USA > Michigan > Branch County > A twentieth century history and biographical record of Branch County, Michigan > Part 71
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110
OREN L. PIERCE.
Oren L. Pierce is one of the old settlers of Branch county now living on section seventeen, Sherwood township. He was born in this township May 18. 1840, his parents being Jonathan E. and Lucretia D. (Lee) Pierce. The father was a native of Rhode Island but was reared in New York, in which state his wife was born, their marriage being there celebrated. They came to Michigan in 1836, settling in Sherwood township where Mr. Pierce purchased a small tract of land. They were pioneer residents of Branch county, being among the first to locate in this township and they therefore experienced the difficulties and hardships which fall to the lot of a frontier settler. Mr. Pierce gave his undivided attention to the development and improvement of the new farm, continuing its cultivation until his death, which occurred July 5, 1855, when he was about forty-nine years of age. His widow has also passed away. They were the parents of six children, of whom three died in infancy, the others being Oren L .; Mary, the wife of Andrew Dorsey; and Saphronia, the widow of Joseph Collins.
Oren L. Pierce was the third in order of birth in his father's family. He was reared in Sherwood township and in his early boyhood attended a log school house. He lost his father when fifteen years of age and since that time he has been dependent entirely upon his own resources, working by the day and month in his youth and early manhood. He has cleared
564
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY
considerable land in the county including the farm upon which he now re- sides. At the time of his marriage he located on a small farm in Sherwood township and after cultivating it for a period sold the property and settled on section seventeen, where he has since made his home, covering a period of thirty-eight consecutive years.
In 1865 Mr. Pierce wedded Miss Louisa H. Ensign, a native of New York and a daughter of Rastus and Harriet (Pierce) Ensign. They have a son and daughter, Fred L., a resident farmer of Sherwood township, and Ethel E., at home.
Mr. Pierce now owns one hundred and twenty-six acres on section sixteen, Sherwood township. He is the oldest man living in Sherwood township that was born and reared in the township. He is a gentleman who dearly loves the chase, and has spent several autumns in the hunting season on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and has killed nine deer. In his beautiful country residence he has a fine buck's head and antlers mounted and adorning the walls of his sitting room. He has always devoted his life to agricultural interests, but is likewise a capable carpenter and has erected all of the buildings upon his place, including his residence and barns. He possesses good business ability and executive force and deserves great credit for what he has accomplished. His political allegiance has been given the Re- publican party since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. He was highway commissioner for three terms but has never been active in seeking political office or honors, content to do his duty as a private citizen. He has seen this county developed from a wild country with only a few white inhabitants to a rich agricultural district containing thousands of good homes and acres of growing towns inhabited by an in- dustrious, prosperous, enlightened and progressive people and he has par- ticipated in the slow, persistent work of development which was necessary to produce this change, attaining at the same time a place among the prosperous residents of the county.
WILLIAM WALTER.
William Walter, interested in general farming in Kinderhook town- ship, which is the place of his nativity, was born January 16, 1855, but comes of English ancestry. He is a son of Abraham Walter, who was born in England, and a grandson of Abraham Walter, Sr. The latter wedded a Miss Mears and on emigrating from England with their family settled in Steuben county, Indiana, where their last days were passed. Having arrived at years of maturity Abraham Walter, Jr., took up the study of medicine and practiced for many years. He was married in Kinderhook township, Branch county, Michigan, on the 5th of March, 1854, to Miss Priscilla Ent, who was born near Trenton, New Jersey, August 7, 1826. Her father was Enoch Ent and her mother was Susan Gordon Ent, both natives of New Jersey. In an early day the Ent family were residents of Monroe and of Lenawee counties, Michigan, and in the latter county Enoch Ent passed away. His wife afterward came to Branch county and departed this life in Kinderhook township at the advanced age of ninety-eight years .. In the
.
565
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY
family were seven children, but only one is now living, Mrs. Priscilla (Ent) Walter, who makes her home with her son William in Kinderhook. Fol- lowing his marriage Dr. Abraham Walter engaged in the practice of medi- cine for a long period and was recognized as an able man and successful physician. He settled upon the farm which for a long period was called the Walter homestead, clearing and developing the land and transforming it into productive fields. He was an esteemed citizen and upright, honorable gentleman and his death was deeply regretted by many who knew him when on the 12th of August, 1902, he was called to his final rest. Unto Dr. and Mrs. Walter were born seven children, four of whom reached years of maturity, namely: William, of this review; Frank, who is living in Kin- derhook township: Fred, who makes his home in the state of California; and Dora Michael, who is living in Bethel township.
