USA > Michigan > Branch County > A twentieth century history and biographical record of Branch County, Michigan > Part 83
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died in 1877. leaving two sons, Arthur E. and Herbert D., the latter also associated with the Regal Gasoline Engine Company. The father died in this city in 1888, when sixty-five years of age. He had engaged quite large- ly in speculation and was very successful in his business relations. Both he and his wife were Baptists in religious faith. They were people of the high- est respectability, gaining many friends in the city of their residence.
Arthur E. Robinson was reared and educated in Coldwater and began his business career as a traveling salesman of a hardware house of Cleve- land, Ohio, which he represented on the road for six or seven years. On leaving that service he entered the real estate and loan business in Cold- water and handled considerable valuable property. In 1900 the Regal Gaso- line Engine Company was organized as a stock company, Mr. Robinson being active in the promotion of this enterprise and since that time he has been president and general manager. It is one of the large and profitable pro- ductive industries of the city and he belongs to that class of representative American men who, while advancing individual success, also contribute to the general prosperity.
Mr. Robinson was married in 1884 to Miss Anna L. Nichols and both he and his wife are members of the Baptist church. Socially they are prom- inent in Coldwater and their own home is attractive by reason of its gracious and cordial hospitality.
MICHAEL RONAN.
Michael Ronan, the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres on sections one and twelve. Girard township, spends the summer months upon this place and the winter seasons in the city of Coldwater. where he also owns a comfortable home. He was born in Jersey City. New Jersey, May 18, 1851, and is a son of Martin and Mary (Costello) Ronan, both of whom were natives of Mullengar, Ireland. They came to America in 1850 and after a brief residence in New Jersey removed to Clarendon. Calhoun county, Michigan. in 1851. The' father was there drowned in June. 1853. in Homer Lake, and in the same year Mrs. Ronan removed with her family to Girard, where she lived until her death on the 23rd of Septem- ber, 1902. She had three children by her first marriage: Michael; Mary, who became the wife of Dr. J. L. Ramsdell and is now living in Albion, Michigan. where her husband is successfully and extensively engaged in the practice of medicine: Martin, who died in Detroit in 1899. After los- ing her first husband Mrs. Ronan married A. J. McConvry of Girard, by whom she had two children: James McConvry, who lives in London, On- tario; and Nellie McConvry. who died in Girard in 1883. After the death of her second husband Mrs. McConvry became the wife of Edwin Wheeler, also of Girard, by whom she had two children: Edwin and Emma Wheeler, both of Girard.
Michael Ronan spent his youth in his mother's home and after master- ing the branches of learning pursued a commercial course in Hillsdale Col- lege at Hillsdale. Michigan, from which he was graduated with the class of 1883. He was thus well equipped for life's practical and responsible duties
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and has ever been recognized as a man of keen discernment and intelligence. He was married on the 21st of February, 1884, to Miss Bertha Canny of Rochester, New York, the wedding being celebrated in Philadelphia. They now have three children: Marie, who is a graduate of the Ypsilanti State Normal and now a successful teacher connected with the schools of Tekon- sha; Nellie, who is a fourth year student in the high school at Coldwater; and Kenneth, yet at home.
For a few years after his marriage Mr. Ronan lived on a fine farm in Tekonsha township, but later sold that property and purchased his pres- ent farm, the old homestead, comprising one hundred and sixty acres of land on sections one and twelve, Girard township. Here he and his family spend the summer months, while throughout the remainder of the year they reside in the city of Coldwater, where they have a comfortable home. In his business affairs he is energetic and reliable and his unremitting diligence and keen discernment are the resultant factors in his prosperity. His en- tire life has been devoted to agricultural pursuits and his worth is widely recognized as a representative of the farming community. Having spent almost his entire life in this county, he has a wide acquaintance and his strong and salient characteristics are such as have made him respected and honored by all who know him.
HOWARD A. GRUBE, M. D.
