USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. > Part 46
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fornia in 1853, making the trip overland with teams, having eight companions and being six months on the way. The journey was full of ad- venture, the way beset with danger, the days and nights frightful in hardships and privation, and the lengthening miles seemed endless. Yet the wild life of the small party in an unknown coun- try, surrounded by nature's primeval solitude, broken only by the voices of her wild brood of bird and beast and savage men, had a zest and piquancy that can fully be enjoyed in the exper - ience, but never adequately depicted in the narra - tion. After a year and a half of unsuccessful mining in the promised eldorado, Mr. Snow re- turned to this county, and settled down to the quiet life of a farmer, and to this he devoted his energies until advancing years gave him a well- earned release. On April 16, 1865, he was joined in wedlock with Miss Catherine M. Hill, a daugh- ter of Augustus H. and Catherine (Chandler) Hill, who were born and reared in the state of New York, and come to this county in 1837, set- tling first in Oshtemo township, and after clear- ing and improving a farm there, moved to Alamo township, where they cleared and improved an- other, on which they lived many years. From this farm they moved to Plainwell, and there, in the fullness of years and crowned with general respect throughout the county, they died. The father was a leading politician, belonging to the Whig party until it was superseded by the Re- publican, and after that supporting the new party loyally until his death. Throughout his life he was an ardent abolitionist and a forcible advocate of his faith in this respect. He was also prominent in the councils of the Christian church. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Snow. Two of them are now living, their son Milo A., a prominent farmer of Richland township, and their daughter Katharine, wife of F. W. Hen- drick, of Kalamazoo. Their father was influential in the public life of the county, serving many years as a justice of the peace and township su- pervisor and treasurer. In politics he supported the Republican party, and fraternally belonged . to the Masonic order. He was one of the few of the early pioneers left to recount the trials and
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triumphs of the founders of the county, and was everywhere regarded and revered as a patriarch in this Israel, who with others builded more wise- ly than they knew, meeting every requirement of an exalted and exacting duty, and handing down to posterity a firm and enduring fabric of excel- lence in material and workmanship in the civili- zation they planted and the institutions they bap - tized into being. Mrs. Snow, the widow of the noble man whose portrait appears on the oppo- site page, is still living in Richland.
JOSEPH S. THOMAS.
The late Joseph S. Thomas, of Schoolcraft township, this county, who died on March 20, 1882, at the age of sixty-two, and after a resi- (lence in this state and that township of forty-one years, during all of which he took an active and serviceable part in building up the county and de- veloping its resources, and in every phase of its educational, social and moral life, was a native of Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, born on January 30, 1820. He was a brother of Dr. Nathan M. Thomas. an honored citizen and professional man of this county, a sketch of whom, containing extended notice of the parents of the family, will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Thomas grew to manhood in his native town and was educated in private schools there. He studied surveying and followed it as his profession until he came to Michigan in 1841. Then, purchasing a farm of eighty acres in Schoolcraft township which was partially cleared and improved, he turned his at- tention to the cultivation of the soil, in which he was engaged until his death, adding to his farm until he owned two hundred acres of excellent land. He prospered in his undertaking and ba- came a prominent and influential citizen of the township. On October 8, 1851, he was married to Miss Minerva A. Robb, a native of Ohio, their nuptials being solemnized at Bellefontaine, that state. Three sons and two daughters blessed their union. Of these four are living, Lois, Mary A., Alvan Stanton, who resides on the home farm, and Walter J., who is engaged in the grain and coal business. The mother survived her
husband eleven years, passing away on Novem- ber 4, 1893. The father was a Freesoiler when that party was organized and continued to sup- port its principles until the birth of the Republi- can party, when he became one of the most earn- est members of the new organization, which he supported with ardor and enthusiasm during the remainder of his life. He was a strong aboli- tionist throughout his manhood, and for years was an active and effective worker in the "Un- derground Railroad," which helped fugitive slaves from the South into Canada. In fraternal relations he was an energetic and influential member of the order of Patrons of Husbandry. No citizen of the county ever more fully pos- sessed or more justly deserved the regard and esteem of its people.
DR. WILSON A. RUSSELL.
