USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. > Part 76
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foundation of prosperity and progress. He was brought to the township in which he now lives by his parents when he was but two years old, and nearly all of his subsequent life has been passed there. In youth and early manhood he assisted in clearing and breaking up his father's farm, and afterward in cultivating it and man- aging its operations, remaining at home until the death of his parents. In 1883 he took up his residence at the village of Alamo, and there he lias dwelt ever since. During the last few years he has made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Dr. Butler. In 1860 he was married in this town- ship to Miss Mary A. Bogardus, a native of the county and daughter of William and Eliza (Clark) Bogardus, who were early settlers in the village of Kalamazoo, locating there in 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler became the parents of six children, all daughters, four of whom are liv- ing: Ada, wife of F. McCall, of Kalamazoo; Esther, wife of W. Sandford, of the same city ; Charlotte, wife of Dr. Paul T. Butler, of Alamo : and Bessie, wife of A. Kellogg. also of Alamno. During the last fifteen years Mr. Wheeler has been sexton of his church, but for some time fail- ing health has kept him from doing much work. Ile has at times filled the offices of justice of the peace and notary public, and has also engaged in business as an undertaker. He has been a life- long Democrat, and many times has represented his district in the county and state conventions of his party. He belongs to the Masonic order, holding his membership in Cooper Lodge.
GEORGE V. TOWNSEND.
Whatever the conditions of life may be in any section of the country, American manhood is equal to the mastery of them and ready to make the most of them. Ours is a land of many cli- mates, of boundless variety in its range of pro- cluctions, and of multitudinous topographical fea- tures. Yet in every portion of it the people are prosperous and industrious, turning the raw ma- terial which nature has bestowed into marketable commodities, bringing hidden stores of wealth to view and sending them forward in the channels
of commerce to bless and benefit the world, or cultivating the soil into expanding fruitfulness and service. On no section has the bounty of Providence been lavished with greater profusion or a freer hand than on southern Michigan, and the advanced state of that section's development and its wonderful fertility in products of every kind, amply proves that the people who inhabit it are alive alike to their opportunities and at- tentive to their duties. Most of the first settlers gave their attention to farming here, and many have adliered to that occupation through succeed- ing generations. Among these one who has pros- pered in his labor and at the same time contrib- uted essentially and extensively to building up the country and making it great in material wealth as well as in intellectual and moral power, is George V. Townsend, a well known and widely esteemed farmer of Schoolcraft township, this county, who has been a resident of the county from his boyhood and all the while actively en- gaged in tilling the soil. He was born in Chau- tauqua county, N. Y., on February 25, 1857, and is the son of George II. and Harriet ( Bowdich) Townsend, natives of Dutchess county, N. Y .. who were farmers in that state until 1868, then moved to Michigan and bought a farm in this county, Schoolcraft township, on which they lived until the death of the father in November. 1903. and on which the mother still has her home. Three children of the family are living, George, Mrs. A. Thomas and Samuel .\. The father fol- lowed raising and dealing in live stock in addition to his farming enterprise, and prospered in his undertaking's after the first few years of hard- ship and privation in the new country were passed. TTe took a prominent part in local public affairs. earnestly supporting the principles of the Republican party, but never seeking or desiring a political office of any kind. His father, Samuel Townsend, a native of Dutchess county, N. Y .. was long a farmer in Chautauqua county of that state. and died there. George V. Townsend grew to manhood on the paternal homestead in this county, and finished in the schools here the educa- tion he had begun in those of his native state. Ever since he left school he has been occupied in
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farming, and with increasing prosperity and con- sequence from year to year. In his young man- hood he bought two hundred and forty acres of well improved land, and to the further develop- ment and improvement of this tract he has de- voted the energies of all his subsequent life. He has had a good citizen's abiding interest in the welfare of the township, and on one occasion ren- dered it good service as township treasurer. He supports the Republican party in politics, and fra- ternally has long been an earnest and energetic Granger. In 1900 he united in marriage with Miss Laura Allen, who was born in this county and is a daughter of Henry Allen, a prominent citizen of Schoolcraft township, who is now de- ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Townsend are zealous members of the Presbyterian church, and Mr. Townsend is one of the leading officials of his congregation.
