USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77
Richard R. Britten came to Michigan in 1835 and entered a tract of government land in Pittsford township on which he settled a year la- ter, after his marriage, which occurred on August 28, 1836. On this land he expended the labor of his mature life, clearing and improving it, add- ing to its fertility and attractiveness by continued and well-applied industry ; here, also, on Novem- ber 19, 1875, he died at the age of sixty-three years, leaving eight children, being mourned by the community as a public spirited citizen who was always ready to aid in the promotion of every worthy enterprise, also as a very intelligent gen- tleman, diligently studious of political literature and well posted on leading questions of the day.
Two years after his death, upon November 29, 1877, his widow married with Lorenzo Bark- man, a native of Albany, New York, and an early settler in Michigan. He lived at various places in this state, finally locating at Hudson in this county, where he was for fourteen years engaged in the grocery business. After his marriage he lived with his wife and family on the farm on which she settled with her first husband when she was a bride of eighteen years, which was her home for a period of sixty-seven years and where she died a few years ago. She was born in Sen- eca county, New York, on February 29, 1820, and came with her parents, James and Elizabeth (Chandler) Collins, to the territory of Michigan in 1833, and was thus able to see the country in all the wildness of its natural state and to bear her portion in the work of reducing it to fertility and fruitfulness. She experienced all the priva- tions, hardships and dangers of frontier life, when provisions and the conveniences of daily living were scarce and hard to get, when the struggle for existence and advancement was constant and
arduous, and when every hour, at times, was fraught with peril from savage beasts or still more savage men.
And in this state she has lived to see the region developed and fructified, teeming with the products of peaceful and systematic industry, equipped with every facility for comfortable liv- ing, great and active in the might of its commer- cial, agricultural and industrial energy, rich in all the blessings of civilization and moral prog- ress. Her story, if fully told, would thrill with interest, glow with pathos, sparkle with incident and darken with tragedy. It would be the oft- told tale of the progress of a state from barbarism to cultivated life, and it would link together two epochs of history far apart in time and much more widely distant from each other in conditions and features.
Mr. and Mrs. DeVoe have one child, their daughter, Ella M., the wife of A. H. McConnell, of Homer, in this state. Her father has been a lifelong Democrat in politics. He has been the choice of his party for a number of local offices, but the overwhelming adverse majority in the township and county has rendered the success of any man of his faith impossible at the elections. He is an active member of the Patrons of Hus- bandry, belonging to the grange at Pittsford. Mrs. DeVoe, has vivid recollections of the dan- gers of the carly times, when bears, wolves and Indians were frequent visitors to the neighbor- hood of every household, and the wild animals often made night hideous with their horrible and discordant noises, holding all human life cheap in comparison with the gratification of their ap- petites for slaughter and prey.
JACOB J. DEAL.
Jacob J. Deal, the founder of the carriage manufactory conducted at Jonesville, Mich., by the J. J. Deal & Son Co., is a native of Seneca county, N. Y., born on January 17, 1827, being a son of Peter and Elizabeth (Stahl) Deal, natives of Pennsylvania. The father was a farmer who died when his son, Jacob, was a child, leaving four sons, two of whom are living. Mr. Deal
-
HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
245
was reared and educated in his native state, where his loved mother passed from earth to those ac- tivities that have no weariness, getting only a lim- ited amount of book learning from the primitive schools of his day, when he could be spared from the work on the farm, where he lived and was occupied until he was eighteen years old. He then learned the trade of a blacksmith and worked at it until 1854 when he came to this state, locat- ing first at Clinton in Lenawee couny. After a residence of three years at that place he moved to Sturgis, and, a year later, in 1858, he came to Jonesville and opened a blacksmith shop, wherein he did all kinds of custom work until 1865.
