USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. > Part 73
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ture to be a leader of men, and with just the right material for the strenuous life of a pioneer. His family was of English origin and located in this country in early colonial times. Isaac's father, Langworthy Pierce, was born in Rhode Island and after his marriage moved to Berkshire county, Mass. In 1811 he became a frontiersman in New York, buying a tract of wild land in Livingston county, which he improved and lived on until 1830, when he moved to Niagara county, where he passed the remainder of his life. Isaac lived with his father until his marriage, working on the farm from childhood, and obtaining his edu- cation mainly in the rugged school of experience. In 1835 he sold his possessions in New York state and came to Kalamazoo county and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land on which much of the village of Climax has since been built. The next year he brought his family hither and began life in his new home. He cleared and im- proved his farm and lived on it until his death. on July 12, 1873, also clearing and improving other farms owned by him at different times. It is said of him that few men did more hard work than he did, and none contributed more toward the improvement of the township. In early life he was a Whig in political allegiance, and at the first township meeting he was elected a justice of the peace, an office he held many years, credita- bly filling also other township offices from time to time. His first wife was Miss Catherine Archer, who bore him ten children. The second was Miss Emeline E. Hadley. They had five children. The son Horace, one of the offspring of the first marriage, came to this state with his parents in 1836 and here he grew to manhood and obtained his education in the primitive schools of the time and locality, attending only a few years during the winter months. He began early to assist his father in clearing and cultivat- ing the home farm, remaining at home until 1855, when he moved to his present place on section 4. Climax township. This tract was then improved but little, its only building being a little log house. The comfortable and commodious build- ings which now enrich and adorn it are the fruits of Mr. Pierce's industry and thrift, and the credit
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is entirely his for making his farm one of the best in the township. His real-estate holdings amount to four hundred acres. In 1855 he united in marriage with Miss Julia E. Pratt, a native of Cattaraugus county, N. Y., and a daughter of William and Sally M. (Smith) Pratt. Her fa- ther died in her native state, and soon afterward the mother and children came to this county, lo- cating in Charleston township. The mother died in Barry county, Mich. Mr. and Mrs. Horace Pierce have five children, Herbert H., an under- taker of Climax; Ida E., wife of O. M. Best, of Dillon, Mont .; Jessie, deceased ; Judson W., liv- ing on the home farm; and Jettie L., a school. teacher at Climax. Their father has passed his life as a farmer. He is a Republican in politics and one of the leaders of his party. He has ren- dered good service to the township and county in several local offices, and in all his life has exem- plified the best attributes of American citizenship. Fraternally he is a third-degree Mason. He saw the county in its state of wilderness, still infested with hostile Indians and wild beasts, and has helped materially to bring it to its present state of advanced development and progress. No citizen of his township is more highly respected, and none better deserves the regard in which he is held.
LOUIS S. ELDRED.
This scion of a distinguished family of Kala- mazoo county pioneers, whose grandparents were the first settlers in Climax township, has carried on in his life in this region the lessons of his an- cestors, and well sustained their reputation in the development and improvement of the locality of their home. He was born in Climax township on December 3. 1841, the son of Thomas B. and Eliza (Bonney) Eldred, the former a native of the state of New York and the latter of Penn- sylvania. The father was a son of Judge Caleb Eldred, who came to Michigan in 1830 and laid claim to land on which the village of Comstock now stands. He gave a man ten dollars to build for him the frame of a log house on his land so that he could hold his claim, as the land had
not then been offered for sale by the government. He then returned home, and the next year, when he came again to his supposed possession here, he found that his claim had been "jumped" by two men, and he was obliged to take up one opposite to this. He built a log house on it and the first saw-mill in the county. His first enter- prise was to make lumber for a gristmill, and by the next summer he had the first flour-mill in the county in full operation. The son, Thomas B. Eldred, father of Louis S., was fifteen when he became a resident of this state, and the develop- ment of the county progressed under his obser- vation and by his aid. His father's farm was within two miles of the Pottawattamie Indian reservation, and he saw much of the Indians, with whom he associated intimately, learning to speak their language with facility. He was a Demo- crat in political faith until 1884, when he became an ardent Prohibitionist. He served eight years as a justice of the peace and held other local offices: He lived a useful and upright life, de- voted to the duties which lay before him and the general welfare of his section, and was always esteemed as a man above reproach in all his pub- lic acts and private life. On September 24, 1840. he was married to Miss Eliza Bonney, and they had ten children. Their son Louis S. has passed the whole of his life so far in this county. He was educated in its public schools and at the Ag- ricultural College at Lansing. He farmed on the home farm with his father until he reached the age of thirty-five. Then the place was divided and he became the owner of the part on which he now lives, and which he helped to clear and improve, setting out the large trees along the road and the old orchard. He was married here on March 18, 1875, to Miss Laura M. Sin- clair, a daughter of George and Jane (McLain) Sinclair, the former of whom was born in Ver-
