USA > Michigan > Allegan County > A twentieth century history of Allegan County, Michigan > Part 45
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Returning to Iowa, Mr. Tooker was for one season employed at farm labor there by his brother, and in November, 1865, he returned to Tonia county, Michigan. Having established a home of his own he sought a companion and helpmate for life's journey and was married there to Miss Elizabeth Rice of that county. He afterward removed to Allegan county, where his sister, Mrs. Philander Baird, was living. He purchased his present farm, but it was then a tract of wild land. He had worked at the plasterer's trade for years, being employed all over Allegan county, but resolving to turn his attention to agricultural pursuits he established a little home in the midst of the forest, his cabin being only sixteen by twenty-four feet. Recently he has replaced this by a more commodious and modern residence. With characteristic energy he began the arduous task of clearing his land, and in 1871, at the time of the great forest fire, it was burned over. Much of the timber had then been cut and he had a fine sugar orchard, which also was a good source of income to him. His first team was a yoke of wild steers and he performed all the tasks of clearing and developing his farm in the primitive manner of the times when much manual labor was required because of the lack of farm implements that invention has later brought. In 1900, after building a fine bank barn, Mr. Tooker suffered, a stroke of paralysis and lost the use of his left hand. The government allowed him a total disability pension, which was readily granted. Since that time Mr. Tooker has retired from active farm work and has since given to his son Ray the home place, while another son, Ernest W. Tooker, has a ten-acre tract of land and thirty acres still remains in possession of our subject. His son, however, utilizes his land and in return gives a home to his parents.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Tooker have been born four sons and one daughter : Ernest W., who is both a plasterer and farmer ; Harry L., in the village of Hopkins; Frank L., of Allegan ; Raymond, who is living on the old home- stead ; and Lená B., the wife of Leon Mason, a jeweler of Hopkins. Ray- mond served in the Spanish-American war in Cuba with the Thirty-third Michigan Infantry. He is now operating the old home place and is one of the enterprising farmers of this county. His wife was Minnie Horner, a daughter of Martin Horner, and they now have three daughters-Lela, Allie and Emma Belle.
Mr. Tooker belongs to Harlow Briggs Post No. 80, G. A. R., and although he has never had opportunity to attend a regiment reunion he attended the National Encampment at Milwaukee. He thoroughly enjoys fishing and spends much of his time in that way, having practically retired from business life.
I M. Eggleston in Wife.
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SAMUEL M. EGGLESTON .- The history of Samuel M. Eggleston if writ- ten in detail would present a very complete and typical picture of pioneer life in this portion of Michigan, for he was identified with the work of development as Allegan county was cleared from the forest and converted from a timbered region into an agricultural district, rich with its possibili- ties for the raising of grain and fruit. He is now living retired in Hopkins, a life of labor being crowned with an age of ease. His birth occurred in Aurora, Portage county, Ohio, October 20, 1831, his parents being J. K. and Lucy (Buckley) Eggleston, who were married in Aurora. The father was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, in 1806, and when a child of two or three years went to Ohio. There were five brothers in the family, all of whom settled in Aurora, Ohio, one of these being General Eggleston. The house stood within twenty miles of Lake Erie and the father of our subject well remembered hearing all day long the guns that were fired in the naval battle when Perry won his great victory on that lake. He con- tinued a resident of Aurora up to the time of his death, which occurred in his eighty-fourth year.
