USA > Michigan > Allegan County > A twentieth century history of Allegan County, Michigan > Part 59
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Mr. Rice spent the remainder of his life on this farm, and continued to improve it as opportunity offered. The farm was two hundred and forty acres in 'extent, the price paid for it being two dollars and fifty cents per acre. Here he died March 4, 1869, at the age of fifty-four years. His wife survived him but a year and a half, dying at the age of forty-seven. One of his brothers, James Rice, cleared a farm in Kent county, adjoining his and is still living in the county, aged eighty-three years. Daniel Rice was the father of four daughters and three sons, viz .: Martha, who died forty years ago; Mary, late wife of Jacob Rosenberger, deceased at the age of twenty-eight ; Ellen, who died in Oregon at fifty-eight years of age; Sarah, wife of Adam Clements of Leighton township, deceased at the age of twenty-two; Charles, the subject of this sketch; Daniel O., of Oregon, and Francis G., of Oceana county, Michigan.
Charles Rice is the only one of the family left in Allegan county. His boyhood was spent at home, and at the age of seventeen, upon the death
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of his father he assumed the care of the family and became their support. His sister Ellen acted as housekeeper, and exercised a motherly care over her brothers and sisters until they were grown. Much credit is due her for her unfailing interest in the welfare of the family for so many years. She did not marry until past forty years of age.
Mr. Rice was married at the age of twenty-six to Miss Cadett Perry, daughter of Frank Perry, of Kent county. She was born in Plainfield town- ship, Kent county, and was eighteen years old at the time of her marriage. To them have been born five children: Mary Blanche, wife of Fred Peter Geib, an attorney of Grand Rapids : Ethel Marion, a trained nurse for the G. R. U. B. A .; Charity Elva, a kindergarten teacher at Soudan, Minne- sota ; Eulalie Louisa, and Eunice Vera. The four oldest children are grad- uates of the Grand Rapids High School.
The associations of the old home place have meant so much to Mr. Rice that as his brothers became of age and entitled to their share of the estate he purchased their interests in order that the place might be kept in- tact. There was a great deal of black walnut on the property originally. and as there was a market for that wood at the time it was sold instead of be- ing converted into fire wood. The best grade (No. 1) black walnut sold at that time for four dollars per thousand. It would be worth today one hun- dred dollars per thousand. He is a breeder of Shropshire sheep and keeps about fifty head. This is one of the principal sources of his income. The buildings on the farm are commodious and well built. The barn, forty by sixty feet, was built by his father, to which he has added a sheep shed thirty -- two by eighty feet in size. He has recently built a corn house and new windmill. The latter is a source of power for cutting feed. pumping water. etc. The farm is thoroughly up-to-date and prosperous in appearance.
Mr. Rice was one of the organizers of the State Bank of Caledonia. which was chartered in June, 1904. with Mr. Rice as president, and Mr. Smith as vice-president, the latter in personal charge of the institution. The bank has a capital of twenty thousand dollars with a nice surplus after hav- ing declared a seven per cent dividend. Mr. Rice is a Democrat, and has served that party as supervisor for a term of two years, and as township treasurer for three years. One of his chief recreations is hunting, and he still possesses the rifle which his father used when he first came to this part of the state.
ALLEN A. ABBOTT, a citizen of Leighton township and of French de- scent, was born in Coldwater, Branch county, Michigan, June 24. 1840. His parents, Charles G. Abbott, born in Detroit. in 1808, and Sarah (Long) Ab- bott, born in Germany, in 1808, were married in Buffalo. Charles G. Abbott came to Coldwater in 1836, opening the first blacksmith shop in that town. He also cleared a farm. His father was one of five brothers, all Indian traders, at Detroit, Mackinac, and around the lakes. One of his principal trading posts was the Old Mission near Traverse City. He finally settled at Coldwater, where he died past eighty years of age.
Allen Abbott's boyhood was spent in the town and on the farm. He was married February 25. 1867, at Coldwater, to Marion Wilson, born at Union City. Branch county, August 17. 1840. She was a daughter of Daniel and Mary (Sprowles) Wilson, who came from New York state to Branch
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county in 1838. In 1864 Mr. Abbott came to Allegan for the purpose of purchasing cheap land and found what he was seeking in Wayland town- ship. He built his house and barn and made other improvements before he was married. Mrs. Abbott's parents, who had come to Allegan county in 1865, passed the remainder of their years there, he dying at the age of sixty-nine and she in 1884, at the age of eighty-three. Since purchasing his farm Mr. Abbott has resided there continuously. He has two sisters in Allegan county, viz .: Theodosia, wife of A. D. Towsly, deceased, and Ma- rion, wife of John Jordon, both residents of Wayland township.
