USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > History and biographical record of Lenawee County, Michigan, Volume I > Part 31
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Lenawee county. During the second year of Mr. Mercer's term of office, he was too feeble to attend to his duties, and Mr. Weaver acted as prosecutor. In 1864, upon the death of George Kingsley, who was then Prosecuting Attorney, Mr. Weaver was appointed to fill the vacancy. In the fall of 1864 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of the county, when he came to Adrian to reside, and was re-elected in 1866. In 1867 he formed a law partnership with Edwin Hadley, and remained with him five years. On the 9th of October, 1872, he formed a partnership with Charles M. Walker, which continued until Mr. Walker's death, the 20th of October, 1878. He then formed a partnership with his brother, Charles M. Weaver, which firm is now in existence. In 1861 he was elected Recorder of the village of Hudson, which office has since been filled by his brothers, Riley and Charles M., for several years. He was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Hudson schools for three years. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Adrian schools for the past three years. He was appointed City Attorney of Adrian from May, 1869, to May, 1870. He was Township School Inspector, in Somerset, two years, from 1854. He was married to Miss Mary A. Race, daughter of Loren and Esther Race, of Woodstock, this county, on the 7th of Octo- ber, 1855. She was born in Pittsford, Monroe county, New York, on the 4th of October, 1833, and came to Michigan with her father in 1844. They have four children, three daughters and one son, all of whom are living, as follows: E. Maud M., Bertha E., Winnefred F., and William L. Mr. Weaver's life has been an active and honorable one, and as a lawyer and pleader at the bar, he stands one of the foremost among his brothers in his pro- fession.
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ATHANIEL GLEASON, JR., was born in Preston, Che- nango county, New York, February 2d, 1813. His father, Nathaniel Gleason, Sr., was born in Massachusetts, July 6th, 1774. He was a farmer, and went to Chenango county, New York, about 1806, where he purchased a farm, and lived until 1823, when he sold out, and went to Wayne county, and lived until 1830. In 1829 he came to Michigan and took up the w. 3 of the s. w, 4 of section 31, in Palmyra, and in June, the following year, he moved his family upon this land. He at once commenced clear-
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
ing, but was soon taken sick with a cancer, and died February 24th, 1832. About the year 1793 he married Miss Matilda Brown, of Rowe, Massachusetts, by whom he had nine children, all of whom are dead, except Nathaniel, Jr. Mrs. Matilda Gleason was born in Massachusetts, March 28th, 1777, and died in Palmyra, April 11th, 1841. Nathaniel Gleason, Jr., was brought up a farmer, and had but very little schooling in his younger days. At the death of his father the entire care of the farm and the family devolved upon him. He erected the first building on the land, which was done during his father's life-time, and all the money he had to build the house with was one dollar, which he purchased nails with. When the nails were all used up, he fastened the boards with wooden pins. His oldest brother died in 1831, of fever. When his father came in he brought two barrels of salt pork, and a horse team. He soon traded the horses for oxen and grain. During the sickness of his father, Nathaniel used up all his money in doctoring the cancer, and after his death, the family was very destitute, and depended solely upon what Nathaniel could raise among the stumps of the little clearing, and the deer and turkeys he shot in the woods. In the spring of 1832-the year of the Black Hawk war-Nathaniel was warned out one night, to appear at Tecumseh, at nine the next day, with a rifle and thirty cartridges, one blanket, and ten days provisions. He says he made out to raise the required amount of provisions, but only about one settler in ten could do it. He was away from home about three weeks, and went as far west as Niles, and relates, very vividly, many incidents of the "sham fight," at Coldwater. In 1835 he was warned out to appear again at Tecumseh, armed and equipped, for the Toledo war. He was a corporal in Capt. Pettis' company, and was sick at the time the notice came, but it was a " war necessity," and he at once deputized Lorenzo Noyes as corporal, to warn out his "beat," which duty was performed faithfully. Several of the settlers did not appear, claiming that a non-commissioned officer could not deputize another, but these re- fractory individuals were afterwards court-martialed, and fined eight dollars each, the authorities thus approving of Mr. Gleason's action. Lorenzo Noyes was afterwards murdered, in Indiana, as was supposed, by old "Sile " Doty. Doty was convicted, and sen- tenced to prison for life, but was granted a new trial, and escaped the punishment. Mr. Gleason has always lived on the farm which his father took up, and now owns it. He has cleared seventy-five acres of it, and erected a good brick house, with good and sufficient barns aud sheds. He has a good orchard, with probably the larg- est apple tree in the county, it measuring seven feet in circumference,
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
and almost thirty-five feet in highth. October 1st, 1839, he mar- ried Miss Mary M. Bentley, daughter of Timothy and Nancy Bentley, of Madison, by whom he has had six children, three sons and three daughters, as follows : the first born, died in infancy ; Charles H., born March 6th, 1842, now a farmer of Farmington, Delaware ; Olive M., born June 18th, 1844, died March 15th, 1848; Nancy M., born September 4th, 1846, died March 31st, 1848 ; Mary M., born August 1st, 1848, died February 22d, 1876; Nathaniel, Jr., 2d, born March 11th, 1851, at home. Mrs. Mary M. Gleason was born July 31st, 1820, and came to Michigan in 1838. Her father and mother came to Michigan in 1839, and died at their daughter's home in Palmyra, Mr. Bentley, February 4th, 1859, and Mrs. Bentley, June 11th, 1873.
