USA > Michigan > Allegan County > A twentieth century history of Allegan County, Michigan > Part 38
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He was married in his twentieth year, in November, 1874, to Miss Elizabeth Carpenter, of Illinois, and although they have no children of their own, still their home has been brightened by the presence of two
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adopted children. Anna Plant made her home with them from the time she was four years old until her marriage, while Edward Terry, a son of Mrs. Clark's niece, was born in the Clark home and still lives there. he now being a bright lad of eight years. Although essentially a very busy man, still Mr. Clark finds time for pleasure and recreation. He is an enthusiastic hunter and each autumn or winter sees him in northern Michigan, spending a few weeks in hunting. He is generally successful in his pursuit of game and exhibits some fine trophies of the chase. He also has a cottage at Gun Lake and spends much time during the summers. He is also an autoist, owning a fine machine, and he finds good roads and plenty of sport in this line at the lake. Fraternally he is affiliated with the I. O. O. F. and the K. O. T. M., both of the local lodges being fine social organizations. He has passed all of the chairs in the Odd Fellows' Lodge and been a representa- tive to the Grand Lodge, and has also been commander of the Maccabee lodge for three or four years. He is also an attendant of the Congrega- tional church and gives support to this society. Mr. Clark is an all round genial man whom it is a pleasure to meet. Although deeply interested in his flourishing business he keenly enjoys the social side of life and enters into innocent enjoyment with all the zest of a boy. He is an important factor in the life of Wayland and his home is a most popular one.
ISAAC NEWTON HOYT .- Wayland and vicinity have contained many men who had much to do with the lumber interests of Michigan, but none of them, perhaps, has to his record more of accomplishment in this direc- tion than the gentleman whose name heads this review. Mr. Isaac N. Hoyt. He was connected with this line of business for more than forty years and his operations in pine and other timber have been extensive.
Mr. Hoyt was born in Lafayette. Onondaga county, New York, Octo- ber 1. 1834, he being one of a faimly of eleven children. His father died when he was only seven years old and in consequence he went to live with other relatives, where he remained until he reached the age of sixteen years. Then, desiring to earn his own living and become more independent. he went to Lockport. New York, and engaged in the line which was to occupy so much of his after life. He found employment in a shingle mill at Lock- port and here he remained for three years, obtaining meanwhile a good practical knowledge of the business. Then, attracted by the emigration westward, he went to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he went to work in a machine shop. He had been there but a short time when Detroit parties with a new machine for shingle making came to the shop where he was engaged to purchase an engine to furnish power for a shingle mill they intended to establish in Allegan county. Meeting young Hoyt and learning of his previous experience in the shingle manufacturing line, they engaged him to labor in their new mill. This was first established near Shelbyville. but there being a scarcity of desirable timber there. it was later removed to Wayland, Mr. Hoyt accompanying it. In the spring of 1855 he was induced to go to Michigan City, Indiana, where were located his brothers. Edwin and William. There he remained until the spring of 1857. working in the car shops. But his memories of Wayland and the advantages it offered were so strong that he resolved to return here and he induced his two brothers to accompany him. At Wayland they established a shingle
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mill and our subject continued in this line until soon after the outbreak of the war of the rebellion. Then he enlisted, in August, 1862, in the First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics, and served until the close of the war, in June, 1865.
Returning to Wayland he engaged in business with Marvin Burnett and they operated a shingle mill at Dorr for three years. Then he returned to Wayland and engaged in the lumber business, which he followed until his retirement in 1893. The lumber business now conducted by A. H. Clark at Wayland is the one established by him and which he conducted for so many years.
Mr. Hoyt's marriage occurred November 21, 1858, when he was united with Miss Ellen Truman. She was born October 17. 1836, in Burton, Geauga county, Ohio, where her girlhood years were spent with her par- ents. She came to Wayland in 1857 and the following year her acquaint- ance with Mr. Hoyt having ripened into love, she was united in marriage with him. This union has resulted in the birth of three children, as fol- lows: Lillian E. is the wife of H. F. Buskirk; Elmer T. died in infancy ; Fanny, the youngest, resides at home with her parents.