Mr. Abbott remained on his first farm fourteen years after his mar- riage. Selling this he came to the present farm in Leighton township, three and one-half miles northeast of the town of Wayland. The farm consisted of one hundred and forty acres, of which he cleared forty-five acres. Some of the timber was milled and some burnt. The barns were on the place when he purchased it, but these he has since improved and enlarged. He built the house in which he now lives in 1889. He devotes himself to the grain and dairy business. He also keeps sheep, which have yielded him a satisfactory profit. In politics he is a Republican, and is a frequent delegate to the party conventions.
He has no children, but has adopted and raised three: Burton Dickin- son, from seven till twenty-three, now a contractor and builder at Fitzgerald, Georgia; Martha May Fox, from seven till twenty-one, when she married Charles Stockdale, of Grand Rapids; and Ida Harvey, from eleven until married. She was placed in Mr. Abbott's family by Judge Stockdale, then judge of the probate court, until he could locate her permanently. She became so attached to them that she was allowed to remain in the family. They were all given good advantages, and Mrs. Abbott has been a kindly and painstaking mother to them.
Mr. Abbott relates that when a boy at Coldwater he had as a playmate a little Indian boy, who became, eventually, chief of the Pottawattamie Indians. When on a trip to the west in 1864 he visited this tribe and was cordially received and entertained by his boyhood playmate, who had not forgotten him.
HENRY CONRAD, who has devoted almost his entire life to agricultural interests, was born in Hinsdale, Cattaraugus county, New York, November 26, 1831. His parents were Joseph, who died in New York, and Lucy (Thatcher) Conrad, who spent her last years with her son in Michigan.
Mr. Conrad came to Michigan the first time in 1850 to secure some land on a soldier's warrant issued to his brother, Peter Conrad, who died at Vera Cruz while serving as a soldier in the Mexican war. The warrant was issued to himself and his mother. Mr. Conrad lived successively in Seneca county, Ohio, with an uncle, Joshua Lake, and finally, in 1851, returned to Michigan, and settled on the farm on which he now resides. He made another trip to Ohio, but returned to Michigan in 1853 and worked at Kellogg's sawmill. The firm of Krouse & Dennison were interested in the mill, but Krouse soon died and Kellogg ran the mill, which stood one-half a mile north of what is now Wayland, then called Chamber's Corners, and also only three-quarters of a mile distant from Mr. Conrad's farm. While working at the mill he was at the same time clearing and
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improving his own property. He built a frame house and barir and erected his present residence in 1882, living in the old house until that time. The original house is still standing and is rented. It is the oldest house still used as a residence in the vicinity. There is a fine barn on the premises, built in 1879. The new house is about one mile northeast from Wayland, and it, combined with the lay of the farm, makes it one of the most desirable farms in the county. Of the farm about one hundred and twenty acres are under cultivation. The land was all taken in Mr. Conrad's name, and there has never been a mortgage or transfer recorded against the property since it came into his possession. He has combined the growing of grain with sheep raising, but latterly has been making dairying a specialty.
His first wife, Phebe Lester Conrad, who had come to the Michigan farm with him as a pioneer, died after six years, leaving four children : Seth, who lives on a near-by farm ; Sid ; Ola, who died at the age of twenty- four ; and Nettie, a widow, now living at Coldwater. Mr. Conrad was married the second time to Almira Lester, a sister of his first wife, by whom he had one child, Lo, who died at the age of twenty-three. Mrs. Conrad was born in New York and moved to Seneca county, Ohio, when but a child. She came to Allegan county, Michigan, with her brothers, Loren, Harry and Daniel Lester, in the fall of 1850. Her brothers Loren and Harry bought a farm. Loren died on the farm and Harry moved to Kansas in 1870. Daniel, the third brother, also purchased a piece of prop- erty, on which he resided until his death. Her mother died in Michigan at the age of sixty-three. From political inclination Mr. Conrad is a Democrat.
