USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan > Part 39
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Politically, Mr. Carter has all his life been a stanch adherent of the Republican party, but has never sought public office, preferring to devote his entire time and attention to the exclusive man- agement of his private business affairs. And in this he has met with great success. He has been for many years a prominent and active member of the Patrons of Husbandry, having been large- ly instrumental in building up that organization in Hillsdale county, where it has been and is such a power for good, and where it has done so much to promote the general interest of the entire com- munity. Mr. Carter is a man of high standing
in the county which has been his home and the scene of his activities for so many years, and en- joys the respect of all classes of citizens.
BARTLETT H. BUMP.
Bartlett H. Bump, supervisor of Wheatland township, is wholly a product, and essentially a representative, of the township in which he lives, having passed the whole of his life so far within its borders. He was born in the township on August 9, 1845, was reared amid its active indus- tries, was educated in its public schools and has ever since drawn from its soil his stature and his strength. His parents were Albert H. and Fannie (Hawkins) Bump, the former a native of Pal- myra, N. Y., and the latter of England. The fa- ther was a farmer in his native state and came to Michigan in 1833, locating in Lenawee coun- ty, where he remained five years and in 1838 he came to Hillsdale county, purchased eighty acres of land of George Crane, paying for it by seven years of faithful labor, even as did Jacob in the Scriptures for his wife. He also cleared up 100 acres, on section 34 in this township, and lived on that until 1871, when he again removed to Lena- wee county, where he passed the remainder of his days, dying in 1898. His wife died in 1872, leav- ing three sons and three daughters, all of whom are living, three of them residents of Hillsdale county. The paternal grandfather, Bartlett Bump, was a New Yorker and a soldier of the War of 1812. He came to Michigan in 1833 and to Hillsdale county in 1835. A man of great en- terprise he assisted greatly in building the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad through Hillsdale county and also in many other public improvements of value. He was active in politi- cal affairs, gave great attention to the develop- ment and government of the county, serving for a period of twenty years as justice of the peace and in several other local offices from time to time. His death occurred about 1877, when he was laid to his last, long rest with every demon- stration of popular esteem and affection.
Bartlett H. Bump, the interesting subject of this review, after being raised to manhood and
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educated in the township, which has been the scene of his useful labors, began the battle of life as a farmer, and he has followed that line of activity from his youth. He was married in 1875, to Miss Mary E. Tredwell, a daughter of Chaun- cy L. and Marcia (Church) Tredwell, natives of New York and early settlers in this state and Hillsdale county. Mr. and Mrs. Bump were the' parents of two children, Harry T. Bump, a re- spected resident of Kansas, and Marcia E., now . at school. Their mother died in 1890, and, in 1895, Mr. Bump contracted a second marriage, being united on this occasion with Miss Jennie Clark, a native of Hillsdale county and a daugh- ter of John Clark, long an esteemed citizen of this county. Mr. Bump has been a lifelong Re- publican in politics, taking active interest in the affairs of his party, serving its cause well in pri- vate station and in official positions. For four years he has been township supervisor and has rendered efficient service to the people of the township. He is an active member of the Macca- bees and the Patrons of Husbandry or Grangers. Throughout the county he is highly respected by all classes of the people as a progressive, far- seeing and representative citizen.
JUDSON D. CHAPPELL.
The secretary and treasurer of the Fredonia Washer Co. and also alderman from the second ward of the city, Judson D. Chappell, of Hills- dale, is one of the active and progressive men of the municipality, always forward in business mat- ters and displaying a keen and intelligent interest in public affairs which involve the welfare of the community. He comes of good old New England stock, his grandfather, Ezra Chappell, having been a native of Vermont and a soldier in the Black Hawk Indian War. He came to Michigan when he was well advanced in life and died in this county at a good old age. The maternal grand- mother, Roxana Carpenter, was a descendant of the Carpenters who came to America in the May- flower.
