Biographical history of northern Michigan containing biographies of prominent citizens, Part 46

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

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cause he espoused at practically the time of its organization.

In Tuscola county, this state, on the 7th of September, 1862, Mr. Watson was united in marriage to Miss Sarah S. Youngs, who was born and reared in the province of Ontario, Canada, whence she came with her parents to Michigan when eighteen years of age. Of the five children of this union we enter the following brief record: Edgar Samuel is now residing in Carlton county, Minnesota, as is also Nelson H., the two being associated in their extensive farming enterprise ; Charles E. is a successful farmer of Kalkaska county; William J. is a me- chanic by vocation and is now a resident of the city of Grand Rapids; and Bertha is the wife of William N. Depew, a printer by oc- cupation and a resident of Traverse City. Mrs. Watson died on the 8th of February, 1905.

JAMES T. BATCHELDER.

As one of the representative citizens and prominent and influential farmers of Kear- ney township, Antrim county, Mr. Batch- elder is deserving of special recognition in this work. He comes of stanch old colonial stock and is himself a native of New Hamp- shire, where he was born on the 2d of No- vember, 1834, being a son of Jonathan and Mary (Elkins) Batchelder, both of whom were born in the state of Vermont. The father continued to be engaged in farming in Vermont until 1852, when he came with his family to Michigan and became a pioneer of Kalamazoo county, whence he later removed to Allegan county, where he passed the re- mainder of his life, his death occurring in

JAMES T. BATCHELDER.

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1855, while his devoted wife passed away acres, the most of which he personally re- about 1875. They became the parents of eight children, of whom three are now liv- ing, namely : James T., Elizabeth and Caro- line.

The subject of this sketch passed his boy- hood days in his native state, where he se- cured his early educational training in the common schools. He was about eighteen years of age at the time of his parents' re- moval to Michigan, and here he continued to attend school as opportunity presented, while he gave his father active and effective assistance in his farm work, becoming fa- miliar with all practical details and thus gaining that intimate knowledge of the great basic art of agriculture which has conserved his success in later years. In 1860 he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Trum- bull, daughter of William and Polly (Hull) Trumbull, of English and German descent. Mr. and Mrs. Batchelder have three sons, concerning whom we enter the following brief data: Volney, who married Miss Mary Graham, has a farm of forty acres, and is employed by a lumber company; Albert is living at home at the time of this writ- ing, having recently returned from the re- public of Mexico, where he has been con- tracting and building for some time, and Forrest, who married Miss Carrie Martin, assists in the work of the home farm, while he also owns and cultivates a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, likewise located in Kearney township.

Mr. Batchelder continued to be engaged in farming in the southern part of the state until 1886, when he came to Antrim county, where he has since maintained his home. being one of the sterling pioneers of this sec- tion. He has a well improved farm of forty

claimed from the forest wilds, and the same gives unquestionable evidence of thrift and prosperity, having fair buildings, including a commodious residence of modern design and conveniences, one of the best farm homes in this favored section of the great Wolverine state. In addition to diversified farming Mr. Batchelder raises a variety of fruits, making this department of his enter- prise a successful and distinctively popular one. In politics he manifests the courage and consistency of his convictions by accord- ing a stanch support to the Prohibition party, and he has served as supervisor of his township and also been incumbent of office in his school district. Both he and his wife are active and zealous members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, with which they have been identified for many years. Mr. Batchelder is a man of sterling attributes of character and is held in high regard in the community which has been his home for so many years.

DANIEL BLAKELY.

This old and highly esteemed citizen whose connection with the growth and de- velopment of northern Michigan dates from the pioneer history of Antrim county, is a native of Ontario, where his birth occurred on January 1, 1833, having first seen the light of day in the township of Townsend, Norfolk county. His father, William Henry Blakely, was born and reared in the United States and the mother, who bore the maiden name of Susan Wharfield, was a na- tive of Massachusetts and of Welsh parent-

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age. Daniel Blakely, the subject's grand- father, was a Nova Scotian and presumably of English lineage. When a young man. he went to Connecticut, and it was in that state that he reared his children and spent the remainder of his days.