William Walter was reared upon the old homestead farm in the usual manner of lads of the period, attending the public schools through the win- ter months, while in the summer seasons he aided in the work of the fields. On the 25th of February, 1880,. he was united in marriage to Miss Mattie Stowe, who was born in Huron county, Ohio, January 29, 1858. Her father was James Stowe, a native of the state of New York, while her mother bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Sellover and was born in Ohio. There were seven children in the Stowe family, of whom two died in infancy, the others being: Mrs. Mattie Walter, the wife of our subject; Fred, a resi- dent of Nebraska; Lutie and Della, of Coldwater; and Mrs. Alice Hilde- brant, of Algansee. Mr. Stowe died in 1885 and Mrs. Stowe is still living in Coldwater. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Walter has been born a daughter, Net- tie, now the wife of Harry Strank, of Fremont, Indiana.
Throughout his entire life William Walter has engaged in general farming and after his father's death succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead, comprising two hundred and twenty-five acres of rich and pro- ductive land in Kinderhook township, which he retained until 1906, when he sold the place. In all of his work he has been practical and enterprising and his labors have been attended with gratifying results. In his political views he is an earnest Republican and has served as justice of the peace and school director. His fraternal relations are with Graham Tent, K. O. T. M., of California township. He has for a half century made his home in this county, where he has a wide and favorable acquaintance.
A. LE ROY LOCKE.
A. Le Roy Locke, a member of the Branch county bar and a resident of Bronson, dates his birth in Townsend township, Huron county, Ohio, De- cember 31, 1859, and traces his ancestry back to New England. His par- ents, Josiah and Malissa ( Tillotson) Locke, natives of Vermont, came west to Ohio in early life, and when the subject of this sketch was two years old moved to Michigan, locating in Sherwood township, Branch county. Here they passed the remainder of their lives. Mr. Locke was educated in the public schools of Branch county, and by teaching school paved his way to the legal profession. He was a student in the office of H. H. Barlow, an
566
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY
attorney of Coldwater, Michigan; was admitted to the bar in 1888, and began the practice of his profession in Mason county, this state. On ac- count of illness, however, he did not remain there long, but went south in search of health and spent some time in North Carolina. On his return to Michigan he came first to Coldwater. In 1892 he was appointed post- master of Sherwood, a position he filled three and a half years, when he resigned, at that time being elected circuit court commissioner. At the close of his two years' term as circuit court commissioner he removed from Coldwater to Bronson, where he is now engaged in the practice of law.
Mr. Locke is a member of the Masonic order and politically is a Democrat.
H. E. FREDERICK.
Today Branch county is thickly settled and all of its land has been ¡claimed, and the greater part of it cultivated, its productiveness being proven in the splendid crops which are annually harvested in field and in orchard. A half century ago little work in this direction had been done and the most rapid strides made in the county toward its present develop- ment and progress have been witnessed within the last twenty-five years. During this period Mr. Frederick has been numbered among the farmers of the county, living on section 22, Batavia township, where he owns a' valuable tract of land which presents a pleasing appearance owing to the improvement which he has placed upon it and the well kept condition of the fields. A native of Pennsylvania. he was born in Union county on the 6th of April, 1844, his parents being William and Catherine (Kline) Frederick, also natives of Pennsylvania. The father was born in Union county, but the mother's birth occurred in Juniata county. In their family were eight children, all sons, and with one exception all reached manhood., The father died in Ohio at the very venerable age of ninety-six years, hav- ing removed to that state in 1854, and his wife passed away when about sixty-nine years of age.
