A twentieth century history and biographical record of Branch County, Michigan, Part 97

Author: Collin, Henry P
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing
Number of Pages: 1198

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HARVY D. MILLER.

Harvy D. Miller is one of the old settlers of Branch county, living on section eleven. Batavia township, where he devotes his energies to agricultural pursuits. He was born in Wolcott. Wayne county, New York. September 28, 1822, a son of Daniel and Penina (Terrel) Miller, the former a native of Scipio, Cayuga county, New York, and the latter a native of Connecticut. The mother was reared in the Green Mountain state and was a daughter of Job Terrel, who was likewise born in Connecticut. Daniel Miller spent the days of his boyhood and youth in the Empire state and became a physician and merchant, following the two business pursuits in Steuben and Yates county. He came to Michigan in 1840, settling in Batavia township, where he entered one hundred and twenty acres of land. There his death occurred at the age of seventy-six years. He had been active, influential and promi- nent in public life and for twenty-two years served as justice of the peace, discharging his duties with promptness and fidelity and with due regard to

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the law in the case. His political allegiance was given to the Whig party until the organization of the new Republican party, when he joined its ranks. Although he held membership with no church, he contributed to the support of church work and was ever a man of upright and honorable principles, whose life commended him to the confidence and regard of those who knew him. His wife reached the age of seventy-seven years.

Harvy D. Miller is the oldest in a family of two sons and two daughters, but three of the number died in infancy, so that he is now the only survivor. During the period of his boyhood and youth he remained a resident of New York, and when twenty years of age he came to Branch county, Michigan. He cast his first presidential vote for Harrison in Branch, then the county seat of this county. He had been educated in his native state and had re- mained with his father on the home farm, where he was trained to habits of industry, economy and integrity. On the 21st of July, 1844, he was mar- ried to Miss Hulda Cooley, and they became the parents of two sons, John Alvin Turner and Daniel Delevan, both of whom are now deceased. The wife and mother died December 7, 1885, and on the 20th of April, 1887, Mr. Miller was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Emma Dunn Fish, a daughter of Thomas and Alvira (Smith) Dunn. She first became the wife of Professor H. M. Fish, and by that marriage she had one daugh- ter, Clara, who is now the wife of George W. Parker, living at Mr. Miller's home in Batavia township.

At the time of his marriage Mr. Miller located on his present farm, where he remained for some time and then resided in Coldwater for forty- one years, living throughout that entire period in the same house. In 1901 he again took up his abode on the old homestead, "Marsh Mooreland,"" where he has since remained. While in Coldwater he was an active factor in busi- ness life, conducting an auction store there for a number of years, and was associated with Mr. Green, then sheriff of Branch county. He also did business as a public auctioneer for many years and was revenue collector for four years during the period of the Civil war. He owns a farm of two hun- dred and forty acres, which is splendidly improved, while the land is very rich and productive. His buildings are commodious and substantial, the barn being one of the best in the county. It is a basement barn, sixty by one hundred feet, and aside from this there are good sheds for the shelter of stock and farm machinery. His residence is a modern building and, in fact, everything about the place is in keeping with the progressive spirit of the times-a spirit that has been manifest in agricultural as well as in commercial and professional circles.

In his political views Mr. Miller has been a Republican since the or- ganization of the party. He cast his ballot for John C. Fremont and has voted for each presidential nominee of the party since that time. He was among the first Odd Fellows of Coldwater, and has been a Mason for many years, but because of his age and the fact that he is now residing in the coun- try, he has demitted from those orders. For sixty-five years he has lived in Branch county, and its history has been familiar to him. In fact, he has been identified with the making of the county, as the conditions of pioneer

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life have been put aside and the improvements of an advancing civilization have been secured. His memory goes back to the time when the leading cities of the county were but small villages, while some of the towns had not yet sprung into existence. Much of the land was covered with forest trees and little farming had as yet been done. With characteristic energy, how- ever, Mr. Miller began the work of improvement, not only for himself. but also in behalf of the county. Few men have been more widely known in this part of the state, and a genial manner and social disposition have gained him a very extensive circle of friends.

EZRA E. BEARDSLEY.

