USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > History and biographical record of Lenawee County, Michigan, Volume I > Part 14
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
subject of this sketch, though unmarried, became, in reality, the head of the family, and remained unmarried until February 23d, 1865, when he was married to Miss Marietta Gilbert, of Detroit, a teacher in the public schools of that city. After marriage they came to his home in Raisin, where they remained on the farm for three years. Selling their farm, they removed to his village of Tecumseh, in the spring of 1868, where they still reside. That year he engaged in the manufacture of agricultural implements, the firm being McConnell, Raymond & Company, since changed to D. R. Raymond & Company. Mr. Raymond is the father of two children, Florence, born June 7th, 1868; Elijah Burt, born June 3d, 1870. During the late war Mr. Raymond was drafted, but poor health prevented his serving. He believed that three hundred dollars would serve his country better than himself, and cheerfully paid that amount to assist in putting down the Rebellion. He has filled nearly every office in the town of Raisin. He was first elected supervisor, in the year 1859, and held it for two years. He was elected, in the fall of 1862, to the Michigan Legislature, and held that position for one term. After he moved to Tecumseh he was was elected justice of the peace, which position he held four years, commencing July 4th, 1873, and ending July 4th, 1877. During his early and long residence in the town of Raisin he became a great hunter, partly from necessity and partly from choice, mostly from choice. He was, perhaps, the best marksman in the town of Raisin, and would often pride himself on seeing how near he could shoot off a turkey's head without hurting the body. A deer seldom passed alive within the reach of his rifle.
ACHARIAS COOK was born in Verona, Oneida county, New York, March 26th, 1824. We herewith give our readers the following genealogy: "Casper Koch, great- grandfather of all the German Cooks and their descendants, on Stonearabia, town of Palatine, Mohawk River, and elsewhere, was born in Steinmutz, canton of Zurich, in Switzerland, on the 4th of August, A. D., 1700, and died 1789. His father's name was Heinrich (Henry); his grandfather's name Casper. The consort of Casper that came to America, maiden name was Verena Mueller. Eldest son, Rudolph, born 1728 ; second, Bandus, 1735 ; third,
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Severenus, 1737 ; fourth, and youngest, John, born in 1740, died in 1804, leaving a widow and ten children, two dead, Casper and Margaret ; eight living, viz: Elizabeth, John, Henry, Anna, Laney, Benjamin, Casper and Maria. The wife of John (the above Casper's youngest son) was Magdalen Dillenbach ; her father's name, Henry ; brothers' names, Andrew, Henry, John ; sisters' names after marriage, Margaret Reis, Maria Lasher, Catharine Lasher, Elis Nestle, Barbara Nestle. The daughters of John Cook, Sen., were married to Francis Fox, Caleb Beakley, Henry Van Wie, and Henry A. Loucks." Benjamin Cook, father of Zacharias Cook, the subject of this sketch, was born in Palatine, Montgomery county, March 3d, 1789, whose father, Johannes Cook (or Koch), was born on the sea, while his parents were coming to America from Germany, in 1740. Johannes Cook, served in the Revolutionary war, and was badly wounded at the battle of Oriskaney, New York. He died March 23d, 1804. Benjamin Cook was a soldier in the war of 1812. He died in Raisin, February 10th, 1876. April 14th, 1811, Benjamin Cook married Miss Nancy Nare, daughter of Henry Nare, a farmer of Palatine, New York, by whom he had seven children, four sons and three daughters ; three of the sons and two of the daughters are still living. Mrs. Nancy Cook was born July 15th, 1795, and died in Raisin, Lenawee county, Michigan, December 27th, 1854. Zacharias Cook has always been a farmer, and came to Michigan with his parents, in the spring of 1846, and now resides on the farm he purchased that year, in Raisin. His first purchase was one hundred and forty-three acres, but he has added to it, until now he has three hundred acres under fine improvement. March 26th, 1845, he married Miss Susan H. Knight, daughter of Rufus Knight, of Lenox, Madison county, New York, by whom he had four children, as follows : Nancy, deceased ; James, married to Miss Sarah M. Ramsdell, daughter of Nathan Ramsdell, of Dover, who has four children, and lives on the old homestead ; Samuel and Susan, (twins,) died in infancy. Mrs. Susan Cook died in Raisin, January 2d, 1851. July 11th, 1851, he married Miss Catharine W. Lovett, daughter of John Lovett, a pioneer of Raisin, by whom he has one child, a daughter, Elizabeth L., wife of Reverend S. K. Spahr, now of Richwood, Union county, Ohio. They have one daughter, Katie. Mrs. Catharine Cook was born May 13th, 1828, in Warwick, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and came to Lenawee county, with her parents, in the fall of 1830. Mr. Lovett took up his land in 1829, and brought his family in the following year. Mrs. Cook says they came upon the land before a tree was cut, and as they drove through the woods her
