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 49
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MR. AND MRS. JACOB F. BANKS
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time to work for political honors, although he has filled the office of school director. Years of experience and study have made him an expert in fruit raising, and he is an excellent business man.
Mr. Wakeman was married April 4, 1883, to Miss Bertie A. Sim- mons, daughter of Theodore B. and Roby (Cain) Simmons, who had five other children, as follows : Charles, who is deceased ; George and Arthur, living in Illinois ; Ray, of Geneva township, Van Buren county ; and Mabel, the wife of William Ward, of California. Mr. and Mrs. Wakeman had the following four children: Arthur W., Pearl E., Winnie R. and Harry S., all of whom live at home. Po- litically Mr. Wakeman is a stalwart Republican, and his religious views are those of the Christian church, of which he and his wife are consistent members and liberal supporters.
JACOB FERGUSON BANKS .- Worthy of especial mention in this biographical volume is Jacob Ferguson Banks, a veteran of the Civil war and one of the more highly respected members of the agricultural community of Bloomingdale township, Van Buren county. He was born in Sugar Creek township, Wayne county, Ohio, February 14, 1835, a son of William Hughes Banks. His paternal grandfather, Francis Banks. was born in England, of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry. An iron worker by trade, he emigrated from England to Ireland when young, and found em- ployment in a foundry near the city of Belfast. About 1790 he came to America. settling in Baltimore, Maryland. where he en- gaged in mercantile pursuits. Enlisting as a soldier in the war of 1812, he was killed on the battlefield. He married Mary Jane Ferguson, who was born in Scotland, and was of honored ancestry, having been a lineal descendant of Sir John Ferguson, who figures conspicuously in the early history of Scotland. She survived him a few years, dying in Baltimore, Maryland. Three sons and two daughters were born of their union. as follows: William Hughes, Thomas, Francis. Sarah J. and Emma.
Born at the Old Forge, near Belfast, Ireland, William Hughes Banks was but a child when he crossed the ocean with his parents. He learned ship carpentry in Baltimore, and in 1828 moved to Ohio, becoming a pioneer settler of Wayne county. Buying one hundred and sixty acres of timbered land in Sugar Creek town- ship, he erected a log cabin in the forest, and began to clear the land, at the same time working at the carpenter's trade as he had opportunity. Subsequently moving to Massillon, Ohio, he built boats for the Whitewater Canal, and assisted in building the canal locks. While employed in the latter work he was hit by a falling plank, and died from the injuries thus received when but forty- four years of age. His wife, whose maiden name was Rebecca Sny- der, was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Jacob Snyder, who was of German ancestry. She survived him, and married for her second husband Daniel Dresler, and spent her last years in Elk- hart, Indiana, dying there at the age of four score and four years. She reared a large family of children, the following having been by her first marriage : Thomas Francis, Elizabeth, Jacob Ferguson, William H. S., Cinderella, Salina, Ella, Lucy and Emma. The
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two children by her second marriage were George Dresler and Catherine Dresler.
After the untimely death of his father, Jacob Ferguson Banks, who had acquired a good education in the public schools, was bound out to learn the tanner's trade, and served an apprenticeship of four years, receiving in addition to his board and three months' schooling each winter thirty-six dollars the first year, forty dollars the second year, fifty dollars the third year and sixty the fourth year. Going then to Gaston, Indiana, he worked as a journeyman tanner for four years. In 1852 Mr. Banks came to Van Buren county, Michigan, a large part of which was then in its primitive wildness, deer, bears and other wild game roaming at will through the dense forests. Taking up land, he began the pioneer task of hewing out a farm from the wilderness. When the tocsin of war rang throughout the land, Mr. Banks enlisted in Company E, Thir- teenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and with his regiment went South. At the battle of Summersville, Virginia, he was wounded, and being subsequently captured was confined at Libby prison and at Belle Isle and Salisbury, North Carolina, for eight months. On being exchanged he rejoined his regiment, and on account of physical disability was honorably discharged from service. Mr. Banks immediately returned to Michigan, and in the summer of 1863 enlisted in Company E, Ninth Michigan Cavalry, with which he again went South. Joining Sherman's Army, he marched with him to Atlanta, thence on to the Sea, and with his comrades par- ticipated in the Grand Review of that brave General's army at Savannah, Georgia. Receiving his honorable discharge with his regiment in 1865, Mr. Banks returned to Michigan, and a few years later bought the land now included in the farm which he owns and occupies, it being a well improved estate, with good buildings.
