A twentieth century history of Berrien County, Michigan, Part 76

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

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In his political views Mr. Lawrence is a stalwart Republican, attends the conven- tions of his party and takes an active inter- est in its work. He has been carrying on the work of the home farm, he and his brother William being the owners of the property and at the latter's death he became his heir. They were partners all their life and with the exception of three months al- ways lived together. Mr. Lawrence is now engaged in fruit growing, having fourteen acres planted to fruit. His cousin, Jeanette

Greeley, has acted as his housekeeper for ten years. Mr. Lawrence belongs to Ben- ton Lodge, No. 132, I. O. O. F., of which he lias served as secretary, and he is also con- nected with the Rebekah degree of that order. His interest in the schools and his labors in their behalf have been effective and far reaching and he has long been rec- ognized as a stalwart champion of the cause of education. In his fruit raising interests he is well known and is meeting with very gratifying success in this work.

H. L. GERSONDE resides at his home on Jakway avenue in Fair Plain, which is one of the most attractive residences in that part of the county. He has been the owner of his present fine farm since 1882 and is here engaged extensively in raising fruit, devoting his attention to grapes, pears, ap- ples, cherries and berries. His orchards are in excellent condition and everything about his place indicates his careful supervision and his thorough understanding of the business.

Mr. Gersonde is a native of Prussia, where his birth occurred on the 6th of April, 1845. A fact of which due recognition is not usually accorded in connection with the agricultural and horticultural history of the state is that its development in this direction is in so large a measure due to those who have had their nativity in or trace their lineage to the great empire of Germany. Among those who left the fatherland to identify themselves with American life and institutions, who have pushed their way to the front and who are a credit alike to the land of their birth and that of their adoption is Mr. Gersonde. After spending the first twenty-five years of his life in his native country he came to the United States in the spring of 1870. He had acquired his educa- tion in the schools of Germany and had served an apprenticeship to the wagonmak- er's trade in early life. He served for three years, or from 1865 until 1868, as a soldier in the regular army during the Austro- Prussian war and participated in the most important engagement of that-the battle of Koennig-Graetz. It was this engagement which decided the result of the war. Dur- ing his service Mr. Gersonde was connected

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with the infantry and after retiring from military life he worked at his trade of wagon making for about two years. In the mean- time he had friends who had come to Amer- ica and were living in St. Joseph, Michigan, so that when he determined to seek a home and fortune in the new world he made his way direct from the Atlantic seaboard to the western shore of this state and has since been connected with Berrien county. Twelve years later his sister came to the county and her last days were spent here. She was the wife of Martin Kasischke. A brother, Henry, came to the United States in 1892, but after eight years returned to Germany.

Herman L. Gersonde, after reaching America, was employed for two years at farm labor near St. Joseph, after which he began work at the wagon making trade, which he followed in St. Joseph, in Niles and in Benton Harbor from 1871 until 1879 and during two years of that time he was en- gaged in business on his own account. In the latter year he disposed of his business connections in Berrien county and went to Kansas. He purchased land in Ellsworth county, upon which not a furrow had been turned or an improvement made. Soon, however, he began to break the prairie sod and built thereon a house, but he lost his crops through the chinch bugs. This oc- curred for two years, so that he naturally be- came discouraged and, believing that he might enjoy better opportunities at his old home in Michigan, he again came to Ber- rien county.

Resuming work at his trade, Mr. Ger- sonde followed wagon making from 1880 until 1882, when with the money he had saved from his labors he purchased his pres- ent farm in Fair Plain. A part of this had been owned by Mr. Heath and the remainder was purchased from Elmer Jakway. He has here twenty-seven acres of land, on which he has erected a good home and barn. He has twenty-four acres in fruit, ten acres being planted to peaches and five acres to grapes. He raises a variety of pears, apples, cherries and berries and has been very suc- cessful as a horticulturist. In 1905 he sold seventeen hundred bushels of peaches and six thousand baskets of grapes from his

