Biographical history of northern Michigan containing biographies of prominent citizens, Part 15

Author:
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 966

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Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. Upthegrove are Congregationalists and regular attend- ants of the church in Central Lake, being liberal contributors to its material support and to the various lines of work under its supervision. Socially they are highly es- teemed, as their influence has ever made for the good of the community and for the moral advancement of the large circle of friends and acquaintances with whom they are ac- customed to associate. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Upthegrove has been blessed with one child, Clair, who is now, at the age of nineteen, a student in the State Normal School, having been graduated from the Central Lake high school in 1902, the only member of the class of that year to make the required grade and receive the honor. He is now taking a full course in mechani- cal engineering, which he proposes making

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his profession, and those cognizant of his strong mentality and varied attainments be- speak for him a brilliant career.

NORMAN LARABEE.

The pioneer history of Antrim county has upon its rolls the name of Norman Larabee, who for nearly forty years has re- sided within its borders and is therefore one of its oldest living settlers. Wonderful changes have occurred since his arrival in 1865, transformations which the most far sighted would have hardly dreamed of in those early days. Of the work of progress and advancement which has made this part of the state one of the finest and most promising sections of northern Michigan, Mr. Larabee has ever been an advocate and by his active participation as well as friendly encouragement has assisted in the develop- ment and substantial promotion of the county, until it takes rank with the older counties of the East and South in all the elements of civilization.

Mr. Larabee comes of good old patriotic stock; his grandfather served with distinc- tion in the war for independence; his father was a brave and gallant soldier of the war of 1812, while the subject himself, inherit- ing the fighting qualities of his ancestors, was one of the first to rally to the flag in 186t and offer his life for the preservation of the national union. The Larabee family, though of French origin, came to this coun- try from England in colonial times and set- tled in Vermont. William H. Larabee, the subject's grandfather, was reared in that state and when a young man joined the com-

mand of Colonel Ethan Allen, under which intrepid leader he rendered effective service to the patriotic cause until the colonies se- cured their independence from the mother country. He was a man of high character and sterling worth and lived to the remark- able age of one hundred and five years, being among the last of the Revolutionary heroes to respond to the final roll call.

Charles Larabee, the subject's father. was also a native of Vermont and, as already stated, served in the American army in the second war with Great Britain. He mar- ried in his young manhood Miss Rosaletta Evarts and about 1851 moved his family to Clinton county, New York, where he spent the remainder of his days, dying there at the advanced age of one hundred and one years. Of his five children, four sons and one daughter, two of the former came to Michigan and are at this time the only sur- vivors of the family.

Norman Larabee was born in the town of Highgate, Franklin county, Vermont, February 6, 1837, and at the age of fourteen accompanied his parents upon their removal to New York, where he remained the en- suing four years, assisting his father and at- tending school the meanwhile. In 1855. when a young man of eighteen, he left home and went to Michigan, but after spending a short time in Kalamazoo county. departed. in October of the same year, for Iowa with the object in view of securing land and es- tablishing a permanent home. He married in the latter state on the 3d day of October, 1856, to Miss Mary Sage and the following year disposed of his interests there and changed his abode to Harrison county, Mis- souri, where he made his home for about one year, whence he moved to Buchanan

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county, same state, where he remained until 1861.

Mr. Larabee engaged in the manufacture of shingles at the latter place and did a pros- perous business from the time of his arrival until the breaking out of the Civil war. When the call to arms resounded through- out the country his patriotic instincts be- came aroused and as soon as he could dis- pose of his business interests and arrange his domestic affairs he responded to the call by enlisting on December 1, 1861, in the Fourth Missouri Cavalry under Colonel Hall. In due time his command was ordered to the front and during the following sum- mer he saw much active service in various parts of the Missouri and other states, par- ticipating in a number of battles and minor engagements, among which was the famous siege of Lexington, where his regiment fought under the celebrated Colonel Mul- ligan, whose gallant charge as he cut his way through an overwhelming force of the enemy is recorded as one of the most signal acts of bravery in the history of the war. Shortly after the above action Mr. Larabee's health became so badly impaired that he was sent to St. Joseph for hospital treatment and he remained in that city until discharged from the service in June, 1862. Subse- quently he re-enlisted in the Eleventh Mis- souri Cavalry, with which he shared the vicissitudes of war from Missouri to the gulf, taking part in many noted campaigns and bloody battles, including among others the Red River expedition under General Banks, the action of Shreveport, Alabama, after which his command was ordered to Little Rock, thence in the spring of 1865 to New Orleans, under General Sheridan, at and near which city he remained until his

