USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan > Part 65
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
with the blessings of an advanced civilization. He had come to this state in 1831 and settled on government land in the territory claimed by both Ohio and Michigan ; and during the four years of his residence there he took an active part in the Toledo War, serving as a fifer and being the only one in his regiment.
Some time after the close of this exciting con- flict a surveyor told him of the rich and beautiful country lying around Jonesville, and selling out his possessions he came to this part of the state, accompanied by his wife, one child and a hired man named Ephraim Wiltsie, and located near North Reading. He here purchased of the gov- ernment the north half of section 9 and the south half of section 3, then in Allen township but now in Reading. His first dwelling was a cabin of unhewn logs, 19x23 feet in size. This he after- ward replaced by a house of hewn black walnut ยท logs which was for many years the most pre- tentious and attractive building in the township. It is still standing and marks the spot and shows the style of a prosperous pioneer's early home. Aided by his industrious sons he fully cleared 250 acres of his land, placed it in under cultiva- tion and adorned it with the residence spoken of and other good farm buildings. He also took pride in raising good stock.
From his advent into the county Judge Mickle was active and serviceable in all phases of its pub- lic life. The first town meeting, which was held on April 3, 1837, convened at his house, and this was the beginning of the township's organiza- tion. At this meeting he was elected to the var- ious positions of justice of the peace, highway commissioner and township assessor. The office of justice he filled for thirteen years, during eight of which he was also a notary public. In 1839 he was again elected assessor, and two years later he was chosen associate judge of the circuit court. In 1842 he represented the county in the state Legislature, and in 1851 was again elected judge. His last office was that of justice of the peace to which he was again elected in 1867. In politics he was a Whig until the formation of the Republican party and thereafter he was a mem- ber of that organization.
386
HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
The Judge was first married in his native lege. A native of Germany, he was born at county to Miss Elizabeth S. DeMott, and they Darmstadt, on August 15, 1835, the son of George B. and Dorothy (Bower) Gardner, natives of the Fatherland. His father followed the dual occu- pations of millwright and miller, and was a highly valued member of the community where he re- sided. He passed away from life in Germany after a long and useful life. The mother also died in Germany, both parents being buried there. became the parents of five daughters, all of whom but one died in infancy, and she is now deceased. The one that died in 1836 was the first person to die in the township, and two years later Mrs. Mickle followed her offspring to the better world. On September 8, 1839, the Judge was united with a second wife, Miss Mary Fitzsimmons, a daughter of George Fitzsimmons and sister of A. M. R. Fitzsimmons, of Reading township, thus solemnizing the first wedding in the town. Their offspring numbered ten, all sons, of whom one died in infancy, nine grew to manhood and six are now living. John G. is a resident of Quin- cy, Mich. ; Eugene O. traveled as a scenic painter and was last heard of in Liverpool, England ; Daniel W. married Miss Sena Kidder and lives at Reading ; Benjamin F. married Miss Flora Hogeboom and is a farmer in Reading township ; Luther S. lives at Ottawa, Ill. His first wife died and he has married again ; and George L. runs a creamery at Castalia, Ohio. Their mother departed this life on February 29, 1888.
The Judge joined the Masonic fraternity in early life and ascended its mystic ladder to the degree of Knight Templar, joining Eureka Com- mandery in 1854. Reading Lodge, No. 117, of the order was instituted in 1858 at his home with him as its first senior warden. For many years he was a leading member of the Baptist church to which he was much devoted and a liberal con- tributor. His funeral services were conducted by Eureka Commandery of Hillsdale, and were participated in by a multitude of admiring friends, neighbors and pioneers. His remains were laid to rest in the cemetery which bears his name, on the land which he had entered as a home fifty-seven years before.
GEORGE B. GARDNER.