Mr. Deal then sold the shop, erected two small buildings on the site now occupied by his factory, and there began to build wagons and buggies, doing all the work by hand and employ- ing from twelve to fifteen men in repairing, as well as on new work. Soon thereafter he began the manufacture of road carts and sold his first carload at Norfolk, Va. There came a quick de- mand for his excellent products, and, as the busi- ness grew, he enlarged his plant from time to time, until in 1890, he erected the factory he now owns and operates, which employs over 100 men and annually turns out more than 4,000 products of various kinds. The most of his early sales were made in Indiana and adjacent territory, but he has now jobbing houses in many western and eastern cities and finds his output commanding a ready market in all parts of the United States. In 1891 his son, George V. Deal, was taken into the firm and since then has been an active part- ner in the business. By rigid attention to busi- ness and the inflexible rule of meeting the want for their goods with the best product attainable for the price, the firm has built up a very large and gratifying success, and now has a trade which may well create a feeling of decided satis- faction. Mr. Deal has been married three times. The first occurred on October 23, 1849, at Syra- cuse, New York, with Mrs. Catherine (Franz) Holman, a native of Canoga, N. Y. She died in 1889 leaving one child, her son, George V. Deal. The second marriage was to Jane Sinclair, who died ·in 1899. The third marriage occurred in
1901, with Miss Caroline Champlin, a resident of Jonesville.
Mr. Deal has been a lifelong Republican, but is not an active partisan and has never sought or accepted public office. He has for many years been a zealous member of the Masonic fraternity and has taken great interest in the progress and workings of the craft. As the oldest manufac- turer in the county, he has to his credit a long rec- ord of usefulness in building up the mercantile and industrial interests of this section of the state, having aided materially in every form of public improvement and in the promotion of every means of elevation of the community. His life has been eminently useful and he is held in high esteem as one of the potential factors of progress and development and one of the most representa- tive citizens of the county.
WILLIAM R. DITMARS, M. D.
Born in Lenawee county on April 1, 1846, and a resident of the state continuously since that time, William R. Ditmars, M. D., of North Ad- ams, has passed more than half-a-century in Michigan, having now to his credit a record of usefulness among her people which it is not the lot of many men to make, unostentatious and un- pretentious as he is in the performance of his daily duties. His parents were William V. and Catherine A. (Pelty) Ditmars, and his paternal American progenitors came from Holland, settled at what was then New Amsterdam, now New York city, and later moved to New Jersey; on the maternal side he descends from gallant men and devoted women who lived from time imme- morial in the Scottish Highlands. The Doctor's grandparents emigrated to Ohio in the early days of its history, there prospered and founded fam- ilies. Baptists and Scotch Presbyterians in relig- ious affiliation, they were uncompromising Whigs in politics. The Doctor was one of four children, of whom two others, daughters, are living. The parents came to Michigan and located in Lenawee county in 1840, where their industrious lives end- ed, that of the father on October 5, 1865, and that of the mother on July 18, 1876. He received his
2.46
HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIIG.IN.
scholastic training in the public schools and at the Hudson high school in his native county, be- gan the study of medicine under the efficient in- struction of Doctors Whelan and Brewer, of Hillsdale, and then entered the medical depart- ment of the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1872.
After receiving his diploma as an M. D., Doc- tor Ditmars settled at North Adams and began that active and skillful practice of medicine and surgery to which he has since faithfully devoted himself among a people with whom he has since remained. Through all gradations of the practice lic has laborcd sedulously, has become strongly established in the village of his adoption as one of its lcading professional men, a factor of po- tency and recognized ability in public local affairs. He is an ardent Republican in politics, giving to the welfare of his party good and steady but not self-seeking service. His ability both as a party worker and as a physician has, however, been recognized in his appointment as a member of the board of pension cxaminers of Hillsdale coun- ty, while his wisdom and public spirit as a citizen has been acknowledged by his election for seven years as the president of the village. These posi- tions he now holds and he has also served for a number of years as village and township health officer. He is an enthusiastic working Freemason in lodge, chapter and council. For ten ycars he has been master of his lodge, during this timc ably guiding its course along the lines of loftiest light in the mystic symbolism and of financial safety and progress. He also belongs to the order of the Eastern Star.
