USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. > Part 63
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and by whom he had three children. Of these two are living. He was first a Whig and after- ward a Republican, and always a noted abolition- ist, actively assisting in conducting the under- ground railway in this county for the escape of fugitive slaves from the South. Judson A. Ed- munds was reared from the age of seven in this county and was educated in the district schools. In boyhood he began to assist his father and grandfather in the mills, learning the trade of a miller, which he followed for five years. Before the Civil war he went to Kansas, where he was in the employ of the Northwestern Fur Company for a short time establishing trading posts on the frontier. Returning to this county, he at once gave his attention to farming, which he engaged in until 1895, when he moved to Schoolcraft, where he is now living retired from active pursuits. His first marriage occurred on July 16, 1856, and was with Miss Jeannette Terrell, a native of Me- dina county, Ohio. They had two sons and four daughters, three of whom are living, Della, now Mrs. E. G. Smith, of this county ; Jeannette, now Mrs. William Mayo, of this county; and Oba- diah, who lives at Battle Creek and is in the em- ploy of the Grand Trunk Railroad. Their mother died in 1872, and in 1875 the father was married to Mrs. Mary E. (Rowe) Wagar, a native of Oneida county, N. Y. Mr. Edmunds has served as a justice of the peace and highway commis- sioner in Van Buren county, where he resided a few years. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has filled a number of official positions. He has been successful in business, serviceable in his citizen- ship and influential in public affairs, and is ac- counted one of the best and most representative men of the county.
RANSFORD C. HOYT.
Throughout Prairie Ronde township it is the universal testimony that the death of this early settler and esteemed man on September 13, 1874, in the midst of his usefulness, removed from the scenes of his activity one who had ever been fore- most in good works, and whose reputation had
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long been established for probity, energy and breadth of view. He was born in Logan county, Ohio, on May 14, 1808, the son of Stephen and Mary (Carter) Hoyt, who came to Kalamazoo county in 1828 and located on Prairie Ronde, where they remained until death. The father was a native of Vermont, and when his parents came to this state he accompanied them, being then twenty years of age. He saw much of frontier life in its most rugged phases, and bravely took his place and wrought out his part in helping to settle, civilize and develop the section. In 1832 he was married in Schoolcraft township to Miss Mary Hanson, and they became the parents of three children, only one of whom is living, their daughter Helen, now the wife of John Hartman. After the death of his first wife Mr. Hoyt mar- ried Miss Harriet Bair, a daughter of Chris- topher and Susanna (Baum) Bair, and a native of Crawford county, Ohio, born on September 15. 1820. Her father was a pioneer in several lo- calities, and a man of sturdy integrity and up- right life. His parents emigrated to this country from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania, where their son Christopher was born in 1769. He saw service in the war of 1812, and at its close moved to Stark county, Ohio, later living in Wayne and Crawford counties of the same state, and finally, on November 22, 1828, located in St. Joseph county, this state. One year later he moved to Kalamazoo county and settled in Prairie Ronde township, where he developed a fine farm and remained until his death, at the age of sixty-four. He was a Jacksonian Democrat, and a Presby- terian in his religious belief. His wife, whose maiden name was Susanna Baum, was born in Pennsylvania in 1776 and was of French descent, the family name being originally La Baum. At the age of seventy-three she passed away, and her remains were buried beside those of her husband in the cemetery at Harrison Corners. Mr. and the second Mrs. Hoyt were the parents of four- teen children, seven of whom grew to maturity and five are now living. Mr. Hoyt filled several township offices and took an active part in public affairs. He was an earnest member of the Metho- dist church and always actively interested in
church work. He was very successful as a farmer and at one time owned several hundred acres of excellent land. His wife survived him nearly eighteen years and died on February 4, 1892.
JONATHAN C. HOYT.
