USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. > Part 49
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end of life on the old homestead, which they had redeemed from the waste and transformed into a comfortable and productive farm. Of their six children three grew to maturity, Simpson, Mary, the wife of H. D. Palmer, and Margaret, the wife of L. H. Martin. One daughter died some years ago, leaving their brother, Simpson, and sister, Margaret, the only surviving members of the family. Almost as soon as he became of age Simpson took charge of the home farm, and he has ever since conducted its operations, keeping up the spirit of enterprise and improvement which his father had inaugurated, and seeking ever to bring the place to its highest development and ut- most fruitfulness. On March 9, 1848, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Berger, a native of New York state. They had three chil- dren, DeWitt. Alice V., now the wife of James Spier, and Albert O. The sons are deceased, Dewitt having died many years ago, and Albert on August 1I, 1896. Their mother is a daughter of Henry and Hannah (King) Berger, honored pioneers of Calhoun county, this state. Mr. How- land's father built and operated the pioneer grist inill in this section, and also the pioneer saw mill, and was prominent in the business circles of the early days. The grist mill is still standing and doing good service on the old place. The son has also been prominent and active in public af- fairs, serving for years as a justice of the peace and as supervisor and treasurer of Ross town- ship. He was elected to the legislature in 1875, and again in 1877, and served in the body with distinction to himself and advantage to his con- stituents, occupying the important positions of chairman of the committee on fisheries and of the committee on municipal corporations. He owns a large farm, and has been more than ordinarily successful in all his undertakings. He is virtually a self-made man ; and his vast possessions are the result of his thrift, enterprise and business ca- pacity. In early life he was a Whig in politics, but since the organization of the Republican party he has been affiliated with it. Although not a member of any particular religious denomina- tion, he is a liberal and cheerful contributor to all, and an ardent friend to all movements for the
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elevation and advancement of his community. No citizen of his township is more highly respected, and none deserves to be.
VICTOR G. BURDICK.
For four years postmaster and since then as- sistant postmaster with active control of the office at Augusta, this county, also now village clerk and hitherto village president, clerk and treas- urer and justice of the peace, Victor G. Burdick is an important man in Ross township, and one of the leading citizens of that part of the county. He is a native of the adjoining township of Charles- ton, born on January 9, 1859, and the son of Har- low M. and Sarah N. (Miller) Burdick, the former a native of Connecticut, and the latter of New York. The father was taken to Madison county, N. Y., when he was five years old, by his father, Sandford Burdick, who was a farmer, and who came from there to Michigan in 1834, when he settled in Charleston township, this county. He soon afterward moved to Calhoun county, where he died in 1837 or 1838. His son, Harlow Burdick, came into the world in 1814, and lived in the state of New York from the age of five years until 1833, and there received what education he was able to get in his few and ir- regular opportunities for attendance upon the common schools. In the year last named he came to Michigan with an uncle, traveling by way of the Erie canal and Lake Erie to Detroit, and thence across the wild unbroken country with ox teams to Kalamazoo. After living a year with his uncle after their arrival on what was then the frontier, he took up land in Charleston township, which he sold after partially clearing and improving it. Finding then a great demand for lime for building purposes, he turned his at- tention to burning this valuable and indispensable commodity, in which he was engaged with great activity for many years. He furnished all the lime used in the construction of all the earlier houses in his portion of the county and many in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. He also took an interest in real estate and acquired by his thrift and business capacity the ownership of a number
of farms in the county, clearing up a large body of land and making it habitable 'and productive. In 1866 he moved to Augusta and there he lived until his death in 1896, keeping a large and serv- iceable grocery store for a period of more than twenty years. He also became a leading man in political and public life, serving as a justice of the peace twelve years, and as township clerk and treasurer and in other local offices for a long time. He assisted in organizing Leroy township. Calhoun county, and was its first justice of the peace. In political affiliation he was a Democrat with an ardent party spirit that found expression in good and continual service to his party, in which, however, his patriotism dominated his partisanship, and his zeal for the general good overbore all party