A twentieth century history of Berrien County, Michigan, Part 46

Author: Coolidge, Orville W
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1314

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JAMES F. SKINNER, a retired farmer living in Berrien Springs, was in former years an active and successful rep- resentative of agricultural interests in this county. He was born in Elkhart county, Indiana, near Jimtown, December 14, 1848. His father, Aaron Skinner, was a native of Pennsylvania, where he remained through

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the period of his boyhood and youth, while in early manhood he made his way to In- diana, locating in Elkhart county, where he was married. He wedded Miss Eliza Potter, who was born in Ohio, and there began their domestic life upon a farm, Mr. Skinner not only carrying on the work of the fields but also operating a sawmill in that locality. In 1850 he removed near South Bend, in St. Joseph county, and in 1862 took up his abode in the city, retiring from active busi- ness life. He was sixty-nine years of age at the time of his demise, while his wife passed away at the age of fifty-nine. They were the parents of five children, three daughters and two sons, all of whom reached adult age. These are Lucinda, Mattie, Elizabeth, James F. and William.

James F. Skinner was reared in and near South Bend, having been but two years of age at the time of his parents' removal to St. Joseph county. He was educated in the village schools and at Notre Dame Univer- sity. At the age of sixteen years, however, he put aside all personal considerations in order to respond to his country's call and enlisted as a member of Company C, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for six months, or until the close of the war.

On the 2d of April, 1867. Mr. Skinner was united in marriage to Miss Adah Slon- ecker, who was born in Indiana, and in her early girlhood was taken to Berrien Springs by her parents. Her education was acquired at St. Josephi, Michigan. The young couple began their domestic life near St. Joseph, but after a short period removed to South Bend, where they remained for two years. They then took up their abode upon a farm in Bainbridge township and afterward in Oronoko township, where Mr. Skinner car- ried on general agricultural pursuits until 1894. He afterward engaged in the shoe business for about two years in Berrien Springs, and selling out he retired from ac- tive business life, since which time he has enjoyed a well earned rest. He is still the owner of eighty acres of good land two miles from Berrien Springs and this brings him a desirable income. Throughout his

business career he has been active and ener- getic, manifesting keen discernment and en- terprise in the control of his agricultural and commercial interests. These qualities are essential factors to success and have brought him a gratifying measure of prosperity.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Skinner have been born four daughters and three sons: Olus, a shoe man of Berrien Springs: Loy, who is living on the old homestead : Zella, the wife of Alvin Stover, a resident farmer of Oro- noko township: Arda, the wife of Claude Sparks, a lumber dealer at Berrien Springs; Nola, the wife of Charles Collins, of New- castle, Indiana; Nie, a carpenter by trade : and Orfa, who is assistant cashier in the bank at Berrien Springs.

Mr. Skinner in his study of the political issues and questions of the day has been led to give a stalwart support to the principles of the Republican party, which he believes are most conducive to good government. He takes an active interest in the work of the party, doing all he can to promote its growth and insure its success. He has served as village trustee and as highway commissioner, and matters relating to the public welfare are always of interest to him and elicit his commendation and support.

GEORGE S. HOPPIN, an old settler residing on section two, Niles township, was born in New York, June 24, 1825. The paternal grandfather, Samuel Hoppin, was a native of Massachusetts, and was of Eng- lish descent. He married but died in early manhood. His son, Thaddeus Hoppin, also a native of Massachusetts, became a farmer by occupation and followed that pursuit throughout his entire life. He removed from New England to New York about 1820, and in 1844 came to Michigan, set- tling in Berrien county. Here the residue of his days were passed and he departed this life at the age of seventy years. His political allegiance was given to the Whig party and he held some local offices while residing in New York. His religious faith was indicated by his membership in the Presbyterian church, in the work of which he took an active and helpful part. He mar-

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ried Miss Tamer Daniels, a native of Hing- ham, Massachusetts, and a daughter of John Daniels, who was a native of Boston. John Hancock and John Adams were among his patrons and their names appear on his books. The mother of Mr. Hoppin lived to be about ninety years of age, and in Ber- rien county Mr. and Mrs. Thaddeus Hoppin were highly esteemed people. In their fam- ily were nine children, six sons and three daughters, all of whom reached mature years but only two are now living, the sister being Mrs. Clarissa Everts, the widow of A. M. Everts, of Woodland, California.