Dr. Howard A. Grube, for four years connected with the medical de- partment of the United States volunteer service in the Philippines and now a practitioner of Coldwater, making a specialty of surgery, is numbered among the native sons of Indiana, his birth having occurred on a farm in Marshall county, that state, April 18, 1867. The family is of German line- age and the progenitor in America was Casper Grube, great-grandfather of Dr. Grube, who was born in Germany and crossed the Atlantic to the new world, becoming a resident of Pennsylvania, in which state his son, Casper Grube, Jr., was born. About 1810 the latter removed to Marshall county, Indiana, where his remaining days were passed.
Daniel S. Grube, father of the doctor, was a native of Pennsylvania and is now living in Plymouth. Indiana, at the age of seventy years. He was a teacher in the schools of Marshall county, that state, for twenty-three years, and of his eight children six have been school teachers, while the grandfather and great-grandfather of Dr. Grube also followed the same pro- fession. The family has thus contributed in appreciable measure to the intellectual development of the communities in which its different members have resided, and loyalty in citizenship has also been a marked family char- acteristic. Daniel S. Grube married Hannah Shively, who was born near Canton, Ohio, and died in Plymouth, Indiana, in 1900, at the age of fifty- eight years. Her father, Rev. John Shively, was a native of Pennsylvania, was a minister of the Dunkard church and became one of the early settlers of St. Joseph county, Indiana.
Dr. Howard A. Grube, the eldest of the eight children in his father's family, spent the first fifteen years of his life in the county of his nativity,
Willis Hall
Mars Willis Hall.
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HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY
and at that age came to Coldwater, where he entered the employ of his maternal uncle, John W. Shively, a dry goods merchant of this city, with whom he remained for six years. His ambition, however, tended toward professional lines. He had acquired his preliminary education in the dis- trict schools of his native county, and while clerking he devoted his evening hours largely to study, preparatory to entering college in order to prepare for the practice of medicine. At length he matriculated in the medical department of the University of Michigan, from which institution he was graduated in 1891. He then returned to Coldwater, where he opened an office, and the wide and favorable acquaintance which he had previously made now proved to him of much benefit in his professional career. Many called upon him for medical and surgical aid and he soon secured a good patronage.
After the outbreak of the Spanish-American war. however, Dr. Grube was commissioned captain and assistant surgeon of the Thirty-fifth Mich- igan Volunteer Infantry, and four months later he was promoted to major- surgeon of his regiment, thus serving until mustered out with his command in April, 1899. He then returned to Coldwater, but in September of the same year, he was again commissioned assistant surgeon of United States volunteers, with the rank of captain, and sent to the Philippine Islands. In 1901 he was promoted to the rank of major and in 1902 was made chief surgeon of northern Luzon. He returned to the United States early in the following year and was mustered out. He brought with him a valuable collection of Philippine relics, together with specimens of their embroidery, fabrics, hats and other wearing apparel, weapons, etc., and these may now be seen in his office in Coldwater, where he immediately resumed practice on his return.
In the summer of 1903 Dr. Grube pursued a post-graduate course in the University of Michigan, and reading and investigation have continually broadened his knowledge and promoted his efficiency. He is a member of the Tri-State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. Before joining the army he was surgeon for the Lake Shore & Michigan Central Railroad, and for one year was attending physician to the Michigan state public school at Coldwater. He gives especial attention in his practice to surgery, and his ability in that line is of superior order, ranking him with many older representatives of the profession. In August. 1905. he was appointed by Governor Warner surgeon of the Second Infantry. Mich- igan National Guards.
WILLIS HALL.
Willis Hall, whose home is on section thirty-five. Quincy township, is a native son of Hillsdale county, Michigan, born on the 20th of September, 1860. His father, William Hall, was a native of Wales, and died in 1861. at the age of seventy-two years. In early life he left the little rock ribbed country in which he was born and crossed the Atlantic to America, locating in the east, where he was living at the time of the war of 1812, when he espoused the cause of his adopted country and entered military service during
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HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY
the period of hostilities. He was a shoemaker by trade, but devoted the greater part of his life to the occupation of farming, and at an early epoch in the development of Michigan he came to this state, settling in Hillsdale county, where he died. In his business affairs he was active and energetic and had become quite well-to-do. He was twice married, and by the first union had five children. His second wife bore the maiden name of Lucina Durham and was born in Vermont. Both her parents died in Ohio, and Mrs. Hall passed away in this state, November 13, 1888, at the age of sixty- three years. By her marriage she had become the mother of five children : Reuben W., a watchman living in Barry county, Michigan; Angeline, the wife of Alfred Chambers, a miller and farmer of Emmet county; Lucy, deceased; and Willard and Willis, twins, but the former is also deceased. The mother was three times married, first to Mr. Jones, by whom she had a son, Oliver Jones, who was a soldier in the Civil war, and was killed at the battle of the Wilderness; second, to William Hall, the father of the subject of this review, and the third time to J. I. Bevens. At her death the following lines were written :
" In Quincy township, November 13, 1887, of paralysis, Mrs. Lucina Bevens died, aged sixty-three years, two months and seventeen days.