William Blakely grew to maturity in Connecticut and in early life became a tiller of the soil, later devoting considerable at- tention to various business enterprises in which he met with much more than ordinary financial success. After spending a number of years in his native state he moved to Can- ada, where he made his home until 1840, when he changed his abode to Wayne county, Michigan, where he resumed the pursuit of agriculture and in due time be- came one of the leading citizens of his com- munity. The year following his arrival in Michigan, Mr. Blakely met with a violent death at the hands of a drunken man whom he was assisting at the time and who on ac- count of some fancied insult became en- raged with anger and dealt him a violent blow which ruptured a blood vessel with fatal results. William H. Blakely was fifty- three years of age at the time of his death and he left to mourn his sad taking off a widow and ten children, of whom the sub- ject of this review is the eighth in order of birth.

Daniel Blakely was seven years old when his parents moved to Michigan. After his father's death he remained with his mother until her marriage to a gentleman by the name of Merrill, following which he made his home with an older brother until a youth of seventeen, meanwhile attending the public schools of winter seasons and de- voting the summer months to farm work. At the age of seventeen he accepted a posi-

tion on a vessel engaged in lumber trade and during the ensuing three years plied be- tween various ports on Lakes Erie and Hu- ron, his experience before the mast making him not only a skillful sailor, but fitting him for the rugged usages of life which he was afterwards to encounter. He continued to make his home with his mother until 1853, in February of which year he entered the marriage relation with Miss Mary Martin, who had been his companion and playmate from childhood and with whom he has since traveled life's pathway in happy wedlock, having celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their union in February, 1903.

On the 7th of August, 1862, Mr. Blakely enlisted in Company G, Twenty- fourth Michigan Infantry, but by reason of failing health served only a short period, be- ing discharged on account of disability in January of the following year. Leaving the army he returned to his farm in Wayne county, where he continued to reside until the spring of 1864, when he sold out pre- paratory to removing to the county of An- trim, being encouraged to make the change from the two-fold consideration of obtain- ing more land and seeking the improvement of his health. Mr. Blakely had read sev- eral very flattering accounts of the Grand Traverse region and, having conversed with parties who had visited and investigated its many advantages, he finally decided to try his fortune there and if he found it equal to his expectations to make it his future place of abode. Accordingly in April, 1864, he and a companion by the name of George Burnap went to Detroit, where they ex- pected to take passage for Northport, but owing to the ice which seriously impeded navigation several days elapsed before they

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were able to secure a passage. In due time, however, they boarded a boat bound for Northport, which they reached on the 28th of April and from there Mr. Blakely pro- ceded to Traverse City, where he soon per- fected arrangements for entering a tract of land near Torch Lake, which region he had been led to believe was one of the most fer- tile and best situated parts of Antrim county.

On the 4th of May, 1864, Mr. Blakely entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 8 in what was then Banks town- ship, and as soon as possible thereafter he moved to the same and addressed himself to the task of its improvement. His first residence was a log building, sixteen by twenty-four feet in area, containing a single apartment in which for some months seven men besides himself and family found shel- ter and entertainment. The floor was made of slabs which had drifted from the saw mill at Elk Rapids, and the roof was made of elm bark. The house when completed was commodious and comfortable and in many respects superior to the majority of dwell- ings in the vicinity. With the family well provided with shelter, Mr. Blakely began more formidable labor of clearing and de- veloping his farm, but his operations were soon checked by a serious and painful acci- dent which occurred three days after he had commenced work. While cutting timber his ax by some cause was deflected from its downward course and instead of striking the log buried itself in his foot, almost sev- ering that member and causing an injury from which he not only suffered severely but which kept him closely confined during the greater part of the following winter. While in this helpless condition, the burden

