USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan > Part 66
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CHRISTOPHER MYERS.
Christopher Myers, the oldest son of Joshua and Jane (Penoyar) Myers, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere in this work, was born in Camden township, Hillsdale county, Michigan, on December 16, 1840, about two months after the arrival in this county of his parents and his three older sisters. He was reared on the wood- land farm on the very verge of civilization, on which they had pitched their tent and begun to make a new home. His opportunities for attend- ing school were few and it was far between them, as all the available strength and spirit of the fam-
ily were needed for work on the farm while the season lasted. So, growing to manhood amid the scenes of natural beauty of southern Michi- gan, and free from the blandishments and seduc- tive pleasures of social life, he developed a strong physique and a healthy love of home and free- dom, which took in the whole country as the ob- ject of its devotion. It was no surprise to his friends, therefore, that when armed resistance threatened the existence of the Federal Union, he was one of the early volunteers.
On August 12, 1861, when he was not yet of legal age, he enlisted in Co. C, Seventh Michigan Infantry, and soon afterward was in the field as a part of the Army of the Potomac. His regi- ment was in the very thickest of the fighting dur- ing the first two years of the war, and took part in twenty-seven engagements, among the most important being those at Yorktown, Fair Oaks, the James, where for seven days, there was al- most continual battle and much of it desperate, Second Bull Run, South Mountain and Antie- tam. At the terrible battle of Antietam he was shot through the thigh and for four weeks there- after was in the hospital, and then, in November, 1862, he was discharged from the service on ac- count of the disability thus incurred. He re- turned home but was an invalid for several months, and unable to do continued work of any kind. Recovering his health, he reenlisted on December 12, 1863, becoming a member of Co. K, Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry, in which he then served to the close of the war. With this command he participated in many engagements, the most noted being the battle of the Wilderness. After this contest he was detailed for service in the commissary department for about three months, then returned to his company and took part in the capture of Fort Mahoney, being at the very front in the charge and one of the first men to get within the fort. His company also fired the first shot at the battle of Petersburg, After the capture of that city his regiment was a part of the force that followed General Lee until his surrender. Mr. Myers was under fire almost every day for months, being at the front for three years. At the close of the war he went to Wash-
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ington, took part in the Grand Review of the army, then returned to his Camden township home and settled on a farm of forty acres which he had bought during the war. Here he lived for a period of thirty years. He still owns the farm but has it now in the hands of a tenant, having retired from active pursuits.
On January 1, 1866, he was married to Miss Hannah Loueså Pound, a native of Wayne coun- ty, N. Y., the daughter of Addison T. and Chloe (Gurnee) Pound, the former a native of Ontario county and the latter of Cayuga county, N. Y. They moved to Hillsdale county in 1856 and bought a farm in Camden township on which they lived until death, the mother passing away in November, 1888, and the father in November, 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Meyers have one child, their daughter, Chloe, wife of S. E. Haughey, of Camden. Mr. Myers belongs to the Masonic fra- ternity, holding his membership in Lodge No. 245 at Camden, and is also connected with the Order of the Eastern Star, the Grand Army of the Republic and the Patrons of Husbandry. In politics he has been a Republican from the dawn of his manhood, casting his first vote for Lincoln for president. He has been actively interested in the development of his township and county, and has taken a prominent part in various enter- prises looking to this end. As a wise and useful citizen, who never shirks hiis duty in reference to public or private responsibilities, he is widely known and highly esteemed.
JOSHUA MYERS.
Arriving in Hillsdale county, Michigan, in October, 1840, with his wife and three daughters, and without a place whereon to lay his head or shelter them from the storms of winter, which were already foretold in the frosty air and deep- ening tinges of the forests, Joshua Myers, late of Camden township, deceased. was a man of resolute spirit and determination, or he would not have accepted his lot in the wilderness with so much cheerfulness and courage as he is said to have done, and he would not have wrought out of his adverse circumstances, and conditions of
difficulty and danger, the substantial estate of worldly comfort which he enjoyed in his later years, or have developed his wild land into the excellent farm with good improvements which he left as the monument of his skill and industry. He was born near Lyons, N. Y., on January 10, 1810, the son of Christopher Myers, a New Yorker by birth but of German ancestry, whose wife was born and reared in Vermont. The fa- ther was a well-to-do farmer in his native state and died there while he was yet a young man. After his death his widow joined her children in this state and died some years later at the home of her daughter in Allegan county.
