A twentieth century history of Berrien County, Michigan, Part 80

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

USA > Michigan > Berrien County > A twentieth century history of Berrien County, Michigan > Part 80

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

and Charles, his eldest son, worked out as a farm hand in order to help pay for the old homestead. With characteristic energy Sidney Spencer began the task of cultivat- ing and improving his land, clearing alto- gether about eighty acres and making this one of the best homes in the township. He continued to reside thereon until his last years and his death occurred in the home of his son, Charles A. Spencer, on the 8th of April, 1890, when he was in the eighty- eighth year of his age. He had survived his wife for about seven years. His early po- litical allegiance was given to the Dem- ocracy and upon its organization he joined the ranks of the new Republican party, with which he continued to affiliate until his de- mise. He was a justice of the peace in Bain- bridge township for many years, acting in that capacity when the office was an import- ant one. At all times he was loyal to the public welfare and his co-operation could be counted upon to further many move- ments for the general good. His views on the question of religion were those set forth by Swedenborg and he became one of the followers of that religious leader when there were only three or four of the faith in the township. He was a great reader and was always ready to discuss the truths of the Bible and of religious doctrines. His wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and her father was a minister of that denomination. In their family were five children, of whom three are living; Charles A., whose name introduces this re- view; Romelia, the widow of Samuel Hen- drickson; and Mary S., the wife of Milton Johnston, of Portage, Wisconsin. The eld- est daughter, Melissa, was the wife of Dr. John Terry and died in 1899 at the age of seventy-two years. The other son of the family. Wallace Spencer, was graduated from the State University of Michigan in the class of 1861 and during the Civil war he enlisted as a member of Company G, Thirty- ninth Illinois Infantry. He became ser- geant, was wounded in battle and died of gangrene a few weeks before the expiration of his three years' term of service when twenty-seven years of age.

543

HISTORY OF BERRIEN COUNTY

Charles A. Spencer spent the first four- teen years of his life in the state of his na- tivity and then accompanied his parents on their removal from New York to Michigan. He continued to reside with his parents un- til he had attained his majority, assisting at times in the work of the home farm and at other times working as a farm laborer in order to assist his father in making the payments upon the land which he had pur- chased. When he was twenty-one years of age his father still owed two hundred dol- lars upon the place and later Mr. Spencer of this review paid it for him. In the fall of 1851, attracted by the discovery of gold in California, he bade adieu to home and friends and started for the Pacific coast, joining a company of eleven men from Bainbridge township, who made the journey by way of Lake Nicaragua. On reaching his destination he went into the mines at Auburn, California, on the American river, and prospected and mined with moderate success. He remained for four years in that far western country and then returned home with enough to pay for one hundred acres of land. During the last year of his residence in California he had been engaged in lumbering. Of the ten companions who went with him from Bainbridge township all returned sooner or later. So far as is known but one other is now living. Most of those who returned purchased land and became agriculturists of the community. Charles A. Spencer, having sent his money back home, his father invested it for him in a farm in Bainbridge township.

In August, 1855, he arrived in Berrien county after a four years' residence on the Pacific coast and in 1856 he was married and began farming on his own account. He lived in Bainbridge township until 1866, when he purchased the present farm in Ben- ton township, two miles distant. It was but a small tract of land to which he afterward added sixty acres of im- proved land, and he likewise bought forty acres near the old home place. He now owns forty-six acres in his home place and seventeen acres in another tract. The land has risen greatly . in value and he now owns a very desirable farm. He has nearly

fifty acres of this land under cultivation and has given his attention to general agricult- ural pursuits and to the raising of berries, which he followed more largely when his children were at home. He also planted a peach orchard, but after one crop the trees had to be taken up. Recently, however, he has set out another. peach orchard and he now has an apple orchard of ten acres which has given him a liberal income almost each year. The farm is well improved with modern equipments and in its excellent ap- pearance indicates the careful supervision of the owner, who is a very progressive man, having always made the most of his opportunities.

