USA > Michigan > Gratiot County > Biographical memoirs of Gratiot County, Michigan : compendium of biography of celebrated Americans > Part 14
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Fair Oaks, Sacramento county), a locality now noted for its excellent fruits, which ripen several weeks earlier than in the south- ern part of the State. He then located on Cache creek, Yolo county, where he engaged in ranching, dairying and freighting, being thus employed until his return to Michigan, in December, 1866. His return trip, by way of Nicaragua, was one of keen enjoy- ment. Small donkeys were the means of conveyance for the twelve miles of land travel from the Pacific to Lake Nicaragua. The next stage of the journey was by steamer, fifty miles across the lake, and thence about one hundred miles down the San Juan river to Greytown, on the Atlantic coast. There he waited seventeen days for a New York steamer, sleeping at night in a hammock stretched between two trees. He arrived at Plymouth a short time before the holidays and spent the winter at home. This experience in California seemed to stimulate a desire for further adventure in the West, and in the following fall he lo- cated at what is now the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming. When he arrived there in Oc- tober only about a dozen tents were pitched, but before spring there had sprung up a town of five thousand people-as he ex- presses it-"the wickedest town in the en- tire West."
In the winter of 1868 Mr. Pitt returned to Michigan, and on March 4, 1869, was married to Miss Bettie Lawson, daughter of Moses and Elsie (Beard) Lawson, of Northville, Michigan. Mrs. Pitt is a native of Wayne county, Michigan, born March 7, 1845. One child, a daughter, Isabell, was born to this marriage July 14, 1872, in Holly, Oakland county. The daughter mar-
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ried William Shong in 1894, and they have four children, George, Ruth, Esther and Leah.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Pitt settled at Holly, Oakland county, Mich- igan, where he engaged until the spring of 1877 in the manufacture of furni- ture. Seized again with the Western fever, he then took a trip into the Black Hills of Dakota, where during that sum- mer he engaged in placer mining for gold. He found the metal in paying quantities, but the scarcity of water made the work ultimately unprofitable. He therefore returned home in the fall, remov- ing in the following spring to Forest Hill, Gratiot county. After residing there for two years, he bought eighty acres of wild pine stump land on Section 22, Seville township. Mrs. Pitt would put up his din- ner, and with an ax on shoulder and dinner pail in hand the husband and father would walk to and from his work-a distance of five and a half miles-until he had cut the logs and his house was ready to move into.
With the exception of the two years when he served as register of deeds, Mr. Pitt has lived continuously on his farm. He was the first in Gratiot county to set out a peach orchard for commercial purposes. From the first he has made the raising of fine peaches a specialty, and his experiments and substantial results have proved that the fruit can be successfully grown on the higher elevations of Gratiot county. As a horticulturist Mr. Pitt is both an enthusiast and an authority, and his standing as an agriculturist is evinced by the fact that he is serving his third year as president of the Seville and Sumner Farmers' Club, also
his third year as president of the Gratiot County Farmers' Institute.
Originally a Republican, since 1873, when silver was demonetized, Mr. Pitt has maintained an independent attitude, but has always actively participated in local affairs. In 1894 he was the Populist candidate for Congress in the Eleventh District. He was first elected supervisor of Seville township in 1882, and, as stated, is now serving his twentieth year.
C DELL PEET, one of the substantial men, prominent farmers and large landowners of Gratiot county, resides on his finely improved farm of 100 acres, in Sec- tion 32, Lafayette township, and owns another tract of 160 acres, in Hamilton town- ship. He was born in Rochester, Lorain county, Ohio, July 9, 1855, son of Rolla A. and Mary (Odell) Peet, the latter of whom died in Lafayette township September 24, 1881, aged forty-eight years.
Rolla A. Peet was born August 18, 1830, in the State of New York, son of John and Betsey (Clark) Peet, natives of Connecti- cut and New York, respectively. The for- mer was by occupation a farmer, but also worked at the shoemaker's trade. Rolla A. Peet worked on his father's farm until he was nearly twenty-one years old. When four years of age he accompanied his parents to Ohio, where he worked on a farm until he had attained his majority. He then mar- ried Mary Odell, daughter of Nathan and Betsey (Wright) Odell, and resided for a time in Lorain, Ohio. Mr. Peet enlisted in Company B, First Ohio Light Artillery, in 1864, and was mustered out at Camp Den- nison, Ohio, July 24, 1865. Returning home
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he engaged in the dairy business one year, and then sold his farm and came to Michi- gan in the spring of 1867. He first settled on three hundred acres in Kent county. In 1875 he again removed, this time to Lafay- ette township, Gratiot county. Mr. Peet's first marriage was blessed with six children, as follows : Frank M. ; Odell ; Gertrude, Mrs. Elezer Russell, wife of a Lafayette township farmer ; Lois M., married to Wilson Broad- beck, a farmer of Hamilton township; Ben- jamin J .; and Anna, wife of Jackson Rus- sell, also a farmer of that township. Mr. Peet married (second) Miss Ida M. Fuller, daughter of James and Polly (Shance) Fuller. She was born in Eaton county, Michigan, September 17, 1865, and at the age of five came with her parents to Gratiot county.
