USA > Michigan > Kent County > Grand Rapids > Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First. Vol. I > Part 47
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Edmund Burfoot was born in England in 1858, and removed with his parents to Canada in 1867. He acquired his education in the pub- lic schools of Toronto, Canada, supplemented by private study. Hav- ing learned the art of wood carving, he came to the United States in 1880, working at his trade in different parts of the country, and in 1887 settled in Grand Rapids, still plying his trade by day and study- ing nights, and in 1895 was admitted to practice law. He was elected a member of the Legislature of 1899.
Jacob J. Van Zoeren was born in Kriesland, Mich., May 3, 1855, and lived on his father's farm until twenty-four years of age. His education was obtained in the district schools. After farming suc- cessfully two years he removed to Western Kansas and engaged in stock raising and mercantile business. Returning to Michigan in 1889, he located in Grand Rapids, where he became successfully en- gaged in the mercantile business. He was always a staunch Repub- lican and was elected to the Legislature in 1900 and re-elected in 1902.
Frank Ladner was born at Newlyn, Cornwall County, England, Feb. 25, 1845. In March, four years later, with his parents he came to this country, settling on a farm in Cannon township, Kent County, where he resided the remainder of his life. He received his education in the district schools of Kent County. In politics he was a Repub- lican and he held the offices of justice of the peace, treasurer, and was for many years supervisor. He was engaged in the lumbering busi- ness eighteen years and thereafter devoted his attention exclusively to farming. He was elected to the Legislature of 1903 and re-elected to that of 1905.
Cassius B. Towner was born in Byron Center, Kent County, Sept. 6, 1859, of American parents. He acquired his education in the
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district schools, supplemented by one term each in the Mendon High School and Grand Rapids High School. With his father he formed a partnership and engaged in the lumbering business in 1880, and the stock of a general store was added in 1895. Mr. Towner was a Re- publican, but never sought political office until he was nominated and elected to the Legislature in 1904, and he was re-elected in 1906 with- out opposition.
Dennis Murray was born at Jackson, Mich., Sept. 27, 1868, of American parents. He received his education in the Jackson High School and the Kansas City College, Missouri. He is a dentist by profession and while conducting an office in Grand Rapids he also was for a time president of the local Keeley Institute Company. With the exception of ten years' absence in Colorado, where he served two years as a member of the State Board of Dental Examiners, he has resided in Michigan. He is a Republican and was elected to the Leg- islature in 1906. In 1914 he removed to Hastings, Mich., where he continued in the practice of dentistry.
COUNTY OFFICIALS.
An act of the first State Legislature, approved March 14, 1836, provided that "There shall be elected on the first Monday of Novem- ber, next, and on the following day, and in every succeeding two years, thereafter, in each of the organized counties in this State, a sheriff, county clerk, county treasurer, county surveyor, a register of deeds, and two coroners, who shall respectively hold their offices for the term of two years." The act also provided for a probate judge, to hold office for four years, and two associate justices of the circuit court, to be elected for four years. The burning of the court house in 1844, and of the Taylor & Barns Building which was being used for county offices in 1860, and the neglect of the early newspaper pub- lishers to carefully preserve the files of their papers, make it exceed- ingly difficult to obtain a complete list of officials prior to 1860. Nev- ertheless an earnest effort has been made in that direction, and the lists given in the following pages may be considered approximately correct.
County Clerks-The first occupant of this office was Dr. Stephen A. Wilson, who served from the time of the organization of the coun- ty until January, 1839, and he died a few months after retiring from the office. He was succeeded by Charles H. Taylor, who filled the position until January, 1847. The successors of Messrs. Wilson and Taylor, insofar as the writer has been able to obtain their names, with the years of their elections, follow: 1846, Samuel R. Sanford ; 1848, Reuben H. Smith; 1854, Peter R. L. Peirce; 1868, Daniel Mc- Naughton ; 1871, Hobart H. Chipman ; 1876, Wesley W. Hyde; 1876, Frederick S. Clark ; 1882, Orland H. Godwin ; 1885, Cornelius L. Har- vey ; 1892, Franklin D. Eddy ; 1896, William J. Thomas; 1900, Con- nor H. Smith; 1906, Ralph A. Mosher; 1914, Robert G. Hill, present incumbent.
