USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. > Part 20
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A. H. STODDARD.
This venerable and most worthy citizen of Cooper township, who is, although not strictly a pioneer of the county, one of its oldest and most respected citizens, as he has been one of its most useful and productive men during his residence here of more than forty years, is now past ninety years of age and is still hale, strong and active. He has had a remarkable career, aside from the great age to which he has lived, and is well deserving of an honored place in any work which purports to be in any extended sense an exposition of the lives and achievements of the progressive men of Kalamazoo county. For he has been an earnest advocate of every means of grace to the best and most wholesome develop- ment of the community, and being highly en-
lowed by nature with physical strength and dar- ing and intellectual qualities that have enabled him to twine the club of Hercules with the flowers of rhetoric, his personal achievements in mere bodily labor and his advocacy of moral, educa- tional and spiritual forces for the advancement of his section of the country have been potential, im- portant and of lasting effect. His paternal an- cestors were of English origin and the American progenitors of the family were among the early settlers of New England. His father, Asa Stod- dlard, was a native of Connecticut, but in his young manhood moved to Essex county, New York, and he lived there a number of years. In the war of 1812 he served on the Niagara fron- tier, and in 1852 became a resident of Juniata, Tuscola county, Michigan, and here he lived un- til his death, in 1868. On the maternal side Mr. Stoddard traces his ancestry to John Rogers, the martyr of the bigotry of his age, who perished at the stake in 1555. His maternal great-grand- father, when an old man, was slain in the Wyom- ing (Pennsylvania) massacre in July, 1778. Mr. Stoddard's grandmother was among those who at this time found refuge in "Forty Fort," just above Wilkes-Barre. When the few survivors of the massacre returned to the fort they drove in some of the cows belonging to the inhabitants, and this good woman, with others, hastened to milk them. In a few minutes she had finished two and came in with two brimming pails, and she immediately began to distribute their con- tents among the thirsty soldiers who had formed in line inside the fort. The welcome beverage was just enough to go around. She was in this fort when the British and Indians took possession, and she saw among the savages one who was wearing her father's coat, which he had taken from the dead body. The fatal bullet-hole told how the deadly messenger had done its work. The heroic woman made her escape with others by traveling on foot through forty miles of wilder- ness, carrying her little child, eighteen months old, and a package of wearing apparel with other articles in her arms. Mr. Stoddard has a pewter plate in his possession which she carried on that perilous journey. Mr. S Stoddard's maternal
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grandfather served under Washington in New Jersey in the Revolution and was in General Sulli- van's famous expedition against the Six Na- tions in 1779. He died at Minisink, Orange county, New York, in 1792, leaving eight chil- dren, of whom Lucretia, the mother of Mr. Stod- dard, was the youngest, save one. Mrs. Harding married a second husband, Benjamin Atwater, one of the pioneers of Wayne county, New York. They settled at Williamson in that county, in 1802, and there, on October 31, 1814, Mr. Stod- dard was born. His mother dying while he was yet an infant, he and his sister, the late Mrs. M. B. Russell, of Battle Creek, were reared in his Grandfather Atwater's family, where he remained until he was eighteen years old. Being then thrown on his own resources, he worked on a farm by the month during the summer in order to get the needed funds to attend school in the winter until he was qualified to teach, when he reversed the order by teaching during the win- ter and attending an academy in the summer. He taught twenty-four successive winters, six of them in one school district. In 1837 he married Miss Mary Ann Russell, of Williamson, a daugh- ter of Daniel Russell, the first settler of that town- ship. She died in 1846, leaving one daughter, who died in 1853. In 1848 Mr. Stoddard married Miss Ann Elizabeth Anthony, a daughter of Silas An- thony, of Williamson. She died in 1849, and in 1852 he married Miss Laura Jane, daughter of William R. Sanford, of Marion, the same county. This lady, like her husband, had been a successful school teacher. Of their union were born two sons, William S. and Lucien H., the latter of whom is a resident of this county, and lives on the old homestead. They came to the county with their father as boys in 1863, and here William died on July 20, 1898. The father has, from his young manhood, taken an earnest interest in public education, devoting his best energies to the advancement of the common schools in New York and Michigan, and has at various times held important positions in connection with the school system. He has from boyhood been a zealous advocate of temperance, and has by his voice and his pen, as well as by other means, done much
to advance the cause. Although never an active politician he was reared a Democrat, but after 1854 he generally supported the Republican party, it being, according to his views, "the more demo- cratic of the two." Since 1884 he has voted the Prohibition ticket. Mr. Stoddard is a vigorous and graceful poetical writer, and has long been familiarly known as the "Farmer Poet," a so- briquet very justly bestowed and one which he wears with becoming modesty.