The history of Branch county shows a wonderful diversification of in- dustries, occupations and resources. gradually developed and grown from the days when it was a pioneer region with its first hardy settlers. In this highly organized community the historically interesting men are those who have been so successful in a certain line of work as to mark them prominent among their fellows, and one of these is Mr. E. E. Beardsley, of Bronson township, who fits into the life and activities of his county as one of the prom- inent stock farmers. His blooded horses. standard bred and registered, are a specialty of his in which he takes much pride and to which he gives much of his time, and it is through the more than ordinary success that he has gained in this direction that he has become such a well known and efficient factor in the material worth and prosperity of his county.

Thirty-five years in Branch county entitles him to a place among the old citizens, though little more than half his lifetime has been spent here. Of stanch New England ancestry, and inheriting its traits of hardy indus- try and thrifty honesty, he was born in Monroe, Fairfield county, Connecti- cut, August 31, 1839, a son of Elisha E. and Laura A. ( Burroughs) Beards- ley, both natives of the Nutmeg state, where their lives were spent till death. and both bearing names that have been honored in different spheres of the world's life for many generations.

After receiving an education in the common and high schools of his native county, Ezra E. began his career of serious endeavor by learning the trade of hat manufacturer in Yonkers, New York, and for a number of years. while he remained in the east, he was employed in that business. He engaged in the stock business when he came to Branch county in 1870, and this de- partment of farming enterprise, in which his long and broad experience ex- tends up to the present time. has gained for him recognition among the lead- ing horse breeders and raisers in this section of the state. His eight hun- dred acres of land, part of which is covered with timber, and his beautiful country residence, well built and furnished, form what is well acknowledged to be one of the best country estates in the county.

From the days of the Great Emancipator Mr. Beardsley has cast his vote and influence for the Republican party and policies, and fraternally he is affiliated with Mystic Lodge, F. & A. M., at Bronson.

He married, October 21, 1874, Miss Florence A. Holmes, a daughter of

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HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

Jonathan and Mary Holmes, Branch county pioneers who are mentioned else- where. Two children have been born of this union, Walton and Jessie G., who are both at home. Walton received a good high school education in the Bronson High School and took a business course in the Kalamazoo Busi- ness College. He is associated with his father in the stock business. Jessie G. took a high school course in the Bronson High School and then was a student in The Helmuth Ladies' Seminary at London, Canada. At present she is visiting in Washington, D. C., and the eastern states. She took in- strumental music and is an adept in china painting.

Mrs. Beardsley was born in Bronson, Branch county, December 15, 1853. and reared in this county. She was educated in Bronson and Hillsdale Col- lege. Her parents are both deceased. Her great-grandfather, Holmes, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and she has a mahogany stand over sev- enty-five years old. Their beautiful country seat is known as " The Ever- greens."

FRED PURDY.

Fred Purdy, following the occupation of farming on section thirty-three, Algansee township, is a native son of this county, his birth having occurred in Ovid township. September 27. 1862. His paternal grandfather, Horace Purdy, was a native of St. Andrews, Canada, and removed with his parents to Seneca county. Ohio, whence he came to Michigan with his brothers in 1836. His brother Ira settled in the town of California and built a small log cabin in 1836, but the brothers resided on Allen prairie. Horace was one of the first settlers in Algansee township, where he entered land from the government. The brothers both contributed in substantial measure to the early pioneer development of this part of the state, and Ira Purdy, living in California township, was depended upon to do the milling for his neighbors, and made long journeys with his splendid team of horses, going as far as Mishawaka, Indiana.

Orange Purdy, father of our subject, was born in Seneca county, Ohio, about 1830, and was brought by his parents to this state. He was one of a family of nine children, namely: Phoebe, the widow of Jonathan Bickford, and now living in Algansee with her son Ira; Erial, a resident of Algansee ; Laura, the deceased wife of James Nichols, of Algansee; Alexander and Isaac, both deceased : Sally, the deceased wife of S. Van Horn; Harrison, who is living in Coldwater township; Orange; and George, whose home is in Algansee.