Although seventy-two years of age, Mr. Hoyt still enjoys the outdoor sports, and he has for many years been an annual hunter in the Upper Peninsula and many trophies testify to his skill in the hunting line. In the heated season his cottage at Gun Lake also affords him much enjoyment and he is an ardent disciple of Isaak Walton. His has been an active life, and now that he is retired from business he keenly enjoys these innocent di- versions. He has been a Mason for the past thirty-eight years, and bears the distinction of being the oldest member of this fraternity raised to the third degree in the Wayland lodge. He is deeply interested in Masonic mat- ters and has upon several different occasions sat in the Michigan Grand Lodge. As is consistent with his army record he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and is a past commander of Sterling Post 174. His has been a long and honorable carcer, and now he is enjoying a well de- served respite from the active duties of business.
WILLIAM STOCKDALE, one of Wayland's sterling citizens, has to his credit a service of no less than forty-seven years at the blacksmith's anvil in this place, he having retired from this avocation only a year ago. It has been a long period of honest toil, and during his long residence here he has won the entire confidence and esteem of the entire citizenship. Mr. Stockdale is English by birth and ancestry, he first seeing the light of day in Lincolnshire, that country, November 23, 1842. His parents were Will- iam and Jane (Pridgeon) Stockdale, who spent their early married life in Lincolnshire, coming to America in 1854, when our subject was only a lad. They located in Branch county on a farm, where the remainder of their lives was passed, each being close to eighty years of age at the time of their deaths. William Stockdale's brother, David Stockdale, had learned the blacksmith trade in England and followed his trade for a number of years after coming to this country. He established a shop at Wayland and here, at the age of seventeen years, William began to learn the trade with his father in Branch county, and in 1859 joined his brother at Wayland. In 1862 he opened a shop of his own, which he personally conducted for forty-
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three years, this, with the two years' service with David and two years . with his father, making him forty-seven years at the anvil. He has been considered as an expert in his line, and commanded a trade from a very wide territory, in wagon ironing, horseshoeing and general blacksmithing.
His good judgment and eminent fitness for positions of trust and responsibility have led to his selection on many occasions to serve his towns- men in a public capacity, and he has always performed his duties in this direction to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. He has been town- ship treasurer of Wayland township, and since the incorporation of the village of Wayland has been a member of the village board of trustees sev- eral terms, besides serving as village president for four terms. He was an ardent Democrat until the Cleveland presidential administration, and since that time has been independent in his views, voting for the men whom he considers best qualified to fill the offices in question. As is so natural with many blacksmiths, he has always been a lover of good horses, and for thirty years he has been a breeder of good roadsters as well as of Percherons. He has owned as many as thirteen horses at one time, among them some fast ones, and he has been chosen many times to act as judge of horses at fairs and horse shows.
He was married July 22, 1862, to Elizabeth Murphy, daughter of . James and Elizabeth (Osterhaut) Murphy, the former being a carpenter, and the family residing in Kalamazoo. Mr. and Mrs. Stockdale are the parents of six children, all of whom are living, as follows: James Henry is a blacksmith at Three Rivers, Michigan ; Charles lives in Grand Rapids, where he is in the employ of the street railway company: Alta married J. B. Foster and their home is in Huron, South Dakota, where Mr. Foster is state veterinarian : Jennie is the wife of Rev. J. T. Walker, pastor of the Congregational church at Dowagiac, Michigan; Kate is now the wife of John Williamson, a contractor at Grand Rapids ; Nellie May is a successful saleslady at Grand Rapids. Alta and Jennie were formerly considered among the best school teachers of Allegan county, and they followed this profession for several years each.
Fraternally Mr. Stockdale is a Mason, being affiliated with the lodges at Wayland. In addition to his love for fine horse flesh. he is somewhat of a sportsman and enjoys nothing better than the annual hunting trips into the northern part of the state, where he has good success in capturing big game.
E. H. RYNO, M. D .- In the career of Dr. E. H. Ryno, of Wayland, we find a man who, after a quarter of a century spent in the successful practice of medicine, abandons his profession and. turning his attention in entirely different channels, achieves another notable success in the growing of fruit. Then, not content with merely producing the fruit, which ofttimes cannot be marketed at the proper times, or its real value being depreciated because of a temporary drop in the price, he turned his attention to this phase of the question and solved it by building a canning factory on his farm, where the fruit could be prepared for consumption which might not come for many months ahead. Thus he annihilated the constant bugbear of the fruit grower, and so far as he was concerned provided for the care of his crop and guaranteed the income therefrom to be somewhere near its true value.
