USA > Michigan > Allegan County > A twentieth century history of Allegan County, Michigan > Part 68
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During his residence on his farm in Clyde township, which consists of forty-eight acres of fine farming land, Mr. James has not been too busy to lend his aid and counsel to the public affairs which concern every com-
MR. AND MRS. E. P. JAMES
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munity, and which many, through indifference, perhaps, so often neglect, and has served in the following public offices : As a member of the board of review, on which he served for seven years ; postmaster for a term of two years ; highway commissioner for one year, and as a school director. He now rents his farm, preferring to pass his remaining years quietly and leave to younger men the toil and competition which he so eagerly entered in his youth, but from which the limitations of advancing years now debar him. .
WILLIAM GREEN, who follows farming in Clyde township, is one of the pioneer settlers of Allegan county. He was born in Franklin county, Ohio, in 1831, where he resided until grown, following agriculture from his youth. In 1852 he moved to Indiana, where hc resided until 1862, cnlisting on August 4th, of that year, as private in the Eighty-eighth Indiana Volun- teer Infantry. He was with Sherman's command on that historic March to the Sea, and in addition participated in the battles of Perryville, Snake Creek Gap, Resaca, Stone River, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Peachtree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Missionary Ridge, Kencsaw Mountain. Big Shanty, and numerous other engagements of minor importance, and was honorably discharged from the service on June 20, 1865.
Mr. Green moved to Michigan October 20, 1867, and located at Fenn- ville, purchasing at the same time forty acres of unimproved land in Clyde township. This he put under cultivation as rapidly as possible. and built fine and commodious buildings. Later he saw the value of low or marsh land for the production of mint, and with this in view purchased eighty acres of ground, which he cleared and now devotes to the growth of this aromatic herb.
Our subject was married to Miss Maria Richmond, to whom five chil- dren were born: Lydia E., Louisa A., William C. (deccascd). Benjamin (deceased), and Leonard H. As would be naturally cxpccted from one who served so long in the Union army, Mr. Green is vitally interested in the Grand Army of the Republic, and holds his membership in Jacob G. Fry Post No. 46.
ERASMUS JOHNSON, of Clyde township, whose postoffice is on rural free delivery route No. 3 from Fennville, can point with pride to twenty-six years of continuous residence in Allegan county. He is a native of Den- mark, his birth occurring in that country in 1861. His parents were Nels and Marie Jansen, both Dancs, whose family consisted of seven children. thrce of whom emigrated to America, viz .: Andrew, James (deceased), and Erasmus.
When Erasmus Johnson first came to this country he purchased twenty acres of land, which he immediately set about to improve, building a house and the necessary outbuildings. Here he resided until 1896, when he bought his present property, consisting of ninety acres of valuable farming land, de- voted to general produce and peppermint. In 1904 he built a fine modern house upon his property, with barns and other buildings in keeping, and equipped with all the latest improvements available, making the farm a par- ticularly desirable place of residence. He has a select herd of cattle besides his horses, which are all fine draught animals.
Our subject was married in 1886 to Miss Maren Larsen, who was also born in Denmark on the 12th of June, 1866, and who emigrated to the
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United States in 1884. They have two children, Louis N. and Kate E. Mr. Johnson and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. In affairs which concern the public weal he is always vitally interested, and is a loyal and respected citizen of his community.
H. O. PETERSON, like many another of our industrious farmers through- out the middle west, is a native of Sweden, his birth occurring in that country on June 16, 1844.
He is a son of John and Ann Peterson, both Swedish, whose family consisted of seven children, three of whom came to the United States. Of the three who came to this country our subject is the sole survivor. He arrived in America in 1865, stopping at Chicago for several years, but sub- sequently moving to Saugatuck, Michigan, and in 1873 purchasing his pres- ent property in Clyde township. This property is now a well cultivated and productive farm of forty-four acres, devoted to general farming and fruit raising. When Mr. Peterson purchased this land it was unimproved, and his constant effort has been to make it one of the best farms for its size that thought and labor could produce. One has but to look at the modern and convenient buildings, the well-kept fruit orchards and the general thrifty appearance of everything connected with the place to see how far he has succeeded in his desires. He has planted with his own hands about one thousand peach, plum, pear and cherry trees, to say nothing of a thousand or more currant bushes, and everything on the farm receives his personal at- tention in so far as time permits.
