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 44
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Mason O. Goss received his early educational training in the public schools and for over two years attended Feris College, Big Rapids, Michigan. On his return to his home he took charge of the old homestead, and since he has been twenty-six years of age he has been operating two hundred and ten acres of land, meeting with great success. He does general farming and breeds good cattle, horses, hogs and sheep, and makes a specialty of raising lambs. He is the owner of a threshing outfit, and during thresh- ing seasons operates it on the farms of his neighbors. He comes of a long line of agriculturists, from whom he inherits marked ability in tilling the soil, and to this has been added his knowledge of scientific methods and the benefit of new discoveries and power- ful farm machinery.
On September 13, 1898, Mr. Goss was married (first) to Miss Emma Provost, who died in December, 1900, leaving one child, Boyd, who is now attending school in Bangor. On October 30, 1904, Mr. Goss married Miss Winnifred Doxtator, and they have one child : Melba, born October 29, 1908. Mr. Goss is a Democrat in his political views, and is socially connected with the Odd Fel- lows. In his dealings with his fellow men he has always been fair and above-board, and he is consequently held in high esteem and considered one of the representative men of his township.
RUSSELL F. LOOMIS .- A well-known and highly respected resi- dent of Bloomingdale township, Van Buren county, Russell F. Loomis is a prosperous member of the farming community. Com- ing from substantial New England ancestry, he was born, No- vember 20, 1835, in Mantua, Portage county, Ohio, a son of Rus- sell Loomis.
His paternal grandfather, Wareham Loomis, was born, bred and educated in New England. Ambitious and enterprising, he determined to try his fortune on the frontier, and, accompanied by his wife and children, migrated to Portage county, Ohio, where
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he bought timbered land, from which he cleared and improved a farm, on which he spent the remainder of his days.
One of a family of seven children, Russell Loomis was born on the parental homestead in Portage county, Ohio. He began life for himself as a farmer in his native county, but in 1837 removed to Lorain county, Ohio, locating in Eaton township. Buying forty acres of standing timber, he cleared a space in which he erected a log cabin, and then began the improvements needed on a farm. In 1849, having nearly all of the land cleared, he sold out for $400 in silver, two teams and a wagon, and journeyed with teams across the country to Illinois. He bought one hundred and twenty acres of prairie land in Marion county, nine miles from Salem. Twenty acres of the land were then cleared, and two log houses had been built. He set out two orchards, placed a goodly part of the land under cultivation, and lived there four years. Selling out in 1853, he became a pioneer settler of Cheshire township, Allegan county, where he first bought eighty acres of land, and later purchased another tract of forty acres. Deer and other wild animals were then plentiful, and Lawton was the nearest railway station, and the principal marketing point. He improved a good farm, and there continued a resident until his death, in 1866.
The maiden name of the wife of Russell Loomis was Rebecca Cooley. She was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Her father, Chesley Cooley, was a native of Massachusetts, as was his father, Timothy Cooley. Timothy Cooley followed the trade of a shoe- maker at a time when all shoes were custom made, and for many years conducted business in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he resided until his death. He married Rebecca Smith, who was born in that city, of Scotch parents. She survived him, and spent her last days in Ohio, dying, at the venerable age of ninety-six years, at the home of her son Timothy, in Eaton township, Lorain county. Chesley Cooley was reared and educated in the old Bay state, where his natural mechanical talent and ability were well devel- oped. As a young man he worked in different places in New York state, from there going to North Eaton, Lorain county, Ohio, where he established a wagon factory, which he operated until 1853. Mi- grating then to Van Buren county, Michigan, he resided in Bloom- ingdale township until his death, in 1857, at the age of sixty-eight years.
The maiden name of the wife of Chesley Cooley was Azubah Johnson. She was born in Bridgewater, Plymouth county, Massa- chusetts, a daughter of Nathan and Polly Johnson, who were born in the same county, of English ancestry. She died in 1869, at an advanced age. Mr. and Mrs. Russell Loomis reared eight children, as follows : Russell F., Freelove, Henrietta, Marinda, Louisa, Jack- son, Cynthia and William A.