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EORGE COLVIN was born in Cranston, Providence county, Rhode Island, January 6th, 1808. His father, Josiah Colvin, was born at the same place in 1786, was a farmer, and resided in Rhode Island until 1812, when he re- moved to Onondaga, New York, where he lived until 1831. He then emigrated to Michigan, and settled in Raisin, this county, on land he took up from the government. He lived in Raisin until 1836, when he sold out and purchased a farm in Seneca, on the State line, where he lived until his death, in 1855. About 1806 he married Miss Betsey Fields, daughter of Thomas and Hannah Fields, of Cranston, Rhode Island, by whom he had five children, George being the oldest. Mrs. Betsey Colvin was born in Crans- ton, Rhode Island, January 7th, 1809, and died in Seneca in 1848. George Colvin was brought up a farmer, with a limited education. He came to Michigan in 1831, following his parents in a few months, experiencing a very rough passage from Buffalo, being five days and six nights on the lake, on the old steamer "William Penn," Captain Pease. He was a deck passenger, not having money enough to buy a cabin passage. The first two years after his arrival here, he worked at chopping and clearing land to earn money to buy a farm. In 1833 he took up eighty acres of land in Raisin, but soon after sold it, and located eighty acres on section fourteen, in Palmyra, in the winter of 1833-4. In the spring of 1836 he purchased of Albert Isbell the n. ¿ of the w. } of the
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
n. w. 4 of section 15, where he still resides, having added to it until he now has one hundred and eight acres, with a good dwelling- house, barns, sheds, &c. The land was entirely new when purchased, he having to mark trees to find the way out to the road and back again to his house, and was often "lost" on his own land, his nearest neighbor being a mile distant. In October, 1829, he married Miss Elizabeth Raynor, daughter of Daniel and Abigail Raynor, of Onondaga, New York, by whom he had one child, which died in infancy. Mrs. Elizabeth Colvin was born in Onondaga, in 1810, and died there in 1831. August 6th, 1834, he married Miss Mary A. Rogers, daughter of Deacon Obadiah and Lydia Rogers, of Raisin, by whom he has had six children, as follows : William H., born May 31st, 1835, of Palmyra, and manages the home farm; Elizabeth R., born September 17th, 1837, wife of E. D. Latham, of Dover, died December 31, 1857; Sarah M., born February 15th, 1841, died in infancy; Sarah, second, born February 28th, 1846, wife of George Humphrey, of Palmyra; Freeman R., born September 15th, 1849, died September 23d, 1851; George, born March 31st, 1856, died in infancy. Mrs. Mary A. Colvin was born April 18th, 1816, in Hardwick, Worcester county, Massachusetts, and came to Michigan with her parents, and settled in Raisin, in 1832. [For family relation, see Samuel R. Rogers' record.] Mr. Colvin has always been an active man in his township, and his opinion and judgment have always been consulted in all public improvements. He, in company with the late Francis Hurlbut and Selleck Seymour, took a contract to build a wagon road, one and one-half miles in length, through the cot- ton wood swamp, in 1834. He partially lost his hearing in 1852.
