USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > History and biographical record of Lenawee County, Michigan, Volume I > Part 18
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169
OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
student of the Michigan Agricultural college; Frederick S., born August 15th, 1862, at home ; Edgar R., born March 20th, 1864, at home. Mrs. Charlotte Rogers was born in Webster, Monroe county, New York, July 18th, 1831, and died in Raisin, Novem- ber 20th, 1864. October 18th, 1866, he married Miss Mary Beardmore, daughter of Robert Beardmore, of Palmyra, by whom he has had one daughter, May, born March 17th, 1871, at home. Mrs. Mary Rogers was born in Madison, this county, February 1st, 1843. Her father, Robert Beardmore, was born at Stoke-on-the- Trent, England, and was lost at sea, November 11th, 1847, off the coast of Ireland, opposite the Kinsale lighthouse. Her mother, Mrs. Emily Beardmore, was born in Ohio, in 1826, and died in Palmyra, this county, August 14th, 1856.
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RANKLIN OSBORN was born in Ovid, Seneca county, New York, August 16th, 1820. His father, James Osborn, was born in Coleraine, Massachusetts, October 23d, 1793. When he was a small boy his parents moved to Seneca county, New York. About the year 1814 he purchased a new farm in Ovid, Seneca county, New York. .. He erected a house in which he lived fifty-two years. In 1866 he sold his farm there and came to Michigan, and settled in Franklin, this county. He carried on a distillery in Ovid, for nearly forty years. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and served under Gen. Scott. He died in. Franklin, in September, 1870. About 1814 he married Miss Elizabeth Longcore, daughter of Richard and Sophia Longcore, of Essex county, New Jersey, by whom he had ten children, Franklin being the second son and third child. Mrs Elizabeth Osborn was born in Essex county, New Jersey, January 6th, 1797, and died in Franklin, this county, in June, 1876. Franklin Osborn lived with his parents until he was about twenty-one years old. He worked at farm work by the month, for about two years, when in 1842, he came to Michigan, and purchased land on section twenty- five, in Franklin, this county. The following year he returned to the State of New York, and in 1845 moved to Michigan with his family, and has lived on section twenty-five, in Franklin, ever since. His first purchase, in 1842, was forty acres of land, but he has steadily added to it, until now he owns three hundred and. fourteen acres, with good buildings and all necessary tools and conveniences. About the year 1855 he commenced shipping poul-
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
try to New York city, and has continued in the business every year since. He has shipped as high as sixty tons in a season. In December, 1876, he, in company with his brother, Richard Osborn, went to New York, each having a large lot of poultry. On their return trip they were passengers on the ill-fated train that fell through the Ashtabula bridge, on the night of December 29th. Richard Osborn was never seen after the accident, and his body was undoubtedly burned in the conflagration that immediately followed the crash. Franklin was most severely injured, having his collar bone broken, his left arm fractured, six ribs broken, a frightful scalp wound, and serious injuries about the spine. He was partially paralyzed for several months, and at this writing, suffers more from his spine than all the other injuries he received. For more than six months he was in a helpless condition, and finally, much to the surprise of all, he recovered sufficiently to get about without assistance. Previous to starting east, both purchas- ed railroad accident tickets for three thousand dollars each. Richard had a life insurance of fifteen hundred dollars. The railroad company paid his widow six thousand, five hundred dollars, and the accident company paid her three thousand dollars. Franklin received ten thousand, five hundred dollars from the railroad company, and about four hundred dollars from the accident company. He remained in Ashtabula about four weeks after the accident, the railroad company paying all expenses, including hotel, nurse and doctor's bills, and finally conveyed him to Tecumseh, in a magnificently appointed sleeping car, devoted exclusively to him- self and family. January 1st, 1845, he married Miss Alice Grove, daughter of William and Isabel Grove, of Ovid, Seneca county, New York, by whom he has had six children, as follows : Walter S., born March 7th, 1846, a farmer, of Franklin ; William J., born March 10th, 1848, a farmer of Franklin ; Alice R., born April 6th, 1852, at home; Elizabeth, born November 4th, 1856, at home; Frank L., born August 2d, 1869, now a student at the Michigan university ; Elmer, died in infancy. Mrs. Alice Osborn was born in Ovid, Seneca county, New York, March 24th, 1820.