In 1873 our subject was united in marriage to Miss Susan Judy. Their children were eight in number, of whom seven are still living, the following being the order of their birth : Anna, wife of W. Bebee; Willis H ; Mabel, now Mrs. Richards ; Edith, wife of S. Purdy; Rose, Mary and Cecil.
FRED T. RASMUSSEN, in common with many of the successful farmers and business men of Allegan county, is a son of Denmark, in which country he was born in 1872. His parents, Haus and Metta Rasmussen, both natives of Denmark, were the parents of five children, four of whom came to the United States, viz .: Carl, James, Fred T. and Peter C. All of these have become citizens of this country.
Mr. Rasmussen emigrated to and settled in Clyde township in 1895, and has since remained there, purchasing in 1898 a farm of sixty acres of farming land formerly the property of James Johnson, deceased. This farm is devoted to general produce. Our subject is at present a director of the Pearl Creamery, located at Pearl, in this same county, and which is doing a thriving business, with fine prospects for the future.
In 1898 Mr. Rasmussen was married to the widow of James Johnson, who had by her former marriage five children: Nelsie H., Marie F .. Andrew, Arthur and Jennie M. Since becoming the wife of Mr. Ras- mussen there have been born to her two children, of whom one, Raymond L., is living.
GEORGE W. PERHAM, a progressive farmer of Clyde township, in which he owns three hundred acres of valuable and productive land, was born in Vermont in 1858 and resided there until in 1878, when he moved to Michi- gan and took up his abode at Pearl, in Allegan county. He is a son of
MR. AND MRS. H. O. PETERSON
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ANDERS ANDERSEN
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Joseph and Rhoda (Hewey) Perham, and is one of a family of twelve children, eight of whom lived to reach maturity. Three of that number are now living: Mary, Joseph and George W., although the latter is the only one of the three resident in Michigan. One of the brothers, Henry, was in the Civil war as a member of a Vermont regiment, and died while in the service. . A brother-in-law, Daniel W.,. was also in the Federal army during that war.
While still a resident of Vermont, Mr. Perham was married to Miss Elma M., the daughter of Franklin and Elizabeth ( Pulsipher) Severens and sister of Judge Severens, of that state. One child has been born to them, a daughter named Carrie E., now the wife of Ralph N. Leverich and the mother of two children : Leon and Inez.
The farm on which Mr. Perham now resides has been in his posses- sion about eight years. He is extensively engaged in mint culture, devoting one hundred acres to the growing of that herb. In addition he also owns and operates a distillery, in which he distills his own peppermint and that of his neighbors, finding it more satisfactory and lucrative to prepare the essential oil for the market than to sell the dry herb. All the buildings on the farm were built by the present owner and are of modern construc- tion and of neat appearance.
Our subject is connected by membership with Saint John's Lodge, No. 41, of the Masonic Order of the State of Vermont, and is a respected and creditable member of the same.
ANDERS ANDERSEN, who farms within the bounds of rural free deliv- ery route No. 3, of Fennville. Clyde township, became owner of his present property, "Maple Hill Farm," in 1906.
Mr. Andersen was born in Denmark, in December, 1861, and is the son of Soren and Kirsten Andersen, natives of Denmark, who were the parents of five children, two of whom emigrated to the United States. Our subject came in 1883 and located in Chicago, where he remained up until the pres- ent year, 1906. He was engaged in a number of pursuits while residing in that city, working in a soap factory for three years, being an employe of the street railway company for three years and being in business for him- self for seventeen years as a retail milk dealer, earning thereby more than enough to purchase his present farm. Like so many of his countrymen who have come to America, Mr. Andersen is a loyal and faithful citizen of the country of his adoption.
In 1890 our subject was united in marriage to Miss Annie Catherine Jorgenson, who was born in Denmark in January, 1865, and emigrated to America in 1882. They have one child, a daughter, Alice C., who was born in 1891.