H. E. Frederick, the sixth son in his father's family, was a youth of nine years when he accompanied his parents to Erie county, Ohio. After five years he removed to Sandusky county, that state, but was married in Erie county on the 24th of December, 1872, the lady of his choice being Miss Adaline Goss, whose birth occurred in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of February, 1855, her parents being Isaac and Rebecca (Man- beck) Goss. They lived for two years in Erie county, Ohio, and for three years in Sandusky, and in the spring of 1878 they arrived in .Branch county, Michigan, Mr. Frederick making investment in the farm on which he now resides. Here he has lived continuously for twenty-eight years, working earnestly and persistently to develop the place, so that it will yield the best possible results for his labor. He has brought the land to a high state of cultivation, the fields being now very productive, and stock- raising has also been a profitable source of income. He has eighty acres of land, five miles from the city limits, now well improved and is classed with the substantial agriculturists of this community. In politics he was
567
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY
a Republican, having supported the party since age gave him the right of franchise, and he has held some local offices, but has largely preferred to leave this to others, while he gives undivided attention to his agricultural interests. He belongs, however, to Butterworth post, No. 109, G. A. R., being entitled to membership by reason of the fact that in 1864, when twenty years of age, he responded to the country's call for troops, enlisting in Company I, One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served as a private until the close of the war. He never faltered in the performance of any military duty, taking his place on the lonely picket line or on the firing line as duty called. His activity in pub- lic affairs has made him well known in the county and his friends speak of him in terms of warm regard and praise. for he possesses a genial dis- position and courtesy as well as business ability and integrity.
OLIVER B. CULVER.
Oliver B. Culver, living on section eighteen, Matteson township, was born upon this farm December 27, 1840, a son of Aliather Culver and a half brother of Jonathan Culver. The latter is supposed to be a native of Massachusetts and was of English descent. The father was born in the Old Bay state, whence he removed to Ontario county, New York, and in 1835 came to Branch county, settling in Matteson township. He was the second man to take up land from the government in this township, and Mr. and Mrs. Culver have five of the old parchment deeds, executed as follows: September 10, 1838; May 1, 1839: September 10, 1838: May I, 1839, and May 1, 1838, which are the valuable souvenirs in the home of Mr. Culver. This makes ten deeds of the kind found in Branch county so far, and they bear the date and were executed by President Martin Van Buren. Mr. Culver entered altogether one thousand acres. He hauled his wheat to Toledo, which was the nearest market, and he built upon his place a log cabin, after which he began the active work of improving and develop- ing the farm. One of the pioneer settlers, he was closely identified with the early history of Branch county and aided in laying broad and deep the foundation for the present development and progress of the county. In politics he was a Democrat and the first town meeting was held in his house. There were at that time not to exceed six voters in the township. Mr. Culver was chosen one of the officers and throughout his entire life he was active in his support of measures for the general good. He died in his eighty-second year, while his second wife, who bore the maiden name of Lydia Ann Baker and was a native of Rhode Island, lived to be seventy- two years of age. The father had been previously married, his first union being with Miss Amarillis Humphrey, whom he wedded in 1815. They had two children, Paulina and Jonathan H. By the second marriage there were four daughters and three sons and with one exception all reached adult age.
Oliver B. Culver is the youngest of the family and the only one now living, and he was reared upon the farm where he yet resides. After mas- tering the elementary branches of learning taught in the common schools
568
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY
he attended the high school at Colon, and he remained at home through the period of his boyhood and youth, assisting in the labors of the home farm. On the Ist of January, 1866, he was married to Miss Mary E. Sharer, a daughter of William and Lucinda (Weed) Sharer, who was born in the town- ship of Galen, Wayne county, New York. Mr. Culver brought his bride to the old homestead farm, where he now owns two hundred and eighty acres of productive and valuable land. He has about forty-five acres planted to fruit, including strawberries, and in fact berries of all kinds. One road for three-quarters of a mile is bordered with fruit trees. He has a number of substantial buildings upon the place, including three dwellings and buildings for packing and shipment of fruit, and he also has buildings at Colon, from which point he makes his shipments. In addition to the cultivation of grain and fruit he is also engaged in loaning money and holds a number of real estate mortgages. He has been very successful in his business life and his labors have been the source of a gratifying income.
Mr. Culver is a stanch temperance man and is independent in his political views, voting for the candidate rather than the party. He has taken an active interest in public affairs, however, and his fellow towns- men, recognizing his worth and ability, have frequently called him to office. He was clerk for five terms, was supervisor for two terms and is always loyal in his support of public measures. He is today one of the oldest settlers of the county, having for sixty-five years been a resident of Mat- teson township, and his memory forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present. His house was the second built between Colon and Coldwater, and therefore one of the old landmarks of the community. An account of pioneer life presents a correct picture of the experiences of Mr. Culver in his youth. He has known what it was to make his way through the primitive forests of Branch county when set- tlements were very widely scattered and when the homes were mostly log cabins. The cooking was done over the fireplace, the little home was lighted by candles and the farm machinery was very crude, but all this has been changed as progress has wrought a transformation and brought about a business condition that makes Branch county on a par with the older counties of the east.
