USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan > Part 58
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creditably represents his labor and enterprise through many years of active work, expended in clearing and improving it and bringing it to its present state of advanced cultivation and pro- ductiveness.
Mr. Willard was married, in this county, in 1853, to Miss Ann Maynard, English by nativity, like himself, who came as an emigrant from the oid country to this county about the time of his arrival. They have two children, their son, Charles W., and their daughter, Eliza J., now the wife of George Rumfeldt, of Allen township. Mr. Willard is a Republican in politics, and he has been postmaster of the village, although he has never been an office-seeker or an active par- tisan. He is a devoted member of the Free Bap- tist church, having been for many years one of the serviceable forces of the organization. In all parts of the county he is well-known, while by all classes of people he is highly respected.
· AMARIAH M. WINCHESTER.
Comfortably located on a fine farm of seventy acres adjoining the town of Allen, owning an- other of eighty acres in Litchfield township, de- voting to both his energies and the results of his intelligent and discriminating observations, Ama- riah M. Winchester is an impressive example of the general tendency of men in the middle West to devote their energies to agricultural and pas- toral pursuits, and, in the creature comforts and peace of mind which he now enjoys, he is a sug- gestive proof of the advantages of such vacations. He was born in Dutchess county, New York, on May 19, 1844, the son of David and Harriet (An- drews) Winchester, who were also natives of that county. The father, a tanner by trade, fol- lowed his craft in his native state until 1845. when he moved his family to this county and lo- cating at the village of Allen, bought the old Whitehead Hotel, which he conducted success- fully for seventeen years thereafter. He was also postmaster of the village for a number of years, · at a time when the stages carried the mails. He purchased a tract of seventy-six acres of land near the village, which he improved, and on which he
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resided, after leaving the hotel, until his death, on March 9, 1873. His widow survived him for two years, then passing away on February 3, 1875. They had six children, three sons and three daughters, who grew to maturity, and of these, the sons are living, while the daughters are dead. One son, Andrew, lives in Chicago, and an- other, Charles, at Elkhart, Indiana. In political affiliation the father was a quiet Republican, never taking active part in party matters and never holding office. He was for many years a zealous working Freemason. The grandfather was also Amariah Winchester, a hatter by trade. He died in New York state.
Mr. Winchester grew to manhood and re- ceived his education in the village of Allen, and, early in life, he was diligently engaged in farm- ing, a vocation which he has followed steadfastly ever since. He now owns the old homestead, hav- ing also an additional farm of eighty acres in Litchfield township, both of which he cultivates with industry and skill, both of these places showing, by their condition and the excellent crops they produce, the large measure of intelli- gence and judgment he applies to their cultiva- tion. He was married, in this county, in 1878 to Miss Louisa J. Miller, a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter Micheal and Phœbe (Kelley) Miller, pioneers of 1846 in Litchfield township, where the father carried on the dual industries of farming and carpentry. They cleared a farm in that township on which both lived until death ended their labors, the fa- ther ceasing his activities on March 9, 1881, and the mother closing her eyes in her last sleep on October 10, 1886. Mr. Winchester belongs to the Masonic order, holding membership in the lodge at Allen: He is very well-known throughout the township and within a much larger area, stand- ing well up in the regard and good will of his fellow men.
DANIEL A. WISNER.
The subject of this brief sketch was one of the earliest of the pioneers of Hillsdale county, Michigan, first locating near the village of Mos-
cow in the year 1837. He was a native of Mt. Morris, New York, where he was born in 1809. His parents were also natives of New York state. His father, William Y. Wisner, removed his resi- dence from the state of New York to Michigan in 1837, and took up a farm near the village of Moscow, where he lived for many years. The subject of this sketch grew to manhood in his native state of New York, where he learned the trade of shoemaking, and continued to labor in that pursuit up to the time of his coming to Mich- igan. Here he engaged in farming, which he followed with success for a number of years, then removed to Jonesville, where he engaged in mer- chandising, under the firm-name of D. A. Wis- ner & Son. He carried on this business success- fully for a period of twenty years, then associated his other two sons, Edgar A. and A. Eugene, in the business, under the firm-name of D. A. Wis- ner & Sons. He died in 1881, and his sons con- tinued the business at the old stand until 1896, when they sold it.
