Biographical history of northern Michigan containing biographies of prominent citizens, Part 31

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

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The subject of this sketch was a mere child at the time of his parents' removal to Ottawa county, and there he grew to ma- turity, early becoming inured to the sturdy labors of the home farm and availing him- self of the educational advantages which the local schools supplied. He there initiated his independent career, continuing to be identified with farming in that section until 1883, when he came to Antrim county, where he has since maintained his home. Of his farm of one hundred and eighty-seven acres one hundred are under cultivation, a considerable portion of the tract having been reclaimed by him, while he has equipped his farm with good buildings and other im- provements of a permanent nature. After residing on his farm for fifteen years the subject removed to the village of Ellsworth. where he has since conducted a general store, securing a goodly support from the

people of the section normally tributary to the village and being held in high regard by all who know him. He still retains pos- session of his farm and gives his personal supervision to its operation. He came to this county a poor man, being- fifteen hun- dred dollars in debt at the time of his ar- rival here, and thus it is gratifying to note the success which he has gained through legitimate industry and well directed per- sonal effort. In politics he is a stanch Re- publican, and his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife also is a devoted member.

In the year 1884 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Struik to Miss Millie Van- derberg, who was likewise born and reared in Michigan, and they have three children, Maude J., Henry P. and Louellan M.

JOHN KEFFE.

No compendium such as the province of this work defines in its essential limitations will serve to present in detail the thrilling life of the well known and popular gentle- man whose name appears above, a man whose experiences on the sea and whose gal- lant service to his adopted country in the darkest days of its national history entitle him to the respect and admiration of every American citizen, and to the confidence of the government for the perpetuity of which he not only devoted some of the best years of his life, but shed his blood that its honor might be maintained.

John Keffe is a native of Ireland and was born in the city of Dublin on December 28,' 1826. His parents died when he was

MR. AND MRS. JOHN KEFFE.

NORTHERN MICHIGAN.

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two years old and from that tender age until a lad of twelve he lived with different par- ties, some of whom treated him kindly, but with others he experienced the rebuffs and neglect to which so many helpless and friendless orphans are too often subjected. Mr. Keffe's early life was spent in the coun- try as a farmer boy and from morn until late at night he was obliged to labor at his allotted tasks, with little time for rest or recreation and still less for the innocent, boy- ish sports of which the young sons of Erin are so fond. In 1838, when twelve years old, he decided to go to America; accord- ingly he husbanded his meager earnings with this object in view and in due time boarded a sailing vessel, the happy possessor of four pounds and fifteen shillings with which to pay his passage to Boston. He had not been long aboard until his bright, smiling countenance and lively dispositon attracted the notice of the captain, who at once began taking an interest in the young immigrant and by associating with the sail- ors and assisting them as opportunities af- forded he soon won their friendship, and it was not long until he became a prime favor- ite with every tar on the vessel.

During the voyage young Keffe made himself useful in many ways; he helped cook, did errands for the passengers and later proved his value by assisting the sailors, for which work he was allowed certain wages. so that by the time the port of Boston was reached he had almost earned the price of his voyage. After spending a few months in the above city, young Keffe accepted the po- sition of cook on a vessel engaged in the coast trade and during the ensuing thirteen or fourteen months attended closely to his duties, but at the expiration of that time

engaged in another capacity, spending about eighteen months along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, besides making a voyage to Europe, during which he sailed over various parts of the Mediterranean sea and visited Greece, the island of Malta and many places of interest on different parts of the continent. While before the mast and skirt- ing the New England coast the vessel on which Mr. Keffe was engaged was wrecked near the city of Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire, but fortunately no lives were lost, though many of the sailors were badly bruised and some of them quite seriously in- jured before rescued. Quitting the sea at Bangor, Maine, shortly after this disaster. he made the acquaintance of one of his fel- low countrymen, 'an old Irish gentleman from Belfast who took him into his own household and treated him with the same kindness and consideration he would have shown to one of his own flesh and blood. This man lived at Rockland, near Bangor, and young Keffe continued to reside under his roof while learning stone cutting in the latter city, a trade in which he soon became an expert and which he followed until the breaking out of the great rebellion. When the clouds of impending civil war at last darkened the national horizon and the loyal young men throughout the northland began responding to the call for volunteers, Mr. Keffe was one of the first in his community to tender his services to the government. On May 7, 1861, he enlisted in Company H. Fourth Maine Infantry, and shortly there- after accompanied his command to the front where he soon experienced in all of their dread reality the vicissitudes and horrors of warfare. His regiment formed part of Gen- eral Ward's brigade in the Army of the Po-

