USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > History and biographical record of Lenawee County, Michigan, Volume I > Part 21
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in a machine shop for one year. He then went upon the Pittsburg and Ft. Wayne road as an engineer, and served in that capacity three years, when, owing to a strike, he went to the Chicago and North Western road, and run a locomotive two years; he was then appointed master mechanic of the Northern division of the Colum- bus, Chicago and Indiana Central road, which position he held for nearly five years. In 1869 he was appointed superintendent of the Eastern division of the Michigan Air Line road, in the north- ern part of Michigan, where he spent two years in constructing and operating the road. In 1871 he became traveling engineer of the Michigan Central railroad, and remained there one year. In 1872 he purchased a farm on section five, in Fairfield, this county. He lived on this farm one year, when he was appointed superin- tendent of the motive power of the Chicago, Danville and Vin- cennes railroad. In 1874 he returned to Lenawee county and re-purchased his farm, where he now resides. After the completion of the Fayette division of the Canada Southern railroad, he run a locomotive six months. This was the last of his "railroading," and he says he shall never pull another "throttle" or work another day for any corporation. He has served his time, "done his share," and escaped with his life, safe and sound, and is satisfied with owning a good farm and being his own "boss" at home. August 11th, 1857, he married Miss Lucy J. Carpenter, daughter of Charles S. and Sarah J. Carpenter, of Lyons, Ohio, by whom he has had three children, as follows: Carrie B., born in Adrian, June 22d, 1858, died August 7th, 1858; Llewellyn A., born at Lyons, Ohio, November 24th, 1859, at home; Nellie A., born at Janesville, Wisconsin, October 19th, 1864, at home. Mrs. Lucy J. BeDell was born at Fallkirk, New York, May 15th, 1839, and came to Ohio with her parents, in 1856. Her father and mother were born near Lockport, New York. Her mother died in Palmyra, this county, July 5th, 1872; her father now resides in Palmyra, this county.
LARENCE E. BENNETT, son of Capt. Benjamin G. and Lorette Bennett, was born at Ann Arbor, Michigan, August 10th, 1844. His parents soon after moved to Centerville, this state, where they resided until the year 1855, when his father was appointed route agent on the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana railroad, and the family removed to Toledo, Ohio.
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Clarence, the subject of this sketch, attended school in that city up to the year 1860, when he went to Jackson, Michigan, and com- menced to learn the printing business, remaining there until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when he enlisted, before he was seventeen, in the 1st Michigan Cavalry, under Col. Thornton F. Brodhead, but before the regiment left the State, he was transferred to the 11th Michigan Infantry, in the same regiment with his father, who was captain of a company. He remained in the ser- vice for two years, participating in the campaigns and marches in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Northern Alabama, when he was taken sick, and sent to the hospital, at Nashville, and remained there for some months, when he was discharged from the service, and return- ed to his home. He soon after came to Adrian, where he still resides. About the year 1863 he was employed as clerk in the Adrian post-office, where he remained for one year, after which he embarked in the hat, cap and fur trade, in Adrian, and was engaged in the same business, until November 1st, 1879, when he sold his stock and entered into partnership with Adrian parties to establish brass works in Detroit. He was elected alderman of the Second ward, in the spring of 1875, and re-elected in the spring of 1877. In the spring of 1878 he was unanimously elected president of the city council, and upon the failure of the mayor elect to fill the office, he became acting mayor, and served during the year. He was married to Miss L. Imogene Worden, daughter of A. and L. A. Worden, October 27th, 1868.