SAAC DAVIS was born in Galway, Saratoga county, New York, June 19th, 1802. His father, Nathan Davis, was born March 25th, 1756. When a boy he was a sailor on a trading vessel, and once made a trip to the West Indies. He afterwards learned the cabinet maker's trade, which he followed for many years. After he was married he went to Saratoga county, and pur- chased a new farm-in fact he was a pioneer of that county, and lived there until June, 1837, when he came to Michigan, and died at his son's house, July 2d, 1837. About 1782 he married
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Miss Lusinah Eddy, daughter of Henry and Ruth Eddy, of Easton, Washington county, New York, by whom he had nine children, six sons and three daughters, only two of whom are now living. Mrs. Lusinah Davis was born February 16th, 1765, and died in Saratoga county. Isaac Davis lived with his parents until he was nearly twenty one, and was brought up a farmer, although he followed painting and turning for several years. In 1823 he purchased some land in Saratoga county, but in the spring of 1827 he sold out, and moved to Western New York, and settled in Wayne county, where he purchased a farm, and stayed four years, when he again sold out, and moved to Mon- roe county, the same State, and bought another farm in Perinton. He lived there until the fall of 1833, when he sold out and emi- grated to Michigan, and arrived in Adrian November 1st, that year, coming all the way by land, with his own team, being twen- ty-two days on the road with his wife and four small children. Mrs. Davis brought one child-now Mrs. William Crane, of Mad- ison-the entire distance, on a pillow. Mr. Davis at once took up from the government, the e. ¿ of the n. e. , and the w. } of the s. e. }, and the s. w. 4 of the n. e. } of sec. 31, township of Palmyra. A small log house had been erected on the land by Hallam Richards, now of Adrian, which Mr. Davis bought. No road was cut through, and he could not get his wagon to the house until he cut one. He told his wife where the house was, however, and gave her the direction through the woods, by marked trees, and she went on with the children, and finally got " home." But she says there was no one there to wel- come her, or ask her " to take off her things and have something to eat," or anything of the kind, after her long journey. "Now," she says, " people make the trip in twenty-four hours, and expect everybody to wait upon them." Much to their astonishment they soon discovered that somebody was occupying their house, but that evening they were greatly surprised and gratified to find that it was an old New York neighbor, who had emigrated to Ohio the previous year, but being dissatisfied there, had come to Michigan, and was occupying their house. Wolves were very thick, and often made the nights unpleasant, with their howling and fight- ing around the house ; bears were also quite plenty, and one hun- gry old fellow " treed " Mr. Davis one day, while he was hunting deer, for meat to eat. Since that time Mr. Davis has cleared up the farm, and built good buildings, fences, etc., and has a good orchard, with small fruits, and all the comforts of life. December 24th, 1822, he married Miss Amelia Van Ostrand, daughter of Charles and Hannah Van Ostrand, of Greenfield, Saratoga county, New York, by whom he has had nine children, as follows: Lusi-
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
nah, born in Galway, Saratoga county, New York, March 11th, 1825 ; Isaac U., born in Marion, Wayne county, New York, July 12th, 1828 ; Nathan G., born in Marion, Wayne county, New York, December 12th, 1830; Hannah, born in Perinton, Mon- roe county, New York, August 11th, 1833, now the wife of William Crane, of Madison, this county ; William W., born in Palmyra, Michigan, May 11th, 1836 ; died in Madison, this coun- ty, from injuries received at Toledo, October 26th, 1874; Julia Ann, born in Palmyra, Michigan, September 26th, 1838, widow of the late Samuel W. Bare, of East Saginaw ; Jonathan B., born in Palmyra, May 28th, 1841, runs the home farm ; Sarah H., born in Palmyra, November 6th, 1843, wife of Merret H. Higby, a
farmer, of Madison. Mrs. Amelia Davis was born in Connec- ticut, October 18th, 1801. Her parents went from Connecticut to Saratoga, New York, on horseback, to locate land, in 1801, when Mrs. Davis was but two months old. They moved there the fol- lowing spring, where they always lived. Her mother died in 1811. Her father died in 1855, in the ninety-fifth year of his age. Mr. and Mrs. Davis celebrated their golden wedding December 24th, 1872, on which occasion all of their children were present, when William W., his son, presented his father with a magnificent gold headed cane, which he now prizes very much-other valuable gold presents were received by Mrs. Davis.