The life of a country physician, whether the country around him be sparsely or thickly popu- lated, is by no means a "flowery bed of ease." He must be every ready for immediate service at whatever cost of personal comfort and whatever the conditions of time and season. And the range of demands upon him is as wide and comprehen- sive as the sweep of human attributes. It is re- quired of him that he furnish society in solitude, sympathy in sorrow, counsel in trouble, relief in sickness, and even consolation in death. The good men devoted to the profession are always minis- ters to human needs although unostentatious in their work, and most frequently not actively ap- preciated for its benefits. Like the air we breathe, they are so habitually at our command, and seem- ingly so much a portion of our being, that their value is not felt until they are beyond our reach. To this beneficial destiny, by his own choice, the subject of this brief review has devoted himself, and in working it out he has already won a firm footing in the community at and around Richland Center, although he has been practicing there but a few years. Having shown himself to be capable and masterful in his professional work, and companionable and genial in his disposition, the community has accepted him as a benefaction,
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and is employing him in its needs with a steadily increasing demand; and by using with diligence and fidelity the benefits of his earnest study and his close and judicious observation, he is meeting the growing requisition to his own advantage and the general benefit of all around him. Dr. Russell was born in Comstock township, Kalamazoo county, on May 23, 1872, and is the son of Dar- win J. and Alpsie (Adams) Russell, natives of Ohio. The father was a farmer and came to Michi- gan to live in 1865, after the close of the Civil war, in which he served on the Union side as a member of the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Ohio Infantry, on detached duty as a recruiting officer and provost marshal, and also in guarding prisoners on Johnston's Island and in the secret service. After farming in Comstock township for a number of years he moved to Galesburg, where he and his wife have since had their home. They have two children, the Doctor and his sister Kate, who is teaching school in Chicago. The Doctor was educated in the common schools in this county and at Galesburg high school, of which he is a graduate. He also attended Kalamazoo College. After leaving school he taught two win- ters, and for a time traveled portions of the coun- try selling agricultural implements. He began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. McBeth at Galesburg, and in 1894 entered the Homeo- pathic School of the medical department of the State University at Ann Arbor, where he re- mained one year, and then matriculated at the Chi- cago Homeopathic Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1897. He at once began practicing at Ludington, where he remained from 1897 to 1901, and then came to Richland and has been here continuously ever since except while he was pursuing a post-graduate course of in- struction at the Detroit Post-Graduate Medical School. He was married at Ludington, Mason county, on January 1, 1900, to Miss Jennie E. Calkins, a native of Ohio. They have one child, their daughter, Marian J. In politics the Doctor is a Republican, and as such was elected county coroner in 1904. While living at Ludington he was city physician and also coroner. Frater- nally he belongs to the order of Odd Fellows, and
in church affiliation is a Congregationalist. He has a large practice which is steadily on the in- crease and he is highly esteemed all over the county.
CHARLES W. JONES.
