USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. > Part 19
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and was to Miss Carrie Osborn, a native of Franklin, Ohio. Of the children born of this union, eight are living, three sons and five daugh- ters. Mr. Beebe was a Republican in politics and filled several offices in Cooper township. Fra- ternally he belonged to the Masonic order, and was a member of the Congregational church.
HENRY LITTLE.
In the settlement of a new country, when ev- erything toward even the planting of civilization is yet to be done, and the common conveniences of life have to be fashioned from raw material with such skill as may be at hand, an accom- plished mechanic is of the utmost usefulness, and while finding an abundance of work, also sees that his craft is appreciated and the labor of his head and hands is held in the highest regard. So it was that the advent of the late Henry Little, of Kalamazoo. into this county on October 3. 1831, which was early in its history, and at a time when the population was sparse, was hailed as a great benefaction, bringing in its train many needed conveniences and benefits for the pioneers who were struggling with adverse conditions and badly in need of well-constructed mechanical powers. For he was a millwright, machinist and master mechanic of great skill and resourceful- ness, with a thorough knowledge of his craft and an indomitable energy in applying it. Mr. Little was born at Cambridge, N. Y., on April 29, 1797. the son of William and Phoebe (Merchant) Little. When he was but six years old his mother died, and the family was broken up.' As soon as he was able to work he found employment on a farm, and continued to be so occupied until he reached the age of fifteen. He was then appren- ticed to the trade of a millwright and general ma- chinist, and soon after completing his apprentice- ship, during which he applied himself with earn- est attention to the full mastery of everything connected with his trade, he began business for himself in St. Johnsbury, Vt., in 1815. He soon rose to distinction in his work and secured large and important contracts for the construction of public utilities and private structures. In 1825
FRANK LITTLE.
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he went to Boston, Mass., and built several mills on the "Big Dam" there. The next year he re- turned to St. Johnsbury and entered the employ of E. & T. Fairbanks, who were then conducting a foundry, iron works and machine shops on the site of their present extensive scales manufac- tory, and in 1830 he superintended for them the erection of a mill for cleaning and preparing hemp fiber for market. In the operation of this mill an imperative necessity arose for some im- proved apparatus for weighing hemp when it was brought to the mill. To meet this necessity the Fairbanks brothers began experimenting on de- vising scales upon an entirely new plan, and Mr. Little aided them materially in originating and bringing to perfection the valuable invention now known all over the world as "the Fairbanks plat- form scales." On March 11, 1822, he was united in marriage with Miss Ruth Fuller, the daughter of Abraham Fuller, a Revolutionary soldier with a record of gallant service in the great war for independence. Nine years later the family came to Michigan, arriving at Galesburg, then known as Tolin Prairie, this county, on October 3, 1831. More than six years were passed there, at Com- stock and Gull Prairie, then in March, 1838, they took up their residence at Grand Rapids on gov- ernment land, which was afterward exchanged for an improved farm near the old home on Gull Prairie. From 1838 to 1840 Mr. Little was en- gaged in the erection and equipping of mills for grinding grain at Paw Paw, Yorkville and Kala- mazoo. In 1863 he gave his farm in charge to his two younger sons, William Henry and Al- bert, and became a permanent resident of the city of Kalamazoo. His only daughter, Mrs. Wil- liam C. Travis, died on February 21, 1878, and on February 8, 1888, his faithful wife, who walked life's troubled way with him for sixty- six years, laid down her trust at the behest of the Great Disposer, aged eighty-seven years. He survived her more than two years, dying at his city residence, No. 435 Lovell street, on May 25, 1890, at the age of ninety-three, and so remark- able were his vital energies that both his physi- cal and mental powers were well retained to the day of his death. His later years were devoted
to general reading and the writing of articles for publication, his productions being highly ap- preciated. Two sons survive him, William Henry and Albert. Mr. Little was a man of pos- itive convictions, indomitable energy, perse- verance and self-will. He was orderly, frugal, painstaking and industrious through life, up- right, reliable and exact in business affairs, and orthodox and unwavering in his religious faith. As a citizen, neighbor and friend he possessed the highest esteem and confidence of his fellow men.