George S. Hoppin, the seventh child and fourth son, is the only representative of the family in Berrien county. He came with his parents to this county in 1844, being at that time eighteen years of age. He took charge of the farm whereon he now resides, cleared away the timber and brush, placed the fields under the plow and has improved the farm, transforming it into an excellent property. As a companion and helpmate for life's journey he chose Miss Dora King, whom he wedded in 1875. She is a daugh- ter of Dorcas King and was born in Lyons, New York. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hoppin have been born four children: Clair, now the wife of Charles E. White, of Niles; George S., who is employed in a bank at Detroit; John E., who is living in Ann Ar- bor ; and Rose, at home. In 1883 Mr. Hop- pin went to South Dakota and purchased a farm in Brown county, which he improved, remaining thereon for eight years, during which period he placed under cultivation a section of land and added many buildings. He still owns this place and has made many trips to his Dakota property, probably cov- ering the distance between his ranch in the northwest and his home in Michigan thirty times. In this county he owns one hundred and thirty acres of good land, a part of which was once comprised in the old farm homestead. He has erected all of the build- ings here and the well improved appearance of his place is indicative of the care and labor bestowed upon it.

In politics Mr. Hoppin has been a life- long Republican, taking an active interest in

the party, its growth and its success. He served as supervisor of Niles township for several terms and has also been school offi- cer. He has belonged to the Presbyterian church for a half century or more and has filled a number of its offices, doing all in his power to promote its growth and extend its influence. He is one of the oldest settlers in the county now living, having for sixty- two years made his home within its borders. Since his arrival he has been identified with the agricultural interests of Berrien county and has done much for its promotion along these lines.

DR. E. S. DODD, a pioneer physician of Buchanan and now the oldest practitioner of the city in years of continuous connection therewith, claims Virginia as the state of his nativity, having been born in Franklin county, on the 4th of January, 1819. His father, Isaac Dodd, also a native of the Old Dominion, was of English and Scotch de- scent. He was a farmer by occupation and also learned and followed the blacksmith's trade. Leaving the south in 1836, he re- moved to Laporte county, Indiana, locating in its northern district, where he became well known as one of the pioneer black- smiths and agriculturists. In 1873 he re- moved to Kansas, where he died in his eighty-fourth year. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Agnes Clark, was born near Raleigh, North Carolina, and lived to be about sixty-six years of age. In their family were eight children, all of whom reached manhood and womanhood.

Dr. Dodd, the second in order of birth, is the only one now living. He was about eighteen years of age when he accompanied his parents on their removal from Virginia to Laporte county, Indiana. It was in the fall of 1835 that he arrived in Goshen, driving a four horse team across the coun- try for a distance of seven hundred miles. He had attended the public schools of his native place and afterward became a student in the schools of Michigan City. Putting aside his text-books he engaged in the cabinet-making business in Laporte county until about 1847, when he took up

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the study of medicine and attended lectures in Laporte in 1847-48. In the fall of the latter year he resumed his studies in Cin- cinnati, Ohio, and was graduated in 1849 from the Eclectic Medical College. The same year he located for practice in Wabash, Indiana, where he was actively connected with his profession until the fall of 1850, when he removed to Terracoupee, St. Jo- seph county, Indiana, continuing in practice there until the spring of 1859. In Febru- ary of that year he located in Buchanan, where he has remained continuously since, covering a period of forty-seven years. In 1873 he embarked in the drug business in partnership with his son, I. L. H. Dodd, and the enterprise is still conducted under the firm style of Dodd & Son. As a practi- tioner of medicine and surgery Dr. Dodd has enjoyed a large measure of success and as the years have passed has kept in touch with the progress of the profession, readily adopting new and improved methods, while at the same time he has been slow to dis- card the old and time-tried processes whose value and worth have been proven through actual experience.