Formerly a prosperous and successful farm- er on section 25, Prairie Ronde township, and having been engaged in agricultural pursuits throughout the whole of his active life, Jonathan C. Hoyt not only acquired a thorough knowledge of his business in all its details, but through his operations contributed materially to advancing the best interests of the county and illustrated in a striking manner the best attributes of its intelligent, enterprising and upright citizenship. He owned and worked two hundred and sixty acres of highly productive land, all well im- proved and skillfully cultivated, which he ac- quired through his own unaided exertions and business capacity. He was born on December 2, 1848, in the township of his last residence, and was the son of Ransford C. and Harriet (Bair) Hovt, both of whom came to this county with their parents before reaching their maturity, and were married here. The elder Mr. Hoyt was born in Logan county, Ohio, on May 14, 1808, and was the son of Stephen and Mary (Carter) Hoyt, the father a native of Vermont. In 1828 the parents brought their family to this county and located in Prairie Ronde township, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Com- ing to the county at that early date, Ransford C. Hoyt necessarily saw much of frontier life in its most rugged and trying form, and was obliged to take his part in its most arduous and exacting labors and undergo many of its sever- est hardships. In 1832 he was married to Miss Mary Hanson, of Schoolcraft township, and they became the parents of three children, one of whom is living, Helen, the wife of John Hart- man. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Hoyt married Miss Harriet Bair, a native of Wayne county, Pa., and a daughter of Christopher and Susanna (Baum) Bair, natives of Pennsylvania, who emigrated to Kalamazoo county in 1829 and
JONATHAN C. HOYT.
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KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
located on a farm in Prairie Ronde township, where they passed their remaining years. They had fourteen children, of whom Harriet was next to the last born, coming into the world on Sep- tember 15, 1820. Mr. Hoyt and his second wife were also the parents of fourteen children, seven. of whom grew to nativity. The father took an active part in public affairs and filled a number of township offices. He was an earnest member of the Methodist church and was always inter- ested in church work. He was very successful in farming and at one time owned several hun- dred acres of good land. His demise, which oc- curred on September 13, 1874, was a source of general grief to the community. The parents of this Mr. Hoyt came to the county by team from Ohio, being obliged to cut their roads most of the way. They were the fourth family of ac- tual settlers on the Prairie, but the father was here prospecting a year before the Harrisons came. He was a leading Democrat and promi- nent in matters of public interest of every kind. His grandson, Jonathan C. Hoyt, the immediate subject of this review, passed his boyhood' as a farmer's son on the frontier, without adventure save what the wild state of the country and fre- quent encounters with its savage residents, man and beast, afforded, his early winters being spent in the common schools and his summers in work- ing on the farm. On April 9, 1874, he was mar- ried to Miss Vienna Smith, who was born in the same township as himself on May 12, 1853. Her parents, John and Catherine (Ennis) Smith, came to the township in 1852, and Mr. Smith died April 17, 1905. To Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt have been born six children, Monroe R., Vere C., Vin- son (deceased), Lee W., Jessie and Grace. In all his life here Mr. Hoyt gave his active support in counsel and material aid to every commendable undertaking for the advancement of the county and the welfare of its people, taking an earnest and intelligent interest in farming and educa- tional matters especially. He was a Democrat politically from strong conviction and an ardent supporter of the cause of his party. Realizing his fitness for administrative duties, his fellow citizens called him to various posts of public serv- 26
ice, among them those of school director, drain- age commissioner and township treasurer, all of which he filled with fidelity and efficiency. In his fraternal relations he belongs to the Masonic order and the Knights of the Maccabees. His death occurred on August 4, 1905, and his re- mains lie buried at Schoolcraft, the funeral being conducted by the Masonic fraternity.
DELAMORE DUNCAN, JR.