Passing by more than a full year the limit of human life as fixed by the sacred writer, and rounding out a complete and shapely career of usefulness to his kins, although following through life the quiet and unostentatious voca- tion of the old patriarchs, the late Charles W. Jones, of Richland township, this county, gave to those around him an example of diligence and frugality, of fidelity to duty, under often trying circumstances, and of elevated and serviceable citizenship that is well worthy of emulation. Coming to the county in the early period of its history, he accepted the conditions of life as he found them, determined to not only endure their . hardships and difficulties with cheerfulness and courage, but to make the most of them for the benefit of himself and the rest of the community. Mr. Jones was born at Kingsborough, Fulton county, N. Y., on March I, 1825. His parents, Ephraim and Desire (Williams) Jones, were also natives of the Empire state, and on its soil their son grew to manhood, acquiring habits of useful industry on his father's farm, and the rudiments of an education in the district schools near his home, supplementing the latter with good and extended courses of study at Kingsborough and Johnstown academies in his native state, where he also taught school five years. In 1847 he came to this county and located in Richland township, where he maintained his home until his death, on March 5, 1896. During all of his residence here he was devoted to farming and raising fine stock of superior breeds, doing in all things his ut- most in care and energy to secure the best re- sults, and never failing in the attainment of his object in this respect. He also for a time dealt in live stock on an extensive scale and with good profits ; and for more than thirty years was the local agent, and more than twenty the state agent of a Lowell, Mass., firm in the purchase of wool. He always took an active and helpful part in lo-
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cal affairs, serving as township treasurer two enjoyment, and devotes himself wholly to them. except where the general interests and enduring welfare of the community engage his attention, and to them he is ver cordially and helpfully responsive. His father kept a diary for many years, carefully recording local events and mat- ters of moment and the narrative is one of en- grossing interest and great importance, being a faithful portrayal of the passing life of the com- munity through its various stages of carly and later development. His prominence and general acquaintance in the county gave him good op- portunities for full and accurate knowledge of men and occurrences, and the record he has left is in brief a graphic history of the section in which he lived, the progress which he aided and the men he knew. terms and in other official and semi-official posi- tions from time to time. His church affiliation was with the Presbyterians, and his fraternal re- lations were with the Masonic order, in both of which organizations he was an appreciated worker for many years. On April 5, 1848, he married with Miss Eunice M. Nevins, a native of Orange county, Vt., born on August 4, 1830, and a daughter of Alfred and Cynthia ( Morse) Nevins, of old New England families. In 1844 the family moved to this county and settled in Richland township, where the father died in 1858, and the mother in 1883. Mrs. Jones was one of nine children, four of whom are living, she and her sisters, Cynthia O. (Mrs. S. W. Hale, of Bedford, Mich.), Sarah M. (Mrs. Marcus Riker, of Hastings, Mich.), and Augusta M. (Mrs. Stebbins Whitney, of Richland, Mich.) JOHN WHEELER. In the Jones household five children were born, three of whom are living, Alfred W., Charles E. A wide expanse of plain and woodland, the forest filled with ferocious beasts and the whole country yet under the dominion of the wild red man with a disposition to stubbornly contest every foot of advance made by the whites, the ground reveling in the unpruned luxuriance of centuries and untouched by the hand of system- atic cultivation, the conveniences of life distant in space and difficult of attainment-these were the and Cynthia D. Alfred W. is the general man- ager of the Equitable Fire Insurance Company of St. Paul, Minn., and is widely and favorably known throughout the Northwest. Charles E .. the son remaining in Kalamazoo county, who is living on the paternal homestead, which he has managed since he was sixteen years old. was born on the farm on February 2, 1868, and was reared and educated in the township, attending . conditions which confronted John Wheeler, one the common schools for his scholastic training of the pioneers of Alamo township, this county, when he first set foot on the soil of this now pro- lific and highly favored region at the age of eleven years, in 1837. It is difficult for an im- agination tutored in the experiences of the pres- ent conditions, which are so obtrusively and im- pressively present that they seem to have always existed, to picture the state of the country at that early day and the hardships, unremitting toil and burdensome privations, as well as the ever pres- ent dangers, that it involved. And that even the memory of it is dim and vague, and its reproduc- tion in fancy is almost impossible, because of the advance that has been made in the comparatively short period which has elapsed, is a source of great credit to the early workers and their imme- diate descendants in that they have so changed the and Parson's Business College in Kalamazoo for business knowledge. His life has been devoted to farming and in that branch of productive in- dustry he has attained a high rank in the county for the wisdom of his operations and the vigor of their management. On October 26, 1892. he was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Foster, a resident of Richland township and a native of this county, the daughter of Samuel and Clara (Bradley) Foster. Six children have been born to their union, Loyal Charles, Leland B., and twins, Edwin S. and Eveline C., born July 5. 1905, who are living, and two who have died. Neither political activities nor fraternal associa- tions have interested Mr. Jones. On his farm and in his family he finds full occupation and