place. He has been quite successful in his undertakings, all of which has resulted from untiring labor and enterprise. He had to clear some of his land, which lies along the bluff of the St. Joseph river. The house stands on Jakway avenue in Fair Plain and his home is one of the finest in the vicinity. In the winter of 1901 his house was de- stroyed by fire. It had just been rebuilt and remodeled and everything was in fine shape. The loss amounted to twelve hundred dol- lars above all insurance. With characteristic energy he rebuilt and the present house cost three thousand dollars. His son was liv- ing in the house at the time and did not save even a pair of shoes. The farm is one of the best developed fruit farms in the locality and he grows entirely for the market. His orchards are in excellent condition, being clean and neat in appearance and the fruit produced upon the farm commands excel- lent prices because of its size and quality. Mr. Gersonde makes it his aim to purchase only the finest nursery stock and produce fine qualities of fruit and has made a close study of the needs of the trees as to soil, climate and nourishment.

In 1873, in Benton Harbor, was cele- brated the marriage of H. L. Gersonde and Miss Albertina Bauschke, a daughter of Carl Bauschke, a representative farmer of Benton township, who came to the United States at the age of fifteen years. Mrs. Gersonde rep- resents the Bauschke family and is a cousin of the Bauschke Brothers, Albert and Lewis, of Benton Harbor. Her parents were also from Prussia and her father was a black- smith by trade, but after coming to Berrien county purchased a farm in Benton town- ship lying on Pipestone street about two miles south of Benton Harbor. His atten- tion was there afterward given to agricul- tural pursuits and the family has long been prominent in the county and the name well known here. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Gersonde have been born three children who are yet living and they lost one in infancy. Their daughter Nellie is now the wife of Frank Gustafson, a contractor and builder of St. Joseph. Benjamin is a musician who is now studying music in Boston. He was formerly a member of the Fair Plain band and is a

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fine clarinet player. Bertha, the youngest of the family, is a stenographer employed in Benton Harbor.

Mr. Gersonde is a Republican in his political views but without aspiration for of- fice, preferring to give his time and energies to his business interests. He is a member of the German Baptist church at St. Joseph and served for twenty-one consecutive years as church secretary and for fifteen or six- teen years as trustee. He takes an active interest in church work and does all in his power to promote its growth and advance its welfare. He has met with some hardships and difficulties since coming to America, but altogether has had a successful career and although he was in limited financial circum- stances when he crossed the Atlantic he is today one of the substantial fruit growers of the county with a business that provides him with many of the comforts and luxuries of life.

J. E. STEVENS is a retired merchant, vessel owner and lumberman of Berrien county. For many years he conducted the most extensive business of any man in Ber- rien county and his realty possessions were greater. Through his individual efforts he contributed in large and substantial measure to the progress and prosperity of the county. Following the advent of the early pioneers who blazed the way of civilization there came a type of the builder and organizer, the man of genius who, finding the magic realm opened, forthwith became its exploiter to its vast renown and his own large profit, coin- ing its wealth of minerals, lumber, cattle and grain. It is to this class that Mr. Stevens belongs, as for many years he was ranked with its most prominent business men. He is now living retired upon a good farm on the Paw Paw river three miles from Benton Harbor.

A native of New York, he was born in Brownsville, Jefferson county, on the 26th of July, 1823. His father, Oliver Stevens, was born in Canada and died when his son James was only six years of age. He was living in Canada at the time of the war of 1812 and was warned to appear armed and equipped ready for duty against the United

States. Instead he and a companion cut logs, made an outfit and reached the Amer- ican shore just ahead of their pursuers. They went to Brownsville, New York, where Mr. Stevens entered the employ of General Cal- vin Brittain, who with the rank of general was serving in the American army in the second war with England, being stationed at Sacketts Harbor. Mr. Stevens began work- ing as a farm hand for General Brittain and later married the general's daughter, Miss Sarah Brittain. The Brittain family afterward became prominent and influential in Berrien county and Brittain avenue in Benton Harbor was so named in honor of Major Calvin Brittain, who was one of the principal owners of the town of St. Joseph, which as a surveyor he platted. He had come to Michigan about 1835 and taken up his abode in St. Joseph, from which point he operated extensively in business affairs. He located much land in the county and be- came a wealthy man. Moreover he was very active and influential in public life, exerting strong influence in public thought and opinion. He was called to represent his dis- trict in the legislature and was also sent to congress, taking an active part in the deliber- ations which occurred in the council cham- bers of the nation during his term of serv- ice. Esteemed by all, he honored the state which honored him and he accomplished much good in behalf of his community and the commonwealth at large. For many years he remained a resident of Berrien county, his death occurring at his home in Benton Harbor at the end of Brittain avenue. For many years he was engaged in buying and shipping wood to Chicago and was for a long period the most prominent representa- tive of this line of business. He had lost much of his property, however, at the time of his death owing to a kindly spirit which had prompted him to accommodate others in a financial way through the signing of papers. He was about sixty-two or sixty- three years of age at the time of his demise and his remains were interred in St. Jo- seph. His father, General Brittain, also died in this county, passing away when about eighty years of age. Up to the last he re- tained a military aspect, showing his early

