USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > History and biographical record of Lenawee County, Michigan, Volume I > Part 26
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
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OSEPH I. TALMADGE was born in Williamstown, Berk - shire county, Massachusetts, August 17th, 1807. His father, Asa Talmadge, was born in the same place, October 1st, 1776, and died in the same place, February 8th, 1862. He married Miss Abigail Tyler, also of Williamstown. Their family consist- ed of twelve children, six sons and six daughters. The oldest, Eli, was born June 8th, 1801, and died in Johnsonsburgh, New
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
York, July 10th, 1866. Charlotte D., born in Williamstown, and married Justin Ford, of the same place, where she died. Juliette, born in Williamstown, and married William Shadduck, of the same place, and died at North Adams, Mass. Mary A , born in Williamstown, where she was married to Benjamin Dunn, and now resides in Pownal, Vermont. Henry T., born in Williamstown, where he was married and still lives. Harriet J., born in Wil- liamstown, where she was married to David Walley, and now lives in Nevada. George S., born in Williamstown, where he married. He died in Nevada. Edwin A., born in Stephentown, New York, and married in Williamstown, where he still lives. Charles E., born in Stephentown, is married and now lives at Williamstown. Orcelia, born in Stephentown, moved to Williamstown and mar- ried Edwin Blakesley, where they now reside. Frances, the youngest, was born in Stephentown, and died in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Joseph I, the subject of this sketch, lived at home until he was fourteen years of age, when he went out to work by the month, which he continued for twelve years, at from five to eleven and one-half dollars per month, at the end of which time he laid up one thousand and thirty dollars. In 1834 he came to Michigan and settled in Blissfield, where he first purchased of the government a farm of ninety-seven acres, which he added to until he owned one hundred and ninety-seven acres. He chopped and cleared up seventy acres of the same. One hundred acres of the above he sold to William Willett; the balance he still owns, together with thirty acres purchased of George Bliven, which is a part of the George Giles estate. Mr. Talmadge was married to Miss Abi- gail Fisk, at New Lebanon Springs Dec. 24th, 1831, by whom he has had five children, four girls and one boy, all born in Blissfield, as follows : Juliette, born October 3d, 1835, and died April 27th, 1843. Harriet M., born May 27th, 1837, married James Wilkin- son, of Adrian, December 25th, 1854, and died May 30th, 1860 George H., born January 4th, 1839, married Miss Caroline West- erman, January 4th, 1858, and now lives in Toledo, Ohio. Mary J., born February 16th, 1842, married for her first husband James Wilkinson, who died in California, April 10th, 1866 ; for her sec- ond husband she married William Whitman, and now lives in Blissfield. Ellen G., born November 29th, 1845, married Thomas O'Connelly, and now lives in Blissfield. Mrs. Talmadge was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, April 11th, 1808. Her father, Sam- uel Bartlet Fisk, was born in Rhode Island. He married Miss Vianna Estes, of the same state, by whom he had eight children, four girls and four boys. After a residence of about 15 years in Rhode Island, he went to Cheshire, Mass., as a millwright, and
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
erected several mills and factories. From there he went to Roches- ter, New York, about the year 1819, and followed his trade of build- ing mills, until he died. Mrs. J. I. Talmadge is an aunt of the late James Fisk Jr., of New York. Mr. Talmadge settled in Blissfield in 1834, built a log house on his farm about one mile from where the post-office now stands. He has experienced all the hardships and pleasures of a new country. He has killed many deer and turkeys, and often saw bears come near his house but never succeeded in killing one. He slaughtered the first beef in Bliss- field, and followed butchering, making boots and shoes, and farm- ing, all at the same time.