WILLIAM S. STODDARD, the older of his two sons by his third marriage, whose useful life had an untimely end on July 20, 1898, was born in New York state on April 29, 1853. He be- gan his scholastic training in the schools of his native state and finished it in those of Michigan, winding up with a course at the Kalamazoo high school. He was a farmer through life and pur- chased a place adjoining his father's, on which he lived to the end. He was united in marriage in 1874 with Miss Carrie E. Goodrich, a native of Cooper township, and a daughter of Thomas Goodrich, one of its prominent pioneers. They had five children, all living, Lucy M., Elizabeth, wife of George Castle, Bessie, wife of Fred Sell- ers, both of Kalamazoo, and Shirley and William Sanford, living at home. Their father was a man of influence and filled a number of local offices in the township.
LUCIEN STODDARD, the second son of A. H. Stoddard by his third marriage, and the one who now lives on the homestead, was also born in New York, his life beginning there on May 28, 1855. He came to Michigan when he was but eight years old, and here he was reared and edu- cated, attending the common schools and finish- ing with a one year's course at Kalamazoo Col- lege. Like his brother, he has followed farming through life, but has made a specialty of small fruits, grapes, berries, etc., and more especially orcharding. His vineyard is large and productive and its yield is of the first quality of excellence. His farm is admirably located and the buildings and other improvements which enrich and adorn it are among the best in the township. He was married in 1882 to Miss Lavinia Pease, a native of New York, whose parents, William and Sarah
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(Dykeman) Pease, came to this county in 1867 and located in Texas township. A few years ago they came to live with Mr. and Mrs. Stoddard, with whom they still have their home. Five chil- dren have been born in this household, Elworth F .. Minnie B., Grace A., William A. and Jennie P. Their father is a Prohibitionist in politics and has been the candidate of his party for several, local offices.
HON. JOHN MILHAM.
This prominent and well-known pioneer of Kalamazoo county became a resident of the county in 1845 and passed the remainder of his life in the midst of its people, deeply interested in a practicable and serviceable way in its multi- tudinous industries and all its educational, moral and social activities. He was a native of Colum- bia county, N. Y., born on May 24. 1805, and the son of Mathias and Gertrude ( Michel) Mil- ham, who were also born in the state of New York and passed the whole of their lives there actively engaged in farming. There they reared their family and gave them all the advantages their circumstances would allow. Their son John was brought up on the farm and early in his life began farming for himself. adopting his vocation from choice and never quiting it to the end of his days. Early in the '4os he made a tour of obser- vation through this portion of Michigan, and being pleased with the outlook, came here in 1845 to live, settling on a tract of wild land which he purchased two miles and a half south of Kala- mazoo. He erected a frame dwelling which is still standing, and pushed the improvement of his farm so vigorously that in 1848 he was awarded a prize of half a dozen solid silver spoons by the Kalamazoo County Agricultural Society for having the best farm in the county. The spoons are still in the family and are cherished as a valuable souvenir, much more for the tribute to his worth they embody than for their intrinsic value. He added to his original purchase until he owned four hundred and forty-six acres of excellent and highly improved land at his death, on February 7, 1885. While living in New York
he was an officer in the state militia and as such acted as a part of Lafayette's escort in 1824. There he also represented his district a number of terms in the state legislature and filled several other local offices. After coming to Michigan he served as supervisor of his township and filled other offices of local prominence and importance. Throughout his long life he adhered faithfully to the Democratic party in politics, and was ever an earnest and forceful advocate of its principles. He was active and energetic also in business, being one of the founders of the Kalamazoo Paper Mill Company and one of its stockholders to the clay of his death. In addition he was president of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company fifteen years, being the first incumbent of the office, and for many years an officer of the agri- cultural society, in which he took a deep and zealous interest. He was four times married, first to Miss Eva Poucher, a native of Columbia county, N. Y., who died there in 1831, leaving four children, all sons. The second marriage was with Miss Almira Rathbone, also a native of New York, who died in this county in 1848, leav- ing a family of three sons and two daughters. The third wife was Miss Louisa Anderson, of Kalamazoo county, and the fruit of this union was four sons and three daughters. She died here in November, 1866. Samantha Anderson, who then became his wife, survived him a number of years. Mr. Milham was one of the first trustees of the Michigan Female Seminary and also a trustee of the Congregational church.
