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 53
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LEWIS PALMER .- The great Empire state has contributed in large measure to the settlement of Van Buren county, Michigan, a re- markably large number of its settlers having been born within the boundaries of that state, or if not they-their forefathers. One of this number is that well known citizen, Lewis Palmer, who is engaged in farming, fruit-growing and stock-raising and whose one hundred and forty advantageously disposed acres are situated in Waverly township. The scene of his birth was Monroe county, New York, and its date April 21, 1852. He is the son of Harvey and Orilla (Baker) Palmer, both likewise natives of the state of New York. The latter was born and reared in Genesee county. These worthy people followed the tide of migration to the north- west, their arrival in Michigan being in the year 1856. They were sufficiently impressed by the desirability of Waverly township to locate within its boundaries and there they resided for the re- mainder of their lives. The father passed to the Great Beyond in 1880, but his cherished and devoted wife survives and is of very advanced age, her birth having occurred on August 31, 1826. They were the parents of seven children, and of this number five are still living (in 1911), as follows: Harriet, wife of James Dillon; Lewis; Amelia, wife of C. B. Molby; Henry, of Waverly town- ship, and Mary L., wife of Calvin Dolbee.
Lewis was a child four years of age when he came with his par- ents to Michigan. Here he was reared and educated in the com- mon schools and here he has ever since resided. When he arrived
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at the time when a young man chooses a vocation he decided upon agriculture and to this he has successfully devoted his energies. He has paid particular attention to horticulture and also to stock- raising and his product in both lines is excellent.
On January 26, 1888, Mr. Palmer established an independent household, the lady to become his wife being Flora Speicher. Mrs. Palmer was born upon the very farm upon which she and her hus- band still live, on October 12, 1860, and is the daughter of Aaron and Louisa (Riehl) Spiecher, both natives of Pennsylvania. When Aaron Spiecher came to Michigan he purchased the farm upon which his son-in-law now lives and here he lived until his demise. Mrs. Palmer received her education in the district schools. To their union have been born three children, one of whom died in in- fancy and one at the age of thirteen years. Jessie Irene, born December 7, 1889, is a graduate of the eighth grade school and of the Bloomingdale high school and is now a student in the Western State Normal School, preparing herself for teaching.
Mr. and Mrs. Palmer are both members of the Methodist Epis- copal church. He belongs to Bloomingdale Lodge, No. 161, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and she to the Bloomingdale Chap- ter of the Eastern Star. In Mr. Palmer's political faith he is in harmony with the men and measures of the Republican party, but his interest is of the sort which merely desires good government and he is not lured by the honors and emoluments of office into office seeking.
THOMAS E. PARKER .-- If the man who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before is a public benefactor, much more is he to be considered one who starts a new industry in a region and leads to its development into one of the most successful and profit- able of the various pursuits that occupy the time and energies of the people engaged in the industrial life of that region. Especially is this the case when the industry was before his time unknown to the locality, and the possibility of planting it there and making it highly productive was never tried or even suspected.
Thomas E. Parker of Porter township, Van Buren county, Mich- igan, is entitled to this distinction. He may not have been the first man to engage in grape culture in this part of the state, but he has been in it for twenty-seven years, and has greatly aided in expanding it to its present large and remunerative proportions and giving its product the high reputation it has in the markets of this whole country and portions of many others. He has cer- tainly, therefore, been a public benefactor to his locality by his intelligence and diligence in fostering the new industry and by his example in leading others to do the same.
The history of Mr. Parker's life is not an eventful one in the sense of mingling with great affairs. But it is worthy of warm commendation in consequence of the fidelity to duty it shows, the enterprise and progressiveness it embodies, the industry and thrift it manifests. and the high plane of citizenship on which it has been conducted. He was born in England on March 23, 1853, and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Sykes) Parker, also natives of that
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country and life-long residents of it. Both are now deceased, and their remains have found a final resting place in the soil which they hallowed by their long and useful labors. They were the parents of seven children, of whom Thomas was the second in the order of birth. His brothers Charles, Fred and Sykes, and his sister Susan are still living in England; and his older brother William and a younger sister named Anzela died and were buried there. In 1873 he came to the United States, a youth of twenty, with none of his family and no intimate friends to accompany him. He dared the stormy Atlantic alone of all his father's household, and is its only representative in this country.