Judson D. Chappell was born on March 26, 1846, in Huron county, Ohio, his parents, John
and Harriet (Taylor) . Chappell, having moved there from their native state of New York about 1830. There the family remained until 1854, when they all moved to this county and settled in Cambria township, where the father purchased a tract of timber land which he cleared up and made his home for nearly a generation of human life, more than thirty years. In 1885 he moved to the town of Cambria and there he died in 1892 from the effects of an accident on the fair grounds in Hillsdale. He was a man of local prominence and was chosen from time to time to fill impor- tant township offices. His widow survived him seven years, dying in 1889. They had two sons and four daughters that reached years of ma- turity. Judson was reared and educated mainly in this county, having come here when he was eight years of age. He began life for himself as a farmer, following this, his chosen vocation, un- til 1882, when he engaged in merchandising at Cambria, there continuing his mercantile enter- prise for a period of twelve years. He then turned his attention to foundry and furnace oper- ations at Cambria, being engaged in that until 1896, when he retired from active business of that kind and moved to Hillsdale, where he has since resided. In 1900 he associated himself with John S. Parker, and others, in the organization of the Fredonia Washer Co., of which Mr. Parker is president and Mr. Chappell the secretary and treasurer. The company was organized with a capital stock of $12,500 for the purpose of manu- facturing clothes-washers and wringers, and from its inception it has been prosperous and progress- sive, continually expanding its trade and estab- lishing itself more firmly in public confidence and the business world.
Mr. Chappell was married in 1874 to Miss Julia Henry, a native of Ohio. They have three children, Will C., John H. and Myra. In polit- ical faith he has been a lifelong Republican and has rendered good service to his party from his early manhood. He does not seek or desire offi- cial station, but has accepted office at times for the general weal. He was superintendent of schools for some years in Cambria township, and, when a vacancy occurred in the city council in 1901, he
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was appointed to fill it, and, before the end of the same year, he was elected to the office for a full term. Since 1873 he has been an enthusiastic dev- otee before the altars of Freemasonry and he al- ways has his interest and his active aid enlisted in the support of any good enterprise for the ad- vancement or improvement of the community in which he lives, and among all classes of the people he is highly respected and esteemed.
ELON G. REYNOLDS.
Mr. Elon G. Reynolds, the accomplished editor of this compendium, was born in Lyons town- ship, Ionia county, Michigan, on May 7, 1841, and was one of eleven children, nine of whom grew to maturity. He is the youngest of five brothers who are all of the family now living. His parents came from the state of New York, and were married in Wayne county, Michigan, on October 30, 1828, and lived together sixty-one and one-half years. They moved to Ionia county before Michigan was admitted as a state, there being then but few families in that county, and there they engaged in the struggles and endured the privations common to the pioneer of that day.
The boy, Elon G., when less than nine years of age was thrown from a horse he was riding and kicked or struck by one following, the blow fracturing the skull so that several pieces of bone were removed. This injury, in some respects, turned the course of his after life, and prevented his going into the army when his next elder brother enlisted, the recuiting officer saying that Elon could not stand the concussion of a can- nonade. When less than sixteen years of age he came to Hillsdale College, arriving in Hillsdale on March 18, 1857, the last term of the second year. The next winter he taught a district school and the following spring was again a student of the college, being baptised during that term, and becoming a member of the Free Will Baptist church. When eighteen years of age he asked his father to release him from further service on the farm, taught school the following winter, and, in March, 1860, became a permanent resident of Hillsdale. He largely supported himself while
in college, sawing wood, which was then cut and marketed four feet long, gardening, doing chores, keeping books, etc. It was ninety miles from his former home to Hillsdale, but he walked and drove cows the whole distance at three different times. He was a member of the Amphictyon and Beethoven societies, sang in the choir, was a teacher in the Sunday-school, and its chorister for several years, when it met in the old college chapel. He completed the classical course in June, 1866.