First attending school in Lorain county, Ohio, Russell F. Loomis subsequently continued his studies in the rural schools of Illinois and Michigan, in the meantime being well trained in agricultural pursuits on the home farm. After his marriage he settled on the farm of his father-in-law, in Cheshire township, Allegan county, later building on that part which came to his wife by inheritance.
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In 1864 Mr. Loomis enlisted in Company G, Ninth Michigan Vol- unteer Infantry, and went with his regiment to Georgia. In the fall he back-tracked to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he spent the winter, and in the spring, of 1865, with his regiment, was hon- orably discharged from the service. Returning home, he resumed farming. In 1872 Mr. Loomis disposed of his farm, and, accom- panied by his son and two cousins from Nebraska City, started across the country for Red Willow county, Nebraska, making the trip in a wagon drawn by a pair of oxen and four cows which had been broken to the yoke. At that time much of Nebraska was un- settled, and large herds of antelope and buffalo were frequently seen. Arriving in Red Willow county, Mr. Loomis selected a tract of unsurveyed land, which he entered as a homestead. This, when surveyed, became school land, but the public officials at the Land Office assured him that he could homestead it. He accordingly built on the land, set out fruit and shade trees, and fenced the en- tire one hundred and sixty acres. When, at the end of seven years, Mr. Loomis went to secure the title he was blandly informed that the land belonged to the state of Nebraska, and that the United States Government could not give title to it. The matter was then taken to the State Legislature, and later to the United States Congress.
The following clipping from the Omaha Bee explains the matter up to the time Congress took action: "After just a third of a cen- tury Russell F. Loomis of Red Willow county, Nebraska, practi- cally has won his right against the technique of federal legality. It has required thirty-three years for this hard working farmer to perfect his claim to a certain piece of land, part of the public grant from the government in Red Willow county, on which he settled May 28, 1872, and he has not absolutely consummated his deal yet.
"This remarkable incident is recalled by the passage the other day by the United States senate of a bill introduced by Senator Dietrich authorizing the secretary of the interior to accept from the state of Nebraska a conveyance of the northeast quarter of section 36, in township 4, north, in range 29, west, sixth principal meridian, in Red Willow county, to enable Mr. Loomis to perfect his entry and title to this land under the homestead laws of the United States.
"This bill was introduced by Senator Dietrich in anticipation of a bill pending before the Legislature of Nebraska authorizing the governor to execute a deed of relinquishment to the federal government of this land. It is generally accepted that this bill will pass the legislature. A counterpart of the bill was introduced four years ago, passed and went to the governor, but it did not be- come a law. In 1903 the same bill was again introduced and killed. Representative Hathorn of Red Willow was the author of both these bills and made valiant fights for them. This session Repre- sentative Gliem, who succeeds Dr. Hathorn, introduced the bill and it is now in the hands of the claims committee.
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"Where the conflict comes in.
"Russell F. Loomis settled on this land before it was surveyed and platted. He made his entry under the homestead laws of the United States, but because his settlement rights conflicted with the act of Congress by which the Nebraska Constitution was en- acted, he was never able to perfect his claim. During all of these years Mr. Loomis continued to reside on this land. He has made it his home continually, has invested his money in improvements on the land and has done everything to the end of establishing and maintaining a permanent home there. In the bill which Dr. Hat- horn two years ago pushed with such unceasing zeal and industry it was stated that at that time he had one hundred and forty acres under cultivation and improvements to the value of $3,000. The fight was a strenuous one. Able legislators had extreme difficulty in convincing their colleagues that the state should step in and secure to this pioneer the land which he was unable to claim under a perfected title, and for a long time-entirely too long for the mental comfort of Mr. Loomis and his earnest friends-it seemed as if, despite his long years of toil and hardship, despite the fact of his 'blazing the way of civilization' in Red Willow county, and despite his untiring efforts to secure for himself and family this home they had earned-it seemed even after all these privations and hardships that Mr. Loomis would not get the land. The Diet- rich bill providing for the acceptance by the government of the relinquishment has been passed and no doubts are entertained but that the Gliem bill, providing the relinquishment by the state, will pass."
The State Legislature did pass the bill accepting the offer of the United States government, but the governor vetoed the bill. Mr. Loomis, therefore, finding that after thirty-four years' residence on the land he could not get a title to it, sold his improvements for whatever he could get, and returned to Michigan. Locating in Bloomingdale township, Van Buren county, he purchased the es- tate which he now owns and occupies, and is here enjoying life.