JENNY C. DOUGLAS.
The life history of Mrs. Jenny C. Douglas reveals many prominent per- sonages, both of the more remote past and in the present generation, who have been identified in divers ways with the life and times of their re- spective communities, and also Branch county has since its pioneer days felt the value of their influence and useful activity.
Mrs. Douglas, who was born in Syracuse, New York, January 16, 1838, is a daughter of the late and well known Havens Wilber, also a native of that city, born in 1808 and died in 1888. Originally the Wilbers came from England, settling in Connecticut, and later removed to New York. Havens Wilber was colonel in a regiment of New York militia, and was descended from Revolutionary stock. He came west to Michigan in 1850, spent one year in
Yours Sincerely tt. Douglas
Kindly yours . Dermy B. Douglas
569
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY
Coldwater, and then identified himself with the incipient village of Quincy. where he was a dry-goods merchant and for one year was in partnership with Quincy's first merchant, Benjamin F. Wheat. He continued in active business connection in this town until his retirement in 1878. He was a prominent Methodist, was class leader, and, possessed of more than ordinary musical talent and being considered a sweet singer, he had, while in New York, charge of all the music of his church, and retained his interest in the art to his last days. A Democrat in his earlier years, he left that party in later life and became a Republican voter. He was prosperous from a material standpoint. and left his family in comfortable circumstances.
Havens Wilber married, November 26. 1833. Lydia L. Filer. Mrs. Douglas has in her treasured possession the Bible that was presented on the wedding day to her mother by the latter's father. Lydia L. Filer was born in Syracuse. New York, in 1814. and died in 1878, being a daughter of Asa and Mary (Fay) Filer. The Filers are an ancient American family. having come from Windsor, England, about 1620. and made settlement at Windsor, Connecticut, whence have come all the generations to the present. Of more than ordinary historic interest is the parchment passport which the first Filer obtained on leaving his native England. and this document is another relic of antiquity that Mrs. Douglas has been careful to preserve. We may also mention that she has another Bible of ancient date and revered associations, which belonged to her husband and descended to him from his grandfather, although the exact age of the volume is not known. The Filer family contained much literary talent among their individual members. although their success in material affairs was equally marked. Asa Filer. Mrs. Douglas' grandfather, was a contractor, and furnished from his quarry in New York a large amount of stone used in the construction of portions of the Erie canal.
Havens Wilber was one of six children, namely, Lydia. Anna, Amos. Havens, Celesta and Julia. Havens and Lydia Wilber had four children, as follows : Mary L., now deceased, was the wife of Edward L. Cummings. a Quincy druggist : Jennie C .; Correl H., deceased ; and Sadie. the deceased wife of Dr. H. W. Gould, at one time a resident of Quincy.
Jenny C. Douglas spent three happy, but earnest years of study at Falley Seminary. Fulton, New York, and graduated with honor to her class and to herself on June 27, 1859.
In 1852 she married Lewis Conkling, whose death occurred in 1862. A native of Port Jarvis, New York, he had come to Tecumseh, Michigan. when a boy. and from there moved to Coldwater, where for a number of years he was a successful hardware merchant. Mr. and Mrs. Conkling had four children: William and Jennie G., deceased: Llewellyn, with the Packer Automobile Company of Detroit: and Gilbert Havens, deceased. Mr. Conkling was a member of the Episcopal church, and in politics a Re- publican.