considerations in local affairs. In 1836 he was married in this county, and he . and his wife became the parents of three sons and four daughters. Two of the sons and two of the daughters are living. The oldest son, Bruce R., was laid as a sacrifice upon the altar of the Un- ion, being killed in the battle of Kenesaw Moun- tain in July, 1864, while fighting under the gal- lant Sherman. He was a member of the Fifth Iowa Infantry. The mother died in 1892. Vic- tor G. Burdick grew to manhood at Augusta and was educated in the village schools and at Kala- mazoo high school. He began life as a clerk in Kalamazoo, and afterward he was on the road seven years selling fanning mills for a local man- ufactory. In 1893 he was appointed postmaster at Augusta, and at the end of his term of four years, he became the assistant postmaster, a po- sition which he filled with active charge of the affairs of the office, retiring January 1, 1905. He also served as president of the village four years and as township clerk and township treasurer several terms. He was married at Augusta in 1898 to Mrs. Mary (Ridley) Sprague, a widow with two daughters. Mr. Burdick is a Demo- crat in his political allegiance, not now and then. but every day in the year, and to the cause of his party he gives on all occasions earnest and effect- ive support. He also takes a leading part in all commendable undertakings for the advancement or improvement of the community, and is loyally
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devoted to the best interests of his county and state. With a breadth of view and a public spirit . that is productive of wisdom in counsel and effi- ciency in action in behalf of all good projects ; and with a genial and obliging manner, which wins him friends wherever he is, he has been of great service to his section, and is one of its most representative and highly esteemed citizens.
DR. CHARLES E. DOYLE.
Dr. Charles E. Doyle, the oldest physician in continuous practice at Augusta, and one of the leading representative citizens of the township, is a native of this state, born at Grand Rapids on August 25, 1862, and has lived all his days so far in the state. His parents, Richard and Al- tana (Lamphere) Doyle, were born in the state of New York, Genesee county. The father came to Michigan with his parents when he was but five years old; his parents, Darby and Mary Doyle, located at Yankee Springs, Barry county, in 1842, and there the father had a blacksmith shop and wrought at his trade many years. Both parents died there, and their son, Richard Doyle, grew to manhood at that place, attending the dis- trict schools, and working at the forge with his father, and also did lumbering in the woods dur- ing a number of winters. After reaching man- hood he moved to Kent county, and soon after- ward to Barry county, where he is now a pros- perous farmer in the neighborhood of Middle- ville. The mother is also living. They have two children, both sons, the Doctor's brother being a farmer in this county. The Doctor received his scholastic training in the public school at Hast- ings, and then taught school eight years. He be- gan the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Fer- guson at Middleville, and in the fall of 1890 en- tered the Detroit College of Medicine, where he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Med- icine in the spring of 1893. He at once located at Augusta and began practicing his profession, and in this laudable work he has since been continu- ously engaged at that village. While his practice has steadily increased in magnitude and demands on his time, he has kept up his professional stu-
dies diligently, noting all the while the most ad -. vanced thought and discoveries, and applying the results of his reading and observation with dis- crimination and good judgment, and retaining his position abreast with the times in all departments of his useful labor. He is also an earnest and ef- fective worker in the organizations formed for the benefit of the science to which he is devoted and its practitioners, being an active and serv- iceable member of the Calhoun County Medical Society, the State Medical Society, the Ameri- can Medical Association and the Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine. In fraternal life he is a Freemason of the Knight Templar degree. In 1886 he was married to Miss Nettie Marshall, a native of Barry county, where her parents were pioneers. Of this union four children have been born, Nina, Bessie, Fred M., and Richard F. Living in this community and mingling freely with the people for a period of more than ten years, the Doctor has not been indifferent to the general welfare of the section, but has borne faithfully his full share in all commendable en- terprises as one of the progressive forces in mat- ters of public interest, and one of the bright ex- amples of good citizenship. His voice is potential in directing public opinion, and his work in mov- ing it to good results is always effective and on the right side. He has intelligence to see the right direction, courage to follow it and influ- ence to lead others the same way. And as his counsel and example have been found trust- worthy on all occasions, he has the confidence and regard of the community in an unusual degree.
HENRY A. HALL.