" Mrs. Bevens was born in 1824, and became a follower of Christ at the age of thirteen years. She was a consistent member of the Methodist Epis- copal church, in which she took great delight. She was three times a widow, and the mother of twelve children, seven of whom survive her. For the past six years she has been living with her son, Willis Hall, in Quincy town- ship. For the past few months she had visited among her children, arriving home just five weeks previous to the day of her death."
Willis Hall was reared upon the home farm in Michigan and attended the district schools. He came to Branch county, Michigan, in 1878, settling in Quincy township, upon the farm which he still owns on section thirty-five. He has here one hundred and twenty acres of rich and productive land and he likewise owns twenty acres on section twenty-six of the same township. He is a stock buyer and feeder and makes quite extensive shipments annually.
In 1886 Mr. Hall was married to Miss Hattie Ann Wiser, who was born in Quincy, December 23, 1862. Her father was Harvey Wiser, a native of New York, who came to Michigan at an early epoch in its settlement and took up his abode in Quincy township. Branch county, where he followed the occupation of farming. He married Sylvia Garrett, who was born in Reading township, Hillsdale county, this state, and their only child was Mrs. Hall. Unto Willis and Hattie Hall have been born four children: Lena May, born September 3, 1889, finished the public schools and is now a stu- dent in the Quincy High School, this being her second year, and she drives four miles each day to the school. She has taken lessons in elocution and. also instrumental music. Nora Leona, born July 18, 1891, is a bright little miss, now in the eighth grade in the public schools. She has also taken music. Thomas Lester, born December 19, 1896, a typical boy, but standing well in his studies. He is a great aid to his father on the estate. He drilled and sowed fourteen acres of oats and twelve acres in oats and peas, all by
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himself. and has done all the mowing and raking for four seasons. Daisy Dean. born June 7. 1898, is in school in the third grade. and is the youngest of the family. Mr. Hall is a member of the Mystic Workers of the World. of which his wife is also a member. and he is banker of the order. They are both worthy members of the " Four Town Grange." located in Quincy town- ship. and Mrs. Hall holds the position or office as " Pomona." By his ballot he supports the Republican ticket. He is regarded to-day as one of the pros- perous farmers of Quincy township, who stands for enterprise and progress not only in the line of his chosen occupation, but in all that pertains to the county's welfare.
JOHN E. OUTWATER. M. D.
Dr. John E. Outwater, who has been engaged in the practice of medi- cine at Bronson. Michigan, more than thirty years, and who is ranked with the leading citizens of the county, dates his birth in Newfane. Niagara county. New York. September 20, 1845. His parents. Peter and Emily (Ketcham) Outwater, both natives of the Empire state, moved west with their family when John E. was a boy and settled in Branch county, Mich- igan. where they passed the rest of their lives and died. They have two sons and two daughters now living. William A. being a resident of Colo- rado, and the daughters, Julia and Harriet, residing in Branch county.
After the removal of the family to this county John E. continued his studies in the common schools and subsequently directed his attention to the medical profession. going to Cincinnati and pursuing a course in the Eclectic Medical Institute, where he graduated June 6. 1882. Returning to Branch county, he put out his shingle in Bronson, where he has since remained, conducting a successful practice.
Dr. Outwater has been twice married and is the father of three chil- dren, two of whom are deceased. The daughter, Miss Emma, resides with her parents in their pleasant home in Bronson on Chicago street, between Madison and Walker streets. The doctor's present wife was formerly Miss Eva J. Bennett, a native of New York. and she has a diploma from the same medical college in Cincinnati from which her husband was graduated. Politically. Dr. Outwater may be termed an independent Republican. For several years he served as health officer in his township.