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In so doing he has also not benefited himself alone, but others, for his example has been followed in many instances.
Dr. Ryno was born in Seneca county, Ohio, October 23, 1848, and that was his home until he had reached the age of fifteen years. Then he came with his parents to Kent county, Michigan, and was on the home farm and also a student in the Grand Rapids high school until 1870. In the autumn of that year he began the study of medicine with Dr. Hanlon, at Middle- ville, Barry county, which he continued for several years. This was fol- lowed by a course at the Hahnemann Medical College, at Chicago, in 1874. In 1875 he located at Wayland, but in 1879 returned to Chicago, and gradu- ated with the class of 1880. He continued most successfully in practice in Wayland until 1894, when he removed to his farm in Wayland township and devoted his attention to fruit growing, a line which he has followed ever since, and in which he has been engaged since 1883. Now he gives but little attention to medicine, and only responds when there is an urgent and special call for his services.
While still practicing his profession, Dr. Ryno purchased his farm a mile and a half out of Wayland and devoted some attention to fruit. He accomplished much in this direction before and since he removed to the farm. He set out his fruit orchard in 1883, and his one hundred and fifty acres is mainly devoted to fruit, including grapes and berries. About ninety acres are planted to good varieties of upland fruit, and he is one of the pioneers in successful peach growing in this immediate vicinity. Since his first crop in 1895 he has missed but two crops, something remarkable in this somewhat uncertain line. He has given the fruit question no little study and discovered many things of value and importance. He soon learned that in the marketing of the crop it must be handled carefully, swiftly, and placed upon the market in prime condition to bring the top- notch prices, and that frequently it was impossible to so market the fruit that it would bring anywhere near its real value. It was hard enough to raise the fruit, and it seemed to be still harder to market it properly. Then it was that Dr. Ryno's plan was formulated to erect a canning factory, and if the product could not be properly sold in its natural state, then it could be canned and await consumption. Accordingly he built and equipped a first class canning factory upon his own farm in 1901, and the very first vear's trial proved its value, canning in that year seven thousand bushels. In 1902 he canned eight thousand bushels of his own growing, and in 1905 forty-two hundred bushels were cared for here, besides twenty-five hundred bushels which were placed on the market. The facilities of the factory were ample enough to care for his entire crop if required. The decision is simple-if the prices do not suit, then turn the product into the factory. Dr. Ryno's factory is devoted exclusively to his own crop. In addition to peaches, about twelve hundred bushels of plums are also raised on this farm. Dr. Ryno does a little in the way of general farming, and he has some excellent live stock, taking particular pride in his flock of Shropshire sheep. His farm is well cared for and the buildings are good ones. In addition to the large canning factory, which, during the canning season employs over one hundred hands, he has a large warehouse for the storing of the fruit and the canned goods. Dr. Ryno was married in his twenty- eighth year, in 1876, to Miss Sarah J. Beamer, of Barry county. Their
MR. AND MRS. VALENTINE S. FISH
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union has been blessed with the birth of three children, as follows: George E., the eldest, who married a daughter of Judge Stockdale, and is now con- ducting his father's farm; Earl Roscoe Ryno, who is a stockbroker and special promoter in Detroit, where he is also secretary and treasurer of the St. Claire Automarine Company, and who married Miss Dedie Brydle, of Detroit ; and Ethel, who lives at home and who is pursuing her studies in the public schools.
In politics Dr. Ryno is a Republican. Never an aspirant for office himself, still he has been active in politics and has been instrumental many times in securing offices for his friends. He has done much for the devel- opment of the fruit industry in Wayland and vicinity, winning success for himself and also disseminating his acquired knowledge in this line for the benefit of others.