In April, 1856, Mr. Spencer was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth E. Dix, who died in March, 1885, leaving five children. Minnie, the eldest, is the wife of John T. Vanderveer, who resides near Coloma, this county. Edmond Dix is residing in Minne- apolis, Minnesota, where he is conducting a marble business. Arminta is the wife of John Kelley, of Mount Pleasant, Michigan, a professor in the state normal, who form- erly engaged in teaching in Berrien county, while his wife was also a teacher in this county for a few years. Nettie is the wife of H. A. Wells, a linotype operator in Ben- ton Harbor, and Wallace is living in Mo- ravia, Iowa. On the Ist of March, 1888, Mr. Spencer was again married, his second union being with Miss Ellen Martin, of Bainbridge township, who was born in New York and for nearly fifteen years engaged in teaching in Ohio and Michigan, being in Fremont, Ohio, at the time of the Civil war. In 1880 she came to Berrien county from Illinois, although she had previously lived in Berrien county. She taught in Bain- bridge township and also in Clare county, Michigan, her experience as a teacher cov- ering about fifteen years, during much of the time being connected with the district schools. She attended teachers' institutes in Ohio and Michigan and after teaching for several years became a student in the North- ern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso.

The Spencer home is one of the desira- ble ones of the county and its hospitality is greatly enjoyed by many friends. Mr.

544

HISTORY OF BERRIEN COUNTY

Spencer is a supervisor of Benton township which position he has filled for several years. In politics he is a Republican, and at all times he has been interested in the welfare of the county and its substantial improve- ment. For more than sixty years he has lived in this part of the state, save for the brief period spent in California, and he has therefore witnessed almost its entire growth and development, having seen its changes from pioneer conditions to its present state of advancement and improvement.

LOUIS A. KING, M. D., engaged in the practice of medicine in Baroda and Lake township, was born in Memphis, Tennessee, September 21, 1869, the only child of Ben- jamin and Elizabeth L. (Wynose) King. His parents died of yellow fever in the year 1878, and Dr. King was reared in Nash- ville, Tennessee, by strangers. He remained a resident of that city until seventeen years of age and in the meantime he learned the printer's trade, which he followed in several places for a period of seven or eight years. He afterward went to St. Louis, Missouri, and ambitious to acquire a better education than he had previously enjoyed he entered the high school, from which he was grad- uated. Determining to make the practice of medicine his life work, he then entered the Michigan College of Medicine and Sur- gery at Saginaw and completed the course with the class of 1903. He has since engaged in practice and has also done post-graduate college work. He added to his theoretical training broad practical experience by serv- ice in the hospital at Saginaw while pursuing his studies there. He spent between two and three years in college and was after- ward for eighteen months in the Klondike, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession and in prospecting. He then re- turned to Saginaw and soon afterward lo- cated in Baroda, where he took up his abode in 1903. Here he has a good general prac- tice which he draws from the surrounding county as well as the town, and his pro- fessional skill and ability are recognized by reason of the excellent results that have fol -- lowed his professional labors.

On the 15th of May, 1899, Dr. King was married to Miss Victoria Bell Glide- well, a native of Marion county, Indiana, and a daughter of Leander and Nancy H. (Hightshire) Glidewell, who was like- wise born in Indiana. Dr. and Mrs. King now have one child, Robert Warner, born May 28, 1905.

In his political affiliation Dr. King is a Democrat, but without aspiration for office, although he has served as a member of the board of education and as health officer of Lake township. Fraternally he is connected with Baroda Lodge, No. 435, I. O. O. F., and in the line of his profession he is at member of the County, State and American Medical Associations. He is a very amiable man, who makes friends of all with whom he comes in contact. He speaks German as well as English and this is of much as- sistance to him in his work. He has an un- usually large practice for a town of this size and in fact his professional duties make con- stant demand upon his time and energies, leaving him little leisure.

OSCAR D. SNYDER is a representa- tive of one of the prominent and honored pioneer families of Berrien county and his life record is in harmony with that of his father, Sherwood Snyder, who was one of the valued and representative citizens of this part of the state. A sketch of the father is given elsewhere on another page of this work. Oscar D. Snyder was born on the old family homestead in Benton township on the Ist of September, 1868, and the pub- lic schools afforded him his educational priv- ileges. He was married on the 22d of August, 1893, to Miss Viola Sinn, a daugh- ter of Adam and Sophia (Miller) Sinn, both of whom died during the early girl- hood of their daughter. They were natives of Germany, having come from the Rhine country to the new world and their mar- riage was celebrated in Chicago. They ar- rived in the United States early in the '50s and were married in 1854. In 1858 they settled in Royalton, Michigan, where their son, Adam Sinn, now resides. Their daughter, Viola, was born December 9,

545

HISTORY OF BERRIEN COUNTY

1873, and was reared by her sister, Mrs. Sophia Butzbach, who was then living in Benton township.