One of the best known and most prominent citizens of Michigan is the subject of this sketch, Prof. George B. Gardner, the well-known artist of Hillsdale, who for many years has stood at the head of the art department of the Hillsdale Col-
Professor Gardner attained man's estate in the land of his nativity, and there received his early education. He early showed a tendency . toward the calling which he has followed with such conspicuous success in later years. At the age of three years he began to make drawings with so much skill as to attract the attention of his parents and others, and, at the age of eight years, he painted a small water-color of his early home, which was so true to life as to command a ready sale. The paints and brushes which he used were manufactured by his own hands, and he now has one of these early efforts hanging on the walls of his Hillsdale studio, as an evidence of the precocity and talent of his childhood. At the age of seventeen years, in 1852, the young artist determined to seek his fortune in America, and, leaving the land of his birth and young manhood, he set sail for the new world. Arriving in this country, he first settled in Pittsburg, Pa., where he remained for several years in the successful pursuit of his art. During his residence in this city he made several trips to the southern states for the purpose of studying slave life, he having become much interested in the slavery question during the early years of his life in America, and in his collection he has several paintings of negro meetings, which he made from life in the days antecedent to the Civil War. He first came to Hillsdale in 1856, and, two years later, he accepted the position of principal of the art department at the Hillsdale College, with relation he continued to hold with great distinction and marked success for thirty-two years, resigning it in 1900 for the purpose of giving his entire attention to individ- ual work.
Professor Gardner has been foremost in the upbuilding of art in the state of Michigan, hav-
38,
HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
ing instructed more than three thousand students during his long term of service in Hillsdale Col- lege. He has also been active and prominent in the public life of his section of the state, occupy- ing at the present time (1903) the office of super- visor of the second ward of the city of Hillsdale, having also served for four years as a member of the city council, a portion of the time being the acting mayor of the city. Politically, he has al- ways been identified with the Republican party, taking for many years an active and prominent part in the leadership and management of the affairs of that party in Hillsdale county. In 1855 Professor Gardner was united in marriage with Miss Henrietta Sayre, a native of the state of Ohio. To their union have been born eight chil- dren, all of whom attained maturity and are now living. The Professor is devoted to his family and to his home. In religious creed himself and family are members of the Free Baptist church, and take an active and sincere interest in the work of religion and charity in the community. Profes- sor Gardner is also affiliated with the Masonic order, being a member of the chapter and com- mandery, holding the chaplain's chair in his lodge. He has been for many years, and is now in his mature years, one of the leading citizens of Hills- ciale county, who has done much to advance and promote the best interests and artistic culture of the community, and he is honored by all classes of his fellow citizens.
JOHN G. McWILLIAM.
Planting his unfaltering footstep in the wil- derness of Hillsdale county in the spring of 1842 when he was but twenty years of age, and maintaining his residence on the same land from that time to this, John G. McWilliam, of Camden township, is a fine representative of the early pio- neers who laid the foundation of the county's greatness and labored to develop its resources with a breadth of view and an enterprise char- acteristic of the heroic band to which he belonged and of the people of character and force from whom he sprang. He was born in Saratoga county, N. Y., on August 9, 1822, the son of Ab-
ner J. and Agnes G. (Gilchrist) McWilliam, both natives of that county, reared on its soil, ed- ucated in its schools and married among its peo- ple. On August 20, 1822, eleven days after his birth his mother died, leaving him as her only offspring. His father afterward married a sec- ond time and one child was added by this mar- riage to the household. His second wife also preceded him to the other world, and he contract- ed a third marriage by which he became the fa- ther of two additional children. In the fall of 1832 the family moved to Michigan and settled on a farm in Lenawee county which is now cov- ered by the town of Deerfield, they being among the earliest settlers in that region. In 1836 they sold this farm and bought another of 160 acres in the same township, which they improved and cul- tivated and on which the father lived until his death in 1875.
The son, John G. McWilliam, was ten years old when the family residence was taken up in this state, and he remained at home, receiving a public school education and working on the paternal homestead until the spring of 1842. He then started out in life for himself, and, com- ing to Hillsdale county, purchased the place of I47 acres, on which he still resides in Camden township. It was in the virgin forest of the time, still the haunt of the untamed Indian, filled with beasts of prey, and without roads or other con- veniences on which the comfort and welfare of civilized men is largely dependent. But he was inured to the toils and privations of pioneer life. The path he had chosen was choked with difficul- ties, but his body and soul were hardened to met them ; it was beset with dangers, but these were the very spice of life to such as he, gladden- ing the heart with exulting self-confidence, send- ing the blood through the veins with a livelier current. He entered upon the herculean task of clearing his land, and making it habitable and productive, with energy and confidence, and, aft- er one year's arduous effort, while waiting devel- opment of the plans he had begun, he returned to Lenawee county and remained there for a year. In the spring of 1844 he came back to his farm and thenceforth applied himself assiduously
25
388
HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
to its improvement and cultivation, and now he has one of the choice country homes of Camden.