LATHAM HULL.
In the seventy-five years of life covered by the interesting subject of this memoir. he witnessed great changes in his country and was able to con- tribute to its progress and development in many ways of enduring potency and value. When he was born at North Stonington, Conn .. on October 28, 1812, we were in the beginning of that strug- gle with Great Britain which was to make our flag as free on the high seas as the war of the Revolution had made it on land. and the galling reverses of our army were being splendidly atoned for by our infant and not yet robust but altogether daring navy. Our territory prac- tically settled and civilized extended but little be- vond the Alleghanies. Our people numbered less than eight millions. Our commerce was small, our industries were yet in swaddling clothes, our political institutions were still in the formative period and our general wealth was for the most part an awakening potency of diminutive size. although with magnitude and variety of feature to come, dimly bespoken in the eye of poetic prophecy. yet destined to surpass the wildest sweep of the imagination. When he surrendered his trust at the behest of the Great Disposer on November 20, 1887, we were wholly independent
on sea and land, had fought the greatest war in human history, had wiped away forever the dark stain of human slavery, our domain extended from ocean to ocean and from the arctic regions to the tropics. The number of loyal citizens who bowed obedience to our ensign was not less than sixty millions. Our commerce gladdened every sea, our industries surpassed those of every land in variety and volume, political questions which had almost rent our land in twain and had drenched it in fraternal blood had found the quiet of eternal settlement, and our national wealth, though still reclining and scarcely yet raised up on its elbow, was a giant of such com- manding proportions and power as to challenge the wonder and compel the admiration of the world. Mr. Hull took a keen interest in the ex- panding greatness of his country and was ever ready to bear his part in helping to develop it. He was the son of Latham and Elizabeth (Brown- ing) Hull, also native in Connecticut, where the paternal grandfather, whose name was also Latham, was an early settler and on land which is still in possession of the family. The father was a prominent and successful business man and be- came eminent in public life. He died at Ston- ington and his widow spent the last years of her life with her son at Kalamazoo, dying when nearly ninety-three years old. Two sons sancti- fied the domestic shrine. Latham and his brother William, the latter of whom still lives in his na- tive town and is president of a bank at Westerly, R. I. Latham taught school when a young man and was also a merchant at Stonington. Later he dealt in live stock, particularly mules. which he bought in Missouri, drove to New Haven and shipped to the West Indies. While living in Con- necticut he served in the state militia with the rank of major, a title that clung to him through life. After coming to Kalamazoo he started a private bank. which in due time was merged into the First National Bank, he being its president from its organization almost to the time of his death. In political faith he was a Democrat, but he was averse to public life. the only offices he ever consented to fill being president of the vil- lage in 1861, and treasurer from 1863 to 1876,
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also membership on the school board two years. He was married in Lebanon, Conn., on March 30, 1836, to Miss Hannah T. Arnold, who bore him three children, Charles, Edgar and Elizabeth, the last named being the only one of the three now living. She is the wife of William S. Dun- can, a lawyer at Independence, Kan. Charles was a banker at Blair, Neb., and died while on a busi- ness trip to New York. Edgar was killed in a cyclone at Sauk Rapids, Minn., on April 14, 1886. He was a banker at St. Cloud in that state. Their mother died in Kalamazoo on June 16, 1877, and on May 5, 1881, Mr. Hull married a second wife, Miss Fannie M. Abbott, a daughter of George and Hannah (Brownell) Abbott, na- tives of New York and Connecticut, respectively. She first met. Mr. Hull at Sugar Grove, Warren county, Pa., where she was living at the time. In 1868 she came to Kalamazoo with her par- ents who died here about two years later. She is a prominent member of the Congregational church, as was Mr. Hull, and she is active in church societies. She has to her credit years of service as president of the Bethesda Home for Unfortunate Women, and as a leading member of the Foreign Mission Board. She is very mod- est and unostentatious, a lady of refinement and culture, held in the highest esteem by all who know her and appreciated in a signal degree for the value of her services to the cause of the needy and unfortunate.