Samuel M. Eggleston was reared in his father's home, where he remained until twenty-four years of age, although in the meantime he spent two winters in the pine woods near Saginaw. Michigan. He was married at the age of twenty-four years to Miss Eliza M. Smith, who was born in Bainbridge, the township adjoining the one in which Mr. Eggleston lived. The wedding ceremony was performed on Christmas day of 1855, and in 1905 they celebrated their golden wedding at their home in Hopkins with a company of fifty-four persons, including his brothers from Ohio and other relatives. After three years spent upon the old home farm of his wife in Bainbridge township. Portage county, Ohio, they removed to Allegan county in October. 1858. Mr. Eggleston had traded his property for an eighty-acre tract of land in Hopkins township. on which he settled without having previously seen it. It had been owned by a relative. Here in the midst of the forest he built a little cabin, in which he lived for two years. He afterward erected and occupied a log house. Immediately he planted a crop of corn and he had enough to live upon, so that he could concentrate his energies upon clearing and developing his own land. The first year. 1859, however, they had frost every month, even up to the 4th of July, but he harvested some soft corn. The next year, however, a good crop was gathered, so that he made progress, and year by year added somewhat to his advancement and prosperity. After about ten years he was enabled to build a good frame house, which is still in a creditable state of preserva- tion. He also added to his original purchase of forty acres of wild land. He got nothing from the timber, which was then regarded as of little value. and was burned in order to get rid of it that the work of developing the fields might be carried forward. Upon his farm was a fine sugar bush covering thirty-five acres, and one of the special branches of his business was the making of maple sugar. In a single season he has made fifty-four hundred pounds of maple sugar, which sold for from ten to eighteen and a half cents per pound. He has sold sugar to the value of five hundred dollars in a single season and even as late as three years ago he realized four hundred and fifty dollars from his sugar. He won a wide reputation for the excellence of his product and he has shipped quite extensively to parties
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at a distance. His sugar bush was a constant source of income to him all these years, while the fields also brought him good crops. He continued upon the old homestead for forty-six years, or until about two years ago and made it one of the best farms in the township, equipped with modern conveniences and accessories. He then retired to Hopkins, where he is now resting from further labor.
Mr. Eggleston has also figured prominently in local affairs and has filled the leading offices in this township, serving as township supervisor and in other positions. He voted for the first Republican presidential candi- date, Fremont, in 1856. He has supported each candidate at the head of the party since that time, but at local elections, where no issue is involved and only the capability of the candidate should be considered, he casts an independent ballot, voting for the best men.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Eggleston were born the following named: Lizzie is the wife of William Kintner, a resident of Colorado City, Colorado. Nellie is the wife of William Rinehart, of Dorr. Charles died October 31, 1899, at the age of thirty-six years. He had married Minnie Thompson and left a daughter, Ruby. He occupied a second house upon the old home- stead farm, which had been built for him by his father. Ava is the wife of Frank Tooker, of Allegan, and has two children, Vera and Rena. Mr. and Mrs. Eggleston are members of the Congregational church, and he was formerly a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and passed all of the chairs in the local lodge. His memory compasses the period of early pioneer life and experiences here as well as the epoch of later development and progress. In the early days, when much wild game existed, he shot and killed a deer, but said he would never kill another. He helped lay out and cut many of the roads in his part of the township and now sees the finest kind of highways there. His coming resulted in other families also taking up their abode in Allegan county and altogether he has been a valued citizen here, doing much for the county and at the same time promoting his individual success by business methods which have neither sought nor required disguise.