As time passed he prospered in his efforts, and after many years of faithful industry, re- tired a short time ago from active pursuits, deter- mined to spend the rest of his days in quiet con- tentment on the broad acres which he had re- deemed from the wilderness and planted with be- neficent fertility and all the products of careful and judicious husbandry. In 1845 he built a little log dwelling in which he lived until 1867, when he replaced it with the commodious modern house which he still occupies. On April 27, 1845, he married with Miss Sallie Westfall, a native of Ontario county, N. Y., and daughter of Jacob D. and Mary (Middangh) Westfall, who lived in that county and state until toward the close of their lives but died in this county. Mr. and Mrs. McWilliam have had three children: Ab- ner J., who died at the age of thirty-four ; Albert, who died at the age of two years ; Ellen Estelle, now the wife of Silas W. Huggett, and a resident of Camden, township. Mrs. McWilliam died on May 2, 1902. In politics Mr. McWilliam has been an active Democrat all of his mature life. He served as highway commissioner for a num- ber of terms and for eight years as a justice of the peace. He is widely known, highly respected and generally esteemed as one of the representa- tive men of the township. He is a prominent and valued member of the Patrons of Husbandry.
CAPTAIN LUCIEN MEIGS.
In November, 1847, Lucien Meigs purchased sixty acres of land in Reading township, of this county, and from that time, until his death in 1891, he was a resident of the township, one of its prominent citizens, public spirited men and an influential factor in developing its resources and building up its interests. The farm on which he then settled was a tract of unbroken forest, without roads or other conveniences, virgin to the plow, yielding nothing for the sustenance of man except the wild growths of the woodland and the game with which it was filled. Every foot of it required heroic toil to bring it to produc-
tiveness, and he addressed himself to the task with ardor and energy. Erecting a little log cabin as a habitation for himself and his bride, whom he had married in Allen township on the seventlf day of that month, he went to work with vigor at the clearing of his land, and in preparing it for cultivation. And during the forty-four years of his residence here Captain Meigs has continued his industry and has created from the wilderness a fine and well improved farm, on which fields of waving grain grow golden in the sunshine where once the primeval forest stood, and a commodious and substantial modern dwell- ing marks the site of the first residence, the hum- ble log cabin.
He ,was born in the town of Van Buren, On- ondaga county, N. Y., and was the descendant of an old New England family. His grandfa- ther, Phineas Meigs, was a soldier in the Rev- olution from the beginning to the end of the mo- mentous struggle, and died in his native town- ship after an honorable and useful life of seven- ty-seven years. His son, Phineas Meigs, the Captain's father, was an intelligent, hard-work- ing farmer, highly respected as a citizen and a good and honest man in the community where he lived for many years. He was three times mar- ried, first to Miss Waitstill Williams, who bore him three daughters and one son, and died in 1831, while she was yet a young woman. His second marriage, which occurred in his native county, was with Miss Polly Ingoldsby, who was born in Jefferson county, N. Y., of Massa- chusetts parentage. They were the parents of four sons and two daughters, of whom the Cap- tain was the first born. This wife died in 1861, and Mr. Meigs married a third, Miss Lydia Gard- ner, who died on February 14, 1872, aged sixty- nine, leaving two sons. One of these was a pri- vate in a New York regiment during the Civil War and died at City Point, Va., of a disease contracted on the battlefield.