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character of the section and all the conditions of life by their lofty courage and all-conquering in- dustry and skill. Mr. Wheeler was born at Wood- house, Norfolk county, province of Ontario, Can- ada, on March 12, 1826. His parents were John B. and Joanna (Walker) Wheeler, the former a native of New Hampshire and the latter of Can- ada. The father was a carpenter and moved to Canada when a young man. There he was married in 1817, and in 1836 he came to this county and bought a tract of wild land in Alamo township. On this he built a small log shanty, and the next year he brought his family hither to help him make a new home in the wilderness. He cleared and improved his land and lived on it until his death, in 1878, at the age of eighty- four, he having been born in 1794. His wife, who was born in 1799, died in 1876, at the age of seventy-seven. He served with a New Hamp- shire regiment in the war of 1812, and made a good record for valor and endurance in that short but sharp and sanguinary contest. He was twice married, his second wife being Miss Char- lotte Austin, who was born in 1807, married in 1826, and died in 1879. By the first marriage he had three daughters and one son, all now de- ceased; and by the second marriage three sons, two of whom are living, and two daugh- ters, who have died. He served many years as a justice of the peace and several as township treasurer, and was an active and earn- est member of the Methodist Episcopal church, always deeply interested in the welfare of his sect and helping to build its first house of wor- ship in the township. His son John grew to man- hood on the farm where he died and passed all of his life after coming to Michigan. He was educated in the primitive and illy supplied schools of the early days, attending a few months in the winters, and worked on the farm from his boy- hood. He was married on August 8, 1852, to Miss Apolona C. Carpenter, a daughter of Thomas G. and Lydia (James) Carpenter, who came from Orleans county, N. Y., to this county and located in Alamo township in May, 1837, pur- chasing eighty acres of land in section 12 on which they passed the remainder of their lives.
Mr. Carpenter brought three horses with him and reached his destination without serious trouble, but after his arrival here his difficulties were many and formidable. In the effort to provide for his family he was obliged to walk ten miles every morning to his daily toil and back at night, carrying on his back his day's earnings to supply their wants. Once for three weeks before harvest they were without bread, living mainly on meat and potatoes, and at another time he worked eight days on the plains, receiving as compensa- tion a bushel of potatoes a day. All the fero- cious beasts peculiar to the section were plentiful, the wolves being especially threatening and ob- trusive, and often making night hideous with their howling at his very door. Notwithstand- ing their hardships both Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter lived to advanced ages in good health and cheer- fulness. By marriage Mr. Wheeler became the father of one child, his daughter Lydia, who died in infancy. Her father died on October 23, 1902, and the management of the farm has since been in the hands of his widow who is still living on it and carrying on its operations with vigor and success. Mr. Wheeler was one of the lead- ing farmers and best known citizens of the town- ship, and was held in high esteem by all its people.
G. VAN BOCHONE & BROTHER.
This energetic, wide-awake and far-seeing firm is composed of Garrett and John R. Van Bo- chone, both natives of Kalamazoo, who for a number of years were extensively engaged in raising celery prior to 1884, when their present enterprise was started in a small way in a house on Third street, twenty by eighty feet in dimen- sions. They have enlarged their business until their green houses now number twenty-four and cover two acres of ground. Here they handle everything in hot house plants, cut flowers and kindred products, and carry on a large wholesale and retail business, their output being the most extensive in Kalamazoo and one of the greatest of their kind in southern Michigan. Their ship- ments extend over a wide scope of country, and
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include nothing but the best quality of goods. Their name is at the top of the market in their wares, and their business methods are found to be satisfactory to their extended and growing list of patrons. They are the sons of Richard Van Bochone, of Kalamazoo, a native of Holland, extended mention of whom will be found else- where in this work. He has been a resident of the city since 1854, and has long been promi- nent in its business life. The brothers own large and valuable property interests in Kalamazoo, and are recognized as among its most worthy and estimable citizens. They are Republicans in poli- tics, and John R. has served as chairman of the ward committee of his party. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias. The business of which they are the head was among the first in its line started in the city, and is now not only the leader here, but, as has been stated, one of the most extensive in this part of the state. In the spring of 1905 they purchased thirty acres of land on the south side of the city on which they erected greenhouses 300 x 27 wide. Five were erected in November, 1905, equipped with all the latest improvements and are devoted to the culture of roses and carnations, and in which will be pro- duced over one million blooms annually. The business has steadily increased, and they are now considered the leading florists of southern Michigan.