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
father said, " I believe we have got home," and halted, and finally found a tree that he had marked the year previous, when he said, " yes, we are at home." During that winter he built a barn, in which the family lived until the following summer, when a house was built. Mr. Lovett gradually added to his farm, until in 1849, (when he went to California,) he owned one thousand acres of land. In the spring of 1849 Mr. John Lovett and Zacharias Cook went to California, arriving there the 27th of August, 1849, being the first miners to strike a blow where Nevada City now stands. Mr. Lovett died there January 7th, 1850. Mr. Cook selected his burial place on a beautiful plat, which is now the city cemetery of Nevada City. In the spring of 1850, Mr. Cook returned home. In religion, Mr. Cook is a Baptist, while Mrs. Cook is a Presbyterian, she having united with the church in Tecumseh, in 1841. In politics, Mr. Cook was formerly a Democrat, but is now an earnest Prohibitionist. He was seven years a director of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance company, of Lenawee county, and for the past seven years has been its president and treasurer, which positions he still holds.
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ILLIAM A. CLARK was born in Lisbon, St. Lawrence county, New York, December 16th, 1816. His father, Abram Clark, was born in Plattsburgh, New York, in 1783. In 1808 he left Plattsburgh and went to the Ottawa river in Canada, where he engaged in the lumber business, and remained until 1814, when he moved to Lisbon, St. Lawrence county, New York, and settled on a farm. He continued to reside in St. Lawrence county until the fall of 1837, when he emigrated with his family to the west, and died October 24th, 1838. April 9th, 1814, he married Miss Eleanor Williston, daughter of Elijah Williston, of Hawksborough, Canada, by whom he had nine children, five sons and four daughters, all born in St. Lawrence county, New York, of whom William A. was the oldest. Mrs. Eleanor Clark was born in Hawksborough, Canada, April 9th,
1796, and died in Blissfield, August 29th, 1852. William A. Clark lived with his father until his death, when he came to Blissfield, Lenawee county, Michigan, February 1st, 1839, with his mother's family. The family then consisted of his mother and
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eight children. They settled on a farm near Kedzie's Grove, in the present town of Deerfield. In the fall of 1842, he engaged as a clerk in the store of Guy and David Carpenter, where he remained until the summer of 1846, when his health failed him. In April, 1848, he commenced business for himself and opened a drug and grocery store in Blissfield, and still occupies a part of the old building, having moved it from Railroad street to Adrian street, when the business center changed. He has been in business in Blissfield more consecutive years than any other man in the village, and has always "paid one hundred cents on the dollar." November 7th, 1852, he married Miss Lovina S. Sweet, daughter of Benjamin and Abigail Sweet, of Blissfield, by whom he has bad four children, all sons, as follows: Williston R., born October 6th, 1853, died . October 26th, 1854; Dwight H., born October 4th, 1855, now with A. D. Ellis, dry goods merchant, Blissfield; William A. Jr., born February 6th, 1858, died November 24th, 1877; James K., born May 30th, 1861, now with his father. Mrs. Lovina S. Clark was born in Sodus, Wayne county, New York, November 26th, 1821. She came to Michigan with her parents in 1845. Her father was born in Connecticut, June 3d, 1776, and died in Blissfield, February 17th, 1862. Her mother was born in New Hampshire, February 13th, 1789, and died in Blissfield, December 26th, 1854. He has been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church for forty-five years, and organized the first M. E. Sabbath school in Blissfield, in June, 1846, with four scholars, and for many years was its superintend- ent. He is still an active worker in the school. He is now engaged in the drug and grocery business, which he has run continually for thirty-one years.
