Biographical history of northern Michigan containing biographies of prominent citizens, Part 17

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

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Mr. Brand's addition to Elk Rapids, con- sisting of twenty-five acres, which he plat- ted some years ago, has been improved with fine buildings and is now one of the most at- tractive and desirable parts of the city. The

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lots were disposed of at liberal prices and proved the source of considerable wealth to the proprietor, and in this connection it may be proper to state that all of his enterprises have been financially successful and he is today classed with the well-to-do men of the community in which he resides. In con- nection with farming, Mr. Brand has been identified with various other interests, hav- ing dealt quite extensively in real estate for several years, also quite extensively in dairy- ing for some time, from which he received liberal profits. Ever since becoming a citi- zen of Antrim county he has been an active and influential participant in public affairs and at different times has served his fel- low citizens in positions of honor and trust. He was treasurer of his township for six years and when Antrim and Leelanaw counties constituted a single jurisdiction he held the two-fold office of county clerk and register of deeds. As a zealous Republican Mr. Brand is not only widely and favor- ably known in local political circles, where his services have long been appreciated at their true value, but he has also achieved considerable reputation in matters of dis- trict and state, in both of which he has been largely instrumental in strengthening the ticket and leading the party to victory.

Mr. Brand was happily married to Miss Ann McVicar, of Canada, who departed this life on the 25th day of February, 1903, after a happy wedded experience of forty-four years, the union being without issue. Mrs. Brand was a lady of intelligence and culture and beautiful Christian character; a devoted communicant of the Episcopal church and, possessing a nature overflowing with charity and good will, won the esteem and friend- ship of all with whom she came in contact.

Mr. Brand subscribes to the Episcopal creed and, while a loyal son of the church, is liberal in matters of religion, perceiving good in all denominations, and recognizing in every individual, however humble, the spark of divinity which bespeaks a heavenly origin and an immortal destiny. He has lived to the ripe old age of seventy-eight years, retaining to a marked degree the sound intellect and strong mental faculties for which he was distinguished during the period of his greatest activity and useful- ness. Of recent years he has been leading a comparatively retired life in the quiet en- joyment of his home and many friends. though still attending to his business affairs and keeping in touch with current events and the trend of modern thought. Sur- rounded by everything conducive to his com- fort and happiness he has the unbounded esteem and confidence of a community for the material, social and moral advancement of which so much of his life and interest have been devoted.

AMOS WOOD.

This venerable gentleman, whose head is silvered with the frosts of eighty-three winters and whose life has been filled with interesting and exciting experiences, was among the earliest settlers of Antrim county, and is now one of the few remaining links in the living chain connecting the present with the stirring scenes of the long-past pioneer period. Amos Wood was born near Brockville, in the province of Ontario, Oc- tober 20, 1882, and when a youth of fourteen accompanied his parents on their removal to St. Lawrence county, New York, where he

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grew to maturity, being reared on a farm near the city of Morristown. He remained at home assisting his father until reaching manhood's estate, and in the month of Janu- ary, 1845, was united in marriage with Miss Edith Frazer, the ceremony taking place on Wells island, in the St. Lawrence river, where the bride's parents were then. living. Two years after his marriage Mr. Wood settled at Battle Creek, Michigan, where he spent the ensuing six years, removing a little later to Grand Rapids, which city he made his home until about 1852.

While living in Grand Rapids, Mr. Wood became acquainted with one A. S. Wadsworth, who had traveled extensively throughout northern Michigan and at the time noted owned a lumber mill and valuable landed interests in the Grand Traverse coun- try, to which region he was then making arrangements to return. Through his repre- sentations and persuasions, Mr. Wood was induced to accompany him in the capacity of a hired hand and before starting on the trip six other men joined them to try their fortunes in the new country of which they had heard so many favorable reports. In due time the little company was in readiness to start on what proved an arduous and in some respects exciting journey, beset with the many vicissitudes and not a few hard- ships, not the least of which were the ab- sence of settlements and roads in the region through which they were obliged to traverse, also the lack of horses, their only means of travel being the primitive manner of going on foot. With what they supposed to be an ample stock of provisions to last them during the journey, each carrying their own share, the company followed the range line between ranges 11 and 12 until reaching the

