USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. > Part 54
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tock this denomination had no established ¿anization in the neighborhood, and he was in- strumental in helping to form one. Mr. Bigelow at that time gave a building to hold meetings in which was used for a number of years, until it was superseded by the present brick structure belonging to the congregation. This edifice Mr.
Baldwin helped to build, and he makes a liberal contribution each year to the funds of the church, and serves in one of its important offices.
WILLIAM B. SOUTHARD, M. D.
The late Dr. William B. Southard, for many years one of the leading citizens of Kalamazoo, who, on February 21, 1904, surrendered his earthly trust and passed over to the activities that know no weariness, was born at Clyde, Wayne county, N. Y., on August 10, 1822, and was the son of Henry and Susan (Carle) Southard, na- tives of New Jersey. His ancestors were among the early colonial settlers of this country, locating on Long Island, and many members of the fam- ily in succeeding generations became prominent in the public affairs of the nation, the greater number of them being distinguished in forensic life in the lofty forums of the United States con- gress, and others walked with dignity and com- manding influence in the pathway of scientific and professional activity. The family is of Scotch origin, the patronymic having been for- merly Southworth, and throughout its history in this country it has displayed on every theatre of action the sterling and fruitful traits of the energetic race from which it sprang. Hon. Henry Southard, M. C., the great-grandfather of the Doctor, was born on Long Island in 1749. The family moved to Basking Ridge, N. J., in 1757, and there he died on June 2, 1842. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, served nine years in the state legislature, and was a member of con- gress from 1801 to 1811, and again from 1815 to 1821. He possessed a remarkable memory, and until he passed into his ninetieth year never wore glasses or used a cane. One of his sons, Samuel Lewis Southard, LL. D., was graduated from Princeton College in 1804, and later was admitted to the bar in Virginia. He became law reporter for the state of New Jersey in 1814, and the next year associate justice of the state supreme court. In 1820 he was a presidential elector, and in 182I was appointed United States senator to fill a vacancy, filling the office two years. In the first year of his service he met his
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father on a joint committee of the senate and house of representatives, and together they voted for the Missouri Compromise. He held the navy portfolio in the President's cabinet from 1823 to March 23, 1829, and during this period served at times as secretary of the treasury and secretary of war. In 1829 he became attorney general of New Jersey, and in 1832 was elected governor. In 1833 he was elected to the United States sen- ate and he remained a member of that body until May 3. 1842. When Vice-President Tyler be- came President, Senator Southard was chosen president of the senate. He died at Fredericks- burg, Va., on June 26. 1842. The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by the University of Pennsylvania in 1833. Ile was a graceful and forcible writer and speaker, and published "Reports of the Supreme Court of New Jersey," "Washington's Centennial Address" and "A Discourse on William Wirt." Another dis- tinguished member of the family was his son, Samuel Lewis Southard, who was graduated from Princeton in 1836, and became a prominent minister in the Protestant Episcopal church. He was well known as the author of "The Mystery of Godliness." The Doctor's father was Henry Southard, Jr., and his grandfather was Lott Southard. Both were men of prominence and success in life, and left to their descendant, who is the immediate subject of this sketch, untar- nished names and excellent examples of manli- ness as his imperishable heritage. The Doctor was the youngest of the children of his parents. who numbered four. His mother died when he was very young, and thereupon the Doctor be. came domesticated in the family of a friend of his father named Blakeman, by whom, however. he was not adopted. When he was but five years old his father died, and he therefore continued his residence with the Blakemans until he reached his sixteenth year, meanwhile receiving a good common-school education. He then left the home which had sheltered him so generously, and going to New York city, sought employment as a clerk in a store. But soon afterward visit- ing his grandfather at Basking Ridge, N. J., he was persuaded to enter an academy, where he re-