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tomac, which made that section of the South historic. He later was promoted picket ser- geant, in which capacity he performed gal- lant and efficient service, winning by his valor and daring not only the esteem and love of the men under his command, but the respect and confidence of his superiors, all of whom appeared to have high opinions of the brave Irishman.

As already stated, it is not the writer's intention to give a detailed account of the military experience of Mr. Keffe nor attempt anything more than a glance at his long per- iod of arduous service for if his deeds were properly chronicled and his feats of bravery and daring given publicity, they would fill a goodly sized volume of interesting reading. Suffice it to say, however, that he never shirked a responsibility nor hesitated to go where duty called, however dangerous the situation, and his fearlessness and bravery were so marked as to commend him to the notice of his commanding general when any hazardous enterprise was to be inaugurated and so infectious that his presence in the heat of battle served to inspire his comrades with greater zeal and bravery. He was several times wounded, twice by musket balls, one of which shattered his left hand, one from the weapon of a sharpshooter who took deliberate aim, striking him on the side of the head, causing him to fall as if dead and lie for some moments stunned. Regain- ing consciousness, he grasped his gun and started in pursuit of the rebel who fired the shot, this, too, right in the face of the enemy and when his colonel, by whose side he was standing when struck, was calling to him to return to the ranks. In the second battle of the Wilderness a fragment of a shell which exploded near by shattered his right leg,

making an ugly and exceedingly painful wound, and at another time he was crushed beneath a falling horse, the result being several broken ribs, the discoloration of others and a number of bruises which caused him great and long protracted suffering. For two years Sergeant Keffe's command acted as a support to Captain Randolph's battery, during which time it participated in many of the bloodiest battles of the Virginia cam- paigns and never lost a gun by capture. In the battle of Gettysburg the Sergeant's regi- ment was scattered and almost cut to pieces and with a number of his comrades he fell into the hands of the enemy. Before the prisoners could be escorted to the rear, how- ever the majority of them were retaken by the Nineteenth Massachusetts, with which regiment Mr. Keffe fought during the re- mainder of that long, bloody day, and so gal- lantly did he conduct himself that the colonel of the regiment made special mention of him in his report, besides recommending him for promotion. Between Mr. Keffe and Captain Barker, who commanded the com- pany, a strong and lasting friendship sprung up, and during the two years in which they served together they shared each other's tents and had all things in common. He also had the confidence and good will of other officers of the regiment and by his wit and unfailing good humor made himself a gen- eral favorite with all the men of his own and many of other commands. The writer cannot forbear mentioning an interesting in- cident worthy of note in connection with Mr. Keffe's army experience, in which his gal- lantry was especially displayed. Before de- parting for the scene of hostilities, the regi- ment in which he enlisted was presented with a handsome flag by certain ladies in

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New York, and during the war this banner, though torn and riddled by shot and shell, was proudly carried at the front and served to animate the men on many a bloody field. At one time when on a charge the color bearer was shot dead and the flag fell to the ground, to the momentary consternation of those near by. Hastily seizing the tattered banner, Mr. Keffe placed himself at the head of the men and, amid a storm of missiles, carried it safely to victory, after which this dangerous duty was assigned him in three other hard-fought battles. In recognition of this act of gallantry he was subsequently presented with a beautiful flag, five by ten feet in size, which he calls his Sign of Honor, . and which he still cherishes as a priceless treasure, proudly displaying it upon all proper occasions and carrying it at the head of processions at picnics and other public gatherings. This was the flag that was un- furled at the first town meeting held at East- port, Michigan, in 1866, an assemblage in which there were present only thirteen men comprising the resident voters in what is now Torch Lake, Central, Echo and Banks townships in the county of Antrim.

