USA > Michigan > Gratiot County > Biographical memoirs of Gratiot County, Michigan : compendium of biography of celebrated Americans > Part 19
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went to Richmond, Virginia, where for three years he engaged in the law, real es- tate and loan business, at the end of which time he returned to Jackson county, Michi- gan, in 1886 coming to Gratiot county. His health having become impaired he purchased a farm in Arcada township, which he oper- ated for about five years, during which time he served for two years as the secretary of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Com- pany and also served as circuit court com- missioner for two years. He then sold his farm and came to St. Louis, forming a law partnership with Newell Smith, which con- tinued for about four years. He also en- gaged in the real estate, insurance and loan business with George W. Long, and the firm remained this way for eight years. Mr. Otto F. Mey has since purchased Mr. Long's interest in the business, and since that time the firm has continued as Aldrich & Mey.
Mr. Aldrich was married, at South Jack- son, Michigan, December 24, 1881, to Miss Alice Angevine, who was born in Dutchess county, New York, daughter of Smith P. Angevine, and to this union have been born these children : Iva D., Vern S. and George F. Mr. Aldrich has been a member of the school board of St. Louis for three years and was elected mayor of St. Louis in 1901, 1903 and 1904. He has always acted with the Republican party. His services have re- flected honor upon the city and his efforts for the honest and economical administra- tion of government and the peaceable adju- dication of disputes will long be recalled by the citizens of St. Louis. Mr. Aldrich and his estimable wife are members of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church of St. Louis, of which Mr. Aldrich is a trustee. He is a
member of the Masonic fraternity, being a Royal Arch Mason, and of the Knights of Pythias (of which he was chancellor com- mander). Mr. Aldrich was one of the first five incorporators of the Union Telephone Company, of which for four years he was president, and is now one of the directors of this company. Mr. Aldrich is president of the St. Louis Manufacturing Company, of which he is also treasurer.
F 'RANK PEACH, supervisor and ex- treasurer of Bethany township, is one of Gratiot county's representative citizens, as well as a Democratic leader of local in- fluence. He is a son of the Buckeye State, born January 1, 1857, in Williams county, and his parents were the late John and Laura (Lutz) Peach, natives of Summit county, Ohio. His father died in Williams county, that State, October 20, 1898, aged sixty-nine, and his mother in the same county, November 4, 1864, at the age of thirty-five. They were the parents of five children : William, a resident of Omaha, Nebraska; Laura, who died at the age of seven ; Luella, who died in infancy; Frank, whose sketch follows; and Charles, who died an infant.
Frank Peach was rearead in Williams county, on his father's farm, and received his education in the common schools of his native township. When he was seven years of age his mother died, and he was brought up by David Loutzenhouser. When he reached the age of thirteen years he com- menced to work by the month on farms in the vicinity, and at this occupation he con- tinued until he was nineteen years of age, when he located in Bay City, Michigan,
Frank Beach
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where he was employed in a sawmill on the river, trimming logs. He was thus engaged for five years.
Mr. Peach was married February 23, 1881, to Miss Mary Myer, a native of Wil- liams county, Ohio, daughter of the late Peter and Julia (Miller) Myer, old settlers of Bethany township, who came from Wil- liams county in 1868. Both are deceased. Mrs. Peach was born January 25, 1863, the youngest member of a family of six chil- dren. To this union the following named children have been born: Amanda E., the wife of Leland Lanning, a farmer of Jasper township, Midland county, and the mother of Clair F .; John W .; Elsie M .; Mary El- len, and Lloyd F.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Peach rented a farm in Section 9, Bethany township, upon which they remained for two years, and then removed to a tract in Section 4, which he rented for two years prior to purchasing a homestead of sixty acres. Mr. Peach has resided on this farm since 1885, and has made many improve- ments, including the erection of convenient and substantial buildings. When the land was purchased it was all wild, and covered with timber. This Mr. Peach cleared, and has so increased the original purchase that he now owns one hundred and sixty-two acres, nearly all of which is improved.
Frank Peach has held the position of school director of his township; served as highway commissioner for four years, and school assessor for nine years, and was township treasurer from April, 1903, to April, 1905, when he was elected supervisor, which office he holds at present. He is a strong Democrat, and, in view of the above record, his influence in county politics' is
conceded. Fraternally he is a Blue Lodge Mason, belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Ancient Order of Gleaners. Mr. Peach is one of the most popular citizens of Bethany township, in which he is recognized as an incorruptible public official and a public- spirited man of affairs.