HERBERT A. WASHIBURN, well known in Leighton county as a dairy- man, was born in Muskegon county, Michigan, July 4. 1861. His parents were William and Sarah ( Arcenal) Washburn, he a native of Vermont and she of New York state. They were married in Kent county and came to settle in Muskegon. He worked in the lumber camps in winter and did a little lumbering on his own account. He came in 1867 to the farm on which Herbert Washburn now lives. At that time it was heavily timbered. with only a small clearing where the house stood. After settling here he devoted his entire time to farming and cleared all of the farm excepting about fifteen acres. He died January 31. 1888, aged fifty-two years. His wife survived him until 1903, when she died. aged sixty-nine years. He built a substantial house, which stood until about ten years ago, when it was destroyed by fire. Since coming into possession of the property Herbert Washburn has rebuilt the house, enlarged the barn, and built a good sized silo, while in addition he has laid some four hundred rods of tile for drain- age and has improved the property generally. The subject of this sketch is the elder of two sons, viz., Herbert W. and Frank, who died in Leighton township, aged forty-one years, and was unmarried.
Mr. Washburn makes a specialty of dairying. His herd consists of Holsteins, all thoroughbred and of high grade. He milks from twenty to twenty-five cows. He is systematic in his method of marketing his milk and keeps account of the production of each cow in order to obtain the best results and not leave his business to guesswork, as is done in so many dairies. He keeps Mercede Pride, of Oak Grove, at the head of his herd.
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This animal took the first prize at the State Fair at Detroit in 1895 as a yearling. Mr. Washburn makes a specialty of selling breeding animals.
His wife, who was formerly Gertrude Mitchell, of Ingham county, is the mother of four children: Fred, who lives at home; Nellie, wife of Marcus Crowfoot, of Leighton township; Elfa, and Oral. The two latter are still at home and attending school. Mr. Washburn is a Mason, a member of the Blue Lodge, and is also an Odd Fellow (a charter member of Moline, Michigan), Mason Lodge No. 224 of Wayland, and a Maccabec.
JOHN W. STURGIS, supervisor of Leighton township, Michigan, was born in Salem township, Allegan county, this state, November 24, 1866. His parents were Isaac H. and Sarah A. ( Woodruff) Sturgis, both natives of New York. They were married in Noble county, Indiana. Mrs. Sturgis came with her parents to Indiana in her girlhood, living for a short time with them in Blissfield, Michigan. She was twenty-two years old at the time of her marriage, September 4, 1852. Her father came to Salem, in Allegan county, in 1856, and settled on a farm which he had purchased there. He was a widower at the time, but married a second time and passed his remaining days in this county, dying at the age of seventy-four in 1871. In 1856 Isaac Sturgis and his wife bought a farm in Salem, of which they improved eighty acres. They remained on this property for twenty years. They then sold and purchased another farm, on which they lived for four years. They came in 1882 to Leighton township and purchased a farm of eighty-five acres, fifty of which were improved. They rebuilt the buildings and cleared the balance of the land. Here they both died in 1905, he on January 21st and she on December 23d. They had lived together for fifty-three years and had celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding. In politics he was a staunch Republican and had been all his years devoted to the interests of his party. He served two terms as township treasurer in Leighton. His children were three in number, of whom the subject of this sketch is the youngest, viz .: Franklin E., an artist, residing at East Pasadena, California; Mary E., wife of William Shuck, of Dighton, Osceola county, Michigan ; and John W.
John Sturgis remained at home until he was grown, taking entire charge of his father's farm when twenty years of age. When twenty-four years old he went to Grand Rapids, where he was connected with the whole- sale grocery trade. He then returned home and resumed farming. He was married at twenty-two to Rose A. Echtinaw, a daughter of Jacob and Ann Echtinaw, who had located in Wayland township in 1866. Mr. Echti- naw is still living and resides with his son John in Leighton township. Mrs. Echtinaw died in Wayland in 1902, aged sixty years.
John Sturgis was township treasurer for two terms and in 1900 was elected supervisor, and has been re-elected every year since. His services on the board and his willingness to do everything possible to advance the welfare of his township. He is affiliated with the Republican party and is elected delegate to most of the party conventions.
Mr. Sturgis has two children: Linnie, a student at the Wayland high school, and Isaac H.