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ESTER P. CLARK was born in Connecticut, August 22d, 1805. At the age of fourteen he went to Norwich, Chenango county, New York, where he went to school, and afterwards learned the carpenters' trade. He resided in Norwich
171
OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN. ...
until his twenty-second year, when he went to Rochester and followed his trade for about one year. He assisted in building the first. Presbyterian church erected in that city. About the year 1827, he emigrated to Michigan and settled in Monroe. He immediately commenced business and established himself as a contractor and builder, opening a shop and manufacturing furniture as well as carrying on a general carpenter shop. He built several buildings in Monroe, before 1830, some of which are still standing. He was also a vessel owner on the lakes, and at one time com- manded his own vessel. On one of his trips from Buffalo he brought Isaac Dean and his family to Monroe-this was in 1828. In the summer of 1834 he came to Lenawee county and located eighty acres of government land on section 4, and also purchased 103 acres of land, on section 8, from Daniel Clark, all in Palmyra, afterwards adding to it until he had a farmn of 450 acres. On the 103-acre farm there were only about two acres cleared, with a small log house, when he purchased it. He cleared it all up and built the buildings-good ones-and was at one time one of the largest and most successful farmers of the county. In the spring of 1845 he had just finished one of the largest and finest farm houses in the county, but on the 23d day of May, that year, it took fire and was totally destroyed, with nearly all of its contents. He subse- quently erected the large house that now stands upon the farm. During the construction of the Michigan Southern railroad from Monroe to Adrian, and the building of the LeRoy bridge, he accommodated thirty boarders, besides the surveying party, seven in number, who were there occasionally-for one year. This surveying party consisted of Henry Hart, the engineer, and six assistants. May 13th, 1827, he married Miss Hannah Gibson, daughter of George and Dama Gibson, and grand-daughter of General Ransford, of Norwich, Chenango county, New York, by whom he had three children, as follows: William H., born in Monroe, June 18th, 1828, and died August 28th, 1829; Cordelia A., born in Monroe, December 20th, 1829, now the wife of Dr. H. Peters, of Tecumseh; one child died an infant. Mrs. Hannah Clark died in Monroe, May 9th, 1831. In 1833 he married Miss Dian Smith, daughter of Asa and Catharine Smith, of Monroe, by whom he had seven children, as follows: Douglas W., born September 14th, 1834, now in the grocery business in Tecumseh; Wallace, born January 30th, 1836, died May 31st, 1850; Henry L., born June 9th, 1838, a merchant of Leavenworth, Kansas; Ralph J., born December 8th, 1839, a farmer of Palmyra; Mary E., born April 11th, 1843, wife of Thomas Burnham, of Albany, New York; Barton C., born March 31st, 1845, wholesale mer-
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
chant of Leavenworth, Kansas; one son died an infant. Mrs. Dian Clark was born in Onondaga county, New York, . August 20th, 1806, and died in Palmyra, December 24th, 1862. Lester P. Clark was at one time a prominent dry goods merchant of Adrian, and was an active business man of that city. He died in Palmyra, April 23d, 1877. Ralph J. Clark, of Palmyra, was married February 22d, 1864, to Miss Myra A. Corbett, daughter of Emery P. and Mary A. Corbett, of Palmyra, by whom he has had two children, both sons, as follows: Herbert R., born June 14th, 1868; William E., born June 4th, 1876. Mrs. Ralph J. Clark, was born October 6th, 1845, in Palmyra. Her father, E. P. Corbett, was born in Chautauqua county, New York, June 27th, 1817, and died in Palmyra, October 16th, 1870. Her mother, Mrs. Mary A. Corbett, was born in Palmyra, and died there April 6th, 1846.