Oscar Snyder is a stalwart Republican, interested in the success of his party and in- flexible in his adherence to its principles, though he has never sought or desired pub- lic office, preferring to concentrate his ener- gies upon his business affairs. He has grown stock and fruit and he now has fif- teen acres planted to peaches and a vineyard of eight acres. From a six acre patch of grapes-three year old Concords-he sold in 1905 eleven thousand five hundred and seventeen baskets of grapes at an average price of about twelve cents per basket. In all of his work he is very practical and is a leading representative of horticultural in- terests in the county. The old residence of the Snyder family built in 1871 by his father was at that time one of the best country homes in the county. The lum- ber, all of which is white wood, was cut off of the place and planed out by hand. The house was erected in a substantial manner and is today one of the first class homes of this section of the county. It is today the residence of Oscar D. Snyder and it is not only an attractive dwelling but is also justly celebrated for its warm hearted hospitality. The farm is known as Cherry Lawn.

HIAL ALDEN, residing in Benton township, where he is engaged in general farming and fruit raising, is a representa- tive of one of the oldest and most promi- nent families of New England, tracing his ancestry in direct line back to John Alden, who came to America on the Mayflower, landing at Plymouth Rock. Jason Alden, father of our subject, was born at Plymouth Rock, Massachusets, and when fifteen years of age accompanied his parents on their re- moval to the state of New York, settling in Jefferson county. There he met and mar- ried Miss Charlotte Barrett, who was a teacher, and among her pupils was Major Lewis Pearl, one of the honored pioneer residents of Benton township.

Hial Alden was born in the town of Theresa Falls, Jefferson county, New York,

on the 28th of November, 1829, and there acquired his early education, spending his boyhood days on his father's farm. In the fall of 1843 he came to Michigan with his parents. They left New York bound for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and were passeng- ers on a sail boat for three weeks between the ports of Buffalo and Detroit. They landed at the latter place and drove with teams across the state to Berrien county. They knew that the Pearl family lived in this county and were induced thereby to make their way to this portion of the state. When in the vicinity of Millburg, which was the old stage house, they learned of the whereabouts of the Pearl family and also of an uncle of Mr. Alden who resided in the same neighborhood. Mr. Alden rented a house of a Mr. Hess in Millburg. That same winter his father purchased one hun- dred and sixty acres of land a mile north of Millburg, where the family home was maintained for five years. A log cabin had been built upon the place and about seven or eight acres had been cleared, but other- wise the entire tract was wild and unim- proved. After five years Mr. Alden de- cided to go on to Wisconsin, which had been his destination when he left New York, but events had changed the course of his travel and brought him to Michigan. He did not like the prairie country of Wiscon- sin, however, so he returned to this state and secured land, upon which his son Hial now resides. All was dense forest and there was not a track through the woods for a mile or more. Warren Pearl had started a clearing, but there was no settler to the south or west or north to the Territorial road. To reach St. Joseph the Alden family had to go around through Mill- burg and down the Territorial road, which was on the old stage road. There was no road leading to the west until Pipe- stone road was reached, a distance of two miles, and it was two years before a road had been opened to the St. Joseph river. The family home was situated about three and one-half miles from the Stimpson mill, and thus it will be seen that the pioneer family had to depend largely upon their

546

HISTORY OF BERRIEN COUNTY

own exertions for all that they might enjoy in their frontier home. The comforts which come to others as a matter of course and are easily obtained by purchase had to be developed by them through the utiliza- tion of the various instruments and facili- ties with which nature had surrounded them. Theirs was indeed a typical pioneer home of Michigan, the little cabin being built in the midst of a dense forest. There was an intense and solemn quiet in the woods and only a short distance from the home one could imagine that they were miles and miles from any habitation or sign of civili- zation. Mr. Alden purchased his land at three dollars per acre, making the purchase, however, on the installment plan. This farm has since remained the old family home- stead.