Orange Purdy was reared to farm life amid pioneer surroundings in this county and attended the district schools. The occupation to which he was reared he made his life work, becoming one of the enterprising agri- culturists of the community. At the time of the Civil war he enlisted in the First Michigan Sharpshooters, becoming a member of the command in Sep- tember, 1864. He was in the hospital during the greater part of his service and he continued with the regiment until after the close of hostilities, in 1865. His political allegiance was given to the Republican party, which was the champion of the Union cause during the hour of the country's peril,

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HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

which has ever been the party of reform and progress. Socially he affiliated with the Masonic Lodge. He married Miss Martha F. Parker, who was born in Camden, Hillsdale county. this state. and was a daughter of Abel and Climena Parker, who came to Michigan in pioneer times. Mrs. Purdy was one of a family of eight children: Elias, a retired farmer residing in Montgomery, Hillsdale county, Michigan: Laura, who married William Dufur, and is now the widow of Fred Gallup; Mary Jane, the wife of Joseph Gandy, a farmer of De Kalb county. Illinois: Mrs. Jameson, Sarah and Martha, all deceased; Silas, a speculator living in Coldwater: and Char- lotte, the widow of John Garbutt, of Sycamore, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Orange Purdy became the parents of three children: Mandana, who was born July 24. 1860, and married Augustus Cleveland, of California town- ship; Fred, of this review: and Orange, who was born June 4. 1864, and is a farmer of Montana. The father departed this life in December, 1865. at the early age of thirty-five years, while his widow long survived and passed away in 1897, at the age of fifty-seven years.

Fred Purdy spent his boyhood days in the usual manner of farm lads, was a district school student and has always engaged in agricultural pur- suits. He has lived upon the farm which he now owns since two years of age, and has a splendid property of eighty acres on section thirty-three. Algansee township. the land being rich and productive and yielding him good harvests. In all of his work he is practical, and his labors have been crowned with a gratifying measure of success.

On the 29th of December. 1886. Mr. Purdy was united in marriage to Miss Agnes A. De Pue, who was born in California township, December 17. 1866. Her father, Jeremiah De Pue, a native of Marion county, Ohio, came to Michigan with his parents, Michale and Angeline De Pue. In his early boyhood days they had removed to Jamestown, and finally they came to Michigan, settling in Kinderhook township. Branch county. Jeremiah De Pue afterward became a resident of California township in the '50s. He was a farmer by occupation, but at the time of the Civil war put aside business and personal considerations in order to aid his country in establishing the supremacy of the Union. He was in the Civil war with the Ninth Michigan Cavalry, enlisting for three years and serving until the close of hostilities. during which time he participated in a number of important engagements, which aided in turning the tide of victory for the Union. He afterward be- came a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and he gave his political allegiance to the Republican party. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Isabelle Kelso, was born in Livingston county. New York, and is now sixty- nine years of age. The following is an interesting account of her family his- tory: In the days when the Scotch were so bitterly persecuted on account of their religious views, a Scottish family by the name of Kelso, in order to preserve their lives, fled to Ireland. In the haste they became separated from their only son, Hugh, who was in charge of his nurse. When they reached a place of safety they waited for tidings of the missing ones, but none came, and they supposed the child and his nurse to have been murdered by their persecutors. In a short time another son was born, and they, mourning for

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the first, named this one Hugh. After many years the faithful nurse, who had not been put to death after all, discovered the whereabouts of the family and came to them, bringing the older son Hugh, whom she had hid and saved. Two sons of the same name being unusual, they decided to call the older Scotch Hugh and the younger Irish Hugh, from the place of their birth. In the course of time Irish Hugh with his wife came to America to find a home in the new country. To them were born five sons and one daughter. Mrs. Isabelle Kelso De Pue, wife of Jerry De Pue, was a granddaughter of Irish Hugh, the daughter of his son, John Kelso. She holds membership in the Presbyterian church. She belonged to a family of eight children, of whom she was the eldest, the others being: Henry, now deceased; Marjorie, the deceased wife of Jacob Link: Robert K., living in California township; Mary, the wife of Alfred Dodd, a resident of Dakota; John K., a resident of Noble township; Thomas, also living in Noble; and Sarah, the wife of Byron Knight, of Noble; and Mrs. De Pue. Mr. De Pue had been one of six chil- dren : Sarah Jane, the wife of William Case, of Kinderhook, this state; Susan, the deceased wife of William Hughes; Catherine, the deceased wife of Andrew Crater; Levi, deceased; one who died unnamed; and Joseph, who is living in Ovid township. The parents of Mrs. Purdy had four children : Augustus, who was born in 1858, and is engaged in the manufacture of cigar boxes in Lansing, Michigan; Agnes A .; Sarah, the wife of Henry Straight, who is serving as county clerk of Branch county, Michigan, and makes his home in Coldwater; and Herbert, who died, aged fourteen months.

