both born in the state of New York, and reared and married there. They came to Michigan in 1864 and located in Porter township, Van Buren county. The father passed the whole of his life on farms, and never followed any other voca- tion than farming. He died on October 6, 1878, and the mother passed away on May 5, 1910, spending her last years on the farm she and her husband had improved and cultivated together from the time of their arrival in the county until his death, and after- ward superintending its operations herself and maintaining the same standard of excellence in the work that he kept up while he was in charge of the place. They had four children: Selina E., deceased, formerly the wife of Able Brown, of New York state; Elmira M., now the widow of Mr. Crandall; George F., a resi- dent of Porter township, this county; and Nathan V .. who was born in 1836 and died in 1858. The children acquired habits of useful industry from the tuition and examples given them by their parents, and through all their subsequent lives followed the teachings of the parental fireside with profit to themselves and bene- fit to the communities in which they lived, as those of them who are still living continue to do. They were also well instructed as to the value of uprightness in manhood and womanhood and the fundamental duties of good citizenship, and these lessons also found an abiding place with them and serviceable expression in their daily conduct.
Mr. Crandall was an ardent Democrat in his political faith and a
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loyal and effective worker for the success of his political party. He gave the people good service in several township offices to which they elected him from time to time, and could always be counted on to aid in any worthy undertaking for the advancement or improvement of his township and county. In fraternal circles he was a Freemason of the Royal Arch degree, and in church affiliation a Baptist.
SAMUEL J. ORTON .- In a review of the good citizens of Waverly township, Van Buren county, the name of Samuel J. Orton must take prominent place as a successful and popular farmer-citizen, whose kindly personality and fine principles have given him a secure place in general esteem. His farm of one hundred and twenty-three acres is located in sections 17 and 20 and there he devotes his energies to general farming and fruit raising. He is loyal to the county with the loyalty of a native son, for his birth occurred in Arlington township, January 16, 1850. He is the son of Ira M. and Cornelia M. (Fitzcraft) Orton, the birth of the former having occurred in Rutland county, Vermont, and that of the latter in the state of New York. When a young man Ira M. Orton left the New England hills for the Empire state and there he met and married his wife, their union occurring in 1837. In 1845 they made an important change by coming to Van Buren county and here spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of seven children, four of whom were living in 1911. Edwin P. resides in Arlington township; Emory O. is a citizen of Bangor, Michigan; Samuel J., the subject of this review; and Pris- cilla, the wife of Jerome Bigelow.
Samuel J. Orton was reared on his father's farm and obtained his education in the district schools and the Lawrence high school, continuing as a student at the latter until his seventeenth year. Following that he had some experience as a pedagogue, occupying the preceptor's chair in a school in Wright county, Minnesota. When, however, it came to choosing a permanent occupation he gave his heart to farming and he has been prosperous in this field. He is particularly successful as a horticulturist.
Mr. Orton was first married to Anna D. Slocum, and one son was the fruit of their union, Percy L. Orton, who married Ger- trude Butterfield. Mrs. Orton was summoned to the Great Beyond on April 8, 1878, and he married for his second wife Minnie A. Briggs, their union being solemnized September 26, 1878. To this union have been born six children, as follows: Floyd M., of Brit- ish Columbia, a graduate of Bangor high school; Bertha, a gradu- ate of the Lawrence high school, a former teacher in the public school, and now the wife of Fred McFarland; Mabel, wife of Harry Scamehorn, they have one son, Zell; and Grace, wife of Howard Towne, and they have one son, Milford; Glen W., a graduate of the common schools, in which he displayed excellent scholarship; and Clare B., now in school.
Fraternally Mr. Orton is a member of the Bangor Maccabees and he is also affiliated with the Patrons of Husbandry. In pol-
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itics he is in harmony with the principles of the Democratic party and he has served as justice of the peace of Arlington.
FRANKLIN COOLEY .- Eminently deserving of inention in this biographical volume is Franklin Cooley, a prosperous farmer and respected citizen of Bloomingdale township, Van Buren county, and a veteran of the Civil war. He was born December 4, 1843, in Sweden township, Monroe county, New York, a son of Charles Cooley. His grandfather, Stephen Cooley, who spent all of the later years of his life in Jefferson county, New York, was, doubtless, a native of Massachusetts, his immediate ancestors having been of New England birth and breeding.
