USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan > Part 25
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During the month of December, 1866, Mr. Gray was married to Miss Mary Wayman, a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Crisp) Way- man, both natives of England. The father was seventeen years of age when he left his native England and came to America. He followed the trade and occupation of milling, being for many years a successful operator in that line of business. While on a visit to his daughter, Mrs. Gray, he was attacked by sudden illness and died at her home in the year 1893. Her mother's people were among the pioneers of this section of Michigan, establishing themselves and their home here about 1839. To Mr. and Mrs. Gray have been born four children, Mary E., now Mrs. J. H. Traverse ; Joseph H .; Edmund A .; Alice M .; now Mrs. E. C. Williams, of Hillsdale. Fraternally Mr Gray is affiliated with the Grange being one of the most active and prominent mem- bers of that organization. Politically, he is iden- tified with the Republican party. For many years he has taken a leading part in the local affairs of that party, but he has never held or desired any office, having no taste for public life, giving his entire attention to the management of his private business interests. He is well and favorably known throughont the county, and is held in high esteem by all classes of his fellow citizens.
NEWTON M. GREGG.
This efficient and accommodating supervisor 104 years. He was one of the earliest of the of Cambria township, who is now (1903) serv-
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ing his third successive term in the office, has had excellent training for almost any kind of public service by a long and creditable carcer in military, mercantile and pastoral life, and in official stations of importance and responsi- bility. His life began in Trumbull county, Ohio, on April 2, 1836, the son of Seth and Hannah (Niblack) Gregg, natives of Pennsylvania and early settlers in Ohio, where the father died in 1855. His widow survived him forty-five years and passed to her final rest in this county in 1900, aged eighty-seven. They were the parents of seven children, four sons and three daugh- ters, all of whom are living and two reside in this county, Newton M. and his sister, Mrs. Henry W. Sampson.
Newton M. Gregg reached man's estate and received his education in his native state, re- maining at home until August, 1861, when he enlisted in the Union army as a member of Co. C. Nineteenth Ohio Infantry. He was soon after actively engaged in the field and for four years and three months was in almost continual service and much of the time in the very thick of the fight. He participated in the battles of Shiloh, Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and others; then went with Sherman to Atlanta and took part in the en- gagement at Peach Tree Crfeek, and Buzzard's Roost, Kenesaw Mountain, Marietta and Love- joy below Atlanta. After this his regiment re- turned with General Thomas and had hot work in the devastating deluge of death at Franklin and also at Nashville. In 1865, early in the year, it was sent to Texas and remained in that state until November, being finally mustered out at Columbus, Ohio. During this long and trying service Mr. Gregg did not receive a wound and was never absent from duty, and, when he was discharged, he held the rank of orderly sergeant, to which he had risen by meritorious conduct. He had two brothers in the Union army, one in the Seventh Ohio Infantry, the other in a gallant Michigan regiment, and the love of country then displayed by this family, in a critical period of our history, has ever distinguished it throughout its record on the continent wherever it has
gained a foothold, showing forth in the pursuits of peaceful industry as steadily, even if less con- spicuously, as on the ensanguined field of mili- tary prowess.
After the war Mr. Gregg returned to Ohio and in 1866 came to Michigan, locating in Clin- ton county, where he purchased a farm and lived nine years. In 1875 he took up his residence in Cambria township, Hillsdale county, where he has since made his home. In 1866, before leaving Ohio, he married with Miss Emily A. Austin, of the same nativity as himself, and a daughter of Venajah and Belinda (Dean) Aus- tin, who died in Ohio at advanced ages. Mr. and Mrs. Gregg have two children, William C., now living at Adrian, Michigan, and Roland A., of Chicago. In politics Mr. Gregg has been a lifelong Republican and has always taken great interest in the welfare of his party. He served the township ten years as a justice of the peace and three as a highway commissioner. In 1900 he was elected supervisor and has been twice reelected. Fraternally, he is connected with the Grand Army of the Republic and the Patrons of Husbandry, and is valued as a member in both organizations. He is well known and gen- erally esteemed by all classes of citizens through- out the county.
JACOB A. HANCOCK.
