USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan > Part 35
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The comforts of life for them at first were few and difficult of attainment. More than once
the father was obliged to walk sixteen miles to Hillsdale for flour and carry a sack weighing seventy pounds on his back all the way home, making the round trip in a single day. He died on the farm in 1893, and the mother in 1897. They were the parents of six children who reached years of maturity, all but one of whom are now living, all being residents of this county. One son, Frederick, was a member of the Twen- ty-seventh Michigan Infantry and also a sharp- shooter during the Civil War. The martial spirit he exhibited he was rightfully entitled to by inheritance, for his maternal grandfather was a blacksmith in the army of Bonaparte, and, al- though attached for the most part to the mnechan- ical department of the army, he saw field service at times in the exigencies of that great com- mander's active campaigns. He beheld the cagles of the Empire mingle with the eagles of . the Alps in the march on Italy, soar in triumph at Austerlitz and Wagram and Borodino, crouch in fear during the terrible retreat from Moscow, go down at last in gloom and shame at Leipsic and in the crowning disaster at Waterloo. He was once captured by the Russians, but made his es- cape and was three days in reaching the French army. Mr. Wolf's father also saw service on the French frontier as a guard against smugglers.
Michael Wolf passed his childhood and youth on the paternal homestead, assisting in its trying labors and sharing its expanding blessings. He attended the district schools near his home and from their ministrations secured a limited educa- tion. When he was eighteen years of age he start- ed out in life for himself, and by 1876 he had saved enough of his earnings to purchase a farm of forty acres in Ransom township. In 1881 he sold his farm and bought eighty acres in Wood- bridge township, which he still owns and which was his home continuously until the fall of 1902, when he removed to the village of Frontier.
June 10, 1877, he married, in this county, Miss Emma G. Cowles, a native of Lenawee county, and a daughter of Celden and Mary A. . (Schnall) Cowles, a sister of the wife of Jacob Wolf, a brother of Michael, a- sketch of whom ap- pears elsewhere in this work. Her parents were
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among the first settlers in Lenawee county, her grandfather, Mr. John J. Schnall, coming thither from Northampton county, Pa., in 1826. He afterward moved to Fulton county, Ohio, and there served as county surveyor for twenty years, during which time he also followed his pro- fession in Lucas county, Ohio. His death oc- curred in Fulton county. He was a soldier in the Black Hawk Indian War and did duty for his country in other capacities from time to time. Mrs. Wolfe's mother makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Wolf, at the age of seventy-six years, having been born in Lenawee county, and she is no doubt one of the oldest citizens now liv- ing who is a native of Michigan.
Mr. and Mrs. Wolf have two children, their sons, Clyde M., a prominent business man of Hudson, Ind., and Ray C., until recently a sol- dier in the Eighth U. S. Cavalry, Troop K, sta- tioned at Fort Riley, Kansas, having been trans- ferred lately to the U. S. Signal Corps at Fort Myer, Va. Mr. Wolf has been and is a man oi influence and a stimulating force in the public life of the township. He served on the board · of review, in 1899 was elected supervisor, being reelected in 1900 and again in 1901. He was once a candidate for county treasurer on the Re- publican ticket, only failing of the nomination by two votes. The family are members of the United Brethren church. Mr. Wolf is .well known all over the county, held in high respect.
DR. JONATHAN C. WHITNEY.
While peoples of all ages, climes and condi- tions have had their practitioners of medicine for the alleviation of human suffering, it was not until a short time ago that any systematic effort was made to found schools of veterinary surgery and pathology. Perhaps among the earliest, and certainly among the best, of such schools is the one located at Toronto, Ontario, which, from its foundation has steadily increased in value as an educator in its line and widened its streams of benefaction, especially for the dumb brutes, whose sufferings must be inferred, and can be alleviated only by human aid. Of this excellent
veterinary college, Dr. Jonathan C. Whitney of Hillsdale is an alumnus, having been graduated there on March 29, 1883. He is the son of Jonathan and Ann J. (Garrett) Whitney, the former a native of New York and the latter of the Isle of Man, and was born in Allen township, this county, on August 19, 1852. His father, a farmer, came to Hillsdale county in 1838, and settled on a farm of government land, which he cleared and lived upon until his death. Ami Whitney, the paternal grandfather of the Doctor. a New Yorker by nativity, owned land in Hills- dale county, but never resided here.