Dr. Stephen A. Wilson was the first physician to settle in the pioneer village of Grand Rapids. He was born in Herkimer County, New York, in 1810. He graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of New York, at Fairfield, and after
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practicing in his native town for a short time, removed to Grand Rapids in August, 1835. He and Dr. Charles Shepard were partners from the spring of 1837 until the fall of 1839, when the partnership was dissolved by Dr. Wilson's death. He died after a relapse of ty- phoid fever.
Reuben H. Smith was born in Hamilton, Madison County, New York, Sept. 7, 1816, and received a common school education there. In 1838 he came to Michigan and bought and improved 160 acres of land in the township of Bowne. He was engaged in improving this land, teaching school in the winter seasons, until November, 1848, when he was elected county clerk and moved to Grand Rapids. He was twice re-elected, holding the office for six successive years. In the spring of 1855, Mr. Smith moved upon a farm of 280 acres in the township of Alpine, and remained until 1868, when he returned to Grand Rapids. He held the office of justice of the peace in 1844; of supervisor of Caledonia (then including Bowne) in 1848, and of su- pervisor of Alpine in 1856 and 1858. In November, 1874, he was elected county superintendent of the poor and was continued in that position twelve years. From 1872 to 1876 he was a member of the Board of Education. He was a member of the Old Residents' Asso- ciation of the Grand River Valley and was its secretary from 1871 to January, 1890, continuously.
Daniel McNaughton was born in Hillsdale County, Michigan, July 1, 1837. When he was two years of age his parents removed to Plainfield township, Kent County, where Daniel was reared to man- hood. He worked on a farm, and obtained his literary education in the Grand Rapids High School, subsequently teaching school three years. When the Civil War commenced, he enlisted in the Seventh Michigan cavalry, which was attached to the Michigan Cavalry Bri- gade (Custer's) in the Army of the Potomac. After being discharged, Mr. McNaughton came back to Grand Rapids and engaged in the grocery business on Monroe street, and three years later entered upon the duties of county clerk, being re-elected in 1870. In April, 1871, he resigned his position and went to Chicago to engage in the real estate business, but the fire of that year destroyed all his property. He returned to Grand Rapids and for two years was engaged in the real estate business and thereafter was connected with various busi- ness enterprises during the remainder of his active career.
Frederick S. Clark was born at Joliet, Ill., in June, 1848. In 1861 his parents moved to Kalamazoo, but in 1863 Mr. Clark returned to his native place and entered the employ of Morgan & McAllister, wholesale and retail grocers. On the dissolution of the firm he found himself out of business and for a time busied himself chopping cord wood, until February, 1865, when he came to Grand Rapids in search of more suitable employment. Nothing offering, he went to Kalama- zoo and engaged as driver with the American and United States Ex- press Companies, afterward becoming head clerk for the United States Express Company in the same office. He returned to Joliet in 1867, and was employed two years as a carpenter and joiner, and in 1869 came back to Grand Rapids. He rented a farm in Paris, in part- nership with A. J. Root, and opened a Grange store at Bowen Sta- tion, where he failed in business, but settled with his creditors on a
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basis of 100 cents on a dollar. Mr. Clark was postmaster and agent of the Michigan Central Railway while managing the store. In July, 1875, he was appointed deputy clerk of Kent County, and in 1876 was elected county clerk. He was re-elected in 1878 and again in 1880, holding the office until Jan. 1, 1883. He continued his residence in Grand Rapids until his death, Feb. 15, 1896.
County Treasurers-1836, Hiram Hinsdill; 1838, Aaron Dike- man; 1842, Sidney Smith; 1844, James Davis; 1848, Solomon O. Kingsbury ; 1852, Nelson Robinson; 1856, Daniel C. McVean; 1857, Nelson Robinson; 1858, Thompson I. Daniels ; 1866, George Young, Jr .; 1872, Henry Bremer ; 1876, John A. S. Verdier; 1882, Andrew J. Stebbins ; 1886, Charles D. Stebbins ; 1888, Sherman T. Colson ; 1890, Charles D. Stebbins ; 1894, Sherman T. Colson; 1896, Henry B. Proc- tor; 1900, John A. Verkerke; 1900, William F. Woodworth; 1904, Ernest A. Crozier ; 1908, John Paul; 1912, Eugene F. Smith; 1916, Ralph A. Mosher.
Hiram Hinsdill was among the settlers of 1834 in Grand Rapids. His first home here was in a log house on Pearl street, near the loca- tion of the present Arcade, and he resided there in 1835, while he was engaged in building the hotel afterwards known as the National, on the site of its successor, the present Morton House.