H ARRISON WOOD. To none of the citizens of this great country is more honor due than to those who risked their lives in the mighty struggle between the North and the South, and the survivors are still scattered thickly over the length and breadth of the land, many of them even yet serving their country as faith- fully as of yore, though in less hazard- ous posts. One of Michigan's old sol- diers, Harrison Wood, has held various civil positions, and in each has displayed the same manly and upright qualities that made him a good soldier in years gone by. Mr. Wood is a native of the State, born in Rome township, Lenawee county, January 3, 1843.
James Wood, the father of Harrison Wood, was from Onondaga county, New York, as was his wife, whose maiden name was Adeline Eggleston. They came to Michigan in 1837, but it was not until 1853 that they settled in Gratiot county, on a farm in Section 30, Newark township. There the parents both died, the father March 2, 1898, in his eighty-eighth year, and the mother February 18, 1897, at the age of eighty-five years. Their family consisted of five sons and one daughter, Harrison being the fourth in order of birth. Besides himself, there were the following children, mentioned in the order of their birth: Luther, a retired
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farmer of Arcada township, Gratiot county ; Sarah, residing at Ithaca, Michigan, widow of John Shaffer ; Myron, a farmer of New- ark township; Henry, deceased; John, a farmer of Montcalm county; and Theodore, deceased.
The early years of Harrison Wood were passed in Lenawee county, Michigan, and he had reached his tenth year when his father moved to Newark township, Gratiot county. There he grew to manhood, having secured what education the common schools af- forded. When he was seventeen years old he was a mail carrier for about a year be- tween Greenville, Montcalm county, and Gratiot Center, which is now Ithaca, being obliged to perform much of the service on foot. In Newark township he gained the experience in practical farming, under his father, which afterward enabled him to make his own way in the world successfully, his experience as a mail carrier immediately preceding his military service. In Novem- ber, 1861, when he was in his seventeenth year, he enlisted as a private in Company D, Ninth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, but, af- ter three months' service, was discharged on account of disability. His patriotism still burned brightly, however, and in September, 1864, he enlisted again, this time in Com- pany F, New Third Michigan Volunteer In- fantry, and followed the fortunes of his regi- ment until it was mustered out at Victoria, Texas, in June, 1866. He saw much hard service and was in the battles of Decatur, Alabama, Stone River, Murfreesboro and Nashville, and was advanced from corporal to first duty sergeant. After leaving the army Mr. Wood returned to Newark town- ship and to the regular occupations of a farmer. This has been his calling ever since,
and his operations have been crowned with a good degree of success. He owns 160 acres, and has erected a number of good buildings on his property.
Not many months after his return from the army Mr. Wood was united in marriage to Miss Wilhelmina Willart, who was born July 6, 1849, in Germany, daughter of Chris- topher and Mary (Daman) Willart, the youngest of their eight children. The fam- ily emigrated to America early in the fifties and after making their home for some time in Clinton county, Michigan, settled in Ful- ton township, Gratiot county. There Mrs. Willart died, on November 10, 1865, aged fifty-two, but her husband lived until July 6, 1885, having reached the age of eighty-two. His last days were spent in North Shade township. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Wood have been born eleven children, viz. : Ada, wife of Harvey Wood, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Augusta, Mrs. F. Peabody, of Montcalm county; Arthur J., a farmer of North Shade township; Harvey J., a rural mail carrier and mechanic of Pompeii, Ful- ton township; Mary A., the wife of Frank Martin, a farmer of Newark township; Cary E., a farmer of Newark township; Ira G .; Nore T .; Nina, who died when only ten months old; Freddie and Flora B. Mr. Wood has fourteen grand-children, living.
Mr. Wood is active in several lines of general public interest. He is quite promi- nent in church work and a member of the Masonic fraternity, while in local politics he is well known as a loyal supporter of the Republican party. Several township offices have been tendered him, at various times, and he has served as constable for some years, as justice of the peace for a consider- able period, and as health officer. He has
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ever been efficient in the discharge of the duties devolving upon him, and rests secure in the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens.