Mr. Loomis married first, in 1856, Mary Fidelia Cooley, who was born in Jefferson county, New York, a daughter of Charles and Rhoda Cooley, natives of the Empire state, and pioneers of Cheshire township, Allegan county, Michigan. She passed to the life beyond in 1904, leaving eight children, namely : Myron, Frank- lin, Mary, Maynard, George, Effie, Alvira and Jennie. Mr. Loomis married for his second wife Mrs. Alpheus Beals, whose maiden name was Corintha Bell. She was born in Jefferson county, Iowa, a daughter of Eli and Margaret Bell, and married first Alpheus Beals, Sr., father of Alpheus Beals, of whom a brief sketch may be found elsewhere in this work.
Mr. Loomis was quite active in public affairs in Nebraska, upon the organization of Red Willow county serving as its first justice of the peace in his precinct, and being the first school director of his district, and also county treasurer. He is a member of the A. Calvin Post, No. 59, Grand Army of the Republic, and both he and his wife are members of the Christian church.
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GEORGE N. HALE .- Associated with extensive business operations since boyhood, George N. Hale, South Haven's leading merchant has had excellent training for the enterprises he is carrying on with great success, and a sweep of vision, comprehensive enough to take in more if favorable opportunities should present them- selves.
From the time he left school he has constantly been connected with mercantile life, so that merchandising has become second nature with him. He attends to the management of his business with an ease that comes from mastery of all details and a thorough system in every particular of his work.
George Nathan Hale was born in Oswego county, New York, March 13, 1842. His father Marshal Hale came from sturdy Ver- mont stock and his mother, Caroline Meach Hale was one of the descendants of the Knickerbockers of New York. Marshal Hale came to South Haven in the early fifties. His was a mind for large enterprises and he engaged in lumbering, milling, canal-boat building and merchandising. It was in the last named business that he made his greatest success, being at the time of his death interested in six large department stores. He was a remarkably able merchant and his mantle has fallen, not on one, but on all of his seven sons, who have in turn all become successful merchants.
George N. Hale is the oldest one of this family of merchants. He left home when a lad of fourteen to visit A. V. Pantland, a rail- road agent at Lawton, Michigan, where he soon learned telegraphy and accepted the position as telegraph operator at that station. About a year of this work was sufficient to convince the young man that telegraphy was not his field, and went to work for a short time in a dry goods store at Lawton. He next held the position as clerk in a hotel at Paw Paw but from this position he was immediately re- moved by his father and sent to Elmira, New York, to finish his education. After completing his school work he went to Chicago, where he found employment in the wholesale grocery store of Durand, Powers & Briggs, with whom he remained about two years. He then became bookkeeper for Thomas R. Wood & Sons, a paint and oil house, and was impelled by his surroundings and what he heard about the oil business to go to the oil fields of Penn- sylvania and try his luck at boring for the unctuous fluid that was making many men rich in a single night or day. But this line of endeavor was not to his taste and he did not linger long at it. He returned to Michigan and took up his residence in Schoolcraft, where he engaged in merchandising in groceries and boots and shoes for a time. He then sold this business to Barnhart & Scott and moved to South Haven. Here he took up the business his father had established under the name and style of M. Hale & Company, and this he is still conducting. The name has been over the store fronts either in New York, Wisconsin or Michigan since 1839, and is one of the best known mercantile names in the country.
In 1887 Mr. Hale started a branch business in San Diego, Cali- fornia, under the name of George N. Hale & Company, which he kept in operation six years. At the end of that period he sold it that he might concentrate his efforts and capital in his South Haven
Sco. A. Stale
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store, which had been destroyed by fire. There he has lived ever since and been occupied in merchandising on a large scale, hand- ling dry goods, groceries and general merchandise. He owns the finest business block in the city, and as he is one of its leading mer- chants, so is he, also one of its most prominent and influential citi- zens, and most active forces in all matters of public improvement.
He was one of the directors of the Kalamazoo Branch of the Michigan Central Railroad, and it was mainly through his efforts the Citizens State Bank of South Haven was organized and he was its first president. He was part owner of the first steamboat owned here, the Steamer Huron. He was also instrumental in starting the South Haven Club known first as the Enterprise Club and also the Driving Park.