The great and growing and somewhat noisy West attracted him from the start, and he located in Chicago. There he remained five years engaged in masonry work, of which he had acquired a knowl- edge before leaving home, and then changed his residence to Ply- mouth, Illinois, and his occupation to that of keeping a hotel, which he did also for five years. At the end of that period he sold his hotel business and moved to Van Buren county, Michigan, with a view to turning his attention to farming. For this purpose he bought forty acres of land in section 7, Porter township, and dur- ing almost the whole of his time since then he has devoted to grow- ing grapes on a progressive scale of magnitude and improvement.
It was in 1884, twenty-seven years ago, that Mr. Parker planted his first vines. He has studied his business and its needs and pos- sibilities carefully, and is recognized as one of the most knowing and successful men engaged in it in this part of the country. His beautiful place is known as "Mount Pleasant Vineyard," and its output has a high rank in the markets in many states, and has created an expanding demand in some foreign countries because of its excellence in quality and the care with which it is always pre- pared for preservation and shipment.
Mr. Parker was married in 1877, to Miss Miranda Matthews, a native of Ohio. There were two children in the family of her parents, herself and a brother, and both are now deceased, Mrs. Parker having died on September 5, 1910. She stood well in her community in this county, and her early death was widely lamented.
In political relations Mr. Parker is connected with the Republi- can party, and as he is a firm believer in its principles he is an ardent, though quiet worker for its success in all campaigns. His fraternal affiliation is with the Masonic order, and in this and the Episcopal church, of which he is a zealous member, he manifests an earnest and helpful interest at all times, rendering both good service in every way he can. He also takes a cordial and service- able interest in the progress and improvement of his township and county, and does all he can to aid in promoting their welfare and the utmost good of their people. He is widely and favorably known as one of the most sturdy and sterling citizens of his locality.
THOMAS J. CORNISH .- The great American Republic, which has been an asylum for the oppressed of all civilized nations, and has cordially welcomed all comers who were worthy from every clime and tongue ; which has opened wide its treasure house of boundless
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wealth and opportunity to all, and been liberal in naturalization and admission to participation in the management of its civil and political institutions, has reaped its reward for its liberality in the wonderful growth of its population by accretions from foreign lands, and in the vast augmentation of its commercial and inter- national power through the additions those accretions have made to its resources of industrial production.
Among the immigrants to this country from other nations no. class has been more sturdy, more reliable, more stimulating and helpful in our activities or more zealously loyal to our institutions and our flag than those who have come from England with a set- tled purpose to remain and be a part of us. Of this class Thomas J. Cornish, of Porter township, this county, is a very estimable and satisfactory representative. He has been a resident of Van Buren county twenty-six years, and during the whole of that period has followed farming with industry and skill, and by his efforts has accumulated a competency for himself and made valuable ad- ditions to the general sum of the county's wealth and commercial importance. He has also performed well the duties of citizenship, and by his upright course in all the relations of life has won the respect and regard of the people in all parts of the county.
Mr. Cornish was born in Cornwall, England, on December 25, 1857, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Phillips) Cornish, also natives of that country and belonging to families long domesticated on its soil. Their son Thomas was the fifth born of their seven children, and is one of the three of them who are living in Michi- gan. The other two are John, who also lives in Porter township, this county, and Charles, whose home is in another part of the state. Of the remaining living children of the family William re- sides in Canada and Edward in England. The two daughters born in the household, Anna and Mary, have both been dead a number of years.
Thomas J. Cornish left his native land in 1882 and came to Canada, where he engaged in farming for three years. But during all of that time the United States wore a winning smile to him, and in 1885 he yielded to its persuasiveness and came to Michigan and Van Buren county. The first seven years of his residence in this county were passed on rented farms. But he made steady progress on them in his struggle for advancement, and at the end of the period mentioned he bought the farm of eighty-one acres on which he now lives in Porter township. He married during the period of his tenancy, and this farm was his wife's family homestead. He has, however, greatly improved it since it came into his pos- session, and the buildings are both comfortable and attractive, while the general equipment of the place is modern and complete.
