USA > Michigan > Allegan County > A twentieth century history of Allegan County, Michigan > Part 49
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MR. AND MRS. GEORGE S. THOMAS
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
years previously. The purchase price was seven dollars and a half per acre, and for four years the brothers continued to work the land in partner- ship, but on the expiration of that period Dwight L. Gilbert was married and the land was divided, he receiving as his share one hundred and ten acres, on which he continued to reside for five years. During this time he had succeeded in clearing about fifty acres, which was mainly devoted to the raising of hay, and the land being flat he was obliged to put in small drains which have since been made into a county drain. After laboring on that place for nine years Mr. Gilbert sold the land for about three thousand dol- lars. At this time his father died and he returned to the old homestead in Dorr township, receiving as his inheritance eighty acres of land, and in ad- dition to this he also bought and farmed the old homestead of his wife's mother. Mrs. Harriet Turner, consisting of seventeen acres. On these tracts he has done much work in clearing, having now about seventy-five acres under cultivation and he has also put in over a carload of tile drain. His farm lies in a water shed, the water running in two or three directions. but tile drainage has greatly increased the value of the land. The principal feature on this place. however, is the dairy of twelve cows, for which he has built a large bank barn, has also erected a wind-mill, a silo and has re- built his residence. He has two fine apple orchards of one hundred and twenty-five trees of the Baldwin variety, and he keeps both Clyde and road horses for the use of the farm.
On the 15th of September, 1887. Mr. Gilbert was married to Mrs. Nellie Trautman, the widow of Charles F. Trautman and a daughter of Artemas and Harriet Hess. The father was killed during the Civil war. in the retreat from Campbell Station, Tennessee, and the mother afterward became the wife of George Turner. She was born in the house in which she now lives. Mrs. Gilbert was but three years old at the time of her mother's second marriage, and by her marriage to Mr. Gilbert she has be- come the mother of two children, Norton R., aged seventeen, and Lester C .. eleven years of age. She also had one daughter by her former marriage. Grace, now Mrs. Robert Wilson, of Moline, and who was reared and edu- cated by Mr. Gilbert. In his poltical affiliations Mr. Gilbert is a Repub- lican. He is a member of the Congregational church at Moline, which was organized mainly through the efforts of Rev. Riley J. Hess, who came from Grandville to this vicinity and became the first minister. During his min- isterial labors here he also purchased the farm for his son, Artemas Hess. the father of Mrs. Gilbert.
GEORGE S. THOMAS .- One of the prominent and honored carly settlers of Allegan county is the gentleman whose name introduces this review. He was born in Amsterdam, Montgomery county. New York, November 18. 1827. He was reared, however, in Onondaga county, that state, and was early inured to the arduous duties of the farm. His father. William Thomas, was a native of Wales, but came to the United States during his boyhood. first taking up his abode in Albany, New York, and thence re- moving to Amsterdam, where he was married to Eleanor Irwin, a native of that city and of English descent. During the infancy of their son George they removed to a farm in Onondaga county, New York, and later removed
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
to Cortland county, that state, where the father died at the age of seventy- five years.
When George S. Thomas reached the age of twenty-one years he left the parental home, and in 1849 went to California, via the Isthmus, and for two years thereafter was engaged in search of the precious metal, re- turning on the expiration of that period to Cortland county, New York, the proud possessor of two thousand dollars in gold. In 1855 Mr. Thomas made the journey to Michigan, first taking up his abode in Kent county, where he was married to Julia Irwin, a second cousin, and the daughter of David and Margaret Irwin, who in 1840 came from New York and settled in Byron township, Washtenaw county, Michigan, where Mrs. Thomas was born on the 9th of August, 1837. The father served in the Mexican war'as a member of the First Michigan Infantry, also participated in the war of the rebellion as first sergeant in the Second Michigan Cavalry, and he lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and one years. A picture of him taken in his ninety-sixth year shows a man of about fifty years, with black mous- tache and a fine head of hair.