FRANK LITTLE, the oldest son of Henry and Ruth (Fuller) Little, and whose death occurred in November, 1903, was born at St. Johnsbury, Vt., on September 29, 1823, and for more than fifty years was prominent in the public, social, political and literary life of Kalamazoo county and the state of Michigan. He was eight years old when the family moved to this state, and he grew to manhood and was educated here. On attaining his majority in 1844 he turned his at- tention to merchandising, and during the next ten years followed that line of business at Grand Rapids, Richland and Kalamazoo. His public life began with his election as a notary public in 1849, and from then until the time of his death he was almost continuously in the public gaze as the incumbent of some important official or semi- official station. In 1850 he was chosen clerk of Richland township, and after that was succes- sively deputy postmaster, school inspector and director, school superintendent, member of the board of education for thirteen years, and during the whole time its secretary and librarian, and secretary of the public library, draft commis- sioner of the county, secretary of the State Sani- tary Fair organized for the relief of Union sol- diers in the Civil war, clerk of Kalamazoo township and village clerk, and member of the sewer commission. In the spring of 1883 he was prominent and zealous in securing a city charter for Kalamazoo and drafted the one obtained. Beginning in 1857, he was for nearly thirty years the very popular and efficient secre- tary of the Kalamazoo County Agricultural So- ciety ; for eleven years first assistant secretary
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of the State Agricultural Society; for seven years secretary of the State Association of Agri- cultural Societies, an organization largely of his creation ; and was also connected with the Kala- mazoo National Park Horse Association of ear- lier times. During all that long period, in con- nection with other duties, he was a voluminous writer for the press, and his numerous treatises. papers and public addresses on various subjects attracted much attention and were extensively quoted in public documents and elsewhere. In January, 1874, the Millers' National Association of the United States, at its first convention, elected him secretary, and he was annually re- elected to this position until 1879. Such was his efficiency and so valuable were his services in this portion that "The Miller," a London publication devoted to the interests of milling, paid him vol- untarily the high compliment of publishing a sketch of his life with his portrait as a frontis- piece, and said : "There can be no doubt that no inconsiderable share of the success that has at- tended the association is due to Mr. Little's effi- ciency as secretary, a position for which he was eminently qualified both by general and special intelligence." In 1887. month of November, "The American Miller," of Chicago, published an extended sketch of him with portrait, and paid him this tribute in reference to his services as secretary and treasurer of the Michigan Millers' State Association: "As a writer for the press Mr. Little is especially happy. His style is bold, terse and pointed. His reports, papers and ad- dresses read before various societies have always been regarded as models of clearness and accu- racy. His writings are eminently practical. . Is an agricultural authority he can not be surpassed. On all subjects, politics included, his views are sensible. sound and forcible : he is pre-eminently a man of and for the times, devoting his life to furthering the usefulness, happiness and im- provement of the human race." For many years he was prominently connected with the County Pioneer Society, and was for a long time its effi- cient president. In the campaign of 1888 he was Democratic candidate for representative of the first district, but was defeated, the district being
heavily Republican. He was chief correspondent and statistical crop reporter to the agricultural department in Washington for Kalamazoo co:11- ty for over forty years. . An article he wrote on "Celery Culture in Kalamazoo," was published in the report of the department for 1886. In the "Biographical Sketches of Eminent Self-Made Men of Michigan," the editor gives the follow- ing just estimate of Mr. Little's character : "In all the various positions assigned him, Mr. Little has shown the strictest integrity and faithfulness. a capacity for business details of no common order. an energy and force of character truly re- markable, discharging every trust to the satisfac- tion of all concerned. He is methodical, thor- ough and painstaking in business matters, a man of very sound judgment, rare power of mind, of much reading and general intelligence. For quite a number of years he has been a frequent contributor to the local press, treating various questions of public interest with such signal abil- ity as to give direction to popular thought, and call forth commendations from persons of high culture and intelligence." Mr. Little was mar- ried on November 21, 1846, to Miss Cornelia Elizabeth Rockwell, the only daughter of Deacon and Celestia E. ( May) Rockwell, natives of Sand- isfield, Mass. Two children were born to the un- ion, Isabella May, wife of John A. Weeks, a merchant of Yankton, S. D., and Frances E .. wife of Dr. Clarence .A. Dolson. of Atlantic. la.
