USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan > Part 53
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Harmon Fowle grew to manhood in Moscow township, receiving his education in the district schools, attending principally the one erected on the homestead by his father, who also employed and paid the teacher. He assisted in the work of clearing the farm and getting it under cultivation, steadily following farming from his youth, carry- ing on his operations without an interruption in this township from the beginning of his career. He married, in Pennsylvania, in 1864, Miss Belle M. Ladd, a native of Jackson county in this state. They have had five children, two of whom are deceased. Those living are Orris J., of this coun- ty; Byron C., of Racine, Wisconsin, and Lula, wife of W. D. Harris, of Moscow township. Mr. Fowle has been a Democrat from his early man- hood and has served in a number of township offices, as well as a four years' term as postmaster, discharging their duties with credit to himself and benefit to the community.
Dr. Orrin Fowle, a brother of Harmon Fowle and one of the leading physicians and sur- geons of the county, was born in Livingston county, New York, on December 20, 1831, and, when he was two years old he came with his parents to Michigan, since which time his home
has been in Moscow township in this county, with the exception of a few years spent in other states, several in Ohio and one in Georgia. He received his elementary academic education in the district schools near his home and his more advanced literary instruction at a select school on Moscow Plains and at the Michigan Central Col- lege, at Spring Arbor, spending nearly four years at the last named institution. Immediately there- after he taught two terms of school in southern Ohio, then for two years read medicine under the capable direction of Dr. B. L. Hill, of Berlin Heights, Ohio, who was a professor in the West- ern Homeopathic College at Cleveland, in which Doctor Fowle matriculated in 1857, and from which he was graduated in 1859.
After graduation he returned to Moscow, be- gan immediately the practice of his profession and since then has been actively engaged in it at this location except one year which he spent in Georgia. In connection with his profession he has for many years successfully carried on ex- tensive farming operations in the township. In 1860, in the state of Georgia, he was united in marriage with Miss Jeannette C. McLean, a. native of Glasgow, Scotland, and they have one child, Susanna C., the wife of William H. T. Wal- ker, of Augusta, Ga. Doctor Fowle has never taken an active part in political affairs, but has served the township creditably as its health offi- cer. He is one of the well and favorably known men of the county, standing high in the general estimation of the people.
CHARLES H. SMITH.
Among the well-known citizens and sub- stantial business men of Hillsdale county, Michi- gan, is the subject of this sketch, who resides on a farm a mile and a half south of North Adams. He is a native of the state of New York, born in Saratoga county on September 12, 1834. His parents were Abijah and Sarah (Corey) Smith, natives of the Empire state, where the father, whose father was also born in New York, fol- lowed contracting and building, being a carpen- ter and joiner by trade, being also to some ex-
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tent engaged in farming. During the infancy of the subject of this review, in 1836, his parents removed from their native state, and established a new home in Michigan, on a farm about one mile north of the present site of North Adams. Here the father, in addition to the cultivation of his farm, also engaged in building operations, many of the houses and barns in this section of the county being erected under his supervision. He continued to reside here, active in business pursuits, up to the time of his death, which oc- curred at North Adams about 1880. The mother also passed away at the same place in 1876. Three of their five sons are still living, all of them residing in Michigan.
Charles H. Smith grew to manhood in the woods of Michigan, and among his first duties here as a young boy was to frighten the flocks of wild pigeons from the wheat fields of his ROBERT A. SINCLAIR. father's farm. His opportunities for obtaining an education were limited, but he availed him- For more than a century the excellent fam- ily to which the subject of this sketch belongs self of such means as were at hand, and at- tended the schools, taught in the log school- . has lived on American soil and added to the house, whenever his other duties permitted him to do so. Upon arriving at years of maturity, he first secured employment as a farm laborer. and subsequently was engaged in the manu- facture of the brick with which was constructed Hillsdale College. From the earnings which he had saved in these employments, he purchased a farm of his own, and was engaged in the culti- vation of the soil for a number of years. In 1878 he .purchased his present farm property, where he has made his residence since that time.