Hial Alden purchased a part of the farm in connection with his father and in the early years of his residence here he not only assisted in the development of the home property but also worked on the Reynolds farm, which was opened by three boys. In the early days he also engaged in boat build- ing, his first work being on the construction of four boats for the Illinois canal. He also aided in the building of thirteen boats to be used on the Illinois canal by William Brown, of St. Joseph. The Reynolds boat- yard was on the north side of the river and the Brown shipyard was at the present site of the depot of the Pere Marquette Railroad in St. Joseph. Mr. Alden continued to work for two years in the shipyards and after- wards was employed on the pier at St. Jo- seph, Major Lewis Pearl acting as foreman of the job. This was government work and was an arduous and difficult task. All this time Hial Alden used every opportun- ity to assist in clearing the farm and as he could accumulate ten or fifteen dollars he would deposit it as part payment for the land. In this way he and his father pur- chased sixty-two acres of land. They were associated in agricultural interests up to the time of the father's death, which occurred in 1888, when he was eighty-eight years of age. He was a well preserved man, enjoy- ing good health up to his last days. He had

for three years survived his wife, who died at the age of eighty-four years. For eleven years prior to her demise she was blind. In their family were two sons and two daugh- ters, the brother of our subject being James Alden, who served for three years in the Civil war and died a few years afterward at the age of thirty as the result of his army experience. Of the two sisters Angeline married Lathrop Smith and died when about sixty-five years of age, while Caroline became the wife of Sherwood Snyder and died at the age of thirty years.

Hial Alden, the only survivor of the family, was married May 4, 1856, in Niles to Miss Lydia Wynes, a daughter of Barney and Caroline (Loveland) Wynes. She was born in Vernon, Oneida county, New York, and was married at the age of twenty years. After retaining their business interests in connection for some time Hial Alden and his father divided their land, so that each had a farm and the former afterward pur- chased his sisters' interests and thus became owner of the old homestead, though later he sold part of this to his son. He and his wife tenderly cared for his parents during their last years, thus repaying them by filial devotion for the attention and care which they bestowed upon him in his youth.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hial Alden have been born four sons and three daughters who are yet living and they also lost two chil- dren in infancy. Those who yet survive are : William, who owns a part of the Thorn farm; Fred, who is connected with the life saving station at St. Joseph; Arthur, a farmer of Pipestone; Ola, a farmer and fruit grower and buyer of Sodus township; Carrie, the widow of Lon Peters, of Benton Harbor; Annie, the widow of George Jordan, a son of Francis Jordan, an early banker of St. Joseph, her home being now in Chicago; and Emma, the wife of Clarence Landis. They reside upon the old homestead with her parents.

The Alden farm is a valuable property, pleasantly situated about five miles south- east of Benton and borders Napier avenue. For many years Mr. Alden has devoted his attention to general farming and fruit grow-

547

HISTORY OF BERRIEN COUNTY

ing and he now has about eleven hundred peach trees upon his place. He has now passed the seventy-sixth milestone on life's journey, but still gives supervision to his agricultural and horticultural interests. As one of the pioneer residents of the county he certainly deserves mention in this vol- ume, having witnessed the great changes which have occurred as this section of Mich- igan has emerged from pioneer conditions and taken on all the improvements and evi- dences of an advanced civilization. His mind forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present and he is classed with the honored pioneer residents of this part of the state.

JOHN B. STOUFFER is an honored veteran of the Civil war, who proved his loyalty to his country upon many a south- ern battlefield. The soldiers of that long and sanguinary struggle are fast passing away and only a few are left now to tell the tale of arduous service in defense of the Union, but while memory remains to the American people these brave boys in blue will have the gratitude of a grateful and enlightened people for the service which they did for their country in the darkest hour of her history. Mr. Stouffer is now living in Benton township, Berrien county, where he is extensively and successfully en- gaged in fruit raising, being a recognized leader in the ranks of the men who are suc- cessfully following this business in the county.