WILLIAM H. LITTLE, the second son of Henry Little, was born in Kalamazoo county on September 28. 1837. He grew to manhood in this county, and has given the whole of his life so far to the vocation of farming. He was edu- cated in the common schools and at Prairie Semi- nary in Richland. His parents were pioneers in the county, and he was called on for a full share of the arduous labor of clearing the paternal homestead and bringing it to productiveness ; the state of high development and improvement of the farm gives no suggestion of the wilderness it was when the family located on it. Recently Mr. Little sold the place and now resides in the vil- lage of Richland. On January 1. 1867, he united in marriage with Miss Charlotte Brown, a na-
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tive of this county, and the daughter of Charles B. and Marietta (Mills) Brown, and grand- daughter of Deacon Samuel Brown, who was an early pioneer of Richland township, where he settled in 1831 and died in 1861. Mrs. Little has two brothers and two sisters living, Samuel and Chester, Lucy, the wife of George Knappen, and Lizzie, the wife of Eugene Knappen. Their mother died in January, 1873. Mr. and Mrs. Little had four children, Charles H., George E., Lucy E. and William F. The mother died Feb- ruary 16, 1898, and Mr. Little was again married October 31, 1900, his second wife being Miss Bell Jackson, a native of this township. Her par- ents, Steelman and Lucinda (Knappen) Jackson, were pioneers of this county, coming from Ver- mont in 1833. The father belongs to the Presby- terian church, in which body he has been ruling elder for a number of years, and the mother was an active member of the Missionary and Ladies' Aid Society. Mr. Little is a Republican in pol- itics, and for a number of years he served as township commissioner. Like his brother Frank, he is a gentleman of extensive intelligence, wide reading and true culture, with excellent business capacity and good judgment, combined with a breadth of view and a lofty spirit of patriotism. No citizen of his township is better known and is more generally esteemed.
JAMES WENHAM.
James Wenham, who for thirty-seven years has followed the peaceful vocation of farming in this and Allegan counties, twenty-nine of them on the place which is now his home, entered on the great theatre of life as a young man in the mili- tary service of his adopted country, bravely de- * fending the Union in the Civil war and daring death on many of its most saguinary fields of bat- tle. He was born in Sussex county, England, on September 29, 1842, and is the son of James and Maria (Hunt) Wenham, natives of the same county as himself. The father was a farmer and brought his family to the United States in 1849, locating at Cleveland, O., and from there as his headquarters carrying on large operations in rail-
road construction work under contract in western Ohio and Pennsylvania. He moved to this county in 1861 and lived here until 1866, his death oc- curring in 1882, at Plainwell, Allegan county. The mother died in Allegan county in 1884. They had two sons and two daughters, all of whom are living except the oldest daughter. The parents were earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Their son James lived in Ohio until late in the summer of 1861. when, on August 6th, ยท he enlisted in the Union army as a member of Company C, Twenty-ninth Ohio Infantry. His regiment was soon at the front as a part of the Army of the Potomac, to which it was attached during the first two years of its existence, and in this time he took part in the battles of Winchester, Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville and Gettys- burg. At the last named Mr. Wenham fired four hundred rounds of ammunition. Soon after that great battle the regiment was transferred to the Army of the Tennessee, under command of Gen- eral Joe Hooker, and participated in the battle of Lookout Mountain. He was then veteranized and went with Sherman to the sea. In the battle of Buzzard's Roost, in which he was color bearer, he was shot in the side, and his wound laid him up in the hospital ten months. He was discharged in 1865 with the rank of corporal, and in the fall of that year joined his parents in Alamo township, this county. The next year, in partnership with his father, he bought a farm, which they worked together until 1876, when he purchased his pres- ent home in Cooper township, and on this he has lived ever since. He was married in the autumn of 1869 to Miss Harriett Hart. a native of Trum- bull county, Ohio. Her father was born in Con- necticut, and her mother in Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Wenham have three children, Carrie, wife of Wallace Breese, of Cooper township, Al- bert, a farmer of this township, who married Lot- tie Adams, of Alamo township, and Bernice, liv- ing at home. Mr. Wenham has served as justice of the peace two terms. He is a Republican in po- litical relations, and fraternally he belongs to the Masonic order and its adjunct, the Order of the Eastern Star. He and his wife are members of the Congregational church, of which he has been
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a trustee for many years, and for two years super- intendent of its Sunday school. He is also a member of the school board.