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ON. ALFRED D. HALL was born in Byron, Genesee county, New York, January 6th, 1824. His father, Capt. Stephen P. Hall, was born December 15th, 1797, in New London, Connecticut. His grandfather, Benjamin Hall, was a sailor and farmer, sailing winters in the West India trade, and running his farm summers. Stephen P. Hall emigrated to Coop- erstown, Otsego county, New York, with his parents, in his early youth. The family afterwards moved to Genesee county, and were among the early settlers there. He lived in Genesee county until the spring of 1845, when he emigrated to Michigan and settled near Albion, Calhoun county, on a new farm, where he lived until his death, on the 4th of March, 1861. June 1st, 1822, he married Miss Clarissa Dibble, daughter of Andrew Dibble, of Byron, Genesee county, New York, by whom he had eight chil-
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dren, four sons and four daughters, all of whom grew to be men and women, Alfred D. being the oldest of the family. Mrs. Clarissa Hall was born May 4th, 1801, in Delaware county, New York, and is still living, in Jackson county, Michigan. Alfred D. Hall lived with his father until he was twenty-one, and received a good common school education. He was brought up a farmer, but for seven years he taught a district school during the winter. In the fall of 1845 he came to Michigan and settled in Calhoun county, where he purchased a new farm and subsequently cleared it up. He lived there until the winter of 1853-4, when he purchased the farm where he now resides, in Tecumseh town- ship, known as the Judge Hoag farm, situated one and a half miles north-east of the village, moving his family in the spring of 1854. While he was a resident of Calhoun county he was elect- ed a justice of the peace. In April, 1862, he was elected president and treasurer of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Lenawee county, which position he held for ten or twelve years. He was one of the organizers, original incorporators, and framers of the charter of this company, which is now so universally recognized by the farmers of the county. He was afterwards made secretary of the company, and until the present year has been one of its directors. He has served as president of the Lenawee County Agricultural Society five years. In the spring of 1873 he was elected supervisor of Tecumseh, and has served in that capacity for five years, and was one year-1876-chairman of the board of supervisors. In the fall of 1876 he was elected a representative in the Michigan Legislature, and was re-elected to the 'same office in 1878. At the commencement of the session of 1879 he was made chairman of the committee on the agricul- tural college, second on ways-and-means, and also second on the joint committee on the revision of the tax laws. September 9th, 1851, he married Miss Emily A. Todd, daughter of James B. and Sarah Todd, of Byron, New York, by whom he had two children, as follows : Daniel T., born May 15th, 1852, of the drug firm of Baker & Hall, Tecumseh ; Sarah A., born December 27th, 1854, wife of E. J. Stevenson, of the firm of A. Stevenson & Son, of Adrian. Mrs. Emily A. Hall died in Tecumseh, February 21st, 1862. February 15th, 1865, he married Miss Engelina Heesen, daughter of Rudolph and Petronella Heesen, of Cleveland, Ohio, by whom he has had five children, as follows: Frank H., born July 22d, 1866, at home ; George E., born June 16th, 1868, died April 30th, 1869; William E., born May 15th, 1870, at home; Rachel N. M., born December 5th, 1872, at home; Emily E., born February 15th, 1875, at home. Mrs. Engelina Hall was
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
born in Dinxperlo, Kingdom of Holland, April 19th, 1838. Her father and mother were born in Holland, and emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1844. Her mother died in Cleveland, July 4th, 1848. Her father resided in Cleveland until a short time before his death, which occurred in Tecumseh, April 17th, 1861.
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AMES PATRICK was born in Palmyra, Wayne county, New York, November 12th, 1818. Mr. Patrick knows but little of his father, as he died in 1826, and his history is somewhat obscure. It is only known that his ancestors came from Ireland, sometime during the last century. His mother was Miss Amanda Drake, daughter of Josiah and Anna Drake, of Palmyra, New York. She was one of three children, who were born at one time, one boy and two girls. The boy, D. T. Drake, now lives at Saline, in Washtenaw county. The sisters lived to be nearly sixty years old, and both raised families. Amanda Drake was born in Salem, Washington county, New York, and married James Patrick, in 1815. They had six children, James, the subject of this sketch, being the third child and second son. Mrs. Amanda Patrick, about the year 1833, married a man by the name of Smith. She died in Rollin, October 3d, 1856. James Patrick left home when he was eight years old, and lived with a man named Samuel Beal, of Shelby, Orleans county, New York, with whom he learned the cooper's trade. He lived with Mr. Beal until he was about nineteen years old. He followed coopering until 1841, when he came to Michigan and settled in Rollin village, this county, and opened a cooper shop, which he run about four years, when he purchased an interest in the Rollin carding and cloth dressing mill. He run this mill for two years, when wool advanced to a price that made the business unprofitable, and he finally sold out. He then leased the Rollin saw mill, of Addison J. Comstock, and run it four years. 1853 he purchased fifty- eight acres of timbered land of Addison J. Comstock, on the west side of the Rollin mill-pond, and since that time has purchased of Mr. Comstock until he now owns 160 acres. He has cleared over 100 acres of this land, and has a good, productive farm. He has erected good buildings, set out a large orchard, &c. June 5th, 1841, he married Miss Mary Jane Morehouse, daughter of
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Ebenezer and Esther Morehouse, of Gaines, Orleans county, New York, by whom he has had two children, as follows : Viorna A., born in Rollin, March 4th, 1842, widow of Perry N. Rowley, who died at Decatur, Alabama, October 3d, 1863, while a soldier in the war of the rebellion ; Willis W., born in Rollin, September 19th, 1855, died February 3d, 1862. Mrs. Mary J. Patrick was born in Cato, Cayuga county, New York, September 15th, 1819. Her parents were born in New Jersey.