mained a year and a half, making rapid progress and an excellent record in his studies. Then turn- ing his attention to mercantile life. he passed eighteen months in a store at Elizabethtown. N. J. At the end of that period he began his pro- fessional studies, and returning to the scenes and friends of his childhood and youth, became a medical student in the office of Drs. N. P. Col- vin & Son, at Clyde. N. Y. After a course of lectures at the Geneva Medical College, he entered the medical department of the University of Buffalo, and he was graduated therefrom in 1850. He began the practice of his profession at Angola, Ind., where he remained three years, then moved to Albion, Mich., and passed five years busily and acceptably ministering to the ailing of thất city. In 1858 he returned to New Jersey, and during the ensuing four years built up an ex- tensive and lucrative practice in Newark. Find- ing that his health was suffering from the excess of salt in the atmosphere, he once more sought the more congenial climate of this state, and ac- cordingly came to Kalamazoo, where he soon re- gained his usual sturdiness and vigor. Here he passed the remainder of his useful life, rising to the first rank in his profession, and to prominence and influence in public and social life. He was an active member and for years president of the Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine. He was also a prominent and zealous member of the Order of Chosen Friends, in which he filled for long terms the offices of past counselor, treasurer and medi- cal examiner in the order. His professional ac- tivity, skill and learning gave him high standing in his chosen work, and his business acumen won him considerable worldly wealth. He owned a valuable farm three miles from Kalamazoo. where he made specialties of bee culture and rais- ing fruit. having some two hundred colonies of well bred bees and fine orchards of apples, pears and peaches, as well as extensive vineyards. On March 26. 1845, he was married to Miss Hulda A. Jones, a native of Wayne county, N. Y., born on September 23, 1826. They had four children. Augusta H., now Mrs. John C. Bloom, Mary E .. now Mrs. Dr. O. B. Ranney, Ida D., now Mrs. John McKee, Jr., and Dr. Eugene C., all of whom
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are living excepting the last named, and are resi- dents of Kalamazoo. Dr. Eugene C. Southard was graduated from the Rush Medical College of Chicago in 1880. As a fitting conclusion to the memorial sketch of the elder Dr. Southard, we extract as follows from a resolution passed by the Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine on March I, 1904:
"William B. Southard, M. D., an incorporator of the Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine, one of its most earnest and faithful members, and its one-time president, died at his home in this city after a brief illness, on the afternoon of Febru- ary 21, 1904. He was ripe in years and in ex- perience, and his beautiful life may well be taken as an example of quiet, unobtrusive devotion to the relief of distressed humanity, for he followed the mitigation of pain and disease with a diligence and singleness of purpose that in another sphere would have won the plaudits of men, but had none the less its rewards in the calm. affectionate gratitude of those relieved and in the conscious- ness of life's duty well and faithfully done. He gave freely and most unselfishly of his ability and tireless energy to his patients. We can not record his cheerful, hopeful manner, his courteous, gentlemanly intercourse, not only with the mem- bers of our profession, but with all with whom he came into contact in the daily routine of his life ; but these qualities, nevertheless, will not be forgotten. Dr. Southard's one aim and ambition was to serve well, faithfully, and to the best of his ability those whose lives and welfare were placed in his hands, and we hope the ennobling example of his latent energy to stimulate us to renewed endeavors for the relief of human dis- tress."
ALBERT CARPENTER.
Born of a race of pioneers, and passing his own childhood and youth on the frontier in this county, Albert Carpenter, of Prairie Ronde town- ship, is entitled to all the distinction which be- longs to the early settlers of the county, as well as that belonging to their descendants who have so bravely, so vigorously and so successfully car- ried on the work which they began here. He was
born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, on January 4, 1830; and is the son of Ira and Serepta (Buck- man) Carpenter, natives of the state of New York and pioneers in Ashtabula county, Ohio, as well as in this county. The father was a carpen- ter by trade. He was married in Ashtabula county, Ohio, and in 1833 moved his family to Kalamazoo county, after a short residence near Springfield, Ill., from whence they were obliged to move on account of the hostility of the Indians. On coming to this county, however, they did not wholly escape their savage foes, for at the time of . their arrival here the Indians were still numerous in the county. Wild beasts of prey were also present in great numbers, and all kinds of wild game was abundant. The father bought eighty acres of government land on the west side of Prairie Ronde. This he cleared in part, and on it he lived a few years, then moved to New Lisbon, Wis., near Milwaukee, where he and his wife died. They had five sons and two daughters. All the sons and one of the daughters are living, Albert being the only member of the family now living in Kalamazoo county. The father enlisted for the Black Hawk war in a Michigan company of volunteers, but the short and decisive struggle with the renowned chief was over before he was called into active service, and he got no farther toward the seat of war than Niles in this state. In his early manhood he was a Whig in politics but later became a Republican. His son Albert grew to manhood in this county and was educated in the district schools. He began to earn his own living at the age of twelve by working by the month, and also assisted his father in clearing the homestead. He had intimate association with the Indians in his boyhood and early manhood, and found the wild beasts of the forest often alto- gether too familiar for his comfort and safety. Living on the frontier where wild game was plen- tiful, he of course became somewhat of a hunter, and brought home from time to time many tro- phies of the chase. In 1852 he united in marriage with Miss Sarah E. Munger, a daughter of Rus- sell and Eliza (Spear) Munger, the former born in Pennsylvania and the latter in the state of New York. They were married in Huron county,