In his early life, Mr. Wisner was married in the state of New York to Miss Mary Sherd, by whom he had a family of two sons and one daugh- ter. Some time after the death of his first wife, he again married, his second wife being Miss Ann A. Sherd, also a native of New York state, . and a sister of his first wife. To the second mar- riage were born three sons, one of whom died at the age of nine years. Politically,Mr. Wisner was a stanch adherent of the Republican party, for many years being a most loyal advocate of principles of that political organization. He was often solicited by his friends and neighbors to . become a candidate for public office, but never permitted the use of his name for any public po- sition except that of school trustee. Fraternally, he was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being one of the foremost in pro- moting the fraternal and social life of the com- munity in which he resided. A member of the Free Baptist church, he was conscientious and faithful in the discharge of every duty devolving upon him as a member of that organization. He lived a good and useful life, and was honored by all classes of his fellow citizens.
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REUBEN STRAIT.
The life of this enterprising, broad-minded and successful farmer, progressive citizen and upright business man of Moscow township, is full of suggestiveness and inspiration for the young men who are now struggling for advance- ment among men, and of encouragement and helpfulness to those who are already well ad- vanced in active and profitable work. It illus- trates in a signal manner the value of character and self-reliance, industry, integrity and knowl- edge and of a well-applied effort in all of the re- lations of a man with his fellows, and the all- conquering power of fidelity to duty under all circumstances.
Mr. Reuben Strait was born on October 27, 1834, in Steuben county, New York, and came to Michigan in 1848 with his parents, Thomas J. and Mariah Strait, who left their native home in New York when he was three years old for Ohio, where they remained five years. From Ohio they moved to Jennings county, Indiana, where an- other five years were passed, at the end of which period they emigrated to this state, settling on a farm, which they bought in Jackson county, there making their home until their deaths, that of the father occurring in 1867 and that of the mother in 1872. They were the parents of three sons and four daughters, of whom Reuben was the second born. The paternal grandfather was a Revolu- tionary soldier, warmly espousing the cause of the colonies against the mother country, giving material aid to their cause through all the long struggle for independence. Reuben began his education in the district schools of Ohio, con- tinued it in those of Indiana and finished it in Jackson county of this state. At the first blush of his young manhood he became a farmer and to this chosen line of productive labor he has ad- hered with constaney ever since. His industry has been blessed with abundant success in the acquisition of property, also in the more enduring and gratifying guerdon of publie approval and esteem. He owns nearly 650 acres of well-im- proved land 'in Hillsdale and Jackson counties, nearly all of which is eleared and under advanced
cultivation, each tract being well supplied with good buildings and other appurtenances for the most successful farming.
While he has been condueting his business enterprises with so much success and progressive- ness, his capacity, knowledge of affairs, publie spirit and unusual fitness for the administration of public office have won the confidence and good will of the people to such an extent that he has been made the standard bearer of his party for many an important political contest, and while the large and unyielding adverse majority has made success in these contests always difficult and usually impossible, with self-sacrificing devotion to the cause he has never hesitated to lead a for- lorn hope in order that the party organization might be kept up and the vital principles at stake might have vigorous support and defense. For many years he served the township on the school board, as a highway commissioner, and as a justice of the peace. In 1882 he was the Demo- cratie candidate for the office of state senator, and three times he made the race for the lower house of the State Legislature against great odds. In fraternal eircles he belongs to the Masonie order, being for ten years the master of Hamilton Lodge No. 113. of Moscow. He is also prominent in the order of the Patrons of Husbandry, in which he has filled all the chairs of the grange.
On June 30, 1853, Mr. Strait was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Clapp, a daughter of William and Abigail (Smith) Clapp, natives of New York, who came to Michigan in 1837 and settled on seetion No. 31 of Hanover town- ship in Jackson county, where they passed the re- mainder of their lives, the father dying in 1882. aged seventy-seven, and the mother in 1883, aged seventy-eight. Mr. Clapp was a prominent eiti- zen of Jackson county, well known as a promoter of every good enterprise for the advancement and development of the county. With a view to securing better facilities for market and travel for his section of the state, he donated to the Forr Wayne & Saginaw Railroad the right-of-way through his property, contributing in addition $1,000 toward the construction of the road. He and his wife were the parents of one son and
Bruben Strait
---
MRS. REUBEN STRAIT.