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ZRA COLE was born in Carmel, Putnam county, New York, March 30th, 1808. His father, Daniel Cole, was born in the same place, in 1780, and was always a farmer. In 1809 he moved to Covert, Seneca county, New York, where he purchased a new farm, which he cleared up, and improved, and built good buildings. He was a prominent man in the township and was a deacon of the first Baptist church organized in Seneca county, from its incipiency to the time of his death, which occurred October 12th, 1848. February 9th, 1800, he married Miss Sally Hopkins, daughter of Joseph Hopkins, of Carmel, Putnam county, New York, by whom he had twelve children, Ezra being the first son and fourth child. Mrs. Sally Cole was born in Carmel, New York, 1782, and died in Covert, New York, July 2d, 1842. Ezra Cole lived with his parents until he was twenty years old. What little education he received was in the district schools of Covert. In 1829 he went to Catlin, Tioga county, New York, and pur- chased a new farm. The land was covered with a heavy growth of hemlock timber, and he was obliged to cut a road a mile through the woods to get to his land. He lived there three years and cleared up thirty acres, when he sold out and emigrated to Reed, Seneca county, Ohio, where he again purchased land in the wilderness, having to cut a road three miles to get to his premises. Here he lived for three years and cleared about thirty acres, build-
173
OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
ing a log house and frame barn. The nearest saw or flouring mill was twenty miles away, and he built his barn of lumber that he split and shaved out of white oak logs. There was not a sawed. piece of wood in the entire structure. In the fall of 1834 he again sold out, and came to Michigan. He arrived in Adrian in May, 1835, and having relatives, Hartwell Russell and A. K. Porter, who had then settled in Fairfield, he immediately went . to Mr. Russell's house. The fall previous, he came to Michigan to visit Mr. Russell and Mr. Porter, not thinking of buying, but. after looking around some days he liked the country so much better than where he was in Ohio, that he decided to purchase some land and return to Ohio and sell out, which he did as above stated. He purchased of Cassius M. Warner, the w. }, of the s. w. ¿ of section 17, also the e. }, of the s. e. Į of section 18, in Fairfield, where he has resided ever since. This was all new land, and he was again, for the third time, compelled to cut a road through the dense woods for nearly two miles to get to his land. The platted village of Weston stands upon his old farm on section eighteen, and he was really the founder of the village. Soon after his settlement here, about 1837, he was elected an assessor, and was re-elected for the two following years. In 1865 he was elected supervisor of Fairfield. He was formerly an active member of the Baptist church, and was largely instrumental in the erection of the first church in the south half of the county. He also assisted largely in building the Baptist church in Weston village. February 2d, 1828, he married Miss Angeline Porter, daughter of Lewis and Samantha Porter, of Covert, Seneca county, New York, by whom he has had thirteen children, as follows : Orvil P., born in Covert, New York, November 10th, 1828, died in Fairfield, this county, November 12th, 1851; Samantha, born in Catlin, 'Tioga county, New York, January 5th, 1831, wife of Cornelius Quick, of Fairfield; she died January 4th, 1870. Lydia, born in Reed, Seneca county, Ohio, September 28th, 1832, now the wife of George Holden, formerly of Adrian, now of Jacksonville, Florida; Lois S., born in Reed, Ohio, January 10th, 1834, now the wife of George Acker, of Morenci; Harriet P., born in Fairfield, June 23d, 1836, now the wife of David Holden, of Fairfield; Sarah H., born in Fairfield, January 19th, 1838, at home; Daniel H., born in Fairfield, June 24th, 1840, at home; Jane T., born in Fairfield, February 4th, 1842, now the wife of W. L. Ten Brook, of Austin, Missouri; Miner T., born in Fairfield, June 4th, 1845, died April 24th, 1846; Matilda L., born in Fairfield, March 30th, 1847, now the wife W. H. Cole, of Fayette, Ohio ; John H., born in Fairfield, December 21st, 1848, runs the home farm; Asaph E.,
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
born in Fairfield, October 26th, 1850, died September 22d, 1851 ; Adelbert, born in Fairfield, December 4th, 1853, died February 5th, 1854. Mrs. Angeline Cole was born in Covert, Seneca county, New York, October 6th, 1810. Her father, Lewis Porter, was born in Connecticut, May 24th, 1786, and died in Covert, Seneca county, New York, in 1862. Her mother, Samantha King, was born in Covert, Seneca county, New York, April 15th, 1791, and died there March 21st, 1817. In 1840, Mrs. Cole was stricken with paralysis, and since that time has been a cripple, losing control of her right limb. She is a sister of A. K. Porter, of Fairfield.
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TEPHEN KNIGHT was born in Greenwood, Oxford county, Maine, July 15th, 1814. His father, Daniel Knight, was born in Maine, in 1786. He was brought up a farmer, and owned a farm in Greenwood, where he lived until 1852, when he emigrated to Wisconsin, and lived near Madison, until his death, in 1856. In 1797 he married Miss Sally Tubbs, daughter of Jacob and Desire Tubbs, who were among the first settlers of Oxford county, Maine. By this marriage there were ten children, Stephen being the fifth child. Mrs. Sally Knight was born in Maine, in 1788, and died in Pownal, Maine, in 1856. Stephen Knight was brought up a farmer, and has always followed that avocation. He lived with his parents until he was twenty-one, and only went to school enough to learn to read, write, and " figure a little." He lived in Maine until the year 1839, and for five years previous to that time worked in the lumber woods of the northern part of that State. In April, 1839, he started for Michigan, the distance being about 1,400 miles, and was three weeks making the trip. The first 140 miles he made in a sleigh. At Portland he took a boat for Boston. From Boston he went to Providence, over the only railroad then in New England. At Providence he took a boat for New York. At New York he took a steam boat up the Hudson river to Albany. At Albany he took the railroad to Schenectady. At Schenectady he took a boat on the Erie canal, and went to Buffalo. At Buffalo he purchased a ticket for Toledo, the boat taking him to Detroit, but as he did not give up his ticket, he got passage there on another boat. At Toledo he took the Erie and Kalamazoo railroad, the only railroad west of Buffalo at that time, and arrived in Adrian May 9th.