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ENAJAH H. DEMING was born in Mentz, Cayuga county, New York, September 28th, 1811. His father, David Dem- ing, was born in Vermont in 1772, and was raised a farmer. . He removed with his parents to Washington county, New York, when a boy, and after he attained his majority, went to Cayuga county, and purchased a new farm where he lived until 1830. He then sold out and went to Wayne county, New York, where he purchased another new farm. He lived there until 1835, when he came to Jackson county, Michigan, where he died, March 31st, 1842. He married Miss Sabina Hill, daughter of Benajah Hill, of Granville, Washington county, New York, by whom he had six children, four sons and two daughters, Benajah H., being the third son and fourth child. Mrs. Sabina Deming, was born in Granville, Washington county, New York, in 1781, and died in Washtenaw county, Michigan, in 1850. Benajah H. Deming left
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
home when he was twelve' years old, and he engaged in a grocery store on the Erie canal, at Port Byron. He followed this busi- ness until 1832, when he went on the canal as steward of the "Walk-in-the-water," Capt. Cody. In the spring of 1834, he was made Captain of the "Toronto," and commanded her one year. In the spring of 1835, he came to Michigan, and landed in Napoleon, Jackson county, with his father and mother, and one sister, in June, and purchased 120 acres of wild land in Napoleon township. His parents settled on the farm and he went to the city of New York and run a grocery store for one year. He re- turned to Michigan November 1836, and came to Adrian and en- gaged as a clerk for Ira Bidwell, who was then running a large general store, and who received the first shipment of goods over the Erie and Kalamazoo railroad. In the spring of 1837, Mr. Dem- ing engaged as clerk in the store of M. L. Collins, of Adrian. In September, the same year, he went to Ann Arbor as clerk for Hi- rome Goodspeed, and in the spring of 1838 he moved upon his farm in Napoleon. In the fall of 1838, he purchased a stock of goods of E. Root & Son, of Ann Arbor, where he did business until 1841, when he returned to his farm again. In the spring of 1848 he went to Chicago, and engaged in the grocery business, and remained until 1843, when he was burned out, losing all his prop- erty. In 1861, when the war of the Rebellion broke out, he en- listed as a private in the 7th New York Cavalry, but as the regi- ment was never mounted, it was disbanded in the spring of 1862. He then came to Adrian and enlisted in the 7th Michigan Cavlary and served two years, when he was wounded and discharged. In 1864, he again enlisted in the new 4th Michigan Infantry, and served to the close of the war, in 1865. He now draws a pension for wounds received in the service. February 1st, 1838, he mar- ried Miss Sibyl Yaple, daughter of Henry Yaple, of Brighton, Ohio, by whom he had one daughter, Marian C., born May 5th, 1839. In 1854, he was divorced from Mrs. Sibyl Deming. June 30th, 1868, he married Miss Mary E. Tyrrell, of Palmyra. Mrs. Mary E. Deming was born in Cornwell, Litchfield county, Con- necticut, March 15th, 1811. She came to Michigan in 1833, and settled in Falmyra, on the farm she now lives on. In the spring of 1874, Mr. Deming was elected Justice of the Peace, of Palmy- ra, on the Democratic ticket, and reelected to the same office in 1878. At both elections he was the only Democrat elected in the township. During his service in the 7th Michigan Cavalry, he was made first duty sergeant at the organization of the regiment, which position he held until his discharge.
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
R. ROLAND B. C. NEWCOMB was born in Williams- town, Orange county, Vermont, September 25th, 1822. His father, Hon. Bradford Newcomb, was born in Mans- field, Connecticut, February 17th, 1777, where he lived until he was fifteen years old. He then moved to Greenwich, Massachusetts, and lived until he was twenty-one. He then spent three years as a cod-fisher, off the coast of British America. He then worked in the United States armory, at Rutland, Vermont, for two years. In 1809 he moved to Williamstown, Vermont, and purchased a farm, on which he afterwards lived and died. He was a leading man in his township. Besides filling nearly all the township offi- ces, he served two terms in the Legislature, and was a delegate to the State Constitutional convention. November 8th, 1804, he married Miss Hannah Clark, daughter of Deacon Roland and Mary Clark, of Greenwich, Massachusetts, by whom he had eight children, four sons and four daughters, Dr. R. B. C. being the youngest son and seventh child. Only three of the family are now living-Walter Newcomb, of Detroit, Mrs. George H. Ketcham, of Contoocook, New Hampshire, and the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Hannah Newcomb died November 22d, 1854. Bradford Newcomb died October 1st, 1867. Dr. R. B. C. Newcomb lived with his father until he was twenty-one, and received a good com- mon school education. In the fall of 1843 he emigrated to Madison, Lake county, Ohio, where he taught the Madison school the following winter. In May, 1844, he became a student in the Western Reserve Teachers' Seminary, at Kirtland, Ohio, where he remained about five months. That fall he commenced the study of medicine, in the office of Dr. E. L. Plympton, of Madison. He was without any means, except what he could earn from time to time, and again taught school in Madison, to procure money to attend lectures, &c. In the spring of 1847 he went to Columbus, Ohio, and read medicine with Dr. R. L. Howard, where he did the chores, and took care of the Doctor's horses, for board and tuition, for one year, graduating February 22d, 1848, at Starling Medical College, of Columbus. July 20th, 1848, he located in Palmyra, Lenawee county, and commenced the practice of medi- cine. May 1st, 1851, he moved to Blissfield, where he has resided ever since. The Doctor has, in addition to his professional duties, been largely connected with the schools of Blissfield, serving as township school inspector, and eight consecutive years as trustee of the union school board. In 1860 he was elected supervisor of the township of Blissfield. In 1864 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives, of the Michigan Legislature, and in 1876 he was elected a member of the State Senate, and served one
