USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan > Part 60
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Mr. and Mrs. Barre have three children : Ma- bel A., wife of W. A. Munger, of New Orleans, Louisiana ; Maud, wife of Dr. L. R. Hill, of Read- ing ; and Percy, living at home and manager of the grocery store of Mr. Munger.
JAMES A. BATES, M. D.
Ten years in the practice of medicine in a country district is sufficient to test the capacity and skill of a man, and to make them known to the people among whom he lives and works, to such an extent that there need be no longer any doubt or misunderstanding on the subject. But far less than this length of time in active practice, is sufficient to fix the rank and renown of a man of unusual capacity, diligence, breadth of view, quickness of perception and discriminating judg- ment. And this has been the lot of Dr. James A. Bates, of Camden, one of the active practitioners of southern Michigan, on whom, although he has been but a decade in the profession, his pat- rons and fellow citizens have long since set the seal of an approval that frequently comes only to the departed, seldom to any but those whose title to it has been established by a long course of pub- lic or professional service.
The Doctor was born at Columbia, Williams . county, Ohio, on October 24, 1867, the son of Dr. Orson and Hannah (Hoadley) Bates, natives of
Medina county in that state. His father was graduated from the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in the spring of 1854, and began practicing at Colum- bia, Ohio. In 1869 he removed his family to Reading, Mich., and there resuming his practice, he continued it until his death on November 22, 1871, being associated during a portion of his life in this county with Doctor Strong, of Read- ing. The widow of Doctor Bates, the elder, sur- vives and makes her home with her son at Cam- den. They were the parents of five children, four of whom are living, the young Doctor being the fourth in the order of birth. He was two years old when the family came to Hillsdale county, and lived at Reading until the death of his father. The family then moved to a farm in Camden township, and there the Doctor grew to manhood and received the earlier part of his scholastic training in the public schools. This he followed with a two-years' course at the high school in Hillsdale and one year at Hillsdale Col- lege, He then began the study of medicine un- der the direction of Dr. Wood, of Angola, and Dr. Mckellen, of Camden, and, in 1889, entered the Medical College of Indiana, now a part of the State University, and, in 1892, he was graduated from that institution with the degree of M. D.
He at once located at Cambria in this county and entered upon the practice of his profession, remaining there two years. In 1894 he moved to Camden and became associated in practice with Dr. Charles Mckellen, of that village, with whom he remained until the death of Dr. McKel- len, on December 26, 1900, dissolved the part- nership. The eminent man with whom he was associated had been an active practitioner at Camden for twenty-seven years at the time of his death, and was highly endowed by nature with a rare combination of qualifications for suc- cess in his business. He was a native of Ire- land and came with his parents to the United States in infancy. He was graduated from the Medical College of Indiana in the spring of 1873, and, in the following autumn, located at Cam- den, and formed a partnership for the practice of medicine with Dr. Coe, of that village, which
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lasted until the death of the latter in 1875. Dr. McKellen was a bachelor and aged about forty- four at the time of his death. He had been for years an active and serviceable member of the county and state medical societies, and was held in highest esteem as a physician and a citizen.
Since his death Doctor Bates has been prac- ticing alone, and has established himself in a large and very representative business. His prac- tice is general in its scope and he prepares for it by close study of the literature of the profession, and a judicious application of its best thought and suggestions. He belongs to the Tri-State Medical Society and gives to its proceedings not only a close and discriminating attention as a listener, but the benefit of his own study, obser- vation and reflection. In fraternal relations he is connected with the Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees, and the Woodmen of the World, holding his membership in all at Cam- den. He was married on June 2, 1903, to Miss Elizabeth Palmer, a native of Camden township and a daughter of Julian and Catherine (Throne) Palmer, prosperous farmers in that township. In politics Doctor Bates is a pronounced Re- publican, but he takes no active part in partisan contests except so far as he deems the duties of good citizenship require. He is, however, ear- nestly interested in the welfare and development of the section in which he has cast his lot, and omits no effort on his part to promote them vigorously and wisely. As a professional man he has a high rank in his county ; as a citizen he is recognized as wise and progressive, up- right and serviceable; and in social life he and his wife are among the inspiring forces, being widely esteemed for their accomplishments.