Mrs. Douglas was married to her present husband, Charles H. Douglas, June II, 1887. Mr. Douglas is one of the highly esteemed men of this county. He was born in Nova Scotia December 9. 1835, a son of Nathan
570
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY
and Cynthia (Payzant) Douglas, the father of Scotch origin, and the mother of French. Nathan Douglas, who was a sail-maker by trade, in boyhood ac- companied his father, Russell Douglas, from New London, Connecticut, to Nova Scotia. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war Russell Douglas was a young man at New London, and was one of the defenders of that, his native town, when it was attacked and burned by the British forces under the traitorous Arnold. His family, like many of his neighbors, lost all their possessions by this event, and in compensation Congress afterwards allotted to the unfortunate citizens tracts of land in the Western Reserve of Ohio. It was to take possession of these lands that brought the Douglas family out to Ohio, and thence further west. But just before the war of 1812 Russell Douglas had moved to Liverpool. Nova Scotia, and during the war carried on his trade of sail-maker together with his son Nathan. A Yankee to the core, and of that vigorous patriotism which upholds its rights at all times and under all circumstances, he persisted, while in Nova Scotia, and despite all remonstrances, in flying the American flag from his sail loft, and there he kept it unfurled throughout the period of hostilities. During that war he was also of great assistance in caring for his fellow countrymen who had been made prisoners and detained in that part of Nova Scotia.
Charles H. Douglas, who was one of six children, has had a varied business career. He was a manufacturer of machinery in Berea, Ohio, where he and his father made most of the machinery used in the Berea sandstone quarries. He also carried on manufacturing in Chicago. He is the inventor of the well known Douglas saws and saw machinery. In politics he is a Republican of the Lincoln type, and he and his wife are members of the Episcopal church.
TENDER MEMORIES OF MY DEAR PARENTS, HAVENS AND LYDIA LAVINIA WILBER.
Written by Mrs. Jenny C. Douglas, Quincy, Michigan.
Few things are as potent in the power of association as memory. How sweet and comforting are the hours when we yield ourselves to its charm. Today it awakens and cheers my soul like a fragrant breath of lilac or sweet lavender, and stirs wistful memories of my childhood home, with its tender, loving guardianship, and infinite peace. My mother, with her sweet home ways, and always about her the roses and flowers she so fondly loved, and father, with his strong protecting love and care over us all; and at evening, as he brightened our home circle by reading aloud, or with his sweet voice, rendering some favorite hymn: Ah! their gentle and loving words, and tenderly fond caresses as sleeping time came. All these,
And the dear old home I see again, With its drooping eaves, where the twittering wren Nested so long ago; And I breathe once more the south winds' balm As I sit again in its twilight calm, With my precious memories.
yours Truly Havens Wilber
571
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY
The home life of my childhood at Syracuse, New York, was ideal. My good parents made it so. The years went by and wrought changes. Sor- rows came and changed our happiness to tears. Death claimed one by one from the dear home circle. Sister Mary was first to leave us; then Correl, my only brother. And one October day in eighteen hundred and eighty- eight, when the autumn leaves were falling, and the winds sighing among the barren trees, my Precious Mother, while
A look of yearning tenderness Beneath her lashes lies, And hope and love unutterable Were shadowed in her eyes, Whispered her Good Bye.
The following July, dear sister Sadie joined our family majority; thus leaving my precious father with his eighty years and only myself to com- fort him in the twilight hours that were hovering so near. In my childhood his loving heart cradled me in a sunny nest, and his gentle hand guided my footsteps in pleasant paths. Now, it was my privilege to love and comfort him in his declining years. With a prayer for guidance ever in my heart, and with the tender love and solicitude for him, I endeavored to be as loving a daughter as my mother had been a faithful wife. Father and I lived very close, each to the inner life of the other. His life had been earnest and active, ever kind and loyal, with hand and money always ready to help the suffering, or to aid in the progress and upbuilding of his home town. He gave liberally to building churches and schools, and was the first to use his influence and money toward the erection of a comfortable station house in Quincy. In his golden years he was a tower of strength, also a tender and gentle friend to all who were in need of any kindness. For many years he was a leading merchant in Quincy, and amassed a comfortable fortune. Later he was saddened by losses and injustice done him by those to whom he had been most kind and generous. It is a sad truth that in his grief his honest and trusting soul passed through a pain almost like unto a garden of Gethsemane; and the friends who saw him daily, could not realize the intensity of his sorrow over the wrongs done him by those lie had trusted and loved. The eyes of sympathy are oft-times too far sighted. and overlook a kindness which lies nearest. In February, 1898, at the age of eighty-nine years and six months, after an illness of only a few hours' dura- tion he was peacefully relieved of all his heartaches and awoke to the sun-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.