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three daughters, Mrs. Strait being the second in order of birth.
This venerable lady first saw the light of this world on January 27, 1835, at Macedon Center, Wayne county, New York, and at the tender age of thirty months she was brought by her parents on the long and wearying journey from her na- tive home to this state, where she received such educational training as the facilities of the period afforded. By her marriage with Mr. Strait she became the mother of nine children: William, who died in infancy; Josephine, wife of James Buchanan and mother of seven children, Wayne J., Mary A., Albert, Ethel M., Anna, Jessie and Dorris ; Eugene B., a farmer in Jackson county, husband of Nellie (Shepherd) Strait and father of four children, Leon, Ross, Clyde and Ruby; Thomas J., also a farmer in Jackson county, husband of Effie (Densmore) Strait and father of three children, Mary E., Alice and Bessie ; Wil- liam H., managing the homestead, husband of Leona (Shepherd) Strait and father of one child, Glen ; Levi S., married May Windfield, has four children, Lloyd, Jennie, Erma, Harold; Jennie, wife of Willard Conklin of Scipio township and mother of five children, Mark, Grove, Grace, Reuben and Lee ; Dewitt C., married with Myr- tle Thompson, has one child, Myrtie; Ralph Waldo, married with Myria Windfield, a sister of Mrs. Levi S. Strait, has one child, Elmer. Mrs. Strait died on February 27, 1895, after a life of great usefulness.
GEORGE P. WOLF.
While every clime and tongue of the civilized world has made contributions of its energy, tal- ent and people to aid in developing and improv- ing the American continent, to none is the United States more indebted for sturdy manhood, pro- ductive labor and persistent effort than to Ger- many, whose people are great and industrious toilers in every line of activity. One of the mem- bers of the German race, who is surely entitled to specific mention in any record of the achieve- ments of the people of Hillsdale county, is George P. Wolf, who was born in Saxony, Ger-
many, on March 23, 1827. In his native coun- try he was reared and educated, and learned the trade of a carpenter under the competent instruc- tions of his father. He followed this useful craft near his home until 1857, when he came to this country, and located at Sandusky, Ohio, where he worked at his trade for some time, then as- sisted in organizing the Sandusky Wheel Co., of which he was the very efficient foreman for ten years.
In 1875 Mr. Wolf came to Michigan, and, lo- cating at Hillsdale, he founded the planing-mill and lumber business of which he is still the pros- perous proprietor. This enterprise has grown in importance with the flight of years through the constant application of his systematic energy and business acumen until it has reached proportions of a gratifying magnitude and commands a large trade throughout the surrounding country. It has a high rank in the business world, both for the quality of its output and for the elevated plane cn which its business is conducted. It is creditable alike to the locality where it works, the man who conducts it and to the people who enjoy benefits of its activity. Mr. Wolf was married in 1851, to Miss Christina Fisher, a native of Ger- many, in which county the marriage was solemn- ized. She died at Sandusky, Ohio, in 1853, leav- ing four children. In 1864 his second marriage occurred. On this occasion he was united with Miss Christina Seigler, also a native of Germany, born and reared in Baden. They have two chil- dren.
Mr. Wolf has been a Republican in political views from the organization of the party, having cast his first vote for president for Gen. John C. Fremont. He has never taken any active interest in the contentions of politics, however, having no desire for his own personal advancement to po- litical or public office. He has a good business, a large and active trade, a firm hold on the con- fidence and respect of the people, a pleasant do- mestic life. These furnish sufficient incident and interest to fully occupy his time, engage his facul- ties and satisfy his desires without much refer- ence to public affairs, except so far as they in- volve the progress and permanent good of the
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community, and, when this is the case, he deals with them in a patriotic manner, rather than with a party spirit. Both in business and in private life, Mr. Wolf is well-estccmed as a worthy man, a respected citizen, an active influence in all that is good in human endcavor.