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ACOB LAPHAM was born November 2d, 1792, in Dutchess county, New York. His father, Reuben Lapham, was a thorough farmer, possessing a fine farm in the Little Nine Pardeners, in the town of Northeast, now Milan, Dutchess county. From here he moved to Columbia county, and settled on a large farnı in the town of Skooderhook, one mile from the village of Johnstown. After a few years he traded this for a farm of four hundred acres, in the town af Taghkanic, in the same county,
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
situated ten miles south of the city of Hudson. This farm con- tained a tavern stand and a country store. Reuben Lapham married Sally Finch, and raised a large family. The boys were Jonathan, who married Eva Miller, and who kept the store; Jacob ; Hiram, who married Nancy Forest; and Reuben, who married Susan Rosman. These three worked the farm till they came to Taghkanic, when Jacob rented a farm. The girls were Sally Lapham; Phoebe Swartout; Mary Wilber ; and Hannah Southerland. Besides these, there was Nathaniel, who died when young. Jacob Lapham married Mary Case, December the 27th, 1813, in Dutchess county, where all of the children were born but the youngest, who was born in Skooderhook, Columbia county. Mary Case was the oldest child of Ephraim Case. Ephraim Case was the son of Nathan Case, a well-to-do Quaker farmer, who owned twelve hundred acres of land, in the Little Nine Pardeners, situated in the town of Northeast, now Milan, Dutchess county, New York. He raised a large family, several of whom were Quaker preachers. The oldest daughter, Hulda, has traveled and preached the Quaker doctrine over the world, far and near, includ- ing the Holy Land. Her husband, Joseph Hoag, was the Quaker prophet. The names of the children, beginning with the oldest, were Hulda Hoag, Hannah Hoag, Ephraim, Levi, Patience Dunham, Ruth, David, and Nathan and Lizzie, who were twins. Ephraim being the oldest son, the care of the farm mainly devolv- ed upon him, and his Quaker father often said to him : "Ephraim, thee is a dutiful son, thee shall have thy reward ;" but he married out of the church, and his father willed him five dollars. Ephraim Case and General Cass were own cousins, the difference in name resulting from the instability of our orthography, the original spelling, Kasse, becoming Cass, Case, and even Casey. While Ephraim was yet at his father's, Lewis Cass, then quite young, stopped there, on his way to the western country, being accompa- nied by his father, who had come on a visit, traveling all the way from Maine and New Hampshire on foot. Ephraim married Sarah Sisson, and in company with several other families, moved to Whitestown, near Utica, then a howling wilderness, where he cleared up a fine farm, having chosen the location on account of its extensive mill privileges, (which are now well stocked with mills,) but their title to the land afterwards proved to be fraudu- lent, having purchased of the wrong owner, and the several families were all ousted from their comfortable homes. Ephraim then moved to Little York, now Toronto, Canada, where his wife died, and where his son Nathan raised a large family of boys. After the death of his wife, he returned to Dutchess county, where
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he married Anor Knapp. By the first marriage he had five children : Mary Lapham, Nathan, Hulda West, Lizie Lockwood, and Hannah Baxter; and five also by the second marriage : Samantha Fuller, Emeline Avery, Doctor Ephraim, now deceased, Rensselaer, an influential man and merchant, residing in Milan, Dutchess county, and Almira Swartout, living in Illinois. Ephraim Case died at the advanced age of ninety-five years, and Mary, the wife of the subject of this sketch, is now quite vigorous and active, being in her ninetieth year. Jacob Lapham's family were four boys : Edmund, who married Alvira Wagoner, and has a family of five children, one boy and four girls; Jonathan, who married Elizabeth Yager, and has two daughters living ; Nathaniel, who married Amanda McConnel, and has but one son living, a boy and two girls having died when young, from the scourges incident to a new country ; Ephraim, and also Eve Maria Rosman, an adopted daughter, who came to Michigan with the family, and is now the wife of Horace Chaffee, a thrifty farmer, residing in Northshade, Gratiot county, in this State. The family who were old enough to work, being weary of the yearly increase of rent on the Livingston's Manor, which occurred yearly in propor- tion to the yearly improvements made on the farm, it was decided by a majority of the family council, to emigrate. The oldest boy, Edmund, in company with Reuben Southerland, went on a prospecting tour to Pennsylvania, but finding the land rough and broken, the pines and hemlocks forbidding, and the soil poor and sandy, the family turned their faces westward,
In the line of emigration, In that ever flowing current, Like the trade-winds of the tropics, Constant in its westward going,