ROBERT E. MILHAM, a son of the third mar- riage, was born on September 19, 1854, on the home farm and was educated in the schools of the county. He assisted his father on the farm until attaining his majority when he took charge of the place himself. Since then he has conducted its operations continuously, and has kept it up to the high standard of excellence reached in its management by his father. He was married on October 4, 1888, to Miss C. Clemana Pomeroy, a daughter of Norton Pomeroy, an account of whose life appears on another page of this work. Like his father, Robert Milham takes an active part in the commercial and industrial life of
JOHN MILHAM.
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KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Kalamazoo and the neighboring counties, being a stockholder in the Bardeen Paper Company of Otsego, and the Superior Paper Company and the Railway Supply Company of Kalamazoo, also in the Standard Paper Company which has recently been organized. He is an independent Democrat in politics, and is now (1905) serving as over- seer of highways, in which capacity he has acted for over twenty years. Two children have been born in his family, his sons Robert L. and Clinton P. He is a Knight of Pythias and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church near his home. It is high praise but a just tribute to his worth to say that he is a fine exemplar of the business thrift; public spirit and elevated citizenship so amply exhibited by his father.
CYRUS A. WALKER.
Cooper, which is one of the northern tier of townships in this county, has a pleasing variety of soil and altitude, resources and possibilities, which has made it the home of a thrifty, indus- trious and progressive people, and one of the most prosperous sections of the county. Its settle- ment by the whites began about 1833, and four years later the parents of Cyrus A. Walker lo- cated in the township on the land which is the present home of Mr. Walker and on which he was born on January 2, 1859. He is the son of John and Octavio (Cunningham) Walker, the former born in the state of New York and the latter in Lake county, Ohio. They were farmers and came to Michigan in 1836, taking up their residence at Kalamazoo, where the father taught school and acted as assistant postmaster for a year. In 1837 he purchased of Luther Trask the home farm and moved on it at once. Here he passed the remainder of his life, 'clearing his land, enlarging its fertility and productiveness and enriching it with good improvements as the years glided by. On this farm he died in 1878 and his wife in 1904. They had two children, both living, their son Cyrus and their daughter Mary, the wife of J. M. Travers, of Plainwell, Allegan county. The father was a man of prominence and influence in local affairs and represented the county three
terms in the lower house of the state legislature, going there in 1864. 1867 and 1873. He was also township clerk and supervisor a number of years. In political adherence he was a pronounced Aboli- tionist, and was earnest and zealous in behalf of the cause he espoused. The son received his edu- cation in the district schools near his home and was prepared for business at the Parsons Com- mercial College in Kalamazoo. On the death of his father he took charge of the farm, and he has lived on it and conducted its operations ever since. In 1883 he was married to Miss Lydia Earl, a native of Cooper township, this county, and daughter of Sandford and Elizabeth (Layton) Earl, who settled in Cooper township in the '50S. Mr. and Mrs. Walker have two children, their sons John E. and Leon O. Mr. Walker is a Re- publican in political faith and has served five years as supervisor and four as town clerk. He is a Freemason in fraternal relations and has been the worshipful master of his lodge. Following his father's example, he is a member of the Congre- gational church. He has kept faith with his family and his sense of duty by faithfully carry- ing forward the work of local improvement be- gun by his parents, and has maintained in every relation of life the good name they won by their demonstrated merit and sterling lives.
TOM WILLIAMS.