mont and the latter in Ireland. The father set- tled in Schenectady, N. Y., in 1847 or 1848. Mr. and Mrs. Eldred have had three children. The first born died in infancy unnamed. The others are Estella, a school teacher in northern Michi- gan, and Mary E., who lives in San Francisco. Cal. Both daughters were educated at Kalama-
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zoo College. Mr. Eldred is a Democrat and has served as a justice of the peace and in other township offices. Fraternally he is a Freemason and a United Workman, and he and his wife are members of the Baptist church.
HON. FRANCIS B. STOCKBRIDGE.
Hon. Francis B. Stockbridge, United States senator from Michigan, was a man whose works and influence not only were a benefit to Kala- mazoo county, but to the entire state that he so ably represented in the nation's highest legis- lative body. He was born of good old New England stock, in Bath, Me., on April 9, 1826. His father, Dr. John Stockbridge, was prominent as a practicing physician in Bath for fifty years, and his mother, Eliza Stockbridge, was the daughter of John Russel, the veteran editor of the Boston Gazette. In 1847 Francis B. Stock- bridge came to Chicago, where, in partnership with another man, he opened a lumber yard. In 1853 he removed from Chicago to Allegan county, where he had a number of sawmills. In 187.5 he was elected president of the Mackinac Lumber Company, and later of the Black River Lumber Company. IIe organized, in 1887, the Kalamazoo Spring and Axle Company, of which he was pres- ident. He was largely interested in various suc- cessful enterprises in all parts of the country. In 1869 he represented Allegan county in the state legislature, and then in the state senate. In 1887 he succeeded the Hon. Omar D. Conger in the United States senate, where he was distinguished for his tact as an organizer and manager and his ability in committee work of every form. He was married in 1863 to Miss Betsy Arnold, of Gun- Plains, Allegan county, daughter of Daniel Ar- nold, one of the pioneers of the state. Senator Stockbridge was president of the Kalamazoo Children's Home, and in 1887 was one of three gentlemen who gave thirteen thousand dollars towards carrying on the work of Kalamazoo Col- lege. He died after a life of great usefulness and service, and is survived by his widow, who still keeps up the magnificent Stockbridge resi- dence in Kalamazoo.
CHARLES C. DUNCAN.
This valued and influential citizen and suc- cessful and progressive business man of Vicks- burg, who is president of the Kalamazoo County Bank of Vicksburg, which he owns and oper- ates under the style of C. C. Duncan & Company, was born in Prairie Ronde town- ship, of this county, on July 29, 1845, and is the son of Delamore and Parmela (Clark) Duncan, more extended mention of whom will be found in the sketch of his brother, Delamore Duncan, Jr., on another page of this volume. He was reared and educated in Kalamazoo county, securing his business training at the Eastman Business Col- lege in Chicago. He returned from the business college to this county and here he followed farm- ing until 1893, when he became vice-president and one of the directors of the Kalamazoo County Bank, then a state institution, of which E. W. Bowman, now a prominent banker in Kalamazoo, was president. He remained with the bank un- der its state organization until 1898. He then became the sole owner of the institution, and since that time he has conducted it as a private enterprise under the name of C. C. Duncan & Company. He is also interested in other leading financial and industrial undertakings in the county, and is recognized as one of the most pro- gressive and capable business men of this section of the state. In addition he is still carrying on his farming operations, controlling over three hundred and twenty-five acres of land, all of . which is well improved and in an advanced state of cultivation. On March 2, 1869, he united in marriage with Miss Alice E. Frazier, a native of St. Joseph county. They had two children, their daughters Mary, now Mrs. Arthur S. Tucker, of Boston, Mass., and Edna A. Thomas, who died in 1891. Their mother died in 1891. Mr. Duncan, in 1893, married Mrs. Caroline L. Stuart. of this county, whose maiden name was Hatch. Her father, Oscar Hatch, was one of the revered pioneers of the county and had a promi- nent place in all phases of the public and social life of the region. In political faith Mr. Dun- can is an active Republican. He cast his first
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vote for General Grant for President, and he has supported every Republican nominee for that exalted office since that time. He has served as township treasurer and supervisor and in other local offices, filling all with decided ability and fairness to every interest concerned, and winning high commendation on all sides as a thoroughly competent and trustworthy official.
