USA > Michigan > Gratiot County > Biographical memoirs of Gratiot County, Michigan : compendium of biography of celebrated Americans > Part 6
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held the office of justice of the peace. Af- ter locating in St. Louis he devoted consider- able attention to transactions in real estate, in which he continued interested until his death, which occurred January 14, 1883. Mr. Giddings was a man of ability and in- fluence. His wife, Mary E., survived him for nearly twenty years. She was a woman of strong and attractive character, was gen- erally beloved, and died January 19, 1902.
Charles W. Giddings acquired his edu- cation in the common schools of Palmyra, Ohio, supplemented by three years' study in select schools. Coming with his parents to Michigan in 1866, shortly after arriving in St. Louis he learned the carpenter's trade, and at the age of twenty-two years engaged in business as a builder, combining with that the furniture and undertaking branches. In 1873 he was appointed under sheriff of the county by Sheriff Pratt, and occupied that position for four years, during which period he also held an appointment as deputy United States marshal of the Eastern District of Michigan. After his appointment as under sheriff he closed his other business interests and concentrated his entire energies upon the duties of his office and the study of the law becoming a student in the office of James K. Wright, of St. Louis. In March, 1877, he was admitted to the Bar, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession as the junior member of the firm of Whitney & Giddings, which existed one year. He then opened an independent office, laboring zeal- ously in his professional field, but for a time was associated with Judge Paddock in the real estate business. Six of Gratiot county's young lawyers were at different times stu- dents in Mr. Giddings' office, two of whom
were associated with him in business after their admission to the Bar.
Since his admission to the Bar Mr. Gid- dings has been a member of the village and city councils, and corporation attorney for many years; was elected Circuit court com- missioner in 1878 on the Republican ticket, and served his district as State senator in 1899 and 1900. He was also a member of the State board of pardons, in 1902-03. Fraternally Mr. Giddings is connected with the Freemasons, and has taken fourteen de- grees in the Scottish Rite.
On November 26, 1871, at St. Louis, Charles W. Giddings and Lovila Higby, daughter of Horace Higby, were united in marriage. Mrs. Giddings was born Septem- ber 14, 1852, in Youngstown, Niagara county, New York, of which State her par- ents were also natives, migrating to Michi- gan at an early day. Mr. Giddings is a most excellent gentleman, and commands univer- sal respect and esteem. His understanding of the law is largely intuitive, his knowledge acquired by long and careful study, and early in life he established a reputation as a trial lawyer and safe counselor which he has maintained to the present day. He has al- ways taken a lively interest in the growth and prosperity of St. Louis, and is the owner of some very desirable residence property, in the "Giddings' Addition" to the city. He has one brother, Hiram B. Giddings, in the mercantile business in St. Louis, and another brother, Clarence, now living in Pasadena, California.
H ON. GILES T. BROWN was born January 28, 1837, in Green Oak, Liv- ingston county, Michigan, and died at his
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY.
home in Ithaca, May 20, 1903. Mr. Brown was one of the most widely known and pop- ular residents of Gratiot county. His name is inseparably connected with its history and his best years were given to the development of its educational, literary and legal forces, exerting an influence more potent and far reaching than can be estimated. He was of Scotch-Irish, Puritanic and Revolutionary stock. Peter Tyler, his great-grandfather (on the maternal side), served in the war of the Revolution, and at its close located in Steuben county, New York, Mr. Brown's immediate ancestors being pioneers in that section of country.
The subject of this sketch was the eldest of four children born to James M. and Betsy (Borden) Brown, who in 1836 were among the first settlers of Livingston county, Mich- igan. On the death of his father, in 1851, the boy assumed charge of the home farm of eighty acres, and directed its affairs for three years. His thirst for knowledge had been fostered in his home and in the district school, and by this time he had decided literary as- pirations. For more than four years he at- tended the seminary and the State Normal at Ypsilanti, and became a teacher of marked ability. There are many in southern Michi- igan and in Franklin county, Missouri, who yet speak of his dignified bearing and inspir- ing leadership in the schoolroom.