E. H. GLEN.
This esteemed pioneer and worthy citizen of Cooper township, who has passed almost the whole of his life so far within its borders and lived acceptably among its people, is a native of Chautauqua county, N. Y., where he was born on June 7. 1837. He is the son of Alexander and Hannah (Gregory) Glen, the former born in New York and the latter in Vermont. The father was a millwright and carpenter and also followed farming. In 1837 he brought his family to Mich- igan, traveling by water to Detroit and from there with ox teams to Kalamazoo county, locating in Cooper township on section 20. where he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of govern- ment land. This he sold later and then bought another tract on section 16. While clearing his land and making it habitable and productive, he worked at his trade, for which there was great need in the township, as mechanical labor was scarce and skill in that line was at a premium. He erected many of the earlier barns, dwellings and other structures in this and the adjoining townships, and did his work so well that although nearly half a century has passed since some of them were put up they still stand in excellent con- (lition. He lived on his farm in the township un- til his death, on August 11, 1882. The mother died there in 1877. They had three sons, and also a daughter who is now dead. Their son E. H. is the only member of the family now living in this county. The father was a Democrat in political faith, and served many years as justice of the `peace and also as highway commissioner. The grandfather, Allen Glen, was a Scotchman who came to the United States a young man and died in this country. E. H. Glen has never known any other home than Kalamazoo county. He came here with his parents when he was less than a year old, and all of his subsequent life has been passed in the county. His education was obtained in its district schools, his habits of thrift and in-
dustry were formed in clearing and cultivating its soil, and when the time came for it his domestic shrine was erected among its people. After finish- ing the course of instruction in the public schools he pursued a course of special business training at the Kalamazoo Commercial College, and after assisting his parents . with their farm work a number of years after reaching his majority he bought the farm on which he now lives, and has since continuously resided. On September 3. 1863. he was united in marriage with Miss Nancy A. Hart, whose father. George Hart, was a pio- neer of Cooper township, settling there in 1836. Mr. and Mrs. Glen had two children, both now (leceased. Their mother also is dead, having. passed away on July 26, 1903. From his carly manhood Mr. Glen has loyally adhered to the principles of the Democratic party, and has given its cause his hearty support. He served a num- ber of years as a justice of the peace, although never desirous of political office. To the Ma- sonic order he has long been attached and de- voted. Ile is a charter member of United Lodge, No. 149, at Cooper Center, and was its worship- ful master for many years. He is also a Royal Arch Mason, and both in the symbolic and the capitular degrees lie finds continued pleasure and profit.
ANSON W. HUNTLEY.
The restless energy of the American people, which never rests in its ambitious efforts for su- premacy, but makes one conquest the stepping- stone to another, and even sometimes seeks diffi- culties for the joy in the triumph of overcoming them, is well illustrated in the family record of the Huntley family, of which Anson W. Huntley, a well known farmer and highly respected citi- zen of Cooper township, this county, is a worthy representative. Leaving its native England to seek a foothold in the new world early in our colonial history, and establishing itself in New England. it entered upon the trying office of subduing the wild conditions then obtaining in that region to civilization and fruitfulness in cultivated life. Then when that task was measurably accom- plished, it took a flight toward the sunset where
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there were other new lands to conquer and located in Ohio; and a few years later came farther west and settled on the virgin soil of Michigan, each generation repeating on the farther frontier the achievements of its predecessor where it camped. Anson W. Huntley was born on January 13, 1840. in Ashtabula county, Ohio, where his grandfa- ther, Ezekiel Huntley, who was born and reared in Connecticut, settled in 1812. There Mr. Hunt- ley's father, Ezekiel W. Huntley, was born and reared, his mother having been born in New York state. In October, 1862, they moved to Kalamazoo county and located on the farm in Cooper township on which their son now lives. They built the present dwelling on this land and lived here until summoned from their earthly la- bors. the mother dying in 1879. and the father in 1897. After the death of his first wife he mar- ried Mrs. C. Hart, of Plainwell. He had four sons, all of whom are living in Cooper township, but one, Hollis, who died in June. 1905. Ezekiel Huntley was a man of local prominence and filled a number of township offices. Fraternally he be- longed to the Masonic order and was earnest in devotion to his lodge. His son Anson reached manhood and was educated in Ohio. He became a resident of this county in 1863 and began farm- ing one-half a mile west of Cooper Center, where he lived until 1902, when he moved to his present home. He was married in Ohio, in October, 1862, to Miss Amelia L. Hare, a native of Eng- land. They have had four children, all deceased. In political affairs Mr. Huntley supports the Re- publican party, and has filled a number of local offices, serving as township clerk, afterward as supervisor, and now as highway commissioner. He is a Freemason and holds his membership in the lodge of the order at Cooper Center. The reputation made by his father in public and pri- vate life as an excellent citizen has been sus- tained by him in his own record, and throughout the county he is respected as one of Cooper's sterling and representative men. .
