USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. > Part 52
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Through the efforts of his parents in their day, and the rest of the family, it came into his posses- sion in a state of good development, but he has made it much better, more productive and more highly improved since he has owned it, and it now is considered one of the first-rate farms in the township. He farms it well and vigorously and adds to its equipment as his needs require, always keeping its fruitfulness up to a high stand- ard and its appliances up-to-date. In 1872 Mr. Meredith was married in this county to Miss Lucy Rosier, who was born and reared in the county, her parents being early settlers here. Five children have been born in the Meredith house- hold and all are living. They are Grace, wife of George B. Stebbings, of Kalamazoo, Myrtle, a res- ident of Ohio, Margaret, Eugene and Benjamin. In political affairs Mr. Meredith supports the principles and candidates of the Republican party.
EDWIN J. COOLEY.
This well known and esteemed farmer of Portage township was one of the early products of cultivated life in that now highly favored re- gion, he having been born there on June 22, 1834, not more than two or three years after the first habitation of the white man was erected on its soil. He is the son of Thomas and Augusta (Stratton) Cooley, the father a native of Massa- chusetts and the mother of the state of New York. He was a farmer in New York, and in 1831 trav- eled by water to Detroit and from there with teams to this county. In partnership with his brother Aaron he entered a tract of three hundred and twenty acres of government land on Dry Prairie. He lived there until 1836, then built a flour mill on Little Portage creek on the edge of Kalamazoo township, which was the first of its kind in the county. There had been a corn mill there, built by a Mr. Barber. He operated this mill until 1850, when he sold it to Messrs. Stone & Ransom and bought a farm in Portage town- ship on which he lived until 1869, then moved to Porter township, Van Buren county, where he lived ten years. At the end of that period he re- turned to this county and Portage township,
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where he died in 1880. The mother died in 1840, and he married Miss Caroline Newton for his second wife. She died in 1878. Politically he was a Whig in early life and later a Republican for a number of years, then became a Democrat, but he never consented to take a political office. He had two sons and four daughters, all living but two of the daughters. The Cooley family is of the old Puritan stock. The grandfather, Reuben Cooley, was a soldier in the Revolution, serving in a Massachusetts regiment. He was born in 1755. Edwin J. Cooley, after reaching the age of twen- ty-five on his father's farm, began life for himself as a farmer and followed that vocation in this county until 1859, when he went to Pike's Peak, crossing the plains with ox teams. The party numbered one hundred and twenty-seven when it started and but three of this number went through to the Peak. Mr. Cooley began mining on Clear creek, near Denver, and passed the first winter there, then in the spring of 1860, with a party of twenty-seven men besides himself, he moved to the headwaters of the Arkansas, this being the first party that went into that region. He remained there until 1861, mining and carrying on a gro- cery trade, then returned to this county and here he has since resided, purchasing his present farm in 1866. In that year he was married to Miss Alvira Chubb, a daughter of Miles Chubb, a pioneer of this county. They had two children, their son Fred T. and another who died some years ago. Their mother died in February, 1904. Mr. Cooley has been township treasurer three terms. He is a faithful Democrat in political affairs, but has never sought office. He has lived through very interesting periods in the history of the county, and has done his part to advance its progress. He is very entertaining in conversa- tion with reminiscences of the past when he is in the mood for talking, and enjoys in a high degree the respect and good will of the people.
JOHN A. MILHAM.
This prosperous and progressive farmer, who is altogether modern in his farming operations and applies to them the results of close study and
exhaustive reading, has lived in Kalamazoo town- ship since his birth, which occurred here on his father's farm in 1848. He is the son of the late Hon. John Milham ( see sketch of. R. E. Milham on another page of this volume) and was educated in the district schools of this township and at Kalamazoo College. He remained on the home place until 1884, and when in that year the place was divided, he removed to the farm on which he low lives. Here he raises berries and other small fruits in great abundance and variety, and for his product he finds a ready and remunerative market in Kalamazoo and elsewhere, the quality of his output having a high rank as it is produced with every attention to detail and every effort to secure the best results. He is a stockholder in the Bardeen Paper Company, of Otsego, and con- nected with other industrial and commercial insti- tutions. Mr. Milham is the only member of a large and prominent family who has never mar- ried. But in other respects he has held up the high standard of the family and won for himself on his own merits an honored name in his com- munity, where he is universally recognized as an enterprising and broad-minded farmer and busi- ness man and a worthy and useful citizen. Giving his attention especially early in his experience to fruit culture and making a study of the business, he has wrought a good work in this line in this section and is one of its most capable and knowing representatives. He has mingled little in public affairs except as a promoter of the best interests of his community and county, to which he has given active and helpful attention.