After gallantly serving his adopted country for a period of three years and two months and meeting with experiences, suf- ferings and hardships which do not fall to the lot of the average soldier, Mr. Keffe was honorably discharged on the 19th of July, 1864. He wears his honors proudly, but in a becoming manner; his scars attest the sacrifices which he made for the flag he loves so well and few native-born Americans display the loyalty and devotion for the gov- ernment under which they live, as does this large-hearted, gray-haired veteran from an- other land. While in the army Mr. Keffe

kept a clear and succinct record of his every- day life, a detailed account of his marches, battles, etc., which he wrote every week to his wife, who kept the letters with zealous care until his return. He now has them bound in book form, a volume not only of thrilling interest, but containing much valu- able information not obtainable from any other source. In this connection it may be proper to state that when the subject entered the service, he left behind him a wife and four children, without visible means of sup- port other than the busy fingers of the faith- ful helpmeet who was frequently reduced to the direst poverty while trying to provide for those dependent upon her and keep the hungry wolf from the door. It is said that she procured sufficient fuel to last her little family an entire winter by wading waist deep into the waters of a bay, gathering drift wood, and in this way succeeded in bringing four cords to land, reducing it to the proper size as needed.

It was while on picket duty that Mr. Keffe first learned of the advantages which northern Michigan held out to poor men and those in moderate circumstances and he at once decided that if spared until the ex- piration of his term of service, he would make this part of the state his permanent abiding place. In November, 1865, he was enabled to yield to this desire of long stand- ing, that being the month and year in which he came to Antrim county and took up a homestead about two miles east of Torch lake, spending nearly all of his means in procuring his land and getting his family comfortably settled. At one time the sum total of his available cash was a single half dollar, which he afterwards spent for to- bacco; but, blessed with a cheerful spirit and

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knowing no such word as fail, he gradually but surely overcame the many obstacles against which he was obliged to contend and in due time his labors and perseverance were rewarded with a good farm, a comfortable home, and a position of respectability and influence among his fellow men. Mr. Keffe's first residence in his homestead was a pole cabin, ten by twelve feet, covered with sticks and bark; the furniture consisted of a couple of rough, hand-made chairs and blocks, sawed off the ends of logs, while the bedstead, if such it could be called, was a simple affair made of poles fastened to the walls of the hut and resting on an upright piece of the same kind of material. In this rude domicile the subject and his good wife spent many happy days and the children, now men and women, with families of their own, look back to the time beneath the hum- ble roof as one of the most cheerful and pleasing periods of their lives. While clear- ing and developing the farm Mr. Keffe worked at intervals for other parties and in this way earned sufficient money to buy the ordinary necessities of life, nearly all of which in those early days commanded ex- orbitant prices. Later he found it more profitable to leave the farm in charge of his wife and devote all of his time to outside labor, and it was while he was employed at one dollar per day, twenty-two miles dis- tant, that Mrs. Keffe, with the assistance of her son. cleared and reduced to cultivation twenty acres of land. the husband furnishing groceries and other supplies the meantime. While thus engaged Mr. Keffe would fre- quently visit his home, walking the entire distance in the evening and returning to the scene of his labor in the morning, before breakfast, making forty-four miles without

losing any time, besides spending the greater part of the night with his loved ones. This experience shows the necessities under which some of the early pioneers were obliged to labor and the hardships to which they were subject, but in the end they triumphed over every obstacle and left the impress of their strong individuality upon the splendid struc- ture of civilization of which they were the forerunners.

Mr. Keffe has lived a long and useful life and now, as old age approaches and the once strong virile powers begin to wane, he looks back over his interesting career with the satisfaction that comes to one who has to the best of his ability done his whole duty and lived as nearly as possible according to his high ideals of manhood and citizenship. By industry and economy he has been enabled to surround himself with all needful material comforts, and, blessed with the companion- ship of a devoted wife, loving children and faithful friends, he is spending his closing years quietly and peacefully and in striking contrast to the strenuous life of his youth and manly prime.