Manistee run, when they were compelled to halt for a while on account of an accident to Mr. Wood, who cut himself in the leg, almost severing the cords of that member and for the time rendering him well nigh helpless. The wound was dressed by an Indian who fortunately happened to be pass- ing by, after which the injured man man- aged to limp along and keep pace with his companions, who accommodated their steps to his. When within a half day's journey of Traverse City, the provisions of the party became exhausted and in going into camp at night all they had to eat was a partridge, which one of the men had killed during the day. From there on they stuck to the bay and in due time reached Boardman's mill. tired, hungry and some of the party con- siderably dispirited. After a good meal at the latter place. the company proceeded on its road until arriving at Traverse City, where they took a Mackinaw boat for East Bay, from which point, by making extra ex- ertions, they reached Elk Rapids the fol- lowing night, the town at that time con- sisting of a single house which stood on the site now occupied by the Riverside Hotel.

Shortly after arriving at their destina- tion Mr. Wadsworth put his mill in oper- ation and on this Mr. Wood was employed for some months, during a part of which time he lived with the proprietor in a tent. later moving into a little pole cabin which had been deserted by the Indians. On quit- ting the mill Mr. Wood joined a surveying party under Mr. Wadsworth, who was a civil engineer, and for three months helped survey land and run lines in the vicinity of Elk Rapids and in what is now Leelanaw county, doing the work of an ax man while thus engaged. Some time after the expir-

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ation of the period noted he and a com- panion by the name of McVicker took pass- age on a sail boat to Chicago, where they received pay for their services, following which he returned to Michigan and for some months was employed on a trading boat plying the Grand river to Grand Haven. It is unnecessary in this connection to give a detailed account of the various doings of Wood in the new country and the vicissi- tudes which he experienced until taking up a homestead and bringing his family to the same. By working on mills, in the pineries and with surveying parties he earned suf- ficient money to tide himself and family over the rough sea of pioneer life and to live in comparative comfort after the first few years in the back woods, although denied many things which people of the present advanced age would include in the list of necessities. He continued in the employ of Mr. Wads- worth as long as that gentleman lived in this part of the country and the meantime settled on his present place, which he took up a homestead at one and a quarter dollars per acre, selling the town property he had previously purchased in order to apply the proceeds on the payment. Mr. Wood's original entry, consisting of one hundred and sixty-two acres, lies two and a half miles south of Elk Rapids on Elk lake, and is characterized by a deep fertile soil capable of producing in abundance all the grain, vege- table and fruit crops for which the northern part of Michigan has become celebrated. By hard and persevering toil he succeeded in clearing and placing in cultivation sixty acres of his land without the aid of a team and before any road was constructed through the country, his only means of marketing his produce and procuring his

groceries and other necessities being a canoe. In addition to his home place, he helped clear and develop several other farms, having se- cured, by a soldier's claim, a quarter section of excellent land on the east side of Torch lake which he also improved. From time to time he added to his landed interests, one of his last purchases being the estate of his father-in-law, which adjoins the home place, the two combined making one of the finest and most valuable farms in the township of Elk Rapids.

Mr. Wood has been an up-to-date agri- culturist and every enterprise to which he addressed himself seemed to have prospered. He made good improvements on his farms, was not sparing in the matter of personal comfort for himself and family and has al- ways believed in living well and with every- thing calculated to render the home pleas- ant and attractive and to make it to all the inmates the dearest and happiest spot in all the world.