ARCHIBALD FINLAY.
The monuments of the dawn of civilization in southern Michigan, in the persons of its early pioneers, who came into the state when it was a vast, unsettled wilderness, and who laid the foun- dations of its present greatness and prosperity. are few in number, venerable in age and charac- ter, and entitled to all praise for the magnitude and substantial nature of their work; and they are held in the highest esteem by all classes of the people, their records being the most priceless her- itage and possession of their descendants. Among the number none stands higher or more deserv- edly secure in popular esteem than the subject of
this brief review, who came hither from a distant part of the county at the age of eight years, more than sixty years ago, and has lived in the county almost all of the busy years that have passed since that early date. Taught by rugged and exigent experience the needs of the state, and applying his instruction wisely and faithfully to the duty of every day as it passed, he has never faltered in his service to the section in which he has lived, and has ever added to his fidelity a breadth of view and a comprehensive intelligence that have been of great usefulness in building up the county and commonwealth, and multiplying its resources and making them a means of wealth and power to the people. Mr. Finlay was born in Boston, Mass., on November 24, 1826, and is the son of Hugh and Jane (Boyd) Finlay, the former a na- tive of Ireland and the latter of Scotland. They came to the United States when young, the father, who was born in 1800, when he was but sixteen years old. The father was a ship carpenter, but also understood house carpentering; and on his arrival in Kalamazoo county in 1834, after a try- ing and tedious journey with teams from Detroit through a wild and unbroken country, in which his only guides were old Indian trails and the compass of the skies, he found immediate de- mand for his skill in the erection of necessary buildings for the housing and other conveniences of the settlers. And this was well ; for he brought with him his wife and nine children, and on his arrival his cash capital was but fifty cents. In his family there were two pairs of twins, his sons Arch and William being one pair, and Hugh and Thomas the other. The family reached School- craft on May 10, 1834, and the father at once bought a lot in the village and built on it a small frame dwelling for their accommodation, shelter being afforded them until it was completed, by Massachusetts settlers who had preceded them and had been neighbors in their old home. All their household effects and worldly possessions were brought with them in the wagon, and on the virgin soil of the new domain they began to make a home, dwelling for a time in the close commun- ion of their little cabin, and with only the scanty conveniences their condition and surroundings
ARCHIBALD AND WILLIAM FINLAY.
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KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
allowed. The father built the first hotel and school house and many of the earlier residences in the village and surrounding country .. After living three years in the village he bought eight acres of wholly unimproved land three miles southeast of it for fifty dollars and an overcoat ; and as soon thereafter as their new dwelling was ready, the family moved on the farm and began the arduous work of breaking it up for cultiva- tion and making it productive. The father en- gaged also in merchandising at Schoolcraft, Vicksburg and Plainville in order, while at the same time he steadily kept on improving his farm. Here the mother died in 1844, and he, after sur- viving her thirty years, passed away at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Mary Judson, on Gourd- neck Prairie, in 1874. He was three times mar- ried and the father of seven sons and three daugh- ters, all of whom are now deceased but his three sons, Arch, William and Thomas. All of the children were the fruits of the first marriage. The elder Finlay was a man of prominence in the early history of the county, a sterling Democrat all his life, and a devoted friend to the general welfare and progress of his township. His son Arch was reared on the paternal homestead and received his education in the schools of the neigh- borhood and through the experiences of life in a wild country and heroic age. He became a dar- ing and skillful hunter, well skilled in woodcraft and the habits of the foes of civilization, man and beast, by which he was surrounded, an excellent farmer, and an upright and useful citizen. In 1855 he made a trip by way of the isthmus to California, being nearly thirty days on the way, and after four months' mining at Sacramento, Marysville and Fobstown, and two at Brown's Diggings, returned to Michigan and remained un- til 1865, when he made another trip west, Vir- ginia City, Mont., being his destination. He passed two years in business there, and at the end of the time came back to Michigan and went to farming, purchasing for the purpose eighty acres of land adjoining the home farm of his father. This he farmed for more than thirty years, then lived three years at Three Rivers. Returning to his farm at the end of this period, he remained
on it until 1891. In that year he bought the hotel in Schoolcraft which he conducted four years, and then retired permanently from all ac- tive pursuits. He was married in 1856 to Miss. Lavina York, a native of Kalamazoo county. They had two children, their son Archie, who died when four months old, and their daughter Lena A., who died in 1891. The mother of these children died in 1862, and in 1867 the father married a second wife, Miss Sarah W. Sickler, who was born in St. Joseph county, Mich. Po- litically Mr. Finlay has been a stanch and active Democrat from his youth, and throughout life he has given his party loyal and valued support, but he has never desired or accepted office of any kind. He is one of the best known citizens and one of the most revered pioneers in the county, and has to his credit a long record of active and inspiring usefulness in the general service of the people.