In 1850 Dr. Dodd was united in mar- riage to Miss Sophronia Mckinney, who died in 1875. They were the parents of four children: I. Leroy H., the present county register of deeds, of Berrien county and a member of the drug firm of Dodd & Son; Roselda J., who died at the age of eleven years; Clara A., of Kalamazoo; and Charles S. M., who died when thirty-two years of age. In 1891 Dr. Dodd was mar- ried to Mrs. Jennie Champ.

In the year 1840 Dr. Dodd cast his first presidential vote for William Henry Harri- son and has votel at each presidential elec- tion since that time. He remained a Whig until the dissolution of the party, when he joined the ranks of the new Republican party, supporting each candidate at the head of its ticket to the present. He has been examiner for many insurance companies but has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking. For many years a faithful and devoted member of the Methodist Epis- copal church, he is also a worthy exemplar

of the Masonic fraternity, his membership being with the lodge at Buchanan. A resi- dent of the city for forty-seven years and one of its pioneer physicians, he is well known in the town and surrounding coun- try as a man of genuine personal worth in all life's relations. A man of unswerving integrity and honor, one who has a perfect appreciation of the higher ethics of life, he has gained and retained the confidence and respect of his fellowmen and is distinctively one of the leading citizens of the thriving town of Buchanan, with whose interests he has so long been identified. His memory compasses the most wonderful history of the world's development, for he has passed the eighty-seventh milestone on life's jour- ney. He has witnessed the advent of the railroad, the telegraph and the telephone, and in early days he made the long trip from Virginia with wagon across the country, traveling after the primitive manner of the times. . He has watched with interest the advantages and improvements that time and men have wrought and has rejoiced in what has been accomplished.

ERNEST L. RANFT, a native of Ger- many, who landed in New York with only a shilling in his pocket, and began life in Berrien county in a little log cabin, is now one of the substantial farmers of Niles town- ship, living on section 22, where he owns a valuable and well improved farm. He may truly be called a self-made man, for all that he now possesses has been acquired through his own efforts, and his life history illustrates the fact that in this country, where effort is unhampered by caste or class, labor finds its sure and just reward.

Ernest L. Ranft first opened his eyes to. the light of day in Saxony. Germany. Feb- ruary 28. 1834, and was reared in his na- tive country to the age of nineteen years. For eight years he was a pupil in the schools of that country, after which he was vari- ously employed until he came to America. The favorable reports which he heard con- cerning business conditions and opportuni- ties in the new world led him to seek a home in America and he came alone to the United

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States in 1854, stopping first in New York, where he remained for two years. He came to this county in 1856 and took up his abode in Niles, and with the passing of years he has made a creditable position for himself in business circles as a representative of the agricultural interests of the county.

Before leaving New York Mr. Ranft was united in marriage to Miss Anna Mar- garet Miller, also a native of Saxony, Ger- many. She came to America on the same ship on which her future husband crossed the Atlantic. The year after their arrival in Michigan Mr. Ranft worked by the day or job and the following year he bought the land whereon he now resides. There were no improvements on the place at that time and he built a little log cabin, fourteen by twenty-four feet. He then began clearing the place and as the timber was cut down he plowed the fields which ultimately brought forth rich harvests. He has erected all the buildings upon the place, including a sub- stantial residence, good barns and sheds, has built fences, has set out an orchard and has added all modern equipments. Everything about the place is indicative of a progressive as well as practical management and for fifty years Mr. Ranft has here made his home, the farm being proof of a life of thrift and enterprise.

As the years have gone by the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ranft has been blessed with six children : George A., Doretta, Matilda, Louise, Annie and Harry, all of whom were born upon the home farm.

Mr. Ranft has been a life-long agricult- urist and a successful one, and he now owns one hundred and fifty acres of rich land, forty of which lies within the corpo- ration limits of the city of Niles, and upon this stands a good bank barn. He certainly deserves much credit for what he has ac- complished as his success is due entirely to his own labors and the assistance of his es- timable wife, who has indeed been a worthy helpmate to him. Almost penniless when he arrived in the new world, he has stead- ily progressed along the road of useful and persistent endeavor and his labors have been crowned with a most satisfactory reward.