discharge, on the 28th of the following July. Mr. Larrabee was mustered out of the service at St. Louis, Missouri, and im- mediately thereafter returned to New York, where his wife had lived during the greater part of the war. After a brief sojourn in- that state, lasting until September, 1865, he came to Antrim county, Michigan, with a friend by the name of Clark and located a homestead of eighty acres two miles east of Eastport, at the head of Torch lake. Mr. Larabee entered his land before seeing it, going to Traverse City for the purpose, after which he sought the site of his future home, which he found in a wild, unsettled coun- try, through which no roads had been con- structed, the place upon his arrival present- ing anything but an inviting appearance. Being in somewhat straitened circumstances, Mr. Larabee during the first few years in the new country was obliged to labor under many difficulties and discouragements, not- ably among which was the need of a team, being too poor at the time to purchase either horses or oxen. There were but few teams in the neighborhood, but these were gener- ously loaned to the different settlers during the busy seasons until the majority of them were able to procure horses or oxen of their own. Shortly after Mr. Larabee's arrival in Antrim county he was visited by his brother, William H. Larabee, who had come to Michigan a number of years before and at the time noted was acting as agent for a Kalamazoo land company, locating lands and finding homes for settlers in different parts of the state. He had a good span of horses and as he remained about one year with the subject, the latter took advantage of the team to do a goodly part of the heavy work while clearing and developing his

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place. In due time, however, this necessary adjunct to successful farming was procured and as the years went by prosperity attended the efforts of our pioneer and his family.

Mr. Larabee took an active interest in the growth and development of his com- munity, assisted new comers in securing fa- vorable homesteads, helped lay out and con- struct public highways and in many other respects made himself valuable to the neigh- borhood in which he lived. Like other early settlers, he experienced in full measure the vicissitudes and hardships of pioneer life and remembers the time when he had to pack provisions for his family from Elk Rapids, twenty miles distant; when pork cost twenty-five cents per pound and was dif- ficult to procure at that price; when flour was an unknown quantity in the majority of households and every commodity except wild game scarce in the extreme. During the first two or three years he obtained what few necessities his family needed by cutting wood and later earned considerable money clearing land, receiving the sum of ten dol- lars per acre for the latter labor and earn- ing sufficient thereby to pay for the greater part of his homestead. The first school in this township was held in his house.

Mr. Larabee is not only one of the old- est settlers of Antrim county, but one of its most enterprising and public spirited citi- zens and to him as much as to any other man is due the progress and prosperity of the community which he assisted to found and in which he has so long and worthily lived. He still owns sixty acres of the old home- stead, having given twenty acres to his son, and his farm at this time is one of the best and most highly cultivated in the township

of Central Lake, his residence, which was erected in 1886 and in which he has lived for nineteen years, being among the com- fortable and attractive rural homes in the county.

Mr. Larabee was made a Mason at Elk Rapids in 1871, and since that time has been an active and influential worker in the order, having at different times filled nearly every important position within the gift of the lodge to which he belongs. He for a num- ber of years past has been prominent in Grand Army circles, being a leading spirit in the George Martin Post at Eastport.

In politics Mr. Larabee is a Democrat, but not a partisan, although from time to time he has been honored with important official position, in all of which he discharged his duties with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the public. In 1866 he was one of the eleven voters who organized Cen- tral Lake township, and when this was ef- fected he was made a member of the board of township commissioners, which he held during the ensuing nine years, his long period of service attesting the confidence with which he was regarded by his fellow citizens. The story of Mr. Larabee's life is an interesting and eventful one and it constitutes an important chapter in the his- tory of the county of which for nearly forty years he has been an honored resident. He has done his work faithfully and well, has lived as nearly as possible according to his standard of manhood and citizenship and his example is eminently worthy of emulation by the young man whose character is yet to be founded and whose destiny is a matter for future determination.