DR. FRANK H. TYLER.
For a period of thirteen years Dr. Frank H. Tyler has been a resident of Kalamazoo, actively engaged in a large and growing practice and meeting with its requirements, tiresome and ex- acting as they often are, with diligence and fidel- ity, seeking only to perform his whole duty as a doctor and a citizen and deserve the respect and good will of the people among whom he lives and labors, which he enjoys in a marked degree. He was born in St. Joseph county, this state, on August 28, 1855. His parents, Ansel and Harriet (Foote) Tyler, were natives of New York, where the father was an industrious farmer. He came to Michigan in 1833 with his parents, who settled on the farm on which the Doctor was born, and
on which his parents are still living. He received his early education in the district schools of his native county, and at the age of sixteen entered the Northwestern University at Evanston, Ill., where he spent three years. He then matricu- lated in the literary department of the University of Michigan, and there he passed one year, at the end of which he began the study of medicine in the same institution from which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1880. He began his practice at Sturgis, St. Joseph county, this state, and two years later moved to Mount Pleas- ant, Isabella county. Here he remained nine ยท years, then came to Kalamazoo, where he has since resided. After his graduation at Ann Arbor he passed a year in the hospital there. In 1891 he took a post-graduate course at the New York Polyclinic and in 1902 one at the Post- Graduate School in New York. He is a member of the State Homeopathic Medical Society. It will be seen that his preparation for his profes- sional duties has been ample in scope and judi- cious in means, and that he is keeping abreast of the science of medicine by studious attention to the available sources of instruction and inspira- tion. This would be sufficient explanation, if any were needed beyond his daily walk and elevated personal and professional character, for the mas- tery of the science and the skill in its practice which he exhibits, and also for his high rank in the estimation of his professional brethren and the general public. His practice is large and lucrative and embraces many of the leading fami- lies of the city and the surrounding country, and it makes no draft on his time and energies that is not promptly and fully honored. The Doctor was married in 1885 to Miss Esther Guillotte, a native of Michigan. They have three children, their sons Guy G., Harold E. and Raymond E. In the fraternal life of the community the Doctor mingles freely as a Master Mason and a Knight of Pythias. In religious affiliation he is a mem- ber and vestryman of St. Luke's church and in the political activities of the country he trains with the Republican party, to which he gives an active and zealous support without desiring any of its honors or emoluments for himself.
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KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
JOHN C. GOODALE.
The subject of this review, who is a pioneer of Kalamazoo, having lived in the city for nearly all of fifty-three years, and has long been one of the prominent and progressive business men of the community, was born in Washtenaw county, this state, on July 15, 1837. He passed the first fourteen years of his life with his parents, Leonard C. and Phoebe (Crandale) Goodale, na- tives of Chenango county, N. Y., who came to Michigan in the early '30s, making the trip from Detroit with an ox team, and settling on a farm for a short time, then moved to Ann Arbor, where the father, who was a surveyor by profession, founded the Washtenaw Whig, one of the first newspapers published in southern Michigan. He was afterward clerk of the county and at times filled other official positions. He died at Ann Arbor about 1842. His father, Soloman Goodale, was a Baptist clergyman and died in the state of New York at the age of ninety years. Mr. Good- ale came to Kalamazoo when he was fourteen years of age and began learning the trade of a cabinetmaker with his brother. He worked at his trade as a journeyman for a number of years, then remodeled a factory on Elenor street which he conducted until 1861. Some little time later he engaged in the furniture trade in partnership with O. M. Allen and others, remaining in the firm several years. Then selling his interest there, he became a manufacturer of furniture and en- joyed an extensive business, making the first fur- niture used in the Kalamazoo asylum. Selling his furniture business and establishment some years later, he moved to Battle Creek, where he remained during the Civil war in business as an undertaker and furniture dealer. On his return to Kalamazoo be began the manufacture of show cases and started another undertaking business. He conducted these enterprises jointly for a few years, then determined to give his whole attention to undertaking, in which he has since been exclu- sively engaged. In 1900 Mr. Goodale took as a partner his eldest son, Edward L., who was born in this city and who assisted his father for years in the business before becoming a partner. The
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