Joshua Myers grew to manhood in his native state and there was united in marriage with Miss Jane Penoyar. In the autumn of 1840 he moved with his wife and three daughters to Hillsdale county and settled on eighty acres of land which he bought in Camden township around the site of the present grange hall. This land was all heavily timbered, and there were no conven- iences of life at hand to make it more habitable, or less difficult of access and treatment, than oth- er wild lands of the dense forest. Mr. Myers went to work resolutely, however, and built a little log house for a dwelling for his family, hurrying his operations on the building with might and main in order to get it completed be- fore cold weather set in, for it was in October that they reached the county. After the cabin was completed the family moved into it and it continued to be their home until the prosperity, that followed their persistent energy in clearing and cultivating their land, enabled them to build a better residence and otherwise enrich their farm with good improvements.
In his later years the father sold this place and moved to Indiana, but after residing a few years in that state he returned to Camden town- ship and there passed the remainder of his days, dying in 1880, having survived his wife for a quarter of a century, as she died about 1855. They were the parents of six children, two of whom are dead and the other four residents of Hillsdale county. They are Harriet. now the widow of Aldice Johnson ; Clarissa, wife of Wil-
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liam C. Johnson ; Christopher and Walter, farm- ers of Camden township, where their sisters also live. The deceased children are Charity, who was the wife of S. B. Johnson ; and Annie, who died unmarried. Mr. Myers was a useful man in his day and generation. He freely did what he could to develop the county and the state in which he lived, and he was correspondingly appreciated and esteemed by his fellow citizens.
WALTER MYERS, the son and youngest child of Joshua and Jane (Penoyar) Myers, was born in Camden township, Hillsdale county, on Octo- ber II, 1843, and was reared on his father's farm. He was educated in the district schools of the neighborhood and trained to a life of industry and thrift. On September 1, 1861, when he was less than eighteen years old, he enlisted in the Union army as a member of Co. K, Eleventh Michigan Infantry, and in the momentous con- test in which our unhappy land was then engaged he served for three years and one month, being mustered out at Sturgis on the last day of Sep- tember, 1864. He participated in twenty-two hard fought battles, among them those of Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Chatta- nooga, Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Ga., Dallas, Roop Station and the siege of Atlanta, besides a great number of skirmishes and minor engage- cents. He was never sick a day while in the serv- ice, was never wounded and never taken prisoner. He thoroughly enjoyed the life of danger and thrilling incidents of the war and returned from it strengthened and developed in body and with a spirit of manly self-reliance which has been his mainstay ever since. His regiment was a part of the Army of the Cumberland, than which no de -. partment did more or harder fighting.
After Mr. Myers's return home he worked on the farm for his father three or four years, then rented a farm and after occupying it for a time, bought the one of thirty acres on which he now lives. He was married on February 2. 1868, with Miss Ella Wright, a native of Lorain county, Ohio, and a daughter of Micajah and Phoebe J. (Campbell) Wright, natives of New York and early settlers in Ohio. They came to Hillsdale county in the early days of its history,
and here the father died about 1885. The mother is still living and makes her home with Mr. My- ers. He is a member of the Union Veterans Union, and is earnest in his devotion to the Re- publican party. He has served the township as a highway commissioner, and has ever shown a laudable and serviceable interest in the welfare of all its interests. He is universally respected as a good citizen and an estimable man.
WILLIAM ALLEN OLIVER, M. D.
Dr. William Allen Oliver, of Camden, is a na- tive of Fulton county, Ohio, born on November 5, 1853, and is the son of Nathan and Sarah (Carmichael) Oliver, both natives of Ohio, the father born in Stark county and the mother in Morrow county. Soon after their marriage in 1843 they settled in Fulton county in that state, where they were early pioneers and cleared an excellent farm from the woodland, making it a very comfortable and valuable home. Selling this in 1877, they moved to Hillsdale county, Mich- igan, settling in Reading township, where the mother died. A few years later the father moved back to Ohio, taking up his residence in Williams county, where he died.