Doctor Whitney was one of four children, the other children being William G., Anna E. and Jennie. His father, an active Republican, for years capably served as supervisor and as justice of the peace, and his brother William G. was with the Eleventh Michigan Infantry in the Civil War. The father was also a zealous worker and a valued official in the Methodist Episcopal church, who assisted in building all churches of this denomination in Allen township. The Doc- tor, educated in the public schools of the county, after leaving school engaged in farming until 1881, then, through his own experience and that of others finding a pressing need for a veterinary surgeon in his neighborhood, he determined to supply the need and to this end entered the veter- inary college located at Toronto. After a two years' course of instruction there he was grad- uated in 1883, and at once began practicing his profession with headquarters at Allen in this county.
Doctor Whitney has been engaged in the prac- tice ever since, from 1885 to the present time, be- ing located at Hillsdale. Here he has a fully equipped hospital for the treatment of all diseases of animals and their proper care, its high reputa- tion and his practice extending over this and the adjoining counties. He also still owns and operates his farm in Allen township. On No- vember 21, 1883, he was united in marriage with Miss Fannie E. Ellis, a native of New York state, but whose residence since her infancy was in the township of Allen. She was educated in the pub- lic schools, also in Hillsdale College and taught
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several terms with great ability in the township of Allen. They have two attractive daughters, Marjorie and Jennie. In politics the Doctor is a Republican, but he is not an active partisan and has never sought office, having; however, very capably served four years as alderman. He be- longs to the State Veterinary Association, of which he was president for one term, and is also a blue lodge and a chapter Mason, holding mem - berships at Hillsdale. He is also an official of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a valued member. In his profession he has been signally useful to the people of Hillsdale county. In his citizenship he has been found worthy in every way of the public and private esteem which he enjoys in good measure.
HARRISON' BEERS.
From the great Empire state of New York, digious in productive enterprise of every form. whose teeming millions of population are pro- mighty in commercial activity and force in every line. elevated and progressive in intellectual cul- ture and power through every channel, broad and far-seeing in the sweep of their vision to every horizon of human effort; from this highly vital- ized and intensely energized mass of men came much of the spirit, the endurance and the per- sistent industry that redeemed Southern Michi- gan from the savage and the waste, and created on its soil a new empire, where before the buffalo roamed and the wild deer disported. Among the number of those daring and hardy adventur- crs whom she contributed to this work, must be mentioned with credit in any chronicle of their deeds, the name of Harrison Beers, of Al- len township, who is now enjoying, in peace and! prosperity, the guerdon of the trials he endured, and of the labors he performed in the early days of this part of Michigan. He was born in On- tario county, New York, on July 3. 1819, a scion of old New England families who aided in per- forming for the state of Connecticut in Colonial times, what he has helped to perform for Mich- igan in later years. His parents were Fitch and Purthenia (Thorp) Beers, whose ancestors
settled in Connecticut among its carly pioneers, themselves being born and reared in that state. The father was a farmer, who, while he was yet a young man, moved to western New York, and there he met and married his wife, who was the mother of his seven sons, the only survivors of whom are Miles Beers, Harrison, and a brother who resides in St. Joseph county in this state. The parents lived in New York until their life labors were ended, the death of the father occur- ring in 1843. and that of the mother in 1850. The grandfather on both sides of this family were heroes in the Revolution and followed the for- tunes of its wavering cause from its dawn at Bunker Hill to its final triumph at Yorktown. The maternal grandfather was a farmer in New York, from whence he moved to the vicinity of Cleveland, Ohio, where he died in the fullness of years and of honors.
