USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. > Part 62
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JEREMIAH N. BROWN.
The late Jeremiah N. Brown, of Alamo township, one of the best known and most suc- cessful farmers of this county, who departed
this life on January 1, 1899, full of years and of local distinction, and revered as a partiarch by the people among whom so many years of his usefulness were passed without reproach, was a native of Herkimer county, N. Y., born on June 20, 1812. His parents, Nicholas and Susannah (Johnson) Brown, passed their lives as indus- trious and well-to-do farmers in the state of New York, dying there at advanced ages. They had a family of four sons and two daughters, all of whom are now deceased. Their son Jeremiah was reared in his native state and educated in its district schools. In 1833, when he was just twen- ty-one years old, he came west to Elkhart county, Ind., making the journey on foot from Detroit, following Indian trails through the otherwise trackless forest, and entered a tract of govern- ment land which he cleared and cultivated until 1853. He then moved to this county and located on eighty acres of unbroken timber land in Al- amo township, which he cleared and improved, building first a small log cabin for a dwelling that was some years later replaced with a good frame residence. He added to his first purchase until he owned two hundred acres, all of which he succeeded in clearing and getting under culti- vation before his death. He was married at Elk- hart, Ind., on December 31, 1835, to Miss Eliza Van Frank, a native of New York state. They had four children, two of whom are living, their son, Homer J., of Plainwell, this county, and their daughter Malvina, who is now the widow of Philip Simmons, a son of Isaac and Polly (Bree- mer) Simmons, natives of New Jersey and early settlers in Alamo township. Mr. Simmons died in 1886, leaving one child, their daughter Mary E. Simmons, who lives with her mother on the old Brown homestead. Mr. Brown was for many years one of the best known citizens of the township, and enjoyed in a marked degree the appreciative respect and good will of all its peo- ple. He took an active interest in public affairs involving the substantial and enduring welfare of his community, and in reference to them gave the township good service in counsel and more material aid. No enterprise of value was con- ducted without his energetic and intelligent aid.
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and no interest of his people went without his considerate attention and helpful assistance. Seeking no prominence or publie honors for himself, he was able to devote his best energies to the public needs unbiased by personal ambi- tions and uninfluenced by direct personal ends. The post of honor to him was a private station, and his controlling impulse was to promote the general weal to the best advantage and for the longest time.
JOHN W. JAMES.
At the time of his death, which occurred on August 14, 1905, one of the oldest settlers in Kal- amazoo county, both in years of life and continu- ous residence here, John W. James, of Alamo township, was a connecting link between the (lawn of civilization in this region and its present state of advanced development and progress. He saw this part of the country when it was yet a wilderness in the thrall of the savage red man and the wild beasts of the forest, and witnessed and helped to promote its every stage of subse- quent progress, until it has become renowned throughout the world for the triumphs of skill. genius and determined persisteney of effort won by its thrifty and energetic people. At the time of his arrival on this soil every foot of the ad- vance of the white man was contested by the un- tamed denizens of the wild, and won over their persistent, crafty and resourceful opposition. And he lived to behold the region with an enterpris- ing and all-conquering people, and filled with the achievements of their capacity, rich in every element of material conquest and blessed with all . forms of moral and intellectual greatness-cer- tainly a wide range of experience for a single hu- man life, and fruitful in food for imagination and thought. Mr. James was born in Monroc county, N. Y., on July 12, 1822. His parents. Uriah L. and Lucinda (Frink) James, were also natives of the state of New York, and there car- ried on successful farming operations for many years. In 1837 the father came to this country and located in Alamo township on the farm later owned by his son John. He made the journey
into the almost unknown wilds with a team through a portion of Canada, and arrived at his destination in May of the year named. Forty acres of unknown land densely covered with tim- ber were assigned to him to elear, and for doing this he was to have the proceeds of the land for a period of five years. The work to which he had given himself was arduous and trying, but he was inured to the life of privation and toil which it involved, and kept at it without regret or neg- lect. He had been a soldier in the war of 1812, and both before and after that contest had been a laborious farmer on the frontier of New York. Two years after his arrival in this county his family followed him hither, and from the time of their arrival in 1839 were residents in Alamo township, the mother dying here in 1860 and the father in 1864. They had four sons and three daughters, all now deceased but one of the sons. The father became prominent in the early his- tory of the township and filled a number of lo- cal offices with credit. His son John was reared to the age of seventeen in his native county, and there secured a common-school education. In 1839 he came with the rest of the family to Kala- mazoo