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Larabee

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was blessed with four children, namely : Lettie died in infancy ; Charles, who died in early life; Alphretta, who was born in Mis- souri, married Michael Zearing and died at Traverse City, Michigan, in 1899; Norman, the youngest of the family, married Miss Cora Campbell, of Antrim county, and for some time past has managed the home farm. The mother of these children, an estimable and exemplary lady, whose character was above reproach and whose influence like a gentle benediction still lingers to bless and make better the loved ones left behind, de- parted this life in April, 1897.

William H. Larabee, older brother of the subject of this review and for many years a prominent factor in the affairs of Michi- gan, was born in Vermont, October 28, 1824. In 1849 he became a resident of Michigan, locating at Kalamazoo and ten years later went to the northern part of the state pur- chasing lands and locating homesteads for a Kalamazoo land company. In the dis- charge of his duties he traveled over a num- ber of counties and visited all the favorable localities, spending ten years with the com- pany, during which time he assisted hun- dreds of settlers in securing homes and getting a start in life. He was one of the first men to visit the counties of Wexford, Grand Traverse, Antrim and other parts of northern Michigan, and his efforts in behalf of home seekers had as much influence as any other agency in opening and developing the different sections in which he operated. He is still an honored citizen of the state of his adoption and, although well advanced in years, keeps in touch with all interests of the commonwealth and stands high among the notable men of his day and generation in the city of his residence.

GILBERT M. MORROW.

Holding worthy prestige among the leading farmers and stock raisers of Antrim county is Gilbert M. Morrow, of Central Lake township, an enterprising and worthy citizen whom to know is to esteem and honor. He was born in Argentile, province of Quebec, August 18, 1841, and spent his early life there, enjoying during his child- hood and youth the advantages of a com- mon-school education. While still a mere lad, he entered upon a three-years ap- prenticeship to learn the trade of shoe- making, receiving in addition to his board while thus engaged ten dollars for the first year, fifteen for the second and twenty for the third, barely sufficient to keep him re- spectably clad, as he was obliged to furnish his own clothing. After serving his time, he worked a year for the man under whom he learned his trade and later followed shoe- making at different places until his twentieth year, when he went to Ontario where he was engaged for some time in farm labor. While in that province he also took several jobs of clearing, at which he saved a little money, but in 1868 he left Canada and went to Van Buren county, Michigan, where he secured employment at wood cutting and clearing. receiving five dollars per acre for the former labor and ten dollars for the latter. On December 29, 1869, Mr. Morrow entered the marriage relation with Miss Mary Emond. of Kincardine, Ontario, and immediately thereafter set up his domestic establishment in Hartford township, Van Buren county, Michigan, where during the ensuing ten years he cleared and reduced to a good state of cultivation forty acres of land which he had previously purchased, besides making a

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number of substantial improvements on the farm. Disposing of the possession in Van Buren county in the spring of 1880, he came to Antrim county and purchased his present farm, two and a half miles northwest of Cen- tral Lake, the place being formerly known as the Wadsworth farm, though originally owned and settled by W. W. Smith, the builder of the first hotel in the town. The subject's original purchase consisted of one hundred and twenty acres, but he has since increased this by an additional forty acres, making one of the finest and most valuable farms in the county. In 1880 there were but seventeen acres of tillable land on the place, but at this time there are one hun- dred and twenty acres in cultivation, in ad- dition to which there is an eighty-acre tract of fine timbered land reserved for pastur- age, the latter having been bought several years ago.

The subject has sold considerable valu- able timber from his land, and still has a sufficiency for fuel and all other purposes for many years to come. In addition to general farming, which he carries on quite extensively, he devotes a great deal of at- tention to live stock, his thoroughbred cattle and horses, fine sheep and hogs being among the best in this part of the state, as is attested by the number of premiums they have won at the different county fairs where exhibited. He also takes high rank as a successful fruit grower, having four acres of orchard, in which are one hundred and fifty fine apple trees of the choicest varieties, also plums, peaches, pears, all very prolific, his earnings from his fruit being no small part of his income.