ON. GEORGE L. CRANE was born in Palmyra, Ontario county, (now Macedon, Wayne county,) New York, Novem- ber 20th, 1810. His father, George Crane, was born in Norton, Bristol county, Massachusetts, March 30th, 1783, where he lived until 1804, when he moved to Ontario county, New York, with his mother and sister, being twenty-two days on the road. He purchased a farm in Palmyra and lived there until 1833. He had received a common school education in Massachusetts, but after he settled in New York, he saw the necessity of a surveyor, as there were none in that part of the country. He purchased an outfit, with all the information then to be obtained, and spent every spare moment in study and practice. He soon became a most competent and reliable engineer and did a large amount of busi- ness. He lived in Palmyra until the spring of 1833, when he sold out and came to Michigan, arriving in Adrian the last of May. He immediately purchased of Benjamin I. Mather, 400 acres of land on section eighteen in Palmyra, and afterwards took up land from the government until he owned 2500 acres. During the first year-1833-he built a large frame house, the first to be erected in Palmyra. In 1835 he built a large brick house, also the first in the township. He manufactured his own brick on his farm. In 1834, when the Erie and Kalamazoo railroad company was formed for constructing a railroad from Toledo to Adrian, Mr. Crane took an active interest in this important undertaking, and was a stockholder and director. He had charge of the surveying and engineering between Adrian and Ottowa Lake. He always
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
owned stock in the road and was a director at the time of his death. He was one of the most prominent men in Lenawee county, no man being better or more favorably known than "uncle George Crane." Generous, honest, pure, and unselfish in all his acts and dealings with men, he carried with him the respect, confi- dence and esteem of all classes of people. He was an earnest member of the society of Friends. He gave three acres of land for a church and burying ground, and assisted largely in the con- struction of the church. His father was a Quaker, and his ancestors were English. He died at his home in Palmyra, April 17th, 1856. About 1803 he married Charity Lincoln, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Lincoln, near Taunton, Massachusetts, by whom he had seven children, George L. being the fourth child and oldest son. Mrs. Charity Crane was born in Taunton, Massachu- setts, August 7th, 1782. Her mother was Miss Elizabeth White, a direct descendant of Peregrine White, the first white child born in New England. Mrs. Crane died in Palmyra, September 22d, 1863. George L. Crane lived with his father until he was twenty- four years old, and received a very good education for those days. He was brought up a farmer and learned surveying of his father. He came to Michigan with his parents in 1833, and settled on section thirteen in Madison, in 1835. He has cleared up 200 acres of land, built a good frame house, good barns, sheds, &c., and set out a good orchard. For twenty years he followed survey- ing, and always used his father's compass and outfit. In 1862 he was elected a member of the Michigan Legislature, and served through two sessions. In 1842 he was elected supervisor of Madison, and also re-elected for the years 1856 and 1858. He was several times elected county surveyor, but never qualified. He was appointed superintendent of the poor, but resigned after serv- ing one year. He was also appointed county ditch commissioner, but soon after resigned. He has filled nearly all of the offices in his township. He was a pioneer anti-slavery man of the county, and was always an active worker in the cause, and has nothing to regret for his actions and convictions. October 1st, 1835, he mar- ried Miss Leah Ramsdell, seventh daughter of Gideon and Hannah Ramsdell, of Perrinton, Monroe county, New York, by whom he has had two children, as follows: Lucy R., born in Madison, September 24th, 1837, now the wife of John F. Jones, of Adrian; Calvin H., born in Madison, May 20th, 1842, now a farmer of Madison. Mrs. Leah Crane was born in Perrinton, Monroe county, New York, April 27th, 1815. Her father was born in Cummington, Massachusetts, January 30th, 1780, and moved to the State of New York about 1800. His ancestors came from
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Scotland. He died in Perrinton in 1860. Her mother was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, November 11th, 1783; she was the daughter of Jeremiah and Rachel Smith, of English and Scotch extraction. April 11th, 1866, Calvin H. Crane married Miss Jennie Mirick, daughter of George and Elsie Mirick, of Adrian, by whom he had one child: George H., born November 25th, 1871, now at home. Mrs. Jennie Crane died November 30th, 1871. July 24th, 1878, he married Mrs. Emma C. Kellogg, widow of Lewis B. Kellogg, of Clyde, New York, by whom she had one daughter, May, born in Clyde, April 13th, 1871. Mrs. Crane is the daughter of James and Harriet Livermore, of Hamil- ton, Madison county, New York. Her father was born in Madison, Madison county, New York, August 25th, 1814, and died September 12th, 1854. Her mother was born in Sangersfield, Oneida county, New York, September 26th, 1813, and died in April, 1853.