Doctor Ditmars was united in marriage on July 4, 1866, with Miss Ellen M. Higley, a native of Michigan and a daughter of Harvey and Ma- ria M. (Terwilliger) Higley, whose ancestors ac- cording to the family tradition came over in the Mayflower and ably helped to make the history of New England. Her parents came to Michigan in 1840, where in his new home her father was a successful and prosperous mechanic. His only son was killed at the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., in the Civil War. Two children were the fruit of this first marriage of the Doctor, Joseph-
ine E. (Ditmars) Williams, who resides in Mos- cow-township, in this county, and William H., a prosperous and popular physician at Jonesville. of whom a personal memoir appears in this vol- ume. Mrs. Ditmars died on November 18, 1890. and on September 8, 1892. Doctor Ditmars married with his present wife, who was form- erly Miss Della E. Kics, also a native of Hillsdale county, a daughter of Francis and Esther ( Bar- more) Kies, natives of New York of Scotch an- cestry. Her father came to Michigan after his graduation from Yale College, took up 800 acres of land on Moscow Plains where he was pros- pered in the cultivation and use of it. He was a Whig in political faith and a. Presbyterian in church connection. He died at the age of cighty- two and his wife at ninety-two. For a quarter of a century Mrs. Ditmars was a valued tcacher in Kansas and Michigan, having taught in the high school at Lincoln in the former state for two ycars.
DR. WILLIAM H. DITMARS.
Among the · favorable factors of progress and prosperity in Hillsdale county, must be numbered its successful, diligent and conscientious profes- sional men. Every line of professional life is well represented in the county, the representatives bc- ing men of high character, finc capabilities and an unfaltering scnsc of duty. One of the leading practitioners of medicine and surgery in the coun- ty is Dr. William H. Ditmars, of Jonesville, who was born in the neighboring town of North Ad- ams, on November 28, 1873, a sketch of his par- ents, William R. and Ellen M. (Higley) Ditmars. appearing upon other pages of this volume. He received his scholastic training in the public schools in this county and at Hillsdale College, where he passed two years beginning in 1889, then taught school for two years, then, in 1893, began the study of medicine with his father, and the same year entered the Detroit Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1896. He at once began practicing as a physician and surgeon at Jonesville and has since made that place his home, the center of his active and representative practice. Throughout the county he is known as
247
HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
a physician and surgeon of high rank, well versed in the technique of his profession and very suc- cessful in its practice. He was married in 1897 to Miss Etha Mae Smith, daughter of Seth H. and Ellen (Pardee) Smith, of Hillsdale, who died of typhoid fever on May 10, 1901.
Doctor Ditmars is a Republican in politics and has filled a number of local offices at the behest of his party, among them being that of health officer for the village and township, positions in which he has rendered efficient service to the com- munity, winning high commendation as an exec- utive officer of vigor, determination and breadth of view. He has also for some years been a mem- ber of the county central committee' of his party, being also appointed to the pension board for this county in 1897. He is an active member of the State Medical Association and the American Medical Association, taking great interest in the proceedings of these bodies. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and has filled important offices in his lodge with credit to himsef and benefit to the craft. Both in professional circles and among the people of the township he is highly esteemed and commands general confidence. His interest in all public affairs involving the welfare of the · community is strong and abiding ; in social life he is genial, entertaining and considerate ; in poli- tics is patriotic rather than partisan, never, how- ever, surrendering any of his own convictions. He is an estimable type of Michigan's most serv- iceable citizenship.
JAMES H. DENNING.
James H. Denning is a well and favorably known farmer of Moscow township, in this coun- ty, having been an active factor in the growth and development of this section for more than thirty- five years, coming here in 1867 with his parents, when he was but seventeen years old. He was born in Somersetshire, England, on November 29, 1850, son of Robert M. and Ann (Notley) Denning, who were also natives of old Somerset- shire, reared there to lives of industry in agricul- tural pursuits. The grandfather, Henry Den- ning, was a Dorsetshire man, belonging to a fam-
ily of long and creditable residence in that part of the country. In his early manhood he moved in- to Somersetshire, where he passed the remainder of his life. In 1867, the parents of James H.Den- ning emigrated to the United States, making their way almost immediately to Hillsdale county, settling in Scipio township, where the father pur- chased eighty acres of land, which he soon after sold and then removed to Moscow township, where he lived until his death in 1877. The mother survived him eight years, dying in 1885. They had fourteen children, of whom six sons and three daughters are living, all but one daugh- ter being residents of this county. Their mater- nal grandfather, William Notley, was also a na- tive of Dorsetshire. For a portion of his life he was connected with the British military service, holding a commission and a rank of importance in the army.