Harrison Beers grew to manhood in his na- tive state and received a limited elementary edu- cation in the primitive schools of his day and lo- cality. In 1846 he came to Michigan, making the journey by the Erie canal to Buffalo, from there by boat to Detroit, whence he traveled over the crude railway of the period to Jackson coun- ty. Michigan, where one of his brothers-in-law had previously settled. He did not linger long in Jackson county, but came soon after his ar- rival in the state to Hillsdale and purchased eighty acres. of land in Allen township, a por- tion of the excellent farm on which he now main- tains his home, and, building a little log shanty for a residence, he, at once, began to clear his land and make it habitable and productive. We may pass the trials and privations, the struggles and the dangers of his earlier years in this coun- ty, but they came in abundant measure and he bore them with commendable fortitude. In time he added eighty acres more to his domain, and also reduced this tract to fruitfulness and beauty. But he did not labor and suffer alone, for two years before leaving his native heath he was united in marriage with Miss Fannie Boyce, of the same nativity as himself, the marriage oc- curring in March, 1844. She was the daughter of Henry and Nancy (Clement) Boyce, who, in
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1853, followed her to Michigan and settled on a farm in Allen township, near her home, where they died after years of usefulness. Mr. and Mrs. Beers have six children, Edna, wife of E. Nickerson, of Eaton county, Michigan ; Calvin, a prosperous farmer of Branch county ; Adella, wife of J. Howell, of California ; Angus, a lead- ing business man of Hillsdale ; Fred, who is act- ively engaged in farming in Branch county ; and Henry, who is pursuing the same vocation in Hillsdale county. Their father is a Republican in politics and has, from time to time, served his township faithfully in several local offices. He is a charter member of the Allen grange of Patrons of Husbandry, and he takes a great and serviceable interest in its affairs, as he does in everything pertaining to agriculture and kindred pursuits. He has long been a leading and rep- resentative man of the county, exemplifying in his daily life the best attributes of its citizen- ship, and keeping ever close in his watchful care the best interests of its people in every line of action and progress.
CITIZENS BANK OF LITCHFIELD.
This sound, well-managed and enterprising financial institution, which is one of the decidedly beneficial commercial factors in the business life of Litchfield township, having a high reputation throughout the county and state for excellence in its management, amplitude in its resources, vigor and progressiveness in its business activity and considerate helpfulness in its spirit of accom- modation, was founded in 1886, as a private bank, with a capital stock of $5,000. The founders were Albert J. Lovejoy, Asher B. La Fleur, who is now cashier of the Savings Bank at Hillsdale, and was connected with the Litchfield bank but a year, and David Eagleston, who also was con- nected with it but a year. Then F. E. Church became interested in the institution and the firm became A. Lovejoy & Co.
Mr. Albert J. Lovejoy is a native of Hills- dale county, born on February 3, 1847, a son of Samuel and Elizabeth B. (Morse) Lovejoy. He grew to manhood in this county, learned the les-
sons taught in the books at its public schools and those of practical life at the paternal fireside and in the rugged school of experience. He began assisting his father in the labors of the farm when he was eleven years old, and, in 1866, when he was nineteen, in partnership with Frank E. Lovejoy, he started a general store at Litchfield, the second of the kind to be there operated. It was immediately popular and successful, and. within a period of three years, was doing a busi- ness of $100,000 in volume. In 1870 Frank E. Lovejoy died and the business continued under the name and style of F. E. Lovejoy & Co. for several years, then was enlarged and quickened into greater activity under its present title.
Mr. Lovejoy also founded the Hub clothing store at Litchfield, which he later sold, and, in addition to his other numerous interests and business enterprises, he now gives careful and productive attention to a vigorous farming indus- try. All of his ventures thrive; for he has the shrewdness, business capacity, breadth of view and knowledge of men and of methods to make them work harmoniously together and to the best advantage. He is quick and keen to see, alert . to grasp opportunities for profitable mercantile enterprises, and has both readiness and resource- fulness in carrying them on to successful and gratifying results. Mr. Lovejoy was married in this county in 1875 to Miss Mary E. Stoddard, a daughter of William Stoddard, an ex-state sena- tor, who is well known and highly respected throughout the county. They have six living children, Nannie E., the wife of W. H. Simmons, of Havana, Cuba, chemist in the cement works ; Theo. D., living at the paternal home; Brownie. the wife of R. J. Shattuck, of Litchfield ; Louise S., Jean and Margueritte at the family home. A daughter named Georgia is deceased.