Mr. Keffe has long been interested in public matters, but has persistently refused to accept office, although frequently impor- accept office, although frequently impor- tuned to stand for positions of honor and trust. He is a charter member of George Martin Post, No. 229. Grand Army of the Republic, and takes an active interest in all things relating to military affairs, especially in the old soldiers, whom he delights to meet and with them recall the stirring scenes of the times that tried men's souls and tested the perpetuity of the Union. Mrs. Keffe is a worker in the Woman's Relief Corps, her name appearing on the charter of the local

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organization to which she belongs. Re- ligiously Mr. and Mrs. Keffe subscribe to no man-made creed, but accept the Scrip- tures alone as the rule of faith and sacrifice. They belong to the Christian church at At- wood, having been born and reared in the faith of the Current Reformation, and their children are also identified with the same body of worshippers.

To Mr. and Mrs. Keffe seven children have been born, namely : Norman H., an en- gineer living in Traverse City; Matthew. who died at the age of twenty-nine years. leaving a widow and one son, Lewis M., the latter now an intelligent young person of seventeen years who has been with his grandparents since infancy: Edward, the third in order of birth, died in his twenty- third year, and Anastasia, the youngest, is a trained nurse whose skillful services are in great demand.

DANIEL W. SAGE.

This well-known citizen and gallant ex-soldier, who is now enjoying the even- tide of a strenuous and well spent life in honorable retirement, is a native of Lorain county, Ohio, where his birth occurred on December 7, 1833. His paternal ancestors were among the early Connecticut colonists and since 1635 the family has been repre- sented in different states, the name being familiar in public as well as private life. Isaac Sage, the subject's grandfather, mi- grated from Connecticut to the Western Re- serve of northern Ohio, as early as the year 1805 and settled on land which his brother had previously received from the former

state. He bore an active part in the develop- ment of Lorain county, became a prominent citizen of the community in which he lived and spent the closing years of his life on the fine farm which he redeemed from the for- ests. Isaac Sage, father of Daniel W., was a young man when his parents moved to Ohio. He married and reared a family in that state and after residing for a number of years in the county of Lorain sold out and moved to Ohio. He married and reared a family in that state and after residing for a number of years in the county of Lorain sold out and moved to Clinton county, Michigan, where, in connection with agri- cultural pursuits, he followed quite ex- tensively contracting and building.

Until his fourteenth year Daniel W. Sage lived with his parents in Lorain county, Ohio, and attended, as opportunities afforded, such schools as were then common in the country districts of the Western Re- serve. At the age noted he engaged with a stock dealer to help take a large drove of swine to Albany, New York, which being done, he went to Connecticut and spent the ensuing five years at the home of his ances- tors, supporting himself the meanwhile by farm labor and blacksmithing. Going to New York city in the winter of 1853. he shipped as a sailor on the packet ship "New World," bound for Liverpool, England, re- turning the next summer to New York, where he met a friend from Ohio, with whom he returned to his native state. After remaining there a short time he went to Indiana with a threshing outfit, his separator being the first machine of the kind in the part of the state where it was operated. Mr. Sage met with gratifying success as a thresher of grain and continued the business

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in Indiana until about 1855, when he came to Michigan for the purpose of rejoining his parents, who had settled the meantime in Clinton county. Being skillful in the use of tools, he took up the carpenter's trade under his father's direction and soon became the latter's valuable assistant. He located at Fowler, the first station on the Detroit & Michigan Railroad, west of St. John's, where he devoted his attention to mechanical pursuits until a short time before the break- ing out of the Civil war, when he returned to Ohio.

Mr. Sage was one of the first young men of his community to respond to President Lincoln's original call for seventy-five thou- sand volunteers to put down the rebellion, enlisting April 23, 1861, in Company B. Sixteenth Ohio Infantry, which was or- ganized at Columbus, Ohio, and remained in Camp Chase, near that city, until ordered to Bellaire preparatory to proceeding to the scene of hostilities. With nineteen of his comrades, he was sent to Bellaire to con- struct barracks for the men, which task being done, he remained with the regiment at that place until ordered to the front. Leav- ing Bellaire, his command went to Virginia, where for several weeks it did guard duty along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, also rebuilt the bridges on the line which the Con- federates had previously destroyed. To Mr. Sage belongs the honor of taking part in the first real battle of the war, the action at Philippi, West Virginia, where a force of Confederate cavalry was defeated and routed by the Sixteenth Ohio and the First West Virginia Regiments, assisted by a battery of light artillery. He also partici- pated in the engagement at Rich Mountain and was sufficiently near the field of Bull