ED W. WATKINS.
Ed W. Watkins, a veteran of the Civil war and one of the old settlers of Sherwood, was born in Leonidas. St. Joseph county, Michigan. Decem- ber 3. 1842, a son of William M. and Barbara E. (Hill) Watkins. His great-great-grandfather. Nathan Watkins, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war under General Washington, and his son. Mark Watkins, was only fourteen years of age when he went as a drummer boy with his father. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Bennington, and when they came to exchange prisoners. General Burgoyne said, "He is too young: we will send him back to his mother as a present." which was a beautiful thought of gallantry on the old British general's part. William Watkins was a na-
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HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY
tive of New York and settled in St. Joseph county, Michigan, in February, 1832, becoming one of its pioneer residents. He took up land from the government and improved two farms, thus assisting materially in the rec- lamation of a wild district for the purposes of civilization. He was a life- long supporter of the Republican party and served as sheriff of St. Joseph county for four years, while for thirty years he was justice of the peace and for many years acted as supervisor. There was no man in the entire county better known or more worthy the regard which was uniformly given him. He was prominent in Masonic circles and he wielded a wide influ- ence, doing much to mold public thought and opinion, and because of his adherence to every movement that was calculated to benefit his community he was regarded as a most valuable citizen. For a half century he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, active and zealous in its work, and there were no esoteric chapters in his life history, for his public and private career were alike above reproach. Both he and his wife passed away at the age of eighty-three years. In their family were eight children, six of whom reached adult age, but only three are now living.
Ed W. Watkins, the eldest of the family, was reared in the place of his nativity and pursued his education in the township and village schools. He remained at home assisting in the labors of the farm until 1863, when he enlisted in defense of the Union cause, becoming a member of Company F, Eleventh Michigan Infantry. 'With that command he served until the close of the war, in September. 1865, and he rose from the ranks to the position of sergeant. He was in the campaign from Grayville to Warren- town and also in the Atlantic campaign under fire for fifty-six days, a valiant soldier, facing danger fearlessly because of his allegiance to his country. He remained at the front until honorably discharged at Nashville on the 16th of September, 1865.
Mr. Watkins then returned to the place of his nativity, residing in St. Joseph county until 1870. He was married March 26, 1867, to Miss Marion McCrary, a daughter of Alexander and Harriett E. (Dean) Mccrary, who are mentioned on another page of this work. Mrs. Watkins was their fourth child. She was born in Tekonsha, Michigan, and was reared in Sherwood, Branch county.
On leaving his native county Mr. Watkins settled in Athens, Calhoun county, where he remained until 1888, when he came to Sherwood town- ship. There he resided until 1900, when he took up his abode in the village of Sherwood, and retired from active business, having for many years been connected with agricultural interests, his labors winning him the competence which is the goal for which all men strive in a business career.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Watkins were born two sons and a daughter: Lynn A., who wedded Mary Henry, and has one son, Fred H .; Grace E., who occupies a good position in a store in the city of Oklahoma ; and Alex- ander, who married Fannie Shafer, and resides on a farm near Sherwood.
Mr. Watkins has been a life-long Republican, having voted for Abra- ham Lincoln in 1864. and he has since supported each presidential nominee at the head of the ticket. He has been township treasurer of Sherwood
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township for two years and has held other local offices and is always loyal to the public trust. He belongs to Kilbourn Post No. 361, G. A. R., has served as its commander and has filled all of the other offices. He is like- wise a member of Sherwood Lodge No. 421, A. F. & A. M., and both he and his wife are members of the Eastern Star. He has held all of its offices, being very active in its work. She was a charter member and the first worthy matron. She likewise belongs to the Woman's Relief Corps No. 25, Union City, and was a delegate to the national convention at San Francisco, California, in 1903, for district No. 4. and was invited to Pitts- burg to read a poem of her own composition on the occasion of the national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wat- kins are prominent socially, having the warm regard of many friends, while the hospitality of the best homes of this section of the county is freely accorded them.
CHARLES SUMNER SEARS.