This fine mechanic and superior business man, who is one of the oldest millers in Kalamazoo county, both in years of life and continuous work at his trade, was born in Somersetshire, England. on November 29, 1838. He is the proprietor and practical operator of the Williams mill, which stands on the site of the old blast furnace erected by Woodbury, Potter & Wood, a site used for a manufactory from an early date in the history of Kalamazoo. He is the son of Richard and Emily (Barrett) Williams, who were also natives of Somersetshire, where their forefathers lived many generations. The father came to the United States in 1848 and took up his residence in the state of New York. He soon afterward brought his entire family, consisting of his wife and six
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children, over, and after a residence in the Empire state of a number of years, he made a trip to Cali- fornia in 1859. remaining there several years. He then returned to New York, where he and his wife died at advanced ages. Their son, Tom. grew to manhood in that state, and there learned his trade as a miller. He worked in several of the largest mills in Oswego, doing all kinds of work that are to be done in a mill, dressing stones and attending to all other branches of the business. In 1863 he came to Michigan and went to work in the mill of Royal C. Kellogg at Battle Creek, where he remained until 1864, when he moved to Kalamazoo. After a short term of employment in the Olcott mill here, he and his brother bought a mill at Hannibal, N. Y., which they operated until 1876. In that year Tom returned to Kala- mazoo and soon afterward purchased of Grant Whitcomb a one-half interest in his present mill site, four years later buying the other half. The old mill was destroyed by fire in 1896 and Mr. Williams immediately erected the present struc- ture, installing a fine roller process and making his plant up-to-date in every respect. Here he has worked and prospered, steadily enlarging his trade and strengthening himself in the regard of the public until his mill is one of the best known industrial institutions of the city and he is one of the best known and most esteemed citizens of the county. He was married in Kalamazoo in 1865 to Miss Julia E. Evits, a native of the city and a daughter of Ransler E. Evits, one of its venerated pioneers. They have two children. Nellie M .. now Mrs. Bassett, and Harriet J., now Mrs. Fritz. the latter living at home. Their mother died on January 9. 1904. The father is a Baptist in church affiliation and a Prohibitionist in politics. His achievements in life and the competency he has won, large and worthy as they are, have been the results of his indomitable energy and persistent industry, for he started with no capital but his natural endowments and has no favors of for- tune to aid him along the dusty highway of en- deavor.
JAMES H. TRAVIS.
The late James Travis, one of the esteemed and leading farmers of Cooper township, this
county, who departed this life on his homestead, on which his widow now lives, passing away in 1903, was one of a family of ten children, all now deceased. born to Jonathan and Prudence (Austin) Travis, and first saw the light of this world on his father's farm in Cooper township, eight miles north of Kalamazoo, on June 12, 1841. His parents were both natives of New York state and followed farming there until 1837. when they moved to this state and settled on the farm before mentioned. The father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and rendered gallant service in that short but often sanguinary struggle whereby the independence of the United States was established on the sea as it was by the revo- lution on land. After many years of usefulness in developing and cultivating his farm and aiding in the general progress of the people in this county, he died on his farm in 1872. His widow afterward moved to Kalamazoo, where her life ended some years later. Their son James was reared and educated in this county, attending dis- trict schools in intervals between the busy seasons of farm work in which he assisted his parents, and pursued a course of special training in the Kala- mazoo Business College. He taught school for a number of years and then began farming, an occupation which engaged his attention to the ex- clusion of almost everything else until his death, which occurred on the farm on which he settled in 1886. He was married on December 23, 1873, to Miss Sophia Oatman, a native of Vermont. They had four children, Harry A., Mae P., Emma E. and Laura J., all living. Mr. Travis was never a politician, but he was a model farmer and a highly respected citizen.
CLARENCE J. VANDERBILT.