PETER KNOBLOCH .- In the face of opposition and difficulties that would utterly have discouraged a man of less resolute spirit and enterprise, Peter Knobloch, now one of the venerable citizens of Hopkins, has worked his way steadily upward, and though he started out in life empty-handed he is now in possession of a comfortable competence that enables him in the evening of his days to enjoy the comforts of life without recourse to further labor. He was born in the village of Mambochel, in the Rhine province of Germany, November 2, 1822. As a school boy he read letters from young men who had come to America and would write back to their friends and families in Germany. This awakened his interest in the new world and he began to read everything that he could find upon the subject. As his people were in limited financial circumstances he learned the shoemaker's trade, serving a three years' apprenticeship. All this time he was imbued with the desire to become a resident of the new world, and on the IIth of June, 1846, he started for the United States. Taking passage on a vessel at Kreitznauer, sixteen miles above Bingo and at Rotterdam, he traveled by ocean steamer for London and from the latter place sailed for the United
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States on a sailing ship, Paola, which was eight weeks in making the voyage from London to Baltimore, Maryland. He then went on to Pitts- burg with the company with which he had made the voyage. He had borrowed his passage money from one of the men of the party and he had to borrow four dollars of the same man in order to reach Pittsburg, the journey being made by way of the canal to the vicinity of Allegheny City, where they found that the canal was broken. On reaching the bridge at Pittsburg Mr. Knobloch had but one cent and he had to borrow another cent in order to pay his toll across the bridge. Three days later he bor- rowed more to pay the hotel bill, but his lack of funds rendered immediate employment a necessity and he resolutely set to work to secure employment. In a few days he had arranged to work at the shoemaker's bench at four dollars per month, and he was thus employed for three months, receiving twelve dollars in recompense for his services. He afterward earned seven dollars per month in this way and later he worked at piecework, receiving about a dollar per day. In six months he had paid off all of his indebted- ness and his old friends in Germany, surprised at the rapidity with which he had gained the money, thought that some day he would certainly be the richest man in America. His mother, who was a good Christian woman, had made him promise that he would not work on Sunday. She strongly opposed his emigration to the new world and in fact had rolled on the ground in agony when he had made his departure, but when she saw how well he was doing she urged his younger brother, Adam, to come to the new world, and Peter Knobloch sent the money for Adam to pay his passage after being in Pittsburg for two years. About 1848 he established a shoe shop at New Castle, Pennsylvania, and became an expert at sewed work. Later he sent for a younger brother, Michel, who died at New Castle, Pennsylvania. Adam lives now in Monterey township, Allegan county.
It was about this time that Mr. Knobloch, on the IIth of August, 1848, was married at New Castle to Miss Hannah Becker, also a native of Germany, who had been in America, however, for about ten years. As Mr. Knobloch had just sent money home to pay the passage of his brother Michel to the new world he had to borrow money to pay the marriage fee and also went in debt seventy-five dollars for furnishing the new home. He then sold his shop to pay off the indebtedness and worked for another shoemaker who was an expert bootmaker. His work was so far ahead of anything that Mr. Knobloch had seen that he asked to be instructed in the work, and in six weeks' time his own labor could excel that of his employer and he was known as the best bootmaker in Pennsylvania, making all of the wedding boots of the town. In this way he made about twelve dollars per week, which was a good salary at that day. He had continued to work for others for about ten years, or until 1856, and in the meantime had built a home in New Castle.
His brother Adam, however, had come to Michigan in 1854 and had purchased land in Monterey township. As the work at the bench did not agree with Mr. Knobloch's health he determined also to come to Michigan, and in 1856 he made his way to Allegan county. His brother Adam dis- played to him with just pride his eighty acres of heavy wooded land, the soil, however, being rich and productive. Mr. Knobloch at once secured a claim for himself, paying three dollars and a half per acre. The money
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which he had saved in the east was sufficient to enable him to pay for the claim and give him a nice start with a team of oxen and other needed equipments for the farm. In order to clear the land, however, he burned up the timber, which would now be very valuable. He placed all his farm under cultivation and erected thercon a large barn and a commodious and substantial residence. There he lived for twenty years, when he sold the property to his son-in-law, after which he purchased a farm of one hundred acres for six thousand dollars, paying two thousand dollars cash, while in four years he discharged the entire indebtedness, having made most of the sumn from his farm, which lay one mile south of Monterey Center, and he remained upon that place for many years. In the meantime he had pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres in Hopkins township, which he sold to his son Charles. Later he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, after which he was fifteen thousand dollars in debt and had to pay from eight to ten per cent interest on his money. This place adjoined the old homestead and he took charge of and operated the two farms. No one thought he could pay for the property, but in fifteen years, after much earnest and unremitting toil, the place was free from all indebtedness. He had made all of the payments when due and he has since sold both of these farms for seventeen thousand dollars, since which time he has given the greater part of his money to his children.