VALENTINE S. FISH, who in company with his son conducts a livery business in Wayland, is a native of the Green Mountain state, he having been born at Warren, Vermont, March 11, 1842. His early life was passed upon a farm there until 1869, when, believing that the west offered bette! advantages for a young man, he came to Michigan, locating first at Grand Rapids, where he engaged in the wholesale meat business, having one of the largest establishments of its kind in the city and transacting a very large volume of business. In 1881 he sold his interests in Grand Rapids and came to Allegan county, buying the D. Parsons farm, one mile west of Wayland. He kept adding to this farm by the purchase of more land until he had three hundred and sixty acres. He transformed this property into one of the finest stock farms in western Michigan, making valuable improvements during each year of his ownership. A handsome residence was erected, the same being thoroughly modern in all of its appointments, while the other new structures he built included a fine basement barn sixty by sixty-two feet in size and with an addition twenty by forty feet. This barn was a model in its way, the interior being admirably adapted to the purposes for which it was used. Mr. Fish had some advanced views in regard to cattle breeding and these he put into successful operation. He made a specialty of Aberdeen Angus cattle, and in a very few years he had a magnificent herd of these valuable animals. He was the first one in this part of Allegan county to breed the Aberdeen Angus, and his experience was watched with interest. His herd constantly contained from seventy- five to ninety head of this breed, and they were the choicest of their kind. He obtained a wide reputation as a breeder of the Aberdeen Angus, and as he advertised extensively and judiciously, he obtained fancy prices for his best animals. He did much to improve the standard of cattle in this section and demonstrated the fact that there is money in breeding good stock- particularly the Angus cattle. In addition to his breeding Mr. Fish also did a large business in the feeding of cattle for the market. In June, 1905. he sold his valuable property to Mr. Frank Cooch, of Illinois, and sold his stock at auction, then removing to the village of Wayland, where he after- ward purchased the livery stable and stock which has since been conducted under the firm name of Fish & Son.
Mr. Fish was married at Grand Rapids in 1878 to Miss Grace L. Stearns of that city, and this union resulted in the birth of one son, Jay H.,
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who is a partner with his father in the livery business. They have a well- equipped livery and transact a large business. Mrs. Fish died August II, 1902.
Mr. Fish is a Republican politically, although never a seeker after office. Like many other residents of Allegan county, he is an enthusiastic hunter, hugely enjoying his regular trips to the northern part of the state, where he meets with good success in capturing big game.
FRANK COOCH .- Although a resident of Michigan and Wayland but a short time, Mr. Cooch has already demonstrated the fact that he is an active and progressive man of advanced ideas, who will make a valued addition to the citizenship of this specially favored region.
Mr. Cooch is a native of Butler county, Ohio, where he was born May 22, 1851. His early life was passed in that region, and at the age of nine- teen he accompanied his mother to Douglas county, Illinois, and took charge of a two hundred and forty acre farm, upon which many improve- ments were required. He established an extensive and thorough drainage system there, laying thirty-inch tile for mains eight feet below the surface, and connecting this with smaller laterals which spread all over the large farm. The crops raised here were corn, oats and broom corn, and the farm was made a most productive one. He resided for ten years on this place and twenty years on another, and then decided to try Michigan, concerning which he had heard so much and with which he was favorably impressed as an agricultural region. He spent some time in traveling over this state, inspecting various pieces of property and finally decided that the vicinity of Wayland held just what he desired for a stock farm. Accordingly, in June, 1905, he purchased the stock farm of one hundred and sixty-seven acres and the Fish farm of three hundred and sixty acres, the latter lying partially within the corporate limits of the village of Wayland. Both are handsome pieces of property, equipped with excellent buildings, including large and modern houses and barns. He removed here the first of February, 1906, and took possession of his newly purchased property, and at once began the improvements which he considered necessary to make the property a model place for the breeding and raising of thoroughbred live stock. Already he is carrying out his ideas of drainage, learned in Illinois, and has laid two hundred and eight rods of twelve and fourteen inch tile as mains on the stock farm and contemplates still more work of this kind. His specialties in the line of live stock are Aberdeen Angus cattle, Shropshire sheep and Poland China swine, and already he has established a herd of twenty thor- oughbred Angus cows, selecting none but the best of stock. His cattle are all registered animals, and Mr. Cooch intends to hold his standard in this direction at a very high mark. The same idea will also prevail with his sheep and swine and all stock on these farms will be the very best of its kind to be obtained or bred.
