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 47
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into a friendship which culminated in marriage, and the couple soon moved to Quincy, Illinois, where they became the parents of five children,-Josephine, wife of George Keller, of Quincy, Illi- nois; John, residing at Rock Island, Illinois; Louis Albert ; Gustaf, deceased; and Anna, wife of Adolph Eberhardt, of Quincy, Illi- nois. In Quincy, after a few years Mr. Bregger became a carpen- ter contractor and builder. His death occurred August 4, 1871, and his wife died in the year 1902.
When Mr. L. A. Bregger was only nine years of age his father was summoned to the life eternal, and on the mother devolved the task of rearing her children. Louis Albert attended the city graded school until he was fourteen years of age, when. to help support the family, he began work in a file shop, and for the ensu- ing five years he worked at this industry. Next he entered the drug business, in which he continued for one year, at the expiration of which time he turned to farming. Four months of the agricultural life was sufficient to satisfy him that he had found his vocation, and if he would succeed as a farmer it was necessary for him to make a study of the work. Through the influence of his pastor he entered the agricultural college of Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1888, on the completion of a four years' course, which included horticulture as well as the regular agricultural studies. Upon his graduation he accepted a position as assistant in the college green- house; after a half year he went to Grand Rapids and for four months he was connected with a greenhouse there; from Grand Rapids he went to Chicago to fill the position of assistant superin- tendent of the Graceland cemetery, and for eleven years he suc- cessfully performed the duties pertaining to that office. During most of these years. although Mr. Bregger commanded a good sal- ary, he looked forward to the farm and farming as his place and his life work. In 1900 he bought one hundred acres of land in section 20, Arlington township and took up his residence on the farm where he lives today and proceeded to put in practice the results of his years of experience. He does general farming, and makes a specialty of raising fruit, especially peaches and apples. A lover of nature, the farm and rural life and work is more to him than simply a means of livelihood.
On the 3rd day of May, 1892, Mr. Bregger was united in marriage to Miss Anna B. Henjes, daughter of Jacob and Bernardina (Ubeck) Henjes. Mrs. Bregger, the sixth of a family of seven. lost both parents when a young girl. She was born in Amsterdam. The parents came to the United States when she was a year old. Mr. and Mrs. Bregger have two children, both of whom live at home with their parents,-John Taylor, born January 14, 1896; and Louis Blake, whose birth occurred on the 18th day of Septem- ber. 1900. Mrs. Bregger is a cultured woman and she taught for nine years before her marriage. Husband and wife are interested in training their boys to be worthy citizens, possessed of principles of uprightness which tend to right living.
Mr. Bregger's church connection is with the Unitarians: fra- ternally he is affiliated with the Grange and with the Royal League. While his political sympathies and active interest and work are
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given to the Republican party, he is by birth and by instinct an earnest believer in and advocate of Fundamental Democracy, of rule of, by, and for the people. He has not sought any public office for himself and asks only a place on the "firing line" regard- less of rank or position.
WILLIAM H. CLARK ranks with the respected farmers of Arling- ton township, Van Buren county, Michigan. He was born and reared on the farm on which he now lives. Ten years ago, in 1901, he assumed the management of this place, and here he has since carried on general farming and stock raising.
Mr. Clark's parents, Israel Gates and Ellen D. (Wallace) Clark, the former a native of Jackson county, Michigan, and the latter of New York, took up their residence here in 1865, his father hav- ing that year purchased sixty acres of the land. Later he added another sixty, and he now owns one hundred and twenty acres in section 23. In their family were nine children, of whom Grace and Cook are deceased; Bert is a resident of Indiana; Mary, wife of Lewis Findley, lives at Hartford, Michigan; Lucy is deceased ; Susan is the wife of Albert Palmer; Frances married Hervy Chap- man, of Lawrence, Michigan; William H. is the subject of this review; and Ralph is a resident of Kansas City, Missouri.
William H. Clark was born April 17, 1878, and passed his youth not unlike other farmer boys in Michigan. When he was eighteen he left the parental roof and for five years was engaged in farm work elsewhere. In the meantime his mother died, and in 1901, having married, he went back to the old homestead to live with his father and have charge of the farming operations, which ne has since continued.