B ARNEY SWOPE, one of the repre- sentative citizens of Wheeler town- ship, Gratiot county, owner of a large and productive farm, an old and wounded sol- dier of the Civil war and prominently iden- tified with the local government and sec- tional progress, was born on what later be- came the battlefield of Antietam, in Wash- ington county, Maryland, June 12, 1840. He is the son of Barnhardt and Elizabeth (Neff) Swope, of that State, who removed to Michigan in 1852, locating on a farm in Jackson county, where his father died in 1854, aged sixty-two years. The latter was a farmer, and during the two years of his residence in Michigan devoted himself to the improvement of his land. The following children were born to this couple: Barney ; Lanah, Mrs. Richard Blodgett, of Eaton Rapids, Michigan (Mr. Blodgett was a Civil war veteran and is a retired farmer) ; Wil- liam J., who served in the war of the Rebel- lion as a member of Berdan's Sharpshoot- ers; and Jacob. The two last named are deceased.
The paternal grandfather of Barney Swope was born on the ocean while his par- ents were on their voyage from Germany to the United States. As a young man he served in the patriot army of the Revolu- tion, and his son in turn (the father of Bar- ney) was a soldier in the war of 1812. The mother of Barney Swope was married a sec- ond time, John Yeager becoming her second husband, and in January, 1860, the family
removed to Wheeler township, Gratiot coun- ty, where Mrs. Yeager passed the rest of her days, dying May 14, 1899, at the age of eighty-four years. Mr. Yeager had died in 1897.
From the age of twelve years until he enlisted in the Union army, Mr. Swope was reared in Jackson county on the farm. In December, 1859, he assisted his stepfather to build the first log cabin in Wheeler town- ship. At the outbreak of the Civil war he offered his services to his country, and par- ticipated in such important engagements as those at Pass Manchac, Benton Ferry, Ba- ton Rouge, Ponchatoula, Amite River and Port Hudson, all in Louisiana. At Amite River over $400,000 worth of property was seized and destroyed, and at Port Hudson, May 27, 1863, Mr. Swope was wounded in the arm by a minie ball, four and one-half inches of bone being removed from the in- jured member. He was taken to the hospi- tal at New Orleans, where he remained until September 7, 1863, when he was honorably discharged. He returned to Jackson county, attending school for a few months, and then came to Gratiot county, for a year assisting his stepfather in the clearing and cultivation of the family tract. He then removed to the farm in Wheeler township, Gratiot coun- ty, which was to be his homestead for so many years.
Mr. Swope's marriage to Miss Margaret Parrish occurred in Wheeler township, Au- gust 20, 1865, and he at once began his do- mestic life upon his present homestead. This now consists of a tract of 160 acres ; he owns two other farms, one eighty acres and one thirty-three and one-third acres in said township; all except twenty acres of which
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he has brought to a splendid state of cultiva- tion. By the union mentioned above he be- came the father of these children: William J., unmarried and living at home; John H., a farmer of Wheeler township, who married Miss May Gunsolus ; Agnes, wife of Thomas Crawford, who is in the elevator business at Breckenridge, Michigan, and who has one daughter, Margurite; Edgar, single, at home; Walter, principal of the Breckenridge (Michigan) school, who married Miss Helen Rosa, and is the father of Dorathena ; Bessie and Frank, living at home. Mr. and Mrs. Swope are also rearing the two chil- dren of Frank and Esther Joslin.
Mrs. Swope was born in Jackson county, Michigan, October 3, 1845, daughter of William and Harriet (Tompkins) Parrish, of York State. Her parents settled in the county named when Michigan was yet a Ter- ritory, and Mrs. Parrish died there. For his second wife Mr. Parrish married Mrs. Betsey (Choat) Sutfin, and in 1862 removed upon a farm in Section 7, Wheeler town- ship, where he was living at the time of his daughter's marriage to Mr. Swope.
For thirty-five years Mr. Swope has held the office of justice of the peace, has served five years as clerk of Wheeler township and as supervisor for eighteen. In company with General Ely he was delegated to the honor of "staking out" the old court house at Ithaca, and he is otherwise identified with the pioneer period of Gratiot county. Out- side his justiceship, his farm and his family, there is, perhaps, no subject in which he takes a deeper and more unvarying interest than in the G. A. R. He is a valued comrade in Billy Crusen Post, No. 347, of which he is past commander.
C HARLES F. BROWN, postmaster of
the city of Alma since 1898, agent of the American Express Company since 1892, proprietor of a fine two-hundred-acre farm since 1902, and from 1886 until 1903 publisher of the Alma Record, is one of the ablest, most substantial and generally hon- ored residents of Central Michigan. The son of George W. and Avis (Bunker) Brown, he was born in Leslie, Ingham coun- ty, Michigan, September 13, 1862.