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LEMING MCMATH was born in Romulus, Seneca county, New York, January 14th, 1808. His father, Col. Samuel McMath, was born in Pennsylvania in 1783, where he lived until he was about nine years old, when his parents moved to Seneca county, New York, and purchased a farm. He lived with his father until his death, when he came into possession of the farm, and resided there until 1826, and was for some years, engag- ed in the lumber business. He went into the war of 1812 as cap- tain of a militia company, and was afterwards promoted to major and colonel. In the spring of 1826 he came to Michigan, and located land in Ypsilanti, Washtenaw county, but died the follow- ing August 16th, of fever, before his family came on from New York. May 24th, 1805, he married Miss Mary Fleming, daugh- ter of Robert Fleming, of Romulus, Seneca county, New York, by whom he had nine children, Fleming being the second child. Mrs. Mary McMath was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, June 20th, 1784, and went, with her parents, on horse-back, to Seneca county, New York, when she was about 16 years old. She died at Niles, Mich., November 20th, 1860. Fleming McMath came to Michigan with his father, in the spring of 1836, and re- mained until July, when he returned to New York to harvest some wheat and bring on the family in the fall, which he did. His
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
father dying in the meantime, the care of the family devolved upon him and his older brother. His father had taken up 320 acres of land in one tract, and deeded a lot each, of 80 acres, to Fleming and his brother. Fleming lived at home and assisted in clearing the land and supporting the family until 1829, when he returned to New York, on horse-back, through Canada, and was married. After this event, he returned to Michigan with his bride, taking her to his partly built log house in the woods. He lived there until 1835, when he sold and came to Lenawee county, and purchased 80 acres of Stephen Perkins, on section 2, in Dover, but shortly afterward took up 40 acres of government land adjoining on the north. Within a year or two he purchased 130 acres adjoining, on section 12 in Dover. With the exception of 20 acres, this was all new land when he purchased it. He has cleared and improved 150 acres and erected good buildings, and now resides there. He has served two terms as supervisor of Dover, and has been justice of the peace for fifteen years. April 24th, 1829, he married Miss Eliza Pruden, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Pruden, of Romulus, Seneca county, New York, by whom he has had seven children, as follows : Francis, born in Ypsilanti, April 27th, 1830, now a merchant of Swan Lake, Emmet county, Iowa; Roxana, born in Ypsilanti, June 13th, 1832, now the wife of James H. Shepherd, of Dover ; Elizabeth, born in Ypsilanti, January 13th, 1867, wife of S. D. Vaughn, of Dover, died December 6th, 1860; Eliza, born in Dover, Lenawee county, February 27th, 1836, now, the wife of Charles I. Shaw, of Plattsville, Wisconsin ; Laura A., born in Dover, April 27th, 1840, now the wife of S. D. Vaughn, of Dover; Fleming, Jr., born in Dover, March 16th, 1846, a farmer of Dover ; Esther, born in Dover, October 16th, 1853, at home. Mrs. Eliza McMath was born in Suckasunny, New Jersey, March 10th, 1809. Her father was born in New Jersey, in 1781, and died in Romulus, New York, in 1826. Her mother was born in New Jersey, in 1783, and died in the city of Adrian, Michigan, in 1857.
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EORGE W. HICKS, a former resident of the city of Adrian, and a gifted young man of much promise, was born in Watertown, New York, August, 1824. He was finely educated in Connecticut, and came to Adrian, Michigan, in 1841.
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
He became prominently identified in the organization of the mili - tary and fire departments of the city, and was a most efficient and useful member thereof. He was a ready writer, and contributed many articles, upon various subjects, to the press of the county. He was also an excellent speaker, and at one of the largest celebra- tions ever held in the city, on the 4th day of July, 1846, he delivered a graceful and eloquent oration, which was published, and most favorably commented upon. He died December 7th, 1846, suddenly, from disease of the heart.