THOMAS H. E. BELL, M. D.
One of the leading professional men of all southern Michigan, who during the last six years has been an active practitioner of medicine and surgery in Hillsdale county, Dr. Thomas H. E. Bell, of Montgomery, was born at Auburn, Hu- ron county, Canada, on June 18, 1874, the son of Joseph and Mary (Hawsen) Bell, who were
also Canadians by birth, the former of English and the latter of Scotch descent. His father is a miner now residing in Montana. His mother died when her son, Thomas, who was the first born of her three children, was but four years old. After her death he went to live with his uncle, John Lasham, a wealthy speculator at Londesborough in his native county, who saw that he was properly educated, sending him to the public school as soon as he was old enough and continuing him in the course until he was graduated from the Clinton high school in 1892. IIc then began reading medicine under the in- struction of Dr. O. Young, of Londesborough, since deceased, with whom he remained a year, at the end of which time he entered the Michigan College of Medicine and Surgery at Detroit, where he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1897, after a thorough course of four years.
In April of that year Doctor Bell located at Montgomery, where he has since maintained his home, and at once began the practice of his pro- fession. He has been very diligent and faith- ful in ministering to the needs of the people in his line, and has built up an extensive practice in the county and won for himself a high place in the confidence and regard of the citizens throughout its limits. His success is not the re- sult of accident or favoring conditions, but the legitimate and hard-earned guerdon for fidelity to duty, industry in study and skill in practice. He is a close observer, a judicious reasoner and an industrious employer of all the means avail- able to him for advancement in his chosen line of work, holding active and zealous membership in the county, and state medical societies and the American Medical Association. While abhor- ring empiricism of every kind, the Doctor realizes that medicine and surgery are progressive sciences, and welcomes with cordial and studious hospitality every new idea or suggestion that seems to be of value, and applies it with judg- ment and skill in his practice until its utility has been fully tested, and then adopts or rejects it.
On August 17, 1898, Doctor Bell was united in marriage with Miss Anna M. Webb, a native of Staffa, Ontario, and a daughter of Robert and
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Elizabeth R. ( Muir) Webb, also natives of that province, the father of English and the mother of Scotch ancestry. The mother died when her daughter, Mrs. Bell, was quite young, and the father, who subsequently married again, is still living in Ontario. The Doctor and Mrs. Be!1 have one child, their son, Kenneth L. The Doc- tor is a member of the Masonic order, belonging to the lodge at Camden, and is also an Odd Fel- low with the rank of past grand. He belongs 10 the Modern Woodmen of America and is the camp physician of his lodge in the order. He is a medical examiner for the New York Life, the Penn Mutual, the Equitable and the John Han- cock life insurance companies. In politics he is an ardent Republican, at all times manifesting a deep practical interest in the success of his party, although it cannot be said that he is desirous of its honors or positions of profit for himself. Among the young professional men of Hillsdale county none seems to have a future of greater promise, and none deserves success more than Doctor Bell, whether the gauge of merit be pro- fessional ability, and persistent determination and effort to increase it, or high character and cul- ture of manner, with a lofty ideal of professional ethics and the duties of citizenship in general.
BENJAMIN C. BRADLEY.
Benjamin C. Bradley, one of the honored pioneers of Camden township, came to Hillsdale county in the spring of 1835 and entered 160 acres of land on section 34, two miles south of the present village of Camden. He made the trip all the way from the town of Lyons,. Wayne coun- ty, New York, by team, and was about two months on the road. The party consisted of himself, Benjamin F. Fisher, Charles W. West- fall and Robert Sutton, each of whom entered 160 acres. Soon after they all went back to their New York homes, and some time afterward all but Sutton returned to Michigan and settled on their land. Sutton sold his claim, but later also became a resident of Hillsdale county. In the spring of 1837 Mr. Bradley came to the county, built a log cabin on his land and cleared about
five acres of it. After wintering again in New York, in the spring of 1838 he brought his fam- ily westward, determined to make a permanent settlement there.