175
OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
That fall he purchased eighty acres of land in Eaton county, but never settled there. In 1844 he purchased a farm in Adrian township, on section eleven, where he lived until 1851, when he sold out, and purchased another farm on the school section, in the same township. He sold out again in 1855, and lived in the city two years. In the spring of 1857 he purchased a farm on section ten, in Adrian, and resided there until 1863. He again sold, and purchased a farm in Raisin, near Z. Cook's, where he lived until 1865. That year he purchased his present farm, on section twenty- one, in Adrian, where he now resides. April 19th, 1840, he married Miss Eliza A. Marlatt, daughter of Obid and Anna Marlatt, of Yates, Orleans county, New York, by whom he has had five children, as follows : Aurilla, born in Ogden, February 24th, 1841, wife of Thomas Armstrong, of Adrian; Grandville, born in Adrian, December 9th, 1842, a farmer of Adrian ; Almy, born in Adrian, May 22d, 1846, died July 7th, 1847 ; Ambrose B. born in Adrian, June 25th, 1850, of Adrian township ; Stephen H., born in Adrian, November 13th, 1852, farmer of Adrian. Mrs. Eliza A. Knight was born in Yates, Orleans county, New York, August 10th, 1824. She came to Michigan with her uncle, Jacob Boon, in 1833. Her father and mother were born in the State of New York. Her father was born May 20th, 1799, and died August, 2d 1830. Her mother was born February 10th, 1805, and died May 4th, 1879. Mr. Knight has been elected highway commissioner of Adrian for several years, and is now serving as justice of the peace, of that township.
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EYMOUR BARRETT was born in Williamstown, Berk- shire county, Massachusetts, February 12th, 1815. His father, Benjamin Barrett, was born in Massachusetts, in 1784, and was raised a farmer, and at the time of his death, December 28th, 1828, he owned a large dairy farm in Manchester, Bennington county, Vermont, and milked fifty-five cows, the largest dairy in his township. He manufactured cheese and butter, for the New York market. He was not engaged in the war of 1812, but was a teamster employed in transporting military supplies from Troy, New York, to Montreal, Canada. At the time of his death, he was a lieutenant in an artillery company in the Vermont State troops. About 1814, he married Miss Chloe Harrison, daughter of Captain
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Almond and Jerusha Harrison, of Williamstown, Massachusetts, by whom he had nine children, Seymour being the oldest. Mrs. Chloe Barrett was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1786, and died in Blissfield, August 27th, 1863. Seymour Barrett lived at home until the death of his father, when, he being the oldest, the cares of the farm devolved upon him, but as his father was involved, the property was sold at administrator's sale, when, after a little time, he, with his mother, rented a farm of seventy-six acres, for which they paid a rent of one dollar per acre. At the end of one year, the family, consisting of his mother and nine children, had lived and saved seventy-six dollars. In the spring of 1832, Seymour, with his mother and grandmother, Mrs. Jerusha Harrison, came to Michigan for the purpose of finding a home in the then vast wilderness. They landed at Detroit, and Mrs. Barrett having a brother living in Blissfield-Almond Harrison- they came directly to his house, which then stood on the east bank of the Raisin, near where the Blissfield mills now stand. After a few days' rest and looking around, Seymour and his mother purchased two hundred and forty-six acres of land of Solomon Harrison, on sections twenty and twenty-nine, Seymour now living on the fractional part of the tract, on section twenty. After this purchase, they returned to Massachusetts, and remain- ed until the following spring-1833-when, on the 17th day of May, with the family and their effects, they arrived in Blissfield. Since that time Seymour has lived on his land, and has improved it, and erected a fine residence, good barns, sheds, etc. He paid very little attention to farming, up to 1862, having followed the millwright and machinist business. He assisted in building the first saw-mill erected in Blissfield. Since that time there have been four saw-mills and two flouring-mills erected in the village, and Mr. Barrett built them all, besides two steam saw-mills in the township. He has built many other saw-mills in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin, and spent three years in the Phoenix foundry and machine shop, of Cleveland, Ohio. He was superin- tendent one year, of the large machine shop of Charles R. Fox, in Chicago. Since 1862 he has spent his time on his farm in Blissfield, and attended especially to farming, besides carrying on one of the largest cider mills in the county. December 9th, 1840, he married Miss Sophia Parker, daughter of Ira and Sarah Parker, of Lyons, New York. They have never had issue, but have brought up one boy and one girl, as follows : Frank Bliven, now of Deerfield, and Miss Sophia Parker, now the wife of W. F. Samsen, one of the publishers of the Blissfield Advance. Mrs. Sophia Barrett was born May 2d, 1821, in Palmyra, Wayne
177
OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
county, New York. Her mother died when she was about two years old, and she was brought up by her aunt, Mrs. Jacob White, and came to Michigan, and settled in Lima, Washtenaw county, in 1833. Her father was born in South Adams, Massachusetts, and died in Lyons, New York, in 1842. Her mother was born on Long Island, New York, and died in Farmington, Wayne county, New York, in 1823.