CHARLES G. WEED.
About two generations of human life have passed since the settlement of southern Michigan became well established and while the progress made in building up the state in that short time has been marvelous, it is no more than a logical resultant of the forces which have been engaged in the work. When the character of the early set- tlers is considered and the examples and teach- ings of thrift, industry and enterprise which they gave their descendants are recalled, and, more- over, when nature's bounty here, in agricultural fruitfulness and mineral and other material wealth are taken into account, the story of the growth and development of this great common- wealth seems a matter of course. Plant on such a soil such a people as colonized this domain in its earlier history, and all the rest which the flight of time has witnessed must seem to "follow as the night the day." Among the early settlers who opened the way to the present advanced state of development and power of the section, the parents of Charles G. Weed are entitled to a high regard. They were James and Elizabeth (Goodsell) Weed, natives of New York state, of French an- cestry on the father's side. They moved into this
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF
county in 1836 on their way to Illinois, but were compelled to stop here on account of the father's sickness, and here they purchased land in Texas township and determined to remain. They cleared their farm and brought it to a high state of culti- vation, and here they died, the father on April 15, 1867, and the mother in 1888. On this farm in Texas township their son Charles was born on December 1, 1838, and here also the rest of their three sons and three daughters were born, of whom only Charles and two of his sisters are liv- ing. The father was a Democratic politician and served as supervisor, clerk and treasurer of the township for years. His father was James Weed, a native of New York and prominent in that state and Pennsylvania, where he died. Charles G. Reed grew to manhood in his native township and received a common-school and college education. After leaving school he was engaged for a time in teaching and surveying. He began farming in Portage township in 1868 and has followed that vocation ever since. In the same year he was united in marriage with Miss Harriet R. Barnard. the marriage being solemnized on March 10. Mrs. Weed is a daughter of Thomas Wilson and Lazette (Southerland) Barnard, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Weed have two children. their daughter Jes- sie B .. wife of H. Snow, and their son Milo W .. who is living at home. Mr. Weed has taken an active interest in local affairs, serving five years as supervisor of his township and filling other local offices from time to time. He is now a Re- publican, but was originally a Democrat and cast his first presidential vote for Douglas.
GEORGE C. WINSLOW.