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Ohio, and in 1835 came to this county, where the father bought the farm on which Mr. Carpenter now lives. This farm they improved and lived on until death. Their family comprised six sons and six daughters. Of these, three of the daugh- ters and two of the sons are living. Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter have two children, their sons Crowell E., of Marcellus, and Irving A., who works the farm. Both are married, and the older has three children. Mr. Carpenter is a Republican and has served as a justice of the peace, township treas- urer and path master. His fraternal relations are with the Masonic order, he being a member of the lodge at Schoolcraft and the commandery of Knights Templar at Three Rivers.
JOHN S. HARRISON.
This venerable pioneer of Schoolcraft town- ship, this county, where he has lived seventy- seven years, is a native of Clark county, Ohio, born on March 9, 1820, and the last survivor of his father's family of seventeen children, all but one of whom grew to maturity, and are now dead excepting the subject. His parents were the late Judge Bazel and Martha (Stillwell) Harrison, the former a native of Frederick county, Md., and the latter of Franklin county, Pa., who were the first settlers in Kalamazoo county, locating on November 22. 1828, on the shore of Harrison Lake on Prairie Ronde. The father was born, according to the preponderance of family testi- mony, on March 15, 1771, and the mother some three years later. They were married by stealth over the opposition of the bride's mother and with the aid of her father, the shoes worn by the young bride of sixteen at the ceremony being made by a neighboring shoemaker the night be- fore the wedding and keeping him busy more than half the night to complete them. Judge Harrison was one of twenty-three children born to his parents, sixteen of whom grew to maturity. His father, William Harrison, was a brother of Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the Judge was therefore a cousin of two of our distinguished Presidents, the hero of Tippeca-
noe and his grandson, the late Benjamin Harri- son, of Indiana. The Judge's parents lived in Frederick county, Md., until he was about nine years old, then moved to Virginia, settling on a farm near Winchester in that part of Frederick county in the old Dominion which is now Hamp- shire county, W. Va. Five years later they changed their residence to Greencastle, Franklin county, Pa., about five miles north of the Mary- land line. Bazel was then fourteen years old, and after helping his father for a short time on the farm he rented, he went to work in a distillery, an occupation he followed as long as he lived in Pennsylvania. It was here also that he cast his first vote for a President of the United States, voting for Washington at his second election in 1792 and he voted at every subsequent presiden- tial election except that of 1828, when he was making his way through forest and swamp from his home in Ohio to the new one in this country. and that of 1872, when he was too ill to go to the polls, although, as he said, he especially desired to "vote once more for Grant." In 1810. with his family. he moved to Kentucky, just opposite Cincinnati, and while in this city he visited his distinguished cousin, Gen. William Henry Harri- son, who, after his victory over the Indian Prophet at Tippecanoe, engaged him to take care of his Millbrook farm below the city when the General took command of the Northwest fron- tier. In the meantime the Judge was distilling in Kentucky. At the close of the war of 1812 he bought a farm of three hundred acres twelve miles cast of Springfield, Ohio, in Clark county, which was then a wilderness. Here he remained until the summer of 1827, and while living on the land paid for it three times owing to defects in his title ; but when a fourth claimant appeared, he determined to give it up, and selling off what he could not take with him of his household goods, he packed the rest in wagons, and with his chil- dren, and their wives, husbands and grandchil- dren, nineteen persons in all, he came to Michi- gan, locating on Prairie Ronde, the first settler on that fertile plain and hence the first in Kala- mazoo county, arriving there on November 22, 1827. The Indians guided him to the shore of