Mrs. Clark, formerly Miss Sarah Louise Peck, is a daughter of Henry J. and Ellen (Hawse) Peck, the former a native of Michi- gan and the latter of New York, she being the fifth born in their family of six children. Of the others, we record that Hattie May is deceased; Effie Elida is the wife of Daniel Church, of Paw Paw, Michigan ; the third born died in infancy; and Joseph and Elmer Earl are residents of Bloomingdale, Michigan. It was on October 9, 1901, that Mr. and Mrs. Clark were married.
Politically, while never aspiring to official preferment of any kind, Mr. Clark keeps himself posted and maintains an interest in local affairs. His franchise has always been cast with the Republi- can party. He and his wife attend worship at the Baptist church.
LAWRENCE DRAKE was born in Lenawee county, Michigan, on October 12, 1853. His father, Joshua Drake, was a native of the Province of Ontario, Canada, who came to Michigan in 1839 and settled in Lenawee county, where he lived until 1872. At that date he came to Van Buren county and bought forty acres of land in Bangor township. Here he passed the remainder of his life; dying in 1907, at the age of ninety-three years. His wife, Eliza- beth (Little) Drake, was a New Yorker by birth, who passed away in 1878. Eleven children were born of their union as follows: Alvin, who served in the Union army, is now deceased; John, of
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Lenawee county, also served in the Union army; Thomas, who served in the Union army, died in the service; Joshua also died in the service; James, a resident of Lenawee county, also served in the Union army; Paulina, who died in childhood; Edway, of Van Buren county ; Lawrence, of this sketch; Elsie, the widow of Henry Goss of Van Buren county; Mary, the wife of Moses Folk of Alle- gan county ; and George, deceased.
At the age of sixteen Lawrence Drake went to Toledo, Ohio, and learned the carpenter's trade. After one year in that city, he sailed the lakes for twelve months and then returned to Lena- wee county. In 1872 he came to Van Buren county, and in 1878 settled on the farm where he now resides, in section 28, Bangor township. Since that time he has bought eighty-three acres in sections 20 and 21, and now farms two hundred and forty-three acres, a part of this (one hundred and sixty acres) being the Rip- ley homestead. General farming and dairying are the pursuits to which he devotes his attention, with admirable results in both.
On February 7, 1877, occurred the marriage of Lawrence Drake and Harriet Ripley, the daughter of Sterne and Mary C. (Stead- man) Ripley. Both Mr. and Mrs. Ripley were natives of New York, and came to Michigan in 1847. They settled in Bangor town- ship and cleared from the wilderness the farm where their daugh- ter now resides. The father died in 1863 and the mother in 1900. Mrs. Drake's father enlisted in the Third Michigan Artillery, un- der Captain Dee, and went to the front at the time of the Civil war. He was taken sick while in service and sent home, but did not live to see his family again, as he died in St. Louis and was buried there. Mrs. Drake is the only child of the dead soldier.
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Drake has been blessed with nine children, three of whom, Curtis, Linnie and James, are at home at present. Winnie, the eldest is dead, as are also Pearl, the third child, Effie, the seventh, who died aged three years, and the eighth died in infancy. Frances is the wife of Ervin Shugars, of Bangor township, and Georgie is the wife of Clyde Drake, of Benton Harbor.
Mr. Drake is a Democrat and a man who is always ready to do his part in any undertaking for the public good. Five of his brothers served in the Civil war, and though he was too young to do more than remember the great conflict, he could not fail to draw in with his very breath the sentiments of lofty patriotism which have found expression in his life of good citizenship and zeal in the arts of peace. He has witnessed a marvelous develop- ment in the county. He broke the land of his first farm with an ox team and now, but a quarter of a century later, steam and elec- tricity have found their way even to the fields of the farm. The estate of Mr. Drake on Van Auken lake has been built up with cottages, besides having an orchard planted upon it, and it is growing in popularity as a summer resort.