Mr. Andersen is a member of the Danes Brotherhood and the Tribe of Ben Hur, and was for a number of years a member of the Milk Dealers Association, of Chicago, of which body he was secretary. Mr. Andersen's residence in the United States has been one of thrift, hard work and capacity, and his friends bespeak for him a still greater success in his new field of labor.
WILLIAM WALTERS, of Clyde township, who owns an attractive farm of thirty-five acres on the south shore of Hutchins Lake, and known as the
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"Rose Ridge Farm," was born in Rochester, New York, and came to Michi- gan when but four vears old.
His parents were David and Caroline (Junke) Walters, both of Ger- man birth, who came to this country in 1849. They were both passengers on the same vessel and became man and wife after reaching America. In 1854 they came to Michigan and located in Clyde township on August 4th, purchasing eighty acres of land in sections 7 and 8 of that town- ship. David Walters was a man well known and highly respected by all who knew him. In politics he was a Democrat and was elected to the office of township clerk in a strong Republican township, which office he held for eighteen years. He died in 1890, his wife following him in 1899. They were the parents of six children, all living, who were born in the fol- lowing order: William; Lissetta, now the wife of Horace Hutchins ; Charles F., now a resident of Montana : Carrie, who became the wife of James Palmer, of Spokane, Washington ; Henry J., and Julius D., at present living in Deer Park, Washington.
The subject of this sketch learned the trade of shoemaker when a young man and followed the trade successfully in Fennville for thirty-six years. In 1899 he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and is now engaged in fruit farming. The farm on which he now lives has been his property since 1876 and is planted to a diversity of fruits, all in fine con- dition, in addition to three acres on which he raises peppermint. In 1871 he was married to Alpha, daughter of Newton and Harriet Arnold, and of this union'were born three children, the following being the order in which they were born : Carl J; Rose, now wife of John H. White, and "Babe."
Mr. Walters is a loyal member of the Democratic party and has been honored with numerous public offices, among them that of drain commis- sioner for a term of two years, dog warden for two years and marshal of Fennville for the same length of time.
WILLIAM H. SILCOX .- Perhaps no man in Clyde township has done more for the improvement of his neighborhood than William H. Silcox. He is a man of large experience and a close student of men and affairs, and his influence in his community has done much to bring it into the pros- peritv which now obtains there.
Mr. Silcox is a native of Ohio, having been born there October 30, 1849, receiving his early training and schooling in that state. He is a son of William and Mahala Betraum Silcox, whose family comprised eleven children, three of whom moved to Michigan. Our subject, however, and John, a manufacturer of Detroit, are the only ones that remained in the state. In 1859 William Williams and James Reed took up one hundred and sixty acres each in Clyde township, being among the first white men to become land proprietors in that township. They did not, however, become residents of the state. In 1865 a brother of our subject came to Michigan and purchased the Reed one hundred and sixty acres, but after remaining a couple of years sold out and moved back to Ohio.
In 1868 William H. Silcox moved to Clyde township and purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and in 1874 purchased and occupied his present farm, which consists of three hundred acres of the best farm- ing land in the county. Of this farm seventy acres are planted to pepper-
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MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM H. SILCOX
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MR. AND MRS. PETER C. RASMUSSEN AND SON
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mint, and beside this mint culture-which is extensive and lucrative-Mr. Silcox deals in general produce and maintains a dairy of twenty-five head of fine cattle.
His marriage took place to Estella V., daughter of Joshua and Nancy Calvin, of Ohio, who has borne him eight children: Calvin, who married Miss Susie Perry ; Geraldine, now the wife of R. Clum ; Effie; May ; Belle, wife of B. Holton ; Burr, Kate and Iva.
Mr. Silcox has held the following public offices: Justice of the peace, commissioner of highways, moderator of the school board, of which he has been a member for a number of years, and assessor, in which capacity he has served for the past twenty years. In a social way he holds member- ship in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which organization he is a worthy and respected member.
PETER C. RASMUSSEN, who is a respected farmer of Clyde township, was born in Denmark in 1869 and emigrated to this country in 1889. His parents, Hans and Katherine Rasmussen, both natives of Denmark, are the parents of five children, four of whom came to the United States, viz. : Carl, James, Fredrick and Peter. These brothers are all loyal citizens of the country of their adoption and enjoy the confidence and respect of their fellow citizens in their several communities.