Mr. Banks married, in 1871, Nancy Beck, who was born in Allen county, Indiana, a daughter of Richard and Sarah (Lambert) Beck, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Banks have three children, namely : Jay, Nora and Maude. Relig- iously Mr. and Mrs. Banks are members of the Baptist church. Mr. Banks is a member of May Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and takes an active interest in its work.
WILLIAM E. ZOOK, who is engaged in the dairy business in Van Buren county, Michigan, living on Rural Route No. 5, near Bangor, is a native "Wolverine," having been born in Allegan county in the "Lake State" February 3, 1873. His parents, William L. and Tennie (Wydner) Zook, are natives respectively of Indiana and Ohio, and are now residents of Bangor. During the Civil war his father served as a Union soldier, and as the result of a wound re- ceived in battle he was disabled for work at his trade, that of black- smith, and he became a farmer. He bought land in Allegan county, Michigan, and farmed there until the year 1889, when he sold out and moved to Bangor, his present home. In his family were six children, namely : Zora, deceased; Bessie, wife of Albert, Judy, of Allegan county ; Bert W., of Jamestown, Michigan : William E.,
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whose name introduces this sketch; Morton, deceased, and Ora W., of Bangor.
William E. Zook attended public school at Bangor up to the time he was sixteen years of age, and since that time he has devoted all his energies to farming. The sixty-acre tract on which he now lives is owned by his father, and is especially adapted for dairy pur- poses.
On August 26, 1900, Mr. Zook and Miss Emma Lawver were mar- ried, and their home has been blessed in the birth of six children : Bessie E., born June 2, 1901; Ora L., December 27, 1902; Ralph H., December 4, 1904; Millmann, November 8, 1906; James Taft, No- vember 21, 1908, and Carl E., March 1, 1911. Mrs. Zook is a daugh- ter of Hiram and Julia (Bump) Lawver, the former a native of Michigan and the latter of Ohio, and one of a family of eleven chil- dren, as follows: Wallace, deceased; Alice; James, a seaman ; Emma ; David J., deceased; Ralph, deceased; Florence, wife of Bert Casey, of Central Lake, Michigan; Bertha, of Kalamazoo, Michigan; Ethel, of Pullman, Michigan ; John, deceased ; Mckinley, of Pullman, Michigan.
Politically Mr. Zook is a Republican. Fraternally he is identi- fied with the Odd Fellows and the Gleaners. As a citizen he has the confidence and respect of the people of his community.
WILLIAM STARBUCK, the owner of a well-cultivated tract of forty acres of farming land located in Arlington township, is now en- gaged in operating his property as a fruit farm, and has met with uniform success. He has been an agriculturist all of his life, and when he had attained his majority he located in Van Buren county, more than thirty-seven years ago. Long years of experience have made him familiar with every branch of agricultural work, and he is also well informed on soil conditions in other parts of the country, much of his time having been spent in the state of Illinois and Indiana. Mr. Starbuck was born in Randolph county, Indiana, March 4, 1853, and is a son of William and Susan (Leslie) Star- buck, farming people of Indiana, both of whom are now deceased. William Starbuck was the only child of his parents, and after his mother's death his father was married (second) to Levisa Davis, who is also now deceased and by whom he had six children : Martha, who is the wife of Alfred Conyars, of Randolph county, Indiana ; Nelson, who lives in the state of Minnesota ; Isam and Beulah, both of whom are deceased; Columbus, who makes his home in Marion, Iowa ; and Thomas, residing in Davenport, Iowa.
William Starbuck was reared and educated in Indiana, and up to the time he was twenty-one years of age he assisted his father on the Indiana homestead. In 1877 he purchased a forty-acre tract in Van Buren county, which he eventually sold and moved to Illinois, in which state he carried on farming on rented land for twenty years. On his return to Michigan, in 1900, he bought his present forty-acre tract, in which he has carried on fruit farming with much success. Mr. Starbuck is up-to-date in his views and pro- gressive in his methods, and from a property that was only fairly productive he has developed a tract that compares favorably with Vol. II-25
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any of its size in the township. His land has been improved with good, substantial farm buildings and neat fencing, and is well drained and tiled.
