USA > Michigan > Cass County > A twentieth century history of Cass County, Michigan > Part 75
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tinued successfully for a number of years. In 1880, however, he estab- lished a grocery store and is the pioneer groceryman of this place. He was also the first stock shipper at this point. He has for seventy-seven years been a resident of the county and its history is to him a familiar story, not because he has heard related the events of the early days but because he has been an active participant in the work of improvement and in the conditions which have formed its pioneer annals. Ilis early political support was given to the Whig party, and upon its dissolution he joined the ranks of the new Republican party, of which he has since been an earnest advocate, voting for cach presidential candidate of the party from 1856 down to the present time. He has filled the office of township clerk for several terms, was supervisor of Penn township and justice of the peace. He has likewise been a member of the village board of Dowagiac and a member of the school board, and the cause of education finds in him a warm and stalwart friend, while each move ment that has for its basic element the welfare of the community receives his endorsement. There is perhaps in Dowagiac and his section of the county no man more widely known than George D. Jones, and no his- tory of the community would be complete without the record of his life.
ABNER M. MOON.
Abner M. Moon, editor of the Dowagiac Herald, also filling the office of justice of the peace, was born near Paw Paw, Michigan, in 1849. His father, Ambrose F. Moon, was a native of Canandaigua county, New York, and came of Danish ancestry. According to tra- (lition it was at a time when there was a war in progress between the English and the Danes that three brothers of the name came to the United States and settled in New York. This was about the time of the war for independence in this country. In the '3os Ambrose F. Moon left the Empire state and removed to Van Buren county, Michigan. He owned a farm but was particularly well known as a bee keeper and traveled all over the country in the interest of a patent bee hive. He was a Democrat in politics, was a man of modest unassuming man- ner. but of genuine worth, and died in Rome, Georgia, to which place he had removed, and there started a Beekeeper's Magazine, in 1872. His death occurred in 1884, when he was seventy years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Emily R. Mack, was born in Ohio and is now living in Redlands, California, at the age of seventy-six years. She is of Scotch descent and by her marriage she became the mother of two children, but the daughter, Eva. is now deceased.
Abner M. Moon, the only son, was a student in the public schools of Paw Paw, and was reared to farm life, early becoming familiar with the labors of the old homestead farm. When twenty-one years of age he purchased the Lawton Tribune, which he published for a year and then went to New York city, where he edited the National
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Bee Keepers Journal. After a brief period he returned to Paw Paw and a year later went to Rome, Georgia, where he joined his father and began the publication of a beekeeper's journal, called the Moon's Bec World. There he remained for four years, after which he spent six months in New York city, and returning to Michigan, established the Marcellus Vezes, which he published for four years. In 1881 he came to Dowagiac and began the publication of the Dowagiac Times, which he practically conducted until 1885. when he was appointed postmaster under Cleveland and sold the paper. He conducted the office for four years and during that time, in 1887, was appointed justice of the peace, and ere the expiration of his term in that office was appointed city clerk. In 1890 he was elected county clerk and retained the office for one term, after which he returned to Dowagiac and was re-elected justice of the peace, which position he has since filled, with the exception of two years. He has also held the office of city clerk two terms, and in all these different positions has been a capable official, carefully, systematically and efficiently performed the varied duties that have thus devolved upon him in connection with the business of the office. In April, 1903, he purchased the Dowagiac Herald, a weekly paper of large circulation, of which he has since been editor and proprietor. It is a Democratic organ, of wide influence, recognized as one of the leading journals of this part of the state, and Mr. Moon is classed with the leading representatives of journalism, with excellent business discernment, combined with editorial skill, as is mani- fest in the interesting columns of the Herald.
In 1878 Mr. Moon was united in marriage to Miss Dora E. Ellis, who was born in Hillsdale county, Michigan, in 1860, a daughter of Joseph and Emeline Ellis, natives of Ohio. Mr. Moon had been mar- ried previously to Miss Marian E. Guild, and his second wife was Rachel Thompson, by whom he had three children: Kittie, now the widow of C. A. Caldwell and a resident of Chicago; Emmet, who is a fruit grower of Lawton, Michigan; and Hallie, deceased. The chil- dren of the present marriage are Ethel, Don and Ilma, the son being his father's assistant in business. By reason of his activity in Democratic circles and his championship, through the columns of his paper and as a private citizen, of many interests for the public good. Mr. Moon is regarded as one of the foremost and valuable residents of Dowagiac.