Mr. Wood is an enthusiastic and suc- cessful horticulturist and in his well-kept orchard of over three acres are to be found the finest varieties of fruits which the state of Michigan can produce. He has also de- voted considerable attention to live stock, which he finds a valuable adjunct to general farming, and from these several sources his income has been sufficient to place him in independent circumstances, being at this time the possessor of an ample competency for his declining years. Although well ad- vanced in age and for some time past living a life of retirement, as he is no longer under the necessity of laboring with his hands, Mr. Wood bears the weight of his eighty-three years with the strength and vitality of a much younger man, retaining as he does the

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possession of his bodily powers and mental faculties to a remarkable degree. Among the experiences of former years to which Mr. Wood now looks back with a thrill of patriotic pride is the time spent as a wearer of the blue when the Union was trembling in the balance during the dark and bloody days of civil war. In 1864 he joined the Fourth United States Battery and from that time until the banner of rebellion went down at Appomattox he saw almost constant service in the state of Virginia, participating in many of the hard-fought battles in which the Army of the Potomac was engaged and displaying under all circumstances the quali- ties of a brave soldier and a true lover of his country. He remained with his com- mand at the front until the surrender of General Lee, being present on that occasion and witnessing the ceremony, and at the cessation of hostilities took part in the grand review at the national capitol, after which he was honorably discharged, his record being without a blemish and all that a true soldier could desire.

In political adherency Mr. Wood is a Re- publican, but of recent years he has not been very active in party affairs, although zeal- ous and uncompromising in the support of his principles. Personally he is esteemed by all who know him, and his long residence in Antrim county has given his name wide pub- licity and won him many friends. His chil- dren are devoted to his interests and spare nothing in the matter of his comfort and with a pleasant home and a sufficiency. of this world's goods to cause him no concern for the future, he is spending a cheerful and happy old age, beloved by his neighbors and associates and honored by his fellow citizens in every walk of life.

Mrs. Wood was born in Summerford, Ontario, October 3, 1829, and departed this life on September 3, 1900. She was a model wife and mother, a true helpmeet to her hus- band during the days of their trials and struggles, a faithful counsellor in all of his enterprises and undertakings and shared with him the prosperity which finally crowned their united efforts, at all times and under all circumstances displaying those noble virtues and gentle qualities which constitute the pride and glory of woman- hood. The living children of Mr. and Mrs. Wood, seven in number, are as follows : Rosella, wife of John Ferguson, living near Elk Rapids; William, a married man who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Milton township, east of Elk Rapids; Elida, of Bel- laire ; Chester, manager of the home farm and one of the leading citizens of the com- munity in which he resides; Anna Malissa, now Mrs. Hiram Odell, of Kewadin : Elnora married Richard Ryan and lives in Charlevoix, and Ernest Winchell, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church now sta- tioned at Kingsley, Michigan.

JOHN MILTON GODDARD.

The subject of this review was one of the early pioneers of northern Michigan, his arrival and the settlement of Antrim county being contemporaneous events. He took an active part in the material development of the country, contributing largely to the early growth and business prosperity of Elk Rapids, and lived to see the town grow into an important industrial and commercial cen- ter and the county become one of the fairest

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and most prosperous sections in the northern part of the state.

John Milton Goddard was a native of New England and a descendant of one of the oldest families of that part of the Union, his ancestors having come to America early in the colonial period and settled at Granby, Connecticut, a suburb of Hartford. The father of the subject was Artelus Goddard, a hero of the Revolutionary war, and the mother before her marriage bore the name of Rebecca Messenger, John M. was born in the town of Granby, December 12, 1816, and grew to young manhood in his native state, obtaining the meanwhile a good edu- cation in the public schools. Sometime in the 'thirties he went to Ohio, where he en- gaged with a publishing house to sell maps, his territory including a large part of that and other western states. In the capacity of salesman he traveled quite extensively over a large and sparsely settled territory, ex- periencing many vicissitudes and hardships and meeting with interesting and thrilling experiences not a few.