On November 15, 1873, Mr. Starbuck was married to Eliza Jane Robbins, daughter of Thomas and Grace (Rogers) Robbins, natives of Cornwall, England, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Robbins had nine children, as follows: Margaret, who is deceased ; John, living in Arlington; Elizabeth, who lives in Elgin, Illinois; Helen, the wife of Mace Meatham, living in Arlington; Margaret, who is deceased; William, a resident of Arlington; Charles, of Bangor; and William, who is deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Starbuck have had eight children: Charles, of Ar- lington ; Nora, who is deceased; Freeman, who lives in Roselle, Du Page county, Illinois; Myrtle, who married John Harington, of Arlington; Rollo, who lives in Arlington; Bessie and Cleo, who are living at home; and Clifford, who is deceased. In political matters Mr. Starbuck is a Republican, and he and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist church. He has been the architect of his own fortunes, and the success he has attained has been but the just reward of sustained and well-directed effort.
SEYMOUR A. BOYER is another of our good citizens whose parents came from New York in time to let their children grow up in Michi- gan and incidentally to enjoy the fruits of their own work in the transforming of the wilderness into a new and prosperous agricul- tural country. Our subject's parents were Edward and Dorcas (Bowe) Boyer, both born in New York. The father died in 1887 but the mother is still living (in 1911), at the age of seventy-one. The three other children besides Seymour also live in Michigan. Sterlen is a resident of the county, as is also the youngest child, Alden. Florence is Mrs. Milton Ackley, of Lansing.
Seymour A. Boyer was born in Berrien county in 1871, on Jan- uary 25th. His life-long occupation has been farming and since his father's death he has had charge of the home place. He was but sixteen when he was left fatherless and so was obliged to dis- continue his schooling at that age and to begin the duties of prac- tical life. In 1900 Mr. Boyer bought forty acres of land in Bangor township and in the something over ten years since purchasing it he has increased his holdings to three times the original amount and now engages in general farming and stock raising. His is one of the farms of which the county is proud and glad to claim as be- longing within her borders.
On January first, 1896, Mr. Boyer was married to Miss Edith Lyle, whose parents, Marvin and Frances Lyle, were both natives of New York. Edith Lyle Boyer was one of two children, but her brother died in childhood. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Boyer was dissolved in March, 1904, by the death of Mrs. Boyer. She left four children, Norman, Agnes, Mervin and Carleton, all now at home and attending school. The present Mrs. Boyer is Isabel, the daugh- ter of Edward S. and Rebecca J. Miles Jelley. The former is a native of England and the latter of New York. Mrs. Boyer is the only
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surviving member of her family, her two brothers dying in infancy. The marriage of Miss Jelley to Mr. Boyer took place March 27. 1910.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Jelley were formerly engaged in teaching. After spending many years at that profession, Mr. Jelley gave it up to work for a company who dealt in school books and school supplies. Mrs. Jelley had the honor of teaching the first school opened in Hartford. Both were people of culture and endowed with many admirable qualities of mind and character, which their daughter has inherited in generous measure. Like her husband, she is a member of the Methodist church.
Mr. Boyer is aligned with the Independent voters in matters of national policy. He belongs to the Grangers and is a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood. Both as a progressive farmer and as a citizen and neighbor he is accorded a high place in the popular regard.
ANDREW DONOVAN .- The real history of the Civil war is written most deeply on the hearts of those who participated in that mighty conflict. The sacrifices of the volunteers did not cease when peace was declared, for none of them came out of the war as they entered it. If a few were fortunate enough to escape bullet, shell and imprisonment, there still remained seeds of disease, shattered nerves and other ailments which will cling to many as long as life lasts. For this and many other reasons the survivors of the Civil war are regarded with such veneration and given the honored respect of the nation they helped to save. One of the youngest soldiers of the Civil war was Andrew Donovan. now a prosperous and well known farmer of Bangor township, and the owner of four hundred and fifty-three acres of excellent land. Mr. Donovan was born in county Cork, Ireland. November 1, 1837, and is a son of John and Mary (Trenny) Donovan. natives of the Emerald Isle.
The parents of Mr. Donovan left their native country for America in 1851, and first settled in New York for four years, later going west, and eventually locating in Arlington township in 1856. After coming to Van Buren county, John Donovan followed the vocation of farming for the rest of his life, and here he died an honored and respected citizen. He and his wife had a family of ten child- ren, of whom three daughters died in Ireland, while those who came to this country were: Andrew; Barth, residing in Arlington township; John, who is deceased ; Jewel, the wife of Nelson Laduke. of Arlington township; Nora, the wife of Jerry Donovan, of Arling- ton; Johanna, the wife of John Dougherty, of Hartford; and Larry, who resides in Arlington.