On April 22, 1857, Mr. Smith was united in marriage in the county of Hillsdale with Miss ยท Mary Judd, a daughter of Ethel Judd. To their union have been born seven children, six of whom are living, Harriet M., now Mrs. Houts ; Eunice B., now Mrs. Crisp ; Sarah E., now Mrs. Fisher, of Chicago; Frank A .; Frederick E .; Charles E. The last two named now reside in the city of Tacoma, Washington. The one de- ceased, James H., died on January 27, 1864. On May 24, 1895, his wife, Mary (Judd) Smith, passed from her earthly home, and, on January 30, 1900, Mr. Smith married Angie H. Stafford,
a resident of Hillsdale, Michigan. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, being in other ways highly respected by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. Politically, Mr. Smith is affiliated with the Democratic party, being a staunch believer in the doctrines of Thomas Jefferson. He has never sought any political office, but has preferred to devote his entire time and attention to the care and man- agement of his private business interests, in which he has met with marked and deserved success. He is now one of the oldest settlers of the county, and his long and useful life in Hillsdale county have brought to him the esteem and regard of all with whom his long years of residence have brought him into business or social contact.
productive labor of our peole. Although him- self a native of New York, born on July 28, 1834, his father, Daniel H. Sinclair, was a native of Scotland and came to America with his par- ents in 1797, founding a home in the state of New York. The mother, whose maiden name was Jane Proudfit, was born and reared in Pennsylvania. The father was a farmer, being engaged in that pursuit in New York until 1839 when he came to this state and located in Mos- cow township, Hillsdale county, where he re- sided for five years, then removed to Jones- ville, residing there until his death in 1868, be- ing a railroad man, as well as a farmer, after coming to Michigan. His wife died in 1895 aged eighty-eight years. They were the parents of ten children, six of whom are now living, their son Robert A. being the second born and the eldest son.
Robert A. Sinclair was reared and educated in this county, and, while yet a young man, be- gan working on a railroad. He followed this occupation for fourteen years, during seven of them officiating as the conductor of a freight
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train on the Lake Shore road. At the end of his railroad service, in January, 1869, he came to Jonesville, to become the clerk and salesman in the hardware store of J. S. Lewis, where he was employed for thirteen years. In 1873 he was appointed postmaster of Jonesville by President Grant, and held the office for eleven years there- after. He also served for one year as the village recorder and also one as the village marshal. In politics he has ever been a lifelong Republican. With patriotic zeal during the Civil War, he made two attempts to join the Union army, but was each time rejected for physical defects.
Mr. Sinclair is now one of the few pioneers living in the county, being a fine type of that hardy race which reclaimed this section of the state from the wilderness and made it fruitful with the products of civilization and cultivated life. His high character, genial manner, oblig- ing disposition and his constant regard for the rights and feelings of others have ever secured for him the respect 'and esteem of all classes. His life has been an inspiration and a stimulus to useful endeavor. It has blessed the com- munity with a citizenship, elevated and elevating to all interested in progress and development of the township and county, and it has been pro- ductive of great good in itself, and, of much greater good, in its resulting effect upon the conduct of others.
HON. FREDERICK HART SMITH.
"Not honored less than he who heirs, is he who founds a line." Among the men of dif- ferent types, accomplishments and achievements in our complex American citizenship, which, in the sweep of its enormous and intense activity, lays every faculty under tribute, no class, per- haps, strikes the imagination more forcibly or enlists the fancy more agreeably than the pioneers of a new section of country, who command the wilderness to comeliness and on its virgin soil found families and become the patriachs of a race. To this class belonged Azariel Smith, a manufacturer in Connecticut, who lost all his property by fire in 1838, and then determined to
remove with his family to the new West where a fresh start could be made. He had heard of Michigan as a promising field for enterprise, and came alone to this state on a prospecting ex- pedition. Finding the conditions satisfactory, he purchased 160 acres of timber land located in what is now Somerset township, Hillsdale county, paying for it a small sum of money left tc his wife as a legacy. Inspired by a renewed hope, he labored industriously in making a little clearing in the dense woods, building also a rude and unfinished house of modest dimensions, then returned to Connecticut for his three young sons, George A., Frederick H. and Le- Grand J., and one daughter, Julia A., who after- . ward became the wife of Alonzo Strong. All these are now deceased, the sole survivor being Charles A. Smith, of Hillsdale, who was born in this state.