county and joined his father in the new home the latter had built up in the waste. Hc at once began to aid in clearing and farming the land, and remained with his parents until he reached the age of twenty-four. He then turned his attention to cutting cord wood in the winter months as a means of clothing himself and pro- viding the other necessaries of life, and later he found employment on the boat line of D. S. Wal- bridge, which was engaged in transporting flour down the Kalamazoo river to the lake on the way to Buffalo. Thirteen days were required to make a trip down the river to the lake and pole the boat back to the city, and for this service he re- ceived seventy-five cents a day and his board. At this employment he saved two hundred dol- lars with which he bought the forty acres of land his father had cleared. He next worked for W. G. Patterson, the owner of extensive stage lines. driving for thirteen years between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, and to other points, mean- while saving his wages and purchasing additional
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land until he owned two hundred and seventeen acres, nearly all of which was uncleared. His parents lived on this land until death called them to a higher sphere. On November. 16, 1859, he was married to Miss Laura A. Russell, a native of Chautauqua county, N. Y., the marriage being solemnized at Ripley, that county. He then took up his residence on his farm and on it he had his home until his death. He and his wife were the parents of four children. Of these one has died, Charles W., a farmer of Alamo township, Earl, a farmer of Cooper township, and Grace M., living at home, are living. Soon after locat- ing on his land Mr. James built a good frame dwelling there. This was destroyed by fire in 1879, and the present attractive residence was erected on its walls. In political faith Mr. James was a sterling Democrat, but he never sought or desired an official station of any kind in the gift of his party. He had many dealings and some exciting and interesting experiences with the In- dians, who were numerous in the region then. A meeting of the old stage drivers was held at the home of Mr. James a few weeks before his death at which three of his old companions were pres- ent.
HIRAM REESE.
Hiram Reese, one of the leading and represen- tative farmers of Alamo township, this county, was born in Cambria township, Niagara county, N. Y., on November 13, 1829, and came to Kala- mazoo county when he was fifteen years of age with his parents, John and Eunice (Jeffers) Reese, who also were natives of New York state. They were farmers in their native state until 1844, when they brought their family to the wilds of Michigan and bought one hundred and seventy- six acres of land in sections II and 12 of Alamo township. The land was partially improved at the time and had on it a new log dwelling in which the family lived until it was replaced by the pres- ent large and comfortable residence. All hands united to clear and cultivate the remainder of the land, young Hiram doing steadily a man's share of the work. On this farm the mother died in about 1872 and the father in 1866. Their family
comprised two sons and two daughters. Of these all are living but one of the daughters. The father was a soldier in the war of 1812, in a New York regiment, which saw much active service on the border. The mother was long a devout and attentive member of the Methodist Episcopal church. At the death of the father their son Hi- ram became the owner of the farm, on which he had passed all his life in this county, and which he had so materially helped to clear and make productive, and here he has since made his home. His education was limited to the facilities afforded by the early schools of the section, as home duties required all his time when needed, and this was during all of every year, except two or three months in the winters of a few years. In 1856 he was married at Otsego, Mich., to Miss Martha A. Sherwood, a daughter of Eber and Elvira (Crit- tenden) Sherwood, who were pioneers of Allegan county. Mr. and Mrs. Reese have one child, their son Elasco M., who is a prominent merchant at Allegan, engaged in the boot and shoe trade. While an earnest and loyal Republican in politics, Mr. Reese has never sought or desired public office for himself, finding his farm and domestic duties and the interest he has taken in local affairs of a beneficial kind sufficient to occupy all his time and energies. He attends the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife is a member, and is active in the support of its works of mor- ality and benevolence. More than three score years of his life have been passed among the peo- ple who surround him, and in all that time he has not been known to fail in close and prompt atten- tion to every private and public duty ; and in con- sequence he is one of the most highly and gener- ally respected citizens of his township. The period embraces in its scope the whole of the transforma- tion of this region from a howling wilderness, in- hospitable in all its forms of life and every condi- tion, to the hardy founders of the commonwealth, to its present splendid development, and in his sphere he has done his portion of the work of ef- fecting the change. In his own person he con- fronted and conquered all the savage elements of opposition of man and beast and the rage of the elements, and it is much to his credit that he never
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shrank from them and to his enjoyment that he lives to see and bask in the sunshine of prosperity and the light of progress his efforts and those of others have brought to this highly favored section of our common country.