James H. Denning grew to the age of seven- ten in his native land and received a limited edu- cation in its schools, in 1867 accompanied his parents to this country, where on the homestead which they here established, he lived and worked until the death of his father. He then began operations for himself, and, in 1879, purchased the farm of 140 acres on which he now resides. This, by careful, skillful and well-applied labor. he has made very fertile and productive, and has improved with comfortable and commodious buildings, which are among the best in the town- ship. His life has been one of peaceful industry and of profitable pursuits, conducted in harmony with the best interests and aspirations of his lo- cality. It has brought him good returns for his work and the general respect and approval of the community.
Mr. Denning was married on July 4, 1875, to Miss Axie Shults, a native of Moscow township and a daughter of George and Mary (Fullerton) Shults, who were early settlers in the county: Four children have blessed their union, their sons, Charles A., Frank E., married to Hazel M. Cook, of Jonesville, a daughter of N. R. Cook (see sketch elsewhere), and resides at Racine, Wis .; James E. and Henry Guy, all of whom are living at home. In politics the head of the house
248
HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
has been a Republican all of his mature life, but he has never sought office or taken any especially active part in party affairs. He has, however, an abiding and thoughtful interest in whatever per- tains to the good of the country and the advance- ment of his section. Mrs. Denning's father, George Shults, was in the Union army as a mem- bery of Battery G, First Michigan Artillery, this keeping him in the service throughout the Civil War, in which he confronted innumerable dan- gers and suffered untold hardships in Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, and received a wound in the shoulder from a shell. Mr. Denning is one of the highly esteemed and most representative citizens of the county.
AUGUSTUS W. DOUGLASS.
The late Augustus W. Douglass, of Hillsdale county, was wholly a product, and essentially a representative of Wheatland township. In this township, in one of its primitive log houses of the early days, he was born July 22, 1837, in its pub- lic schools he received an elementary education, on one of its untamed, uncultivated farms, which his parents took up as government land, he ac- quired the habits of industry, frugality and thrift which distinguished him through life, on another of its farms he was prospered and grew comfort- able in worldly wealth, and, to it after a time, he added a part of the old homestead by purchase. Here he passed his useful and instructive life, and here, at its close, he was laid to his last, long, dreamless rest with many manifestations of pop- ular esteem and affection.
Mr. Douglass's grandfather was Samuel S. Douglass, a native of New England, supposed to have been born in Maine, when that now great commonwealth was merely a district of Massa- chusetts. He was a soldier in the Revolution and died in New Hampshire, after a long and eventful career and a life of great usefulness as a far-see- ing and progressive farmer. His son, Samuel S. Douglass, was born and reared in Connecticut, and, when he became a man, he married with Ta- mar French, of New Hampshire, and sought the rich lands of the far West for the purpose of fol-
lowing the vocation of his father, coming to Michigan in 1835, and, after halting at Ann Ar- bor for a year, located on 160 acres of public land in Wheatland township, of Hillsdale county. There were no roads, except the old Chicago road, the only other lines of travel through the trackless forest being Indian trails. With the aid of his faithful wife he erected a little log cabin, as their first home in this new country, and began to clear the land for cultivation, applying their labor on the north half of their tract.
For twenty-seven years they lived and labored on this farm, gradually bringing it into systemat- ical productiveness and comeliness, and, in 1863, when they retired to a life of rest at Hillsdale, it was one of the most fertile, fruitful and highly improved farms in the township. The evening of their days was passed at their town home, where their final summons reached them, that of the father in 1873, that of the mother in 1887. Their family consisted of seven sons and one daughter. One son, Dwight E. Douglass, was a soldier in the Eighteenth Michigan Infantry of the Union army. He died while in service, at Nashville, Tenn., of smallpox. Those now living are Fran- cis J., a respected citizen of Iowa ; Sarah F., now Mrs. Slayton, of Illinois ; Justus F., a prosperous. farmer of this county; George A., in business at Toledo, Ohio; Edwin N., living at Paw Paw, in this state. Their father, a Free Will Baptist, took an interest in church affairs, helping in the erection of all the early church buildings for his denomination in this part of the country.