Charles Cooley was born, it is supposed, in Jefferson county, New York, but as a young man he settled in Sweden township, Monroe county, which was his home for a number of years. In 1851, accompanied by his wife and three children, he started for the western frontier, journeying by way of the Erie Canal to Buf- falo, thence by lake boat to Detroit, then by rail to Lawton, Mich- igan. Proceeding then with teams, he blazed his way through the woods to Allegan county, which was then heavily timbered, the land, which was owned by the government, being for sale at one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. Locating in Cheshire town- ship, he purchased a tract of land lying on the border line of sec- tion thirty-three, and immediately assumed possession of the rude log cabin that had been erected in a small clearing. Lawton was then the nearest railway station and the depot for all supplies, as well as the principal marketing point. Clearing a large portion of his land, he was there engaged in farming until his death. He received injuries from a falling tree, which rendered him a cripple for the remainder of his life. He died while yet in the full vigor of a sturdy manhood, being then but forty-eight years of age. He married Rhoda Cooley, who was born in Monroe county. New York, a daughter of Jacob and Lavina ( Alverson) Cooley, pioneer settlers of Sweden township, that county. She survived him, liv- ing to the advanced age of eighty-nine years. Five children were born of their union, as follows: Fidelia; Franklin; Heman B .; Levi J .; and Jane, who lived but six years.
Brought up on the home farm in Allegan county, Michigan, Franklin Cooley obtained a practical education in the district schools, at the same time becoming well acquainted with the dif- ferent branches of farming. In 1861 he went to New York state. and there, on August 7, 1862, he enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Fortieth New York Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. With his regiment he participated in many engagements of note, including those at Fredericksburg. Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and the Wilderness. During the latter siege Mr. Cooley was wounded and sent to the hospital. As soon as his recovery was assured he was transferred to the First Battalion Reserve Corps, in which he served until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged from the army.
Returning then to Michigan, Mr. Cooley was for awhile engaged
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in tilling the soil. Losing his eye sight, he then went to Rochester, New York, for treatment. At the end of a year, the sight of one eye being restored, he located at Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he was for four years engaged in business. He subsequently bought land in Ottawa county, Michigan, where he was a resident until 1884. Coming then to Bloomingdale township, Van Buren county, Mr. Cooley bought his present property, which is located in section four, just across the road from his father's old homestead. Here he has since carried on general farming and dairying with excel- lent success, finding both pleasure and profit in his labors.
Mr. Cooley married, on the 2d of August, 1865, Electa Case, who was born in Laporte, Indiana, being a daughter of Luther and Electa (Shumway) Case, who reared four children, Nelson, Ara, Electa and Betsey. Her father was a native of New England, as was also his mother. They lived in Indiana for a time, re- turning then to the east and settling in Sweden, Monroe county, New York, where they spent the remainder of their days.
Mr. and Mrs. Cooley have two children, Eber F. and Lula. Eber F., a farmer in Bloomingdale, township, married Jennie Hewitt, and they have two children, Vinton E. and Edna V. Lula M .. married Roy Grannis, and has one child, Franklin Grannis. Mr. Cooley is a member of the Ed. Colwell Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and takes an active interest in the organization. He is a Republican, and he served as justice of the peace in Ottawa county and is now serving his second term in Van Buren county.
DON F. GREGORY .- The subject of this sketch is a representative of one of the oldest families in Keeler township. His forefathers entered the land upon which he resides from the government and ever since the family has been identified with the history of Van Buren county. Don Gregory was born in 1876, on December 6, and is the eldest of the two children born to Albert and Cora E. (Force) Gregory. The sister is Mrs. Marion Gilchrist, of Des Moines, where her husband practices his profession of civil engi- neering.
Albert Gregory was born in New York state in 1836. Farming was his life long occupation and he followed it in his native state until 1846, doing the "chores" which fall to the lot of the small hoy, and then came with his parents to Michigan. The journey was made in pioneer style by wagon and took some weeks to ac- complish. Arrived in Van Buren county, the father, our subject 's grandfather, entered one thousand five hundred acres from the government and the deed for this is still in the possession of Mr. Don Gregory and is a valuable document. The first home of the settlers was the primitive log cabin of the earliest days. Those were the times when deer were to be shot in the front yards and wild turkeys were somewhat commoner than tame ones are now. Another feature of pioneering days, not quite so alluring, was the plentitude of Indians about. Roads were almost unknown and the inhabitants found the way by the blazed trails. The nearest market was at Niles and a trip thither was a real undertaking.
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This was the environment in which the father of our subject grew up.