Andrew Donovan was a lad of eighteen years when he left his home in New York and came to Michigan in 1856, and here he enlisted five years later in Captain Hudson's Company C. Third Michigan Cavalry, for service in the Civil war. He saw four years of desperate fighting, and established a war record of which any man might well be proud. With his regiment he participated in the following battles: New Madrid, Island No. 10, Farmington, Corinth, Shanghai's Mills, Bay Springs, Iuka, Second Corinth, Hatchie, Holly Springs, Hudsonville, Lumpkins Mills, Coffeeville,
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Barnesville, Clifton, Tanola, Grenada, Byhala, Wyatts, Fort Rip- ley (when Mr. Donovan had a horse shot under him) ; Aregala, Elliston and Jacks Creek. The regiment marched ten thousand, eight hundred miles and captured ten thousand prisoners. Re- turning home after his brave career as a soldier, Mr. Donovan located in Van Buren county, where he purchased one hundred acres of land, and added thereto from time to time until he now has four hundred and fifty-three acres, all in an excellent state of cultivation. Farming and stock raising have occupied his attention, and whenever he has taken anything up he has carried it through to its conclusion. This persistency is always bound to make for success, and in Mr. Donovan's case there has been no exception to this rule. He is active in the Catholic church, of which he has been a life-long member, and also in the A. Lincoln G. A. R. Post. Politically a Democrat, he takes a keen and active interest in mat- ters that are liable to be of benefit to his community, and he has served very acceptably as pathmaster. This sturdy, successful, patriotic soldier-citizen is one of the leading men of his township and deserves every good thing that has come to him.
In 1869 Mr. Donovan was married to Ellen Collenan, and they have had five children, namely : Mary, the wife of Dennis Cough- lin, of Hartford township; John, who lives in Bangor; Kate, the wife of Herbert Stanley, of St. Joseph, Michigan; Bath, who lives at home in Bangor; and Andrew, a Chicago attorney.
. WILLIAM BLAISDELL has lived for over fifty years on his present farm in section 23, Arlington township, Van Buren county, Michi- gan, his post office address being Lawrence, Rural Route No. 2.
Mr. Blaisdell is a native of the "Empire State." He was born in Wayne county, New York, April 2, 1847, a son of John and Louisa (Nichols) Blaisdell, both New Yorkers by birth, and with them, in 1860, then a boy of thirteen, came west to Michigan. Here in Ar- lington township his father bought forty acres of land in section 32, to which he subsequently added until his farm comprised one hundred and sixty acres, and here he carried on general farming and stock raising until his death. His wife also is deceased. They were the parents of two children: Sarah, widow of Christopher Staley, of Arlington township, and William.
At his father's death William Blaisdell inherited eighty acres of the old homestead, and so he has continued to live on the same place, as already stated, for over half a century.
Mr. Blaisdell is married and has three children: May, wife of Ed Denton, of Lawrence, Van Buren county, and Jay and Neva, at home. Mrs. Blaisdell, formerly Elida Barrett, is a daughter of Enos and Polly Barrett, of this county.
Mr. and Mrs. Blaisdell are identified with the Methodist Episco- pal church, and, politically, he is a Republican.
MITCHELL H. HOGMIRE, one of the old and honorable residents of Arlington township, Van Buren county, has been identified with the agricultural, public, fraternal and military interests of this part of Michigan for many years. Mr. Hogmire, who has been
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known as the "Peppermint King," is the owner of seven hundred and sixty-five acres of valuable farming land in Arlington township, and has the distinction of being the great-grandson of Jonal Hog- mire, of Washington county, a Maryland planter who was known as the richest man in his state and the owner of three hundred and fifty slaves. On one of the plantations of this progenitor the great battle of Antietam was fought during the Civil war, and he also owned a great deal of other property, all of which was ceded to him for work he had done for the United States Government as a civil engineer and surveyor, professions which he had learned in his native country, Germany.
Mitchell H. Hogmire was born October 10, 1838, in Livingston county, New York, and was brought to Michigan in 1840 by his parents, Conrad and Sarah S. (Richardson) Hogmire, the former a native -of Maryland and the latter of New York. Conrad Hog- mire took eighty acres of land in the southeast quarter of section 8, Arlington township, but later sold this and purchased forty acres in section 9, where his death occurred, February 24, 1847. IIe and his wife had three children, namely: Mitchell H .; Edwin S., of Breedsville, Michigan; and William, who died in infancy. Mrs. Hogmire took for her second husband D. D. Briggs, and they had one child, Victoria, the wife of Professor Lindsay Webb, a school- teacher for thirty-nine years and now a resident of California. Mrs. Briggs died June 23, 1886.