ASHER G. HUNTLEY.
This well known and esteemed blacksmith of Cooper Center, whose forge has emitted its cheer-
ful glow in this community for twenty years, is a native of Ashtabula county, Ohio, born on Sep- tember 18, 1843. He is a brother of A. W. Hunt- ley, whose sketch in another part of this work contains extended mention of the family history. In his native state he grew to manhood and re- ceived a common-school education. After leaving school he learned his trade, finishing his appren- ticeship in 1861 and working as a journeyman until 1864, when he enlisted in the Twenty-fifth Ohio Independent Light Artillery, and during the remainder of the Civil war was under the com- mand of General Steele on the Saline river and at Little Rock, Ark. He was mustered out of the service in December. 1865, at Camp Chase. The next year he came to Michigan and farmed in Kalamazoo and Shiawassee counties until 1884, when he opened his shop at Cooper Center, which he has had in active operation ever since. He was married in Ohio in 1873 to Miss Isabelle Mar- shall. They have one child, their son Willard M., who is living at home. Mr. Huntley is a Republi- can in political allegiance, but while he supports his party loyally, he has never sought or desired any of its honors or emoluments in the way of political office for himself. Fraternally he belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic and the Ma- sonic order in lodge and chapter. With capacity. intelligence and skill, and moreover with unceas- ing industry in his vocation, he has won the log- ical reward of his usefulness in a substantial pros- perity and a firm hold on the confidence and re- gard of his fellow men. Cooper township knows no better citizen and looks upon none as more faithful to duty.
WILLIAM WALLACE.
The late William Wallace, a well known pro- gressive farmer of Kalamazoo and Cooper town- ships, was essentially a pioneer in this county, al- though he did not become a resident of it until 1851. For notwithstanding the fact that the county had been occupied by many whites for nearly a quarter of a century before that time, he found on his arrival here much unoccupied land and vast tracts of wholly unsettled country. He
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was born in Cambridgeshire, England, in 1813, and lived there until he reached the age of thirty- eight years. Then emigrating to the United States, he came direct to Kalamazoo county and found employment with the old distilling com- pany of that day at Schoolcraft. Nothing is known now of his parents or ancestry, but that he came of a sturdy and self-reliant strain was demonstrated by his own characteristics and the industry and usefulness of his life. He lived at Schoolcraft a number of years, then moved to Kalamazoo and engaged in farming near the vil- lage as it was in that period. Some years later he bought the farm in Kalamazoo township 011 which he lived until his death in 1891, and which his diligence and skill as a farmer changed from an almost unimproved condition to one of great productiveness and value. He was married at Schoolcraft in 1859 to Miss Mary Ann Crawford. a native of Ireland, who crossed the ocean and located in Canada in her girlhood. They had two children, Mary E., now the wife of Lewis Hen- schel, of Cooper township, and William E., who was born in 1862. The latter has always resided in Kalamazoo township. He operates the old homestead and a farm in Cooper township. The father was a member of the Baptist church, and the mother of the Church of England.
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