The subject is a Republican but has little taste for party politics, doing no work in this line beyond voting his principles and

defending the soundness of his opinions. He has servel as a member of the township school board, aside from which he has held no office, having no ambition for public honors. He is an enterprising man, fully alive to the demands of the age in which he lives, and has done much to promote the material advancement and moral good of his community. For nearly twenty-five years he and his wife were active members of the Bay View Methodist Episcopal church, but since 1903 they have been identified with the Central Lake Methodist Episcopal church, and are among its most influential workers and liberal contributors, in addition to which Mrs. Morrow is an enthusiastic member of the Independent Order of Good Templars and a leader in the local lodge to which she belongs. The family consists of the following children, Robert, George, John, Alice, Mabel, Gilbert and Jeanette. The two oldest sons are engaged in the lum- ber business and doing well. They are in- telligent, well educated and wide-awake young men, highly esteemed by all who know them and the future of each appears bright and promising. John, the third son, is still with his parents; Alice, a young lady of varied culture, is one of Antrim county's popular teachers, and at this time she has charge of the school at Mitchell Banks, hav- ing formerly taught in the Central Lake high school. The youngest children are still members of the home circle.

GEORGE J. NOTEWARE.

The distinction of being one of the two oldest business men of Bellaire belongs to the well known and popular gentleman of whom the biographer writes in this connec-

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tion. Coming to this part of the state when the town was but a mere niche in the sur- rounding forest, he has seen the country reduced from the wilderness and developed into one of the finest sections of the com- monwealth, nor has he been merely a passive spectator of the many remarkable changes that have taken place, but with sound judg- ment, keen foresight and well directed energy, he contributed to the marvelous ad- vancement, and to him perhaps more than to any other individual is due the continuous growth and present prosperity of the flour- ishing town so long honored by his citizen- ship. In May, 1883, there came to Bellaire the Noteware brothers, George J. and Waldo R., who shortly after their arrival estab- lished themselves in the drug trade, found- ing the large and flourishing business which continued uninterrupted until the retirement of the surviving member of the firm in 1903, after twenty and a half years of active and successful service. As originally constituted the firm lasted until 1885, at which time Waldo R. retired and George J. became sole proprietor. Under his management the business soon grew to large proportions, its reputation became widely and favorably known and as a consequence the patronage increased, until the Noteware drug house be- came not only the largest retail establish- ment of the kind in Antrim county, but one of the largest and most successful in the northern part of the state. Mr. Noteware paid close attention to his large and rapidly growing business and by fair dealing and courteous treatment won such an abiding place in the confidence of the public that he experienced no difficulty whatever in retain- ing his patronage. Despite the fact that strong opposition developed from time to

time on the part of other druggists who found in the town an inviting field, the old establishment continued the even tenor of its way, retaining ground already won, out- living the majority of its competitors and at all times and under all circumstances stand- ing for honor and integrity in business and never once forgetting or neglecting the ethics of commercial life.

Mr. Noteware is familiar with every de- tail of the branch of trade to which he de- voted so many years of his life, and as a scientific and skillful pharmacist he always enjoying the unbounded confidence of his pa- trons. By careful management he succeeded in accumulating a handsome competency, which being done, he disposed of his busi- ness in October, 1903, since which time he has been enjoying the fruits of his long and faithful service in a life of leisure and retirement. In a beautiful and attractive home, surrounded by every material bless- ing calculated to minister to his comfort and in the enjoyment of a devoted family and faithful friends, he is spending the years free from anxiety and care, at peace with God and his fellow men, with nothing in the past to regret and with a future in which no shadow appears to darken the evening of his life.