OSEPH H. CLEVELAND was born in Athens, (on the Hudson river,) Greene county, New York, June 27th, 1809. His father, John Cleveland, was born in Hillsdale, Columbia county, New York, December 22d, 1786, and married Mary Scutt, who was born at Athens, Greene county, New York, February 20th, 1791-her ancestors coming from Holland, at an early day -her grandfather, Philip Scutt, was a captain in the war of the Revolution. The Clevelands in America, as far as known, descended from Moses Cleveland, who came from Ipswich, Eng- land, and settled at Woburn, Massachusetts, in 1635. Joseph H. Cleveland came to Adrian, Michigan, in the month of October, 1831, and engaged in merchandizing, which he relinquished in the spring of 1835. He was one of the then few early settlers, who took a lively interest in making Adrian a business and prosperons town, sparing largely of his own resources, and giving personal effort in opening roads, and building bridges, in order to make Adrian a point for the emigrant travel, which early settlers will remember, became very great-indeed, made Adrian a radiating point for those who settled in the county, and adjacent, What was then called the town of Logan, comprised what is now Adrian town- ship and city, Palmyra, Ogden, Rome, Rollin, Hudson, Dover, Madison, Fairfield, Seneca and Medina, and Mr. Cleveland was its town clerk in 1833. Mr. Cleveland did very considerable in obtaining the location of the county seat at Adrian ; also in locat- ing the Michigan Southern railroad through Adrian, spending months of time with the legislature, at Detroit, with others of his neighbors, and at their own individual expense. Our present population little understands or realizes the efforts, trials, labor and expense incident to pioneer life. Mr. Cleveland was a volunteer
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
in the first call for troops in the "Black Hawk" war, in 1832, marching west as far as Coldwater, Michigan, where all were dis- charged. Soon after, a further call was made, and a draft ordered, and he was drafted into the regular army, and, after five days, was again discharged, thus closing his military career, as he took no part in the " Toledo war," the next in our history. Mr. Cleveland was elected Sheriff of Lenawee county, in 1836-the year that the State was admitted into the Union-and again in 1838. He had much to do, officially, with that famous criminal, " old Sile Doty," who was then in his prime, and many an incident can he relate of old Sile's adventures in this section, which would, were they gen- erally known, place Doty's name among the most noted criminals ever known in the United States. Mr. Cleveland was the first sheriff who resided in the old jail in this city, and his second daughter was the first child born in that old bastile. In the year 1842, he was chosen superintendent of the Michigan Southern railroad, which position he held until 1846, when the railroad went into possession of the present corporation. In 1847 he renewed merchandizing, in which business he continued until he was suc- ceeded by his son, William H. Cleveland, in 1859, when he removed to Chicago, Illinois, where he at present resides. On the 4th of February, 1830, in Wilson, Niagara county, New York, Joseph H. Cleveland married Miss Julia A. Yaple, who was born in Middleton, Delaware county, New York, October 20th, 1812. Six children were born unto them, of whom five are now living, and whose names are as follows : William H., who was born in Porter, Niagara county, New York, March 16th, 1831 ; Mary, born in Adrian, Lenawee county, Michigan, January 25th, 1833; Charles M., born in Adrian, November 2d, 1836-the day that the completion of the Erie & Kalamazoo railroad, from Toledo to Adrian, was so enthusiastically celebrated by all of the citizens of the latter village ; Lucinda R., born in Adrian, October 8th, 1838; and George S., born in Adrian, March 25th, 1843.
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OHN HUTCHENS was born the 26th of September, 1792, in the town of Schuyler, Herkimer county, New York, to which his father had recently removed from Berkshire county, Massachusetts. He had scarcely finished his apprenticeship to a blacksmith when he volunteered to go with a company of men
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
from his native town, to keep the British out of Sacket's Harbor, and when discharged at that place in November, 1812, he went to Spafford, Onondaga county, New York, and established himself as a blacksmith. Here in 1816 he married Maria Allen Roundy, whose family had removed, a few years previously, to Spafford, from near Saxton's River, Vermont. In 1822 Mr. Hutchens set- tled in the village of Rushville, near Canandaigua, New York, still continuing to work at his trade ; but in 1825 he moved upon a farm in Orleans county, and from Medina, in that county, he emigrated in September, 1831, to Adrian, Michigan. It was a class of very enterprising, vigorous men that was then and during the following years settling in Lenawee county. They were mostly the sons of men who had pushed out from New England to "clear up" the State of New York, and they came with the like sturdy wills and muscular arras to change the wild forest of Michigan territory into good farms and pleasant homes. John Hutchens came among them with a will and an arm to pull even with any in building up good society. His log house that stood near where A. L. Millard now resides, was the welcome home for relatives and friends, who followed him from the State of New York; and it was also the only meeting-house the Baptist church had, until he fitted up an upper room for the church, near the corner of Maumee and Broad streets, now owned by W. A. Whitney, and in this room was kept the first select school in Adrian, or probably in the county. He built, for a few Presbyterians, led by Asahel Finch, what was pre- sumably the first meeting-house erected in the county, setting it away out yonder, among the stumps on Church street. Upon the organization of the Erie & Kalamazoo Railroad Company, in 1834, Mr. Hutchens was selected to begin the work, though he had never seen even as much pertaining to a railroad as a car link, and Schenectady was the nearest point to see it. It was long, hard work, and he devoted himself to it with untiring energy, and at last that passenger car, a large coach drawn by two horses, came into Adrian a little before dark, on the 10th of November, 1836. He lived in and near Adrian until 1849, when he moved to Nor- walk, Ohio, to give the younger members of his family the advan- tage of an academy, in which one of his sons was teaching; in 1852, he settled in the town of Sharon, Walworth county, Wiscon- sin, and there, after a short illness, died January 8th, 1855. He was a member of the convention to organize a State govern- ment, and all the offices to which his fellow-citizens called him were discharged with fidelity and sound judgment. In company with A. J. Comstock and others, he did efficient work in making Adrian the county seat. In 1835, he made a profession of religion,
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
uniting with the Baptist church, and the hope he had received, he kept through the remaining years of his life, as the sole stay and support of his soul. His widow (85 years of age, May 10th, 1879,) and all his children, six sons and one daughter, still (1879) cherish tenderly the memory of a kind husband and an affectionate father, and still honor the man who always gave so unsparingly his time, energies, and property for the good of others. Mr. Hutchens is well remembered by all the older inhabitants as one of the most useful, enterprising and worthy men who ever lived in Adrian.