Charles Sumner Sears, engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Quincy, is a native of Ontario county, New York, born in 1853. He is descended from New England ancestry. His father. Clark C. Sears, was born in Connecticut and is now living at the advanced age of seventy-eight years. In early life he removed to New York, and in 1861 he came to Michigan, settling in Quincy township. where he followed the occupation of farming. He married Miss Harriet E. Warner, who was also a native of Ontario county, New York, and this worthy couple yet reside in Quincy. Michigan.
Mr. Sears, of this review, began his education in the district schools and continued it in the schools of Quincy. He also pursued a course in Ypsilanti normal school and attended one course of lectures in the medical department of the state university at Ann Arbor, after which he entered Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1879, having completed a thorough course in medicine and surgery. He then entered upon practice in Auburn, Indiana, where he remained for three years, since which time he has practiced with success in Quincy. He is careful in the diagnosis of a case, painstaking in all his professional duties, and with thorough understanding of the principles and practice of medicine he has so administered professional aid that excellent results attended his efforts. In addition to his practice he is the owner of a farm of one hun- dred and twenty acres in Quincy township, two miles northwest of the village of Quincy, and thereon carries on general stock-raising and dairying.
On September 4. 1880, Dr. Sears was married to Miss Nettie Shaffer, who was born in Ashland county, Ohio, in 1861, and is a daughter of Chris- topher C. and Martha (Siphers) Shaffer. Her father was a merchant and removed to the west in an early day. He became identified with business interests in Auburn, Indiana, being the pioneer furniture dealer of that place. He was of German lineage and manifested in his life many of the sterling characteristics of the sons of the fatherland. In his family were four children. Mr. and Mrs. Sears have but one child, Carl C., who was
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born in Auburn, Indiana, in 1882, and attended school in Quincy, being a graduate of the high school of the class of 1900. He read medicine in his father's office and afterward pursued special studies in the Michigan Agricultural College at Lansing and also in Ferris Institute at Big Rapids. He next entered the Detroit Homeopathic College of Medicine in 1901 and was graduated in the spring of 1905. He then began practice with his father and they are well versed concerning all departments of modern prac- tice. Both the father and son are members of the Masonic fraternity and Dr. Sears and his family belong to the Presbyterian church of Quincy. His political views accord with Republican principles and he has served on the school board and as trustee of the village. He has conscientious regard for the obligations which devolve upon him, and in his practice his efforts have been attended with success that shows him thoroughly familiar with modern medical and surgical principles.
JAMES B. MINTLING.
Although a resident of Michigan and Girard but a few years, neverthe- less the gentleman named above is deserving of mention in a work of this character by reason of his ownership of one of the finest farms in the town- ship of Girard and because he is a man of intelligence and already deeply interested in the welfare and progress of the community in which he resides. Branch county is always ready to welcome within her borders men of the character and standing of Mr. Mintling, knowing that their presence adds to the betterment of the place in many ways.
Mr. Mintling was born in Des Moines county, Iowa, January 30, 1857, and he lived there until he was twenty-one years of age. His father was William M. Mintling, a native of Pennsylvania, where he was born March 20, 1818. He was married at Carleton, Ohio, to Elizabeth Welty, who was born in that state March 29, 1820. Soon after their marriage they joined the early pioneers who were seeking homes in the then unbroken west, and in the early forties they took their course down the Ohio river to its junction with the stream of the Mississippi and then coursed their way up the latter stream into Iowa, where they were among the very first to locate land and make for themselves homes. Iowa was then a virgin state, with settlers few and far between, and the young couple braved all the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life in a new country.
Here they reared a large family of children and afterward removed to Nebraska, when that country was also new, where the senior Mr. Mintling died in October of 1887, and where his aged widow still lives, being in the full possession of all her mental and physical powers even at the advanced age of eighty-five years. They were the parents of ten children, two of whom died in early childhood and eight of whom are still living, as follows: Re- becca Mintling Roe, Emma Mintling Franklin, Eliza Mintling Shotwell, William J. Mintling and Rufus Mintling, all of Nebraska; Mary Ann Mint- ling Cocayne and Sarah Mintling Cocayne, both of Iowa; and Mr. James B. Mintling, Girard, Michigan.
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