Jacob A. Hancock, one of the most respected citizens of Cambria township, living near the farm which he helped to redeem from the wilder- ness, which, since the purchase of his present home he has made beautiful and much more valuable with his well-appointed and wisely con- structed improvements, was one of the early set- tlers of Hillsdale county, and witnessed the birth of the township in which he lives. Within his experience here, which covers a period of sixty- four years, he has beheld the growth of a might; and splendid commonwealth from its very cradle to its present maturity and power. He was among its struggling first citizens, who had to contend with all of the wilds of nature, the ra- pacity and deadly cruelty of ferocious beasts and
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to endure all of the privations and hardships of frontier life. They had also to lay the founda- tions of a state broad and deep ; the work they accomplished in this respect has its merits loudly proclaimed in the substantial and enduring re- sults which bloom and fructify around those of them who are' yet living and before the eyes of their descendants.
Mr. Hancock was born in Genesee county, New York, on January 18, 1832. His parents were Jacob S. and Jane (Van Vlack) Hancock, natives of the same state, the father born in New York city and the mother in Dutchess county. His father was a shoemaker, but was thrown on his own resources early in life and earned his living by hard labor in the cotton mills of Paterson, New Jersey, for some years before be- ginning his apprenticeship at his trade. At the conclusion of this apprenticeship he moved to Poughkeepsie, N. Y., following his craft in that city for a number of years. There he met and mra- ried his wife and soon after removed with his young family to Genesee county, settling in Staf- ford township, where he went into business as a manufacturer of boots and shoes on a rather extensive scale for that period. In 1839 he brought his family a stage farther toward the setting sun, locating in - what is now Cambria township in this county, where he found a ready market for the products of his skillful work and frequently took work in exchange, thereby ac- quiring eighty acres of good land, getting it well cultivated also and provided with comfort- able improvements, residence, barns, etc., to re- place the humble cabin and outbuildings of logs which he at first erected for a home. He was the first postmaster of the township and fre- quently had to advance the money for postage, at that time twenty-five cents each letter, in order that the patrons of the office could get their mail, such was the scarcity of money in the new settle- ments. During the last years of his life he gave up his trade and devoted his energies whol- ly to the cultivation of his farm. His wife died on July 27, 1879, and he followed her to his final rest on September 8, 1885. They were the par- ents of eight children, Jacob A. being the first
born. The father was one of the organizers of the township and gave the new creation excel- lent service as its first supervisor and in other local offices of importance. He was a Republi- can in politics, after the formation of that party, and he and his wife were faithful members of the Baptist church.
Their oldest son, Jacob A. Hancock, grew to manhood on his father's farm, was educated in the district schools and remained at home un- til his marriage, which occurred in Cambria township, on March 29, 1854, and united him with Miss Almira Smith, a daughter of Warren Smith and a sister of Charles E. Smith, a sketch of whom appears on another page. Mrs. Han- cock was born in Lenawee county, Michigan, on March 26, 1837, and was well educated. She lived with his parents and followed the ennobl- ing profession of teaching in the public schools until her marriage. After nearly thirty-nine years of happy wedded life, she died on March 17, 1893, leaving one child, their daughter, Ida, wife of D. J. Gibbon of Cambria township. Two of Mr. Hancock's brothers served in the Union army during the Civil war,, Oscar and Albert, one in the Eighteenth and the other in the Twen- ty-Seventh Michigan Infantry. Albert is at present residing at San Francisco, California. Mr. Hancock is a staunch Republican and in fra- ternal affiliations is a member of the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows. At the hale old age which he has reached in peace and comfort, he has the assurance of the respect and high re- gard of the community in which he has lived so long, to whose progress and prosperity he has so essentially contributed, and also the knowl- edge that his labors for its advancement are duly appreciated, and that he will be well and worth- ily remembered long after he shall have surren- dered his earthly trust at the behest of the Great Disposer of human destinies.
MACK HARRING.