The Doctor was reared on the paternal home- stead and took an active part in its useful la- bors until he reached the age of sixteen. The family then moved to Pioneer, and he, having made a choice of his profession, attended school to more fully prepare himself for the work. At the age of eighteen he began to study medicine under the direction of Dr. George Young, of Pio- neer, with whom he remained for five years, two months and ten days, during this period attending a course of lectures at Hahnemann Medical Col- lege in Chicago. He has since taken another course at the same institution. In 1877 he lo- cated at Reading in this county, for a while, but owing to the uncertainty of his health he did not practice. In the spring of 1878 he moved to South Camden, and, after remaining there about eighteen months, he established his residence at Camden, where he has ever since been actively en-
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gaged in the practice of his profession and aiding in building up the community.
Doctor Oliver is an active and faithful worker in the ranks of the Republican party, but has never sought or desired official station. In the cause of public education, however, he has taken a great interest, and has rendered valuable serv- ice, having been a member of the local school board for about fifteen years. He has also served the community for eighteen years as health offi- cer. Fraternally, he is connected with the Ma- sonic fraternity and the Order of the Eastern Star: also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, holding memberships in the lodges of these orders at Camden. On June 5, 1883, Doc- tor Oliver was married to Miss Ortensa L. Ches- ter, a native of Camden township and daughter of Frederick and Marthia L. ( Fowle) Chester, a sketch of whom will be found on other pages of this work. Five children have blessed their union and brightened their home, four of whom are liv- ing. Clark C., Walter W., Flossie F. and Leota L. A son named William W. died at the age of four months and nine days. The Doctor stands high in his profession, and as a citizen enjoys the con- fidence and esteem of the entire community.
DR. DANIEL W. TIMMS.
The late Dr. Daniel W. Timms, of Hillsdale county, whose death at the age of fifty-eight, in 1882, left a vacancy in the professional and agri- cultural circles in the county which it has been difficult to fill, was born at Oxford, England, on November 24, 1824, the son of John and Ann Timms, also English by nativity. They came with their family to the United States about the year 1831, and settled at Palmyra, New York, and five years later they came to Michigan, tak- ing up their residence on land in Wheatland township, this county, which they at once began to clear and improve. The next year, at the very threshold of his labor of improvement, the father died, but his widow and their sons carried on the work he had begun until the death of the mother on July 30, 1884. Of the six children in the fam- ily three are living, their sons, William and John,
and their daughter, Mrs. Voorhees, a resident of Grand Rapids.
From his twelfth year the Doctor passed his life in this county, receiving his preliminary schiol- astic training in the public schools and finishing his academic course at Spring Arbor, and at Al- bion Seminary. Upon leaving school lie immedi- ately began the study of medicine under direction of Doctor Hall, of Hudson, and Doctor Delevan, of Moscow, and, in 1848, entered the medical col- lege at Columbus, Ohio, where he was graduated in 1849 with the degree of M. D. He returned from the medical college and started the practice of his profession at Rollin, in Lenawee county, but, after a short time, lie removed to Wheatland township, in this county, where he remained for fourteen years. At the end of that time he took up his residence at Moscow, and that town was hiis home until his death on October 27, 1882. In 1855, to better prepare himself for a special line of practice then much in need in his community, he took a special course of instruction in eye and ear diseases and their proper treatment at an ex- cellent New York institution, on his return find- ing ample justification for his expenditure and enterprise by many calls for relief in this domain of human suffering. Some few years before his death he gave up active practice and devoted him- self to farming of a high standard. He was mar- ried, on July 3. 1849, to Miss Sarah A. Mallory, a daughter of Azariah and Azubah (White) Mal- lory, further notice of whom appears upon anoth- er page of this volume.