Aaron Dikeman, a native of Norwalk, Vt., was the first jeweler who established a regular trade in Grand Rapids. He came in 1837 and worked diligently at his business thirty years, when he retired from active life. He was a Freemason, and one of the organizers of Grand River Lodge, No. 34; and he was also one of the original members of St. Mark's Episcopal Church. In the early days he was interested in river navigation. He died in 1882, upward of eighty- six years of age.
Sidney Smith came from Burlington, Vt., and is said to have been the first white man, after Rix Robinson, to settle in what is now Ada township, and for years he did much of the official business of the town. In fact the town was named in honor of his daughter, Ada, who afterward became Mrs. James Miller, of Grand Rapids. Mr. Smith was the first supervisor and also the first justice of the peace in Ada township.
Daniel C. McVean was born in Monroe County, New York, Aug. 19, 1819. In 1846 he settled in the township of Bowne, Kent County, and is remembered as among its able and useful citizens. He fol- lowed surveying several years, in addition to the work of carrying on and improving his farm, and he held a number of town offices. In 1854 he was chosen supervisor and to that position was re-elected in 1855 and 1856. In the November election of 1856 he was elected treasurer of Kent County, and this office he held at the time of his death, which occurred in Grand Rapids, Oct. 28, 1857. The Board of Supervisors elected Nelson Robinson to fill the vacancy in the treas- urer's office and he served out the remainder of the term.
Henry Bremer, a graduate from a college in Germany, came to Grand Rapids in 1850 and resided here until his death, in 1883, en- gaged principally in manufactures and the grocery trade. He was several times chosen to official positions in the city, and in 1872, and again in 1874, was elected county treasurer.
John A. S, Verdier was born at Oostburg, Province of Zeeland,
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Kingdom of the Netherlands, Dec. 17, 1838. In 1847 he accompanied his widowed mother to the United States and they located at Buffalo, N. Y., where they remained during the winter of 1847-8, removing the following spring to Sheboygan, Wis., where Mr. Verdier grew to manhood, receiving a common school education. When ten years of age he entered the office of the Sheboygan Nieuwsbode, the first pa- per printed in the Holland language in the United States. He re- mained in that office three years, learning the trade. When fifteen years old, he entered a hardware store, in which he was employed eight years. In 1862 he enlisted for the Union and was commis- sioned first lieutenant of Company E, Twenty-seventh Wisconsin in- fantry ; was promoted in 1864 to the captaincy of Company H, same regiment, and served in that position until the close of the war. He then came to Grand Rapids and formed a co-partnership with W. P. Kutsche, in the hardware business. The firm remained as such for five and one-half years. Mr. Verdier then sold his interest and pur- chased the stock owned by John Connell, in the same line of trade. In May, 1874, William A. Brown was admitted as a partner and gas fitting and plumbing were added to the business. The June following the store and contents were burned, and that summer Mr. Verdier closed the business. In the fall of the same year he started a wood- yard and hay market and continued in that business until the fall of 1876. He then changed this business to the purchasing and sorting of rags and the manufacture of tinware, which line of trade he con- tinued for a number of years. In the spring of 1871 he was elected alderman of the Fourth ward for two years, and was re-elected in 1873 for a like term. In the spring of 1875 he was elected comptroller of Grand Rapids. In the fall of 1876 he was elected treasurer of Kent County on the Republican ticket, re-elected in 1878 and also in 1880. After retiring from office he engaged in the banking business and was cashier of the Kent State Bank at the time of his death, March 8, 1911.
Andrew Jackson Stebbins was born in Madison County, New York, Oct. 14, 1840. In October, 1846, he came to Michigan with his father, who settled in Sparta, Kent County, two miles south of Sparta village. In youth he attended the common school, and when the Civil War came on he enlisted in Company B, Twenty-first Michi- gan infantry, and went into the service. He had charge of the medical supplies at Hospitals No. 1 and No. 4, Nashville, Tenn., and was hos- pital steward until the close of the war. After his return he worked on a farm two years and then engaged in the lumber trade, for several years owning and operating mills in Sparta township, and he also lumbered several years for William T. Powers. He then built an ele- vator at Sparta Center and bought grain for some time. Afterward, in 1880, he went to Dakota and spent a year at Deadwood, lumbering there for W. T. Powers. For several years in Sparta he held the of- fice of justice of the peace. In 1882 he was elected treasurer of Kent County, after which time he resided in Grand Rapids, and he was re- elected in 1884, thus holding the office four years. In 1889 he was elected a member of the common council-alderman from the Fourth ward. He was engaged for a time in the real estate and insurance business, in partnership with Charles A. Robinson. He died June 10, 1907.