In politics a Democrat since he became a naturalized American citizen, he has figured in local political circles as a leader and worker and for eight years he served as con- stable of his township, while for two years he was drain commissioner and for twenty- four years justice of the peace. He filled the office of highway commissioner for three years and for many years has been almost continuously in office, discharging his duties with a promptness and fidelity which leaves no room for question concerning his public- spirited and loyal citizenship. He is now peach tree inspector for the city of Niles. He has taken a most active and helpful in- terest in public affairs and the county has profited by his labors on behalf of the gen- eral public. He belongs to the United Workmen Lodge at Niles and to the Ger- man church. He was instrumental in se- curing the services of the first minister for this church and his son was the first to be baptized into this church. He rejoices in civic development and is now accounted one of the honored and prominent residents of the county.

GEORGE H. BLACK. This is an age of invention, and America is the exponent of the spirit of the age. No country has made such rapid progress as the United States in the line of utilitarian invention and the products of the sons of the new world have largely revolutionized business condi- tions and labor. George H. Black of Buch- anan is well known as an inventor and man- ufacturer of various useful devices, which have brought him a wide acquaintance in business circles, not only in Michigan but in other parts of the country as well. His life record began in Ashburnham, Massachu- setts, March 25, 1853. His father, Horace Black, was a native of Putney, Vermont, and was a furniture maker by occupation. In the year 1859 he came westward to Ber- rien county, Michigan, settling in New Buf- falo, where he engaged in the furniture busi- ness for some time, producing the first round cornered bedstead made in the state. These bedsteads were manufactured from black walnut. Mr. Black remained at New Buf-

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falo for two years and then came to Buch- anan, where he continued in the manufact- ure of furniture, being closely associated with the productive industries of the town. He died at the very venerable age of eighty- six years, while his wife, who bore the maiden name of Harriet Petts, and was a native of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, lived to be ninety-two years of age. In the family were eight children, five daughters. and three sons, one of whom died in child- hood, while the others are still living.

George H. Black is the seventh child and third son, and was in his fourth year when he came with his parents to this state. When a youth of six years he became a resident of Buchanan and his youth was here passed, his education being acquired in the public schools. He became connected with the fur- niture manufacturing business when ten years of age as an assistant to his father, and learned the business from the founda- tion upward, becoming familiar with the trade in all its departments and gaining much proficiency as the years passed by until he was known as an expert workman. He was associated with his brother for some time, or until 1884, when he began the man- ufacture of the "Queen of the Garden" hand cultivator, which he is still manufacturing. He is the patentee and proprietor, as well as manufacturer of this useful device. In ad- dition he is also manufacturing typewriter desks, stands, racks for magazines, news- papers and music, and tables of various kinds. He now employs eight men, and the factory has a capacity of from twenty- five to thirty men. As the output of the factory is now being shipped to various parts of the country the business is having a substantial and well merited growth.

Mr. Black has resided continuously in Buchanan since 1860, or for a period of forty-six years, and has taken an active and helpful interest in the place and its devel- opment. He is a stanch Republican and that he is a leading and influential citizen is indicated by the fact that he was elected and served for three years as mayor. He was also a member of the council for four years and has been zealous in his devotion to the

public good and his faithful, effective and far-reaching effort to promote civic virtue and pride and to uphold the legal and moral status of the community. Socially he is con- nected with the Knights of the Maccabees and is well known throughout the county as a prominent, reliable and honorable business man, whose interests are of direct benefit to the city as well as a source of individual income.

EDGAR F. GARLAND, president of the village board of Berrien Springs, and well fitted for leadership by rea- son of his devotion to the general good and his natural business capacity and enterprise, was born in Cedar county, Iowa, August 21, 1857. His father. Horace Gar- land, was a native of New Hampshire and became one of the early settlers of Cedar county, Iowa, where he took up his abode in 1855. He removed from that state to Michigan in 1863. locating at Benton Har- bor. There he engaged in general farming and fruit raising for a number of years but died in Kansas at the age of sixty-three years. He had in the meantime removed from Michigan to California. and later had taken up his abode in the Sunflower state. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Catharine Webster, was a native of New Hampshire and died about 1860. There were two sons in the family, Horace being a resident of Bainbridge township, Berrien county.