HEBER C. REED.
When a man has been connected in a leading way with many of the productive enterprises of a community, and has demonstrated the excellence and value of his citizenship in a long course of upright and serviceable living, it is not a matter of surprise that his death, when it comes, is felt to be a public calamity and reduces the whole people to grief. This was the experience of the late Heber C. Reed, of Kalamazoo, whose untimely death on April 17, 1903, at the early age of fifty-
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one years, cast a gloom over the city which it robbed of one of its most representative, progres- sive and energetic business men. Mr. Reed was born on March 12, 1852, at Climax, this state, whither his parents moved from New York state. The father, Dewitt Clinton Reed, was a native of Oakfield, N. Y., and the mother bore the maiden name of Eliza Mumm. They were reared, educated and married in the state of New York, where they were engaged in farming until their removal to Michigan. On arriving in this state they pur- chased a large tract of farm land near Climax, and on that they lived until 1863, when they moved to Kalamazoo, and here the father lived until his death, in October, 1893. He aided in founding the D. C. & H. C. Reed Company, a manufac- turing enterprise which built up an extensive trade in spring-tooth harrows, which it made in large quantities and of superior quality. The elder Reed was also interested in the First Na- tional bank and several other leading Kalamazoo business enterprises. He was descended from old English families long resident in this coun- try, his American progenitors having settled in Simsbury, Conn., as early as 1635. His wife died in 1877. They had two sons and a daughter, all now deceased except the daughter who lives in Kentucky. Their son Heber was reared in his native county and educated at the public schools. At the age of nineteen he was made paying teller of the First National Bank of Kalamazoo, and later became cashier of that institution, a position which he has filled acceptably three years. He then formed a partnership with Mr. Kauffer in the oil business, an undertaking they afterward sold to the Standard Oil Company. In 1880 he became a member of the D. C. & H. C. Reed Company, manufacturers of spring-tooth har- rows, as has been stated, and to the interests of that company he gave the most of his time and energy during the rest of his life, aiding in build- ing its trade up to enormous proportions and win- ning a reputation for it and its products second to none of the kind in the country. But large and exacting as this business became, it did not absorb the whole force of his active mind or all the time of his useful and industrious life. At
the time of his death he was actively inter- ested in many other commercial and industrial undertakings in and about the city, being presi- dent of the Imperial Coating Mills and of the Kalamazoo Railroad Supply Company, in addi- tion to being president of the Reed Manufactur- ing Company, and also treasurer of the Bryant Paper Company, and a director of the Home Savings Bank of the city and of the Illinois En- velope Company. In addition he aided in starting and conducting the Southside Improvement Com- pany and several other real-estate movements greatly to the benefit of the city's growth and development. In political relations he was a Re- publican, but he was never an office-seeker or an active partisan. Fraternally he belonged to the order of Elks. From business cares and worry he found relief in the love and ownership of fine horses, of which he had a number in which he took a great and just pride. On April 19, 1876, he united marriage with Miss Emma Cameron, a daughter of Hon. Alexander Cameron, a native of Oneida county, N. Y., born of Scotch parent- age. He came to Michigan in 1834, and after land- ing at Detroit started on foot and alone for the interior of the state, passing through a veritable wilderness and arriving at Kalamazoo, then a frontier hamlet known as Bronson, and for a time served as a clerk in the land office. He was mar- ried on March 14, 1838, to Miss Sarah Paul, whom he had known in New York, and who was the first school teacher in Barry county, their marriage being the first one celebrated there. He became one of the principal business men and leading citizens of Kalamazoo county, serving as school inspector and as a member of the legis- lature. He was one of the most active and influ- ential advocates of the advanced education of women, and is entitled to much credit for the high position taken by the state on that subject. He was a member of the lower house and framed the bill and after a hard fight succeeded in having it passed. For more than forty-five years he was an ardent Odd Fellow, filling each of the offices in his lodge and being frequently sent to repre- sent it in the grand lodge. He was also a charter member of the Kalamazoo County Pioneer Soci-
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ety and served as supervisor of the county. In every position to which he was called he dis- charged his duties with fidelity and intelligence, winning the praise of all classes of his fellow citizens, holding throughout his life here an ex- alted position won on his well demonstrated merits. Mr. and Mrs. Reed left at their death one child, their daughter Constance, who is now the wife of Joseph E. Brown, of Atlanta, Ga. Mrs. Reed died on October 7, 1902, and Mr. Reed on April 17, 1903, death coming to him at an age when his faculties seemed in full vigor and promised him yet many years of usefulness and productice life for the advantage of the city which was the scene of his labors and his enter- prise and whose people he loved with a patriotic devotion which was ever on the watch for the promotion of their best interests.