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Henry Benjamin Proctor was born in Cascade township, Kent County, Feb. 4, 1860. In early life he attended the district schools of his neighborhood, and subsequently entered the high school at Cale- donia, where he pursued the more advanced branches of learning until his twentieth year. He then turned his attention to the time-honored calling of a tiller of the soil, and in connection therewith carried on general trading, by means of which he was enabled to accumulate a handsome property, both real and personal. In 1889 he was elected township supervisor and discharged the duties of the position until 1896, when he resigned in order to take possession of the county treasurer's office, to which he had been elected. He was re-elected in 1898, but died Nov. 1, 1900, two months before the close of his second term. On the day following his death John A. Verkerke was elected by the board of supervisors to serve out the unexpired term.
John Adrian Verkerke was born in the Netherlands, June 30, 1857. He was nine years of age when brought by his parents to Grand Rapids, and here he received his education, graduating in the high school at the age of seventeen years. He then entered the Dy- gert Brothers printing house as an apprentice, and nine years later resigned as their foreman and began traveling as salesman for the Valley City Engraving & Printing Company, and this occupied his time for two years. For the following two years he was a partner in the firm known as Verkerke, Taylor & Hinsdill, printers. On Jan. 1, 1893, he became deputy county clerk and creditably filled that posi- tion until Nov. 2, 1900, when he was appointed county treasurer to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry B. Proctor. He served the remaining two months of Mr. Proctor's term and then accepted an appointment as deputy sheriff. Two years later he was appointed under-sheriff, and in 1904 was elected circuit court commissioner ; was re-elected in 1906 and again in 1908, holding the position at the time of his death, Oct. 25, 1909.
William F. Woodworth was born in the town of Ovid, Seneca County, New York, May 8, 1852, and was reared to agricultural pur- suits on his father's homestead. In May, 1881, he came from New York to Michigan and purchased 100 acres of partially improved land in Courtland township, Kent County. He served his township as su- pervisor in 1887 and 1888, and again in 1891 and 1892, and for five years served as school director. In 1900 he was elected treasurer of Kent County, was re-elected in 1902 and served until Jan. 1, 1905.
Registers of Deeds-The following occupants of this office are given in the order of their service, so far as it has been possible to obtain their names, and the list can be relied upon as being approxi- mately correct. Prior to the organization of the State government a register of probate performed the duties of the office, but there is no record of any incumbent of that office in Kent County. Beginning with 1837 the registers have been as follows: 1836, Jacob Barns ; 1840, Benjamin Smith; 1842, A. Hosford Smith; 1844, George H. White; 1846, John M. Fox; 1852, Fred W. Worden; 1856, Leonidas S. Scranton ; 1860, John R. Stewart ; 1866, William G. Beckwith ; 1872, Simeon Hunt ; 1876, Loomis K. Bishop; 1882, Henry F. McCormick ; 1888, Nathaniel Rice; 1890, Adolphus L. Skinner; 1892, John T. Gould; 1896, Scott Griswold; 1900, Frank J. Cook; 1906, Hugh A. Montgomery, the present incumbent.
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Jacob Barns came to Grand Rapids from Vermont and was one of the pioneers of 1836. He was one of the early justices of the peace here and was chosen as the first register of deeds for Kent County, being re-elected in 1838.
Amos Hosford Smith was a native of Berlin, Conn., born March 30, 1812. He was among the pioneers of 1835, arriving in Grand Rapids on Dec. 2, of that year. He came by the Erie Canal to Buf- falo, then by Lake Erie to Monroe, from which place he continued his journey on horseback. Upon arriving at Grand Rapids he was so well pleased with the town that he decided to stay, and he opened a store near the Eagle Hotel on Market street. He was an accom- plished bookkeeper and was engaged as such most of the time for about twenty-five years after coming to Michigan. In 1842 he was elected register of deeds, serving in that position two years, and in the summer of 1850 he was captain of the steamboat Algoma on Grand River. He served as city clerk, elected in 1851. In 1862 he was ap- pointed Assistant Assessor of Internal Revenue and in that capacity served about ten years, and afterward about fifteen years as Deputy Collector, making about twenty-five years of continuous service as an Internal Revenue officer. He was vestryman and clerk of the vestry of St. Mark's Episcopal Church for seventeen years. In 1836 he started the first Sunday School in Grand Rapids, over his store, and this was one of the beginnings of the First Congregational Society. He died about 1889.