After his marriage George S. Thomas spent four years in a store in Byron, Kent county, Michigan, the only one between Grandville and Mon- terey and the only store in Byron township. He subsequently sold this store and with his wife and child removed to Kansas, first locating in Kan- sas City, and later went by boat to St. Joseph, Missouri, but shortly after- ward returned to Michigan. In 1860 he took up his abode in Dorr town- ship, Allegan county, locating on his present home farm, which has thus been his place of abode for over forty-six years. At the time of the pur- chase the land was covered with a dense growth of timber, but a small log cabin had been erected, and in this the family took up their abode. In this then wild and unsettled region Mr. Thomas labored to establish a home, and as the years passed exerted a wide influence in the public life, thought and action of this locality. The demand for professional men in this new country led him to take up the study of law, and after gaining a knowl- edge of its principles by his own research and study he began practicing before the justice courts, in time winning a large clientage. He spared neither time nor labor in his legal investigation and preparation of a case, and his discussions of the legal questions were marked with clearness of illustration, strength of argument and fullness and variety of learning. He stood high in the esteem of the leading lawyers of this county and in Grand Rapids, and made many friends among thie best lawyers and judges of this part of the state. Among the many noted cases on which Mr. Thomas was employed may be mentioned that of George Krause, a neighbor of Mr. Thomas, whose land by mistake had been granted by the government to the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company. When it was desired to clear the title the railroad attempted to take possession. Mr. Thomas was employed as counsel, and in company with Judge Padgham, now district judge, and Dr. H. F. Thomas, then state senator, he succeeded in getting a bill of relief passed by the legislature, but it was proved unconstitutional. Member of Congress Williams appealed to Congress, and President Grant issued a new patent to Krause for the land. At this time another company had gone to trial with a verdict against the railroad, and as a result it soon issued a quit claim title to the Krause land.
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
In 1863 Mr. Thomas was drafted for service in the Civil war, and he paid three hundred dollars for a substitute, although in the following year he enlisted in the First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics, Company I, joining his regiment at Coultersville, Georgia. During the first seven months his company was engaged in cutting cord wood at Vining Station, north of Atlanta, and after the capture his regiment or a part of it with Sherman drove Hood back and returned to Atlanta, where they reorganized and went with Sherman on his celebrated march to the sea, Mr. Thomas being in the command of Colonel Yates. They participated in a skirmish near Savannah, and were short of food until the capture of Fort McAllis- ter, when they were given full rations. While there he was stricken with smallpox, and when the army moved on to Columbia, South Carolina, he continued on the march until sent back to the general hospital at Hilton Head, where he remained until the 17th of February, 1865, when he was called to Charleston to assist in the defense of that city. There he was at- tacked with erysipelas and sent with eight hundred of Sherman's men to Johnson's Island and thence to the general hospital at Charleston, and being almost blind he fell from a window and broke his left foot, which was not immediately set, as it was thought he would surely die. Finally recovering. he was sent to Slough Barracks at Alexandria. Virginia, where he was dis- charged in June, 1865. His foot has caused him much suffering since, and it was months before he was able to do a man's work. During all this time his wife had remained at home and cared for the farm during his absence. Mr. Thomas now owns one hundred and sixty acres of land, one hundred acres of which is under a fine state of cultivation, and for several years he conducted a dairy. In the early days he was also quite extensively en- gaged in the making of maple sugar, the sales from which enabled him to purchase his first wagon and also his first pair of bobs.
To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas were born the following children: Win- field Scott, who is engaged in dealing in horses in Soule, Michigan ; Charles R., a farmer of Dorr township: Nellie M., the wife of William R. Taylor. also of Dorr township: Eva May, wife of Ernest Gillins, a farmer of Byron township: Jane, the wife of William Swartz, also of that town- ship ; George S., a miner and stockman in Montana; Frank, with his brother George, and Dan G., farming on the old homestead. Mr. Thomas gives his political support to the Democratic party, being an active worker in its ranks, and has served in the office of township clerk.