Mr. Brown was first married, March 16, 1861, to E. Jennie Hewitt, of Oakland coun- ty, Michigan. She was born in Windham, Connecticut, and was a daughter of Benja- min and Annie (Perry) Hewitt, the mother being a second cousin of Commodore Perry, of Lake Erie fame. Mrs. Brown was univer- sally beloved, and when she died in Ithaca, in 1871, leaving four little children, her loss
was most deeply deplored. On August 17, 1873, Mr. Brown married Sara L. Watson, daughter of John T. and Harriet (Wilcox) Watson. Mrs. Brown's grandfather, John Watson, of Scotch ancestry, was a Revolu- tionary soldier, and her maternal grandfather was Col. Wilcox, in the War of 1812. The grandparents on both sides lived in New York, her parents coming to Michigan in 1837. Mrs. Brown was born in Marion, Livingston county in 1851, and still lives in Ithaca. From this later union there were six children, all living except Giles T., Jr., their first-born, who died at the age of two and one half years.
Mr. Brown enlisted in August, 1862, as a soldier in the Civil War. He was a mem- ber of Company G, Twenty-second Michi- gan Infantry, but never robust he was unable to endure the strenuous life of the army, and was discharged for disability, the following year, at Lexington, Kentucky. Previous to his enlistment, he had studied law with R. G. Depuy, of Ann Arbor, and in 1863, he en- tered the law department of the State Uni- versity, graduating in the class of 1865, and was admitted to practice, in the Supreme Court, in session in Detroit. Mr. Brown came to Ithaca in the spring of 1866, entered upon the practice of law, and began at once a career of public use- fulness. In the same year he officiated as superintendent of the poor and Cir- cuit Court Commissioner. He was elected county superintendent of schools in the spring of 1867, which office he held for four years with high honor, and with generous la- bor and self-sacrifice gave to the teachers and schools of Gratiot county their first impulse for higher ideals. He published in 1868 the "Gratiot School Journal," an educational
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quarterly, and during his superintendency, conducted normal classes of great value in fitting teachers for their work. He was re- elected to the same position, two years later, and continued most zealously in raising the standard of pedagogy. In 1876 he was elected Probate Judge, serving four years, and doubtless would have been re-elected had he not received-entirely unsought-the nomination for and election to the office of State senator, in 1880. In 1884 he was again secretary of the county board of school ex- aminers (the law providing for superintend- ents having been abolished). In 1868 he organized the Gratiot County Teachers' Association, of which he was the motive power for many years, and which sur- vives to-day a potent influence, and a witness to his earnest zeal for the pub- lic good; the teachers of that day re- member him with the deepest gratitude.
Mr. Brown organized Moses Wisner G. A. R. Post, No. 101, in January, 1883, and was its revered commander for eight years. He was the organizer and promoter of the Citizens' Memorial Association, which has provided from year to year the splendid ob- servance of May 30th for which Ithaca is justly noted. Mr. and Mrs. Brown were on the State G. A. R. and W. R. C. joint com- mittee which secured from the Legislature, in 1893, the appropriation, to build the Wo- man's Building on the Soldier's Home grounds at Grand Rapids, which is a noble monument of love and patriotism, to which any citizen may point with pride and satis- faction. He was the second president of Ithaca village, second secretary of the county agricultural society-holding both positions more than once in later years, many times
a member of the school board and trustee of the Baptist Church, and justice of the peace for many terms. He was a member of the Baptist Church and of the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternities. In politics he was a Republican, and being a persuasive and con- vincing speaker, he did his party excellent service during many campaigns.
A man of judicial mind, of fine instincts, his wide information, his keen analysis of men and affairs, his fine sense of humor, his rare literary and poetic gifts, made up an unusual personality and no gathering seemed complete without a contribution from his tongue or pen, all ungrudgingly given. He left a large collection of poems, a volume of which will soon be published by the family, who most tenderly cherish the memory of the husband and father.
Mr. Brown was a domestic man, taking infinite pride in his family, and was never so happy as when some of the absent ones returned to make the family something "as it used to be." Nine sons and daughters survive him. They are : Bayard T., an at- torney at law in Detroit; Annie M., a teacher in the Ithaca schools; Theodore N., a busi- ness man in Jackson ; Bessie J., wife of Rev. N. T. Hafer, of Mansfield, Massachusetts; Rev. J. Brainard, late of Camden, New Jer- sey, now acting pastor of Broadway Baptist Church, Bay City; Laura V., wife of Mr. Louis H. Braddock, Tawas City; Rev. Alan- son W., just graduating from Rochester, New York, Divinity School, who has al- ready accepted the pastorate of the Second Baptist Church of Grand Rapids; Beatrice B., wife of Robert P. Ward, Mt. Pleasant; and Lucile, a little girl of eleven years, still at home.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY.