and after about a month's travel, by North river, canal, Lake Erie, and Cottonwood swamp, they arrived at Adrian, near the first of June, 1836. A halt being made, a location was soon secured in the town of Rome, ten miles north-west of Adrian. The first purchase was eighty acres, second hand, which soon grew to two hundred acres, and eighty-five acres of heavy timber was destroyed in the course of five or six years, and the land con- verted into fertile fields. This was then traded to Doctor Case, for another two hundred acres far better farming lands, one hundred and twenty acres of which is still occupied by Edmund. Jonathan did not come to Michigan with the rest of the family, but came several years later, and settled in Adrian, where he still resides. Nathaniel, after buying and selling several farms in suc- cession, has finally settled on a farm near Clayton. Doctor Ephraim
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Lapham studied medicine, first with Doctor Case, then with Doctors Spalding and Barnard, Adrian, and commenced practice in the town of Rome, in 1844, at the age of twenty-one, which profession he has since followed, though preferring the seclusion of a farm, to a city life. Ephraim married Susan Emily Stafford, April 23d, 1851. The children are, commencing with the oldest, Ella Frances, Irwin Ephraim, who died in infancy, and Mary Emily. Susan Emily Lapham was the daughter of John Stafford, the only son of an Englishman who owned quite a landed estate in England; but John being a wild youth, left home at an early age, for the salt sea foam, and after cruising about on the ocean for some years, finally arrived at St. Johns, New Brunswick, at the breaking out of the war of 1812, where he was impressed on board a British man of war, but feeling indignant, he deserted at the first opportunity, and at once entered into the American service, under the assumed name of Dennis Kearney, and served to the end of the war, having been in some of the most bloody battles, and was several times wounded, carrying many scars. After the war, he married Nancy McClosky, near Utica, in the State of New York. The children were John, who died in infancy, William, Lucinda, Catheline, Jane Samm, and Adeline, all of whom died at mature years ; and Mary Ann Barrick, Susan Emily Lapham, and Elizabeth Samm, who are still living. Jacob Lapham died January 7th, 1876, at the advanced age of eighty- three years, two months, and three days.
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OL. NATHANIEL BUEL ELDREDGE was born at Auburn, Cayuga county, New York, March 28th, 1813, received an academic education, and taught school for several winters, commencing when sixteen years old. At the age of sixteen he was appointed a cadet to the Military Academy at West Point, by President Jackson, but for the reason that his father felt unable to furnish the outfit, he was obliged to decline. At the age of twenty he commenced the study of medicine, under the instruction of his brother, Doctor H. D. Eldredge, and afterwards with Doctor Lansingh Briggs, attending the medical college at Fairfield, New York. After graduating, in October, 1837, he moved to Michigan and settled at Commerce, Oakland county,
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where he practiced his profession six years. He was married at Commerce, April 21st, 1839, to Jannette Patten, the daughter of George Patten, a Scotchman, an extensive farmer. In August, 1843, he moved to Lapeer and formed a co-partnership with Doctor DeLasker Miller, now and for many years past, professor in Rush medical college, of Chicago. He continued the practice of medicine until 1852. He was elected justice of the peace four times, and was chairman of the board of supervisors of Lapeer county four successive years. He was clerk of the Senate of the Michigan Legislature, in 1845, and a member of the House in 1848, which was the year the Legislature first convened at Lansing. In 1852 he was elected judge of probate of Lapeer county, and in 1853 was appointed postmaster of Lapeer. While judge of probate the late Charles M. Walker, then a law student, was his clerk. In 1854 Colonel Eldredge was admitted to the bar, and from that time commenced the practice of law, and as soon as C. M. Walker was admitted to practice, they formed a partnership. While they were partners they were twice opposing candidates for prosecuting attorney. In the spring of 1861 Colonel Eldredge was the first man who enlisted from Lapeer county, and C. M. Walker, his partner, the second. He raised a company and appointed his partner Orderly Sergeant. His company was assigned to the 7th Infantry, and before the regiment left the State, in September, 1861, he was promoted to Major, and C. M. Walker to Quartermaster. Colonel Eldredge was with his regiment at the affair of Ball's Bluff and Edward's Ferry, on the 21st of October, 1861, and after the disaster, wrote home a letter, in which he severely blamed General Charles P. Stone, which letter got into print, and for which General Stone ordered him under arrest. After waiting six weeks without obtaining a trial, he resigned, and Governor Blair, upon his return home, immediately appointed him one of the State Military Board, and in April, 1862, appointed him Lieutenant Colonel of the 11th Infantry. He at once joined this regiment, which was then in Tennessee, and was with it in several skirmishes and battles, until his health failed and he resigned in 1863. He moved to Adrian in 1865, and with his old partner, C. M. Walker, commenced the practice of law. In 1870 he was elected mayor of the city of Adrian, and in the fall of the same year, was the Democratic candidate for Congress, in the district composed of Wayne, Monroe, Lenawee and Hillsdale counties. In 1874 he was elected sheriff of Lenawee county. Colonel Eldredge's family consists, at present, of six sons and two daughters. His oldest son Lansingh B. Eldredge, was Major of the 4th Michigan