Our subject returned to his former home in Denmark in 1891 and while there married Miss Hannah Nelson, who returned with him to be mistress of his new home in Michigan. Three children were born to them, two of whom are living-W. C. and Leonard T.
Mr. Rasmussen has resided on his present farm since 1898, at which time he purchased the property of John Vanderburg. At that time the farm comprised eighty acres, but twenty have since been disposed of. The property is a particularly desirable one, and the manner in which it is kept up and the modern and convenient buildings which grace it show Mr. Ras- mussen to be a man of taste and progressive ideas.
The Publishers, in acknowledging their indebtedness to the Editor, Dr. Thomas, whose interest in every department of the undertaking and in- fluence directed toward the securing of proper material insure to the public the value of this volume as a history of the county, take this opportunity in the closing pages to give a brief sketch of his life and career.
Dr. Thomas' father was Rev. David Thomas, a pioneer Methodist min- ister in the Michigan conference. For a number of years following the early settlement of this portion of the state he rode his circuit from place to place, preaching the gospel almost in the wilderness, keeping the spiritual truths alive in the midst of the hardness and prosaic actuality of pioneer ex- istence. He exercised much influence over the Indian population that re- mained here after the general removal of the tribes to the west, and after his home was moved to Allegan Dr. Thomas often entertained in his house the dusky friends of his father, whose kindly work among them they never forgot.
Born in Jackson county, Michigan; December 17. 1843. Mr. Thomas entered Albion College at the age of sixteen, and two years later interrupted his schooling to go to the war. Enlisting in the Seventh Michigan Cavalry. he saw service at the battle of Gettysburg, in Gen. Kilpatrick's raid on
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Richmond, in the battle of the Wilderness under Sheridan and his raid on Richmond, and in the Shenandoah Valley campaign, in the siege of Peters- burg, and at the close of the war continued with his command during the summer of 1865 in the Indian and frontier service. He was promoted to rank of second lieutenant in 1864.
Graduating from the medical department of the University of Michigan in 1868, after a year's practice at Constantine, this state, he located in Alle- gan. It will be remembered that the railroad came to Allegan in that year, that the lumber industry was still a flourishing business, that population was increasing more rapidly than at any time before or since, and that prospects in every direction were exceedingly bright. Allegan was already the county seat of a large county ; it was at the head of navigation on the Kalamazoo, and far enough from Grand Rapids to become an independent city. These prospective advantages appealed to Dr. Thomas, as to many others, and he entered upon professional and business connections that have been almost unbroken for nearly forty years. He has been in active practice except during his terms in the legislature during the seventies and his two terms in Congress during the fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth sessions, though for the past ten years he has attended to only such professional business as came to him.
In January, 1907, in recognition of his splendid public record, Dr. Thomas was appointed surgeon of the Soldiers' Home at Grand Rapids, to succeed Dr. H. W. Mills. This position carries with it the military rank of major. Dr. Thomas will have entire charge of the medical depart- ment of the home, supervising the physicians connected with the Home, Though retaining his property interests in Allegan, Dr. Thomas takes up his residence at Grand Rapids on January 15th.
Dr. Thomas has been identified with Allegan county in many ways. For many years he has been one of the leading physicians in practice and also taking part in the work of the fraternity in general. His business activities have led him into extensive real estate investments and also various enter- prises at Allegan. He is now president of the Allegan Creamery Co. and has done much to promote the dairy interests of the county, besides lending his influence to the improvement of general agriculture. Politically he has been a factor in Allegan county and western Michigan for over thirty years, and to a greater degree than many has kept pace with the progressive spirit of politics and governmental policies in state and national affairs.
CHAPTER VI. AGRICULTURAL AND KINDRED INTERESTS.
Of the pursuit of the basic art of farming during the early history of the county, much has been said on previous pages. Farming, as we know, was not the first occupation that chiefly engaged the pioneer settlers. Milling. river traffic and the promotion of manufacturing enterprises engaged the attention of such men as Hull Sherwood, W. G. Butler, the Fosters, Elys and others, though in each case the tilling of the soil formed a minor part of the pioneer labor.