LYMAN M. GATES.
The death of Lyman M. Gates, one of the county's most respected and honored pioneers and one of Kalamazoo's best citizens, was sin- cerely mourned by a host of loving friends and admirers of this man's lofty character when the sad news was learned on the 15th of Septem- ber, 1905. His death was very sudden and oc- curred while he and his wife were spending the summer at Wequetonsing. Mr. Gates was an exceptionally public-spirited man and one who never lost an opportunity of doing something for the advancement of the county or city in which he lived. Having retired from active pursuits, he spent the evening of his life of toil and tri- umph in peace and comfort and had in the retro- spection of his career the agreeable reflection that his time had been well employed, and his efforts for his own advancement and for the good of oth- ers had wrought out substantial results of en- during value. He came into this world at Men- don, Monroe county, N. Y., on January 7, 1833, and was the son of Reynold Marvin and Clarissa (Parnelle) Gates, both born in Ontario county, N. Y. The father was a farmer through life. He died in 1891, having survived by nearly forty years his good wife, who passed away in 1852.
He served in various local offices in his time, and was a man of force and influence in his com- munity. There were three children born in the family, all sons, and all living except Lyman M. One is in Chicago and one in this county. The brother of Mr. Gates living in this county was a Union soldier in the Civil war, serving in the One Hundred and Eighth New York Infantry. He received an ugly wound at the battle of An- tietam, that deluge of death where "carnage re- plenished her garnerhouse profound." Lyman M. Gates was educated in the public schools of his native county and at Genesee College and Seminary. He left New York in the spring of 1854 and moved to Lagrange county, Ind., where he remained a year, then came to Kalamazoo. He purchased a piece of school land not far from this city, and after farming it four years and a half he taught the Galesburg school for thirteen terms. After that he conducted a hardware store at Galesburg eight years, selling out in 1870, when he was elected sheriff of the county. He filled the office continuously four years, and was chosen to it again after an interval during which he successfully ran the Kalamazoo Telegraph, which he afterward reorganized into the Kal- amazoo Publishing Company, which he man- aged d a short time, holding the office of sheriff until 1881, except during this inter- val. In the year last named he was appointed postmaster of the city and served four years, and was then chief of police two years. In 1891 he organized the C. H. Dutton Boiler Company, of which he was president and general manager until succeeded by his son in this position, which the son still holds. In 1894 he was elected presi- dent of the First National Bank, a position which he filled with ability and general commendation for a period of nine years. He also, in 1902, or- ganized the King Paper Company and was its president for some time. In March, 1854, he was married, in the state of New York, to Miss Mary E. Williams, a native of Ohio, born at Newburg, which is now a part of Cleveland. They had one child, a son, Alber M., a highly respected citizen of Kalamazoo. Mr. Gates was a life-long Republican and a member of the Congregational
LYMAN M. GATES.
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KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
church since 1859. An especially good portrait of Mr. Gates, taken during the later years of his life, is shown on the page opposite.
HENRY P. SHUTT.