RONSON C. KNAPP was born in Yates, Orleans county, New York, May 4th, 1830. His father Ebenezer Knapp, was born near Albany, New York, July 12, 1798, where he lived until he was about ten years old, when he moved with his parents to Genesee county. He lived there until he was twenty- one, when he moved to Yates, Orleans county, and purchased a farm. He lived there until the spring of 1833, when he sold out and came to Michigan, and settled on section 23, in Franklin, on land he had purchased the previous year. Their goods were brought from Detroit with ox teams to Clinton, and were unloaded in the woods just west of the village. There was no road beyond that point, and they were obliged to leave them there until one could be cut through, which took several days. He lived on the farm he first purchased until 1865, when he moved to Pittsford, Hillsdale county, where he now resides. January 10th, 1819, he married Miss Hannah Kimball, daughter of Howland and Han- nah Kimball, of Farmington, Orleans county, New York, by whom he has had eight children, Bronson being the second son and fifth child. Mrs. Hannah Knapp was born in Russia, Herkimer county, New York, December 18th, 1802. Her parents moved to Genesee county when she was about ten years old. They after- wards moved to Orleans county where they died. Bronson C. Knapp came to Michigan when he was three years old. He lived with his parents until he was twenty-four years old, when he pur- chased forty acres of land just across the road from his father's house, and has resided almost in one spot for forty-seven years. He now owns the old homestead, and has added to his first pur- chase until he has two hundred and eighty-two acres. During the past twenty-five years he has been a breeder of and dealer in fine.
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wool sheep, and has, perhaps, done as much as any other man in bringing Franklin to its present high standing as a wool-growing township. He commenced on forty acres of land, with nothing but good healthı and a determination to carry him through. By close application, good judgment, shrewdness and calculation, he is to- day one of the most thrifty and enterprising farmers of Franklin. August 23d, 1854, he married Miss Rosetta M. Kimball, daughter of Elijah and Amy Kimball, of Ovid, Branch county, Michigan, by whom he has had two children as follows: George W., born in Franklin, April 29th, 1856, at home ; Emma J., born in Frank- lin, April 7th, 1860, now the wife of William Witherell, a farmer of Franklin. Mrs. Rosetta Knapp was born in Carlton, Orleans county, New York, November 11th, 1833. She came to Michi- gan with her parents in 1843, and settled in Ovid, Branch county. Her father died there in 1855. Her mother is still living.
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ATHANIEL S. WHEELER was born in Amenia, Dutch- ess county, New York, September 5th, 1808. His father, Thomas Wheeler, was born in the same place, January 31st, 1783. He owned a farm in Dutchess county, and lived there until 1829, when he moved to Seneca county and lived four years, and emigrated to Michigan in 1833, and took up land in Cambridge and Franklin, this county, arriving there with his family, by In- dian trail, at four o'clock on the afternoon of September 21st, 1833. His land was known and described as follows: The e } of the e } of section 24, and the e } of the n e } of section 25, in Cambridge ; also } of the w fraction of section 18, and the w fractional } of sec- tion 19, in Franklin. He lived to see the entire farm cleared, fenced and improved, with large and sufficient barns sheds, &c., with a very commodious and elegantly finished stone house (one of the finest in the county), located on as beautiful a building spot as can be found. There is also a splendid orchard of the most choice fruit. He died January 25th, 1871. October 25th, 1807, he married Miss Sally Gager, of Pleasant Valley, Dutchess county, New York, by whom he had two children, one son and one daugh- ter. Mrs. Sally Wheeler was born in Dutchess county, New York, September 11th, 1784, and died in Cambridge, this county, June 15th, 1842. Nathaniel S. Wheeler was brought up a farmer, and all the learning he ever received was at a common district school.
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