Having no children of their own, the Doctor and Mrs. Timms adopted a son, Frank M. Timms, now prominent and prosperous in the livestock commission business in Chicago. In political faith the Doctor was a loyal Republican and took great interest in the success of his party. He served a number of years as township clerk, was president of the county agricultural society for two years, being also for some time justice of the peace. His church affiliation was with the Baptist sect. In professonal, in official and in private life he was a man of high character and great activity, an or- nament to the community and one of its most serviceable citizens. His widow, some years after
Dr D. Jimas 1
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his death, married Henry McCowen, a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1820 and a pioneer of 1845 in Michigan, a sketch of whom will be found upon another page. Mrs. McCowen, for the sec- ond time a widow, lives at Hillsdale, universally esteemed.
CORNELIUS B. REYNOLDS.
One of the honored pioneers of Hillsdale county, and devoting to the development of its in- dustries and the advancement of its people nearly fifty years of his useful life, Cornelius B. Reynolds of Reading township, who passed away from the trials and sorrows of earth to the triumphs of an everlasting rest on September 28, 1894, was an inspiration in the life of his community and the memory of his lofty example is still an incitement to its people. He saw all the difficulity and dan- ger of frontier life, endured all its hardships and privations, performed every form of its exacting toil, and at the last enjoyed in full measure the comfort fairly won by his labors and the respect and esteem of his fellow men properly due to his uprightness and manly character.
Born in Washington county, New York, on September 9, 1820, he was the son of Jeremiah and Sarah (Tafft) Reynolds, who were born, reared, married and passed their lives in that county, the mother dying there about middle age, and the father remaining until the shadows of the grave began to darken around him, then coming to the home of his son in Hillsdale county, where he passed away on January 14, 1864, more than eighty-four years old. Cornelius B. Reynolds was reared in his native county, and there received a common-school education and learned the trade of a miller, at which he afterward worked in a number of different places. At the age of sixteen he moved with his parents to Wayne county, New York, and, later, on August 1I, 1841, was there married to Miss Parnel Marsh, who was born in that county on October 16, 1820.
Mr. Reynolds had purchased eighty acres of land in Reading township, Michigan, agreeing to pay far more than it was worth, giving a mort- gage for a considerable part of the purchase price.
In 1845 he and his wife located on this land, and began the struggle to clear it of timber, and of its far heavier incumbrance, the debt. The region was unproductive at the time. and the struggle for advancement was difficult and prolonged. But the young couple patiently toiled on, and even moved to Jackson county, where there were better opportunities, and lived there for a few years. They then returned to this county and their homestead in 1848, and from that time un- til the death of Mr. Reynolds they remained on the farm that had cost them so much anxiety and arduous labor. They prospered after they got fairly started, and accumulated a goodly share of worldly wealth, Mr. Reynolds owning at his death 500 acres of land and much other valuable prop- erty. He was a great lover and a renowned breeder of fine horses, fancying particularly the Morgan strain, and had for the training of his products a half-mile track on his farm.
In politics Mr. Reynolds was to the last a Jackscnian Democrat of the most pronounced type, and, while never aspiring to political pre- ferment, he was induced to accept township of- fices at times, but was always found active in de- fense of his party faith and its principles and can- didates. From his early manhood he was an en- thusiastic member of the Masonic fraternity, and he climbed its mystic ladder through lodge, chap- ter and council, holding the principal offices in each gradation, aiding materially in pushing along the progress and spread of each. He was a member of and for some time the worshipful mas- ter of the lodge at Reading, and he helped to or- ganize the lodges at Camden and at Hall's Cor- ners, now called California. He was also the first high priest of the chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Reading, and the first thrice illustrious master of the Reading Masonic council.
Throughout the county he was well known and very influential in all lines of life, inspiring all good energies, restraining the bad, and help- ing forward every element of progress in the sec- tion which was blessed and brightened by his in- dustry and force of character. His wife survived him several years, dying on January 3, 1900. They were the parents of six children, only two
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of whom are living, Eugene W., of Camden town- ship, and Adelbert B., living on the homestead. A sketch of each follows. The children deceased are George and Delos, who were buried in Jack- son county, and Frank and an infant, who were buried in Reading township.
ADELBERT REYNOLDS.