On February 20, 1889, Mr. Cornish was married to Miss Mary' Catherine Mergenthaler, born in Kalamazoo, a daughter of Mat- thew and Catherine (Wildermuth) Mergenthaler, natives of Ger- many, but residents of Van Buren county for about fifty years. Mr. Cornish's parents were born in Shellright, Wittenberg, Ger- many, and were there reared and married. They came to America accompanied by three children, making the voyage in a sailing ves- Vol. II-27
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sel, spending seven weeks en route. They lived in the state of New York one year and then came to Kalamazoo, where they spent three years. From there they came to Van Buren county and bought a tract of timber land, with about a dozen acres cleared, and the father engaged in general farming. Both residing there until their deaths, the father dying in 1882, aged fifty-nine, and the mother at the age of fifty-four years, in 1886. They reared six children: Frederick, who died at the age of forty-seven; Louisa, Augusta, Sophia, Mary Catherine and William. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cornish, Leo F., Catherine and Russell, all of whom are still living at home with their parents and helping to brighten the parental family circle.
In his political views Mr. Cornish sides with the Republican party, and while he is not an active partisan, he is loyal and true to his party without the desire for any of the honors or emoluments it has to bestow. His farm and its claims on his attention, together with the ordinary duties of citizenship, occupy his time and ener- gies, and he has no longing for the responsibilities and cares of public office. But he takes an earnest interest and an active part in all matters pertaining to the progress and improvement of his township and county, and does his part toward pushing all worthy projects involving their advancement to completion. In fraternal relations he is connected with the Masonic order and the Woodmen, and the family attend the Methodist church.
WILLIAM G. LYLE is one of the go-ahead farmers and stockmen of Decatur township, Van Buren county, Michigan. His fellow citizens feel that they have a proprietary interest in him, as he was born in the township and has there spent his entire life. While following the same occupation as his father, he has not been con- tent to live on the reputation that Mr. Lyle, Sr., made, but the son has shown his own individuality, has made a name for himself, and won the esteem and respect of the members of the community in which he lives.
On the 24th day of September, 1870, William G. Lyle began life on a farm in Decatur township. His parents, Alonzo M. and Mary (Gates) Lyle, were both born in Michigan and the father was a farmer throughout his active life, and is now residing in Decatur, retired from the work with which he has been identified for so many years. His wife died June 30, 1899. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lyle, Sr., William G. and Fred C., the latter now re- siding in Decatur.
The first twenty-one years of the life of Will G. Lyle were spent on his father's farm, during which time the son attended school at Decatur and assisted his father in the duties of cultivating the soil. On attaining his majority he left the parental roof and com- menced to farm independently and, beginning in a small way, he has gradually added to his holdings until he now owns two hundred acres of land on section 4, where he does general farming and also raises stock. Having devoted his life to agricultural pursuits, he understands his business thoroughly, and he has prospered in his undertakings.
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In January, 1890, Mr. Lyle was united in marriage to Miss Jennie M. Simpson, daughter of Hubbell Z. Simpson, of Decatur, and to the union of the young couple five children were born,-Harold A., Gladys, Theodore, and Marian. Sylvia, the first born, died aged two years. All the living children are at home with their parents, and all attended the public school in Decatur. Mr. Lyle is deeply interested in educational efforts, and for fifteen years has been a member of the school board; the fact that he has continued on the board for so long is proof that he has rendered acceptable service. Indeed, the standing of the school has been distinctly improved during the past few years, and this condition is largely due to the suggestions that Mr. Lyle has made from time to time. In politics he is a Republican, but he does not blindly vote for any candidate offered by his party ; he considers most carefully the qualifications of the man himself, and also his fitness to fill any certain office ; then Mr. Lyle places his vote with the man he believes will best serve the people, regardless of party considerations. Mr. Lyle is well-known and deservedly popular in this part of the country.