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connection with the army and at all times he commanded the esteem and confidence of those with whom he came in contact.

Oliver Stevens, father of our subject, re- mained upon the home farm near Browns- ville, New York, for some time and there developed a good property, working earnestly and persistently in the effort to transform his land into productive fields. In fact his untiring energy at length under- mined his health. He reared a family of six children, but J. E. Stevens of this re- view was the only one who reached mature years and is now living. Two of his broth- ers, Oliver and Calvin Stevens, also spent a few years in Berrien county at an early day. In 1852, however, Mr. Stevens of this review sent his brother Calvin to California, where he was later killed by a runaway team. Oliver Stevens engaged in clerking for his brother, J. E. Stevens, in St. Joseph until his death, which occurred in 1864.

J. E. Stevens remained upon the old home farm in New York until 1842, when he came to the west and began working for Major Calvin Brittain in a warehouse on the river, dealing in grain which came from points as far away as Kalamazoo, Cassopolis and other towns in that section of the state. At that time Wheeler and Porter also had a warehouse. Mr. Stevens would ship grain to the Buffalo market and became quite an extensive dealer in that commodity. He con- tinued in the warehouse from July until Sep- tember, receiving grain, salt and other products. On the 2d of September, 1842, while loading the brig Indiana with flour from the third story he would fasten hooks onto the barrels and thus swing them onto the boat, but an accident occurred whereby he fell to the deck of the vessel and broke his right knee. For seven weeks he lay in bed unable to move. He spent the succeed- ing winter at Niles with an aunt, Clarissa Brittain, the major's sister, who was con- ducting the Niles Female Seminary. He afterward returned to St. Joseph in April, 1843, making this trip on a sleigh. During the winter he clerked for Major Brittain and then became ill with fever, which ended his work for several months. During the suc- ceeding winter he worked for his board in

a drug store and in the spring of 1844 he purchased a stock of goods on one year's time without paying a cent down. He was entirely unfamiliar with merchandising but his determined spirit and resolute will en- abled him to engage in this line of business. As opportunity offered he increased his stock. He had no credit and at that time there were no wholesale stores in Chicago. He went to Chicago to buy goods. He had no money, but after questioning one of the partners he was allowed to have goods to the value of two or three hundred dollars, an agreement being made as to when he should pay for the same. Finally he went to New York without even a recommenda- tion. He wanted groceries and the first wholesale house which he entered sold him the bill of goods that he desired on credit and its proprietor took him to a boot and shoe house, introduced him to the owner and vouched for him. He got what he wanted there and afterward went to a dry goods house. He found no difficulty in securing all the goods he desired, for he was a man who inspired confidence and never betrayed it. Soon he had secured a first class stock and he met the payments on time. He kept in- creasing his stock and soon New York mer- chants offered him six months credit, while Boston merchants offered him eight months credit or a year. Eastern men in going to Chicago would make the journey by way of St. Joseph and visit him at this point. He was induced by a Boston merchant to buy in that city and he continued in the general mercantile business for several years with excellent success. In 1846, however, he sold out his old stock and purchased a large stock of whiskey at twenty cents per gallon which was delivered at St. Joseph. He then char -· tered a vessel, loaded it with whiskey, beans, crackers and other commodities and made his way to Sault Ste. Marie, where he ex- pected to get one dollar per gallon for the whiskey, but found that he could not sell it at all. Later he sold it by taking county orders but this venture proved unprofitable.