Reversing the usual order of precedence, Henry A. Hall, one of the leading farmers of Ross township, Kalamazoo county, now living retired at Augusta, but from there still oversee- ing the work on his farm, was a pioneer in this county before his father, and blazed the way for the approach of the latter to his final earthly home in Ross township. The son was born on January 29, 1832, in Elba township, Genesee county, N. Y., where his grandparents settled
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about 1817 or 1818, moving there from Connecti- cut, where the family had long been domesti- cated. The grandfather bought a tract of wild government land, which he cleared and trans- formed into a good farm on which he lived to the end of his days. He was a valiant soldier in the war of 1812, and a man of local prominence and influence. His son, Henry A. Hall, father of the immediate subject of this review, grew to manhood and was educated in the state of New York, and remained there until 1862, when he moved to Kalamazoo county, purchased a farm in Ross township, and settled on it for perma- nent occupancy. He devoted the remaining years of his life to its improvement and cultiva- tion, and in 1891 passed away at the home of the subject in Augusta, amid the fruits of his in- dustry and the changes it had wrought in the waste. His wife was Miss Rebecca Brown, a native of Rhode Island, who accompanied him to Michigan in 1862, and died on the farm in Ross township in 1869. They had two sons and seven daughters, all of whom have died, but their son, Henry A., and one of his sisters. Henry A. Hall, Jr., reached man's estate and received his education in his native county, and after leaving school bought a farm there which he worked un- til 1860. He then came to Michigan and located for a short time at Battle Creek. Purchasing a farm in Ross township, this county, soon after- ward, he moved on it, and there he made his home until 1886, when he built a house at Au- gusta in which he has since resided. Forty acres of his land were partially improved and under cultivation when he purchased the place. He has since cleared and improved the rest, and bought additions until he now owns two hundred and sev- enty-five acres, and has all in an advanced state of development and productiveness, and provided with good buildings and other necessary im- provements. His estate represents forty years of his useful labor, and is a creditable outcome of his efforts, while the general esteem in which he is held furnishes a gratifying proof of the excel- lence and usefulness of his citizenship. In 1846 he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Baker, a native of Genesee county, N. Y. They
have had nine children, eight of whom are liv- ing: Emma A., wife of T. W. Will, of Barry county, Mich .; Jennie, wife of Frank Blood, of Charlotte, Mich .; Olivia A., of St. Louis, Mo .; Lilly, wife of W. P. Thompson, of Arkansas ; Dr. Charles E., of Atlanta, Ga .; Henry A., of Battle Creek, Mich .; Samuel, of Philadelphia, Pa .; and Sadie E., a resident of Arkansas. A son named James C. died a number of years ago. The mother died in 1882, and in 1885 the father mar- ried a second wife, Amanda Pettit, of the prov- ince of Ontario, Canada. Politically Mr. Hall is a Republican, with a commanding influence in the affairs of his party, but without political am- bition for himself. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic order, and is a charter member of the lodge at Hickory Corners, Barry county, this state.
NATHAN F. POOL.
Of the men and women of the heroic age of the pioneer, those who saw the wide expanse of this county in its state of virgin nature, over- spread with mighty forests of changing garni- ture, the wild red man its lord and master, and savage beasts its most numerous and omnipresent denizens, and now behold it clothed with the ha- biliments of civilized life and productive useful- ness, the smoke of the wigwam replaced by the home of prosperous and industrious people, and the Indian's war whoop and the panther's shriek succeeded by the low of the herd and the hus- bandman's song-those interesting links in the chain of human existence which connect the elec- trical present with the arduous and exacting past in which the foundations of the commonwealth were laid-there are but few left, and the few who are have all the more a cordial enshrinement in popular regard because they are so few, and in their day wrought so well. Among the num- ber is Nathan F. Pool, a retired farmer, who was the postmaster of Augusta in Ross township up to 1905, and who became a resident of the state in 1847 and of the county in 1854. and has lived here in active usefulness ever since. He was born in Geauga county, Ohio, on January II. 1840, the son of Abijah and Lucy (Foster) Pool,