Mr. Purdy is a stanch advocate of the Republican party and is regarded as one of the active workers in its local ranks, his labors proving effective and beneficial. He served as township treasurer from 1892 until 1894, and in the spring of 1905 was elected supervisor of Algansee township. His wife is a member of the Presbyterian church. They are well-known residents of this community, enjoying in large measure the good will and friendship of those with whom they come in contact. In his farming relations he is prac- tical and at the same time conducts his work along lines of modern progress, so that he has a well developed property.

CHARLES W. OWEN.

Charles Wesley Owen, editor and proprietor of the Quincy (Michigan) Herald, was born in Monroe county, Michigan, July 24, 1846. His father, Armenius Owen, was a native of Saratoga county, New York, born in 1803, and was of Welch extraction. He married Miss Almyra Lynch, who was of Irish lineage, and was a native of Massachusetts. They settled on a new farm in Monroe county, Michigan, in 1832, and were among the hardy pioneers of that county. They reared a large family, six sons and five daugh- ters being born to them, all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood and all of whom are still living, with the exception of two sons, the subject of this sketch being the youngest but two of this large family. In 1848 the family moved to a farm one mile east of Manchester, Washtenaw county, Michigan, where Charles' boyhood days were spent, attending the school at East Man-

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chester during the winter months and the balance of the year working on the farm. being able to gain the mere rudiments of an education. Charles' father was an enthusiastic Republican from the first organization of that party under the oaks at Jackson, voting for Fremont, the first presidential candidate of that party, in 1856. and was an enthusiastic supporter of Lin- coln four years later, and he, with his older sons, carried torches in that memorable " Wide-Awake " campaign.

When the war broke out in 1861 three of Charles' older brothers were among the first to respond to their country's call for volunteers, George WV. enlisting in the Fourth Michigan Infantry. James and Joseph in the Thirty-third Illinois Infantry, and later, in the fall of 1862, on the organ- ization of the Eighteenth Michigan Infantry. William joined that regiment, in which he served until his death, from chronic diarrhoea, in the fall of 1864. May 8, 1862. Charles' mother died after a brief illness, and his father died in October, 1879, at the age of seventy-six years. His parents and brother William are sleeping in the village cemetery at Manchester.

In September. 1862, Charles commenced to learn the printers' trade in the Commercial office at Monroe. Michigan, under the late M. D. Hamilton. during the progress of the great Civil war. Being very patriotic. it was a matter of great regret to him that he was not old enough to enter the service early in the war, in which he took a lively interest. His first attempt to get into the service was in October. 1863, when he enlisted in the Ninth Michi- gan Cavalry, but being under age and small in stature he was obliged to give this up, as his father refused to give his consent. February 14, 1864, he made another unsuccessful attempt to get into the army by enlisting in the Eighteenth Michigan Infantry, when he with other recruits were taken to Detroit (his first visit to that city) for examination, but was rejected by the examining surgeon, being under age and too small. Being of a perse- vering nature and determined to get into the service in some capacity. in the latter part of March, 1864, he again went to Detroit and enlisted as drum- mer boy in the First Michigan Infantry. the re-enlisted men of that regi- ment then being home on veteran furlough, with headquarters in Detroit, and Charles made application to the commander of that regiment. Colonel William A. Throop. and finally succeeded in getting into that regiment, after making a trip home to get his father's consent. promising to give him all his bounty and pay if he would give his consent. which he did with reluctance. The day Charles donned the union blue is counted by him as one of the hap- piest of his life. After two weeks in barracks at Jackson, Charles and other recruits were sent to the front, receiving their equipment at Camp Distribu- tion at Alexandria, and reached the regimental camp at Beverly Ford, Vir- gina, about the middle of April, and on the arrival of the re-enlisted men, a day or two later, Charles was assigned to Company G, commanded by Captain C. W. Carrick, in which he had the honor of carrying a musket until the regiment was mustered out in July, 1865. May Ist the regiment broke camp and entered on the most severe campaign of the war. The First was in the Third brigade, First Division of the Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac, commanded respectively by Generals Bartlet, Griffin, Warren and