After graduation he taught one year at Con- stantine, Mich., and, finding that his warm friends, Prof. and Mrs. F. B. Rice, were going to Europe in September, 1867, he decided to go with them. For nearly a year he was engaged in the study of German, French and Italian, at Leipsic, Germany. Besides taking trips to Ber- lin, Wittenberg, Pottsdam, and other points in Germany, he toured on his way home through Saxony, Bohemia, Austria, Bavaria, Italy, Swit- zerland, France, and England, "doing" the capi- tals of most of those countries and many other large cities. He saw an emperor in the person of William I, of Germany, and had also a near view of King John of Saxony, although he had never seen a president. During his absence the most important item of American news which he saw in the continental newspapers was the attempted impeachment of Andrew Johnson, and the Leip- ziger Tageblatt gave only two or three lines to this important announcement. On his return he arrived in New York on the night of the day of Grant's first election as President, in 1868, and the old flag never had more meaning or beauty to him than when he saw it waving again in his own country. When the public schools opened after the holidays of that year his services were sought as superintendent of the Hudson, Mich. schools, where he remained until June, 1871, when he declined a reelection.
In the fall of 1871, as chairman of the alumni endowment committee of the college, he under- took hte raising of the endowment of the alumni professorship, and procured pledges of more than $10,000, most of which have been paid. In Janu- ary, 1872, he was appointed the local agent of
Reynolds.
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some fire insurance companies, and has now one company of which he became agent in 1873. He was also an active life insurance agent for nearly thirty years, and in 1875, without his knowledge, he was chosen clerk of the Oak Grove Cemetery association, serving in that capacity for twenty-three years, until more than a thousand had been there buried. In 1876, he was commissioned a notary public and has been one almost continuously ever since. He has done much conveyancing and notary work dur- ing the twenty-seven years.
In the fall of 1876 he was chosen alderman to fill the vacancy of R. E. Whipple, resigned. In April, 1877, he was appointed city clerk and served as such for eight years. During six of these years he was a member of the school board, serving two years as director. In 1878, without any seeking on his part, he was chosen chairman of the Republican county committee, and that year, which was when Greenbackism was at its height, the party made one of its hottest fights in the county, electing every man on the ticket against the combined fusion opposition of all parties. There were 112 different Republican campaign speeches that fall by forty-six different speakers. Mr. Reynolds was chairman of the county committee six years and its secretary for two years. While serving in these capacities he also acted as deputy for County Treasurer Le- Fleur and County Clerk Barre, and, the latter hav- ing been elected cashier of the Second National Bank, Mr. Reynolds, as his deputy, on March I, 1883, began to act as clerk of the county and of the circuit court, filling that position until January I, 1885. During this last year he drew the orders for the payment of all moneys expended by the county, city, school district and cemetery, and these were only "side issues" to his regular busi- less-insurance. He had been married in 1880, . nd his wife, nee Emily A. Benedict, was one of e "help-meet" kind, not only housekeeper, but ice assistant and deputy. Their only son, Leon B. Reynolds, is now a sophomore in college. On August 19, 1879, while Mr. Reynolds "lay sick of a fever," the Waldron block, in which his office was situated, was destroyed by fire, and the rec-
ords of the city, the cemetery, the church (of which he was clerk for seven years), the class of 1866 (of which he was then secretary), and the alumni association of the college, all then in his custody, were wholly or partly burned, entailing great inconvenience in all after work.
In 1879 he was elected a trustee of the college and is now serving in that capacity for the twenty- fifth year, being also a member of its prudential committee. Upon the death of Hon. Henry Wal- dron, in 1880, he became his successor as college auditor, which position he held until his election as secretary and treasurer, in June, 1888, and he has also been auditor for the last three years. On account of his wife's poor health and to take a much needed rest, he resigned as secretary and treasurer of the college in September, 1898, and, with his family, made a trip of nine and one-half months to. California and the Pacific coast.
Mr. Reynolds has occupied many positions of trust without emolument, as eight years treasurer of the college alumni association, ten years as its historian or alternate, twenty years on its endow- ment committee and nearly as long on its pruden- tial committee. He has been two years secretary or treasurer of his church society, getting it out of debt and keeping it so, and is now the treasurer of the Michigan association of Free Baptists, comprising 104 churches and 5,828 members. He has been guardian of many minors and others, and has acted as admin- istrator and executor in the settlement of es- tates to the satisfaction of all paries concerned. By the mass of people the prodigious amount of work of which he has been capable, and which he has performed, and the usefulness and unsel- fishness of a large part of that work, given wholly without regard to recompense or appreciation, will never be known. From the foregoing state- ment it will be seen that Mr. Reynolds has been, for forty years or more, in responsible offices and positions of trust, by appointment, and quite un- solicited by himself, but that he has never (al- though he has always been a loyal member of his party and served it with ability), had his name' printed on a ticket for an elective office, or re- ceived any "plum" for his services.