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the former a native of Massachusetts, and the lat- ter of the state of New York. The father was but a boy when his parents moved to New York and took up their residence near Hamilton, Mad- ison county. In 1836, following his father's ex- ample, he strode into the wilderness to build for himself a home and make a name, migrating to Geauga county, where he lived until 1847, when he again sought the frontier and brought his family to Michigan, locating on land which he purchased in Kent county. He bought one hun- dred and sixty acres there, and was so much more fortunate than the other settlers as to own the only team of horses in the township (Caledonia), but was obliged to pay for this distinction by do- ing all the marketing for the neighborhood at Grand Rapids, fifteen or twenty miles away. He cleared his land in that county and lived on it until 1854, when he sold it and moved to Au- gusta, this county, and there opened a shoe store which he kept a few years, then bought a farm one mile west of the village, on which he lived a number of years. Advancing age determined him at length to give up farming, and he moved back to Augusta, where he died on May II, 1868, and his wife on December 29, 1876. He was born in 1796, and she in 1800. They had seven sons and three daughters, all dead now but Nathan and his brother, H. D. Pool, of Benton Harbor, this state. The father was a leader in the Con- gregational church, and helped to build the first house of worship for that sect at Augusta. He was an officer in the congregation there for many years. His son Nathan passed the first seven years of his life in Ohio, and accompanied him to this state in 1847. He attended the district schools near his home, and learned farming un- der difficulties on the new and uncleared land of the paternal homestead. He began life for him- self as a farmer, and was so occupied until Au- gust, 1862, when he enlisted in Company D, Sev- enteenth Michigan Infantry, for the Union army under Captain J. C. Burrows, now United States senator from this state. The regiment became a part of the Army of the Potomac, and later of the Army of the Cumberland, and was in active service at the front of each in its most strenuous
and deadly campaigns. Mr. Pool took part in the battle of Antietam and a number of minor en- gagements, and also in the siege of Vicksburg. His health failed and he was discharged from the service in 1864 with the rank of corporal, having enlisted as a private. Returning to Augusta, he started a carriage building and general black- smithing enterprise, which he conducted for a period of over thirty years. He was then in the hardware trade two years. During the last few years he has been engaged in farming, and in 1897 was appointed postmaster at Augusta, a po- sition he has held continuously since that time. He has also served from time to time in various school offices and on the board of village trustees. On October II, 1864, he was married to Miss Sarah Kendall, a native of Wisconsin. They have two children, their son, Jay F., now residing in Detroit, and their daughter, Clara Belle, who is living at home. Mr. Pool has been a zealous Republican from the dawn of his manhood, and has ever been active in the service of his party. He is now the second citizen of Augusta in length of residence there, and is second to none in public esteem and general regard among the people.
T. C. WOOD.
The late T. C. Wood, whose active business career in this county for a period of over thirty years gave him a strong hold on the confidence and a high place in the regard of the commercial world of the county, and whose genial and engag- ing manners endeared him to hosts of his patrons, was a native of the state of New York, and was reared to the age of eighteen in Canada. His parents, Stephen and - (Clement) Wood, were also born in New York, and for a number of years after their marriage carried on farming in that state. In 1858 they came to Michigan and located at Grass Lake. There on a farm which they bought they lived and labored until death called them to their long rest, the father dying at the age of eighty-nine and the mother at that of seventy-five. Their son, T. C. Wood, arrived in this county about the year 1857 or 1858, and tak- ing up his residence at Augusta, was employed
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in various ways until 1863. He then turned his attention to merchandising and carried on an ex- tensive business in the store he first occupied until it was destroyed by fire. After that event he built, in 1868, the business block now occupied by his sons and continued his enterprise in that until his death in 1889. His marriage occurred in Kent county, Mich., and united him with Miss Thirza Pool, a native of Cattaraugus county, N. Y., who came to Michigan in 1847 with her parents, Abijah and Lucy (Foster) Pool, locating first in Kent county and afterward moving to Augusta, this county, where they died. Mr. and Mrs. Wood had four children, two of whom are living, their sons Charles C. and William A., who succeeded to their father's business and are still conducting it on the elevated plane of strict integ- rity, wide-awake progressiveness and close study of the needs of the community on which he left it. Their mother died in 1887. The father was a man of prominence and usefulness in local affairs, serving acceptably as president of the village and in other neighborhood or township offices. He was a Republican in politics, but was never an active or self-seeking partisan, devoting his at- tention mainly to his business and finding in it full scope for all his energies and aspirations save as the general demands of the community gave them a different trend and engagement, and in these he was always active, wise and helpful. Though high praise, it is but a just tribute to merit to say of the sons that they are exemplars of the thrift, progressiveness, and public spirit which he exhibited in a high degree, and are worthy . followers of his excellent example. Their trade is extensive and they meet all its requirements ; their stock of goods is large and varied, and they keep it up-to-date in every respect; the commu- nity is cultivated and critical, and they cater to its most exacting taste, as well as supply its less pretentious wants in their lines.