Born and reared on the farm on which he now resides in Reading township, and having passed the whole of his life in association with the peo- ple who are now his friends and neighbors, Adel- bert Reynolds is closely identified with the section of his home, and has been an important factor in its development and progress. His life began on September 23, 1856, and he received his education in the district schools near his home. When he approached the estate of manhood, and his older brother, Eugene, had started in life for himself, and was developing a farm of his own, he re- , mained with his parents, after the death of his father taking entire charge of the home farm of 120 acres, which he conducted for his mother un- til she, too, passed away. He then came into pos- session of it, and since then has been its owner and has managed it on his own account. The farm is under good cultivation and enriched with improvements of an excellent grade, making it one of the most desirable country homes in this part of the state.
Mr. Reynolds is fully up-to-date in the quality of his farming and imbued with the spirit and progressive tendency of the section in which he lives. He was united in marriage with Miss Rose Bell, a native of Calhoun county in this state, on October 20, 1878. She is the daughter of Rob- ert and Letta (Law) Bell, natives of Ireland, who came to this country with their parents in youth, reached years of maturity and were married in Genesee county, Michigan, and afterward moved to Calhoun county. Her father died in Hillsdale county on April 13. 1895, and her mother has since made her home with Mr. and Mrs. Rev- nolds. Mr. Revnolds is a Democrat in politics, but, while deeply and actively interested in the success of his party, he is not an active partisan
in the sense of seeking the honors or emoluments of political life for himself, finding enough to oc- cupy all his faculties and satisfy all his ambitions in the pursuit of his own interests on his farm and in the general attention that he, like all other good citizens, gives to the welfare of the com- munity and the conservation and development of its best interests. Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds are the parents of two children, their son, Gene B., who is employed in a store at Reading, and their daughter, Leila, who is living at home.
The life of an honest farmer in the agricul- tural sections of Michigan, who meets the re- quirements of every daily duty, and performs with cheerfulness and skill his part in the econ- omy of life, does not seem to attract much atten- tion elsewhere or bear an important relation to the great events of history. And yet it involves much of the prose and poetry of every-day exist- ence, and, combined with other lives of the same character, makes up the sum total of elevated citi- zenship and continuous progressiveness, which has made our country great at home and respect- ed abroad, and constitutes its title to what it has most aptly been called, "the great charity of God to the human race." In this part of American ef- fort and American influence Mr. Reynolds bears his part with unyielding fidelity and ever present usefulness. He is universally esteemed through- out the country as one of its best citizens and most reputable and serviceable men.
EUGENE W. REYNOLDS.
Eugene W. Reynolds, the eldest living son of Cornelius and Parnel (Marsh) Reynolds, and a worthy scion of an honored name in the history of southern Michigan, was born in Jackson coun- ty of this state on July 23, 1847. When he was about a year old the family moved back to Hills- dale county, where they had formerly lived, and here, in Reading township, Eugene grew to man- hood and was educated in the district schools. He was reared to a life of useful labor, and was in- ured to hardship and privation in his early years. He remained at home until he reached the age of twenty years, then bought a farm of forty acres
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on which he made some improvements and sold it, soon afterward buying a portion of the one on which he now lives. This contained a saw and a feed mill when he purchased it, and he operated these industries for about twenty years to his own profit and greatly to the convenience and advantage of the neighborhood. Mr. Reynolds has added to his farm until it now comprises over 500 acres, and he has devoted his energies and intelligence to the improvement of this land, and its wisest cultivation, until he has made it one of the most valuable in the township, a model of thrift and skill in agriculture.,
On October 9, 1871, he was married to Miss Mary M. Hewes, a native of Reading township and a daughter of Mr. Charles and Experience (House) Hewes, the former a native of Massa- chusetts and the latter of Genesee county, New York, whither the father went from his native state with his parents in childhood, and where they were married. In 1843 they emigrated with their three children to Hillsdale county and settled on a farm in Reading township, afterward moving to Camden township, near the village of Mont- · gomery, where they died, the father on May 14, 1888, aged eighty, and the mother on March 19, 1892, aged seventy-six. Mrs. Reynolds was edu- cated in the public schools and at Hillsdale Col- lege. She had three brothers on the Union side in the Civil War, one of whom died in a hospital at Lexington. In politics Mr. Reynolds is inde- pendent and takes no active part in party contests. Following in his father's footsteps in uprightness and breadth of view, he is universally esteemed.
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