John M. Fox came into the valley in 1837, and after 1846, when he was elected register of deeds, he resided many years in Grand Rap- ids, where he was well known and respected as a citizen, business man and public officer. During the last ten years of his life he re- sided at Lowell, where he died Jan. 4, 1873, aged 62 years.
John R. Stewart was born Jan. 6, 1820, in Clarendon, Rutland County, Vermont. When he was twelve years old his parents moved to Niagara County, New York, and in 1844 he came to Cascade, Kent County, and purchased a farm. In 1854 he came to Grand Rapids and entered the employ of Foster & Parry, in the hardware business, where he remained six years. He was then elected Register of Deeds, which position he held three terms. After retiring from office he bought a one-third interest in an agricultural enterprise and operated several years in the firm of Chubb, Stewart & Luther. In 1870 the Grand Rapids Manufacturing Company was formed, and of this he was a member, the firm operating with success, but it was dissolved in 1877, when he and others organized a corporation under the same style. In January, 1872, he bought a half interest in a grocery estab- lishment with E. J. Horton, on Monroe street. In 1876 he was ap- pointed superintendent of the government buildings at Grand Rapids and superintended the building of the postoffice, which occupied his time for about four years. He died about 1887.
William G. Beckwith was born at Willet, Chenango County, New York, Dec. 3, 1832. The family moved to Rochester, then to Penn- sylvania, and in 1845 came to Grand Rapids, and soon settled on a new farm, some distance east of the village. The early educational advantages of Mr. Beckwith were only those of the country district schools of the time, to which was added a term in the Union school
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of this city. The main business of his early life was farming, with some school teaching. When the Civil War came on, he enlisted as a private Aug. 21, 1862, in Company B of the Fifth Michigan cavalry, which was one of the regiments afterward composing the Michigan Cavalry Brigade. He participated in all the engagements of his regi- ment during the following year and up to that at Buckland's Mills, Va., Oct. 19, 1863, where, with many others, he was captured by the enemy. As a prisoner he was first taken to Richmond and then to Belle Island, where he was confined until the early part of February, 1864. He then was sent to Andersonville, but on the way he, with a comrade, jumped from the cars and escaped. They were recaptured, however, and taken to Asheville, N. C., and later to Camp Vance, Morganton, N. C., thence to Salisbury, and in the latter part of April started again for Andersonville. But on the way he again escaped and finally reached the Federal lines in safety. From that time he served in all the battles of his regiment until, Aug. 29, 1864, he was shot through the thigh at Smithfield, in the Shenandoah Valley. In December he was back with his regiment and served with it until, at Appomattox, April 8, 1865, he lost his right leg by the explosion of a shell. Coming home from the army, he did much farm work on crutches in the following year. In 1866 he was elected Register of Deeds and was twice re-elected, filling that position six consecutive years. He served as collector of taxes in the Fourth ward of Grand Rapids, two years-1873-74. After 1876 he was in the office of the register of deeds as deputy for six years and was thereafter engaged principally in examination of land titles. He died March 24, 1908.
Simeon Hunt was born July 7, 1821, at Tunbridge, Orange Coun- ty, Vermont. The first fifteen years of his life were spent in his native town on a farm, receiving a fair education in the common schools. His parents removed to Kalamazoo in 1836. In March, 1838, he and his father started for Boston, Ionia County, and cut their way through the forest to their place of destination, where they built a log house and entered resolutely into the exigencies of pioneer life. Mr. Hunt came to Grand Rapids in 1844, and until 1847 was engaged in clerking and as deputy county clerk, but in the last named year he returned to the farm. In 1856 he went to Lowell, where he opened business in general merchandise, selling his interest in 1870 and returning to Grand Rapids. In 1872 he was elected Register of Deeds and was re- elected in 1874. In 1877, in company with Henry B. Davis, he opened an insurance, loan and abstract office, in which business he continued until his death, Dec. 4, 1889.
Nathaniel Rice was born in Canada in 1846, and came with his parents to Plainfield township, Kent County, in 1866. He engaged in farming and represented Plainfield as a member of the Board of Su- pervisors for a number of years. In 1888 he was elected Register of Deeds, serving two years, and in 1894 he was elected sheriff of Kent County, but died Feb. 23, 1895, less than two months after entering upon the duties of the office. He also served as a member of the building committee when the present court house was constructed.
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