George W. Brown was born in Carmel, Putnam county, New York, and his death occurred in Hastings, Barry county, Michi- gan, July 14, 1893, when he was aged sixty- nine years. He was a teacher by profession and served as the first county superinten- dent of schools of Ingham county. He mar- ried Avis Bunker, a native of Jackson coun- ty, Michigan, and five children were born to this union-four sons and one daugh- ter-of which family Charles F. was the eldest. Fred L. is a farmer of Kalamazoo county, Michigan; George R. is editor of the Otsego (Michigan) Union; Edwin E. is editor of the Newes, at Grass Lake, Michi- gan ; and Lou Bell is engaged as compositor with her brother at Otsego, Michigan. Mrs. Brown died March 30, 1872, aged thirty- six years, Charles F. at the time of his mother's death being ten years of age. Un- til then he had remained at home with his parents, bu he seemed now to be suddenly matured and self-reliant. During the suc- ceeding four years he worked upon a farm near Williamston, Ingham county, when he settled in the village itself for the purpose of learning the printer's trade under E. S. Andrews, the publisher of the Williamston Enterprisc. He remained with Mr. An-
в. А. Влоги
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drews for four years, at the end of which time he engaged as a traveling salesman with a wholesale paper house in Detroit, and continued in that line for two years. He then purchased the Sheridan (Michigan) News, operating that paper for about one year. In January, 1886, he located at Alma and assumed the business management of the Record, purchasing the paper in the fol- lowing April. He successfully conducted it until January 1, 1903, when he sold his in- terest in that publication and retired from the newspaper field.
Mr. Brown was appointed agent for the American Express Company, in February, 1892, and has since filled that position at Alma. In 1898, during President McKin- ley's administration, he was appointed post- master of Alma, and has since held that of- fice continuously, being now in his third term. Mr. Brown was village clerk of Alma for one term, chairman of the cemetery board, and a member of the city council for two years. For sixteen years he has been a member of the Republican county commit- tee, for four years being secretary of that organization. Mr. Brown has also served as chairman of the township committee, is an earnest advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and has done much to ex- tend its influence in Gratiot county.
On July 1, 1902, Mr. Brown purchased the William H. Brower and the B. S. Webb farms, comprising two hundred acres in Pine River and Arcada townships, and has since conducted quite extensive operations in dairying (keeping thirty cows) and the raising of live stock. In the latter line his specialty is blooded hogs and draft horses. Among his other business interests may be mentioned his connection with the Union
Telephone Company, of which he was one of the five organizers and original owners, and for two years its secretary ; he also held the secretaryship of the Michigan Indepen- dent Telephone Association.
Charles F. Brown was married in Sheri- dan, Montcalm county, Michigan, Decem- ber 19, 1885, to Miss Nellie Gray, who was born in Steuben county, New York, April 22, 1868, daughter of Mulford and Emily (Tompkins) Gray, who settled in Ionia, Michigan, in April, 1876. He was a miller by trade, and he and his wife located in 1895 in Alma, where Mrs. Gray died April 21, 1904.
R EV. JOHN E. LONG, a retired clergyman of the Presbyterian Church, who is spending the evening of a long and useful life in his comfortable rural home, which is situated in Section 32, Em- erson township, is a native of Ohio, born at Unity, September 7, 1832.
Charles Long, father of John E., was a substantial farmer in Ohio. There he mar- ried Christina Hartzel, and both lived to the age of eighty-five years, both dying at Unity. The father was born May 15, 1798, the mother, November 4, 1800. They reared a family of eight children, John E. being fourth in order of birth. The other seven were: Josias, a retired farmer of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania; Catherine, deceased, who was the wife of Samuel Bayless and mother of eight children; Anna, widow of John Martin, of Ottawa, Kansas; Addison, a retired farmer of Chetopa, Kansas; Alice, who died when twelve years of age; Henry, a lumber dealer of Chetopa, Kansas; and Mary, widow of Adrian Egbert, of Cleve- land, Ohio.
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Rev. John E. Long spent his boyhood on his father's farm and obtained his early edu- cation in the local schools. When about twenty years old he began to teach, and also to prepare for a theological college, it being his object to enter the Presbyterian ministry. After sufficient preparation at a Presbyterian academy at Poland, Ohio, in 1855 he en- tered Williams College, Massachusetts, where he was graduated in 1859, and subse- quently spent three years at the Union Theo- logical Seminary in New York City.