A R. WHEELER, M. D. Eminently successful as a physician and surgeon, a natural scientist of note, four terms mayor of St. Louis, of which he is the present post- master, honored with a long official connec- · tion with its boards of education and health, and one of the leading Masons in the State of Michigan, Dr. A. R. Wheeler has, with all his varied and pressing duties, been an unassuming man-easy of approach and ever ready to assist worthy causes and indi- viduals. He was born in York, Washtenaw county, Michigan, December 20, 1858, son of Charles and Eliza J. (Miller) Wheeler, being one of three children. Naturally bright, and studious as well, he made such rapid progress in his studies that when only fourteen years of age he entered the State Normal School, at Ypsilanti, from which, after pursuing the full course of four years, he graduated in 1876. In the fall of that year he was matriculated in the medical de- partment of the University of Michigan, graduating therefrom in the class of 1879. While at the university he held the office of assistant to the chair of surgery for one year, and was the first resident physician at the new State hospital opened in 1880, hold- ing that position until October 1, 1882.
During this period Dr. Wheeler's close studies and investigations in the botanical field were bearing fruit in the shape of im- portant contributions to the university and the State Medical Society. He made note- worthy additions to an already extensive list of the flora of Washtenaw county (published in 1881), among which were two species of Dicentra-one of them thought to be ex- tinct. He collected and arranged a herb- arium for the Medical Department of the State University, the specimens being de-
signed for use in the lectures of the medical faculty. He had already made material progress in his private collection, which is now acknowledged to be one of the most valuable in the State, comprising thousands of specimens, indigenous and foreign, the latter collected by correspondence and ex- change. The flora of the Pacific coast and of the Lake Superior region is specially complete. In 1882 he presented to the State Medical Society an exhaustive list of medi- cinal plants indigenous to Michigan, an ad- dition to the botanic knowledge of the State and the country which is of the utmost value.
In April, 1883, Dr. Wheeler located in St. Louis, succeeding to the practice of Dr. C. H. Lutes. His experience in the State hospital had afforded him unusual facilities for the broad study and treatment of surgical diseases, in which field he was at once recognized as specially skillful. Al- though during the more than twenty years of his professional career passed in St. Louis he has given considerable of his time to gen- eral practice and consultation, his specialty has continued to be surgery, and within recent years diseases of the eye and ear.
Dr. Wheeler stands not only in the van of practitioners, considered from the point of success in his profession, but his ability is recognized by his fellow citizens and as- sociates. He is a member of the county and State medical societies, of the State Board of Health, and of the American Medical As- sociation, and has served for four years as president of the United States Pension Board.
Neither does the Doctor's high standing in his profession measure the breadth of his prominence in the community. In civic and
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY.
educational affairs he has always been a leader. He was the first mayor of St. Louis, being at the head of its municipal service for four terms, and for the past nine years has been president of the board of education. He has been the postmaster of St. Louis since January 10, 1898.
Reference has been made to Dr. Wheel- er's prominence as a Mason. He is a mem- ber of the St. Louis Blue Lodge, of which for seven years he served as master; also a member of the Chapter, R. A. M., of which in 1897 and 1898 he was high priest; of Ithaca Commandery, Knights Templar ; Michigan Sovereign Consistory, thirty- second degree and the Shrine (Moslem Temple). For many years he has been a leader in the I. O. O. F., of which in 1886 he was major and assistant surgeon general for the State of Michigan, department Pa- triarchs Militant and Uniform Ranks. He is also affiliated with the Royal Arcanum, the Foresters and Woodmen of the World.
On November 19, 1890, Dr. Wheeler was married in St. Louis to Miss Helen L., daughter of Col. John A. Elwell, a retired capitalist of that city who is elsewhere men- tioned in this volume. They have one child, Robert I., born October 13, 1894.
The correct conclusion to be drawn from the above mentioned facts is that Dr. Wheel- er is a man of rounded character, whose marked abilities extend into many fields. But his numerous interests extraneous to his profession do not prevent him from keeping in close touch with the most modern advance in surgery and medicine. In 1889 he pursued a post-graduate course in New York City, and has always been a liberal subscriber to the standard professional lit- erature of the day.