He has served as a member of the city council and the board of public works. In politics he is a Democrat, and true to his party, but does not allow partisan considerations to govern him in refer- ence to local affairs, the good of the city being always his first care. He was opposed to slavery when it existed in this country, and this led him to cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln for presi- dent. He was living in Chicago at the time, and state pride made the feeling in that city strong for the great Emancipator, but Mr. Hale supported him because of the issues involved in the memor- able campaign.
Mr. Hale's military career has been somewhat limited, though through no fault of his own. When the war broke out he was a member of the Southern Tier Rifle Company of Elmira, New York, Militia. The entire company was preparing to go to the front, but Mr. Hale was compelled to withdraw as he was not of age and could not obtain permission from his parents. Later on, when he became of age he enlisted in Chicago, but was so unfortunate as to break an arm and was given an honorable discharge.
Mr. Hale has been a devoted member of the Masonic order in several of its branches. He was made a Freemason in W. B. War- ren Lodge in Chicago in 1863. When Star of the Lake Lodge of South Haven was forming he demitted from his lodge and became a member of the new one in his present home. He is also a mem- ber of South Haven Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, South Haven Council of Royal and Select Masters, Peninsula Commandery, Knights Templar, in Kalamazoo, and Saladin Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in Grand Rapids.
On May 19, 1869, Mr. Hale was joined in marriage with Miss Mary A. Orr, a native of Ogdensburg, New York. Five children were born of this union, three of whom are living: Marshall A. and Lawrence G., who are associated with their father in business ; and Georgia C., Channing W., the oldest son died in 1910. He also was connected with the business. The mother of these children died May 3, 1902, and on February 18, 1909, the father contracted a second marriage in which he was united with Mrs. Minnie Manette Goodman, his present wife.
JOHN A. HUNT is one of the oldest and most venerable of the farmer-citizens of Covert township, Van Buren county. He has
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lived here since youth, is enthusiastically loyal to the section, has filled himself with its annals and become a living history of its progress. He has ever been aligned with good, public-spirited causes and is an ardent supporter of Prohibition. Mr. Hunt shares with so many of those who reside within the favored bound- aries of Van Buren county the distinction of being a native of New York. He was born in Camillus, Onondaga county, that state. January 16, 1827, and is the son of Benjamin and Betsy Elizabeth (Secoy) Hunt, both likewise natives of New York. The father, who was a farmer, died but two years after the birth of the subject, in 1829, the mother surviving for many years, or until 1852. They were the parents of a large family of children, as follows: Jacob, deceased; Stephen, deceased; two who died in infancy; Eliza, Benjamin Jonas and Rachel, deceased. It will thus be seen that Mr. Hunt is the only survivor of the number, and in truth he has been allotted more years than the majority.
When a young man of seventeen years John A. Hunt severed his home associations in the Empire state and came to Michigan. locating in Van Buren county. He bought forty acres in section 25, Covert township, which was the nucleus of a property which at one time consisted of one hundred and twenty acres. He is a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted on September 22, 1864, in Company G, of the Twenty-eighth Michigan Infantry. He was sent to the front and one of the most important engagements in which he participated was the battle of Nashville, on December 15 and 16, 1864, when the Federals under Thomas gained a vic- tory over the Confederates under Hood, which resulted in the breaking up of Hood's army as a fighting force. In his military service Mr. Hunt met with no serious injury and he was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, on May 22, 1865.
After the termination of hostilities Mr. Hunt returned to Michi- gan and took up the threads of civilian life. On November 3, 1852, he had married Miss Luey Ann Whitcomb, and after many years of happy married life her demise had occurred on February 27, 1888. This union resulted in the birth of three children. The oldest, Charles A. Hunt, owns the home place, which is the scene of successful endeavors in general farming and stock-raising; Frank D., makes his home at Watervliet ; and Nellie A. is the wife of Truman E. Stratton, of Hartford township. Mr. Hunt was a second time married on December 21, 1890, Miss Jane A. Kelley becoming his wife, and her death occurred on February 8, 1902. On September 23, 1907, Mrs. Ellen Heagle, widow of Harvey Heagle, was united in marriage to Mr. Hunt. The present Mrs. Hunt is the daughter of William and Jane (Orr) Stead and by her previous marriage the mother of eight children, as follows: Albert, of Chicago; Jane, deceased; Emily, wife of Edward Noonan, of Kansas City, Missouri; Edwin, of Grand Rapids; Collin, of St. Louis, Missouri; Mida, wife of Elmer Partington, of Chicago; Sarah, wife of Fred Fouts, of Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Alice, of Chicago.