JOEL MERRITT WELDIN .- One of the promoters of the grape cul- ture industry in Porter township, this county, and with a consid- erable acreage of his highly productive and valuable farm devoted to it, Joel M. Weldin has made a very substantial and profitable addition to the agricultural and commercial resources of the town- ship, and thereby has been of considerable direct and continuous service to its people. He has been engaged in the industry for the greater part of twenty years, and made a study of it in a way that has enabled him to be successful in the management of it and make his contribution to its expansion, progress and improvement one of considerable moment.
It is much to Mr. Weldin's credit, too, that he is conducting his enterprise in the place of his birth and on part of the soil from which he drew his stature and his strength while he was growing to manhood. For he is a native of the township in which he now lives, and his farm of sixty acres in section 10 of that township comprises a portion of the one on which he was born and reared. He never went out of sight of the smoke of his father's chimney to find opportunities for advancement in life, but found them in his thorough knowledge of the soil he helped to cultivate from boyhood, and the possibilities of which it is capable.
Mr. Weldin's life began in a log cabin on December 17, 1871, and he is a son of George and Margery (Hayne) (Turner) Weldin, a sketch of whose lives will be found elsewhere in this volume. He was educated at the neighborhood district school, remaining at home with his parents until he reached the age of twenty-one, and working on the parental homestead under the judicious direction and supervision of his father. At that age he bought twenty acres of the homestead, and some time afterward added forty acres more by a purchase made of another person. Mr. Weldin has been enter- prising in improving his farm in the matter of good buildings, having put on nearly all it contains, and he has also been con- stant and industrious in his study and observation of the nature
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of its soil in order to determine what he could make it produce to the best advantage. Other men had become deeply interested in grape culture before he had any land to farm, some of them very successful and some only moderately so, or not at all. He learned by watchfulness and experiment that his land was well adapted to the growth of the vine, and he began early in his career as a farmer to devote a suitable portion of it to this use. He has en- larged his operations from year to year until he now has a large and fruitful vineyard, the products of which are held in high regard wherever they are known, and that is in many places in his own state and others, near and far away. He plants with judg- ment, cultivates with care and manages the whole business with vigor and intelligence. The results are profitable to him and of value to the community around him.
On February 2, 1899, he was married to Miss Agnes Ward, a daughter of Richard and Alice (Burnham) Ward, both now de- ceased. They were the parents of ten children, of whom Mrs. Weldin was the fifth born. Her living sisters and brothers are: Rose, the wife of Frank Wares, of Kalamazoo; Fred, a resident of this county ; Kate, the wife of Sanford Horton, of Marcellus, Cass county, Michigan; Bert, who lives in Benton Harbor, this state; Nellie, the wife of Charles Keefe, of Kalamazoo; and Cleo, the wife of Stanley Cornish, of Porter township. The children who died were Grant, Charles and Mabel, the first, sixth and ninth of the family.
Mr. and Mrs. Weldin have one child, their daughter Margery Alice, who was born on March 2, 1900, and is now an aspiring and progressive school-girl. Mr. Weldin takes an active part in political affairs as a loyal and zealous member of the Democratic party, but not in any degree as an office-seeker. He believes the people will be best governed and served by the domination of the principles of that party, locally and generally, and for that reason he supports it with earnestness in all campaigns. In fraternal societies he sees much good, and he belongs to and takes a cordial interest in two of them, the Masonic order and that of the Modern Woodmen of America. He is an estimable and useful citizen, and is universally respected as such. Mrs. Weldin is a member of the Methodist Protestant church.
FRANK A. CARPENTER .- With many men there seems to be but one line which they can follow, one vocation which fits their abil- ities, one special occupation in which they can find success, and until they have settled themselves in that special groove they make little headway. To the man of versatile traits and abilities, how- ever, any line of occupation which presents itself is acceptable, and if he be persistent enough he will win success in whatever field he finds himself. Frank A. Carpenter, of Decatur township, is not only a man of versatile habits, but is a good example of the suc- cessful self-made man of today. He was born in Stockbridge, Mad- ison county, New York, December 5, 1846, and is a son of James and Eliza Jane (Sweet) Carpenter.