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
cavalry, and was elected sheriff of Lapeer county, after the war, at the age of twenty-six. His second son, Lewis T., was for many years teller and book-keeper in the Lenawee County Savings Bank, and is now book-keeper in the hardware store of R. J. Jewell. His third son, Dan B., is station master and freight agent at Quincy, on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad. His fourth son, George H., is a portrait painter, who is likely to excel in his profession. His fifth son, John B., is learning the trade of coppersmith, and his sixth son, David D., is attending school. His daughters are with him, the youngest, Ella M., is and has been for several years, a teacher in the public schools in
the city of Adrian. Colonel Eldredge's father, Captain Daniel Eldredge, was born in Connecticut, February 7th, 1772, and was married to Mehitable Bristol, at Sandgate, Vermont, in 1796, and moved, the same year, to Cayuga county, New York, where he engaged in farming, and died there in 1863. During the war of 1812, he commanded a company and was in the battle of Queenston, and with the American army, under General Van Rensselaer, was taken prisoner. Colonel Eldredge's grandfather, Lieutenant Daniel Eldredge, was born in Massachusetts, February 25th, 1745, and was a Lieutenant, commanding a company during the entire Revolutionary war. His commission dated December 2d, 1776, is now in the possession of his grandson, Colonel Eldredge. His grandmother, wife of Lieutenant Daniel Eldredge, was born in Massachusetts, June 14th, 1743, and was the daughter of Colonel Silas Warner, the great Indian fighter of Massachusetts, Colonel Eldredge is descended from the English on the paternal and from the Welsh on the maternal side. His mother was the grand-daughter of a Welsh physician, who settled in Vermont in an early day. Colonel Eldredge was one of five brothers, and is the only survivor; he has two sisters living, both older than himself. One, Mrs. Tyler, of Grand Blanc, the mother of Senator C. V. Tyler, of Bay City; the other, Mrs. Bristol, of Lapeer, the mother of ex-Sheriff U. D. Bristol; both widows, quite smart and healthy. He was, as will be seen, one of the pioneers of this State. He has always been a constant and persistent member of the Democratic party, and still is, having held various offices in the gift of his party, and frequently been forced to be a candidate when there was little hope of success. He has never been a member of any christian denomination, but his wife and daughters being Presbyterians, he attends and aids in supporting that church. After submitting to a painful operation for the disease which obliged him to leave the army, he enjoys robust health, and is likely to witness many more improvements in the State of his
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adoption. He has seen a State, with 110,000 inhabitants, in 1837, with but one member of Congress, and with few resources but the virgin soil and the brawny arms and stout hearts of its early settlers, grow to one of nearly 2,000,000 inhabitants, with nine members of Congress, the best school system in the United States, with a university equal, if not superior, to any in our land, and unequalled in its resources of wealth by any of the whole sisterhood of States.
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ILLIAM WEATHERBY was born in Manchester, Bennington county, Vermont, July 21st, 1813. His father, William Weatherby, was born near Boston, Massachusetts, July 22d, 1769, and lived there until about 1798, when he went to Bennington county, Vermont, and purchased a farm. He lived there until about 1823, when he moved to Tioga county, New York, where he lived eight years, when he came to Fairfield, Lenawee county, and died there August 19th, 1835. December 8th, 1797, he married Miss Relief Miller, of Marlborough, Massachusetts, by whom he had eight children, William being the youngest of six sons. Mrs. Relief Weatherby was born in Marlborough, Massachusetts, February 20th, 1775, and died in Fairfield, this county, July 18th, 1835. William Weatherby, the subject of this sketch, lived with his parents until he was about eighteen years old, when the care of the family fell upon him, his father and mother being old and feeble. In 1831 he came to Michigan, and located the west one-half of the south-east one- quarter of section nine, in Fairfield, this county. He brought his parents with him. That part of the township was a perfect wilderness at that time, and he followed marked trees and an Indian trail through the woods to his land, and was obliged to cut a road about two and a half miles to get his wagon through. He at once built a log shanty and went to "keeping house," his mother and sister being the housekeepers. This was just before the Black Hawk war, and occasionally Indians came along and wanted to stay all night, which caused the " women folks " con- siderable uneasiness, and the " men folks" were none too serene, as all Indians were regarded with suspicion at that time. William was warned to appear at Adrian with his gun, ammunition, and rations, but he was attacked with . ague, which "excused " him,
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