Mr. Lovejoy is a citizen of great public spirit, and, while he has never taken any very active part in politics, he has ·filled several local offices for the good of the community, notably that of a membership of the school board, in which he served for a number of years. He is a member of the Masonic order, devoted to its welfare and progress. He has been for several years the treas-
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urer of the creamery company at Litchfield and has given to its affairs a careful and intelligent attention. In all of the relations of life he has met his duty with manliness, uprightness and firmness, exhibiting always a due respect for the rights and regard for the feelings of others. He is one of the leading and most useful citizens of the county, being universally respected as such.
BENJAMIN F. ALDRICH.
Benjamin F. Aldrich is the son of Seth and Minerva (Doolittle) Aldrich and a native of Ontario county, New York, born on February 24. 1835. His father was also a native of New York and his mother of Ohio. When he was five or six years old the family moved from their New York home to Michigan and settled in Hillsdale county. The trip was made by way of the Erie canal to Buffalo and from thence across Lake Erie to Toledo. Young as he was, Mr. Aldrich was so impressed by the voyage over the lake. which lasted a week, and by other portions of the journey, and many interesting incidents connect- ed with it, that he well remembers them now, and almost as vividly as if they were of recent occurrence, or perhaps even more so. In the new land, to which they had journeyed with so much toil and weariness, they were confronted with ad- ditional labor and difficulty. The land they took up was an unbroken forest, given up to the wild growth of centuries, still abounding with its sav- age denizens of beasts and men and both resent- ed vigorously the intrusion of civilization and the heralds who proclaimed its approach.
The conveniences of life were few, and even the actual necessities, but for the wild game that was plentiful, would have been often difficult of attainment. But the hardy pioneers had not come on a holiday excursion. They knew in advance much of what was before them and were nerved to meet it. With undaunted resolution they ac- cepted the situation as they found it, and set to work with diligence and perseverance to improve it. Seth Aldrich became one of the prosperous farmers of the county, one of the leading and influential men of his township. He was called
upon to administer important local offices, and, in this way and by his general participation in lo- cal affairs, he aided materially in establishing the forms of government and the blessings of civili- zation in the territory he was helping to reclaim from the wilderness. He was a justice of the peace for twelve years and was at the front in every movement for the progress and develop- ment of the community. His wife and he were prominent and active members of the Presbyte- rian church. She died at the homestead at the age of sixty-seven years and her husband on De- cember 26, 1880, at the age of eighty. The fa- ther was twice married and the father of seven children, two daughters and one son, Benjamin F., surviving.
Benjamin F. Aldrich was reared amid the scenes and exactions of pioneer life, and, by them, he was prepared to take his place in the great work of building up the state when his time for action came. He received a limited education at the primitive schools and early began a course of useful labor on the farm. He remained a member of the family homestead until he was well advanced in life, being then united in mar- riage with Miss Isabella Van Alstein, a native of the county, born in Somerset township on March 15, 1843, the wedding taking place on October 8, 1862. Mrs. Aldrich was one of the seven children born to her parents, Abraham and Diantha (Bilby) Van Alstein, of whom but four are now living. Her parents were natives of New York, who died in Michigan, the mother at the age of sixty-six and the father in April, 1881, at the age of sixty-nine. After his marriage, Mr. Aldrich, in partnership with his brother, Hosea C. Aldrich, engaged in the manufacture of brick and drain tile for a number of years, having pur- chased the business of their father, who was the first man to make such tile in southern Michigan. Mr. Aldrich became prominent and influential in local affairs, holding a number of offices, among them that of membership on the school board to which he belonged for twenty-five years, to the business of which important office he gave dili- gent and effective attention. He is, as was his fa- ther, a Republican in politics, and he steadfastly
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supports the principles and nominees of his party. He is an earnest supporter also of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which his wife belongs, and both are ever active in all commendable church work. They are the parents of one child, Ida V., now the wife of Ludd Chandler, a pros- perous farmer of Somerset township, a more ex- tended notice of whom will be found on another page of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich have a large circle of devoted friends and are highly 1 espected throughout the township and elsewhere by all who know them. Mr. Aldrich had one brother, Kempshel, who died in New York state at nineteen years of age.