ANDREW BROG, of Leighton township, was born in Berne, Switzerland, July 20, 1842. His parents, Casper and Margaret (Anderegg) Brog, came
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to the United States in 1851 and settled in Ohio. In 1869 they moved to Allegan county, Michigan, and settled on a farm. This farm consisted of a tract of one hundred and twenty acres, fifty acres of which were partially cleared, but only twenty were in condition to plow. The property contained a quantity of ash and whitewood timber, some of which was sold and some used on the place. Casper Brog remained on this farm until his death, which occurred in 1895 at the age of seventy-six. His wife died in 1890, aged eighty years. Their children were five in number. One son died in Ohio, and beside Andrew, the subject of this sketch, there were three daughters: Maggie, widow of Fred Steeby; Katherine, wife of Conrad Kahler, and who died at the age of thirty; and Magdalena, wife of Jacob Finkbiner, of Grand Rapids.
Andrew Brog came to Michigan in the spring of 1869. In a short time he returned to Ohio and resumed teaching school. He taught during the winter terms for twelve years, part of the time in Ohio and later in Michi- gan. He was married February 1, 1870, in Ohio, to Caroline Baab, a daughter of the family at whose home he had boarded during the second term he taught in that vicinity. She was nineteen at the time of the marriage. Mr. Brog soon brought his young wife to Michigan and undertook the active management of his father's farm. The farm was increased by the addition of eighty acres, making a total acreage of two hundred. He keeps from twelve to fifteen cows and about forty head of sheep. His sheep are Shropshires and are all thoroughbred. The barn, sheep sheds and out- buildings generally on this farm are well built and among the best in the county. Considerable drainage has been accomplished by laying tile.
Mr. Brog is a Republican and has been township clerk for a term of two years. For the last six years he has been a justice of the peace. He is the father of thirteen children, all but one of whom are living. They are, in order of birth: Mary, wife of Henry Finkbiner, of Leighton : Katic, wife of Herbert Johncox, of Orangeville, Michigan; Albert, a farmer of Leigh- ton ; Henry, a farmer in Barry county: Edward, who died at the age of twenty-two: Lydia, wife of Lewis Smith, of Leighton township: Clara. wife of Irving J. Steeby, of Corning : Maggie, wife of Herman Brown, of Leighton township: William, who is still at home ; Addie, a member of the senior class of the Wayland High School : Emma a music teacher : Frederick. who is now attending school; and George, also in school. Mr. Brog's very commendable desire is that his children receive the best education possible and that they are properly started on their way to success. He is a faithful member of the Zion church of the Evangelical Association of Leighton. He has been for some time a trustee and steward of this church.
JOHN T. SMITH, for many years a well known stock breeder of Michi- gan, is at present vice-president and cashier of The State Bank of Caledonia, a bank organized June 22, 1904, with a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars, of which Charles Rice, of Allegan county, is the president. The business of the bank has been very successful. The deposits have increased to one hundred and thirty thousand dollars and there is a handsome surplus. Mr. Smith is a native of Canada and was born in Toronto, February 9. 1850. At fourteen he came to Kent county, Michigan, and remained there until he reached the age of twenty-one. His parents, Robert and Mariah
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Smith, continued to reside in Kent county until their death. He died at the age of sixty-six, and she at sixty-four.
In 1871 Mr. Smith bought a farm of forty acres in Allegan county, of which only twelve acres was cleared. Later he purchased eighty acres more, and at a later date sixty more, all of which is cleared and productive. The home and outbuildings on the farm are neat and substantial. The barn, forty by sixty feet, has a "lean-to" or "L" thirty by fifty feet in size, and a basement under the entire building, with a stable capacity for sixty head of stock. He has bred Percheron horses since 1880 and continued to breed them until 1892. He introduced the first Percherons at several county fairs. In 1895 he began to breed Aberdeen-Angus cattle, purchasing his original stock from a Peoria, Illinois, dealer, who imported them. His her consists of forty head, all thoroughbreds and all registered. When he began there was only one other breeder of this variety of stock in the state of Michigan. He has exhibited at county and state fairs and has received first prize with his herd for five years continuously. He has sold calves at nine months for five hundred dollars a head and at three months for four hundred dollars. The State Agricultural College purchased several steers of him to study the breed. He has found cattle breeding very satisfactory and profitable.