H IRAM C. DEVEREAUX, justice of the peace of Lafayette township, 1s the owner of a 240-acre farm, and a highly esteemed citizen of Gratiot county. He was born September 5, 1858, on his father's farm in Lafayette township, son of Theo- dore and Caroline (Braley) Devereaux.
Theodore Devereaux came from Oak- land county to Gratiot county during the fifties, and settled on Section 19, where he has always been a resident. His wife died here in her forty-eighth year, and they were the parents of eleven children, of which fam- ily Hiram C. was the sixth.
Hiram C. Devereaux received his edu- cation in Lafayette township, where he was reared to manhood. He has followed agri- cultural pursuits all of his life, and is the owner of a 240-acre farm, of which 100 acres are improved. He was married in Ithaca, Michigan, December 17, 1881. Judge Devereaux is a member of the I. O. O. F., and Ithaca Grange, No. 787, in both of which he takes a great interest, and in which he is a valued comrade.
JOHN JEFFREY (deceased) was one of the pioneer settlers of Gratiot county to whom the township and village of Ithaca are largely indebted, and with whose name their growth and progress are indissolubly connected. He was a native of Monmouth county, New Jersey, born August 26, 1812.
Little is now known of John Jeffrey's early life. His earliest known occupation was freighting on the Erie canal, where he was engaged some years, meeting, however, with only moderate success. In 1836, in the early days of civilization in that locality he went to Niagara county, New York, and pur- chased a considerable tract of land, and for a
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY.
number of years devoted his energies to the improvement and cultivation of his farm. He took possession of property in Ithaca, Gratiot county, Michigan, in 1855, and in 1856 platted the village of Ithaca, the board of supervisors establishing there the county seat on the 3rd day of March, in the same year. Mr. Jeffrey at first purchased 1, 120 acres of land in Gratiot county, to this adding continually, until, at the time of his death, he owned 5,000 acres. His early days were often filled with much hardship, the country in every direction being an unbroken wilder- ness. There were no roads, no mills, no churches nor schools, and the position in which he found himself called for untiring energy and exertion.
Mr. Jeffrey was twice married, marry- ing for his first wife, on March 28, 1832, in Niagara county, New York, Finetta Swick. He was married December 10, 1868, in St. Louis, to Mrs. Louisa (Smith) Baney, and to them were born two children : John, born October 21, 1869, and Ira, born December 24, 1871. Mrs. Jeffrey has remarried, being now the wife of Joseph H. Seaver, of Ithaca.
E BENEZER W. KELLOGG, for many years a prominent agriculturist of Gratiot county, is now living retired at his home in Ithaca, Michigan. His birth oc- curred at Hadley, Massachusetts, February 6, 1815, and his father, Giles C. Kellogg, was also a native of Hadley.
Mr. Kellogg attended the common schools of his native town, and subsequently took a course at Hopkins Academy. On leaving school he turned his attention to farming, and he came to Michigan to pros- pect, leaving Hadley in 1839. He settled in Cambridge, Lenawee county, Michigan,
on a farm of ninety acres which he later sold, purchasing 320 acres of wild land in Gratiot county in 1854. Mr. Kellogg began life in Gratiot county in true pioneer style, erecting a small log cabin in the woods to which he removed his family in May, 1855. There he continued to farm until his retire- ment from active life, in 1885, in that year removing to Ithaca, where he has since re- sided.
Politically Mr. Kellogg is a Republican, and from the first has been identified with county and township matters. He was elected second supervisor of his township in 1858, and has been reelected to the position several times, holding the office at one time for seven years in succession. He was at one time township clerk of Newark town- ship, and officiated in most of the minor local positions.
Mr. Kellogg was married (first) March 3, 1842, in Cambridge, Lenawee county, Michigan, to Miss Adaline L. Butterfield, born September 17, 1817, the eldest daugh- ter of Abraham and Rebecca (Johnson) Butterfield. She died in March, 1896. Three children were born to this union, two of whom still survive: Mary, wife of Dr. Charles Howland, of Newark, Michigan, and Francis, who married Sarah Howland and resides at the old homestead. Hugh, the third child, died when young. On No- vember 1, 1897, Mr. Kellogg married (sec- ond) Mrs. Sophronia (Wade) Howland, who was born January 8, 1825, in Orleans county, New York, daughter of Silas A. and Sally (Beers) Wade, natives respectively of New Jersey and New York. By her first marriage, to Chester Howland, of New York State (who died in Newark, Michigan), Mrs. Kellogg had four children : Achsah
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY.
who married Benjamin Hibner, a farmer of Newark; Martha, now living in Alma, Mich- igan, widow of Ira Crandell, a farmer in North Star township; Sarah, wife of Francis Kellogg (son of Ebenezer W.) ; and Mary D., who married Emery Dean, a farmer of Newark.