George C. Winslow, a well known marble merchant of Kalamazoo, and the oldest dealer in the fabric he handles now left in the city. was born in Kalamazoo on July 26, 1848. His parents were George W. and Lavina (Clark) Winslow. natives of Massachusetts. The father was a mar- ble cutter and followed his trade in his native state and at Buffalo, N. Y., until 1835. when he moved his family over Lake Erie to Detroit and
from there by stage to Kalamazoo. Here he en- tered into a partnership with Alonzo Sherman, under the firm name of Winslow & Sherman, in a general merchandise business on the corner of Portage and Main streets, on the site now occu- pied by Tolz's clothing store. Their enterprise prospered until the panic of 1837 drove them to the wall. After this the elder Winslow worked at blacksmithing with Warren Beckwith and in the machine shops until 1850. In that year he joined the first train overland from this section to Cali- fornia. the men walking the greater part of the long and trying journey. They encountered some hostile Indians but had no serious trouble with them. He mined in California successfully one year, and then with his accumulations, aggre- gating some twenty-five hundred dollars, returned to Kalamazoo and started a marble store on Port- age street in a building which he erected for the purpose. This enterprise engaged his attention until near the time of his death, on December 22. 1878, at the age of sixty-nine. His wife died on October 20. 1898. They had two sons and two daughters, the sons being engaged in the marble trade in Kalamazoo. The father was a strong abolitionist and one of the founders of the Repub- lican party "under the oaks" at Jackson, this state. He served on the board of village trustees about the close of the Civil war and took an carn- est interest in the improvement of the village. In religious matters he was an original thinker and a man of positive convictions, but not obtrusive in his faith. The son, George C. Winslow, grew to manhood in his native city, to the interests of which his entire life so far has been devoted, and received his education in its public schools. In boyhood he entered his father's shops and learned his trade as a marble cutter, gradually rising in the importance of his employment until in 1870 he became a member of the firm of George Wins- low & Son. The partnership was dissolved in 1875. and after that Mr. Winslow carried on the business alone for a number of years until George WV. Crooks became his partner and the firm be- came Winslow & Crooks, and they built the mar- ,ble works east of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad tracks. This partnership was
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KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
dissolved in 1884, Mr. Winslow retiring for some years on account of failing health. In November, 1901, he started his present business on Portage street, and in that he has built up a considerable trade. He has always been active in local affairs, serving as supervisor for the third ward and later as city assessor for a number of years, being the first incumbent of the latter office under the city government. He.also served in the city council from 1884 to 1886 and again from 1902 to 1904. On August 27, 1873, he was married to Miss Abbie J. Smedley, a native of New York, whose parents moved to Kalamazoo in 1866 from Lock- port, that state. They have no children. In poli- tics Mr. Winslow is a Republican, and in frater- nal life he belongs to the Elks and the Masonic order in lodge, chapter and commandery.
HENRY W. FELLOWS.
While the prominent and conspicuous posi- tions in human endeavor undoubtedly have their attractions for most men and in some measure for all, it is one of the most pleasing dispensations of our state that in life "contentment like the speed- well grows along the common beaten track." It is along this track also that the most useful and substantially productive lines of American citi- zenship are developed, independently of all con- siderations of personal happiness to the individ- ual. The men who have great opportunities and rule great empires of thought or of material in- terests, have their important functions in the gen- eral system of human existence, but the great body of our people are not of this class, and it is well, for the ship Common Weal can not be man- aged from the quarterdeck alone. She needs men at the wheel, the ropes and the lead as well. Among the citizens of Kalamazoo county who have not aspired to exalted station but have found their best portion in faithful performance of the daily duties of life, and due consideration for their fellows as their lot is ordered, none is enti- tled to greater approval in the character of their citizenship than Henry W. Fellows, the present capable and popular treasurer of the county. He was born in Prairie Ronde township on January
7, 1836, and from his boyhood has been esteemed .for his diligence, fidelity to duty and the elevated nature of his manhood. His father, James M. Fellows, was a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother, whose maiden name was Wordender Harrison, was born in Virginia. They came to Michigan in 1829 and settled in what is now Prairie Ronde township of this county, where they cleared up a small tract of land and lived for more than forty years. The father was a car- penter and joiner and followed his craft in con- nection with his farming. About the year 1870 he moved to Minnesota, but some years afterward returned to this county, where he died in 1889. aged over eighty-one years. His widow sur- vived him two years, passing away in 1891. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, but his com- pany was not called into active service. Two sons and one daughter of the children born in the family are living. Henry W. grew to man- hood in this county and was educated in its dis- trict schools. He has followed farming all his life, having begun at an early age working by the month. He owns a good farm in Texas township and a residence in the village of Oshtemo. In 1859 he united in marriage with Miss Ruth J. Williams, also a native of this county. They have two children, their daughter Edith A., wife of C. A. DeLong, and their son Fred A. Mr. Fel- lows has been a Republican from the dawn of his manhood, and all the while has taken an active part in local political affairs. He has served as supervisor of Texas township and in 1900 was elected county treasurer, an office in which he has rendered very acceptable service. Frater- nally he is a member of the Masonic order. Well known throughout the county, he is highly re- spected in every part of it as a capable and con- scientious official and an excellent citizen.
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