Odell Peet came with his parents to Kent county, Michigan, in 1867, living at home in Caledonia township and the near vicinity for about eight years. He then came to Gratiot county, and, locating in Lafayette township, worked for his father until he was twenty-three years old. Mr. Peet was married May 26, 1878, in North Star town- ship, to Miss Emma J. Ridenour, born in Emerson township May 9, 1860, daughter of Benjamin and Catherine (Sower) Ride- nour. Benjamin Ridenour was a soldier in the Civil war; and served with the One Hun- dred and Eighty-seventh Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, dying of disease at Nashville, Tennessee, March 12, 1865. He was a native of Orange township, Lorain county, Ohio, while his wife was born Sep- tember 19, 1843, in Morrow county, the same State. Mrs. Benjamin Ridenour was a daughter of Dr. Elias Sower, one of the first settlers and most noted characters of
Gratiot county, who was obliged to cut seven miles of path through the forest to make his home accessible. He was a native of York county, Pennsylvania, spending his earlier years in Maryland and the Keystone State, and his young and middle-aged manhood in Ohio. In 1854 he entered three hundred and twenty acres of government land in Sec- tion I, North Star township, Gratiot county, and on the 9th of December, of that year, reached the site of his future home. Eight inches of snow were on the ground, and his family slept in their wagon for a week be- fore the little log cabin- fourteen by twenty feet-was ready for them. Then began the work of clearing a small patch upon which to raise a crop. Dr. Sowers had already read medicine, and although at first he had no intention of practicing it his neighbors called upon him for various treatment and he found himself drawn into the work, which he continued through life. He was also a licensed Methodist preacher. Consequently, as farmer, physician and minister of the gos- pel, there were few more popular or beloved characters than Dr. Elias Sower. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Ridenour had two children, of whom Mrs. Peet was the eldest. The other, Lounetta D., deceased, married Ar- thur Dean.
After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Peet lived for a time in North Star township; then he conducted a livery business for one and a half years at Ithaca. Soon after leaving the lat- ter place he settled in Emerson township, where he lived about three years, in 1888 lo- cating on the farm of one hundred acres upon which he now lives, in Section 32, La- fayette township; he is also the owner of one hundred and sixty acres in Hamilton. He has erected convenient buildings on his
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farm, and has about sixty acres under the plow. Mr. and Mrs. Peet are the parents of these children : Mabel L., the wife of Ford Salmon; Cassie M., who married Henry Kennett and is the mother of one daughter, Bozena R .; and Orrin Odell. Mr. Peet is identified with the Democratic party, and takes much interest in township and county affairs. Fraternally he affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and shows his interest in things agricultural by his connection with the Ancient Order of Gleaners.
C HARLES H. JESSUP is the super- visor and a substantial citizen of La- fayette township, Gratiot county, where he is engaged in general farming on his home- stead of one hundred and forty acres. He has attained a high position among the lead- ing citizens of his township, and his name is known and respected throughout that sec- tion in all circles, whether business, polit- ical or social. He was born in North Star township, Gratiot county, March 28, 1861, son of John H. and Margaret (Dean) Jes- sup, residents of Newark township, who came to Gratiot county in 1858, from Ionia county, Michigan.
John H. Jessup, of Newark township, is the son of Isaac M. and Eleanor (Scher- merhorn) Jessup. The former was born in Tompkins county, New York, April 5, 1810, and the latter November 20, 1815, in Rensselaer county, that State. Their mar- riage occurred in New York, and in 1839 they settled in Eaton county, Michigan, go- ing afterward to Wayne county. They con- tinued to reside there for fifteen years, and in the spring of 1853 moved 'to Ionia county.