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He has known more of the students of the college from first to last, than any other person living, having attended every commencement since the first, except two, and having seen all of the more than 1,000 graduates, except one. He taught classes in college both before and after graduation, including the subjects of mathe- matics, Latin and German. He takes satisfaction in remembering among his pupils, Gen. Frank D. Baldwin, Judge Victor H. Lane and Hon. Henry R. Pattengill. Mr. Reynolds is as genial as he is successful and as modest as he is capable. He is perhaps unconscious of his leadership and mas- tery among men, and would probably be the last to know that the people of Hillsdale hold him in the highest esteem as one of their most repre- sentative, serviceable and accomplished citizens, one of their safest and wisest business men, one of their most stimulating and productive educa- tional and moral forces.
PROF. MELVILLE W. CHASE.
Prof. Melville W. Chase has passed more than a generation of human life and more than half of his own in Michigan as the popular and efficient professor of music at Hillsdale College, contrib- uting to the cultivation and refinement of the peo- ple by spreading the refining influence of that divine art, which to countless millions is health in sickness, solace in sorrow, companionship in lone- liness, wealth in poverty, liberty in bondage and even consolation in death, which heightens the pleasure of life's gayest moments and with a soothing radiance softens its darkest hours. He first saw the light of this world at the little town of Minot in the far away state of Maine, on Feb- ruary 18, 1842 .. His parents were J. Warren and Mary (Bumpus) Chase, also native in that state, which had been the home of his ancestors for generations. The maternal ancestors were early located in Massachusetts, coming hither from England in one of the first vessels. The Bumpus family is generations old in Europe, originally of French extraction, the former spelling of the name being Bompasse.
The very earliest of the American progenitors of this branch of the Chase family came to New England from Old England in the year 1626, and, after that time, the name runs with credit through all the local chronicles of the section, whether they record the beneficent victories of peaceful con- quest over nature or the bloody conflicts of the patriots with savage aborigines or despotic for- eign foes. The grandfather of the Professor was Edmund Chase, of Newbury, Mass., a mechanic and farmer in times of peace and a gallant sol- clier in the War of 1812. His son, the Professor's father, was also a soldier by inclination and prac- tice, when there was need of soldiers, being a valued member of the state militia for many years, until advancing age made it advisable for him to leave the service. He is now living in Connecti- cut "in a green old age," after a long career as a well-to-do farmer and skillful carpenter. His wife passed away in 1868. They were the parents of four sons, all living, and one daughter who died a number of years ago.
Professor Chase received his preliminary scholastic training at the district schools, of his native town, then attended Hebron Academy, for more than a hundred years a noted institution of learning, and, after leaving that, in 1857, went to the Maine State Seminary, since developed into Bates College, that very beneficial and capable educational institution located at Lewiston, Maine. He had begun the study of music some time previous to going to college under the tuition of Prof. W. K. Eminger, of Lewiston, and after- ward he continued it under the instruction of Professor Schultz, of Boston, Mass., under whose competent tutelage he remained until September, 1864. He then enlisted in the Union army as a member of Co. E, Ninth Maine Infantry, was at once detailed as regimental clerk, serving in that capacity until he was mustered out. The regi- ment became a part of the Army of the Potomac, and after joining it the Professor was in all the historic battles and engagements of that army. On being discharged from the army in July, 1865, he returned to Maine, began the teaching of mu- sic at Lewiston and also studied in Boston to per- fect himself in his profession. In the spring of 1869 he moved to Boston, in the fall of that year
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coming to Hillsdale to take the position in the college faculty which he still holds, being the only member of the faculty of that day who is now at the college. He found his department of the col- lege course feeble, unappreciated and considered unimportant. He took hold of it with vigor, de- termined that it should rise to its proper impor- tance and dignity ; and by his continued, assidu- ous effort, ability and genius he has made it one of the best and most popular schools of music in this part of the country.