Allegan county has been the arena of several important industries. Until the middle seventies lumbering took precedence over all other. On fertile Gun Plains farming from the first was a profitable pursuit, and it gradually occupied the region cleared of the timber. Hundreds of persons came to the county as laborers in clearing off the timber, which was made up for various uses-lumber, railroad ties, telegraph poles, etc. After the' railroad came there was a steady demand for wood as fuel-wood being used instead of coal at that time-and this also afforded a remunerative occupa- tion. Many of the prosperous residents of the county at this time. persons owning comfortable homes and well tilled acres, came to the county in the first instance to engage in the more or less temporary occupations men- tioned above.
The work of clearing and preparing the land for cultivation is still go- ing on. The large timber is nearly all gone, burned off in the forest fires of 1871 or cut away by lumbermen, but the smaller growth and the stumps re- mained to hinder agriculture. Some forty or fifty years ago some one in- troduced a very practical kind of stump-puller-a sort of derrick and cork- screw affair which worked by a couple of men and a team of horses has a wonderful power of drawing the immense stumps that cumber the land. One of these stump-pullers has been in constant use in the county for thirty or forty years. In many parts of the county clumsy but picturesque fences have been made with these stumps, and while perhaps not so lasting they are as truly characteristic and practical as the famous stone fences of the east- ern states.
All this vast labor has been necessary to render Allegan county an agri- cultural district. But not less important than the clearing of the forests has been the draining of the surface. Drainage, both natural and artificial. bas been a matter of foremost importance from early settlement to the pres- ent time. Many lakes on the surface of the county indicate that natural
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drainage is defective, although Allegan county, with the Kalamazoo and various smaller streams, is much better off in this respect than some other counties ..
The pioneers found many portions of the county unfit for cultivation and agricultural improvement. Marsh hay was the only product of value furnished by these areas, and to offset this the flats and marshes were the breeding grounds of chills and fevers and for many years a source of disease to all who lived here. The lands along Gun river in southeastern Allegan were notable for their marsh hay, and for years the attention of the drainage authorities has been directed to this portion of the county. Now these same places are the sites of some of the most productive, valuable and healthful farmsteads in the county. Not alone the system of ditching, under individual and county enterprise, has been responsible for this. The clearing of the timber tracts and undergrowth and the loosening and upturn- ing of the soil by the plow increased surface evaporation and sub-drainage, and these were the first important agencies in removing the excess moisture and making the land more habitable as well as arable.
The first acts of the legislature with reference to drainage were passed in 1846. For ten years all the public drainage undertaken was under the direction of township authorities. In 1857 the board of supervisors were given power to appoint three commissioners to construct and maintain drains. This act was amended at different times. In 1881 it was provided that one drain commissioner might be appointed in each county, to hold office two years, and in 1897 the office of drain commissioner was formally established in each county, to be filled by appointment of the board of supervisors for a term of two years, the first full term dating from January, 1898. In consideration of the vast benefit conferred upon the counties of Michigan by drainage works, it is noteworthy that the laws and court decisions expressly affirm that such construction and maintenance of drains can be undertaken only on the ground that they are "conducive to the public health, convenience and welfare." In other words, the increased value of lands and the benefits to private individuals are only incidental.
In the records of the supervisors perhaps as much space is taken up by drainage affairs as any other one subject. Every township in the county has benefited in the work. Mr. Elmer E. Gable, the present drain commis- sioner, is a practical man from the western side of the county, and during his incumbency has redeemed many thousands of acres for the uses of agriculture.
Public drains may now be found in all parts of the county. In some places the digging of a ditch through a natural barrier and the maintenance of a straight channel in place of a former tortuous and sluggish outlet, has effected the complete drainage of a lake basin, thus ending another dominion of the picturesque tamarack and marsh grass and making room for waving grain fields. As a result of drainage many of the lakes which the pioneers knew and which are designated on the county maps in use today, are now quite dry and cultivable, and in the course of another generation many more of these sheets of crystal water, reminiscent of geologic age and picturesque features of the landscape, will disappear because inconsistent with practical utility and the welfare of mankind.
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