John H. Jessup's birth occurred December 24, 1837, in Rensselaer county, New York, and he was a very young child when brought by his parents to Michigan. His education was received in the public schools, and on reaching manhood he left home to com- mence an independent career. In Decem- ber, 1860, he located in Gratiot county, and took up a tract of land, consisting of sixty- three acres, to which he subsequently added eighty-five, thereby composing the home- stead upon which Charles H. was born. He built a log house, comfortable but not ar- tistic, in which he resided with his family until 1880, when he erected a modern and commodious brick residence. In October, 1864, he entered the Union service as a member of the Twenty-third Michigan Vol- unteer Infantry, and during the succeeding nine months participated in the engagements at Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee, and Port Anderson, North Carolina. In June, 1865, he was honorably discharged at Washington, D. C.
At Lyons, Ionia county, Michigan, on December 29, 1859, John H. Jessup was united in marriage to Miss Margaret R., daughter of Amos and Betsey ( Grant) Dean, natives of the State of New York. There they were married, in 1854 removing with their family to Ionia county and seven years later to North Shade township, Gratiot county. Eight children were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Jessup, as follows: Charles H .; Nettie E., Mrs. W. C. Naldrett, of Fulton township; Arthur H .; George L., in the grain, lumber and elevator business at Pompeii and North Star, Michigan; Frank A., a farmer of North Star township; William T., de-
Char, HAveux
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ceased, aged sixteen years; Glen O., at home; and Bertha M., Mrs. Allen G. Nal- drett, of Newark township.
As seen, Charles H. Jessup was the eld- est of the family, and he spent his early life in North Star and Newark townships. He received his preliminary education in the common schools of his township, after which he attended the Ithaca high school and the Normal school at Valparaiso, In- diana. For seven years he was a teacher in Newark and North Shade townships, gaining quite a reputation as an educator, but aside from that period his life occupation has been farming. In April, 1905, he was elected supervisor of Lafayette township, but still gives the bulk of his time and means to the development of his property, and his one hundred and forty acres are highly cul- tivated and thoroughly improved. He is one of the enterprising and progressive farmers of his section of the county, and in the successful operation of his farm uses modern methods and machinery, which he has found best calculated to bring satisfac- tory results. In this connection may be mentioned the scientific draining of his farm. For this purpose he has already laid over twenty thousand feet of tiling and ex- pects to double that amount before his plans are perfected. His farm is recognized as being the best drained of any in Gratiot county.
Mr. Jessup was married in Newark township, July 4, 1885, to Miss Rosa J. Pressley, born June 18, 1864, in Newark township, daughter of the late Timothy and Sarah E. (Earl) Pressley. After marriage Mr. Jessup rented a farm in North Star township for three years, from the late E.
C. Cook, at the end of that period purchas- ing the property upon which he now resides in Lafayette township. To Mr. and Mrs. Jessup these children have been born : Otis WV., Hattie M., Lena J. and Clarence P. Mr. Jessup is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp Ithaca, and the Knights of the Modern Maccabees, Tent No. 291, Breckenridge.
JOHN S. BEERY, one of the prominent farmers and leading citizens of Pine River township, Gratiot county, resides upon the beautifully situated farm of eighty acres, which he has occupied since 1891. Mr. Beery is a fine type of the progressive, indus- trious and successful Michigan agriculturist, a class that reflects honor upon the State. He was born on a farm in Allen county, Ohio, September 10, 1856, son of William J. and Eliza E. (Jacoby) Beery, natives of Pennsylvania.
William J. Beery and his wife came to Gratiot county in 1866 and settled in Pine River township, where they remained about two years, returning then to Ohio and set- tling in Wyandotte county. This was their home locality for the remainder of their lives, Mrs. Beery dying December 20, 1903, in her eighty-second year, while Mr. Beery died at Muir, Michigan, January 18, 1878, in his sixty-second year. They had eight children, John S., being fifth in the order of birth. The others were : Susan C., deceased wife of George Loomis; George W., who died at the age of thirty-four ; William, de- ceased at the age of fifteen years ; Henry F., president of the Gold Miner Company, Day- ton, Ohio; Hattie J., now Mrs. Howard Mc- Conahay; Isaac E., who died at the age of
7
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twenty-nine after a journalistic career in Ne- braska and Ohio; and Miss Ella, who died aged twenty-five.
John S. Beery remained at home until he was twenty-four years old, and then lo- lated in Gratiot county, where he was em- ployed in the pine woods during the winter months, and at farm labor in summer, con- tinuing thus about three years. On Novem- ber 30, 1884, Mr. Beery married Miss Min- nie M. Buck, born January 10, 1867, in Me- dina county, Ohio, daughter of James and Hannah (Lewis) Buck, the latter of whom died in her sixty-first year, while the former still survives. Mrs. Beery was third in their family of five children, and to her and her husband have been born these children : Jesse L., James A., Roy Wayne, Zenith R., who died in infancy, and Austin E.