Run to hear the booming of the cannon during the progress of that bloody and dis- astrous battle. At the expiration of his hundred days of service in July, 1861, he was discharged at Mansfield, Ohio, but on September 15, 1861, re-enlisted in a com- pany recruited by Captain Miller Moddy, of Bellville, Ohio, for a regiment which was organized in New York city and entered the service as the Fifty-ninth New York Infan- try, Colonel Tidball commanding. The regiment was first sent to Washington and the same fall helped construct Fort Good Hope, D. C., from which point it was or- dered the following winter to Fort Alex- ander, D. C., where it remained until join- ing the Army of the Potomac under General McClellan on July 4, 1862, at Harrison's Landing, Virginia. Owing to sickness Mr. Sage was absent from his command during the latter part of the fall of 1862 and the greater part of the following winter, but was sufficiently recovered to rejoin the army a short time before the battle of Fredericks- burg. In that active battle he fought with Battery A, First Rhode Island Light Ar- tillery, and continued to serve with the same until December, 1863, during which time he took part in the operations against Lee in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, in- cluding the battle of Gettysburg, in which the loss of his immediate command amounted to thirty-seven men and forty horses. On December 21, 1863, Mr. Sage, after a brief furlough, veteranized by re-en- listing in his former regiment, the Fifty- ninth New York, which at the time was sta- tioned in New York city. Subsequently he accompanied the command to Virginia, where he served under General Grant until wounded at the battle of Spottsylvania, when

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he was sent to Washington, D. C., for treat- ment, remaining an inmate of Patterson Park Hospital, Baltimore, until sufficiently recovered to resume his duties. During the period of his convalescence Mr. Sage left the hospital to assist in the defence of the national capital against the threatened ad- vance of the Confederates under General Early, being made commander of one of the companies into which all the able bodied men of the city hospitals were organized. He then rejoined his regiment in front of Petersburg. Virginia. Mr. Sage was twice captured by the enemy, the first time at Ream Station, Virginia, August 25. 1864, from which place he was sent to Libby prison, Richmond, thence to Belle Isle, where he was subsequently paroled and with a number of comrades returned under a flag of truce to the Federal lines, his ex- change following after he had been three months absent from his regiment. His sec- ond capture took place near Farmersville, Virginia. April 7, 1865, from which time until the surrender of Lee he was kept under close surveillance and experienced all the vicissitudes and hardships of prison life. Following his release Mr. Sage was re- turned to his command and shortly after taking part in the Grand Review, which signalized the close of the war, he was dis- charged with the rank of sergeant, to which office he had been promoted many months before. His record from the time of enter- ing the service until leaving the same is un- stained by the slightest suspicion of dishonor and his loyalty to his country and devotion to duty was not only above reproach, but eminently worthy of emulation.

At the close of the war Mr. Sage re- turned to Ohio and on December 19, 1865,

was married, in Ashland county, that state, to Miss Hannah Summers. In March of the following year he purchased a saw mill in the city of Zanesville, Ohio, which he at once shipped to Eaton county, Michigan, where he embarked in the lumber business. with profitable results, operating there and in other parts until disposing of his mill and moving to Antrim county, in 1880. On coming to this part of Michigan Mr. Sage purchased a fine tract of land three miles from Central Lake, on the state road, and in due time cleared and reduced to cultivation seventy acres of the one hundred and sixty which his farm contains, besides erecting a fine dwelling, a good barn and substantial outbuildings, and carrying to completion many other improvements, which added to the value as well as to the beauty and at- tractiveness of the place. After thirteen years successful farming, during which he achieved a creditable reputation in every branch of agriculture and acquired a hand- some competence. Mr. Sage turned his place over to his son, A. E. Sage, and retired to private life, moving to Central Lake where he owns a beautiful home which is liberally supplied with the conveniences and comforts calculated to minister to his happiness and render his closing years free from care. Mr. Sage is a man of intelligence and well bal- anced mind and his judgment on matters coming within his province is sound and seldom at fault. He is well versed on the principles and politics of our government. and is as thoroughly American in his views and tendencies as it is possible for a loyal American-born citizen to be. In politics and religion he is independent, in the former supporting for office the best qualified candi- dates; in the latter according to every one

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Biographical history of northern Michigan containing biographies of prominent citizens, Part 31

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