Representing the third generation of his family in this county, of which he is a native, and thus standing forth as a member of one of the pioneer households which were planted on the soil when it was in its state of pristine wilder- ness, and had never yet felt the persuasive hand of systematic husbandry, and himself having for long years been active in every element of the development and progress of the county, Dela- more Duncan, Jr., of Prairie Ronde township, is justly held in the highest esteem as one of the representative and most useful men of character whose achievements are splendidly memorialized in the present greatness, wealth and productive activity of Kalamazoo county and the state of Michigan. His parents, Delamore and Parmela (Clark) Duncan, were among the earliest settlers in Prairie Ronde township, and ever since they first broke the glebe there that section of the county has been the family seat. The father was born on November 24, 1805, at Lyman, N. H., and from 1810 until 1815 he attended the district school at Monroe, in his native state, of which his father was teacher. In the year last named his father, William Duncan, bought a wool-carding and cloth-dressing mill, and the business of this he carried on until 1821, when the death of his wife broke up the family. The Duncans, as may be easily inferred from the name, are of Scotch ancestry, but some of its members settled in the north of Ireland, and from Londonderry in that country the American progenitor of the race emigrated to this country in 1742, his son Wil- liam, grandfather of Delamore, Jr., being at that time twelve years old. In 1822 William left his children with his father and brothers, went into
-
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lumbering on the Connecticut river, where he re- mained so occupied until 1824, then removed to Syracuse, N. Y., where he also engaged in lumber- ing for a year. In April, 1825, in company with his son Delamore, who had joined him at Syra- cuse, he started for the territory of Michigan, then an almost unknown country. They made the trip on the Erie canal, then just completed, to Buffalo, and from there over the lake to Detroit. From the later city they proceeded on foot to Dexter, in Washtenaw county, arriving on May 3. There they contracted to build a mill dam, which occupied them until September 3. The next few years were passed by the family in Ohio, and on October 5, 1829, they started again for Michigan, and on their arrival in this county settled on land which the father had pre-empted the fall before on the west side of Prairie Ronde. Early in April, 1830, the elder Mr. Duncan was elected supervisor and justice of the peace for Brady township, then a part of St. Joseph county, and including within its borders all of the pres- ent county of Kalamazoo and a large region ly- ing to the north of it. And on August 17th fol- lowing he was commissioned county clerk by Gov. Lewis Cass for a term of four years from October I, 1830. In April of this year he and his son Delamore erected the first frame building in the county. It was a granary twenty by twenty-four fect in size, and in it were held that year several justice courts. William Duncan's health becom- ing seriously impaired, he sold his property in this county, and in March, 1837. moved to Des Moines, Iowa, and built a grist mill on the Des Moines river. He continued in the milling busi- ness there until the autumn of 1844, when he ex- changed his property in Iowa for land in Cass county, Mich., where he improved a fine farm. Originally he was a Whig in politics, but when the Free-Soil party was formed he became one of its most ardent and active members. He died on November 19, 1852. His son, Delamore Duncan, joined him in Syracuse, N. Y., in 1825, making the trip part of the way on foot with his effects strapped on his back in a knapsack. From there he came, as has been stated, with his father to Michigan, and in the fall of 1826, on account of
failing health, returned to the home of his grand- father in New Hampshire. The next spring he engaged in lumbering at McIndoes Falls, Vt., and in 1828, in company with a brother and a sister, moved to Huron county, Ohio, where he taught school until February, 1829. Then, in company with Elisha Doane, he once more started for Michigan, driving an ox team and wagon carry- ing corn, and a drove of hogs. They camped out at night, and on the way were obliged to ford the streams, as there were no bridges then along their route. Leaving his stock with a Mr. Wil- marth, he returned to Ohio, where he mar- ried Miss Parmela Clark on September 8, 1829. Of this union nine children were born, three of whom are living, Delamore, Jr., Charles C. and Helen Marian. Edwin F. was one of the pioncer fruit growers of California and died in that state. In addition to their own, Mr. and Mrs. Duncan had the care of sixteen other children, all of whom they sent into the world useful men and women. On October 5, 1829, in company with his father, Delamore Duncan again set out for Michigan, driving young stock, in which he had invested his surplus, along to the new coun- try, his wife remaining with her father, who was to follow in January, 1830. Not long after their arrival Mr. Duncan and Erastus Guilford took a contract and built a dam at Flowerfield for Michael Beadle, for which they received corn on Young's Prairie, and were obliged to haul it home with an ox team. taking two days to go and return on each trip. In October. 1830, Mr. Duncan entered his land, after walking to Ohio to pro- cure money for the purpose. On October I, 1830. he was commissioned the first sheriff of the county, and during his service in this office he used his house for jail purposes. In Febru- ary, 1831, in company with Mr. Houston, he staked out the county buildings, and it was said to be through his influence that the county seat was located at Bronson, now Kalamazoo, rather than at Galesburg or Comstock. In the spring of 1835 he built the frame dwelling in which he passed the remainder of his life. He was nine years supervisor of his township and served as a justice of the peace for a still longer period.