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ENJAMIN KELLEY was born in Sidney, Kennebec county, Maine, September 7th, 1823. His father, Libni Kelley, was born in Dennis, Massachusetts, January 27th, 1799, and went to the State of Maine with his father, John W. Kelley, when he was a child. Libni Kelley lived there until 1824, when he emigrated to Wheatland, Monroe county, New York. He learned the blacksmith's trade with his father, and always carried on a shop in connection with his farm. In the fall of 1836 he came to Michigan and settled in Raisin, on section twenty-three, where he now resides. December 28th, 1822, he married Miss Deborah Estes, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah Estes, of Sidney, Kenne- bec county, Maine, by whom he had six children, three sons and three daughters, all of whom are living, Benjamin being the oldest. Mrs. Deborah Kelley was born in Massachusetts in 1804, and died in Raisin, August 14th, 1839. Her father, Benjamin Estes, was born in Massachusetts, and died at Caledonia, Livingston county, New York, in 1850. Her mother, Sarah Estes, was born in Massachusetts, and died in Caledonia in 1854. Benjamin Kelley, the subject of this sketch, came to Michigan with his parents in 1836, in his thirteenth year, and was brought up a farmer, receiving only a common district school education. He lived with his father until he was twenty-one, after which time he worked the old farm on shares, for seven years. In the spring of 1851 he purchased the e. ¿ , of the n. w. ¿ of section 14, in Raisin, it being a comparatively new farm. He has resided on this place ever since, and has built nearly all the buildings and made all the improvements himself. He has added to this purchase until he has now one hundred and eighty-five acres on the home farm besides a fifty acre improved farm one mile east, on section twenty- four, and one hundred and thirty acres on the s. w. ¿ of section eighteen, in Ridgeway. He is one of the prominent men of the
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
township, and has always been active in all township and general improvements. He served seventeen consecutive years as road commissioner, and has often refused to be a candidate for other and more important offices. During the part thirty years he has been engaged, more or less, in buying, selling, and shipping cattle, sheep, and hogs, and was, for about twenty years, a partner with T. J. Tobey, of Adrian, in the business. He is still in the same business on his own account. May 5th, 1847, he married Miss Jane Melinda Hoxie, daughter of John and Phebe Hoxie, of Palmyra, by whom he has had one child : Millard F., born April 9th, 1848, and died March 11th, 1849. Mrs. Jane M. Kelley was born March 24th, 1827, at Sempronius, Cayuga county, New York, and came to Michigan with her parents, who settled in Palmyra, in 1833. Her father, John Hoxie, was born in Dutchess county, New York, February 14th, 1783, and died in Raisin, January 24th, 1873. Her mother, Phebe Hoxie, was born in Massachusetts, April 8th, 1786, and died in Palmyra, August 8th, 1842. Mr. and Mrs. Kelley have always been members of the Society of Friends. In politics he was a Whig, but of late years has acted with the Republican party. Mr. and Mrs. Kelley have brought up four children, three of whom lived with them until they were married, as follows: Sarah L. Milligan, now the wife of Frank Smith, a farmer of Tecumseh township; Madison M. Graves, a farmer of Palmyra; Alzora Hoxie, wife of John Hollister, a farmer of Raisin; and Fannie G. Kelley, now only . six years old, at home.
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AMES LANNING was born in Huntington, Sussex county, New Jersey, October 5th, 1810. His father, Cornelius Lanning, was born in the same place, where he was a farmer, and where he died 1825. He married Miss Charity Young, of Sussex county, by whom he had nine children, three sons and six daughters, five of whom are now living, and residents of Lenawee county. Mrs. Cornelius Lanning was born in Sussex county, and died there in 1835. James Lanning, the subject of this sketch, lived in New Jersey until 1829. He then went to Ovid, Seneca county, New York, where he lived until the fall of 1832, when he came to Michigan, and settled, taking up from the government
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