For two years after the death of his father Mitchell H. Hogmire was employed at various operations, and he then went to live with his uncle, with whom he continued to work until he was twenty- two years old. At that time he was married and went to Burr Oak, St. Joseph county, Michigan, where for one year he was engaged in the nursery business, and in 1862 he returned to Arlington town- ship and during the spring and early summer planted ninety thou- sand grafts. On August 14th of that year he enlisted for service in the Union army, becoming a private of Company C, Third Michi- gan Cavalry, with which organization he served until May 20, 1865. He participated in many hard-fought battles, and at Mo- bile, Alabama, escorted General Kirby when he dictated the terms of surrender to General R. E. Taylor. When mustered out of the service, June 2, 1865, at the expiration of his term of service, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mr. Hogmire held the rank of sergeant of his company under Captain O. W. Rowland. During the war Mr. Hogmire had purchased fifty acres of land in Arlington town- ship, and on his return he took up general farming thereon, making a specialty of apple growing. and earning the title of "Peppermint King" through his extensive operations in growing peppermint. He is now the owner of seven hundred and sixty-five acres of fine land, and although he has practically retired from farming activi- ties he still takes a keen interest in matters that affect agricultural conditions here.
On March 19, 1861, Mr. Hogmire was married to Miss Jane R. Hogmire, daughter of Andrew and Mary (Whitney ) Hogmire, now deceased, who were natives of New York. Eight children were born to them : Mary, born February 16, 1837, the wife of Daniel Hein-
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baugh of Burr Oak, Michigan; Henry H., born July 15, 1840, who died January 24, 1857; Margery, born March 8, 1842, who died May 15, 1856; Jane R., wife of Mr. Hogmire, born November 17, 1844; John Edmund, born September 29, 1846, who was murdered in Missouri in 1868; Ruth C., born October 13, 1847, who married John Miller, of Riverside, Chaffee county, Colorado; Robert W., born August 21, 1851, now residing in North Dakota; and Ernest A., born August 18, 1853, and now living in Burr Oak.
Mitchell H. and Jane R. Hogmire have had eight children; Ger- trude, born April 8, 1862, who married Albert Wilcox, of Bangor ; Byron D., born August 18, 1866, living in Bangor; Eugene H., born July 29, 1868, who died February 13, 1873; Elroy S., born June 19, 1870, who died November 26, 1871; Franklin E., born February 13, 1874, residing in Arlington township; Henry M., born June 24, 1876, who is now at home assisting his father; Rose F., born September 16, 1880, the wife of Arthur Huff, of Lawrence township; and one child who died in infancy.
Mr. Hogmire has been a Republican all of his life, and the various offices to which he has been elected have testified to the respect and confidence in which he is held by his fellow townsmen and to his ability as a public official. He has been township treasurer for ten years, supervisor for one year and district school treasurer for twenty-three years. He and his family are affiliated with the Christian church. For many years he has been one of the most prominent Masons in this part of the state, and on his retirement from office in that order was presented by his fellow Masons with a beautiful watch as a mark of their friendship and esteem. He belonged to all branches of Masonry, and his work in behalf of that fraternity was widely appreciated by Masons throughout this section.
Mr. Hogmire has lived to see marvelous changes take place in Van Buren county, from the time when his father was given one hundred dollars for cutting a road through seven and one-half miles of solid timber and rolling the logs out by hand to the day of asphalted roads and organized road commissions; from the time of one-story log cabins with puncheon floors and wooden chimneys to the day of magnificent residences and imposing business struc- tures; from the time of hand plows and ox-teams to the day of won- derful power farm machinery, and from the time of swamp, brush and prairie land to the day of smiling, well watered, prosperous farming communities which do their part in supplying the markets of the world. Mr Hogmire has borne his share of the hard work which has been necessary to bring the marvelous changes about and, while he has been successful to a high degree in his private ventures, he has ever been ready to put aside his personal interests to serve his country, his county or his township. A tried and true soldier during the Civil war, faithful to every trust, he has been tried and not found wanting in the battles of peace, and has proved just as faithful in every trust that goes with governing the land in more quiet days.
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