On August 23, 1849, at Twinnsburg, Ohio, Mr. Goddard was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Porter, daughter of Arba and Atlanta ( Beecher) Porter, of Con- necticut, the mother a member of the same family to which the noted Henry Ward Beecher and his distinguished sister, Mrs. Stowe, belonged. Mrs. Goddard was born at Prospect, Connecticut, on January 9, 1832, but in early life went with her par- ents to Ohio, where she grew to woman- hood. Shortly after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Goddard returned to Connecticut and spent three years at Granby, at the expir- ation of which time he went back to his ter- ritory in the interest of the house he for-

merly represented, finding the sale of maps an exceedingly profitable business. While thus engaged he was also interested in the manufacture of lumber in his native state, having owned a saw mill at Granby which he operated with success and financial profit for a number of years.

In 1854 Mr. Goddard came to Michigan and located at Battle Creek, where he ran a grocery house until the following year, when he disposed of the business and moved to the new town of Elk Rapids. Here he engaged in the grocery trade and, being one of the first merchants of the place, soon built up a lucrative business, which he con- tinued during the ensuing ten years, when he sold out and in 1866 purchased a tract of land about one and a half miles south of the town on what is now known as the Traverse City road. Mr. Goddard first pur- chased eighty acres and at once addressed himself to the task of its improvement, an undertaking involving a great deal of hard work and not a few hardships. In due time, however, he succeeded in clearing and re- ducing to cultivation fifty acres, and later added to his realty until the farm contained one hundred and twenty acres, its present area. Finding stock raising a more certain source of income than agriculture, Mr. Goddard did not farm very extensively, but instead devoted considerable attention to cat- tle and sheep, from the sale of which he soon placed himself in comfortable circum- stances. He worked hard, provided well for those dependent upon him, and in the man- agement of his business affairs exercised sound judgment and discretion, earning an honorable reputation as a farmer, stock raiser and citizen.

Mr. Goddard took an active interest in

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public matters and kept himself well in- formed on the leading questions and issues of the day, having always been a great reader, a close observer of current events and a profound student of history and politics, especially the latter. He was zeal- ously and intensely Republican and so thor- oughly did he believe in the principles of his party and the justice of its mission that he had little patience and less tolerance for the opposition. The word Democrat had for him a peculiarly offensive sound and he never saw it in print without thinking of the record of the party which he believed tried to disrupt the union and the policies of which had always interfered with the nation's prosperity and progress. It is said that when the Australian election law went into effect, he mutilated his first ballot by tearing off the Democratic ticket, his dislike of the party being so great that he preferred losing his vote to putting into the ballot box the name for which he had such an antipathy. As already indicated he was a great reader and among the many papers he constantly perused he chose the Chicago In- ter-Ocean as his principal political guide. He was also fond of argument and, being thoroughly informed, those who engaged him in a political discussion found him a keen, logical antagonist and it is said that in the majority of these discussions his ad- versaries invariably came out second best. Mr. Goddard's knowledge of the world's best literature was both general and pro- found and as a Shakespearian scholar he had few equals. He studied with critical care all the plays of the immortal bard ; could re- peat page after page of each verbatim, and experienced no difficulty whatever in lo- cating any quotation he might hear, giving the play, the chapter, and in most cases the

exact lines in which it could be found. He believed in morality and religion, but never united with any church, although for many years a regular attendant of the Methodist congregation at Elk Rapids.

In many respects Mr. Goddard was a unique character and he enjoyed life as did few men. He spent much of his time out of doors, being an ardent lover of nature, and his ready wit and happy disposition caused his company to be much sought after by the social circles where he was always a prime favorite. He had a melodious voice and was a fine vocalist, and his stirring songs will long be remembered by those who heard them. One of his chief missions was to make others happy and it can be truth- fully stated that his life was a continuous ray of sunshine and that the world is better and wiser by reason of his presence. He was a man of domestic tastes and a great lover of home and his hospitality was tendered to all who claimed it with a freedom that sweetened the welcome to his guests: Mr. Goddard's life was fraught with much good to his fellow men and he impressed upon the community as did few if any of his con- temporaries. He also left his name on the geography of his adopted country, Goddard's point, on Elk lake, being so called in com- pliment to him, also the township of Milton, in which he made the first purchase of real estate and cleared the first farm. The death of this sturdy old pioneer and representative citizen occurred on the 23d day of Novem- ber, 1897, at the age of eighty-one years, and it is needless to state that his departure was deeply lamented by the friends and neighbors among whom he had lived so long and whom he had so frequently benefited by his wise counsel and judicious advice.