In 1897 Mr. Knobloch was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 18th of April of that year, after having been an invalid for eight years, during which time her every wish and want was attended to by her faithful daughter, Hannah. In the family were eight children : Charles, who is a farmer of Hopkins township; Amelia, the wife of William Kim- mer, who owns the first farm which was the property of her father ; Cather- ine, the wife of Alexander Millheim, of Allegan township; Lizzie, who is the widow of Henry McAlpine, and a resident of Allegan ; Julius, a farmer of Monterey township ; Willie, a farmer of Trowbridge ; Emma, the wife of William Garst, of Logansport; and Hannah, who is still acting as her father's housekeeper. Beside their own eight children, Mr. and Mrs. Knob- loch gave homes to four others, Hannah, Joseph, Minnie and John Eisen- barth, having all been reared by these good people.
Mr. Knobloch has led a most active life, and even in 1905 made a full hand on the farm. He is still hale and hearty, being one of the best pre- served men of his age in this part of the county. In his younger life he was athletic and was never thrown, and he is still wiry and strong. He pos- sesses also a firm spirit, and when he realized that the use of intoxicants was proving detrimental he ccased their use. He also did the same with tobacco. He has been strictly honest and honorable in all life's relations and is a man who has stood firmly by his principles. He has no enemies and he possesses a spirit that would prompt him, if he had one, to hunt him up and make all square with him. He would rather lose than to sue another, and he has always been just to the point of mercy in all his business dealings. His wife was ever ready to lend him her encouragement and aid.and made him a most excellent helpmeet. In his political views he has always been a stalwart Democrat, never but once casting a Republican vote. Hc was reared in the faith of the Lutheran church and became one of the original members at Hopkins, being now the oldest of the charter members remaining.
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GOTTFRIED KNUTH is on the third farm that was settled in Hopkins township, it having become the property of Harvey Baker in 1836. It is pleasantly located about a mile and a half east of Hopkins station and com- prises eighty acres of land, which has been placed under a high state of cul- tivation. Mr. Knuth was born in West Prussia, Germany, on the IIth of May, 1856, and came to America in 1871 when a youth of fifteen years. He was the first of the family to cross the Atlantic, having become imbued with a desire to see the world, and, in company with the family of Samuel Brown, he crossed the briny deep and came to Allegan county. He had expected to go to South Carolina, but at New York he changed his mind and he has since made Allegan county his home. He had no capital at the time of his arrival, and the necessity for immediate employment prompted him to seek work as a farm hand. He was not long in obtaining a situation and for fif- teen years continued to work by the month at farm labor, although at inter- vals he was employed on the railroad. Ambitious, however, to have a farm of his own, he started in with forty acres of wild land in 1876. Immediately he began to cultivate and improve the place and had put the entire area under cultivation when he accepted it for his present farm in 1899. This was orig- inally occupied by Harvey Baker, and is in what is known as the Baker set- tlement, several members of the family having taken up their abode in this locality. The original owner died upon the farm and it then passed into possession of his son Eugene, who is also now deceased. The place com- prises eighty acres of land, which is rich and productive and in the midst of which stands a good residence, which was erected in 1902 at a cost of about one thousand eight hundred dollars. In the summer of 1899 he built a barn and his time and energies are given to general farming, which he suc- cessfully follows. He also keeps from ten to twelve cows upon his place, and in addition to the homestead he has a forty-acre tract of land in the same locality which he is also operating.
Mr. Knuth has never returned to Germany since first crossing the Atlantic. Three years after his arrival his parents, Michael and Mary Knuth, came and spent their remaining days in Hopkins township. Three brothers, August, William and Edward Knuth, also emigrated to the new world and are still residents of Hopkins township. Thus Mr. Knuth of this review became surrounded by his relatives, and when thirty years of age he established a home of his own, being married at Hopkins to Miss Mary Schafer, a daughter of Henry Schafer of that township. She was born in Canada, and was six years of age on coming to Michigan. This union has been blessed with three children, who are yet living, Ezra, Milton and Clara. all at home, and they also lost three in childhood. The parents are members of the Lutheran church, and Mr. Knuth is a Republican, active in the local ranks of his party. A long residence in this county has made him widely known, while a life of activity and energy has brought to him a gratifying measure of success, making him one of the substantial farmers of the com- munity in which he resides.