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Mead, with General Grant as commander-in-chief. The First Michigan was one of the regiments that opened the fight May 5th in the Wilderness, where, in the three days' fight, the regiment lost heavily in killed, wounded and prisoners. The night of May 7th the First marched all night to Spottsyl- vania, where another hard fight took place Sunday morning, May 8th, three unsuccessful charges being made to drive the enemy from an elevated posi- tion behind breastworks, the regiment sustaining another heavy loss in killed, wounded and prisoners, the subject of this sketch being among the latter. Monday, May 9, he with about four hundred other prisoners were marched all day under rebel guard to Beaver Dam Station, on the Virginia Central Railroad, where they were to be put aboard cars and sent to Richmond. Just before reaching the station the prisoners were overjoyed by the sudden ap- pearance of Sheridan's Cavalry force, who had just started out on the famous Richmond raid, and were again with their friends. The recaptured men re- mained with the Cavalry force on the raid, which was the most strenuous and exciting week of their lives. with nothing to eat except what they could beg from the Cavalrymen, and they were very glad when they again entered the union lines the following Saturday, May 14th, at Malvern Hill, on the James river. Sunday morning, the 15th, the liberated prisoners were put aboard a boat and taken to Alexandria, and after a few days' rest were given new equipment and sent back to the front. going by boat to Belle Plain Landing, from which place they acted as guard for a supply train, via Fredericksburg, reaching the army while they lay at North Anna river, May 26th, where Charles rejoined his regiment. The following night the army started on another flanking movement toward Richmond, participating in several hard fights in the vicinity of the Chickahominy river, and on June 16th crossed the James river and marched to Petersburg, where the army saw hard service, fighting and building fortifications during the long siege of that place, which ended in the spring of 1865, when the Fifth Corps, with Sheridan's Cavalry, started on the flank movement which ended with the surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox and the collapse of the rebellion, after four years of desperate fighting.

The First Michigan Infantry was one of the regiments detailed to re- ceive the arms and battle flags of General Lee's army after the surrender at Appomattox. Charles' brother George also served with the First Michi- gan from July, 1864, until the close of the war, and was also with the regi- ment at Appomattox. The veterans of the Fourth Michigan, in which George served three years, were consolidated with the First Michigan when the Fourth was disbanded about the first of July, 1864, at the expiration of their three years' service (the re-enlisted men only being transferred to the First), while the regiment lay in the trenches at Petersburg. George is also a prac- tical printer and for a number of years past has conducted a large job print- ing office at Norfolk, Virginia.

After Lee's surrender the army marched back through Petersburg and Richmond and then to Washington, where they went into camp until after the Grand Review, May 23, when the disbandment began. The First Michi- gan was detached from the army after returning to Petersburg, being detailed

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to guard the railroad between Burkville Junction and City Point, with head- quarters at the latter place, where they remained until the 16th of May, 1865. when they went to Alexandria by transport and went into camp on Arling- ton Heights, near Washington, participating in the Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac, May 23d. June 16th the regiment was put aboard of some flat cars (coal cars) and went to Parkersburg on the Baltimore & Ohio railway, and thence to Louisville, Kentucky, by boat down the Ohio river, reaching that city the morning of the 21st. Later in the day the regiment went into camp across the river at Jeffersonville, Indiana, where they were mustered out July 9th, and started for home the Ioth, reaching Jackson, Michigan, on the 12th. where a fine banquet awaited them, prepared by the good people of that city. On July 21st the regiment was paid off and dis- banded.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of Branch County, Michigan, Part 97

Author: Collin, Henry P Publication date: 1906 Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Collin, Henry P
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing
Number of Pages: 1198