Among the progressive. enterprising and suc- cessful farmers of Cooper township, this county. Clarence J. Vanderbilt stands in the first rank and his fine farm of one hundred and six acres is one of the best, most highly improved, and most skill- fully cultivated in that part of the county. He has on it a good modern brick dwelling and all other needed structures to make it complete, up- to-date and tasteful in appearance ; and here he
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pursues the peaceful and independent vocation of the old patriarchs, contented with his lot and un- disturbed by the noisy contentions of political strife, the schemes of worldly ambition of the mercantile world or the follies of fashionable so- ciety. He was born at Lawrence, Wayne county, N. Y., on May 19, 1849, and is the son of John and Rachel (Jennings) Vanderbilt, the father also a native in that county, and the mother in Connecticut. The grandfather, Michael Vander- bilt, was a second cousin to Commodore Vander- bilt. The father of Clarence came to Michigan and brought his family with him in 1869. He lo- cated in Cooper township, where he had previ- ously purchased land, and lived there until his death in 1889, at the age of seventy-two years. Of his family of eight children, five are living. Clar- ence J. Vanderbilt was educated in the district schools of his native county and at the academy of some renown located at Sodus in that county. He accompanied his parents in their removal to Michigan and was married here, in 1875, to Miss Emily Vandenburg, the daughter of Philo and Alice (Owen) Vandenburg, the former a native of Dutchess county, N. Y., and the latter of Ver- mont. The father came to this state in 1833 and bought a farm on the river road. He lived to clear his land and put his property in good condition. The farm is one on which Mr. Vanderbilt now lives and contains as fine land as can be found in the county. Mrs. Vanderbilt's mother came to Kalamazoo a girl, and after she reached maturity taught school a number of years, at Marengo, Calhoun county. She was graduated from an ex- cellent seminary in Montpelier, Vt., and is still living. Her husband died on October 5, 1887. He was prominent in local affairs and filled a number of township offices. Mr. Vanderbilt is a Democrat in politics, and he and his wife belong to the Congregational church. He has employed in his work as a farmer the shrewdness, business capacity and energy for which the family is noted, and has won in his way as complete and signal triumph in material results as any man in the township of equal opportunities. Among the peo- ple around him in a large extent of country he is much thought of and is generally respected throughout the county.
JOHN E. MILLS.
The first settler in Cooper township, this county, located there in 1833, and for a number of years thereafter the advent of additional set- tlers was sporadic, one following another at ir- regular intervals and locating wherever chance or inclination led him, without any attempt at sys- tematic colonization. But the natural wealth of the region soon began to attract first squads and later platoons of the on-coming army of pioneers which was marching in the wake of the setting sun and subjugating everything as it advanced. Among the early arrivals after the first few years came the late John E. Mills, who departed this life in the township in 1898 after living fifty- three years of his long and serviceable career on the soil of the state. While not one of the very first settlers, he came soon enough to find all the conditions of the wildest frontier confronting him and contesting his efforts to win a home and an · estate in the new country to which the spirit of adventure and the hope of gain had broughtt him. Mr. Mills was born in Cayuga county, N. Y., in 1813, the son of Elijah and - (Cameron) Mills, the former a native of New York, and the latter. of Ireland, who came hither about the year 1840 and here passed the remainder of their days. The father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and for many years was engaged in works of con- struction and transportation in his native state, working on several old stage lines and the Erie canal. His son John grew to the age of twenty- two in New York, received there a limited educa- tion in the common schools, and until 1835 he wrought at various occupations in the neighbor- hood of his home. In the year just specified he became a resident of Michigan, the fame of which as a land of promise and great possibilities was filling his native state at that time and winning portions of its brain and brawn to beget a new political entity in the wilderness held in the em- brace of the great lakes. He first located near Detroit and some little time afterward moved to Schoolcraft, where he remained a short time. Later he took up his home in Kalamazoo town- ship on a farm he purchased just east of the village of Kalamazoo which is now a part of
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Recreation Park within the city limits. In the course of tinte he sold this and bought a farm in Cooper township, on which he died in 1898. He was married in 1852, in Cooper, to Mrs. Edwin F. Murphy, whose maiden name was Louisa L. Delano. She was the daughter of Ephraim E. Delano, a pioneer of the township who moved there from Saratoga county, N. Y., in 1834, and entered forty acres of land in section 17, on which he settled. He also owned land in sections 8 and 9. Having come carly to the region, he was able to make choice selections from the at- tractive oak openings and fine timber land, which he transformed into a superior and well-culti- vated farm. He was the first clerk of the town- ship, and after many years of usefulness and pro- ductive labor in improving his own property, and of wholesome influence on the public affairs of the section, he died in 1871 on the land he first entered. Mr. and Mrs. Mills had seven sons, four of whom are living. George C., at home. J. Irvin, of Idaho, Fred, an attorney in Kalamazoo, and Samuel W., also at home. In political affilia- tion Mr. Mills was first a Whig and later a Re- publican. He was a man of force and influence. and was generally known and respected through- out the county.
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