Augustus W. Douglass was reared on the pa- ternal homestead and rendered material aid in making it fertile and homelike. When he reached years of maturity he purchased a farm in the neighborhood and, some years later, bought a part of his father's place. On this land he made his home until his death in May, 1901. He was married in December, 1862, to Miss Sarah J. Pot- ter, a native of Lenawee county, Michigan, and a daughter of James and Sally A. (Walling) Pot- ter, who came to Michigan in 1835 and passed the rest of their lives in Lenawee county. Mr. Doug- lass was one of the representative farmers of the township and held a high place in public estima-
249
HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
tion. He was an ardent and unyielding Prohibi- tionist in political faith, and was an active and devout member of the Congregational church.
JUSTUS F. DOUGLASS, like his brother Augus- tus, was born on the farm belonging to his father in this township, his life beginning on April 21, 1842. He attended the public schools of the neighborhood, finished his education with a four years' course at Hillsdale College, and with one year passed at Oberlin, Ohio. After leaving col- lege he began farming and has kept to that voca- tion ever since, only varying it by a few years of teaching, which he performed in connection with his farming operations in his early manhood. He was married, in 1867, to Miss Mary Emma Brad- ley, a native of Monroe county, Michigan, and a daughter of Eber and Hannah (Whitney) Brad- ley, the former born and reared in Connecticut, and the latter in New York. They were married in the east and came to this state about 1835, set- tling in Monroe county and making that their permanent home. In politics Mr. Douglass is a Republican. He served four years as town clerk, and he has been for a long time an active and ap- preciated school inspector. He is a deacon of the Congregational church, of which his wife is also a valued member. They have six children : Grant E., living in Huron county ; Dwight J., a resident of Van Buren county; Hugh S., at home ; Watie E., now Mrs. H. J. Cunningham, of this county ; and Olive T. and Ned E., at the paternal home. Mr. Douglass has lived an unostentatious, use- ful life, among this people, by whom his family name is held in high esteem on account of the public service to the community and county for which it stands, and by reason of the good exam- ple of worth and merit it has given to the sec- tion. Of its members none is more honored or more justly revered than himself.
ANDREW C. EDWARDS.
One of the best-known and most honored citi- zens of Hillsdale county, Michigan, is Hon. An- drew C. Edwards, the subject of this sketch. A native of the state of Michigan, he was born in the county of Lenawee on March 19, 1841, the son
of Asa G. and Margaret (Peters) Edwards, the former a native of the state of New York, and the latter of New Jersey. His father followed the occupation of farming, and removed in early life from his native state to Michigan, where he was among the first pioneers of that section of the country. He passed away in March, 1881, after a long and successful life in the state of his adop- tion. The mother is still living, at the advanced age of ninety-two years.
Andrew C. Edwards grew to manhood in Hillsdale county, and received his preliminary education at the public schools in the vicinity of his boyhood's home. Subsequently he attended the Hillsdale College and pursued a course of study at that institution of learning. After the completion of his education, he engaged in the business of farming in Adams township, assisting his father in the care and management of the home farm. He remained here for many years, meeting with success, and is still the owner of the old family homestead, where so many years of his active life were passed. In 1890 he purchased the place where he now resides, which is situated about one and one-half miles east of the city of Hillsdale, and thither removed his family. He has here a fine suburban home, consisting of some sixty acres, thoroughly improved, with appropri- ate buildings, having all conveniences necessary to make life comfortable.
Mr. Edwards was united in marriage, in 1861, with Miss Franc A. Botsford, a native of Water- loo, New York, a daughter of Hon. George H. Botsford, who, for many years, was one of the leading citizens of Hillsdale county, Michigan, who at one time held the office of county superin- tendent of schools. He was widely known as a leading educator and successful church worker. To Mr. and Mrs. Edwards were born five chil- dren, Clara, wife of W. H. Porter, of Adams township; Grace W., who, prior to her death, in April, 1899, married M. E. Welper and became the mother of two children ; Bertha M., recently graduated as a trained nurse and appointed as- sistant supervisor of the insane hospital at Kala- mazoo ; Georgia B., wife of Fred Dubois, of Bankers; Erma, at the paternal home.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.