MYRON G. WOOD.
The three-score years of life which this son of one of the worthy early pioneers of this county has seen, appear to have passed lightly over his head, even though many of them involved hard- ship and privation, hard labor and all the elements of the strenuous life in its most trying form. He is a native of Hillsdale county, born on April 23, 1843, the son of Seth and Lydia (Gates) Wood, natives of New York. The father, a farm- ei and carpenter, came from New York to this county in 1840, settled in Wheatland township and therc cleared up the farm on which he died in 1852. His widow survived him for nearly fifty years, dying on the same homestead in 1901. Seven of the children that blessed their union grew to maturity, two sons and five daughters. All are now residents of this statc.
Myron G. Wood received what education he could in the primitive schools of his childhood and youth in this county and assisted on the farm. In the course of time he purchased the home- stead and still owns it. Having displayed a taste and capacity for public life, he was appointed deputy sheriff by Sheriff George W. Bullock, and under sheriff by Sheriff E. C. Miner; and, in 1884, he was himself elected sheriff, in which re- sponsible office he has served four years, being an important part of the police force of the coun- ty. At the conclusion of his official life, he cn- gaged in selling sewing machines for some years, but for some time now he has lived retired from all active business, except to conduct a small re- pair industry, which is carried on more for the accommodation of the neighborhood than for his own profit. In the sheriff's office, both as deputy and as chief, he displayed courage and wisdom. On the civil, as well as the criminal side of his duties, he won high praise from all who were
concerned with them, for the manner in which they were performed.
Mr. Wood was united in marriage in 1866 with Miss Susan Crater, a daughter of Mathias Crater, one of the best known and most highly esteemed citizens of Wheatland township. They have four children, their daughters, Mary, the wife of W. D. Perry ; Hattic; Elsic, the wife of Herbert Marsh; Bcssie, living at the paternal home. In political faith, Mr. Wood is a loyal Republican, who has rendered his party good service for many years, being a whcelhorse in its organization and a forceful and effective cam- paigner. He belongs to the Masonic order in lodge, chapter and commandcry, and he is zeal- ous in his participation in the work of each. He has prospered in business and is well-to-do, but still he has been ever generous with his means in the support of enterprises of value to the com- munity. He and his wife are both stockholders in the Worthing-Alger Co., and in other indus- trial and mercantile enterprises of value.
HON. GEORGE C. WYLLIS.
Almost at the very limit of human life as fixed by the sacred writer, on March 9, 1895, Hon. George C. Wyllis, of Moscow township in this county, closed his useful career and was laid to rest amid the scenes he loved and had helped so materially to make worthy of man's highest re- gard. As an educator, a public official, a popular representative and as an enterprising and pro- gressive farmer, he had dignified and adorned American citizenship, and, when the cnd came, he left to his offspring and admiring friends the priceless legacy of a good name and a memory that will long be an inspiration in the community. Mr. Wyllis was born in Potsdam township, St. Lawrence county, New York, on August 1, 1825, the son of Erastus and Hannah (Cobb) Wyllis, the former a native of Connecticut and the lat- ter of Vermont, both of English ancestry. His father belonged to that old Wyllis family that was so prominent and so forceful in the early his- tory of Connecticut, and both he and his son exemplified in their lives the commendable traits
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of character, which have, in each generation, made the family name great and respected wherever it was known.
The father was a prosperous and enterprising farmer in times of peace, and, when the War of 1812 broke out, the same patriotic feeling that made him a useful citizen in all the civic rela- tions of life sent him to the front as a citizen soldier in defense of his country and to aid in establishing her freedom and independence on the sea, even as his forefathers in the Revolution- ary contest had established them on the land. In 1833 the family removed to Genesee county, New York, and, in 1838, to Michigan, here settling in Pulaski township, Jackson county, where the fa- ther died in November, 1839, and the mother in August, 1843. They were the parents of four sons and three daughters, all of whom are now deceased but one daughter.