ALMUS KENNEDY .- Franklin Kennedy, the father of the subject - of this review, was born in New Hampshire and later moved to New York, where he was married to Rosena Frost. He became Vol. II-24
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interested in western lands and bought a quarter section in Ban- gor township, Van Buren county, Michigan, then an entirely unde- veloped region. In 1849 he and his family came to the state where they had invested in Bangor township land and bought another one hundred and sixty acres in Keeler township. Here they lived for ten years and here in 1859, on October 27, Almus Kennedy was born. There were seven other children in the family. The eldest died in infancy; Samantha, who married Thomas Conklin, is also dead; Russell died at the age of two years; Ellis and Franklin are residents of Bangor, as is also Jane, the youngest, now the wife of Madison Keith. The other daughter, Florence, is now Mrs. Charles Kyes, of Benton Harbor.
Almus Kennedy lived at home and helped on the home place un- til he established his own home at the age of twenty. His father had sold his place in Keeler township and moved to the one in Bangor, and it was upon this that Almus grew up. At his mar- riage he bought forty acres in Bangor township and farmed it until 1909, the year after his father's death. He then succeeded to the ownership of the home place and here he carries on general farm- ing and stock raising. Since buying this place Mr. Kennedy has put out a thousand peach trees and he has a fine apple orchard. The ever increasing demand for fruit and the dying out of so many of the older orchards in different parts of the country make this an especially prudent investment. Michigan fruit is of na- tional reputation and its production is one of the greatest sources of her wealth.
On Christmas eve of the year 1879 Mr. Kennedy was united in marriage to Miss Minerva Burger, the daughter of Francis Burger, a well known resident of this county, whose life history appears elsewhere in this work. A son, Orville, of Bangor township, and a daughter, Nora, were born of their union. Nora is now Mrs. William Grinnell, of Cass county.
Mr. Kennedy is a Democrat and has been called upon to fill sev- eral of the township offices, in which he has performed the duties in a manner characteristic of the man. He is known as one of the county 's most substantial and progressive farmers and he does much to promote agriculture to the place of a science instead of a pursuit whose results are largely due to chance. Our modern age has multiplied appliances of life a hundred times. To provide these, factories have sprung up everywhere and great mercantile concerns to market them. But unless the wealth is produced from the soil and the farms yield their abundant harvests the whole complicated fabric of our economic life is disturbed and the fac- tories cease, the mercantile houses close their doors. So the dili- gent farmer is the basis of all our present system and our debt to those who successfully ply this occupation is hard to estimate. This county is proud to claim so many men who engage in that work in the efficient manner which not only secures their own prosperity, but is an essential element in the welfare of the whole nation.
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HENRY H. DANNEFFEL is the eldest of a family of seven children who comprised the family of John Danneffel and his wife, Hannah Green Danneffel. The father was a native of Germany, who came to America when a young man, in company with his brother. They made the voyage in a sailing vessel and landed in New York, with less than five dollars. John came at once to Michigan and secured work at the munificent salary of five dollars a month, at farm labor. As he was thrifty and knew what he wished to accomplish, he managed to save a little from the first and by the time he was married was able to pay a part of the purchase price on the farm which is now owned by his son Henry. The first home which he built was an unpretentious frame house but in time he was able by strict economy and hard work to add the comforts and even the luxuries of life to his scheme of living. He identified himself with all the interests of the county and did everything in his power to improve conditions in it. He was a Republican in politics and had been baptized in the Catholic church. He attained ma- terial prosperity and the respect of all his acquaintances. His death occurred in 1899 at Benton Harbor. Benton Harbor town- ship, on July 26, when he was sixty-four years of age. The wife of John Danneffel was born in Van Buren county December 7, 1845. Her present residence is at Benton Harbor, although she spends a great deal of time with her children, three of whom are now liv- ing. These are Mrs. George Yerrington. of Keeler township, where her husband is owner of a fine farm; Mrs. Omer White, who also resides in Keeler township, and Henry, our subject. Hannah Green Danneffel has been a devoted mother and is known far and wide for her kindness to the needy. The poor have an unfailing friend in her.
Henry Danneffel was born December 9. 1865, in this county and received his education in its schools. Until he was twenty-one he worked for his father on the farm and then started out as a wage earner. He continued to work for others until his marriage to Miss Etta M. Elgas, on the last day of December. 1889, when he had passed his twenty-fourth birthday. He and his wife began their married life as renters, but after some time they purchased forty acres of partly improved land. This they later sold and bought another tract of the same extent. They followed the same plan with this and when they had bought the third forty kept it and added seventy acres to it. On their present farm of one hundred and ten acres they do general farming. stock raising and fruit culture. In 1895 they replaced their original dwelling house by a handsome two story one, which is as tasteful and comfortable in its interior as it is beautiful in its exterior.