Mr. Stevens afterward engaged in clerk- ing for John E. Sullivan in St. Joseph, and later George Scott & Company, having just bought a stock of dry goods, sold him the

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entire stock at cost. Thus he once more became connected with merchandising in Berrien county. Various dealers in wood gave orders on him and success attended the new venture. so that in the first season he paid for his stock. His trade increased rapidly and he sold goods there until 1870. In that year he began to build vessels and establish lumber yards in Milwaukee and Chicago. He also sent vessels loaded with lumber to Racine and Kenosha, where he traded his cargo for wagons. He handled all of the lumber from ten or twelve saw- mills and would furnish money to operate these in the winter, taking the output of the mills in the summer. The business proved very successful and he made money rapidly. He became one of the most prominent lum- ber dealers of western Michigan, his opera- tions being very extensive in this line. In 1862, in company with others, he built the propeller Favorite at a cost of fifty-six thou- sand dollars. This he ran for two years, carrying fruit between St. Joseph and Chi- cago. This also proved a profitable busi- ness and in two years he distributed twenty- four thousand dollars to stockholders. Mr. Stevens was the treasurer of the company, with John T. Edwards as its president and later Mr. Edwards sold his interest for forty thousand dollars. Mr. Stevens purchased the Lady Franklin for twenty-five thousand dollaars and another boat for twelve thou- sand dollars to supply the Chicago trade. Another company built three vessels in Buf- falo, which they ran to Chicago in opposition to Mr. Stevens, who was finally induced to join the other company, placing his two ves- sels in the combined business. It was repre- sented that all of the vessels were free of mortgage. During the first year Mr. Stevens made sixty thousand dollars clear but later he learned that the vessels put into the com- pany by his partners were mortgaged for forty-two thousand dollars. This and sim- ilar experiences with men in whom he had trusted compelled him to go into bankruptcy. He gave Marshall Field of Chicago a deed for five thousand acres of timber land in Wisconsin worth sixty thousand dollars to secure Field (who was an old time friend) for twelve thousand dollars, Field having as-

sumed to pay others with himself. The en- tire amount of Mr. Stevens indebtedness was twelve thousand dollars and it was agreed that Mr. Field would keep the land until he could sell to advantage, when the surplus would be paid to Mr. Stevens. After about ten years the latter learned that the land had been sold. He called upon Field, who re- ferred him to his partner, Leiter, who dis- claimed any knowledge of the business but referred him to Higinbotham, who offered him ten thousand dollars. Knowing some- thing of the value of the land Mr. Stevens refused to settle for this amount, but two years later settled for seven thousand dol- lars. Afterward he learned the timber alone had been sold for one hundred and twenty thousand dollars and they were selling the land at ten dollars per acre. In consequence of such a transaction Mr. Stevens does not have a very high regard for the "merchant prince" of Chicago and his business in- tegrity.

Now at the age of eighty-three years Mr. Stevens is living retired from business upon a good farm on the Paw Paw river, a short distance from Benton Harbor. It is a well known fact that the real upbuilders of a town or community are those who promote its business activity and enterprise, who estab- lish commercial or industrial interests and who engage in large trade transactions. All this Mr. Stevens has done and he may well be classed among the founders and pro- moters of Berrien county.

O. P. WOODWORTH. The value of local newspapers in the upbuilding of the best interests of the community is univer- sally conceded. The rule is that good papers are found in good towns, inferior papers in towns of stunted growth and uncertain fu- ture. It is not so much a matter of size as of excellence and of adaptability to the needs of its locality. These conditions given, in an appreciative and progressive community, the size of the paper will take care of itself in a way usually satisfactory to the publishers and patrons, and this as- sertion has been verified in the history of the Buchanan Record, of which O. P. Wood- worth is editor. He is meeting with suc-

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cess in the publication of this journal and the community" is being benefited also thereby.

Mr. Woodworth was born in Buchanan, July 4, 1869. "His paternal grandfather, Samuel Woodworth, was a native of New York, while his son Oscar A. Woodworth, father of our subject was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1822. The latter came to Buchanan some time in the '30s and was captain on keel boats on the St. Joseph river for a considerable period. By trade he was an iron molder, but turned his attention to other pursuits. At the time of the Civil war he espoused the cause of the Union and served as a soldier in defense of the govern- ment. His death occurred when he was in his sixty-second year. In early manhood he married Lenora J. Fox, a native of Ohio, whose people came from Vermont. She was born in 1833, in Mentor, Ohio, and lived to be about sixty-two years of age. By her marriage she became the mother of four children, a daughter and three sons, all of whom are now living: Fannie L., now the wife of V. M. Baker, of Baker- town, Berrien county, Michigan ; A. A., who is living in St. Joseph, Michigan; W. J .; and O. P., of this review.