The household consisted of his mother, his wife and his two children. They journeyed by way of the Eric canal to Buffalo and from there by steamer to Toledo over Lake Erie. A man named Thompson, whom he had hired for the purpose at Adrian, met them with ox-teams at Toledo, and by these conveyances they came to their destination in the wilderness, coming by way of Jonesville, being obliged to cut out their road through the woods after leaving Judge Mickle's house, in what is now Reading town- ship. They began life in their new home under great difficulties, but with cheerful hearts and de- termined spirit. Their first crops were corn, potatoes and a small quantity of spring wheat. There were many Indians then in the neighbor- hood, probably exceeding in number the whites of the present day, but they were not unfriendly, and their neighborly disposition, although an- noying at times, was of considerable advantage to the new settlers. Mr. Bradley continued to live on the farm which he thus entered until his death, on June 2, 1893, at the age of nearly cighty-seven years. He bought additional land from time to time, and at his death owned nearly 400 acres.
He made his home one of the most valuable and attractive in the township, and became a man of influence in the local government and social life of the section. He was a Democrat in poli- tics until the attack on Fort Sumter at the be- ginning of the Civil War, when he became an ardent Unionist and remained in affiliation with the Republican party during the rest of his life. He rendered excellent service to his people in several official stations of importance and respon- sibility, being township supervisor two terms, justice of the peace three terms, township treas- urer one term and school inspector a number of terms. His life began at Springfield, Connecti- cut, on July 5, 1806, and he was the son of Ben- jamin and Deborah (Winchell) Bradley, the former a native of the north of Ireland and the
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latter of Virginia. The father came to the United States about the beginning of the Revo- lution and took an active part in the contest on the side of his adopted country. The mother was a daughter of an old Indian fighter on the border in the early days who served with David Crockett and other men of his class and times. After his marriage this Benjamin Bradley and his wife settled in Connecticut on a farm, on which they lived until death ended their labors. They were the parents of thirteen children, all now deceased, their son Benjamin being the youngest and last survivor.
When he was twelve years old Benjamin moved with his sisters to the town of Lyons, in Wayne county, New York, where he grew to manhood and also received a limited education. There also he worked by the month on farms, and for several years by the year for Robert Sut- ton, who was later for a long time a resident of Hillsdale county. He was married in Wayne county to Miss Catherine Cole, a native of New Jersey, a daughter of William and Margaret Cole, who were born, reared and married in Germany, and on coming to America located in New Jersey, where four of their children were born. They afterward moved to Wayne county, New York, and bought 160 acres of land, on which they died at advanced ages. A portion of their farm is now within the limits of the village of Lyons. Mrs. Bradley died at the Camden township home on December 27, 1860. She and her husband were the parents of five children, the first and second of whom were born in New . York, and the rest in Michigan. They were James C., a resident of Camden, a sketch of whom follows ; Margaret, widow of George S. Crane, also residing at Camden; Jane, deceased, who was first married to Charles B. Johnson, and aft- er his death to David Smith; Julia, who mar- ried Ormund C. Crane, both deceased ; Esther W., wife of Henry T. Crane, and after his death of Walter St. John. She resides on the old home- stead.
James C. Bradley, son of Benjamin C. Brad- ley, and a prominent and influential farmer, mer- chant and public official for many years in Cam-
den township and village, was born in the town of Lyons, Wayne county, New York, on No- vember 29, 1832, and was six years old when the family moved to this county. There were but few white people then in the neighborhood of his home, and his playmates in boyhood and youth were mostly Indians. He associated with the young braves freely, became attached to some of them and acquired considerable proficiency in the use of their language. In 1842, when the U. S. government moved the tribe to a reservation in the farther West, he made an effort to leave his home by stealth and accompany his young Indian friends to their new location. In this he was foiled by his parents, and he has since been thankful for their vigilance.