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OHN E. MOREY was born in Camillus, Onondaga county, New York, May 6th, 1821. He is the son of Dr. John, and Lovisa Morey. His father was a practicing physician of Camillus for many years. He was a native of Washington, New York, and was undoubtedly the "tallest doctor" in central New York, being six feet and six inches high in his stocking feet, and was one of the most supple men in the country, having jumped, on a wager, over a rope stretched for the purpose, seven feet from the ground. He died in Camillus in 1830, aged fifty-one years. His wife, Mrs. Lovisa Morey, died in Reading, Hillsdale county, Michigan, in 1840, aged fifty-one years. John E. Morey, the subject of this sketch, left home immediately after his father's death, when he was but nine years of age. He never went to school a day after he was thirteen years old. In 1834 he came west and lived at Maumee, Ohio, with his mother until 1836, when he came to Adrian and commenced to learn the printer's trade in the old Adrian Watch Tower office, with R. W. Ingals. He served his apprenticeship of six years, and made his home in the family of Mr. Ingals for about nine years. Just before leaving the employ of Mr. Ingals-being an expert type setter- he decided that he would "test his capacity" and see how many thousand "ems" he could set in ten hours. He commenced work at seven o'clock in the morning, and with the assistance of an apprentice to distribute an extra "case" or two, he set, in ten hours, 18,320 "ems," "solid" brevier. The "matter" was measured by Mr. Ingals at the time. It was the " biggest " day's work ever done by any compositor in the United States at that time, and has hardly been beaten since. In 1845 he went to Rochester, New York, as foreman, or superintendent, of the Daily American office of that city. He remained in that capacity until 1850. In 1851
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
he became one of the proprietors of the American. In 1854 he sold out his interest and went into the Daily Advertiser office, where he remained until 1856, when he purchased the office and con- solidated it with the Daily Union, and since that time has been one of the proprietors of the Rochester Daily Union and Advertiser, the leading Democratic paper of Western New York, and, in a finan- cial point of view, one of the most prosperous in the country. June 1st, 1845, he married Miss Ann Maria Smith, of Rochester, by whom he had four children, as follows : Sarah Elizabeth, born April 4th, 1847, now the wife of Channing C. Woodworth, at the present time president of the fire and water board of Rochester ; Frances Lovisa, born November 22d, 1848, died October 31st, 1875 ; John E. Jr., born November 22d, 1856, connected with the Daily Union and Advertiser office; Fred S., born June 12th, 1860, died March 14th, 1863. All of the children were born in Rochester, New York. Mrs. Ann Maria Morey was born in New London, Connecticut, June 1st, 1822, and came to Rochester with her parents in 1823; she died in Rochester, October 3d, 1872. Although Mr. Morey has made himself a successful business, having worked out his own career from the time he was nine years of age, his life has been a checkered one. His success is due solely to his indomitable pluck and energy. Mr. Morey lost his residence in Adrian in 1845; he has never lost his old love and respect for its citizens and has visited the city nearly every year since, and is always met with a kind welcome and a friendly grasp by his hosts of friends.