In addition to his business interests, somme of which he still retains, Mr. Note- ware has large and valuable real estate hold- ings, owning two fine farms of eighty and sixty acres respectively, and a profitable fruit farm of forty acres on Grass lake, about one and a half miles south of Bellaire. The last named place is admirably situated for a summer resort and Mr. Noteware has al- ready advertised its advantages as such to the public, the result being that it is visited

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every summer by pleasure seekers from far and near, the guests finding in the cooling shade of the beautiful waters of the limpid lake a most grateful and desirable place in which to spend the heated season. The natural attractions of the resort are many and various and, with the improvements contemplated, it will become one of the most beautiful, attractive and popular places of the kind in the northern part of the state.

Mr. Noteware greatly enjoys outdoor life and sports and attributes his excellent health very largely to his being much in the open air in close touch with nature. Fish- ing and hunting afford him both rest and recreation and he certainly deserves much credit for devising means for those who are tired and worn out with life's duties to en- joy for a season the blessings which God manifestly intended should be theirs.

Mr. Noteware was first married in Octo- ber, 1885, to Miss Ella E. Cook, who de- parted this life in 1892, leaving two children, Ledah and Irl. By his second wife, Carrie E. King, of Marcelona, he had one child, George H., his third marriage, which was solemnized with Mrs. Ann L. Sanford, of Bellaire, being without issue. While in- terested in the leading questions and issues of the day, on all of which he had decided and well defined opinions, Mr. Noteware has always kept out of politics, preferring the quiet and contented life of a business man and the plain title of citizen to any honors or emoluments within the power of his fel- low men to bestow. He is a friend of the church and the school, and all enterprises making for the social and moral good of the community have his sanction and support. He has lived long and well, the history of Bellaire and his business career being pretty

much one and the same thing, and whatever he has found to do he has done intelligently and with his might. His long period of residence in the same locality has made his name a household word throughout the county of Antrim and wherever known it stands for what is upright in manhood and honorable in citizenship.

Returning to the subject's geneological record, it may be stated that he was born August 14, 1859, in Tiogo county, New York. His early education was obtained in the common schools during the winter months, the balance of his time being de- voted to labor on the farm. Later he en- gaged in teaching school, continuing to labor on the farm until three years after attain- ing his majority. He then attended a school of telegraphy at Oberlin, Ohio, and after his graduation came to Bellaire, Michigan. His father, George W. Noteware, who was born in Connecticut, was always a farmer, and went to New York state in young manhood. He there married Miss Mary A. Mayhen, a native of that state, and to the union were born two children, the subject of this sketch being the youngest. The father died in 1882, the mother in 1876.

GEORGE DAWSON.

George Dawson, farmer and stock raiser and for thirty-four years a resident of An- trim county, Michigan, is a native of Canada, born in Northumberland county, Ontario, on the 29th of September, 1849. He was reared to agricultural pursuits in his native province, received his educational training in the public schools of the same

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and until twenty years of age lived with his parents, assisting his father with the work of the farm and in many other ways con- tributing to the support of the family.

In 1869, when twenty years old, Mr. Dawson severed the ties that bound him to his home and started out to fight life's bat- tles upon his own responsibility. Having heard favorable accounts of Michigan, he came to this state and obtained employment at Muskegon, but in July of the following year left that place and made his way to Antrim county, locating on a tract of land in what is now Central Lake township, which at the time was a part of the public domain and not for sale. Being pleased with the locality as well as with the fertility of the soil, he decided to make improvements on a certain forty acres so as to hold the same until it came into market, accordingly a small log house was soon erected, around which the forest gradually disappeared until in due time the term field could be appro- priately applied to the portion of ground thus. cleared. Mr. Dawson was obliged to wait three years before securing legal pos- session of his land, paying for the same the sum of eight dollars per acre, one-fourth down, the balance in installments favorable for a man of industry and energy to meet. After making the first payment, which re- quired all of his available capital, he ob- tained employment at logging and cutting cord wood and in this way not only earned sufficient money to supply his needs, but to meet his obligations as they came due ; mean- while he devoted all the time he could spare to clearing and otherwise developing his land and in the course of a few years his industry and perseverance were rewarded, a good farm and a comfortable home being

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Biographical history of northern Michigan containing biographies of prominent citizens, Part 15

Author: Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 966

Author:
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 966