James Carpenter, who was a farmer all of his life, came to
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Michigan in the fall of 1860, and settled at Lawrence, where he built the long bridge across the Paw Paw river. In 1866 he moved to Minnesota, locating in Wabasha county, and he was there en- gaged in farming until his death, on the 4th of February, 1902, his widow surviving him only until August 13th of the same year. They were the parents of seven children: Frank A .; Harold O., who lives in South Dakota; Elmer J., also living in that state; Ellen L., who is deceased ; Charles F., a resident of Montana ; Mary J., the wife of Swan Anderson, of Minnesota; and George L., liv- ing in Minnesota.
Frank A. Carpenter was married in 1865, and in July, 1866, he went to Minnesota, where for two years he was engaged in follow- ing the trade of carpenter, which he had learned in his youth. On his return to Michigan, he settled in Decatur, where he has fol- lowed his trade and with his sons carried on general farming, specializing in mint growing. For a number of years he has made his farming pay, and takes a pride in his home and surroundings. He has teamed logs with the exception of three winters during fifty-one years, and has probably drawn more loads than any other one man now living in Van Buren county. He also sheared sheep for forty-five seasons and several years operated a threshing ma- chine, all of these in addition to working at his trade as a car- penter. Many residences stand as monuments to his ability. Gen- ial, pleasant, whole-souled, Mr. Carpenter has a host of warm, personal friends, who are gratified with the success he has made in life. His eighty acre farm is situated in section 11, and for nearly forty years he has been identified with matters agricultural in Decatur township.
On November 26, 1865, Mr. Carpenter was married to Miss Susan Smith, daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Kitham) Smith, who were born in England and came to the United States in 1851, set- tling in Lenawee county. They had three children: Maria, who died in infancy; Sarah A., also deceased, who married Roswell Hicks, and whose son Arthur P., is an attorney in Detroit; and Su- san. Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter have had eight children: William F., born October 16, 1868; Emma Belle, born February 10, 1870, wife of B. Barnham, of Van Buren county; Orrie M., born September 26, 1871; Maud E., born March 31, 1873, wife of Arthur Howe, of Decatur; Roswell H., born September 12, 1875; E. James, born November 6, 1877; Altha V., born November 18, 1880, wife of H. Elliott, of Van Buren county; and Nellie A., born November 25, 1883, wife of F. D. McAdams, of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Politically Mr. Carpenter is a Republican, but he has never cared to hold office. His influence, however, is always given to movements that he calculates will be of benefit to his community, and he is a prominent member of the local Grange. Mrs. Car- penter is a member of the Methodist church, and prominent in church and charitable work.
PERCY F. HARRIS .- Van Buren county is fortunate in that it has among its skilled agriculturists many of the younger generation, men who are just entering the prime of life, with the enthusiasm
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and buoyancy of spirits which belong only to youth. These are the men on whom the future of agricultural conditions in this county rest, and it is undoubtedly true that the interests are in good hands, for they will profit by the experiences of their fathers and avoid those mistakes and obstacles with which the pioneers of this section had to deal. One of the leading agriculturists of the younger generation in Van Buren county is Percy F. Harris, who is carrying on successful operations in Decatur township. Mr. Harris is a native of Toronto, Canada, and was born April 2, 1887, the adopted son of John S. and Mary A. (Baldwin) Harris, the former a native of Michigan and the latter of New York.
The Harris family was founded in Decatur township in 1892, and here John S. Harris spent the last years of his life in agricul- tural pursuits, his death occurring June 30, 1906. He was mar- ried first to a Miss Lee, by whom he had three children: George, who lives in the state of Washington; Bertram J., living in Ne- braska; and Mabel, the wife of Ezra Swift, of Washington. He was married secondly to Mrs. Mary A. (Baldwin) Jacques, the widow of A. A. Jacques.
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