Mr. Hunt, as mentioned previously, is an adherent of the cause of Prohibition. He has several times in his career held office, and
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has given satisfactory service as township treasurer and justice of the peace, and he is distinguished for an unblemished record as a man and as a citizen. He belongs to the Grange and is, in religious conviction, a valued member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
The subject's eldest son, Charles Hunt. on March 3, 1878, laid the foundation of a happy household and congenial life compan- ionship by his union with Helen Winslow, daughter of Lewis and Martha (Gilbert) Winslow, both of whom were natives of the state of New York. They removed to Michigan and lived in Ant- werp township, Van Buren county. Mrs. Charles Hunt has the following brothers and sisters: Hardin, of Van Buren county ; Mary, wife of George Hale, of Covert township; and Warren T., of Rathdrum, Idaho. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt are the parents of two sons, who have taken their places among the most admirable of the young citizenship of Van Buren county. Mearl, born July 31, 1879, owns a farm in Covert township; and Maurice D., born September 15, 1883, resides at home and gives material assistance to his father in his farm duties. Mr. Hunt gives heart and hand to the men and measures of the Republican party and is an attendant of the Methodist church, in which his wife and father are honored members.
GEORGE HALE .- Among those good citizens of Van Buren county, Michigan, who have done much to promote the prosperity of the county and belong to the agricultural class upon which the county founds its strength, mention must be made of George Hale, whose excellent farm of one hundred and four acres is devoted to general farming and stock-raising. He has lived here almost his entire life-time and has not only watched the advancement of this sec- tion, but has borne a part in promoting all interests and measures which he has believed to be for the public good. That which may he said of so many representative citizens in this locality may be said of him-he was born in New York, a statement which is likely to be met with very frequently in this volume devoted to the men and women of Van Buren county, Michigan.
The town of Henderson, Jefferson county of the Empire state, was the birthplace of Mr. Hale and the date of his nativity, Jan- uary 1, 1861. His parents were Richard and Melissa (Nutting) Hale, the father being a native of Vermont and the mother of Hen- derson, Jefferson county, New York. The father early removed from the Green Mountain state and became a sailor on the Great Lakes. He came to Michigan in the spring of 1865 and located in Covert township, in section 36. As he grew older the rough life of the water began to be distasteful to him and he finally came to the conclusion to give it up and to adopt farming. He secured a fine tract of land in Covert township. section 36. At that time this section of the country was heavily timbered and the roads had been cut through but the stumps of the trees not taken out. On his tract eight acres had been slashed, but none of it cleared. While sailing the lakes he superintended the clearing of his land and later bought forty acres across the road in section 31, Bangor
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township. He was a resident there until his death. His useful life was terminated on June 23, 1891, but his wife survives and makes her home with her son, the subject. Mr. Hale had two brothers, Winfield and William W., both of whom are now de- ceased.
Behind a desk in the district school-room Mr. Hale received his first introduction to Minerva, goddess of wisdom. He did not stop with such advantages as were offered by the public schools, how- ever, but matriculated in the Normal School and Business College at Valparaiso, Indiana, from which institution he was graduated in 1881. He was fitted for teaching and was engaged in peda- gogical activities for seven years in this county with satisfaction to all concerned, for his methods in training the youthful mind were conscientious and enlightened. About the year 1888 he made a radical change by abandoning teaching and taking up rail- road work, which he followed for seven years. Perhaps from his father he had inherited the lure of the sea, for he abandoned the railroad service and for twelve years occupied the position of purser on the steamers plying between South Haven and Chicago. At the end of that period he swore allegiance to the great basic industry of agriculture, and has ever since followed that vocation and intends to continue permanently identified with this whole- some and independent calling, in which, as in no other, a man is his own master. He owns one hundred and four acres and engages in general farming and stock-raising.
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