Mack Harring, the popular and obliging postmaster at Osseo and one of the leading mer- chants of the place, where he carries on a flour-
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ishing and progressive hardware business, is a native of Jefferson township, born on November 8, 1862, half a mile south of the town. His par- ents were Henry H. and Mary J. (Shurtluff ) Harring, natives of New York, the former born . and reared in Niagara county and the latter in Ontario county. The father was born on Octo- ber II, 1825, and grew to manhood and received his education in his native county, although his parents moved to Michigan when he was but ten years old. After his arrival in this state he was variously occupied for some years. He helped build the railroad through to Hillsdale and was trackmaster between that city and Adrian for six years. He left the road in 1859 and followed farming in Jefferson township until 1875, when he sold out and removed to Osseo. There his wife died in 1897 and he passed away on July II, 1900. They were the parents of four sons and four daughters, of whom seven are living, three sons and daughter being residents of Hills- dale county. The father was a man of great public spirit and took an active interest in the local affairs of the township. He served as a justice of the peace for sixteen years. His fa- ther was Peter R. Harring, a native of New York who came in 1835 to Lenawee county and there cleared up a farm. Later he moved to Hillsdale county, and, after some years of active service to the railroad company as a bridge builder, died near Osseo.
Mack Harring was' reared and educated at Osseo. He left home at the age of sixteen years to learn the trade of a tinner and at this craft he has worked ever since, carrying it on in con- nection with his business since that was start- ed in 1893. In 1897 he was appointed postmas- ter of the town and has conducted the affairs of the office with signal success and enlarging usefulness to its patrons. Since March 1, 1902, he has had a rural delivery service, which has been of great advantage and convenience to many persons in the country and is highly ap- preciated. The establishment of this service was the result of Mr. Harring's persistent personal efforts with the department at Washington, and its operation is much to his credit. He has also
served the people as township treasurer and as a member of the school board. In his twelve years'.service as school trustee, he has been very active in the cause of education in general and has given the school at Osseo intelligent, dili- gent and helpful attention in particular, raising it to a graded school and aiding in making it one of the best in the county. In 1886 Mr. Har- ring was married to Miss Lilly O'Neil, a daugh- ter of James and Charlotte (Paine) O'Neil, and they have three children, Neil H., Kate HI. and Hartis Y., all at home. In politics he has been a Republican all of his mature life and in the service of his party has been effective and vigi- lant. In fraternal relations he is a valued mem- ber of the Masonic order. His business is pros- perous and expanding, being one of the leading enterprises of its kind in this part of the state. Whether considered as a public official or a mercantife force in the community, as a social element or an educational agency, in any line or all lines of elevated and elevating citizenship, Mr. Harring is well worthy of the high regard in which he stands among the people and of the universal confidence which he enjoys.
CHARLES JOINER.
Charles Joiner, whose well-appointed and well-cultivated farm is one of the desirable coun- try homes of Allen township, who for a number of years has been living retired from active pur- suits in the village of Allen, is a native of Huron countv. Ohio, born on August 1, 1847. His parents were Ralph and Eliza (Inscho) Joiner, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Huron county, Ohio. The father, a turner and carver by trade, followed his chosen vocation in connection with a thriving farming industry and also worked at times at shoemak- ing. Although a man of sixty years of age at the commencement of the Civil War, he offered his services to his country and finally enlisted, on June 22, 1863, in the First Ohio Heavy Ar- tillery. He was sent to Kentucky, where, after passing three months, he was rejected by the U. S. mustering officer on account of his age
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and other disabilities, and was never in the United States service. He died in Huron coun- ty, Ohio, in 1888, as did the mother in 1901 at the age of eighty-five. They had nine children, five of whom are living, their son Charles being the only one who is a resident of this county. Two of the sons were Union soldiers during the Civil War, and one of them, a member of the Thirtieth Indiana Infantry, gave his life to the cause, dying in the service from wounds re- ceived in one of the sanguinary battles of the contest. The other enlisted in the One Hun- dred and Twenty-third Ohio Infantry and saw much active service, but escaped unharmed, be- ing, however, a prisoner of war and held at Lib- by prison for some months. He died at Allen in 1902.