SHERMAN I. SMITH, carrying on general agricultural pursuits and stock-raising in Hopkins township with a splendidly improved property, indi- cative of his spirit of modern progress and enterprise, was born in Bain- bridge, Geauga county, Ohio, October 18, 1837, his parents being Thomas
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and Emeline (Eggleston) Smith, both of whom were natives of Massachu- setts. They were married, however, in Ohio, and the father died in that state February 22, 1855. In October, 1859, the family came to Allegan county, one son, Martin Smith, having located here two or three years be- fore. The mother was accompanied by eight of her children, nearly all of whom were then grown, while some of them were married.
Sherman I. Smith had been married on the 5th of April, 1859, to Miss Elizabeth Bissell, a young lady of twenty years, having been born in Mantua, Portage county, Ohio, February 28, 1839, her parents being Jonathan B. and Laura (Hartshorn) Bissell. The father came to Allegan in 1860 from Indiana. Mrs. Bissell died in Ohio in 1841. Mr. and Mrs. Smith located on a farm adjoining his brother Martin's, and the mother also made her home on the same section. One son, Albert Bainbridge Smith, remained with the mother until her death five years later. He then removed to Fair- field, Nebraska, where he became extensively engaged in the manufacture of sorghum molasses, carrying on a profitable business for many years, or until 1903. Norman W. Smith, another brother, settled on another farm adjoin- ing his brother Martin's place, improved it and made his home thereon for some years, but eventually removed to Decatur county, Iowa, where he still resides. He is a music teacher of considerable note, having taught at length in Allegan county and also in Ohio. Charles F. Smith, another brother, began the development of a farm that is now included within the boundaries of the farm owned by Sherman I. Smith. He went into the army as a mem- ber of Company L, Fourth Michigan Cavalry, in August, 1862, when twenty years of age, and died at Nashville, on the Ist of February, 1863, his remains being interred in the National cemetery at Nashville. The daughters of the family were: Fidelia, who came here as a widow and married Leander Brewer, after which they removed to Nebraska, where she died upon their home farm ; Julia L. became the wife of Oren Judd, who was a schoolmate of James A. Garfield, their parents being neighbors. They settled on a farm in this state. In a few years, however, they removed to Pennsylvania and afterward to Nebraska, and she is now living at Council Bluffs, Iowa. She taught music in Hiram college, Ohio, when ex-President James A. Garfield was president of the college. Eliza married Samuel M. Eggleston, and they are now living retired at Hopkins. Nancy E. Smith was married in Allegan county to John E. Hopper, a tinner, and after a few years they removed to Nebraska, where they are now living. Mr. Hopper served as a member of the Sixth Michigan Regiment in the Civil war.
Sherman I. Smith had come to Allegan county in 1857, and secured his land, for which he paid five dollars per acre. He had made a little clearing by chopping down trees in the forest, but at that time remained upon the farm for a short period. Following his return in 1859 he built a small board house and resolutely undertook the task of clearing the land, raising a small crop the first year. He engaged in chopping for others and would exchange work in order to get the use of a team. After two or three years he was enabled to purchase a yoke of steers and afterward carried on the farm work more readily. His entire place was covered with a dense growth of natural forest trees and he sold some of his timber, disposing of fine white wood for four dollars per thousand delivered at the mill. His farm was largely cov- ered with splendid specimens of beech and maple trees, much of which were
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burned. As the land was cleared he placed it under the plow and in course of time gathered good harvests. In 1886 he built a residence, after living in the pioneer home for nearly thirty years. He has improved one of the best farms in the county. There is a flowing well near the house and everything about the place is kept in an excellent state of improvement and cultivation. In 1892 he built a fine bank barn thirty-six by forty-six feet and he has every facility for promoting the farm work. He has for some years kept from eight to ten cows and he breeds Chester White hogs. Sixty acres of his land is under cultivation, while the remainder is devoted to pasture. There are numerous springs upon his place in addition to the well, with its never fail- ing source of water, and the farm altogether is well equipped for the use to which it is put, being suitable for the cultivation of cereals or for the raising of stock. His attention has been confined to the farm work in its various departments and a gratifying measure of success has crowned his efforts.
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