HOSEA C. ALDRICH, the only brother of Ben- jamin, was born in Canandaigua, Ontario county, N. Y., on October 23, 1836, and came with the family to Michigan in his childhood. His per- sonal history was much like that of his brother and the other boys of the neighborhood, until the Civil War called him to the defense of the Union. On August 5, 1862, he enlisted in a Michigan regiment, and, in the three years of honorable service which followed, he saw many of war's unutterable horrors, both on the battle- field and in prison life. He took part in many engagements and rose by merit to the rank of sergeant. On September 24, 1864, he was cap- tured at Athens, Alabama, and, after being robbed of all his possessions, was thrown into prison at Cahaba. His experiences here have been embalmed by him in a thrilling narrative entitled "Cahaba Prison, a Glimpse of Life in a Rebel Prison." He also witnessed the explosion and burning of the steamer Sultana on the Mis- sissippi river, by which 1,700 lives were lost, be- ing on board of the boat and blown into the river. On June 25, 1865, he was discharged from the army, and on April 14, 1887, he died universally respected by all who knew him.
JACOB WOLF.
The late Jacob Wolf, of Woodbridge town- ship, whose untimely and tragical death on Sep- tember 4, 1902, at the early age of fifty-three years, when all his faculties were in full vigor
and all his industries were thriving, was univer- sally lamented, was a native of Germany, born near the city of Strasburg, on March 13, 1849. His parents were Frederick and Magdalena (Wantzig) Wolf, also natives of that part of Germany, where the father was long a gardener and small farmer. In 1852 with his family, con- sisting of his wife, three sons and one daughter, Frederick Wolf emigrated to the United States, coming direct to Hillsdale county, where his wife had a brother living in Amboy township. Here they soon secured a tract of forty acres of wild land and located on it for the purpose of making it a permanent home in the new country, to which they had come with high hopes, and a stern resolve to win their way by judicious and persist- ent effort. This land he cleared and added to by purchases from time to time until his farm comprised 120 acres, which was all brought to a good state of development and cultivation, and on this property they resided until the death of Mr. Wolf in 1893, and thereafter his widow there made her home until her death four years later. They had five sons and one daughter, all now liv- ing except their son, Jacob. Devout and active workers in the German Methodist Episcopal church, the parents died in full faith in its bene- fits and in the everlasting rest it promised.
Jacob Wolf was but a child three years of age when he was brought to this country and knew naught of the stormy passage across the Atlantic, nor of the subsequent hardships and weariness of the overland journey to the wilds of Michigan. His whole life of conscious activ- ity was practically passed in his new home. Here he grew to manhood, here he began and con- cluded his school days, here he started in life for himself when he reached a proper age and development. He was a regular attendant for a number of years at the "old Dutch schoolhouse," which was abandoned in 1902. He remained at home until he was twenty-four years old, assist- ing in clearing up and tilling the home farm. On July 10, 1873, he was united in marriage with Miss Henrietta M. Cowles, a native of Lenawee county, in this state, and a daughter of Celden and Mary H. (Schnall) Cowles, who were
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among the pioneers of that county and after- ward removed to Ransom township, where her father died. Her mother is still living and re- sides in Woodbridge township.
After his marriage Mr. Wolf bought eighty acres of untamed land in Ransom township, and, moving his bride into a very small framed house which he had built on this land, he began here to carve a home out of the wilderness and to make the land fruitful with the products and fragrant with the flowers of systematic indus- try. He resided for eighteen years on that farm and, by the end of that time, he had brought it to an advanced state of development and cultiva- tion. He then moved to Woodbridge township, where he lived the rest of his days. His acci- dental death occurred on September 4, 1902, by his being thrown on a saw in the mill at Fron- tier. His right arm and foot were cut off and he received internal injuries from which he died. His family consisted of two sons, Freddie C., who died in 1897 at the age of twelve, and Robert E., now (1903) eleven years old. Mr. Wolf never took special interest in politics or held public of- fice, being fully occupied with his home and its cluties. Yet he was not wanting in an earnest and steadfast interest in the welfare of the com- munity, for this was manifested by an active sup- port of every commendable enterprise for the promotion of its best interests. He was an en- thusiastic sportsman through life, especially fond of hunting and he spent a few weeks every year either in northern Michigan or elsewhere en- gaged in this exhilarating sport. He became to be well known as one of the thrifty and success- ful farmers of the township, who enjoyed in a marked degree the respect and good will of his fellow citizens everywhere.
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