VICTOR TRAUTMAN is a typical American citizen, thoroughly in har- mony with the spirit of the republic, and, making the most of his oppor- tunities, has steadily worked his way upward until he has won for himself a name in connection with the industrial interests of the community in which he resides. He is a native, however, of France, his birth occurring in Alsace on the 28th of November. 1830. In that country his father. Philip Henry Trautman, owned an estate on which was located an old feudal castle four hundred years old, the walls of which were nine feet thick, and in this old ancestral home Victor Trautman was born. His father, who was a tanner by trade, had his tannery located inside the walls of the castle, and this work-shop had a wide reputation all over Europe. When Victor Trautman was three years of age the family crossed the ocean
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I11STORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
to America, via Baltimore, spending six weeks on an old Dutch vessel, the captain and first mate of which were tyrants and on landing in Baltimore they threw the second mate, who had taken a great liking to young Victor. overboard. This ship was never heard from after starting on the return journey from Baltimore. After their arrival in America the family made their way to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where the father started a brewery, going thence to a farm in Franklin, Stark county. Ohio, but which he lost on account of an old mortgage, and he then removed to Cleveland and finally to a farm in Medina township, Ohio, where his death occurred at the age of sixty-three years. Of his four sons one, Henry, died in Cleveland when past eighty-two years of age, having been a merchant. He was at one time a great infidel but was afterward converted and became a noted preacher of the gospel, being a very popular man in Cleveland and was very prominent in the Masonic order. The second son, Philip, a farmer by oc- cupation, died in Iowa. Charles A. is still a resident of Cleveland, his sister. the eldest of the family, residing with him.
Victor Trautman remained at home until his marriage, assisting his father in the work of the farm, but when a young man his arni was broken in two places, so that he was afterward hampered in performing hard labor. After visiting various counties he decided to locate in Dorr township. Alle- gan county, Michigan, having in 1855 driven through along Grand river. After his arrival here he selected eighty acres, for which he paid four hun- dred and fifty dollars, and on which he built a small frame house which now forms a part of his present dwelling, the latter having been built in 1877. In May. 1859, he took up his abode on this place, which has ever since been his home and where he has lived and labored with such good suc-
cess. During the first two years here he was without a team. having been obliged to exchange work, but after a few years he succeeded in placing his land under cultivation and gradually large crops were raised and garnered. He still owns his original farm of eighty acres, about seventy acres of which is under cultivation and is watered by fine, large springs and two excellent wells. He is extensively engaged in diversified farming, also dealing to some extent in stock, and he has a fine bank barn. At one time he set out a peach orchard, but this was afterward destroyed by the yellows. He has made of life a success, and were one to seek for its secret it would be found in that persistent purpose which has ever been a motive power in his career.
On the 10th of June, 1857, at the age of twenty-six years. Mr. Traut- man was married to Lucy Columbia Young, who was born in Vermont. and she had reached the age of twenty-two years when she gave her hand in marriage to Mr. Trautman. Their home has been blessed with eight children, six sons and two daughters, namely: William V., who is engaged in lumbering of a tract of twenty-two hundred acres in Arkansas : Charley. who died at the age of twenty-four years: Elmer, who is serving as agent for the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad at Cadillac. Michigan: Edgar N .: Walter, with the railroad operator at Dixon, Illinois: Mary, who died at the age of seventeen vears : Lillian, the wife of James B. Henning, agent for the North-Western Railroad in Illinois : and Mark Rav. Mr. Trautman gives his political support to the Republican party, and has served in a number of school offices, also as delegate to conventions and as postmaster.
MR. AND MRS. PHILLIP GRANDY
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
He has attained prominence in the business circles of Allegan county and has made many friends in the community where he has so long resided.
PHILLIP GRANDY .- The life record of Phillip Grandy is one of which he may be justly proud. Success is not measured by the height which one may chance to occupy, but by the distance between the starting point and the altitude he has reached, therefore Mr. Grandy has gained success,-a just reward of meritorious, honorable effort, which commands the respect and admiration of all. He was born in Medina county, Ohio, September 18, 1843. When nineteen years of age, in April, 1863. he came with his father, Martin Grandy, to Allegan county, Michigan. Soon after his marriage he purchased eighty acres of his present farm, the purchase price being eight hundred dollars, paying one hundred dollars down and the remainder sev- eral years later. At the time of the purchase the land was in its virgin state, and he was obliged to cut away the trees in order to make a small clearing on which to erect his little log cabin, and it required many years to make all the substantial improvements which now adorn the place. During the first few years after his arrival he worked for others in order to get some ready money, at the same time clearing his land and placing his fields under cultivation. Mr. Grandy has since sold twenty acres of his farm, which now consists of sixty acres, all of which is under a fine state of cultivation. In company with his brother Daniel he also operated a threshing machine for twenty-five years, and on one occasion while thus engaged he was seriously injured by a bridge breaking with the engine, he thus sustaining internal in- juries from which he has never fully recovered. His present neat and com- modious residence was erected eight years ago, and it stands on a beauti- ful building site, commanding a fine view of the surrounding country, and he also has a fine bank barn for his stock.