This highly esteemed citizen of Kalamazoo county, who for six years filled the office of register of deeds for the county, and gave the people excellent service in a number of other official stations, and who is one of the best known and most respected men in the southern part of the state, has had an active career from his youth, living in many places and dealing with men of widely differing characteristics, in various lines of activity in war and peace, and he is now living retired from active pursuits at the village of Alamo after many years of interesting eventful- ness. He was born in Ashland county, Ohio, on July 23, 1844. His parents were John and Eliza- beth (Yearick) Shutt, and were born in Center county, Pa. The father was a farmer and learned his occupation in all its details on the rich soil of Ohio, where he was taken by his parents in 1827, when he was but five years old. His father, Philip Shutt, grandfather of Henry P. Shutt, bought a tract of unbroken and unimproved land in Ashland county, then a part of Wayne, and this he transformed into a good farm and lived on it until within a few years of his death. The great-grandfather of Mr. Shutt, John P. Schott, as he spelled his name, was a native of Germany who came to this country prior to the Revolution and, ardently espousing the cause of the colonies, became a soldier in that long and trying struggle. John Shutt grew to manhood in Ohio and fol- lowed farming there until his death, in 1876. His widow survived him fourteen years, passing away in 1890. They had three children who reached maturity, their son Henry and two of his sisters, who now live in Eaton county, this state. Henry remained at home attending the district schools and working on the farm until he reached the age of sixteen. Then in May, 1861, he enlisted as a Union soldier in Company G. Twenty-third Ohio Infantry, and was soon afterward assigned with his regiment to the
Army of West Virginia and the Potomac. In this great fighting organization he saw abundant service of the most dangerous and trying kind. participating in the following battles: Carnifax Ferry, Cotton Mountain, Packs Ferry, Giles Courthouse or Parkersburg, W. Va., second Bull Run, Frederick City, South Mountain and Antie- tam, Md., Cloyd Mountain, W. Va., and a num- ber of minor engagements, including New River Bridge in Virginia and the capture of Morgan in Columbiana county, Ohio. At Cloyd Mountain he was taken prisoner by a Confederate soldier, but he a little while afterward captured his cap- tor and brought him a prisoner into the Union camp. He was mustered out of the service with the rank of sergeant in August, 1864. and re- turned to his Ohio home, where he remained until 1877. He then came to Kalamazoo county and bought a farm in Alamo township which has since been his home. During fourteen years of his active life he traveled in the interest of the Champion Reaper and Mower Company, with headquarters at Baltimore, Md., and covering the Southern and Eastern states in his work. After that he was a dealer in farming implements in Kalamazoo six years. In 1896 he was elected register of deeds for this county, receiving a large majority of the votes cast, and he was twice re-elected to this office, serving six years in all. He also served as township clerk, six years on the soldiers' relief committee of the county and seventeen as a notary public. He organized and for three years commanded a local military com- pany at Alamo. On November 24, 1863, he was married in Ohio to Miss Elizabeth Powers, a na- tive. of that state, born in Wayne county. They have three children, their daughter Lilly, wife of R. Hoskins, of the state of Washington, who served three years as deputy register of deeds under her father ; Minnie, wife of W. N. Aldrich, of Alamo; and Bertha E., wife. of W. H. Ward, also of Alamo. Their mother died in October, 1904. Mr. Shutt has been a Republican from the dawn of his manhood. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has filled all the offices of importance in his local post. He also belonged to the Union Veterans' Union and
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF
was its first commander in Kalamazoo. He is a Knight of Pythias, an Odd Fellow and a Free- mason of the Knight Templar degree, and is now captain general of the commandery at Kalamazoo. which he has also served as treasurer and re- corder. He has long been a member of the Con- gregational church, and for thirteen years was superintendent of its Sunday school. Whether soldier or civilian, official or plain citizen, push- ing a business enterprise with all his ardor or entertaining a social circle with his genial humor and fund of reminiscences, Mr. Shutt has always been masterful and popular. Ile numbers his friends by the legion and can measure their re- gard in the loftiest degrees of esteem.
GEORGE PRINDLE.