ISAAC WELLS, SR.
Isaac Wells, Sr., is one of the old settlers and representative citi- zens of Dowagiac and for eighteen years has been connected with the Round Oak Stove Company as inspector and molder of clay, a business record which is certainly creditable, for his long retention in one posi- tion indicates his capability and fidelity.
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Mr. Wells is a native of Green county, Ohio, born July 15, 1830. His paternal grandfather. Felix Wells, was a native of Wales, in which country he was married, and about 1778 or 1779 he crossed the Atlantic to the new world. There were three brothers who made the journey, one of whom located in Virginia, one in Kentucky and one in the east. It was the branch of the family from which Isaac Wells is descended that established its home in Kentucky and in that state Charles Wells. father of our subject, was born February 23, 1790. The family had been located there in early pioneer times when Kentucky was not far removed from that period which, because of the always constantly waged Indian warfare, won for it the title of "the dark and bloody ground." On leaving his native state Charles Wells became an early settler of Green county, Ohio, and from that place made his way direct to Cass county, Michigan, arriving at Edwardsburg on the 28th of October. 1831. He was a blacksmith by trade and was the first representative of that occupation in Cass county. He made all of the irons for the first sawmill in the county and the settlers came for miles around to secure his service in the line of his chosen trade. In 1835 he removed to Berrien county, Michigan, settling on what is called the Indian re- serve. There he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he began to cultivate and improve, devoting his attention to his farm- ing interests until his death. which occurred in 1838. He was one of the early settlers of Cass county and also of Berrien county and he aided in reclaiming the region for the purposes of civilization. His political allegiance was given to the Democracy. He had been married on the 24th of March, 1814. to Miss Susan Briggs, who was born on the Potomac river in Virginia, January 7. 1795. She survived her hus- band until April 16, 1866. In their family were nine children : Livona. born in 1815: Eliza, born in 1816; Mary, in 1818: Joseph B., in 1820; Francis. October 15. 1823: Mary. in 1825; Lewis, in 1827: Isaac, in 1830; and Ezra, January 5, 1834. Of this family only one is living. Isaac. Lewis, a resident of Iowa, died April 20. 1906.
Isaac Wells. Sr .. was the eighth in order of birth and was a little more than a year old when brought to Cass county by his parents in 1835- He afterward was taken by them to Bertram township. Berrien county. Michigan, where he remained until 1859, when he returned to Cass county and here engaged in farming and blacksmithing. He located on McKin- ney's Prairie in LaGrange township, where he engaged in general agri- cultural pursuits from 1859 until 1880, placing his fields under a high state of cultivation and harvesting therefrom good crops. In the latter year he removed to Dowagiac and was engaged in the dairy business for two years. He then farmed for three years at Silver Creek and Pokagon townships and for eighteen years has been connected with the Round Oak Stove Works as inspector and molder of clay. He is one of the oldest settlers of Cass county and this part of Michigan. having
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spent his entire life in this section of the state. with the exception of his first year.
On the 16th of December. 1857, Mr. Wells was united in marriage to Miss Sarah J. Herkimer, a daughter of Jacob and Mary (Swobe) Herkimer and a native of Montgomery county, New York, born Oc- tober 22, 1837. Her parents removed to Berrien county, Michigan, in 1851. By her marriage she has become the mother of three children : Emma Z., the wife of Glenn Mead, of Dowagiac; William R., who married Mary Steiner and is living in Dowagiac; and Isaac H., who married Nellie Melcher and is living in the same city.