Mr. Cooch was married November 28, 1880, to Miss Joanna Hancock, of Douglas county, Illinois, and they have an interesting family of four sons and one daughter, as follows: Harry and Bertie live upon the Fish farm, while Fred, Charlie and Verona live at home with their parents.
Mr. Cooch is a Democrat in politics, although he is no politician and merely takes an ordinary interest in affairs of this sort. Fraternally he is
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affiliated with the Masons and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is fond of outdoor life and in the way of amusement likes nothing better than hunting and fishing.
Mr. Cooch's past experience has taught him that there is a large and profitable business to be done in his chosen line, particularly with the right management and the right kind of a base for operations, coupled with well selected lines of stock. He has made a thorough study of the question in all its bearings, and it would seem that he cannot fail of success. The people of Wayland and vicinity gladly welcome him and the members of his family to their midst and wish for him unlimited success.
ALANSON A. TANNER has led a remarkably active and useful life and has done even more than his share of labor in the settlement and develop- ment of a new country, and now he is spending his declining days in retire- ment from the active duties of life, although still taking a keen interest in the affairs of the day and in all that goes to make toward better citizenship.
He was born in Chester, Geauga county, Ohio, December 28, 1831. The family had come from Chester, Massachusetts, to Ohio in 1812, the memorable year that saw our second conflict with Great Britain, and they, with other settlers from Massachusetts, named their new home after the Massachusetts Chester. In making the arduous journey into the middle west they traveled after the primitive manner of the times, taking several weeks for the journey, and they passed through Buffalo, New York, just after that city had been burned. Alanson Tanner grew to manhood upon the new farm in Ohio, and in these early years imbibed a thorough knowl- edge of and a liking for agriculture. In 1855 he became imbued with the western fever, which seems ever present in the veins of Young America, and started for Illinois. No doubt this desire to go to Illinois was increased by the fact that he had married and that his wife's parents had already gone into the west. His marriage to Laura Burlingame occurred January 3, 1855, and her father, Harding Burlingame, was then living in Illinois. While passing through southern Michigan on their western journey they encountered Eli F. Clark, a former Ohio neighbor, at Blissfield. Mr. Clark had met with misfortune in a swamp, his wagon breaking down, and he re- mained at Blissfield during the winter, although he afterward journeyed to Illinois, as is related elsewhere in this volume. Arriving in Illinois, young Tanner obtained work from an uncle, and the newly married couple re- mained there for two years. Harding Burlingame was a noted hunter and he was anxious to get into a country where there was more game than in Illinois, so accordingly he and his daughter and her husband, with several other old-time friends, came to Michigan. Mr. Burlingame located in Hop- kins township, Allegan county, where he passed the remainder of his life. dying here at the age of seventy years. Alanson Tanner also located in Hopkins township upon a tract of new land which was a veritable wilder- ness. This was in the month of April, 1856, and he chopped off twenty- four of the eighty acres. Owing to the panic of 1857 he lost his farm and was obliged to sell it, receiving only about seventy-five dollars in cash for it with all its improvements. Then he moved into Dorr township and pur- chased another tract. It was swamp land, but very rich, and he began im- proving the same, frequently working for Mr. Chambers at Wayland, and
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for Mr. Sanders, the only men here at that time who were able to pay for labor. His first house, in which he lived for eleven years, was a log struc- ture only sixteen feet square. After he had this forty acres in good shape in 1871 he erected a good house, which compared favorably with any in the section. He added more land as lie could until he had two hundred and sixty acres, the most of which was wild land when purchased. Since that time he has been the owner of more than one thousand acres and has ini- proved all of it more or less. In addition to clearing his own land, he worked for fifteen years in the timber woods, the most of the time by the day. He finally sold all of his land excepting the old home place and in 1894 removed to Wayland, where he has since led a retired life. The old homestead was finally sold and he purchased village property in Wayland, owning at one time six full blocks, although one-half of this has since been disposed of. His real estate holdings also now include three farms with improvements in the township of Dorr. In his land investments Mr. Tan- ner has used rare good judgment and has selected none but fertile land. He has followed mixed farming for many years and has made a specialty of raising swine and sheep, besides doing considerable in the dairy line.
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