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Harrison Lake, and here he took up land and built a log cabin for the accommodation of his family, the Indians helping in the work. In the ensuing spring they broke up some of the land and raised vegetables and seed corn on it. In time President Jackson gave him a title to three tracts of eighty acres each, for which he paid one dol- lar and a quarter an acre; and on this farm he and his wife lived until the end of their days, the mother dying on June 7, 1857, after sixty-seven years of wedded life, and at the age of eighty- three years, and the Judge on August 30, 1874. at the age of more than one hundred and three. Judge Harrison was early commissioned by Gov- ernor Cass as an associate judge of the county court. and thus received the title which he wore so long and so worthily. He was also for a num- ber of years a justice of the peace. In both po- sitions he was impartial and humane, striving by his influence and learning to settle disputes among his neighbors rather than prolong them. When he was buried more than one thousand persons attended the funeral, six of the oldest citizens in the vicinity being his pall-bearers. The oldest of these was eighty-four and the youngest sixty-nine, the sum of their ages being four hun- dred sixty-six years. After the formation of par- ties in this country the Judge warmly espoused the Democratic cause, and this he supported with ardor until the issue of slavery became a menace to the perpetuity of the Union, when he became a Republican, continuing in that faith until his death. He was declared many times to be the original of "Ben Boden," the principal charac- ter in Fennimore Cooper's famous novel of "Oak Openings, or The Bee Hunter," the author of the novel saying so on more than one occasion. Judge Harrison, was a very prominent man in the early history of this county. He helped to or- ganize it and also the township in which he lived, aiding in forming its youthful government and administering many of its important trusts, es- tablishing its schools, building its churches and founding its industries. He and his wife were de- vout. members of the Methodist Episcopal church and donated the land on which the first house of worship for that denomination was built in this
section. The. Judge was a man of unusual im- pressiveness in his physical appearance and bear- ing, and was also thoroughly generous in his na- ture. The Indians admired him greatly for these qualities, and the whites revered him long as a leader and later as a sage. It was his good for- tune to go through his long life without exciting the enmity of any of his fellowmen against him, and to have his life so lengthened that he became the partriarch of his section and lived many years amid the plaudits of his people. Like Sir Condy Rackrent in Miss Edgeworth's story, he outlived his own wake, so to speak, and overheard the judgment of posterity, and it was all to his credit.
"And strangers, passing, paid the meed Of reverence to his life's long span; But honored less, by word and deed, The aged Pilgrim than the man.
So free his life had been from. blame, So manly through the world his tread, A fragrance lingered round his name, His white locks honor him shed."
-From "In Memoriam," by Mrs. Lydia B. Fletcher, after the death of Judge Harrison.
His son, John S. Harrison, the immediate subject of this memoir, now himself a patriarch, was reared amid the scenes and incidents of the frontier, and even in boyhood took his place in its stirring activities. His educational advantages were limited to the schools taught in the different homes of the pioneers, and were therefore very meager. He knew almost nothing from child- hood but the arduous work of breaking up new land and reducing it to fruitfulness, and what was to be learned of woodcraft by association with the Indians, who were his playmates in boy- hood and his tutors in the wild life of the forest in later years. He remained on the home farm until the death of his father, and then became its owner. It is now the property of his son Owen. On this farm the venerable man has passed sev- enty-seven of the eighty-five years of his life, working faithfully at whatever his hand found to do, showing by good and intelligent service to its people his unwavering interest in the welfare of his community, conducting his daily walk and conversation so as to win the respect of all his
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fellows, and seeing what he first beheld and in- habited as a howling wilderness growing into grace, beauty and power under the benign in- fluence of advancing civilization. And now, as the evening shades of his long day of toil and tri- umpli are closing round him, he rests from his labors and enjoys in full measure the esteem and affection of the region he has helped so mate- rially to bless and develop. He was married in 1842 to Miss Louisa Baker, a native of Ohio. whose parents became residents of Kalamazoo county in 1841. Ten children blessed their union, seven of whom are living: William Il .. of Texas township: Martha, of Schoolcraft ; Ellen and Esther, at home: James B., a merchant at Schoolcraft ; Emeline, at home ; and Owen, who owns and operates the farm. Their mother died on February 5. 1901. Mr. Harrison has been a leading Republican from the organization of the party. He has been prominent in local affairs as a promoter rather than a politician, as he has never sought or desired public office of any kind. Following in his father's footsteps, he has walked uprightly among his fellows, and now there is not one who does not do him reverence.