Charles Joiner was reared in Huron county, Ohio, to the age of nineteen and was educated in the schools of that county. He there re- mained until 1866, then came to Michigan and lived at Quincy in Branch county for three years, then bought a farm in Allen township, in this county, which was all timber land, covered with a dense growth of forest. This he cleared and farmed in true pioneer style for eleven years, then moved to the village of Allen where he has since resided. He was married in Allen town- ship, on April 30, 1870, to Miss Hannah Lazen- by, a sister of Christopher Lazenby, more ex- tended mention of whom will be found on an - other page of this work. They have one child, their daughter, Lydia H., wife of C. D. Eaton. of Allen. While fervently patriotic and devoted to the welfare of his country, especially that por- tion of it in which his lot has been cast, and be- ing ever a faithful and loyal Republican, Mr. Joiner has never taken any special interest in party politics and has never sought or desired public office. He belongs to the Masonic fra- ternity and has been zealous in advocating and supporting public improvements of every proper kind, also in aiding to develop and multiply the resources of the county and advance its best interests. For all the attributes of safe, conserv- ative and yet wisely progressive citizenship he is well known as an example and esteemed.
HENRY HINKLE.
Henry Hinkle, who so ably guided the for- tunes of Woodbridge township for five years as its supervisor, is a native of Hillsdale county, born in Wright township on November 7, 1851. His parents were Samuel D. and Solora (Bene- dict) Hinkle, the former a native of Pennsyl- vania and the latter of New York. The father was both a blacksmith and a farmer and carried on thriving industries in both occupations, first in his native state and, after 1856, in Michigan, moving here in that year and settling on eighty acres of unbroken forest land in Wright town- ship. He resided on this tract until 1867 and devoted his best efforts to clearing it for culti- vation and making it productive as a farm and comfortable as a home. In the year last named he traded it for a farm in Cambria township, to which he moved his family and on which he passed the rest of his life, dying in 1881, leav- ing a widow who still survives him and makes her home with her children. They were the parents of eleven children, all of whom are liv- ing. Both were earnest and serviceable mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church. The paternal grandfather was a native of Pennsyl- vania, a blacksmith by trade and an early set- tler near Columbus, Ohio, where the remaining years of his life were passed.
Henry Hinkle grew to man's estate in Hills- dale county, and got his education in the pub- lic schools. He began life for himself as a farm- er on the old honie ou which he lived. engaged in its cultivation for five years. He then pur- chased a threshing outfit and used it to the great advantage of the farmers in all parts of the county for two years, after that dealing in farm produce for a year. Some time later he bought the farm of 128 acres on which he now lives in Woodbridge township and which has ever since been his home. Into its improvement and cultivation he has put the energy and skill of his more mature years and has made it an impressive illustration of what systematic and intelligent industry can accomplish, it being now one of the model farms of the township, yielding
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abundant returns for the faith and toil involved in its tillage. He was married in this county, in 1876, to Miss Sarah Fuller, a daughter of David and Olive Fuller, early settlers in Wood- bridge township, both of whom are now de- ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Hinkle have six children : Olive, engaged in teaching at Albion ; Elva, an instructor in a school at Hillsdale : Grace, a pop- ular teacher of Detroit : Elizabeth, Florence and David at home. The first three are graduates of the State Normal School. For many years after reaching his majority Mr. Hinkle was a Repub- lican in political faith ; but he is now a Free-Sil- ver Democrat. He has been active in behalf of the advancement and development of the township, and has served its people well as su- pervisor, first in 1891, 1892 and 1893, and again in 1895 and 1896. He has also taken a great and serviceable interest in educational matters and has filled with credit and advantage to the community several school offices. He is a mem- ber of the Patrons of Husbandry, being active in the affairs of the grange at Cambria.
BANI BISHOP.
This honored pioneer of Hillsdale county, who has been for more than half-a-century a lead- ing and serviceable citizen of Cambria township. Michigan, was born at Canandaigua, New York, on October 12. 1818. His parents were Stephen and Charlotte (Smith) Bishop, both natives of Connecticut. The father was a farmer in his native state who moved to New York in 1812, settling in Ontario county, where he passed the rest of his life, dying in 1853. The mother lived a widow for twenty-six years and died in 1879, aged ninety years. Eight children blessed their union, of whom all are now dead but their two sons, Bani and William, the latter being a resi- dent of Hillsdale township. One daughter was for many years a resident of this county and here died in 1889. The grandfather, Jared Bishop, was a farmer of Cheshire, Connecticut. He made several trips to the West Indies as a trader and died at a good old age in his native state.