SEARLES D. BARBOUR.
Although but sixty-five years have passed since, in 1840, Scarles D). Barbour left his home in Cayuga county, N. Y., and journeyed into Kala- mazon county to found a new home for himself. but in that period what he found to be the un- broken wilderness, still in the thrall of the un- tutored red man and filled with the ferocious denizens of the forest, has been transformed into a region of fruitfulness and beauty, smiling with all the concomitants of civilization and rich in all the activities of a vigorous, progressive and ener- getic commercial and industrial life. He saw the dawn of civilization here, aided its first feeble struggles into the brighter day, and lived to be- hold its high noon of surpassing splendor, bring- ing a new and mighty commonwealth into the galaxy of American states and filled with an en- terprising, progressive and all-daring people whose history is one of the glories of our later history. Mr. Barbour was born in Cayuga county, N. Y., on July 30, 1814, and was the son of Uel and Peninia (Searles) Barbour, who, like himself, were natives of New York state. The father was a farmer and followed that calling in his native state until about 1845, then came to this county to pass the remainder of his life. From the time of his arrival here he divided his time between farm- ing and shoemaking until his death in 1853. He and his wife were the parents of three sons and one daughter, all now dead. Their son Searles, after receiving a common-school education in his native state, learned the trade of a shoemaker and worked at it there until 1840. In that year he and a companion came to Kalamazoo county and together entered a tract of government land no part of which had as yet ever felt the keen edge of the gleaming plowshare, and on this they put up a rude shanty in which for a time they kept bachelors' hall. During the first few winters Mr.
Barbour worked at his trade in Kalamazoo in order to get money for payments and improve- ments on the land. The place was then divided between the two owners, each taking half, and Mr. Barbour settled on his portion and gave him- self up wholly to its development, beginning the work by going out one morning before breakfast and cutting down the first tree. The stump of this was preserved as a memorial until time de- caved and crumbled it away. A few years later, that is in 1847. he was married to Miss Harriet Hathaway, who lived with her parents in a small log house near the present residence of John Ran- som. Her brother Eli was a school teacher in carl days in Michigan, and after a time moved to the northern part of the state, and soon after the opening of Oklahoma territory to settlement, to that portion of the country with his family. Three years later his wife died there, thus end- ing years of suffering which she bore with great fortitude and patience. He survived her only about two years. In the Hathaway family there were four children, all now deceased but Mrs. Libbie Pratt. of Battle Creek, Mich. Mean- while Mr. Barbour steadily pressed forward in clearing his land, bringing it under cultivation and improving it. He had three children by his first wife, who are living and one that died. Those living are Charles, of Kalamazoo, Marion, of Sioux Falls. S. D., and Harriet, now Mrs. George Gould, of Minneapolis. Their mother died in 1853, and on September 22d of the same year the father was married to a second wife. Miss Mary E. Chubb, a native of the state of New York, who came when she was very young to Michigan with her mother. Not long afterward her father, who had remained in New York to close out his business there. joined them in this state, and the family took up their residence in Ionia county. Here a year or two later the mother died and a few years afterward the father also passed away. Of their five children only one is living. Alonzo Chubb, of Copemish, Manistee county, who is now about eighty-two years old and well preserved for his age. Of Mr. Barbour's second marriage seven children were born and six of them are living : Kilsey M., of Newcastle,
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Colo .: Wallace M., of Otsego, Mich .; Inez E., a school teacher in this county ; Milo S., of Hick- ory Corners, Barry county ; and Alice G. and Arthur G., twins. Their mother died in 1902. Mr. Barbour had not been long in Michigan be- fore he was joined by his brother Charles. Each made several visits to their old New York home, and on returning from one of these Charles Bar- bour, at the request of his brother, brought back some chestnuts packed in earth in a tin basin. This was in 1842. The chestnuts were carefully planted on the farm and from them great trees grew and yielded abundant fruit. In 1898 the trees were so nearly dead that it was thought best to cut them down; but from the stumps other trees have grown which produce fruit equal to that of the originals. Mr. Barbour had one sister and two brothers. All have passed away, Charles being the last to go, he dying in August, 1903, at the home of the daughter in Kalamazoo. Mr. Barbour was prominent in the local affairs of Alamo township, filling acceptably a number of school and other township offices. He and his wife were active and zealous members of the Congregational church. The family is one of the oldest and most respected in the county. His death occurred September 13, 1873.