Lucien Meigs was reared in his native town- ship and received an excellent education, which he put to a good use by teaching, in which occu- pation he was engaged for a number of years aft- er reaching his legal majority. When twenty-
389
HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
two years old he came to Michigan and pur- `ber 7, 1847, he was married to Miss Amanda chased eighty acres of land in Girard township, Thomas, a native of Ontario county, N. Y., and the second child of the eleven born to her par- ents, David and Polly (Webster) Thomas, the former born in Massachusetts and the latter in New York. The parents lived from 1834 to 1841 at Mentor, Ohio, near the home of President Gar- field, where Mr. Thomas improved a farm. In the year last named he moved with his family to Allen township in this county, and located on a new farm where the parents passed the rest of their days, the father dying at the age of seventy- eight and the mother at that of seventy-two. They were highly respected and their lives were conspicuous for honesty, industry and generous hospitality. Branch county. He lived in that county five years but made no effort to improve his land, as he was engaged in teaching during the winter and in farm labor around the country in the summer. After his marriage he located on the farm which was his last home, and during the rest of his life' he followed farming with industry and success, except during his term of service as a volunteer in the Union army of the Civil War. In Janu- ary, 1863, he enlisted as a member of Co. G, First Michigan Sharpshooters, and was commissioned captain of the company on March 31 following, taking his position with this rank in May. The regiment was stationed at Fort Dearborn, Mich., until early in July, when six of its companies Mrs. Meigs was well educated in Ohio and Michigan, and when she became a young lady she engaged in teaching, following this profes- sion until her marriage with Captain Meigs, by which she became the mother of three children, Ella A., wife of Frank M. Frazier, a prominent farmer of Crawford county, Pa .; Morris I., a sketch of whom appears in this volume in con- nection with one of the Reading Robe & Tanning Co .; and I. May, wife of Edgar B. Bailey, an es- teemed farmer of Reading township. After a record of usefulness, honesty and enterprise of which any man might be proud, Captain Meigs died at his home in Reading township on August 3, 1891, leaving a good name which would be a priceless legacy to any family. Mrs. Meigs her- self passed away on April 8, 1901. were ordered to southern Indiana and Ohio in pursuit of Morgan and his raiders. They were stationed for some time in Jennings county, Ind., and were instrumental in driving the invader out of that part of the state and in capturing some of his scouts. After his capture the regiment returned to Fort Dearborn, and, after remaining there until August 17, following, it was ordered to Camp Douglas at Chicago, where it was on guard duty until March 17, 1864, and was then sent. to Annapolis, Md., and consolidated with the second brigade of the third division of the Ninth Army Corps, and soon after joined the Army of the Potomac. On May 6 and 7 it was in action in the battle of the Wilderness. Not long after this Captain Meigs was disabled by illness and on August II, 1864, he was honorably dis- charged from the service with a good reputation ISAAC MOORE. for fidelity and zeal as a soldier and an officer in camp and on the march and the battlefield.
On his return to the North he made a visit to his old New York home, and then resumed his life as a farmer and citizen in this county, where he was ever actively, serviceably and effectively identified with the progress and development of this section and a local force of power and influ- ence in the political affairs of the township, hold- ing in succession almost every office in the gift of the people. He was throughout his manhood a zealous and devoted Republican. On Novem-
The late Isaac Moore, of Pittsford township, whose untimely death on August 5, 1900, was generally lamented and closed a life of signal usefulness, was born in Wayne county, New York, on October 21, 1842. His parents were William and Dinah (Strange) Moore, both born and reared in England. They came to the United States in 1834 and settled in Wayne county, New York, where the father was an industrious and prosperous laborer in various fields of enterprise. and where both parents died. Their offspring
390
HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
consisted of five sons and one daughter. Two of the sons, Robert and Isaac, became residents of Hillsdale county. The latter was but fourteen years of age when he came to this county and joined his older brother, Robert, then a resident of Pittsford township, for whom he worked until the beginning of the Civil War. In November, 1861, he enlisted as a member of the Sixth Mich- igan Battery of Light Artillery, and with that organization fought for the Union until he was taken prisoner on August 23, 1862, at the battle of Richmond, Ky.