After his marriage Mr. Beery purchased land in Pine River township, in 1891 buy- ing the land which he now occupies. His eighty acres are well cultivated and are im- proved by modern and substantial buildings. Mr. Beery has held the office of justice of the peace for several years, has been health officer and held school offices in his town- ship. He and his estimable wife are valued members of the Methodist Church.
The ancestors of John S. Beery are traced to Switzerland, his great-great-grand- father and the founder of the American branch settling originally in New Jersey, mi- grating thence to Pennsylvania and Virginia, and dying in the Old Dominion. The pa- ternal great-grandfather, Nicholas Beery, was a native of Rockingham county, Vir- ginia, passing the latter years of his life in Fairfield county, Ohio. His son, Jacob, the grandfather of John S., also of Rockingham county, Virginia, married Nancy Ceil; in
1800 he removed to Fairfield county, Ohio, where he remained until his death, rearing a family of nine children. The American records of the Beery family indicate that among its members have been many well known preachers of the Dunkard and Men- nonite sects. Another marked family trait is found in the voice, which is singularly strong and melodious.
B INNIE M. COFFIN, ex-supervisor of Emerson township, Gratiot county, has won wide recognition as one of the town- ship's most enterprising citizens. He is a leading representative of the farming ele- ment of this district, and has always taken an active part in all public movements and enterprises. He was born on the farm on which he now lives, in Emerson township, December 5, 1863, son of Reuben and Han- nah (Haight) Coffin, natives of New York State.
Reuben Coffin was born September 29, 1809, and his wife June 18, 1822. They came from Jackson county, Michigan, to Gratiot county in February, 1857, and set- tled on Section 20, Emerson township, where he took up forty acres of government land. This he cleared and improved, making a home in which he resided until his death, July 1, 1874. His widow survived until January 9, 1903, when she passed away, the mother of nine children, of which family our subject was the youngest.
Binnie M. Coffin was reared on his fa- ther's farm, and received a common school education in the schools of his district. He owns eighty acres of good land in Emerson township, is a farmer of the first class, and stands in a high position among the capable business men of his township. Mr. Coffin
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was married in Emerson township, March 26, 1891, to Miss Ella Allen, daughter of Parks and Minerva (Bellows) Allen, and to this union four children have been born as follows: Bernice, March 1, 1892; Glenn, August 28, 1893 ; Allen, September 19, 1900, and Jerrine, August 26, 1904. Mr. Coffin has served as supervisor of Emerson town- ship for two terms; township treasurer for two years; township clerk for four years; school trustee for four years, and was the Democratic nominee in the fall of 1904 for clerk of Gratiot county.
S AMUEL G. KIME has resided on his fine, well-improved farm on Section 5, Wheeler township, since 1880, and is con- sidered one of the prominent and successful farmers of Gratiot county. His birth oc- curred February 18, 1852, in Ingham county, Michigan, and his parents were John and Martha (Minnick) Kime. They were mar- ried in Ohio, and from that State removed to Ingham county, Michigan, later locating in Livingston county, this State. In the fall of 1875 they removed from Livingston county, settling in Gratiot county. Mrs. Kime died on the farm in Wheeler township in May, 1884, when between fifty and sixty years of age, while her husband survived un- til July, 1901, passing away when aged about eighty years. They had six children, of which family Samuel G. was the third child and eldest son.
The early life of Samuel G. Kime was spent in farming, an occupation that he has continued all of his life. He worked for others in Livingston county, and was em- ployed for more than seven years by one farmer. On January 1, 1880, in Living- ston county, he married Miss Eliza E. Clark,
a native of that county, born in Putnam township June 18, 1851, daughter of Hugh and Anne (Gilchrist) Clark. The parents of Mrs. Kime were of Scotch decent. They were married in Livingston county. The father died in his eightieth year, but the mother still survives, at an advanced age. Mrs. Kime was the sixth child in a family of eleven children.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kime came to Gratiot county and located on Sec- tion 5, Wheeler township, where Mr. Kime purchased eighty acres of wild land. This tract he cleared and improved, and here he has spent his life, engaged in cultivating the soil. He recently purchased forty acres in Section 6. To himself and wife have been born these children : Emily Ethel, Orel C., Earl W. and Norman W. Mr. Kime is an influential man in township affairs, in which he takes a great interest. Politically he is a Democrat, and he is affiliated fraternally with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of Gleaners. He and his family have always been active workers in the Sabbath-school.