ILLIAM WIGGINS was born in Phelpstown, Ontario county, New York, February 25th, 1821. His father, Samuel Wiggins, was born in Warwick, Orange county, New York, in 1795, and at the age of sixteen was bound out until he was twenty-one, as an apprentice to the carpenter's trade. When he became twenty-one he commenced business for himself, in the same town, and lived there until 1823, when he moved to Phelpstown, Ontario county. He resided in Phelpstown until the fall of 1835, when he came to Ohio, and located one hundred and twenty acres of government land, on section twelve in Lucas county, two and a half miles east of the village of Sylvania, where he lived until his death, which occurred in July, 1851. About
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1819 he married Miss Ann Horton, of Warwick, Orange county, New York, by whom he had eight children, William being the oldest. Mrs. Ann Wiggins was born in Warwick, New York, in 1799, and is still living, with her son, in Riga. William Wiggins lived with his parents until he was twenty-one, and was brought up a farmer. His schooling was limited, being confined to winters in a district school. He came to Ohio with his parents, and assisted his father in clearing up his farm there. In the spring of 1842 he went to Toledo-then a small town-and for three years, worked in a saw-mill which was owned by Judge Meyers. Dur- ing this time-in 1845-he located government land, on section twelve, in Sylvania township, Lucas county, Ohio. In 1846 he settled on this land, and lived there for seven years. In 1853 he sold out, and purchased a new farm on section thirty-two, in Riga, Lenawee county, Michigan. This farm is situated one-half mile north of the Ohio State line, and south-west of the cotton-wood swamp. He cleared up this farm, and built a log house, in which he lived until 1873, when he sold out to a Mr. Emerson, and moved to Riga village. Since that time he has been in the employ of Dewey, Foster & Co., as foreman of their extensive cooper. shop. This shop is connected with the large stave-mill, and manufactures from ninety to one hundred barrels per day. Mr. Wiggins says that his first visit to Toledo was in 1835, when he sailed up the Maumee river, three days and two nights out from Buffalo, on the old steamboat, Commodore Perry, Capt. Wilkinson. At that time there was a log warehouse at the mouth of Swan creek, and a frame hotel, built that year, called the " Washington House." There were a few dwelling houses and stores, but most of the ground now occupied by the city was covered with water, brush and clay banks. He was often there during the construction of the Wabash canal, and was present when the water was let into the section between Maumee and Providence, a distance of eigh- teen miles, the first that was completed between Toledo and Ft. Wayne. Before Riga was organized as a township, and before there was a settler within its borders, he has hunted deer, bear and turkey, through its wilderness of cotton-wood timber, and dense swamps. When a young man he followed hunting during the winter season, and has probably killed as many deer as any man in the county. December 5th, 1844, he married Miss Ann Scott, daughter of Matthew and Elizabeth Scott, of Richfield, Lucas county, Ohio, by whom he has had six children, as follows : Lucine, born in Sylvania, Lucas county, Ohio, January 11th, 1846, now of Wood county, Ohio ; Charles, born in Sylvania, Ohio, October 5th, 1850, now of Riga ; Elizabeth, born in Sylva-
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
nia, Ohio, February 5th, 1852, now the wife of Samuel Woolever, of Riga ; Taylor, born in Riga, Lenawee county, Michigan, May 18th, 1855, now of Wood county, Ohio; two children died in infancy. Mrs. Ann Wiggins was born in Johnston, Montgomery county, New York, February 2d, 1820, and came to Ohio with her parents in 1837, and settled in Richfield, Lucas county. Her father was born in Momtgonery county, New York, in 1798, and died in Richfield, Ohio, in 1867. Her mother was of Scotch extraction, and was born in Montgomery county, New York, in 1793, and died in Richfield, Ohio, 1871.
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HESTER J. RANDALL, son of Isaac Randall, was born in the township of Clarkston, Monroe county, New York, December 28th, 1820, and came to Michigan with his par- ents, in 1826, with whom he lived until of age, helping to clear up his father's farm, sharing with his brothers and sisters the toils of a pioneer life. Being very expert in the use of mechanical tools, on becoming twenty-one, he began working at the trade of a carpenter and joiner, which he followed for nearly twenty-five years. In 1845 he married Amanda M. Valentine, who was born January 25th, 1827, in the town of Ogden, this county, and by whom he has had three children, the first two of them dying in infancy, the third, Moses F., born in Blissfield, March 10th, 1850, and at the age of twenty-one years, married Miss Louise Beagle, and is now living in the village of Blissfield. In 1850 Chester J. Randall purchased the e. 1 of the s. e. frac'l 1 of sec. 36, in township 7, s., range 4, e., and the n. e. frac'n of sec 1, in the township of Ogden, containing in all 1372 acres, for which he paid six and one-half dollars per acre, and at, that time, excepting seven acres, it was covered with a heavy growth of timber. In the spring of 1852 he built a log house on this land, and immediately commenced the work of clearing off the timber, and fitting the soil for cultivation. In 1873, after clearing up and improving sixty-five acres of this land, and erecting good buildings thereon, his health failing, he sold his farm and bought some property in the village of Blissfield, where he now resides. He has served as an officer of the school board, of the east side village school, dur-