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
term, declining a re-nomination. He has always been an active temperance man, and a prominent politician, and has acted with the Republican party since 1854. June 4th, 1851, he married Miss Phebe M. Lee, daughter of Henry Lee, a farmer of Rome, Ashtabula county, Ohio, by whom he has had six children, four sons and two daughters, as follows: Henry L., born July 10th, 1853, died in infancy ; Mary E., born December 2d, 1854, teacher in the Painesville, Ohio, Female Seminary ; Jane E., born May 14th, 1858, teacher in the public schools of Clinton, this county ; Bradford, born September 1st, 1861, died October 18th, 1873; George L., born April 24th, 1864, at home ; Edward D., born September 17th, 1868, at home. Mrs. Phebe M. Newcomb was born in East Lyme, Connecticut, September 19th, 1829. She went to Rome, Ohio, with her parents, iu the fall of 1838. Henry Lee was born in East Lyme, Connecticut, about the year 1789, and died at Rome, Ashtabula county, Ohio, in February, 1869. Mrs. Newcomb's mother, Mrs. Julia Ann Lee, was born in Waterford, Connecticut, about the year 1802, and died about the last of Decem- ber, 1864, at Rome, Ohio.
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OVERNOR CHARLES M. CROSWELL was born at Newburgh, Orange County, New York, October 31st, 1825. His father was a paper-maker of Scotch-Irish extraction, who carried on business in New York city. The maiden name of his mother was Sallie Hicks. She was the daughter of Daniel and Rosanna Hicks, and a descendant of the "Rush" family, who lived near Peekskill, on the Hudson river, in the State of New
York. When the subject of this sketch was seven years old, both of his parents and an only sister died, leaving him the sole surviving member of the family. He received a common school education in the City of New York, and at the age of eleven years he removed, with an uncle, from there to Adrian, Michigan, arriving at the latter place in July, 1837. Here he learned the carpenters' trade, and worked at it until he had nearly attained his majority. In 1846 he was appointed Deputy Clerk of Lenawee County and commenced the study of law. In 1848 he was the candidate of the Whig party for County Clerk, but was defeated, the county giving a Democratic majority of about 400. In 1850 he was nominated, by the same party, and elected Register
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
of Deeds, and re-elected in 1852. In 1854 he was a member and Secretary of the State Convention at Jackson which organized the Republican party. In 1855 he formed a law partnership with Judge T. M. Cooley, now of the Supreme Court, which continued until 1859. In 1862 he was appointed City Attorney of Adrian, and in the same year was elected mayor. At the general election in the fall of 1862, he was chosen State Senator, and re-elected to the same position in 1864 and in 1866, serving three terms in that body. During this whole period he was President pro tempore, and Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. In 1867 he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention, and selected to preside over it. In 1868 he was chosen an elector on the Repub- lican Presidential ticket, casting, with his associates, the vote of the State for Grant and Colfax. In 1872 he was elected a representative in the State Legislature, and made Speaker of the House. He also, for several years, served as Secretary of the State Board of Corrections and Charities, repeatedly visiting nearly all the poor-houses and jails of the State. In 1876 he was nominated, by the Republican party, for Governor of Michigan, and was elected by a majority of 23,434 over his Democratic competitor. He was renominated in 1878, and succeeded by a majority of 47,777 over his highest opponent. Governor Croswell was married on the 4th of February, 1852, to Miss Lucy M. Eddy, daughter of Morton and Wealthy Eddy, pioneers of Adrian. Mrs. Croswell died March 9th, 1868, leaving one son and two daughters, as follows : Charles Morton, Hattie, and Lucy Elizabeth. Governor Croswell was for four years an Alderman, and ten years a member and secretary of the school board of Adrian. He was the second captain of the old Adrian Guards, having been elected after the departure of Captain Hicks, for Mexico, in 1847.
- ON. GUY CARPENTER was born at Potsdam, St. Law- rence county, New York, December 13th, 1809. His father, Clement Carpenter, was born at Swanzey, Cheshire county, New Hampshire, October 10th, 1781. His mother, Elizabeth Gilmore, was born at Jaffrey, Cheshire county, in the same State. April 4th, 1785. They were married in 1803, and 1806 removed to Potsdam, in the valley of the St. Lawrence, being among the very early settlers of that region. He raised a family of ten chil- dren, four sons and six daughters. He cleared up a large farm,
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