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KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
He helped to build the plank road between Kala- mazoo and the south end of Prairie Ronde, and was one of the leading stockholders in the com- pany. In 1858 he was a member of the legis- lature, and from 1855 to 1865 he was engaged in mercantile life at Schoolcraft in association with A. H. Scott & Company. First a Whig, then a Free-Soiler and later a Republican in politics, he always took an active part in pub- lic affairs, and had the distinction of being a dele- gate to the first state convention of the Republi- can party, which met at Jackson in 1854. He was also president of the Schoolcraft & Three Rivers Railroad Company and gave liberally of his time and means for its construction. He was a member of the state constitutional conven- tion in 1867, and in 1864 helped to organize the First National Bank of Three Rivers, of which he became a director, holding the office until his death, on May 1, 1870. Thus in all the relations of life, and in every form of industrial, com- mercial and political enterprise he was a potent factor, illustrating in a striking manner the best attributes of the most sturdy and resourceful American citizenship of the best type. His son, Delamore Duncan, Jr., is a native of Kalamazoo county and was born on his father's farm in Prairie Ronde township on March 10, 1839. After attending the district schools for a time he passed a term or two at the Schoolcraft high school. Early in life he began to assist his par- ents on the farm, and also worked with his father in the mill seventeen years. He then took charge of the home farm, and also operated his own, which he had purchased during the Civil war, and from which he sold crops worth four thousand five hundred dollars the first year. Since leaving the mill he has given his whole attention to farming, with shipping stock, lumbering and gen- eral merchandising at times as side lines. On July 3, 1860, he was married in St. Joseph county, Mich., to Miss Mary H. Field, a native of this county and daughter of George Field, an early settler of the county. . She was born in 1841. Mr. and Mrs. Duncan have had five children. Of these two are living, John F., now a prosperous and prominent California fruit grower, and Dela-
more H., who operates his father's farm. In politics Mr. Duncan is independent. He has served as supervisor and treasurer of his town- ship, and in other local offices. He is a member of the Masonic order of the Knight Templar de- gree, and has served as master of his lodge and high priest of his chapter at Schoolcraft. In the Templar degree he belongs to the commandery at Kalamazoo. Having witnessed the great de- velopment wrought in this region by the genius and industry of man, and contributed his full share to the change, and having borne faithfully the heat and burden of his long day of toil and trial, he is justly entitled to the rest he is en- joying and the general esteem in which he is held throughout the county.
WILLIAM A. KLINE.
Having devoted many years of his life to ar- duous and exacting toil as a farmer in Prairie Ronde township, this county, and thus bore the heat and burden of the day, William A. Kline, one of the esteemed citizens of Schoolcraft, is now living retired from active pursuits and en- joying with composure the fruits of his labors and the rest he has so well earned; but at the same time he maintains his interest and activity in the affairs of the township, and gives helpful aid to every commendable enterprise for the gen- eral welfare of the people around him. He was born on February 17, 1843, in Northampton county, Pa., which was also the place of nativity for his parents, Joseph and Elizabeth (Bower) Kline. The father was a shoemaker and wrought at his trade in his native state until 1854, when he moved his family to Michigan and bought one hundred and twenty acres of land in Prairie Ronde township, this county, afterward buying an additional tract of fifty-four acres. He im- proved his farm with good, new buildings and brought it to an advanced state of cultivation before his death, which occurred in 1876, his wife passing away in 1893. They were the par- ents of four sons and four daughters. Two of the sons and two of the daughters are living, William and Mrs. J. T: Knight being the only
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ones of the family now resident in this county. The parents were among the leading citizens of the township, and on all sides were highly re- spected. The paternal grandfather of William Kline was David Kline, also a native of Pennsyl- vania and a shoemaker. He was the father of thirteen children. William A. Kline was eleven years old when the family moved to Michigan, making the journey hither all the way from their Pennsylvania home by team, crossing Ohio and southern Michigan, and being four weeks on the way. He grew to manhood in Prairie Ronde township, on the family homestead, and took an active part in the work of clearing and improving the place, attending the district schools in the neighborhood in the winter months for a few years, remaining at home with his parents until his marriage, when he bought his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres. His marriage occurred on November 5, 1865, and was with Miss Matilda Van Duzer, a daughter of Alonzo and Ann (Higgins) Van Duzer, the former probably born in Ohio and the latter in England. She emigrated directly from her native land to Kalamazoo county, and was married here, after- ward settling with her husband in the northern part of Prairie Ronde township, where they were among the earlist settlers. There the father died in the fall of 1845, while he was yet in the prime of life, and the mother in 1861. Mr. and Mrs. Kline have two children, their sons William J. and Raymond J. The former married Miss Agnes Wilkie and now lives in Chicago. The latter married Miss Hattie Crose and has one child, his son Ernest J. In his political belief Mr. Kline is a Democrat. He served a number of years as a justice of the peace. Fraternally he belongs to the Odd Fellows and the Knights of the Maccabees.