G EORGE W. JENKINS, of Lafayette township, Gratiot county, is a well known and most highly esteemed farmer citizen of that section. He was born in Jef- ferson county, Illinois, June 10, 1858, son of James E. and Hannah (Gates) Jenkins, natives of New York, who had two children, George W. being the eldest. Up to his eighth year he was reared by his grandmoth- er, Ann Jenkins, in St. Joseph county, Mich- igan, and in that year located in Clinton county, Michigan, living with his father and stepmother until he was thirteen years old. He then went to Roscommon county, Michi-
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gan, where he lived until he reached his majority, at that time locating in Gratiot county, purchasing forty acres of farm land in Lafayette township, where he has since resided. He has always followed farming, and now owns sixty acres, forty of which are under cultivation.
Mr. Jenkins was married in North Star township, September 3, 1882, to Miss Jen- nie A. Marshall, who was born in Geauga county, Ohio, a daughter of Nathan N. and Hannah H. (Turner) Marshall. To Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins two children have been born: Charlotte, who died in Lafayette township in her fourteenth year; and Neil. Mr. Jenkins has taken a great degree of in- terest in all township affairs ; he is a Demo- crat in political faith.
ISAAC H. CHURCH, the efficient high-
way commissioner of Pine River town- ship, Gratiot county, is one of the leading agriculturists of that locality, residing on a valuable farm of eighty acres in Section 31. He has been identified with the ma- terial and governmental progress of the township for many years.
Mr. Church was born October 5, 1845, on a farm in Wayne county, New York, son of the late Isaac Church, who died in Se- ville township, October 26, 1902, aged ninety-three years, and Loretta (Williams) Church, whose death occurred in Pine River township March 12, 1882, at the age of sixty-five. The father was a native of Ver- mont, as was his paternal grandfather, Thomas Church; his mother was a daugh- ter of the Green Mountain State. Besides Isaac H. Church twelve sons and daughters were born to the union of Isaac Church and his wife: Louisa, widow of Sol. Wright,
of Alma, Michigan; Julia, who married the late Esick Whipple, of Eaton county, Mich- igan; Elisha and Willard, who both died young ; Elisha (2) and Willard (2), now farmers of Pine River township; George, a farmer of Seattle, Washington; Harriet, wife of Adam Muhn, a farmer living at Cedar Lake, Michigan; Frank, an agricul- turist of Arcada township; and others that died in infancy.
Isaac H. Church was the fourth child in the order of birth, and was four years old when brought by his parents to Jack- son county, Michigan, where he resided un- til 1858. In the latter year he located in Gratiot county, where for some years he worked in the woods and at farming for others. In 1867 he bought eighty acres of land in Section 31, Pine River township, the valuable farm which he now occupies. At that time the land was all wild, but Mr. Church has cleared and cultivated it, and has erected modern, substantial buildings. On October 29, 1868, Mr. Church was mar- ried, in Carson City, Michigan, to Miss Susie A. Huff, born in Wood county, Ohio, June 6, 1859, daughter of Jesse and Eliza- beth (Smith) Huff, both of whom died in Jefferson township, Hillsdale county, Mich- igan, the former in May, 1887, aged sixty- seven years, and the latter on January 14, 1882, in her forty-ninth year. To Mr. and Mrs. Church have been born: Walter M., of Gratiot county, Michigan, who married Elizabeth Chambers, of Saginaw, and lives in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Emory A., born in Gratiot county, who married Carrie Grover, of Alma, Michigan, and has moved to Seattle, Washington, and settled on a farm; and Charles F., unmarried, who is a telegraph operator living in Petosky, Em-
I.A. Church
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met county, Michigan. The mother of this family is an active member of the United Brethren Church.
Mr. Church has held the office of justice of the peace for ten years, and is now serv- ing efficiently as highway commissioner, a position he most acceptably filled for three years from his first election, in 1891, and since 1904. In the energetic and method- ical discharge of his duties as highway com- missioner he has built twenty miles of road in Pine River township. Politically Judge Church is a Democrat. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, the Maccabees, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. But Mr. Church's interests have been princi- pally centered in the cultivation of his land and his careful management has resulted in the raising of fine crops. His property is very valuable, and he enjoys all the com- forts and advantages possible to the pros- perous and progressive farmer. Only once has he deviated from the occupation which has virtually absorbed his life, when from 1895 to 1898 he engaged in the hard- ware and agricultural implement business at Elwell; but even during that short period he resided upon the family home- stead. In fact since he left the paternal home, in his young manhood, he has only once changed his home. His life has been fixed and substantial; he has been con- tent to be judged by his associates of the olden time, who have assuredly pronounced the man and his work-to be good. He is a man who has been highly honored even in his own county.
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