Bani Bishop was reared in Ontario county,
New York, and was educated at the public schools and a good academy located at Canan- (iaigua. On his father's farm he acquired strength of body, independence of spirit, and also habits of industry and frugality. In 1847 he came to this state and settled on the farm, which is now his home in Cambria township of this county, purchasing 140 acres, fifty acres being cleared and under cultivation. Since then he has bought eighty acres, and on this land he has lived continuously 'from his first occupancy of it, except for six years, when he held his residence in South Da- kota. His occupation through life has been farm- ing, in that branch of industry he has grown skillful and prospered, his farm being the best evidence of his care and success as a tiller of the soil and of his enterprise and business capacity.
Mr. Bishop married, on March 31, 1851, with Miss Caroline L. Stark, a native of Connecticut, and they had ten children, of whom six are liv- ing. They are George S. and John H., em- ployed in the lumber operations of Louisiana ; James S., a newspaper man in the South ; Wil- liam A., conducting the home farm; Francis W., in business in California; Charles, in the insur- ance, loan and investment business at West Su- perior, Wisconsin. Their mother died in 1889. In politics, Mr. Bishop was a Whig until that party was superseded by the Republican when he ardently espoused the principles of the new organization, and to this he has remained faith- ful ever since. He served the county twelve years as superintendent of the poor, and the township three years' as supervisor, as well as in other local offices from time to time. In re- ligious affiliation he is connected with the Uni- versalist church. Throughout the county he is well and favorably known as a leading citizen, one who has walked uprightly in all the relations of life, and he has the universal and high re- spect of the people among whom his useful la- bors have been performed.
JOHN C. ILES.
Descended from an old Yorkshire family. that lived for many generations in that pleasant.
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Bain Biskop
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.
historic county of England, whose exploits in war and peace have been often recorded in the local chronicles, John C. Iles, of Allen township, has the incentive to productive exertion of a creditable family history, and the additional stimulus of his own natural capabilities and high sense of duty, and he has, in this western world, far from the associations and suggestions of his childhood in his native land and those of his youth in the state of New York, demonstrated his ability to worthily continue the fine family rec- ord. He was born on November 25, 1824, near the city of Leeds, in Yorkshire, England, the son of William B. and Elizabeth (Chapelow) Iles. His father was a miller, who owned and operated large flouring mills in the vicinity of that busy mart of commerce and industrial ac- tivity, where he also carried on an extensive wholesale and retail trade in the product of his mills. In 1831, hearkening to the voice of Amer- ica calling for volunteers for the great army of occupation, to which she offered unbounded worlds of industrial and commercial conquest, he disposed of his interests in the mother coun- try and brought his family to the United States. He located in New York city and soon after be- came interested in a woollen manufactory in New Jersey, which eventuated as a disastrous investment. He then moved to Rochester, then the flour city of New York, and there became the head miller of the leading flouring mill of the city, a capacity in which he rendered valuable and appreciated service for several years. From that city he moved to Detroit, where during the next seven years he was busily occupied in the manufacture of mill-stones, himself doing the "creasing." About the year 1845 he came to Jonesville, in Fayette township, Hillsdale county, as miller for the Mr. Dowling who built and' op- erated the first gristmill in that part of the coun- ty. For twelve years he was connected with that mill in a leading capacity, by his skill, ex- perience and enterprise greatly aiding in build- ing up and expanding its trade, making its out- put renowned in the markets of a large extent of country. He then determined to devote him- self to farming, and, to this end, purchased
eighty acres of land in Allen township, which has since been cleared and reduced to fruitful- ness and fertility, mainly through the assiduous labors and skillful enterprise of his son, John, the immediate subject of this review. They lived on this farm together until the death of the father and that of his second wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Richmond. The mother of John C. Iles died before the family left England, leaving two children, her son, John, and a daughter. The fruit of the second mar- riage was two daughters. All the children are now dcad, except John C. and a daughter, who is now living in Nebraska. The parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, act- ive in its management and the good works in which it is ever engaged.
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