CHARLES BROWN.
Representing one of the oldest families in this county, and himself native in it, and passing the whole of his life so far among its people with an active and helpful interest in all their laudable undertakings, industrial, commercial, educational
and moral, Charles Brown, the present capable and obliging postmaster of Vicksburg, is easily one of the first, as he has been one of the most useful, citizens of the section of his day and gen- eration. He was born in Brady township on September 3, 1846, the son of Charles and Nancy (Doyle) Brown, natives of county Down, Ire- land, where they were reared and married. The father was born on April 4, 1804, and the mother on February 2, 1805. Having learned his trade as a weaver, the father worked at it in linen mills in his native land until 1825, when he was mar- ried, and soon afterward came to Canada, land- ing at Quebec after a stormy and eventful voy- age of thirteen weeks, in which they were driven back twice. From Quebec the young couple came to this country and located at Plattsburg, N. Y., where the father found employment in the lumber woods. They remained in New York state about five years, and in 1830 moved to New- burg, Ohio, now a part of the city of Cleveland, and there the head of the house was engaged in various occupations until 1835. when the family came to Kalamazoo, and during the next two years the father worked out on farms. In 1837 he located on land in Brady township, on which he lived a short time as a squatter. Previous to coming here he had entered land in Cooper town- ship, and this he sold sometime later. In about 1840 he entered a tract of one hundred and sixty acres on section 23, Brady township, all of which was heavily timbered. He built a small log dwell- ing on this land and moved his family into it, and at once began to clear and break his land for cul- tivation. Indians were numerous around him and wild game and beasts of prey were plentiful. The wild life of the frontier, which was the portion of the family for years, with all its hardships and privations, to say nothing of the dangers inci- dent to it, had a flavor of adventure and uncer- tainty which lent zest to it, and in its very nature broadened the faculties, strengthened the body and spirit together, and developed a heroic self- reliance and resourcefulness. Mr. Brown lived to clear all his land of this tract and much more, owning at one time three hundred and sixty acres. His wife died on the farm on June 1, 1883,
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and he on June 29, 1879, four years earlier. They had six sons and seven daughters, all now dead but Charles and his sister, Marian, who has her home with him. The father took an intelligent and serviceable interest in all the public affairs of the township, serving as supervisor, highway commissioner, justice of the peace twenty years, drainage commissioner, and in other positions of importance. In politics he was first a Whig and afterward a Republican, and always a strong abolitionist, making his faith effective in aiding in the escape of fugitive slaves from the South. He was reared a Presbyterian, and the mother a Quaker ; but they did not belong to any church in this county. He was a member of the Masonic order in his native land and became a charter member of the lodge of this order at Vicksburg. One of his sons, Jefferson, was a member of the First Michigan Cavalry during the Civil war. Charles Brown, the son, grew to manhood in this county and obtained his education in its district schools. After leaving school he followed farm- ing on his own account until 1897, when he .moved to Vicksburg and was appointed postmas- ter, an office he is still filling with credit and to the general satisfaction of its patrons. In 1883 he united in marriage with Miss Phebe Notley, a daughter of Francis Notley, of this county (see sketch of him elsewhere in this work). They have two children, their son, Charles F., and their daughter, Florence M. Mr. Brown has been a Republican from the formation of the party and served well and acceptably as supervisor seven years, school inspector six years, and representa- tive in the legislature in 1883 and 1885. He is a Freemason of the Knight Templar degree, and a Knight of Pythias. He is an excellent farmer with an admirable spirit of enterprise and pro- gressiveness, and an equally good postmaster. His citizenship is an ornament to the community in every phase of its life.
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