Edgar F. Garland, the younger son, was about six years of age when he came to Ber- rien county, Michigan, with his parents. He was reared near Bentor Harbor and attended the district schools, while later he became a student in the high school at Benton Harbor. He then started out in life on his own ac- count and the success that he has achieved is attributable entirely to his own labors. For ten years he operated a farm for the Northwestern Life Insurance Company, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this land being lo- cated in Benton township. He afterward for five years operated a farm for William Hamilton near Benton Harbor, and about 1890 he came to Berrien Springs, where he

E.F. Garland

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purchased a part of what is know as the Col- lege farm. Selling this place he located on a farm where he now resides and for some time he has owned this property. He has a fine fruit farm of ten acres inside the cor- porate limits of Berrien Springs and eight and a quarter acres adjoining, but just out- side the corporation.

He has made most of the improvements upon the place and it is a valuable property, from which he annually gathers a large fruit crop. He secures only the best nursery stock and his orchards are now in excellent bearing condition.

In 1886 Mr. Garland was united in mar- riage to Miss Anna King, a daughter of John and Anna King, of Benton township. Mrs. Garland was born in Chicago, and by her marriage has become the mother of two children, Walter and Allen, both at home. In his political views Mr. Garland is an earn- est Republican, stanchly advocating the prin- ciples of the party and keeping well in- formed on the questions of the day. He is recognized as a leader in its local ranks, and the confidence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen is indicated by the fact that he is now serving as president of the village board, to which office he was chosen by popular suffrage. He has been identified with the interests of Berrien county for forty-three years and is well known in the neighborhood as a man fully worthy the respect which is uniformly accorded him.

A. D. YOUNG. The student of history cannot carry his investigations far into the annals of Berrien county without learning that the Young family was established here at a very early epoch in the development of the county, seventy years having come and gone since Cornelius and Hannah ( Hamil- ton) Young, grandparents of A. D. Young, came from the state of New York and cast in their lot with the pioneer settlers of Niles township, Berrien county. Cornelius Young purchased land which he converted into a good farm, and the family, in the early days shared in all the hardships and privations incident to the establishment of a home on

the frontier, far removed from the com- forts and advantages of the older civiliza- tion of the east. There for many years lived Mr. and Mrs. Young, as representative farming people of the community, and they aided in laying the foundation for later-day improvement and progress in this county.

Their son, John H. Young, born in New York, came to Berrien county with his par- ents in 1836, long before the state was ad- mitted to the Union, and was reared amid pioneer environment upon the home farm in Niles township. Educational facilities were limited but he had ample opportunity to become familiar with farm work and the arduous task of developing new land. He was married in Niles township to Miss Delia Snow, a native of Vermont, who was brought to this county when a maiden of eight summers by her parents, Orrin and Emily (Brigham) Snow, who also located in Niles township, where their daughter was reared. Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. John H. Young located on a farm in Niles township, where for many years he carried on general agricultural pursuits, be- coming one of the prosperous farmers of the locality. Both he and his wife are now living in the city of Niles, the former at the age of seventy-nine years, the latter at the age of seventy-five. They were the par- ents of seven children, of whom two died in infancy, while five are still living in 1906.

A. D. Young, the second child and the eldest now living, was born on the old fam- ily homestead in Niles township, September 25, 1854, and was there reared. At the usual age he began his education in the pub- lic schools of the neighborhood and contin- ued his studies in the schools of Niles, while his practical training at farm labor was re- ceived under the direction of his father as he assisted in the work of the fields. He was married March 13, 1879, to Miss Mat- tie Storms, a daughter of Lewis and Lydia (Baker) Storms. She is the youngest of three children and the only daughter. She was born in the house in which she now lives, August 19, 1857, and was reared upon this farm, her father having come from New

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A twentieth century history of Berrien County, Michigan, Part 46

Author: Coolidge, Orville W Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Coolidge, Orville W
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1314