After his exchange some months later he re- enlisted in the same battery, and remained with it until the close of the war, participating with it in many hard fought battles and seeing much of the privation and hardship necessarily incident to military life. After his final discharge che re- turned to Hillsdale county and during the rest of his life was engaged here in various pursuits, performing his daily duties with fidelity and cheerfulness, adding in his way much of worth and usefulness to the wealth and prosperity of the township, and exemplifying in his unostenta- tious career many of the most admirable traits of a serviceable and approved citizenship, the kind on which the safety and progress of our country has so largely depended, and to which it owes so much of its real greatness and power.
In 1868 Mr. Moore was married with Miss Martha Phillips, daughter of James and Philen- da (Monroe) Phillips. The father came to Michigan in 1835 and settled in Lenawee county where he remained four years, thence removing to Hillsdale county in 1839. Here he married with Miss Monroe and continued to reside on land which he purchased in Pittsford township until his death. His family consisted of two daughters, Mrs. Moore being the only one now living. Mr. and Mrs. Moore had five children : Myrtie and Mariam, deceased; and Mortimer, Marvin and Milford, all living at home. The family has a good record and stands well in the township, contributing to its industrial and so- cial life in a substantial way, and holding well the respect of the people of all classes.
-
DR. JAMES W. NIBLACK.
The subject of this review, who is one of the pioneer physicians and surgeons of Hillsdale county, and has a long record of active and bene- ficial service among its people to his credit, is a native of Washington county, Pa., where he was born on February 26, 1832. James and Marga- ret (Speinger) Niblack, his parents, were also natives of Pennsylvania, and in that state they were prosperously engaged in farming until the desire for a more open and promising life with larger opportunities on the frontier impelled them in 1853 to emigrate to Trumbull county, Ohio. They cleared a farm in the wilderness and made it their home until death, the father passing away in 1842 and the mother in 1877. The father was a soldier in the War of 1812, and in that short but decisive contest with the mother coun- try, in which her aspiring offspring demonstrat- ed his ability to assert and maintain his rights on land and sea, the gallant Pennsylvanian bore himself with credit on many a bloody field. The paternal ancestry was of Scottish origin and set- tled in this country early in its Colonial period of struggle and conquest.
Doctor Niblack was one of the eleven chil- dren who composed his father's household, and of this number he alone remains. He became a resident of Trumbull county, Ohio, when he was but three years old, and remained there until 1861, receiving his education in the public schools and at the Farmington Normal School. After leaving this institution he taught in the public schools for a time and then, in 1852, began read- ing medicine, placing himself under the direction of Doctor Briscoe. He took a course of profes- sional instruction at the Western Reserve Medi- cal College of Cleveland, and in 1861 came to Michigan, locating in Cambria Mills, in Hillsdale county, where he remained until 1888, when he removed to Reading, which has since been his home. During the two years from 1863 to July, 1865, he served in the Federal army, being a member of the Twenty-seventh Michigan Infant- ry which he joined as its assistant surgeon. In this service he participated in many important
391
HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
engagements, and was finally discharged with the rank of a lieutenant of cavalry. He was in the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Potomac, most of the time under General Grant.
In 1884-5 the Doctor attended a course of lectures at the Bennett Medical College of Chi- cago, where he was graduated with the degree of M. D. His practice has been of the most gen- eral character, as that of nearly all country physi- cians must be, and he has adorned the profession with breadth and fullness of learning and with skill and exactness in its application to his busi- ness. For many years he was an active and zeal- ous member of the county, state and tri-state medical associations, giving to their proceedings and deliberations the benefit of his wide experi- ence and his close and discriminating observation. His success mainly has been due, however, to his intelligent study of his cases and the excellent judgment he displays in their management. He married in Ohio in 1855 with Miss Mary Keefer, who died leaving three children, Dr. Charles F., a prominent physician of Reading ; Nellie, wife of A. B. Scattergood, of Alma, Mich., and George L., one of the leading farmers of this county. The Doctor was united in marriage with his second wife, Miss Arilla Betts, of Cam- bria, this county, in 1880. He is a Republican in politics, strong in the faith, active in the serv- ice of his party. He has filled several local of- fices in the village and township. He belongs to the Masonic order and to the Knights of Pythias.
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.