The journey from the old Connecticut home to the new one in the wild West was an event of magnitude. The route led by the Erie canal to Buffalo, across Lake Erie to Toledo, from there on the old strap-iron railroad to Adrian, the trip lasting three weeks. From Adrian to Somerset township the family traveled by an ox cart, and this was far from being the least tedious and difficult part of the journey. And when the end was reached and the new house occupied, the difficulties of the situation were not lessened, but rather increased, by the hard con- ditions of life on the frontier. The father was obliged to walk to Brooklyn in the morning and back at night, eight miles each way, to work at his trade as a stone-mason, the mother and children being left to clear the land and put in the crops, to fight the wild beasts and to enter- tain the Indians, who were always friendly.
The food was of the simplest character, their shelter from inclement weather was not com- plete, their only means of starting a fire was by a spark struck from flint and steel. Most of the conveniences of life, such as they had been used to, were unattainable for years. Yet here they lived and labored, bearing their lot with cheer- fulness, performing their duties with diligence and zeal, steadily improving their condition and
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adding to their comfort. Their children grew large and strong, developing toughness of fiber in body and elasticity, independence and self-re- fiance of spirit as they advanced in stature. And in course of time death ended the earthly toils and triumphs of these good parents, the father dying in May, 1874, the mother in March, 1866. Their work was done. The family was firmly planted in its new home. Its activity and further development was transferred from New England to the new West through their exer- tions, and the way prepared for its farther pro- gress in the larger freedom and opportunity to which it had been brought.
Hon. George A. Smith, the oldest son, re- mained under the parental roof until he was nearly thirty years of age, in the meantime be- ing married on July 3. 1851, to Miss Catherine B. Simonds, a native of Chautauqua county, New York, who died on February 4, 1864, at the age of forty-one years, leaving six children, Julia O., wife of Augustus T. Daniels, of Topeka, Kansas; Fred S., a prominent farmer and stock- grower, of Hillsdale county ; Azariel, a miller by trade and cashier of the bank at Addison ; Mary A., living at home; George LeGrand, a Con- gregational minister at Newton, Iowa; Stewart K., a mining engineer in the state of Washing- ton. Mr. Smith became one of the most exten- sive farmers and stockgrowers in this section of the state, owning 1,000 acres of land, the greater part of which was under cultivation at the time of his death on January 29, 1893. He was also interested in a store and flouring mill at Addison and a grain elevator at Somerset. He was a Republican in politics, influential in the councils of his party. He served the township in various local offices, was postmaster at Somer- set for over twenty years, being also for years the very popular president -of the county agricul- tural society. He represented his district in the State Legislature in 1863, and was twice elected State Senator for the senatorial district embrac- ing Branch and Hillsdale counties. He was a man of fine public spirit, liberal and progressive views, deep and abiding interest in the welfare of his county and state. To schools, churches
and other moral agencies he gave generous sup- port in money, influence and active effort. And, to every undertaking for the substantial good of the community which he helped to found, he was a substantial and serviceable friend.
Mr. Smith was born at Danbury, Connecti- cut, on March 8, 1825, and came with his par- ents to Michigan in 1839. On .April 5, 1865, he married with his second wife, Miss Catherine B. Randolph, a daughter of Samuel B. and Mar- garet (Van Deuzer) Randolph, pioneers of Somerset township, the former born near Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and the latter in New York. Mrs. Smith's father was one of the ten chil- dren of Reuben and Catherine ( Brown) Ran- dolph, natives of New Jersey, who moved in their early married life to Wayne county, New York, where they were farmers. In 1835 they moved with their family to Michigan, settling in Somer- set township, where the father and his son, Samuel, each entered government land, which they lived to clear and improve. The father, Reuben Randolph, was a soldier of the War of 1812, and Mr. Smith's great-grandfather, Joseph Smith, was a captain in the Colonial army dur- ing the whole of the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Smith has one brother and one sister living of the seven children in the family of her parents. Her father and mother both reached ripe old ages after living lives of signal usefulness. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had two children, Frank R., and Catherine B.