Mr. Grandy married Miss Laura Burk, a daughter of Thomas and Betsey Burk, who had located in this county two years before the marriage of their daughter, and she was then eighteen years of age. Four children have been born of this union, namely: Ina, the wife of Charles Levett, of Byron Center : Harley, who resides on a farm adjoining his father's home : Clara, the wife of Fred Yerington, of Wayland. and Lillie, at home. Mr. Grandy gives his political support to the Republican party.
SALEM.
The settlement of Salem township dates from 1851. and by 1860 the township had only 430 inhabitants. Already by that time a considerable number of these were grouped around the center of the township, known as Salem Center, where Timothy Bliss had entered land in 1858. Among those who settled at that point was James Burnip, who opened a store in the sixties and took such a leading part in affairs that the locality came to be known as Burnip's Corners. Other early merchants there were J. S. War- ner. Wells & Dibble, James Briggs, Dr. C. C. Lindsley, Theodore Castor. W. H. Goodwin. A sawmill was built here about 1859. and for the past forty years the Heck family have been prominent representatives of the milling industry in this part of the county. George and William Heck erected a sawmill and a gristmill on Little Rabbitt river, and Mr. George Heck is still proprietor of the gristmill at the old location.
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
Population has also centered about two other points in this township, one in the northeast corner, known as New Salem, and the other in the southwest corner, on Rabbitt river known as Diamond Springs.
GEORGE HECK, whose residence in Salem township dates from 1868, is a native of Ohio, having been born near Findlay, February 22, 1850. He is a son of George and Martha (Mash) Heck, natives of Pennsylvania, who settled near Findlay, Ohio, in 1840. They were the parents of a large fam- ily, the following ten of whom grew to maturity: Catherine, wife of David Sherrick, who lives in Findlay, Ohio; John, of Findlay; Susan, Mrs. Wat- son, now deceased; Sarah, Mrs. Lytle; William, who came to Michigan with our subject, but returned to Findlay; Mary, Mrs. Gardner, deceased ; George, our subject; A. C., a resident of Findlay ; Joseph, of South Bend, Indiana, and Birdie, wife of William Parsons, of New Albany, Indiana.
Our subject upon arriving in Michigan settled at Burnips Corner, and in 1880 built the house in which he now resides. The farm in Ohio where he had spent his youth was sold by our subject's father for eighteen thou- sand dollars and has since produced in oil over a million of dollars. The first venture in which Mr. Heck was interested in Salem township was that of a saw and flour-mill, which he has run continuously since. A brother was originally interested with him in this business; but after running for a time as a partnership, Mr. Heck bought out his brother's interest and has since conducted the work alone. Mr. Heck, Sr., and his wife, who moved to Findlay after the sale of their farm, have both since died at that place.
On September 20, 1869, our subject was married to Helen Marr Mc- Donald, of Sturgis, Michigan, a daughter of John and Anna (Mclaughlin) McDonald. Mrs. McDonald, who settled on a one hundred and sixty acre farm in Salem after the death of her husband, has since become Mrs. Un- derwood.
Mr. Heck's children are two in number: Joy E., a graduate of the law department of the University of Michigan, and of the Agricultural College at Lansing, now practicing law at Zeeland, and he married Gertrude Powell, by whom he has two children, Joy P. and Helen Mary ; and Flossie, wife of H. A. Dibble, of Allegan, who has a son, Clarence H.
Our subject is a Republican, and has held a number of local offices. He has been tendered by that party the nominations of state representative and state senator, but has not seen fit to accept them, feeling that his duties at home demanded more of his time than he could spare. He is, however, vitally interested in the welfare of his community, and of the party with which he is affiliated, and can always be relied upon in the fight for honest government.