His life on the farm was one of toil and priva- tion, and from his early boyhood he was inured to hard work and danger. It was a three-days' journey to the mill at Jonesville or Hillsdale, a large part of the trip being made over old In- dian trails through the otherwise trackless forest. subject to all the numerous hazards of the un- tamed woodland. Being the oldest child of the family, he was obliged to assist in clearing and conducting the farm, and take his part in any kind of work there was to do. His-facilities for schooling were compassed with a little log school- house with an open fireplace and a row of crude and uncomfortable benches made of slabs ranged around the sides of the room. His first teacher was Miss Mary A. Olmstead, an aunt of O. D. Chester, who taught the first school in the town- ship. She gave him a primer, which he still owns, and which he cherishes highly as a memento of those early days and as a curiosity in itself. The pages are two and one-half by four inches in size, and are adorned with crude illustrations. The book has a paper cover and was published by George B. Daniels, at Providence, in 1839, "edition sub-limited."
Mr. Bradley remained at home and worked on his father's farm until after the beginning of the Civil War. On August 5. 1862, he enlisted in Co. H, Eighteenth Michigan Infantry., and with his regiment went to Lexington, where he was on guard duty eighteen months. He was
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then transferred to Chattanooga, where he was on detached duty until after the fight with Hood. While in Kentucky, in October, 1862, during Morgan's raid, he was kicked by a mule and had four ribs broken, being at the same time run over by a wagon, by which one of his limbs was badly injured. Fifty-nine prisoners were taken by the Confederates at the time, forty-nine of them members of his company, and he narrowly escaped capture. Following his injuries he had a severe attack of typhoid fever, and, on De- cember 25, 1863, he was mustered out of the service on account of the disability incurred therein, and was an invalid for three years there- after. He returned home and as soon as he was able took charge of his father's farm. In 1873 he opened a general store at Camden and was soon made postmaster, a position he held for twenty-one years, three months and sixteen days. He has also been in the drug business at Cam- den for a number of years. At present he is ro- tired from active commercial pursuits, but is still earnestly engaged in the service of the township and village as clerk and as a notary.
Mr. Bradley was first married, in 1866, to Miss Ellen Thompson, a native of Lenawee county, this state, and by this marriage became the father of two children, Minnie, now wife of John F. Fast, of Camden; and Benzora, who married William Roggie and is now deceased. Their mother died in 1897, and Mr. Bradley thereafter married Miss Maggie B. Chapman, a native of Camden township. They have one child, their son, James C., Jr., now four years old. Mr. Bradley owns considerable real estate of value in Camden village, a portion of which is an entire block of business houses. He also owns farm property of extent and worth. He has always been active in local affairs and has filled a number of official positions with credit, serving two terms as township treasurer, and now in his fourth as township clerk and his first as village clerk. For many years he was a mem- ber of the school board, holding several offices from time to time on the body. He is a member of Camden Lodge of Odd Fellows, and in the Ma- sonic fraternity belongs to the lodge at Camden,
the chapter at Reading and the commandery at Hillsdale. He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Union Veterans' Union.
In politics he has been a Republican from the organization of the party, having cast his vote for its first presidential candidate, Gen. John C. Fremont, in 1856, and supporting all its candidates at every subsequent election. No citizen of Camden township has been more stead- fastly loyal to the county, more serviceable in its public life, more true to its best ideals of citizenship in private life, or more worthy of the general es- teem of its people than he, and none has that es- teem in greater measure or with more real sin- cerity from all classes of his community.
FREDERICK CHESTER.
This esteemed pioneer of Camden township was born in Mexico township, Oswego county, New York, on September 12, 1831, and is the son of Gurdon and Annie (Rathburn) Chester, the former a native of Windham county, Connecti- cut, and the latter also of that state. In his child- hood Gurdon Chester moved with his parents to Oneida county, New York, and there, when he reached maturity, he married with Miss Cather- ine Darling, by whom he had three children, Eason T., Lucy A. and Freelove. The last named died in childhood; Lucy married James Hamlin and died at Allen in this state; and Ea- . son died in Camden township, after many years of life as a successful farmer. After his marriage the elder Chester located at Mexico, New York, and there his wife died, and he contracted a second marriage, his choice on this occasion becoming the mother of Frederick Chester and three other sons and three daughters. In 1837 they came to this county and settled in Camden township, the par- ty accompanying them being composed of the son, Eason Chester, and his wife, a son-in-law, Oliver R. Cole, and his wife, Samuel S. Curtis and his family, Timothy Larrabee and his family. They all took up land near the center of the township. Gurdon Chester's second wife died
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about 1844, and he followed her to the other world on August 30, 1854.