Hon. Frederick Hart Smith, second son of Azariel Smith, who departed this life on Decem- ber 18, 1900, was born at Bethel, New Haven county, Connecticut, on December 14, 1834, and came with his parents to Michigan in 1838. He received his first educational instruction from his mother, later attended the very primitive district school miles away, through the forest, from his home, spending also two years at Albion Col- lege. He assisted in clearing the Somerset home- stead, where he remained until his marriage, in 1863, to Miss Celina Burr, of this county. In 1865 he purchased a farm of 160 acres across the road from the old homestead. Here he re- mained until his death, developing and improv-
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ing his land, erecting good buildings as his cir- R. was graduated from. the State Agricultural cumstances allowed. He was successful in his operations and added to his estate from time to time until it comprised 640 acres, which was all in an advanced state of cultivation at the time of his decease.
He was much interested in live stock and gave special attention to raising fine breeds of cattle and horses, making a reputation coexten- sive with the state as a producer of fine beef cattle. While still a young man he became deeply interested in church and Sunday-school work, and to the end of his life giving them at- tention and generous financial support. In the cause of education he was always prominent, serving for a long time on the local school board, being one of the first and most enthusiastic sub- scribers for the founding of Hillsdale College, which he supported zealously through life and served faithfully as a trustee for many years. He also took an active and prominent part in public affairs, being a member of the State Legis- lature from 1891 to 1893, and filled a number of other offices in the township and county. He was also for several years a member of the state prison board and gave earnest attention to the educational and reformatory features of the institution under its supervision, enlarging their scope, increasing their activity and magnifying their power for good. He never sought popu- larity, but the force of his character, the gen- erosity of his disposition, his active benevolence, his freedom in furnishing employment to those in need of it, and his fine public spirit and dili- gence in behalf of every good enterprise, made him hosts of friends, and secured for him the cordial and lasting esteem of the community.
Four of his children survive him, and all were provided with the means of an advanced education. Mary Lena was graduated from Olivet College, in 1886, and later became a post- graduate student at the State University and afterward was a popular teacher of English literature; George Burr was graduated from Hillsdale College in 1892, spent a year at Oberlin College and was afterward educated for the law, which he is now practicing in Chicago; Howard
College in 1895, for one year was a post-graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, was four year later a teacher of science, being now the professor of agriculture in the University of Missouri ; Floyd Hart, who is now manager of the home farm, was formerly a student at the State Agricultural College. In the death of Mr. Smith, as in that of his brother, George A. Smith, the whole county felt a sense of loss, deep and permanent. Mrs. Smith is living on the old homestead, and; like her late husband, she is secure in a lasting public esteem.
Hon. Le Grand J. Smith, late of this county, deceased, was the third son of Azariel and Mary (Andrews) Smith, and was born at Bethel, Connecticut, on January 8, 1837. At the tender age of two years' he accompanied his parents from his native state to Michigan, and from his very childhood was called on to endure the pri- vations and hardships, and undergo the inevit- able toil incident to frontier life. He, however, lived and throve, reaching man's estate on the old homestead in Somerset township, which he owned and occupied at the time of his death, on June 18, 1898, and in the schools of the day, deep in the primitive woods, he received his preliminary scholastic education, finishing at Al- bion College. The business of his life was farm- ing, and in this he was always actively engaged from the time he left college.