REV. LEONARD SLATER.
Perhaps no pioneer of the Wolverine state is remembered with as much love and gratitude as the Rev. Leonard Slater. His memory will
always be held dear and justly so, for here was a man with a fine sense of duty and honor coupled with physical energy and faithful perseverance. When his spirit left this mortal life the people for miles around mourned the loss of a great man, who had striven to live worthily and had left behind him an everlasting example of steadfast- ness and self-sacrifice. Michigan is still proud to claim this noble man as one of her sons, and still holds up his life as a glorious example to her many other sons. The Rev. Leonard Slater was a native of Worcester, Mass., where he was born in 1802. He learned the trade of rope- making and worked at it until he became of age. Shortly before reaching his majority he began studying for the ministry, under the able di- rection of Rev. Jonathan Going. He proved him- self an able and willing pupil and progressed rapidly at his chosen work. He married Miss Mary Ide, of Vermont, and in the autumn of the same year removed to the Carey Mission at Niles, Mich. Here he remained assisting ·the Rev. McCoy, the pioneer Baptist missionary of the West, until the spring of 1827, when he was placed in charge of the Thomas Mission at Grand Rapids. This well known mission was one that had been established by the Rev. McCoy in the preceding fall. The Rev. Leonad Slater remained a missionary for ten years and teacher to the Ottawa Indians, by whom he was sincerely loved and respected. In 1836 he bought eighty acres of land in Barry county, where he estab- lished an Indian mission and school, known as Slater Station. He was always very much inter- ested in the welfare of the Indians and labored long and faithfully to convert them to this re- ligion that he loved so well, and they in turn reverenced him as their chief. In 1852 he moved to Kalamazoo, where he died on April 27, 1866. The greater part of this good man's life was devoted to the education of the Indians, who at that time were the kings of the forest. He was buried near the spot now in Riverside cemetery in which he had seen his first view of the beautiful Kalamazoo valley in the autumn of 1826. For many years prior to his death he preached reg- ularly to his devoted Indians at Slater Station,
EDWIN MASON.
LEONARD SLATER.
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riding there on Saturday and returning on the following Monday. His wife died on June 7, 1851. The Slater family was of English origin on the father's side and Scotch origin on the mother's side.
GEORGE WEEKS.
To conduct a business which provides for the immediate and urgent needs of a community in pressing emergencies, however personal may be the motive, is to be a public benefactor ; and when this occurs in a new country in which other means of supplying the need are distant and difficult of attainment, if not impossible, the benefaction is greatly increased in magnitude and real service. Such a benefactor was the late George Weeks, of Augusta, this county, for many years the only druggist at the village and within a large extent of country around it. The amount of human suf- fering his ready presence and ministrations re- lieved in the long course of his successful and ap- preciated business there it would be idle to guess at, but that he was always ready on demand with the required relief, and tendered it with a grace and sympathy of manner that added to its value, is well established in the recollection of the people to whom he ministered, and is manifested in the cordial regard with which his memory is cher- ished in the community. Mr. Weeks was born in Greene county, N. Y., at the town of Coxsackie, on December 25, 1835. His parents, Moses and Jane (Hollister) Weeks, were also natives of that state and passed their lives in it, industrious and well-to-do farmers. The father was a man of local prominence and influence and filled a num- ber of township and village offices. They had eight children, all now dead but two sons and one daughter who are residents of their native state. There they reared their son George and educated him in the district schools. He began life for himself as a clerk in a drug store at Catskill, in his native county, and after thoroughly learning the business and passing a number of years in conducting it there, he came to Kalamazoo county in 1867, and opened a drug store at Augusta in partnership with Dr. J. A. Dean, the firm being
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