Their son, Frederick Chester, became a resi- dent of Hillsdale county when he was about six years old. The country in which the family then settled was a wilderness, and to make it habit- able and productive, required all the efforts of all residents, so that he began to do hard work at an early age, and was able to attend the primi- tive school of the time only when he could be spared from duties at home. The school he first attended was the first one taught in the township, and was kept in a little log house with slab seats and an open clay fireplace. He was allowed to supplement the instruction received in this school by attending a more advanced one at Jonesville in the winters of 1844 and 1845, and also one of the higher grade in his own township a little later in life. When he was thirteen his mother died, and soon after this he was obliged to start in life for himself, which he did by hiring out to work on a farm at seven dollars a month and his "keep."
He was diligent and frugal, and in the course of a few years had saved enough of his meager earnings to buy a farm of eighty acres, lying north and east of where the village of Camden now stands. A year after he bought this land he sold it for $600 and loaned the money out for a few years. Then he purchased the farm which he now owns, half-a-mile west of Cam- den, which is eighty acres in extent and was at the time he bought it heavily timbered, without even a road to it. In the meantime he had been in the employ of his half-brother, Eason, and he made his home with that estimable man until he married and started one of his own. He cleared his land, and has since been actively engaged in its cultivation, although he has continued to re- side in the village of Camden. On January I, 1855, he married Miss Martha Fowle, who was born in Monroe county of this state, a daughter of James and Mary Ann (McKnight) Fowle, a sketch of whom will be found on another page of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Chester have four children: Ortensa L., who is the wife of Dr. Oliver, of Camden (see sketch elsewhere) ; Guy
M., circuit judge of the first judicial district (see sketch elsewhere) ; Eva, the wife of Harmon Crane, of Camden; Monteze D., a resident of Camden. Of these children the first three had the advantage of a good college education.
Mr. Chester has been during all of his mature life an active participant in public affairs, serv- ing for sixteen consecutive years as a justice of the peace, and at another time for eight years, winning the reputation of having been the best justice in the county during his tenure of the of- fice. . He was also township treasurer for two terms, and a number of years ago was nominated for representative in Congress on the Green- back ticket without his knowledge or expecta- tion. In the election that followed he carried his township by a handsome majority. But in poli- tics he has always been a Republican, and a zeal- ous worker for the success of his party. To the cause of public education he has ever been ar- dently devoted, and has proven his faith by active work for the advancement of the cause. He was earnest and zealous in the movement that result- ed in providing the fine brick structure in which the schools of Camden are housed, serving as a member of the building committee while the house was in process of erection an'd for a num- ber of years after it was completed as school di- rector. He also served as postmaster at Cam- den, having been appointed by President Abra- ham Lincoln. He belongs to the Masonic fra- ternity, holding memberships in the lodge at Camden and the chapter at Reading, and he has filled several of the important and prominent of- fices in both organizations. He also belongs to the local grange of the Patrons of Husbandry.
CHARLES COOK.
Losing his father by death when he was about fourteen years of age, Charles Cook, the super- visor of Camden township, has from his youth made his own way in the world, and the success he has attained is a strong proof of his native ability and force of character. He is a native of Sandusky county, Ohio, born on November 29, 1850, the son of Constant S. and Phœbe A.
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(Allbee) Cook, the former a native of New York and the latter of Sandusky county, Ohio. The father came with his parents from his native state to Ohio when he was twelve years old, and soon afterward the family settled in San- (lusky county, where the son grew to manhood, was educated and married. He lived on the Ohio homestead until the fall of 1864. then moved to Michigan and bought a farm in Cam- clen township of this county, on which the son now resides. On October 18, 1864. a few months after his arrival in the state, he paid the last debt of nature and was laid to rest in the soil he had come to with high hopes of success and pros- perity. His widow survived him a number of years, married a second husband after she had moved to California, where she died about 1885. Their family comprised five children, three daughters and two sons, Charles being the sec- ond born.
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