Clara H. Danneffel, the daughter of Henry and Etta Danneffel is a graduate of the eighth grade and of the class of 1911 in the Hartford high school. She has studied music and will continue to take higher instruction in this branch. The two boys, Jed and Elga J., are in school, the elder in the eighth grade and the younger in the seventh.
Mrs. Danneffel is a native of Bainbridge, Michigan, and was born April 13, 1870. She is the youngest of a family of eight
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children whose parents are Wendel and Clara Von Deschwanden Elgas. One of the household is dead; of the others, two, Frank and Wendel, are farmers in Bainbridge. The former is married, but not the latter. Joseph and John are both married and both pursue the occupation of agriculture, Joseph at Cadillac and John at Benton Harbor. Dr. A. Elgas is a veterinary surgeon at Hart- ford, Michigan. He is a graduate of the Valparaiso Normal and also of the Toronto, Canada, Veterinary Institute. He, too, is married. Charles Elgas lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he is one of the most successful business men, being at the head of the Aetna Insurance Company. At the time of the earthquake in San Francisco he was one of the adjusters. He is a self made man and has made good at his work. His education was acquired at night school. The youngest of this enterprising family, Mrs. Dan- neffel, is no whit behind her brothers in native talent and she has found ample scope for it in assisting her husband and in bringing up her family.
Father Elgas came to America from Germany in a sailing vessel, spending ninety days on the water. He was without funds when he arrived and he first settled in New York state. Here he married and shortly afterwards moved to Michigan. In addition to farm- ing he was also a miller. He owned a farm of ninety acres of fine land at the time of his death and was prominent in the district. having served as treasurer of the township for many years. Po- litically he favored the policies of the Republican party. His wife died at Bainbridge on December 8, 1874, and is buried at her hus- band's side, their resting places being marked by beautiful monu- ments, not to perpetuate their memory, for that is not necessary to their children, but as an expression of the love and respect of their family.
Mr. Danneffel has been for years a school director and has the wel- fare of that greatest of our institutions at heart. Politically he is a Republican. He holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in the Knights of the Tented Maccabees, his tent being No. 623, at Keeler. Mrs. Danneffel belongs to the Ladies of the Maccabees, Bainbridge Hive, No. 660. Their beautiful home, "Lawn Hill Farm," is situated three miles from Keeler and seven from Hartford. It is a thoroughly modern estate in all respects and is worthy of the pride of its owners, who have acquired it by their own work. They are eminently fitted to preside over so hos- pitable a domain, being in all ways representatives of the most progressive and substantial of our citizens.
ELIAS HUTCHINS .- Among the leading farmers and stock raisers of Arlington township, Van Buren county, Michigan, Elias Hutch- ins is a substantial and well known representative, he having been a land owner here since 1883.
Mr. Hutchins is an Englishman. He was born August 25, 1854, a son of George and Jane (Hoyle) Hutchins, both natives of Devon- shire, England, and there spent the first seventeen years of his life, Then he came to America and direct to Michigan, where, in Paw Paw township, Van Buren county, he engaged in farm work, at
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first as an employe, which he continued for several years, during which time he gained a knowledge of the methods used in conduct- ing farming operations in this country. In 1883 he purchased forty acres of land in Arlington township, to which he added by subse- quent purchase until he now has one hundred and twenty acres, in section 26, not far from Lawrence, on Rural Route No. 2, and here he is successfully carrying on general farming and stock raising. In 1881 his parents and other members of the family came to this country and established their home in Arlington township, and here his father died in January, 1895, his mother dying in February, 1899. Of their six children all are living in Michigan except Ann, the third born, who is deceased, the others being : Richard, of Arling- ton; George, of Lawrence township, Van Buren county ; Elias, the special subject of this review; Thomas, of Paw Paw township, Van Buren county, and Mary, wife of Moses Hether. -
On August 17, 1884, Elias Hutchins married Miss Edna Kidder, and to them have been given three children, namely : Bertha J. Guy and Nellie.