of the family's support fell upon the shoul- ders of Mrs. Blakely and never did a good housewife and loyal helpmate more faith- fully meet such heavy responsibility or more efficiently discharge the exacting duties re- quired of her. She not only attended to her household affairs and ministered tenderly to the comfort of her husband and children, but looked after outdoor work as well, car- ing for the live stock and at intervals cut- ting the wood, for which there was a ready market at reasonable prices. During her husband's convalescence she cut at odd times fourteen cords of wood and, with the aid of a ten-year-old boy, drew it to the beach where it brought her the snug sum of twenty-eight dollars, which proved quite a help under circumstances so unfavorable. In addition to the income from the above source, Mr. Blakely received some money from the sale of his Wayne county prop- erty, and in the following spring his wife and children added considerably to the gen- eral fund by the sale of maple sugar, which they made in large quantities and for which there was always a ready demand.

When sufficiently recovered to resume his labors, Mr. Blakely entered the employ of Mr. Silkman, who operated a lumber mill at Torch Lake, and after working for some time on the mill, accepted a position in the blacksmith shop of which Mr. Silkman was also proprietor. Later he assisted Mr. Knapp in setting up the first stationary en- gine brought to Torch Lake and subse- quently was given charge of the same at re- munerative wages, including his board. Meanwhile, as opportunities afforded, he worked on his farm and in due time suc- ceded in clearing and fitting for cultivation about twenty acres, on which he raised

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abundant crops of potatoes and other veget- ables, in this way amply supplying the fam- ily with provisions besides laying aside each year a comfortable sum against the proverb- ial rainy day.

After several years' employment as an engineer in a lumber mill Mr. Blakely gave up the place to become bookkeeper in a gen- eral store at Elk Rapids, but in March, 1874, resigned the latter position and pur- chased the hotel at Eastport, which under his judicious management soon achieved the reputation of being one of the best and most extensively patronized public houses in this part of the state. After nine years' exper - ience as caterer to the traveling public, his hotel was destroyed by fire, immediately following which he secured a contract for carrying the mail from Elk Rapids to Char- levoix, making the trip every alternate day and receiving for his services the sum of six hundred dollars per year. Shortly after en- gaging in the latter undertaking Mr. Blakely was offered eight hundred dollars for the mail route, which he at once accepted and with this sum he cleared his farm of all incumbrances, besides making a number of substantial improvements. A few years prior to the latter transaction, he laid out fifteen acres of his land for building sites, the sum received for the same adding very mate- ially to his financial prosperity.

The comfortable and commodious dwell- ing in which Mr. Blakely now lives was built by Mr. Gidley for hotel purposes, but owing to mismanagement and consequent loss of patronage it soon ran down and in 1896 fell into the hands of the present owner, by whom it has been completely re- modeled, being at this time one of the finest and most attractive homes in the town of

Eastport. Within less than a year after dis- posing of the mail contract Mr. Blakely was induced to take it off the hands of his suc- cessor, who found the rapidly growing serv- ice too heavy and exacting and the responsi- bilities too great for him longer to assume. After attending to the duties of the route for a period of two years, Mr. Blakely succeeded in transferring it to another party for a fav- orable consideration, in this as in his other business transactions being peculiarly for- tunate in making a very good bargain. Soon after disposing of the contract he engaged in the mercantile trade at Eastport and dur- ing the ensuing three years conducted a very successful business, with but a limited amount of capital invested.

Mr. Blakely has been honored with va- rious positions, in all of which he dis- charged his duties ably and faithfully, prov- ing a valuable man to the community by reason of his rectitude as well as by his abil- ity to hold worthily high and important trusts. Since the organization, twenty-one years ago, he has filled with credit to him- self and to the satisfaction of all concerned the office of supervisor and for a period of forty-three years has been a justice of the peace, during which time much important business has been tried in his court, and he can point with pride to an official record in which not a single appeal has been taken from any of his decisions to higher tribun- als. Mr. Blakely has a well-balanced mind, thoroughly versed in the basic principles of law and familiar with the details of practice and aside from his official functions has a large and lucrative legal business, being an able and judicious counsellor, and his serv- ices have been frequently retained in mat- ters involving a wide and technical knowl-

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edge of jurisprudence. As an adviser among his neighbors and fellow citizens, he has been the means of preventing much troublesome and costly litigation, his opin- ions in the main being sound and his judg- ment clear and seldom at fault. He does considerable business in the matter of pen- sions, his knowledge of the law relating to the same being general and profound, and in the preparation of legal documents and the drawing up of all kinds of instruments his services are in almost continuous de- mand.