ROE DARDINGER.
Plant a hardy and right thinking German, or scion of German ancestry, anywhere in the midst of nature's providence, and whatever the conditions confronting him he will make a steady, though it may be slow, progress and win in the end a substantial comfort for himself and those dependent on him, and give his offspring a bet- ter start in life than he had himself. The charac- teristics of the race are potential and seem never to lose their force. Not by imperial proclamation but by the might of persistent industry, self- denying thrift, constancy of purpose, and a gen- eral knowledge of what to do and when to do it, does he oppose contending forces and bid them stand ruled. And the very effort stimulates to increased power and awakens latent energies, so that each step in his advance becomes a new in-
centive arming him with a fuller equipment. The subject of this brief narrative belongs to this sturdy and hard-working race, and in his career has manifested its salient general attributes. He came to this county at the age of twenty-one, fur- nished forth for the struggle before him with nothing but a sound body, a clear head, a com- mon-school education and a good trade, but al- though without capital, he knew that his craft was an estate on which he could depend and out of which he could not be swindled. But turning his attention away from this to the fruitful field of agriculture, he gave to it the same careful and systematic labor that his trade would have re- quired, and in a short time was well established. if not in personal comfort and public regard, at least in a position to win both. Mr. Dardinger was born in Wyandot county, Ohio, on August 15, 1861, and is the son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Gotier) Dardinger, natives of Germany. The father, who emigrated to the United States at the age of sixteen, was a wagonmaker for years, then followed milling in Ohio, and died in Wyandot county, that state, in 1861. The mother survived him a few years, and then she also paid the last debt of nature. They had five children that grew to maturity. The son Roe was but six months old when his father died, and the circumstances of the family left him but slender means for schooling and obliged him at an early age to be- gin making his own way in the world. He learned the trade of a brickmaker and remained in his na- tive state working at it until he came of age. Then, in 1882, he came to Kalamazoo county and be- gan farming in Comstock township, where he has since lived. In 1884 he went to work on the county poor farm, laboring by the month for small wages at first, but receiving a steady increase in the seven years of his service. At the end of the term mentioned he was appointed superintendent of the farm and held. this position for ten con- secutive years. He then bought his late farm of one hundred and thirty-two acres, which was al- ready well improved, and on it he from that time had a pleasant home and profitable employment until he sold it in March, 1905, since which time he has resided in Galesburg. Although the farm,
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when he purchased it, was well improved, as was noted above, and in an advanced stage of develop- ment and cultivation, he increased its value by ad- ditional improvements and more vigorous and varied tilling. In 1891 Mr. Dardinger was mar- ried in Allegan county to Mrs. Grace (Munn) Miner, a widow, native in that county and the daughter of John and Harriet M. (Russell) Munn, who were born and reared in England and came to this country in 1850. By her former marriage Mrs. Dardinger had one child, her son Charles, who is now in the service of the United States government in the custom house at Ma- nila, in the Philippine islands, having occupied his position during the last five years. When the war with Spain began he enlisted in the Twenty- second United States Infantry, and during the progress of the conflict he saw service, active and dangerous, in both Cuba and the Philippines. He was a valiant soldier, and is a trusty and capable civil officer. Mr. Dardinger has never taken an active part in politics, but the fraternal life of the community has enlisted his attention and had the benefit of his membership in the Masonic or- der, the order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
SIDNEY DUNN.