Mr. Long entered upon his ministerial labors at Spring Mills, Center county, Penn- sylvania, where he remained over seven years. Anxious for a change of climate and location he resigned this pleasant charge and accepted one at Truxton,, Cortland county, New York, over which he remained three years. His subsequent charges were : Preble, New York, for a short time; one year at Akron, Erie county, New York ; and from 1880, sixteen years as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Ithaca, Michi- gan. Failing health finally caused his re- tirement from a pastorate which was alto- gether congenial, resulting, in 1896, in his settling on a farm of eighty acres in Sec- tion 32, Emerson township, which he had purchased when he first came to Gratiot county. Mr. Long may be said to have been one of the pioneers there, as his farm at that time was all wild woodland. This he succeeded in clearing and developing into a good property, on which he has placed sub- stantial buildings and made many desirable improvements.
Mr. Long was married September 7, 1870, in Truxton, New York, to Mrs. Helen A. Pierce Stewart, born in that place May
30, 1841. Mrs. Long had two children by her first marriage, Frederick and Reuben R., the former of whom is deceased. Her par- ents were Albert and Eliza (Cheesborrow) Pierce, old and respected residents of that part of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Long have three sons: William H., who is a Pres- byterian clergyman of Ludington, Michi- gan, and who married Alice Iseman, now deceased ; John A., a prosperous farmer liv- ing on the homestead, married to Antoinette Kirker, by whom he has one child, Lillias K .; and Charles A., a student of medicine.
Mr. Long is not only one of the oldest clergymen in Gratiot county, but he is also one of the most highly esteemed. Aside from his faithful and able career as a pastor he has become favorably known through his contributions to the public press, and is the author of a work entitled "Natural Geology and Genesis," published in 1905. He has served on the high school board for six years, is a Republican in politics, and is proud to be known as a good and useful citizen.
J JOHN H. JESSUP, of Newark town-
ship, Gratiot county, is the son of Isaac M. and Eleanor (Schermerhorn) Jes- sup, born respectively in Tompkins county, New York, April 5, 1810, and in Rensse- laer county, New York, November 15, 1815. A few years after their marriage the parents of Mr. Jessup left New York and migrated, in 1839, to Michigan. Settling first in Eaton county, they moved on to Wayne county, and then, after fifteen years, to Ionia county. The son, John H., born in Rensselaer coun- ty, New York, December 24, 1837, was two years old when his father located in Mich-
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igan, and he obtained his education in the public schools of this State.
At the age of twenty-one years John H. Jessup started out in life to seek success in the world through his own efforts. In De- cember, 1860, he came to Gratiot county, took up sixty-three acres of improved land in Newark township, and built a log house, in which he lived until 1880. He added eighty-five acres to his original farm, and erected a handsome brick residence in which he has since lived. He saw nearly a year's service in the Civil war, entering the army in October, 1864, and being assigned to the Twenty-third regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry ; he was discharged in June, 1865. He saw action at Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee, and also participated in the en- gagement at Port Anderson, North Carolina.
John H. Jessup was married December 29, 1859, at Lyons, Ionia county, Michigan, to Miss Margaret R. Dean, who was born in Italy, Yates county, New York, August 28, 1840, daughter of Amos and Betsey (Grant) Dean, of New York State. Mrs. Jessup was the sixth in a family of nine chil- dren. To her union with Mr. Jessup there were born eight children, namely: Charles H., of Lafayette township, mentioned else- where; Nettie E., wife of William C. Nald- rett, a farmer of Middleton, Michigan; Ar- thur H., who was married April 13, 1890, to Emma J. Heath, of North Star, and has two sons, Claude E. and Nyle; George L., mentioned elsewhere in this work; Frank A., a farmer of North Star township, who married Miss Alice Crooks; William T., who died aged sixteen years; Glen O., un- married and living with his parents; and Bertha M., the wife of A. Naldrett, a farmer of Newark township.
FRANCIS W. CURTISS, one of the prosperous farmers of Emerson town- ship, Gratiot county, Michigan, residing on his fine well-improved farm of forty acres, was born February 12, 1829, in Genesee county, New York, son of Waterman F. and Sylvia (Cronkhite) Curtiss, natives of New York State. The parents of Mr. Curtiss came from Wyoming county, New York, to Ionia county, Michigan, in 1857, and there the father died, the mother passing away in Illinois, while on a visit.
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