He remained on his farm in Leighton township until June, 1901. Then he spent three years on his farm in Gaines township, Kent county, improving it and giving it his personal attention. He left there and came to Caledonia to take charge of the new bank, and has since given his entire time to the banking interests. In politics Mr. Smith is a Republican, and although not an office-seeker is vitally interested in all that pertains to the interests of the commonwealth. He has been a frequent delegate to conventions. His brother, Conner H. Smith, is the present clerk of Kent county.
Mr. Smith was married at twenty-one to Elizabeth Davis, of Paris. who died after twenty-one years of married life. By this marriage he had two sons, Roscoe and Robert, who operate the old farm under the name of Smith Brothers. His second marriage occurred in December of 1892 to Hattie Heintz, of Gaines township, Kent county. They have two sons- Roy and Ivy. Mr. Smith is a member of the Masonic Order and of the Eastern Star. He is and has always been loyal to the state of Michigan, considering it one of the best states in the west, both as a place of residence and for business opportunities.
FRANCIS R. WATKINS, of Leighton township, was born in West Hat- field. Windsor county, Vermont, October 4. 1844. His parents were Rancil and Hannah (Hunt) Watkins, natives of Vermont and Connecticut, respec- tively. They were married in Vermont and moved to Pennsylvania in 1844, remained there four years, and then moved to Ohio. In 1850 they came to Ionia, Michigan, but returned almost immediately to Ohio. The next year they removed to Allegan county, near Battle Creek, reaching there the day their son Francis was seven years old. They had traded some property in Ohio for a land warrant and located their land in section 24, in Leighton town- ship, nearly all of which homestead is retained in the family. Rancil Wat- kins died in 1855. at the age of fifty-five years, and just as he was getting fairly started in his new home. He left a widow and three children : Ruth,
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wife of Henry Hooker; Stiles, in Leighton township; and Francis. The widow, four years later, married William Hooker, and is the step-mother of William B. Hooker, with whom she now resides, at the advanced age of ninety-one years.
After his mother's second marriage Mr. Watkins went to live with an aunt in Vermont and remained with her on the farm for four years. At seventeen he enlisted in the First Connecticut Cavalry. He had been refused the consent of his relatives and ran away to enlist. He served with the Army of the Potomac and was attached to the famous Custer division. He served until August 1, 1865, was on duty at Washington a short time after the Grand Review, and was discharged August 17 in Connecticut. He was with the famous Wilson raid, on detached service at Washington and the Potomac river, and later with the Sheridan raid into the Shenan- doah Valley. He saw much active service. He was struck in the right ankle by a spent ball, but was not incapacitated for duty. He did not go back to his relatives in Vermont after the war, but came to Michigan, near St. Joseph, and worked for three years with a pile driver and later on a fruit farm. In 1869 he went to Chicago and obtained work with the Illinois Central Railroad, at which he was engaged for seven years. In 1877 he went back to Michigan and took charge of his present farm, which at that time belonged to his wife's father.
He was married January 13, 1875. to Mary Everson. daughter of Orville and Mary Everson, who settled on the farm before mentioned in 1864, coming from Ohio. Orville Everson was a carpenter by trade, but cared very little about farming, so he proposed that his son-in-law take the management of the property. There was about five acres under cultiva- tion at that time. A large part of the timber was sold, there being a sawmill in the vicinity. Maple sold at that time for four dollars per thousand and had to be hauled into Wayland. More recently some black ash was sold from the property for twenty dollars per thousand, which was considered at the time it was sold a good price. It would now bring forty dollars per thousand. The property has been improved with two residences and a good barn, the whole being in excellent condition. Orville Everson died in 1880, but his widow is still living, at the age of eighty-five years, and is in excellent health.
Mr. Watkin's wife died December 26, 1905, after a three years' illness. Two children survive her, viz .: Ralph F., a carpenter, employed by the government on the Panama Canal construction work ; Floyd O., a farmer, and has one child, named Leon. Mr. Watkins still owns about seventy acres of timber, including pine, maple, ash and basswood. His maple orchard produces each year a fine income. If the timber that was on the place thirty years ago were still standing, the place would bring the worth of half a dozen of the best farms in the county.
THOMAS W. RONAN, whose farm is located on the Allegan county line- seven miles northeast of Wayland, Michigan, was born in Ireland April 18, 1836. In 1843 he came to America with his parents and settled in Monroe county, New York, where they remained for five years. In 1849 they came to Battle Creek on the old Michigan Central Railway and from there hauled their goods by wagon into Allegan county. His father had
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