Since age conferred upon him the right of franchise Mr. Wells has been a stanch advocate of the Democracy, its principles and its pol- icy. He was township treasurer of LaGrange township for four years, was also highway commissioner for six years and has held other local offices. He has been officially connected with the schools and is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity and of the Methodist Episcopal church. Few men have such an intimate or accurate knowledge of the history of this section of the state as has Mr. Wells, who, as before stated, has spent almost his entire life in this part of Michigan. When the family located on the Indian reserve in Bertram township. Berrien county. there were five white families and four hundred and eighty Indians living in that neighborhood. When he was in his eighth year he acted as interpreter for Topen Bey and went down to Tippecanoe on the Kankakee river, being gone ten days on the expedition. He could speak the Indian tongue as readily as the English language. When he re- turned home he received as a present a fawn skin filled with honey, and also a pipe given him by Topen Bey, the war chief's son. . This pipe is now in the museum at Cassopolis. Mr. Wells is one of the charter members of the Pioneer Association of Cass county, was its president for one term, vice-president for one term and a member of the Report Committee for the last ten years. His life history if written in detail would present many interesting pictures of pioneer life. To the traveler of today, viewing the fine farms, attractive homes and enterprising towns and cities of southern Michigan, it is impossible to realize that it is within the memory of any living man when the red men were more numerous here than the representatives of the white race, but such is the case with Mr. Wells. He can remember when all this region was covered with a native growth of timber, when the streams were unbridged and the land uncultivated. It required much arduous toil to bring about the changes that have brought the county up to its present high state of cultivation, development and improvement and the pioneers bore many hardships, trials and privations while perform- ing this task. Mr. Wells has always borne his full share in the work of development and as an honored pioneer settler of southern Michigan well deserves mention in this volume.
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OTIS HUFF.
Otis Huff, one of the youngest members of the bar of Cass county engaged in active practice in Marcellus, was born in Volinia township on the Ist of August, 1875. His father, John Huff, was a native of Clark county, Ohio, being born in 1833 near the present city of Spring- field. The following year he came with his parents, Amos and Marga- ret Huff, to Volinia township, Michigan, who settled on a tract of land on the edge of Gard's prairie, which the father (grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch) had entered from the government the previous year, and then went back to Ohio after his family. The ancestry of the Huffs can be traced back to the early days of Pennsylvania. Originally they were of German lineage. The grandfather was a farmer and mechanic by occupation.
The father, John Huff, is a self-made man. In his younger days he helped to clear the wilderness and hue the way for civilization as well as taking every advantage in those early days of securing an edu- cation from the meagre school system. As a reward he became a teacher in the district schools, an occupation which he pursued successfully for many years afterward. Later he became the owner of a farm adjoining the old homestead, which he still retains and by adding to the same he is the possessor of a handsome property which yields to him a gratify- ing income.
Very few men follow the ups and downs of life and live for over seventy years continually in sight of the place where their childhood days were spent and yet such is the case with Mr. Huff. Becoming prominent in political life, for over twenty years he was supervisor of his township and was several times elected chairman of the board of supervisors. At one time he was also nominated by his party for state representative, and although running ahead of his ticket he was defeated by a small majority. On May 12, 1873, he married Eliza Wright, who was born in Volinia township and was the daughter of James and Sarah Wright, pioneers of Cass county. To this union were born three chil- dren : Amy, Otis, and Harley, but the last named is now deceased.
Otis Huff, being born on the farm, early became familiar with the duties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He attended the district schools and later the Valparaiso Normal School. At eighteen he became a teacher and after teaching a year, in the fall of 1895 he entered the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from which he graduated in the class of 1898. While in college he became quite prominent as an orator. On January 9, 1899, he began the practice of law in Marcellus, where he has since met with good success, having been connected with much important law business, wherein he has dis- played his ability to successfully cope with the complex problems of jurisprudence. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen Camp at Marcel-
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lus, of which he is clerk and he is also a member of the Cass County Bar Association. Politically he is a Republican.
He has never been an office seeker but has preferred to devote his time to the practice of his profession. His law office is a model of neat- ness and one of the finest in the county and is hard to excel even in the large cities. He is a great reader and literary student, fond of books and is himself an able writer, as well as an athlete and fond of outdoor sports and contests. Being an expert with a rifle, for a vaca- tion of three or four weeks nothing pleases him better than to take a trip during the beautiful autumn days of November into the north woods in quest of deer and bear and other big game.