The late George l'rindle, of Kalamazoo, was for many years one of the city's leading and most representative business men and was connected with some of its most important industries. He gave the community a high example of exclusive devotion to his business affairs and won the esteem of all its citizens by his strictness of , method, fairness of dealing and general upright- ness of life. He was born at Byron, N. Y., in November, 1833, the son of William Prindle, a native of New York. The father was for many years engaged in the livery business at Marshall, this state, where he settled in 1836 or 1837, and there both he and his wife died well advanced in life. Their son George reached man's estate at Marshall and received his education in the public schools there and at Albion College. He came to Kalamazoo a young man and entered the employ of Parsons, Wood & Co., in whose establishment he learned the tinner's trade. This he followed in the city some years, working as a journeyman, then opened a business in that line for himself which he disposed of soon afterward, removing to Wellington, Ill., where he was in business four- teen years. At the end of that period he returned to Kalamazoo, and, in partnership with G. F. Lanard, purchased the hardware establishment of Mr. Dudley. The firm name was Prindle & Lan- ard, and the partnership continued to the death of
Mr. Prindle on February 15, 1901. The firm flour- ished and the business grew to large proportions under the vigorous management of Mr. Prindle, who gave it his whole and undivided attention, and became one of the leading mercantile institutions of the city. Mr. Prindle was married at Kalamazoo in January, 1855, to Miss Christine Turner, a daughter of Martin and Clarissa ( Whitcomb) Turner, who were born in Massachusetts. The father came to Kalamazoo in 1839 after having lived a number of years on a farm near Galesburg. In Kalamazoo he conducted the old foundry on the river and also engaged in building to some extent. Later he operated a machine shop on Water street which was destroyed by fire while he was in charge of it, entailing on him a consid- crable loss. Still he continued in business many years and then retired with a competence. He and his wife died in Kalamazoo. All of the fam- ily are now deceased but Mrs. Prindle and one of her brothers, Frank Turner, of Battle Creek. Mr. and Mrs. Prindle had two children, their sons William M., of Duluth, and Edward M., of Bos- ton. Although not an active partisan and not desirous of official station of any kind, Mr. Prin- (lle served two terms as city treasurer of Kala- mazoo and gave the people good service. He was held in the highest respect by all classes of the people and his death was widely mourned. To his family he left the priceless legacy of a good name and a high reputation for integrity and fidelity to duty, and to his city the glowing exam- ple of excellent citizenship in every sense of the term. Throughout their married life Mrs. Prin- dle was an inspiration and a help to him, entering with interest into all his aspirations and giving him the aid of her encouragement and her wise counsel. She stands high in the community as a lady of cultivation, sincerity and great benevo- lence.
JESSE M. VAN DUZER.
This enterprising, progressive and successful farmer of Prairie Ronde township, this county, represents the second generation of his family native to the soil and born in that township. His life began there on January 1, 1867, and his par-
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ents, Martin and Harriet .A. (Harrison) Van Duzer, also were born there, the father in 1838 and the mother in 1839. The grandfather, Alonzo Van Duzer, was a native of New York state, a cooper and farmer, and came to this county in about 1835 and located on government land on the northwest corner of Prairie Ronde township, where he operated as a cooper, supplying the early inhabitants with barrels and kindred commodi- ties. He also cleared and farmed some of his land, dying on his farm in 1846, of the measles. His wife lived many years after his death and was afterward twice married. He left one son and three daughters. The daughters are still living, two of them in Kalamazoo county. The father was reared and educated in this county and fol- lowed farming and threshing, owning and operat- ing one of the first steam threshers in the county. He was engaged in threshing on a large scale for a period of eighteen years. He was also exten- sively engaged in raising Jersey cattle, Poland- China hogs and Oxford-down sheep. He was married about 1862 to a daughter of Dr. Bazel Harrison, who is more extensively mentioned in the sketch of George F. Harrison on another page. They had three children, Alonzo, now residing in Schoolcraft, Jesse M. and Harriet A., now Mrs. Alvin Rosen, of Battle Creek. The father was a Republican, but not an active partisan, and never sought office. He was an enthusiastic Freemason and considered the best posted and brightest mem- ber of the craft in this section. The mother died in 1892 and he in December, 1902. Their son Jesse was born on the home farm and reared in this county, obtaining his scholastic training in the district schools and his business education at Par- son's Business College in Kalamazoo. He clerked one year at Schoolcraft and since then has fol- lowed farming, being interested also in the cream- ery company, of which he is a director. He has recently disposed of the farm and is at present looking for a location in the west. In 1893 he married Miss Nellie E. Wagar, a daughter of Albert Wagar, of Prairie Ronde township. They have two children, Norma A. and Freda M. Mr. Van Duzer has never sought office or taken an active part in political contests, but he has served
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