OWEN W. HARRISON.
Owen W. Harrison is the youngest son of John S. Harrison, the oldest settler of Kalamazoo county. He is a native of the county, born in Prairie Ronde township on October 8. 1868, and was reared and educated in the county, attending school at Schoolcraft and the college in Kalama- zoo. After leaving school he took charge of the old homestead on which his grandfather located in 1827. This farm he now owns, and it is one of the best in the county. In 1902 he built a new dwelling, the old one having been destroyed by fire. The new house is modern in every respect, and in keeping both with his own advanced taste and prosperity and the spirit of the time and lo- cality. On December 20, 1893, Mr. Harrison was married to Miss Ida F. Shirley, a daughter of John Shirley, who was born in England and set- tled in Kalamazoo county in 1839. He died here in the spring of 1904 on his farm in Texas township,
which he bought after reaching years of matu- rity, having come here with his parents in boy- hood, and passed his early life on Grand Prairie, where they took up their residence on their ar- rival in the county. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison had two children, their son Paul C., who was born in 1896, and another who died a number of years ago. In fraternal relations Mr. Harrison be- longs to the Knights of the Maccabees. He is a vigorous and skillful farmer, an excellent citi- ze11 with breadth of view and enterprise in regard to public affairs, and one of the most esteemed citizens of the county. The representative of one of the most distinguished families of the county. who have borne a leading part in all phases of its progress and development from early pioneer days, he well sustains the teachings and examples of his house in every manly and worthy way.
NEWTON LUCE.
This well-known farmer of Prairie Ronde township, whose untimely death in 1880, at the early age of forty-five years, was felt to be a great loss to the agricultural and industrial life of his township, was a native of the county, born in Texas township on March 16, 1835, and was therefore one of the first of the offspring of the hardy pioneers in the county, who laid the foun- dations of its present development and prosper- ity and aided in starting it along the pathway of greatness and progress it has steadily pursued ever since they blazed the way for the oncoming hosts of subsequent settlers. He also bore a manly part in the arduous labors and faced with courage the dangers of frontier life in what wasin his boyhood and youth literally a howling wilder- ness, filled with ferocious beasts of prey and the wild men of the woods who were not always friendly, or tolerant of intruders. Mr. Luce was the son of Levi and Lydia (Stanley) Luce, the former born on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and the latter in Washington county. N. Y. (For further mention of the parents, see sketch of Frederick Luce, of Portage township, on another page.) Newton Luce was reared in this county and attended the district schools and the graded
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school at Schoolcraft. When he became of age he bought one hundred acres of land which were partially improved and located in Texas town- ship, and on this farm he lived until his death. clearing it and advancing it to excellent product- iveness, and enriching it with good improve- ments. He was married on February 21, 1860, to Miss Sarah Smith, a daughter of Martin and Mary ( Miller) Smith, natives of Pennsylvania and early pioneers of this county. After their marriage they moved to Wyoming county, N. Y .. where they lived until 1855, then came to Kala- mazoo county, and here the father passed the re- mainder of his life, dying in Prairie Ronde town- ship in March, 1881. The mother of Mrs. Luce died at Casselton, N. D. They had five sons and three daughters, and of these children five are liv- ing, Mrs. Luce being the only one residing in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Luce were the par- ents of four children: Levi A .: Lisette, now Mrs. L. J. Henderson, of this county ; Helen, now Mrs. Fred Welch, of Kalamazoo, and O. K., who is living at home. The oldest son has charge of the farm. and is now supervisor of his township. being elected in the spring of 1905. Mr. Luce was an earnest and zealous working Democrat and a leader of his party. Fraternally he be- longed to the order of Odd Fellows. He was well known in all parts of the county, and was held in high respect on all sides, as a good citi- zen, a useful and progressive man, and an ex- cellent farmer.
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