Mr. Heck is in a fraternal way connected with Salem Lodge No. 169. I. O. O. F., of which he has been a member since its institution, in 1871, and is also a member of the National Protective Legion.
SILAS LOEW, a well known business man of Salem township. where he has resided since six years of age, was born in Monroe county, Ohio, Au- gust 19, 1861. He is a son of Frederick and Gertrude (Faubel) Loew. both natives of Germany, who accompanied their parents to the United States at the respective ages of ten and seven years. Christian Loew, grand- father of our subject, located in Monroe county, Ohio. He was a weaver by
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
trade, and resided in Ohio until his death, which occurred at the age of ninety-three. Frederick Loew was a joiner and cabinet maker, and fol- lowed his trade for a number of years in this country. He later bought a farm and beside cultivating this did carpenter work for his neighbors. He died in June, 1905, aged eighty-two years. His family comprised twelve children, eleven of whom are alive: Emma (Mrs. Leweke), of Hopkins; Elisha, a resident of Grand Rapids; Clara ( Mrs. Heasley), of Salem town- ship; Josephine (Mrs. Smith), of Cohoctah, Michigan ; Commila (Mrs. Moored), of Dighton, Michigan; Silas, our subject; Charles Wesley, a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere; Calvin A., a resident of Shelby, Michigan ; Amos W., who lives in Salem township; Fred A., of Indiana ; and Norman, who lives in Salem township.
After working on his father's farm until he became of age our sub- ject went to La Mars, in Western Iowa, where he remained for six months. working in a grocery store. He then returned to the township in which he now lives, and engaged in the hardware business, buying the business for- merly run by William Bookwalter and continuing in this line until April of 1906, a period of twenty years. He had in the meantime become .interested in the creamery business, and was secretary and acting treasurer of a cream- ery company for five years. For the last two years he has acted as mail- ager. Mr. Loew was a notary public for five years, during which time he settled a number of estates. He has also engaged in the real estate and loan business, and since selling his hardware store has sold buggies and other vehicles.
Mr. Loew was married. June 3, 1885, to Elizabeth Moored. a native of Salem township, and only daughter of John and Amanda ( Reinhammer) Moored, who came to Salem township from Ohio and settled at Burnips Corner. To Mr. Loew and his wife have been born three children: Flossie. now attending school at the State Normal School at Ypsilanti ; Clarence Leslie, at home attending school ; and Leo Miles.
From political preference Mr. Loew is a Republican and has served as township treasurer for a number of terms. He has also been on the school board as assessor and director for nineteen years. He was recently ap- pointed highway commissioner to succeed Joseph A. Goodman, deceased. Our subject and his family are all members of the United Brethren church.
CHARLES WESLEY LOEW .- For a period of more than forty years Charles Wesley Loew has been a resident of Allegan county, and has been for a number of years the owner of one of the best improved farms in his vicinity. His birth occurred in Monroe county, Ohio. August 31, 1863. He is a son of Frederick and Gertrude (Faubel) Loew, and a brother of Silas Loew, a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere.
Our subject was but two years of age when his parents came to this section of Michigan, and here he was raised, remaining at home with his parents until he was twenty-eight years of age, at which time he was married and located on his present farm. His marriage occurred February 22, 1892, to Mary Lohmolder, a native of Salem township, and a daughter of William and Caroline (Dendal) Lohmolder, who were pioneer settlers in southern Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Loew are the parents of four children-Sylvia, Howard, Virgil and Vesta.
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
Mr. Loew rented his farm for a number of years, but eventually pur- chased it, and has built in addition to the buildings already upon the prop- erty a fine granary. He has also remodeled and enlarged the house. He is interested in general farming and stock raising, his farm being ideally located for these branches.
In politics our subject is a Republican, and is an earnest advocate of the platform on which this party is based. He is a member of the United Brethren church in his vicinity, and is the treasurer of the board of trustees of that church.
CHRISTIAN SUTTER, a venerable and highly respected citizen of Allegan county, and now living retired, having in former years acquired a compe- tence which now enables him to rest from further toil, is a native of Switzerland, his birth having occurred in Basel on the 19th of February, 1825, a son of John and Barbara (Imhof) Sutter.
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