Politically Mr. Blakely is what may be termed a nonpartisan, but notwithstanding his independent attitude, he is well versed on the leading questions of the day and keeps in close touch with the trend of the current public thought. In former years he was an advocate of the Greenback theory of finance, but since the dissolution of the party of that name he has been guided by his better judgment in the matter of the elec- tion franchise, giving his support to prin- ciples which in his opinion make for the best interests of the body politic, and voting for candidates whose qualifications, mental and moral, fit them to fill worthily the offices to which they aspire. Fraternally, Mr. Blakely is a charter member of George Mar- tin Post, No. 227, Grand Army of the Re- public, which organization was so named in honor of his brother-in-law, George Mar- tin, a member of Company G, Twenty- fourth Michigan Infantry, and a brave and gallant soldier, who participated in many of the bloodiest battles of the Rebellion, be- sides suffering untold agonies in the infam- ous prison pen of Andersonville. Two other brothers of Mrs. Blakely served with distinction in the Civil war, one of whom

died in Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, from wounds and exposure received while in the discharge of his duties. The charter of the Woman's Relief Corps, under the auspices of the above Grand Army of the Republic post, contains the name of Mrs. Blakely, who has been an active and influential mem- ber of the society ever since its organiza- tion and who is now a leader in all lines of work for its benefit. Mr. Blakely was made a Mason in North Star Lodge at Torch Lake in 1888, and at one time four of his sons and one grandson were members with him in the same organization. Three gen- erations of his family are also identified with the Eastern Star and chapter degrees of the ancient and honorable brotherhood, and their names and influence have tended to disseminate and strengthen the princi- ples of the order in the communities where they now reside. In addition to the fra- ternal relations referred to, Mr. Blakely be- longs to Tent No. 627. Knights of the Mac- cabees, and ever since becoming identified with this excellent society he has exempli- fied in his daily life the noble precepts which it is designed to inculcate and the principles of morality on which it is based.

The family of Mr. and Mrs. Blakely con- sists of the following children : William F., who keeps a boarding house at Torch Lake ; Joseph E., a stone mason by trade living at Central Lake; Daniel D., a blacksmith of Eastport ; Henry M., also a resident of the latter place; Charles A., who died in in- fancy; George, who departed this life at the age of thirty-three leaving a widow and two children, and Susan Jane, who married F. M. Harris and died when twenty-seven years old. In addition to the above there is an adopted daughter by the name of Anna

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Blakely whom the subject and wife took to their hearts and home at the early age of two years and looked after her interests and welfare until young womanhood, when she became the wife of August Koenig, being at this time the mother of one child, Julian Fay Koenig.

Thus in a cursory and somewhat dis- jointed manner, the writer has endeavored to set forth the leading facts in the career of one of Antrim county's oldest and most popular citizens, whom to know is to es- teem and honor. "Uncle Dan," the name by which he is familiarly known, is a friend to every man, woman and child in the com- munity, and those honored by his personal acquaintance speak the loudest in his praise. Coming to Michigan when the northern part of the state was sparsely dotted by the rude cabins of the pioneers, he nobly bore his share of the vicissitudes and hardships incident to life in the backwoods, and as the country grew in material prosperity he con- tributed not a little to the advanced state of civilization for which the county of Antrim is now distinguished. His record in public as well as in civic life has been eminently honorable and above adverse criticism, his influence in the matter of morals has ever been on the side of truth, justice and right and in all the attributes of upright man- hood and sterling citizenship his life and character demonstrate the high regard in which he is held and speak more eloquently in his favor than the pen of the most gifted biographer. In every relation with his fel- low men his dominant ideas have been to foster noble aims and high ideals, to be helpful to all who need help to speak the kind word to those in distress and out of his abundance to assist those to whom fortune

has denied many of life's common favors. In brief, his career has been filled to repletion with everything calculated to benefit his fel- low men, his example at all times has been worthy of emulation and, being able to rise superior to petty cavils and personal pre- ferment, he has devoted the best of his powers to the welfare of his kind, thus firmly impressing his individuality upon the community with which his life has so long been interwoven and in which his name will long be remembered as one of the strong and useful men of his day and generation.