Mrs. Goddard is still living and, for one

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of her age, retains to a remarkable degree the possession of her physical and mental powers. She resides with her married daughter in the old homestead and, like her husband, is popular with all who know her, having a large circle of friends who prize her for her beautiful character and blame- less life. Mr. and Mrs. Goddard had two children, a son by the name of Burr Beecher, who died when five years old, and a daugh- ter, Jessie B., now the wife of Charles D. Webster, who farms the home place.

Mr. . Webster was born in Summit county, Ohio, and at the breaking out of the great rebellion enlisted in the Twentieth Ohio Light Artillery, with which he served in the Army of the Cumberland, until dis- abled by an almost fatal wound at the bat- tle of Franklin, Tennessee. In the heat of that bloody engagement he was struck on the left of the nose by a musket ball which penetrated that organ and part of the face and came out over the right ear, inflicting a terrible injury which his comrades supposed to be fatal, hence he was left on the field for dead and reported as such at the close of the engagement. Mr. Webster was left be- hind when the Federal forces marched from the scene of battle, and for three days there- after lay as one bereft of life, unconscious the greater part of the time, but at intervals fully cognizant of his condition. At the ex- piration of the period noted he was dis- covered by the enemy, who took him pris- oner, but twenty-five days elapsed before his wound received any attention or surgical care, during which time he almost recovered from the injury. Mr. Webster's escape from death was indeed narrow and every surgeon that examined the wound pro- nounced his recovery almost phenomenal.

He attributes his escape to a naturally strong constitution, pure blood and regular habits, without any one of which his life would cer- tainly have gone out on the field of battle.

Since his marriage Mr. Webster has su- perintended the Goddard homestead and is now one of the leading agriculturists and representative citizens of the community in which he lives. His wife, who was born June 16, 1856, is the oldest native resident of Elk Rapids, having spent the greater part of her life near the place of her birth. She was educated at Elkhart, Indiana, and Ober- lin, Ohio, and is a lady of intelligence and varied culture, being especially proficient in music, having few equals as a pianist. Mr. Webster is also a musician of much more than ordinary talent and for a number of years has given lessons in vocal culture and in various kinds of instruments. Their home is characterized by an air of refine- ment and, as stated in a preceding para- graph, it has long been a popular place of resort in the community.

ANDREW LAFORGE.

Andrew LaForge, farmer, business man. ex-soldier and for many years a prominent and highly esteemed citizen of Antrim county, was born at Grosse Point, near the city of Detroit, on the 27th of October, 1838. As the name indicates, the LaForge family is of French origin and was first represented in the United States by the sub- ject's grandfather, who came to Detroit with the early French explorers and figured quite prominently in the affairs of that port. George LaForge, father of Andrew, was a

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native of Michigan, as was also his mother, both having been born in Detroit, which city they made their home during the greater part of their lives. Like the majority of lads born and reared under similar circum- stances, the early life of Andrew LaForge was without tragic situation or incidents worthy of note and, having had no marked bearing upon his subsequent career, it need not be mentioned specially in this connec- tion. Sufficient it is to say, however, that his childhood and youth were principally spent in the country amid scenes and in- fluences calculated to awaken his latent powers and, being endowed with an inquir- ing mind which early led him to form cor- rect conceptions of duty and responsibility, he made the most of his opportunities and while still young formed well defined plans for his future. Reared on a farm near his native city, he continued tilling the soil until the breaking out of the great rebellion, when he laid aside the implements of husbandry and with true patriotic fervor offered his services to the government in its time of greatest need.

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Biographical history of northern Michigan containing biographies of prominent citizens, Part 17

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