The Scotch ancestry of the Gregorys had endowed the race with the firmness and the patriotism which characterize that race. The elder brothers of Albert Gregory were in the war and one of them was taken prisoner and afterwards released. Returning to the front, he was seriously wounded and during his convalescence was cared for by the Catholic sisters and was converted to the Catholic religion. Albert Gregory was an old-line Whig and later a Republican. He was not a man who sought public office, though he took a keen interest in public affairs and was unswerving in his loyalty to what he considered his duty. Upon his father's death he fell heir to three hundred and twenty acres of the family estate and his son Don now resides upon this same tract. All the im- provements were put on the place by Albert Gregory. For one year he conducted a store in Dowagiac. Before his death he ac- quired valuable property in South Haven, Berrien Springs and other places. The Scotch liking for learning was also his and, though his education was mostly self acquired, he was a success- ful teacher in Berrien county for several terms. His death re- moved from the county one of its most enlightened and public- spirited citizens. He passed away in 1910 and is buried in the Keeler cemetery.
The wife of Albert Gregory was born in Anderson, Indiana, in 1854. Her father, Rev. F. P. Force, was a clergyman in the Methodist church who has been the pastor of Keeler and who erected the Methodist church at Benton Harbor. She resides at Dowagiac at present.
Don Gregory received his education in the county, graduating from the Dowagiac high school. He spent some time in the employ of a clothing house, but he intends to devote the rest of his life to the honored pursuit of agriculture. Ten years ago, on Novem- ber 28, 1901, he was united in marriage to a young lady who like himself, is a native of the county and has been educated in its schools. Miss Nellie McMillan. Their union has been blessed with one daughter, Catherine. Mrs. Gregory is a lady of gracious man- ner and kindly heart and in all ways a charming mistress of their charming home.
Mr. Gregory is a progressive Republican and is a keen student of the present conditions and interested in the public welfare. He is a member of the township board and a justice of peace. In the fraternal orders he belongs to the Modern Woodmen and to the Odd Fellows lodge at Mercedes. In this latter he is a charter member and has passed all the chairs. The home of the Gregory family on the banks of the lake is one of the pleasantest in the county as its owners are among the most highly regarded citizens. They belong to families who have long been prominent in the county and they are worthy representatives of their admirable kindred.
JAMES M. LONGWELL .- Having come to Paw Paw in the very early days of its history, when only a few rude tenements, standing
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on the site of the present city and widely scattered through the sur- rounding country, proclaimed the arrival of the pioneers of civili- zation and marked its first footprints in the wilderness of the sec- tion, the late James M. Longwell saw the beginning of the dominion of mind over matter in the region. Having departed this life on September 16, 1907, at the age of eighty years, when there had arisen in the almost trackless waste of his earlier days a thriving city of several thousand people, in which the seat of government for a highly developed and rapidly progressive county was located, he witnessed before he went hence what the daring and uncon- querable spirit of American enterprise had accomplished in but little more than a generation of human life. He was devoted in his loyalty to the locality and throughout his days of activity wrought faithfully in the van of the army of conquest and im- provement, doing what he could to keep it moving forward and magnify its achievements. His life was in its essence and its expression an epitome of American history itself which, although varying in features according to circumstances, is the same in trend and tendency everywhere, ever onward toward broader, higher and better conditions for the advantage of its own immediate bene- ficiaries, and through them that of all mankind.
Mr. Longwell was born in the state of New York in 1839, the son of Seleck and Mary Longwell, also natives of that state, and the parents of six children. Their son James was a druggist and the pioneer of his business in Paw Paw. He adhered faithfully to his mortar and pestle until the dread summons of sectional strife called him from them to the field of carnage to aid in saving the Union he loved from being torn asunder in the Civil war. He enlisted in the beginning of the conflict in Company C of the Mich- igan Volunteer Infantry, in what was formerly the "Old La- fayette's Life Guard," which soon came under the command of General Daniel E. Sickles. When he was discharged he was cap- tain of his company, a rank to which he rose by meritorious serv- ice in the camp, on the march and where "Red Battle stamped his foot and nations felt the shock."
On December 5, 1851, Mr. Longwell was united in marriage with Miss Phoebe Ann Hawkins, a daughter of William Reynolds and Eliza (Morehouse) Hawkins, both born at Ithaca, New York. They came to Michigan in 1836 and located in the wilds near what is now the village of Mattawan, where they built a primitive log house and began to hew a farm out of the wilderness. After devoting five years to this arduous undertaking, however, they sold their home and moved to Paw Paw. Here the father opened a store and became one of the pioneer merchants of the region. He kept the store several years, then retired from mercantile life to devote his attention to his extensive acreage of land and to this he gave all his time to the end of his earthly career, which came in February, 1895. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, only three of whom are living: Phoebe Ann, Seward and Levi, the last named being a resident of Los Angeles, California. The children deceased were Silvia, Mary Ann, Henry and Guy.