Professor Chase was married in Maine in 1867, with Miss Olive C. Poland, a native of the state, a gifted singer and a teacher of vocal music of high repute. She died in 1874, leaving one child, Clarence M: Chase, a graduate of Hillsdale College and now a resident of Boston, Mass., where he maintains a studio and is a successful teacher of the piano. The Professor's second marriage occurred in 1877, being then united with Mrs. Eleanor (McMillan) Hill, a native of Can- ada, who came to Michigan in her childhood. They have one living child, Lauin D. Chase, a civil engineer in the employ of the Pere Marquette Railroad. Professor Chase is a Republican in political faith, but is not an active partisan and has no desire for political or other public office. He is an interested Freemason, belonging to the lodge, the chapter and the commandery, and is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
THE HILLSDALE DEMOCRAT.
The first newspaper published in Hillsdale county was the Gazette, which appeared in 1838. The Gazette was published for twenty years and then became the Hillsdale Democrat, having since 1848 been published under that name. The founder of the Hillsdale Standard, the late Har- vey B. Rowlson, was wont to boast to the present publisher of the Democrat of the distinction that he was the first "printer's devil" in Hillsdale county, having served his apprenticeship in the office of the old Gazette. The experience of James I. Dennis, the veteran publisher of the Hillsdale County Gazette, of Jonesville, was 'sim- ilar in this respect to that of Mr. RowIson.
The Hillsdale Democrat is the oldest paper in the county, having been in existence for more than sixty-five years, for more than forty-five years of that time being published under its pres- ent title. The early history of the paper would be extremely interesting to relate, did time and space permit a detailed review, for it is rich in incidents and events intimately connected with those remote periods. Its first establishment in the open air with merely a roof to protect the type and press from the elements ; its precarious exis- tence for some months as a daily during the Civil War, with the late Judge Michael McIntyre, then at home on a furlough, as editor-in-chief : the vicissitudes and ups-and-downs of its long career ; the striking personality of some of its for- mer publishers ; its various offices and locations, all would be of interest. But the limits of a sketch for a publication of the character of this volume preclude an extended recital.
The present publisher, H. C. Blackman, came to Hillsdale seventeen years ago and entered the office in the employ of his father, the late Edgar A. Blackman, who purchased the plant of Capt. W. H. Tallman, its publisher for the preceding twenty years. Mr. E. A. Blackman died in May, 1892, and his son has since published the paper, and been its sole owner since the spring of 1899.
Though the Democrat has been of a political faith at variance with that of the dominant party of the county for more than two-score years, yet it has always enjoyed a gratifying support, and the very fact that it has existed to its present ven- erable age, would seem to sufficiently indicate that it has attained some measure of practical success. At the present time the establishment, for its kind, is second to none in southern Michi- gan. It is located in a permanent home on Broad street, opposite the handsome courthouse square, occupying two entire floors of the brick block into which the Democrat was moved when, the building was purchased for the purpose in the fall of 1901. The mechanical equipment of the office now embraces two fine cylinder presses, two job presses, folder, etc., the machinery being driven by a fine gasoline engine. The large as- sortment of types and printing materials makes
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practicable and easy a large output of commer- cial printing. The circulation of the Democrat reached the two thousand mark some time ago, and it is increasing.
WILLIAM B. CHILDS.
William B. Childs, one of the pioncer mer- chants of Hillsdale, and for nearly twenty years the proprietor of its leading drygoods and carpet emporium, has found in the retired life he is now living in the calm and peaceful autumnal even- ing of his days, that there is, even on this side of the grave, a haven where the storms of life beat not, or are felt only as soft breezes or in the gentle undulations of the unrippled and mirroring waters, a rest profound and blissful as that of the soldier who has returned from the dangers, the hardships, the turmoil of war to the bosom of a dear domestic circle, whose blessings he never prized at half their value till he lost them. This haven, this rest, is a serene, a hale, a cheerful old age, in which the tired traveler abandons the dusty, crowded and jostling highway of life for one of its shadiest and least noted by-ways, where the din of traffic and of worldly strife has no longer magic for his ear, he having run his race of toil, or trade, or ambition, and accomplished his full day's work.
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