DAVID FINLEY.
The late David Finley, a pioneer of Oshtemo township, was born in Allegany county, New York. in 1818. His parents, George and Rachel (Cole) Firley, were also natives of the Empire state and came to Michigan late in life and died in this state. They had a family of twelve chil- dren, all of whom are now dead except one son and one daughter. Mr. Finley reached the age of eighteen years in his native state, then in 1836 came to Michigan, then a new land of hope and promise lying in wait for the persuasive hand of the husbandman in the loving embrace of the great lakes. Mr. Finley was a man of the most determined energy, and being without means to make the trip even in the primitive fashion of that time, with ox teams, walked the greater part of the distance between his old home and his new one, and on his arrival here purchased eighty acres of land in section twenty-three. Oshtemo township, for which he agreed to pay the sum of three hundred dollars and to work out the price. To pay this debt he wrought six hundred days at hard labor and then he gave two hundred days' additional labor to pay for breaking up and fencing twenty acres of the land, which were sown to wheat. After these improvements were made he valued his possessions at one thousand dollars. He built a comfortable frame house on his tract and five years after the purchase he re- moved to it and by continued industry succeeded in bringing it to a high degree of cultivation. During his residence in the township he attended every election held within its borders from the time of its organization. He recollected well many times when there were not enough candi- dates at the polls to make up two tickets, and
several of those on one were elected without op- position. The trials of his early life in this re- gion were numerous and various. Although na- ture was provident, the deep forests around him abounding in wild game which was easy to get. they were also still inhabited by their savage and ferocious denizens, men and beasts, and they often made life unsafe and robbed him of some of the fruits of his labor. Markets were also distant and prices were low. He was often obliged to haul his wheat fifty miles with oxen to find a sale for it and then take fifty cents a bushel for it. He was, however, a man of steadfast persever- ance, and although his progress for a time was slow it was continuous, and in time he made his farm rich in agricultural wealth and improve- ments, and became a man of influence in the township, being frequently called to official posi- tions of trust and responsibility in its govern- ment. He married Miss Rhoda Phillips and they had a family of two sons and three daughters, all now dead but their son George, and Mrs. S. J. Winslow, of Oshtemo township. His first wife died in 1886 and he afterward mar- ried a second one at Petoskey in this state, whither he moved in 1883.
A. D. WINSLOW, the late husband of Mr. Finley's only surviving daughter, was a native of the state of New York, and came to Michigan. Here he married Miss S. J. Finley in 1868, and the fruit of their union was three children, Min- nie R .. wife of W. H. Engel, Finley A. and Roy A. Mr. Winslow died on July 6, 1900, and was aged fifty-nine years, eleven months and fifteen days. His widow still lives on the farm they occupied and worked together. She has passed her life so far among this people and is highly respected by them all.
EDWARD ANDERSON.