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ing the last five years. He was elected by a large majority of votes, to the office of village assessor, in 1876-7, and appointed to the same office by the village council in 1878, and in 1879 he was again elected to the office of village assessor, by a nearly unani- mous vote. From 1826 to 1836 game, consisting of bears, wolves, turkeys, coons and deer, was found in plenty. Occasionally a bear would confiscate a porker, or a wolf help himself to mutton, . while the coon would feast himself upon the growing corn-and the deer would feed on buckwheat cakes before the grain was har-
vested. In the spring of the year the blackbirds and pigeons would sit around the fields and keep watch of the sprouting corn. At first, one dollar was offered for the scalp of each and every wolf that could be caught or shot, and twenty-five cents for every hun- dred blackbirds destroyed. Later the bounty was doubled, and at last five dollars was paid for the scalp of a wolf. About this time some one hundred and fifty Indians and squaws, with their families, came down the trail-some of them riding on ponies, and others on foot-with a dozen or more dogs following them, and when they were passing his father's field, where a few sheep were kept, two or three of the dogs leaped the fence and ran after the sheep. On seeing this, Chester Randall (then about twelve years old) went into the house, and taking his father's musket, ran into the field, which was near by, and resting the gun on a stump, shot down one of the dogs, as it was about to catch a sheep. The Indians seeing this act peformed, made no complaint, but quick- ened their march, and were soon out of sight. The father chided the son for this act at the time, and nothing more was thought of the affair, until four or five days after, while passing along the river bank, some half a mile from the house, three Indian canoes were found, tied to stakes driven into the bank, at the water's edge, and in which were sundry tin kettles, and some twelve or fifteen pounds of honey. It now appeared that some of the red men had come down the river in their canoes, and meeting their friends at this place, the shooting of their dog had been discussed among them, and thinking it not a safe place to set up their tents, had hastily left the old camping ground, leaving their canoes, etc., be- hind. Two years later this boy was aroused from sleep, at mid- night, by the cry of a wolf, near the house, and thinking that the sheep were in danger, (which were always at this time yarded near the house at night) got out of his bed, put on his clothes, and tak- ing a loaded rifle, started out to look after the sheep, and on opening the door, a large wolf was seen-the night being light- standing, not twelve feet away. It took but a moment to raise the rifle and shoot at the wolf, which fell to the ground, but got up
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
and ran into the forest. Upon getting a light, it was found the wolf had been wounded, and the next morning he was tracked by his blood, more than a mile, when the trail was lost and the chase given over. Again, nearly a year later, toward the last of Sep- tember, at one o'clock in the night, this same boy, wakened from his sleep by the pitiful cry of a calf in distress, came down from his sleeping room, and taking a heavy rifle, went out to the pas- ture, some forty rods from the house, to find out the trouble with the calf. It being near the full moon, the night was very light, except a thick fog resting on the ground, to the highth of four or five feet, thus completely hiding everything on the ground, to that highth. Guided by the cry of the calf, which could be heard every three or four minutes, this boy, now accompanied by a younger brother, slowly made his way toward the object of his search, which could not be seen, until within fifteen feet of them, when three calves were discovered standing close to each other, and a large bear sitting on a prostrate calf, eating the flesh from one of its hind quarters. In a moment more the rifle was raised, and discharged at the bear, which appeared to roll off the calf and tumble end over end toward the woods, eight or ten rods distant. In getting over, the fence he fell backward, pulling a rail off. Gathering himself up, he was soon into the thick forest, and out of sight. Blood being found on the fence the next morning, an attempt was made to follow him; the blood. stopped flowing soon after he got into the woods, and further pursuit was given up. A few days later his carcass was found some half mile away. Some time in November, following the occurrence of the above incident, one afternoon while Isaac Randall, two sons, and a hired man were engaged in chopping, on the river flats, their dog became very restless, running from place to place, barking violently. At length it was found that the dog had chased some animal up a tree. The tree being very tall and full of leaves, the choppers could not tell exactly what sort of a creature they had at bay, but it was thought to be a grey fox, and again the hero of the preced- ing incidents brought the gun, and soon brought down the game, which was found to be a creature not definitely known to any one present, having a head resembling that of a wild cat, a short, stumpy tail, and long sharp claws. Its general color was not very unlike that of a young deer, and was covered with dark colored spots, about the size of a quarter of a dollar, and arranged in reg- ular order, lengthwise its body. When standing on the ground, it would be twenty or twenty-four inches high; a boy fourteen or fifteen years old, taking its hind feet over his shoulders, its head would drag on the ground.
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