In one respect at least he is like President Roosevelt. He enjoys strenuous life, travel and adventure and more than one has remarked that if he goes any place something is sure to happen. On April last. going on a business trip to California, he had only nicely arrived there and was only a few miles out of San Francisco at the time of the great earthquake and fire on that memorable morning of April 18, and being in the city when the conflagration was at its height he lent his assist- ance in helping save life and property.
On June 30, 1906, the anniversary of his graduation from the Uni- versity of Michigan, he was married to Miss Irene Cropsey, the only daughter of George and Elsie B. Cropsey of Volinia, who are among the most substantial residents of that township. Miss Cropsey acquired her early education in the schools of that township and is a graduate of the Marcellus high school. Later she became one of the successful teachers of the county. She is a charming and accomplished lady and the subject of our sketch was fortunate in securing such an able and loving companion to assist in brightening his pathway through life.
CHARLES STARRETT.
On the roster of officials in Dowagiac appears the name of Charles Starrett, who is now serving as city treasurer. He was born in Ovid, New York, February 1, 1834, and represents an old family of the east. In the paternal line he is of Scotch and Welsh descent. His grand- father, Charles Starrett, was a native of Pennsylvania, while his wife, Mrs. Rachel Starrett, was a native of Connecticut. Their son, James Starrett, father of our subject, was born in New York and was a farmer by occupation. He spent his entire life in his native state, where he died at the age of sixty-five years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Amy Stout, was reared by her grandmother, Mrs. Amy Blue, who was a native of New Jersey. Her grandfather Bhie was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, serving in immediate command of General Washington, while by him he was mustered out at the close of hostili- ties. John Caywood, a great-grandfather of our subject, was also a sol- dier of the Revolutionary war, so that the military history of his ancestry
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is one of which he has every reason to be proud. There were seven chil- dren, four daughters and three sons, born unto Mr. and Mrs. James Starrett, of whom the youngest daughter died when thirteen years of age and the eldest son when but two years of age. Those still living are : Mrs. Jane Runyan, who is living in Clinton, Michigan; Charles, of this review ; Mrs. J. S. Ford, of Chicago; Henry, who resides in Clinton, Michigan; and Mrs. Elizabeth Vandemark, of Clinton, Michigan.
Charles Starrett was the third child and second son of the family and was reared in his native county until about eighteen years of age, the public schools affording him his educational privileges. He came to Michigan in October, 1852, settling first at Clinton, where he secured employment in a grist mill. He was also engaged at different times in farm work and in the railroad business, while for a time he was connected with railroading on the Jackson branch. He spent the following year in the service of the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad, first as brakeman and later as conductor. For eleven years he continued in railroading and during the last two and a half years of that time he was train master and locomotive dispatcher at White Pigeon, Michigan. He came to Dowagiac in February, 1865, and engaged in the hardware business for a short time. He then built a planing mill and sash and hlind factory in company with Devendorf & Mason. After about five years he sold his interest in this business and about 1872 he engaged with the Oliver Chilled Plow Works as traveling salesman, representing the company for about ten years on the road. He was for about four years with the Gale Manufacturing Company of Albion, Michigan, and one year with the South Bend Chilled Plow Company. On the expira- tion of that period he became a salesman for the Round Oak Stove Com- pany of Dowagiac, with which he continued for about nine years, when, on account of poor health, he retired from business in 1904. He had led a busy, useful and active life and his rest from labor is well merited.
Mr. Starrett has filled a number of public offices, the duties of which he has discharged with promptness and fidelity. He was elected city treasurer of Dowagiac, has been alderman for two years and a member of the board of education for nine years. He has ever been found reliable and trustworthy in public office, discharging his duties with promptness as well as ability.