G EORGE SMITH, one of the represen- tative men of North Star township, Gratiot county, Michigan, the head of a family and the owner of a valuable farm of sixty-five acres, was born February 22, 1837, in Onondaga county, New York, eldest of the eight children born to James and Sarah Ann (Barber) Smith.
James Smith, the father, was born August 22, 1813, in Cayuga county, New York, and the mother January 15, 1820, in Onondaga county. Her father was Ruluf Barber, who lived and died in Onondaga county. James Smith and wife migrated from Cayuga county, New York, to Hills- dale county, Michigan, in 1843, where they lived until 1871, when they settled in Kal- kaska county, Michigan. The mother died while on a visit to her children at the resi- dence of her son, Henry Smith, in North Star township, April 10, 1890, aged seventy years. The father died in Kalkaska county in his eighty-third year. They were people of estimable character, and led quiet, virtu- ous lives.
George Smith was about six years old when his parents came to Hillsdale county, where he grew to manhood. When twenty- two years old he returned to his native State and spent several years engaged in farming in Tompkins county, and during his resi- dence there was married, August 18, 1860, to Atlanta L. Shaw. She was born in
Tompkins county, July 27, 1840, daughter of Erastus and Eliza (Cummings) Shaw. Her father was a son of Benjamin Shaw, and he was born July 3, 1806, in Vermont, and died in Groton township, Tompkins county, New York, aged eighty years. The mother of Mrs. Smith was born in 1811 in Groton township, where she died in 1842, aged thirty-one years, her father dying at the age of seventy-six years. Mrs. Smith was fourth in their family of five children, and was reared and educated in Groton town- ship.
After his marriage Mr. Smith remained in Tompkins county about eighteen months, and moved to Hillsdale county, Michigan, settling in Ransom township, but conditions did not prove favorable and one year later the couple returned to New York. In the following year they returned to Hillsdale county and settled in Wright township, where they resided until 1869. In Septem- ber of that year Mr. Smith removed with his family to Gratiot county, attracted by the fertile lands and pleasant natural surround- ings, and purchased a farm of eighty acres in Section 25, North Star township. The tract was then dense woods, but Mr. Smith succeeded in clearing a large portion of it, and six years later traded for another prop- erty in Section 22. He was there engaged in general farming and the manufacture of brick and tile, but in 1898 sold the property and removed his residence to the village of North Star. Two years later he exchanged his interests there for his present farm of sixty-five acres in Section 16, on which are a modern brick residence and substantial, convenient out-buildings. He is also the owner of another farm, in Section 23, con- sisting of forty acres.
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Mr. and Mrs. Smith have had seven children, namely : Rosa B .; Emma A., wife of Foshen Hoffman; Eugene J .; Flora V., Mrs. Joseph Gilleo; Addie L., wife of Homer Mulholland; Francis J., and Grant O. Rosa B., the eldest child, died in Hillsdale county, aged one year and four months.
Mr. Smith has always been identified with the Republican party, and has been more or less connected with public affairs for a number of years. For fifteen years he was thé efficient township clerk and for two terms a justice of the peace. In whatever position he is found, he gives complete satisfaction, being a man of both capacity and responsibil- ity. Mrs. Smith is a valued member of the United Brethren Church, and Mr. Smith is socially connected with Heath Lodge, No. 22, I. O. O. F.
H ON. TOWNSEND A. ELY, State Senator from the Nineteenth Sena- torial District, a leading business man, the son of a veteran officer of the Civil war twice brevetted for bravery, and himself a gallant young officer in that struggle, is a splendid representative of Gratiot county, both politically and in every other particu- lar. He was born August 27, 1843, at Wa- bash, Indiana, the only son of General Ralph and Mary E. (Halstead) Ely, and grand- son of Armenius and Electa (Munger) Ely, natives of New York.
After their marriage the grandparents of Townsend A. Ely settled in Oneida county, New York, where they remained but a few years before removing to Chautauqua county. There Armenius Ely was a farmer and a dairyman until the year of his death, in 1863 ; his wife passed away in 1836. The children of Armenius and Electa Ely who
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