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Mr. and Mrs. James Longwell were the parents of four children. The eldest, Eva, is now Mrs. Frank D. Kelly and is the mother of three children, Fay, who married Dr. Percy Glass, of Sag- inaw, Michigan; Dr. Boyd Kelly, of Norway, Michigan; and Flor- ence. William H., who, was born in Paw Paw, December 5, 1859, was educated in the common schools and was employed in a num- ber of different kinds of business until 1886, when he entered the First National Bank as a bookkeeper and rose to a position as assistant cashier, which position he still holds, having now (in 1911) been twenty-six years connected with this institution. He married in 1898 Minnie McGuire, of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Fred W. resides in Schoolcraft, Michigan, and Daisy is the wife of Ed- ward L. Goodale.
The late Mr. Longwell was a Democrat in political faith and allegiance; a Freemason in fraternal relations and a Methodist in religious connection. He was one of the leaders of the com- munity in his day and was everywhere known as an excellent citizen.
JAMES L. CLEMENT .- An eminently useful and esteemed citizen of Van Buren county, James L. Clement, of Gobleville, is a man of good business ability and judgment, and for many years has been prominently associated with the development and growth of the lumber interests of the state. He was born March 3, 1830, in Fulton county, New York, which was likewise the birthplace of his father, William B. Clement. His grandfather Clement, who was of Holland descent was, as far as known, a life-long resident of the Empire state.
As a young man William B. Clement learned the blacksmith's trade, in which he acquired great proficiency. In 1835, foreseeing the wonderful development of the then far West, he came with his family to Michigan, which had not then donned the garb of state- hood, traveling by way of the Erie Canal to Buffalo, thence by Lake Erie to Detroit, from there proceeding to Marshall, Calhoun county, with teams. There were no railways in the country, and the greater part of Michigan was a howling wilderness owned by the Government and for sale at one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. Selecting a timbered tract lying two miles from Marshall, he walked to Kalamazoo to enter it at the land office, and when he returned hewed the timber with which he erected a house in the woods. Deer, wild turkeys and game of all kinds abounded, while the dusky savages still had their happy hunting grounds in the surrounding forests. Marshall, the nearest marketing point, con- tained among its other industrial plants a flour mill, its productions being sold in Detroit. In common with his neighbors, William B. Clement did all of his work at first with oxen, but later he went to Ohio, and having there bought a pair of good horses, was for awhile engaged in teaming between Marshall and Detroit, and moved several families from that locality to Grand Rapids. He built a smithy on his land, and for many years did general black- smithing in connection with farming. Locating in Pine Grove township, Van Buren county, in 1851, he purchased a tract of
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wooded land on section twenty, and after putting up a substantial residence erected a saw mill, which he operated successfully for up- wards of twenty years. Buying land then in Oshtemo township, Kalamazoo county, he farmed for a time, and then moved to Kala- mazoo, where he lived retired until his death, in the eighty-first year of his age. He married Sybil Peters, who was born in Fulton county, New York, a daughter of James Peters. She died at the age of sixty-five years, leaving nine children, as follows: Margaret. James L., Charles, Timothy, Seth, William, George, Mary and Jennie.
No schools had been established in or near Marshall when, as a boy of five years, James L. Clement came with his parents to the territory of Michigan. Five years later, in 1840, he attended one of the pioneer schools of Marshall, where the laws demanded there should be two terms, of three months each every year, one in sum- mer and one in winter. Still later a school was established in his district, the school house being a mile from his home, and there he concluded his early studies. As a young man Mr. Clement as- sisted his father on the farm, and later became associated with him in the lumber business in Gobleville, where the family settled when the country roundabout was very thinly populated, all of the terri- tory in and around Pine Grove township having been covered with a thick growth of timber.
In 1856 Mr. Clement bought land in Bloomingdale township, Van Buren county, and was there engaged in general farming for eighteen years, in the meantime having built a saw mill at Goble- ville. Disposing of his farm, he migrated to Barton county, Kan- sas, where he purchased land, and was employed in tilling the soil for three years. Not meeting with the success which he had antici- pated in that newer country, Mr. Clement returned to Van Buren county, and having assumed possession of his Gobleville property, has since been here actively and successfully employed in the lum- ber business, being one of the leaders in this line of industry.
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