A native of Canal Dover, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, Mr. Stouffer was born on the 27th of June, 1842, his parents being Daniel and Rebecca (Harman) Stouffer. The father was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1808. The mother was a native of Ohio. She gave her hand in marriage to Daniel Stouffer in 1839. Daniel Stouffer was a shoemaker and farmer, and continued a resi- dent of the Buckeye state until 1851, when, after a three years' residence in Zanesville, Indiana, he came to Berrien county, Michi- gan. His wife's brother, Jacob Harman, had settled in this county in 1853, having come here with the Stump family. He pur-

chased one hundred and sixty acres of land from a Mr. Marshall, a large land owner, for six dollars and a quarter per acre. It was a tract of wilderness, not a stick of timber having been cut nor an improvement made. The first house was built of planks in the style called at that time an ark and used on the St. Joseph river for floating grain down from Constatine and Three Riv- ers. The land lay south of Benton Harbor and the old road ran through the farm, but at quite a distance west of the present line. The present Pipestone road was laid out by road commissioners about forty-five years ago, but the old Pipestone road had been made many years ago. Daniel Stouffer be- gan the improvement and development of this farm and continued the work of culti- vation for a number of years, but eventually the original tract of the quarter section was cut up into very small tracts, about thirty acres of the place being now in possession of J. B. Stouffer of this review. Daniel Stouffer cleared and improved about thirty acres of his original purchase and he did all the work of cutting the timber and pre- paring the lumber himself. His life was one of untiring activity and his labor proved a valuable element in the early development and progress of this part of the county. Both he and his wife were among the origi- nal members of the Church of God and were active in its work until called to their final rest. Mr. Stouffer passed away on the 16th of August, 1889, and was survived for about eight years by his wife, who was born in Harrison county, Ohio, in 1820, and died May 19, 1897. They had been married in 1839, and had thus traveled life's journey together for a half century. In their fam- ily were six children, of whom four reached years of maturity: Elizabeth, who is the wife of William Thomas and resides in Sodus township, this county; John B., of this review; George, who went to California in early life and is supposed to be living in that state; and Lydia Ann, who became the wife of Burwell P. Carmichael, of Sodus township, and died in Florida about a year and a half ago.

John B. Stouffer has resided in Berrien

548

HISTORY OF BERRIEN COUNTY

township from the age of twelve years, hav- ing come with his parents to this part of the state in 1854. He continued to reside upon the old homestead until 1861 and the first school which he attended had a session of two months, the teacher boarding round among the pupils. Among his first teach- ers were a Mr. Adams, J. M. Guy and Fundy Shoddy, the two latter still living. Mr. Stouffer well remembers attending a meeting to arrange for a local school. Those early institutions of public instruc- tion were primitive, as were the conditions of life in all departments here, but they proved an excellent foundation upon which to rear the present superstructure of pub- lic education. Mr. Stouffer continued to aid in the work of the fields through the summer months until after the inauguration of the Civil war, when in April, 1861, roused by a spirit of patriotism at the at -. tempt of the south to overthrow the Union, he enlisted for service under command of Captain Webb Edmunds, who, however, was drowned in the St. Joseph river two months later and who had been a military graduate from West Point. The company therefore was not mustered in, and on the 23rd of September, 1861, Mr. Stouffer again enlisted, this time becoming a mem- of Company L, Third Michigan Cavalry, which rendezvoused at Grand Rapids and was attached to the First Brigade, Second Division, Sixteenth Army Corps. On the 5th of December, 1864, he was promoted from the rank of corporal to that of quarter- master sergeant, and on the IIth of April, 1865, became first sergeant. He did active duty at New Madrid, Island No. 10. Cor- inth, Bay Spring, Iuka, Corville, Hatch- ie's Run, the three engagements at Holly Springs, the battle of Tallahoochie river, Lumkin's Mill, Oxford, Coffeeville, Brown- ford, the Ripley raid, Orizaba, Ellistown, Lacona river, two engagements at Lamar, Purdy, Jack's Creek, Tullahoma, Jacinto, Rienzi, Water Valley, Brownsville, Bolivar and many other skirmishes. He was alto- gether in forty engagements. On the 3rd of July, 1863, his horse was shot from under him at Lamar, Mississippi, and he lay within

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A twentieth century history of Berrien County, Michigan, Part 80

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