COLE BROTHERS.

Among the distinctively enterprising and progressive business men of Kalkaska are the Cole brothers, who are representative young merchants and who enjoy unequivo- cal confidence and esteem in the community. The members of the firm are Claude and Clyde Cole, the former born in Ingham county, the latter in Clinton, Michigan, the former on the 18th day of March, 1867, and the latter on the 19th of February, 1869. They are sons of William M. and Alice (Williams) Cole, who came from Ingham county to Kalkaska county in 1880, settling in Rapid River township, where the father reclaimed a good farm from the virgin wil- derness, becoming one of the representative citizens and substantial farmers of this county and here continuing to reside until his death, which occurred in the state of Georgia, whither he had gone in hope of re- cuperating his health. He was a man of strong character and one who justly com- manded the regard of his fellow men, while

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he won success by earnest and indefatigable application, having been sixty-nine years of age at the time of his death, which occurred in March, 1903. His widow, a woman of gracious presence and distinctive refine- ment, has maintained her home in the city of Kalkaska since his death and is promi- nent in church and social affairs.

The subjects of this sketch were mere boys at the time of their parents' removal to this county, but had received their rudi- mentary educational training in the public schools of Clinton county. They early be- gan to aid in the strenuous work of clearing the new farm and placing it under cultiva- tion, and their ambition to secure further ed- ucation led them to enter the village school of Kalkaska. where they continued their studies, in the meanwhile boarding them- selves and making the most of their limited means. Both the boys had early expressed a desire to eventually become identified with mercantile pursuits, and when Claude was finally offered a clerical position in a local dry goods store he gladly availed himself of the privilege, his impatience and anxiety bringing him to the store at five o'clock the next morning and compelling him to there wait two hours for the establishment to open. His salary at the start was the princely sum of ten dollars a month, and from this he defrayed his own living ex- penses. About six months later his brother Clyde secured a similar position, receiving ten dollars a month and board in recom- pense for his services. After working nearly two years for very nominal wages they had been enabled to save less than one hundred dollars between them, the remainder having been absolutely demanded in meeting their living expenses. They had established a

reputation for fidelity, reliability and inde- fatigable industry, however, and all this con- stitutes good reinforcement, so that oppor- tunity was given them to start in business for themselves. C. E. Ramsey, in whose employ Clyde had been retained for some time, had traded for a nine hundred dollar stock of general merchandise and as he did not wish to handle the same personally he suggested that the two brothers engage in business with this stock for a basis, and he generously agreed to take only the first four hundred dollars received from the sales and leave the remainder in the business for one year. The young men grasped the oppor- tunity thus afforded and put forth every effort and exerted every executive and ad- ministrative power in making the enterprise a success, their energy, close attention, hard work and shrewd management soon show- ing tangible returns in cash, so that they began to discover their way to clearing themselves of indebtedness and carrying forward a lucrative business. At the end of one year their store stood as one of the lead- ing ones of the town and they had firmly established themselves in the confidence and good will of their many patrons. Bills were promptly met and a substantial credit was established among wholesale houses. In the latter connection the young men formed some valuable friendships, the bonds of which have been but cemented the more se- curely with the passing years, a notable in- stance being that of O. A. Ball, a leading wholesale merchant of Grand Rapids, whose advice and friendship have never failed. proving of inestimable value to the young and striving merchants. After fifteen years of ceaseless and careful attention to the de- tails of a constantly expanding business, and

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Biographical history of northern Michigan containing biographies of prominent citizens, Part 46

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