The youngest of the four children, O. P. Woodworth, was reared in Buchanan and educated in the public schools. When about sixteen years of age he put aside his text books and took up the printing trade, start- ing in as "devil" at a time when hand print- ing presses were in use. He was employed in various offices until 1896, when he established a job office in Buchanan and thus began an independent business venture. In 1899 he commenced the publication of the Buchanan Argus in partnership with T. F. Cox, and in 1900 he purchased his partner's interest and carried on the paper alone for about a year. He then sold out to the present owner, P. A. Graffort. Mr. Woodworth later spent about a year upon the road, and in 1903 he became associated with the Buchanan Record, being made edi- tor the following year. The Record is-the oldest paper in the county, having been es- tablished in 1866. It is a semi-weekly and

has a good circulation throughout the county.

In 1891 Mr. Woodworth was. united in marriage to Miss Anna M. Clark, a. daugh- ter of Samuel T. Clark, of Howard town- ship, Cass county, Michigan. " Three chil- dren grace this marriage, Nada, Marshall and Max. Since age: conferred. upon him the right of franchise Mr. Woodworth has been a stalwart Republican, and has served as township clerk of Buchanan township for four years. He has also been a member of the village school board two years and its treasurer for one year, and he has served as a member of the Republican county central committee for about eight years, his opin- ions often being a decisive factor in its party councils. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen and is its presiding officer at this writing, in 1906. His entire life has been passed in Buchanan with the exception of about a year passed .in Niles, and that many of his stanchest friends are those who have known him from his boy- hood to the present time is an indication of a life well lived.

Since the above was compiled Mr. Wood- worth has contemplated retiring from the editorship of the Record and will. take a position on the road for the J. W. Butler Paper Company of Chicago. This is on ac- count of his health.

HON. HENRY CHAMBERLAIN, whose name is inseparably interwoven with the . history of Berrien . county, whose life has been actuated by hon- orable principles and guided by manly conduct, whose name has become synony- mous with honor and to whom has been vouchsafed eighty-one years of usefulness and activity-such is the man whose record claims the attention of the historian, and yet is is with hesitancy that one essays the task of preparing his history. " It is not a difficult undertaking to set forth the salient facts but a mere statement or outline would be considered inadequate in marked degree by all of those men who have been associated with Mr. Chamberlain and have come under the influence of his upright life and high

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ideals. We therefore turn to the ancestry to find from what stock he sprang and learn that he comes of a family that was established in Massachusetts in early colonial days. The name of Samuel Cham- berlain appears upon the early records of the Massachusetts Bay colony. Representa- tives of the name lived in Massachusetts, while the parents, grandparents and great- grandparents made their homes in the vicinity of Concord, New Hampshire. Jacob Chamberlain, born in 1691, probably at Malden, Massachusetts, was a son of John Chamberlain, and a grandson of Ed- mund Chamberlain, of Chelford, Massa- chusetts. Edmund came from England, and was therefore the progenitor of the family in the new world. Samuel Cham- berlain, great-grandfather of our subject, was a resident of New Hampshire. His son, Samuel Chamberlain, served as a lieu- tenant in the war for independence. Sam- uel Chamberlain and his son Moses both were in service as substitutes for a short period during the Revolutionary war. Sev- enteen of Mr. Chamberlain's ancestors served in the colonial wars. Jacob Cham- berlain, previously mentioned, born in 1691, died in 1734. He married Abigail Hasey, who was born in 1695, and died in 1793. Samuel Chamberlain, son of Jacob and Abi- gail (Hasey) Chamberlain, was born in 1724, and died in 1802. He married Mar- tha Mellen, who was born in 1730, and died in 1820. Her ancestry can be traced back to Simon Mellen, a son of Richard Mellen. Simon Mellen was born in 1640, and died in 1694.

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A twentieth century history of Berrien County, Michigan, Part 76

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