At the death of his parents he inherited the homestead, and, on this tract which had been redeemed from the waste by the united efforts of the family, and was hallowed by their devoted labors, he continued to live and work until death ended all things for him. On November 10, 1863, he was married to Miss Emma Maria Torrence, a native of Cuba, New York, born on January 27, 1838, and died on April 8, 1880. They were blessed with four children, Leroy T., Leon C., Caroline (deceased), and Mabel A. Mr. Smith was prominent and energetic in pub- lic affairs, and was never wanting in interest in the success of the Republican party, to which through life he gave a firm and serviceable alle- giance. He was one of the county's ablest rep-
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resentatives in the lower house of the State Legislature, there conspicuously maintaining the high standard of the family name and the repu- tation there won by his brothers. In religious affiliation he was long a zealous member of the Somerset Congregational church, serving many years as a deacon and as superintendent of its Sunday-school, inspiring the school and the church itself with the fire of his own devotion, and quickening both with the spirit of his energy and his disinterested generosity. His life in this community was a force that cannot die and his example will linger long in the memory of its people.
Leroy T. Smith, the son and successor on the farm of Hon. F. H. Smith, was born in the village of Addison, in Lenawee county, on Janu- ary 14, 1865, and was reared and educated in this state. He attended the district schools and finished his education at Oberlin College. After leaving this institution he started in business life as a farmer and has been so occupied ever since. In 1894 he erected a cheese factory on his farm, which he has since been conducting in connec- tion with his farming operations. This business has been a decided success, requiring frequent enlargements of both the plant and its capacity and equipment. He owns forty cows and uses the milk from more than 100 others. The prod- ucts of this factory find a ready and apprecia- tive market all over the country. On December 18, 1889, Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Bessie Winifred Sickley, a native of Lena- wee county, born on September 22, 1869. They have two daughters, Emma Gale and Winifred L., both adding to the attractiveness of the parental home.
WILLIAM H. SMITH.
William H. Smith, of Hillsdale, Michigan, has for many years aided in keeping up to a high standard the horse market in this comunity and supplying it with the best that is to be had in breed and training of its particular commodity. He was for years one of the principal buyers and shippers in Michigan and adjoining states, New
York being the principal market to which he consigned his purchases. He was born in Tomp- kins county, New York, on March 7, 1836, the son of Benjamin and Charlotte (Gibb) Smith, the former a native of Wilkinsburg, Pa., and the latter of New York and of Scotch ancestry. After their marriage' the parents located in Tompkins county, New York, and there the father carried on a prosperous farming industry, being also prominent and active both as a horse- dealer and a cattledrover. They passed the re- mainder of their lives in that county, and, of their family of ten children, they reared eight to years of maturity. Of these eight children Wil- liam H. Smith is the only survivor. He passed his boyhood and youth on the farm and received in the schools of the vicinity a common-school education. At the age of sixteen he undertook the business of life for himself, by turning his attention to dealing in horses for the New York market, conducting this business on a large scale and with gratifying success to the time of his father's death in 1852, and until his own re- moval to Huron county, Ohio.
In the spring of 1861 Mr. Smith came to Hillsdale county and opened a livery and sale stable in Hillsdale, once more operating largely through the New York market, and also buying extensively for the army, there being a great de- mand for cavalry horses on account of the Civil War which was then in progress. In 1874 in partnership with his brother, he built what is known as Smith's Hotel, a fine three-story brick structure at the intersection of Howell and Bacon streets, with a frontage of 70x175 feet, which, when completed, was the principal hostelry in the city. This they conducted in connection with their livery business and managed it with the same vigor, system and considerate attention to the public taste and the demands of the situation that characterized their control of the other en- terprise. Their stables were well built, conve- niently arranged, completely equipped and fur- nished with the best horses and conveyances at- tainable. They also owned a farm not far from the city, on which they kept their blooded stock. which comprised high grades of French and
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English coach and Percheron horses that they here produced and sold in large numbers. In No- vember, 1897, the partnership was dissolved, since which time Mr. Smith has conducted the business alone. He still owns the hotel building, but has no active connection with the manage- ment of its affairs, it being leased to others. He devotes all of his time and energies to his livery business and to the buying, selling and shipment of horses.
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