This leading business man and commercial force of Galesburg, Comstock township and the surrounding country, who is the senior member of the banking firm of Dunn & Clapp of that vil- lage, for an account of which see the sketch of Thaddeus S. Clapp in another part of this work, is a native of Erie county, Pa., born on Novem- ber II, 1840. His parents, Robert G. and Re- becca (Dumors) Dunn, were also natives of that county. The father was a farmer and passed his whole life on the farm on which he was born in 1812 and died in 1888, "type of the wise, who soar but never roam, true to the kindred points of Heaven and home." The mother died there also, passing away in 1900. They had four sons and two daughters, all living but one son, Mr. Dunn, of this sketch, being the only one resident in Michigan. The father was a man of prominence and was chosen to a number of public positions
in his township and county ; but he gave his at- tention chiefly to farming, and in this line of ac- tivity he rose to the first rank in his neighbor- hood. The family is of Irish ancestry, the Amer- ican progenitors of it emigrating to this coun- try and settling in Pennsylvania about the close of the Revolutionary war. Sidney Dunn grew to manhood amid the healthful pursuits and pleas- ures of his father's farm, and was prepared for the battle of life in the public schools of Water- ford, in his native county, and at Iron City Com- mercial College in Pittsburg, being graduated 'after a thorough business training at the last named institution.' He left home at the age of twenty-four and started farming in Illinois, where he remained so occupied until 1874, his home being near the town of Galesburg. In the year last named he came to Kalamazoo county and bought a farm in Charleston township, which he still owns and operates. He has put to good use the lessons of his experience on the home- stead under his father's instructions, and made his farm one of the most attractive and produc- tive in the township. In the public life of the section he has also taken an active and leading part, serving six years from 1879 as township supervisor, and from 1888 to 1892 as county treasurer, winning golden opinions in both po- sitions for the fidelity, industry, firmness and general excellence with which he discharged his official duties. In 1894 he started the bank of which he is the head, in conjunction with Mr. Clapp, and with this institution he has ever since been closely connected, giving it his best atten- tion and capabilities, and by his business tact, foresight and breadth of view aiding greatly in making it what it is, one of the chief fiscal en- terprises within a large scope of the adjacent ter- ritory. His character and standing, with his widely known capacity for the knowledge of the science of finance, giving a guarantee of its strength and proper conduct, and his affability and general popularity bringing to its coffers large volumes of trade. In 1866 Mr. Dunn united in marriage with Miss Adelia Flower, a native of the same county as himself, whose parents moved to Michigan in 1865, and located in Barry
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county. Mr. and Mrs. Dunn have four chil- dren, their sons Lewis and Lyman and their daughters Lillian (now married) and Lena. In politics the father has long been an influential and leading Republican, and he and his wife are members of the Congregational church.
JUDSON A. EDMUNDS.
Of the three-score and ten years which make up the life of this valued citizen, prominent public spirit and leading churchman of Prairie Ronde township, all but seven have been passed in this county, and most of them in active enterprises which have contributed to the growth and devel- opment of the section and the comfort and wel- fare of its people. He is a native of Chautauqua county, N. Y., born on July 9, 1835, and the son of Obadiah and Deadima (Wheeler) Edmunds, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of New York. The paternal grandfather, Reuben Edmunds, was of Holland ancestry but was born in Vermont. He was a farmer and ship carpen- ter in the state of New York until 1835, when he came to this county and located on Prairie Ronde, where he purchased a tract of wild land which he cleared, improved and lived on for many years. Later he built saw and grist mills, which were known as the Edmunds Mills, and which he op- erated a number of years, dying at the mills at the age of eighty-two years. His wife passed away sixteen years before him, and he was married a second time. By the first marriage he had seven sons and four daughters, all now deceased. His son Obadiah, father of Judson, came to this county in 1842 and bought an interest in his father's mills, and then operated them until about 1860, when he turned his attention to farming, in which he passed the remainder of his life, dy- ing on the farm now owned by his son Judson. He acceptably filled a number of local offices, and was widely known for his honesty and liberality. His wife died in 1837 and he in 1878. They were members of the Baptist church and had nine children, two of whom are living. After the death of his first wife he married Mrs. Dorothy (Doty) Axtell, who died in September, 1905,
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