Their son, George C. Wyllis; had opportunity for but a limited common-school education, but he enlarged and improved his estate in this line by close study and judicious reading, and, as soon as he was able, began teaching, an occupation which he followed with growing reputation and usefulness for twenty years. In 1843 he attend- ed one term of the Michigan Central College, lo- cated at Spring Arbor, in Jackson county, and, during the following winter, was a popular edu- cator of Calhoun county. The summer months of the next two years were passed at college, the winters being devoted to teaching in Jackson county and in Moscow township, of Hillsdale county. On July 10, 1852, Mr. Wyllis married with Miss Emily Buck, of Moscow township, a daughter of Israel and Jane E. (Green) Buck, natives of New York, the former born in Clinton county on October 15, 1807, and the latter in Dutchess county, on August 3, 1808. Mr. and Mrs. Buck were married in 1828, and engaged in farming in Columbia county, in their native state, then, in 1835, removed to Michigan and purchased 200 acres of land in Hillsdale county, on which they passed the remainder of their lives. They reared a family of six children, and, although obliged to undergo all the usual hard- ships and privations of frontier life, they gave
their children the advantages of good educations bringing them up in the best style attainable, and inculcating a proper appreciation of their duty to themselves and their responsibilities with re- ference to others.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Wyllis are : Helen S., now Mrs. R. H. Snell, of Kansas City, Missouri ; Lucy J., now Mrs. W. W. Armstrong, of Deerfield, Michigan ; James V., living on the family homestead ; Florence, in business in Chi- cago; Arthur L., one of the respected citizens of this county and the postmaster at Somerset Center ; Maud C., now Mrs. W. L. Bibbins, of Jerome, in this county, a sketch of whom ap- pears elsewhere in this work; Carrie N., also liv- ing in Chicago. The eldest daughter, Helen, was graduated from Hillsdale College in 1875, and took a post-graduate classical course at Ann Arbor University, being graduated therein in 1884. For five years she was the very satisfac- tory principal of the schools at Warsaw, In- diana, and for one year of those at Wabash in the same state. She concluded her professional career by serving for a year as principal in the schools of Austin, Illinois. The ancestors of the Buck family were English Quakers and one branch settled in New England in early Colonial days. They were sturdy people, firm in the ten- ets of their religious faith, true to every duty.
For a number of years Mr. Wyllis was en- gaged in the nursery business in Somerset town- ship, on forty acres of land, which he sold in 1850. He then purchased the farm in Moscow town- ship, which he owned at the time of his death. This comprises 120 acres of excellent land, well improved with good buildings and all necessary equipments. A special feature of his enterprise here was fruit-culture, to which he gave careful and intelligent attention, and in horticulture gen- erally he became an acknowledged authority. His range of interest, however, was not limited to any one department of agriculture, but embraced in its beneficent and active 'sweep all branches of the subject. He was for many years deeply concerned and zealously serviceable for the wel- fare of the County Fair Association ; he devoted to its affairs much time and energy with an un-
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selfish spirit of public enterprise. In politics he was an ardent Republican, one of the founders of the party in Michigan. He exalted it by his mem- bership and his devotion to its principles, and it honored him with positions of trust and respon- sibility as long as he would accept them.
He served as a member of the local schoo! board from 1855 to 1868. Through his influence and efforts the Union School at Moscow was or- ganized, and, later, this child of his solicitude and zealous care was under his fostering control as its principal for several terms. He was first elected a justice of the peace in 1861 and he con- tinued to hold the office for more than twenty years. In 1882 he was elected to the lower house of the State Legislature, while a member of this body serving as chairman of its committee on rules and joint rules, and as a member of the committee on the State Agricultural College. He secured much valuable legislation for his people, notably a law of importance relative to the title to real property by descent, also a law imposing 'tax on dogs, for the purpose of raising a fund to pay sheep owners for sheep killed by the dogs. In fraternal relations he was an enthusiastic Freemason and also an active member of the order of Patrons of Husbandry, serving with great credit as master of Hamilton Lodge, No. 113, in the former and as master of Moscow Grange in the latter. He died on March 9. 1895. at the age of sixty-nine years, seven months and eight days, universally esteemed for all that is worthy in manhood and admirable in citizenship. "To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die."
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