This gentleman, who is one of the prominent and successful farmers of Oshtemo township. is a native of the section in which he has his home and has passed his life so far. He was born in Oshtemo township on May 8, 1856. the son of Duncan and Mary W. (Beckley) Anderson, who
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were natives of the state of New York, the fa- ther born in Genesee county and the mother in Chautauqua county. The paternal grandfather was Alexander Anderson, a native of Montgom- ery county, N. Y., who farmed there for a time, then moved to Genesee county, where he died. Duncan Anderson reached man's estate in his native county and was engaged in farming there until 1838, when he came to Michigan and set- tled on one hundred and sixty acres of land in Oshtemo township, this county. He lived to clear up this farm and make extensive improve- ments on it, dying there in January. 1807. He was a man of high standing locally and was called by his fellow citizens to fill a number of town- ship offices. He was a prominent and active member of the Congregational church of Kala- mazoo. He and his wife were the parents of four children, Edward. Willis, James and Mrs. Arthur Strong. Their mother is still living. She came to Michigan a child in 1840 and was mar- ried to Mr. Anderson in 1850. Their son Ed- ward grew to manhood on the home farm and lived on it until he purchased his present farm in 1884. He has been a farmer from his youth and all of the years in this township. In 1886 he was married to Miss May Dean, a native of New York, who died in 1898. In 1900 he married a second wife. Miss May Bell. a native of Kala- mazoo. They have one child, their daughter, Lillian B. Mr. Anderson is a Republican in politics and has served as highway commissioner. He is a representative of one of the oldest fam- ilies in the county and is everywhere highly respected.
.A. L. BLUMENBERG.
During the last twenty-four years the subject of this brief memoir has been a resident of Kala- mazoo. and during all of that period has been connected with its mercantile and industrial life in an important way. He was president of the Central Bank of Kalamazoo and one of the city's most extensive and best known merchants. posi- tions to which he has risen by merit and his own endeavors. The place of his nativity is New
York city, where he was born on June 21, 1866. His parents. Meyer and Fannie Blumenberg. came into the world in Hanover, Germany, and emigrated to the United States in 1856, locating in New York city, where they lived until 1890, when they became residents of Kalamazoo, and now the father is connected in business with his son. The latter was reared to the age of thir- teen in his native city and received his scholastic training in its public schools. At the age men- tioned he came to Lawton, Mich., and there he clerked in a store two years. At the end of that period he moved to Kalamazoo and entered the employ of B. Desemberg & Company, with whom he remained thirteen years. In 1894 he opened a general house-outfitting store in the Gates block, on East Main street, under the name of the People's Outfitting Company. There he con- ducted his business six years, then moved it to his present location on North Burdick street. where he has about forty thousand square feet of floor space for the accommodation and display of his extensive stock of general merchandise. This includes everything used in the home and has a wide range in quality of the various commodi- ties so as to meet the requirements of every class of purchasers. His trade amounts to more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year and is rapidly increasing.
In 1894 Mr. Blumenberg was married to Miss Johanna Solomon, and they have one child, Ruth. While earnestly interested in the welfare of the community, and taking a general interest in poli- tics as a Republican. Mr. Blumenberg has de- clined all offers of public office, finding plenty to occupy his time and engage his interest in his ex- tensive business operations. But he is active and zealous in the fraternal life of the city as an Elk and a Knight of Pythias. Firmly established in business, well esteemed in social circles, conduct- ing with enterprise and success one of the impor- tant institutions of the city, and energetic and progressive in all movements for the advantage of the section of the country in which he lives. Mr. Blumenberg is justly held to be one of the most useful citizens of the city and county of Kalamazoo.
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HON. GRANT M. HUDSON.