In 1857 Mr. Starrett was married to Miss Elizabeth McCollester, a laughter of Thomas MeCollester. She was born in White Pigeon, Mich- igan, and was reared in that city. Two children grace this marriage. Fannie and Lena. In his political views Mr. Starrett is a stalwart Re- publican, having given his support to the party throughout his entire life. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity of Dowagiac, his membership being in Peninsula lodge No. 214. F. & A. M., Keystone chapter No. 30. R. A. M., Niles commandery No. 12. K. T., and Saladin temple of the Mystic Shrine at Grand Rapids. He was master of his lodge for one year and for three years was high priest of the chapter. He is an
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exemplary member of the craft and is in hearty sympathy with its tenets and teachings. Well known in Dowagiac where he is now filling the office of city treasurer, he is respected by all with whom he has come in contact. for he has displayed in his life record many sterling charac- teristics.
AMOS KNAPP.
Retired farmers constitute a considerable portion of the population of Dowagiac, men who in active business life have capably directed their efforts along well defined lines of labor, managing their interests with ability, carefully husbanding their resources and thus securing a competence for later life. To this class belongs Mr. Knapp, who was born in Columbia county. New York, August 24, 1831. In the paternal line he comes of English-Holland Dutch descent. His father, William B. Knapp, was a native of Dutchess county, New York, and after re- maining in the east until 1843 sought a home in the middle west, taking up his ahode in Volinia township. Cass county, Michigan. He there remained for about five years, giving his attention to the task of devel- oping and improving the farm, at the end of which time he removed to Silver Creek township, where his death occurred, when he was about seventy-seven years of age. His political allegiance was given to the Republican party for a number of years but prior to this time he was a Jacksonian Democrat. At the outbreak of the Civil war, however. he espoused the cause of the Republican party, which proved the real de- fense of the Union in the Civil war. He married Miss Mary Finch, a native of Columbia county, New York, and she. too, died upon the old home farm in Silver Creek; township at the age of seventy-seven years. In the family of this worthy couple were five children, three daughters ind two sens, all of whom reached adult age.
Amos Knapp, the second child and eldest son in his father's fam- ily spent the first eleven years of his life in the county of his nativity and then came with his parents to Cass county, Michigan. The first five yours of his residence here were spent in Volinia township and he afterward removed to Silver Creek township. remaining at home and assistinor in the development of his father's farm, which was reclaimed for the purposes of cultivation and improvement. He was married there in 1858 to Miss Abbie M. Farnam. a daughter of Joseph and Abigail Farnum. She was born near Batavia, New York, and came with her parents to Michigan about 1815. so that the Farnam family were also carly settlers of this state They took up their abode in Van Buren county.
At the time of his marriage Mr. Knapp settled in Silver Creek township, where he devoted his attention to general agricultural pur- smits. TTe cleared ip a farin in the midst of the wilderness, cutting out the heavy timber, grabbing up the stumps, clearing away the brush and thuis preparing his land for the plow. He bought his land at four dol-
Knapp
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lars per acre. As the years passed his place was transformed into very rich and productive fields and he annually harvested good crops. For many years he carried on general agricultural pursuits, in which he met with gratifying success, but eventually he sold his farm and re- moved to Dowagiac in 1895. He also has property in the town. He is one of the old settlers of Cass county, having resided within its bor- ders for sixty-three years and he has been identified with the making of the county along lines of substantial improvement and progress. He was township clerk in Silver Creek township for many terms and no public or private duty reposed in him has ever been betrayed in the slightest degree. He has always taken an active part in public affairs, doing everything in his power to make the county on a par with the older counties of this great commonwealth. His worth is widely acknowledged and all who know him esteem him for his many sterling traits of character.
GEORGE W. HUNTER.
Cass county with its rich lands offers splendid opportunities to the agriculturist and the stock-raiser and Mr. Hunter is numbered among those who are successfully devoting their energies to general agricult- ural pursuits. He makes his home on section 34, Wayne township, where he owns and cultivates a good tract of land. He was born in Cassopolis, Michigan, on the 30th of September, 1843, and is a son of M. V. Hunter. At that time the father purchased eighty acres of land from one of his brothers and afterward added an additional tract of eighty acres. He partially cleared the first eighty and G. W. Hunter of this review has cleared seventy acres of the second eighty, having led a life of intense and well directed energy. Ile was educated in what is known as the White school in Wayne township and therein mastered the common branches of English learning. During the periods of vaca- tion he worked in the fields and after permanently putting aside his text-books gave his undivided attention to the further cultivation and development of this property.
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