Mrs. Hutchins is a daughter of James F. and Jane (Sheldon) Kid- der, natives of New York state, who came to Michigan in 1848 and settled at Gliddenberg. Her mother is still living, and at this writing is eighty years of age; her father died in May, 1905. Of their three children the eldest, Melissa, and the youngest, Charlie, are deceased. James F. Kidder was a son of Lynn and Abigail (Brink) Kidder, and one of a family of two sons and two daughters, only one of whom is now living. His grandfather Kidder was a Revolutionary soldier, and following in the footsteps of his worthy sire James F. Kidder was not slow to offer his service when his country was in need. He went to the front during the Civil war as a member of Company K, Thirteenth Michigan Infantry, and was in active service three years, being mustered out at Detroit in 1865. Nearly two years of this time he was an independent scout, guard- ing trains and being detailed on other special duties. He was a member of Wadsworth Post, No. 49, G. A. R., at Lawrence, and Mrs. Kidder has membership in the Wadsworth W. R. C., No. 178.
Mr. Hutchins supports the Republican ticket, and is a member of the Masonic Order. He and his family are Baptists.
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BARTHOLOMEW DONAVAN ranks with the substantial farmers and respected citizens of Arlington township, Van Buren county, Michi- gan, where he has made his home since 1856.
Mr. Donavan is of Irish descent and was himself born on the "Emerald Isle," the date of his birth being August 20, 1841. In 1852 he came to America. After four years spent in New York state he came west to Michigan, and has ever since been identified with Van Buren county. Eighty acres of his present farm he bought in 1865, subsequently he made additional land purchases and improvements, and now he owns a fine farm of one hundred and ninety acres in sections 28 and 32 of Arlington township, where he carries on general farming and stock raising.
Mr. Donavan has been twice married. His first wife, who before marriage was Miss Slacie Burger, died in the prime of young
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womanhood, without issue. In February, 1892, he married Miss Eliza Porter, daughter of Alexander and Catherine (Murphy) Porter, both natives of Ireland; and their children are three in num- ber, May and Josephine, attending high school at Lawrence, and Catharine, at home.
Mr. Donavan and his family are members of the Catholic church, and his political views are those advocated by the Democratic party, with which he casts his franchise.
JAMES JEWELL, born in the Parish of Morwinstow, in the county of Cornwall, England, on April 19, 1855, James Jewell grew up on a farm in the land of his birth. His father, Thomas Jewell, fol- lowed that pursuit all of his life and lived and died in England. There, too, the five children of his marriage with Anne Hancock were reared, and Elizabeth and William still reside there. The father and mother are both dead, as is also the eldest son, Thomas. Daniel, the other child, lives at Oil Springs, Canada.
James Jewell was but nine years of age when he began to work on the farm and when he was fourteen he learned the blacksmith trade and followed it until he was thirty years old. He came to America when he attained his majority and settled in Pickering township, County Thomas, Ontario. There he followed the trade which he had learned in England and in 1881, came to Michigan and remained one year. He then returned to Canada, remaining over the winter and in the spring came back to Michigan and pur- chased fifty acres in Bangor township. He has added to this until now his estate is one hundred and ninety acres in extent and all sorts of improvements have been added until the place is one of the finest in the county. Mr. Jewell has all the Englishman's love of the soil and all the American enterprise in cultivating it.
Mr. Jewell is a Republican in his political convictions and, like most persons of his ancestry, is a discerning student of conditions, without being at all interested in politics as a business. Frater- nally he is affiliated with the Odd Fellows and he and his wife are valued members of the Methodist church. Mrs. Jewell was formerly Martha Little, whose father, William Little, was born in Ireland, while her mother, Ellen Little, was a native of Canada. Martha Little became Mrs. James Jewell on May 9, 1883. The only child of this marriage is Elsie, the wife of Guy Hauke, of Van Buren county, and she has two children, Ronald Jewell and Dorris.
Mr. and Mrs. Jewell have a wide circle of friends in the county and are esteemed for their many excellent qualities. Mr. Jewell's skill as an agriculturist has added materially to the prosperity of the region and has helped to build up the commercial supremacy of Van Buren county. In their willingness to cooperate with all move- ments for the betterment of the community Mr. and Mrs. Jewell have taken their place among the citizens whom the county is proud to call representative.
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