Although a comparatively young man yet, Hon. Grant M. Hudson, of Schoolcraft, one of the representatives of Kalamazoo county in the state legislature of Michigan, has made himself by his industry and business capacity one of the lead- ing business men of the county, and by his far- seeing view of and intelligent activity in public affairs, one of the most prominent and influential civic forces among its people. He was born in Lorain county, Ohio, on July 23, 1868, and is the son of Richard and Mary (Still) Hudson, natives of England, the father born at Canter- bury and the mother near Brighton. The father was a farmer in his native land, and on coming to this country located near Cleveland, Ohio, where he farmed some years, then moved to Lorain county, in the same state. Subsequently he came to this state and located at Lansing, where for a number of years he kept the old Hudson House, one of the best known and most popular hotels in the city. He is now living at South Boardman in Kalkaskia county. He served more than four years in the Civil war and participated in many of the terrible battles of the memorable conflict. The mother died when her son Grant was but three years old. He was one of eight children, five sons and three daughters, born in the house- hold, all of whom are living but one son. The subject of this sketch was reared in his native county and attended the district schools there until 1885, when he came to Pentwater, Mich., and passed two years at the high school. In 1887 he moved to Kalamazoo and entered the college, from which he was graduated in 1894. He passed the summer of 1895 at the Chicago University, and after leaving that institution located at Schoolcraft as pastor of the Baptist church, a po- sition he filled acceptably three years and a half, and one for which he was well qualified by a year and a half's previous experience in pastorial work at Dowagiac, this state, prior to his graduation. Failing health obliged him to abandon the minis- try, and in the spring of 1896 he engaged in gen- eral merchandising at Schoolcraft as the head of the G. M. Hudson General Merchandising Com-
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pany, a stock company of which he is president, and has followed that line of activity ever since, enlarging his trade from time to time until he now has the leading business of its kind at School- craft and is one of the most prominent, successful and best known business men of the county. He is also a stockholder in the Citizens' Telephone Company of Schoolcraft. In October, 1894, he was united in marriage with Miss Mildred Gil- christ, a daughter of James Gilchrist, one of the venerated pioneers of this county. They have four children, Helen M., Richard G., Ruth M. and Duncan G., all living. In political relations Mr. Hudson has long been a leading Republican. He has served as village president four years, and two years as a member of the village council. He was also township school inspector two years and is now on the school board. Fraternally he is a Mason of the Royal Arch degree and holds the rank of past master in his lodge. He also belongs to the order of Odd Fellows. As showing the general esteem in which he is held it should be stated that he was elected one of the county's rep- resentatives in the legislature, and in the delib- crations of the body to which he belongs he has taken an active and intelligent, and widely serviceable part.
EMMETT M. GRAY.
This highly respected citizen and valued pub- lic official of Charleston township, Kalamazoo county, who is now serving acceptably as town- ship supervisor, was born on the farm on which he now lives on September 5, 1856. He is the son of Samuel S. and Susan M. (Clark) Gray, the former born in Niagara and the latter in Genesee county, N. Y. The father was born in 1820, a son of Matthew and Delilah Gray, also natives of New York. The grandfather was a farmer who came to Michigan late in life and died in this county. The father of Emmett grew to manhood in Niagara county, N. Y., and farmed there until 1846, when he came to Michigan in company with his half-brother, George W. Stew- ard, of Galesburg, and bought eighty acres of land in Charleston township, a part of which is
GRANT M. HUDSON.
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KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
now owned by his son Emmett. Since then the former has resided on this land, which he has transformed into one of the best farms in the township. The father was married on this farm in 1851 to the mother of Emmett. They have had three children, Alice D., now Mrs. J. C. Carey, of Comstock township ; Willard E., an at- torney of Houghton county, Mich .; and Emmett, the immediate subject of this brief review. The mother, who was born in Livingston county, N. Y., on January 22, 1824, died on the farm in 1900, and since then the father has made his home with his son. He is a Republican but not an active partisan, and never sought official sta- tion of any kind. He and his wife were during her life members of the Congregational church of Galesburg. Emmett was reared and educated in Kalamazoo county, attending the high school at Galesburg. He taught school nine years in the county and also operated a farm in Comstock township six years. Since then he has worked the home farm. He was married in 1882 to Miss Estella Clark, a native of Barry county, Mich., and daughter of Norman and Elizabeth (Bullis) Clark, early settlers in that county, but now de- ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Gray have had two chil- dren, Willis S. and Victor M., both dead. Mr. Gray has been a life-long Republican and has served as township supervisor five years and also as school inspector. He has an excellent farm of one hundred and forty acres, and is looked up to as a leader in all the public and social life in his township.
WILLIAM S. KIRBY.
Owning and conducting the Valley Stock Farm, nine miles from Kalamazoo on the main line of the Michigan Central Railroad, and there conducting an active and flourishing live stock business, especially in the line of rearing standard and well-bred horses of high grades, William S. Kirby is one of the best known and most useful citizens of Kalamazoo county. He has for many years kept a stud of the finest and most valuable horses in this section of the country, and has easily maintained his place among the leading
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