USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > History and biographical record of Lenawee County, Michigan, Volume I > Part 33
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LBERT J. HARRISON was born in Cornwall, Litchfield county, Connecticut, May 18th, 1810. His father, Luther Harrison, was born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, and always lived there. He owned a farm in Cornwall, and carried it on all his life. He was in the war of 1812, and commanded a company of Connecticut Militia until his death, which occurred in 1813. He married Miss Rachel Johnson. of Litchfield county, Connecticut, by whom he had eight children, six sons and two daughters, six of whom grew to be men and women. Mrs. Rachel Harrison was born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, and died there in 1856, in her ninety-third year. Albert J. Harrison was brought up a farmer, and lived with his mother until he was about eighteen years old, when he went to Massachusetts, and lived there
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
two years. He then went to " York State, " and "looked around" for about a year, when he returned to Connecticut, and in the spring of 1831 returned to New York, and settled in Catlin, in what was then Tioga county, on a farm, but only remained there until the spring of 1833, when he emigrated to Michigan, and settled on the w. 1 of the n. e. } of section 26, in Palmyra, Lenawee county, but afterwards added to it until he owned over three hundred acres, all in one tract. At that time there were no roads on the east side of the river, in the township, and he was obliged to cut one through to his land. It was all very heavy tim- bered land in this vicinity, and flat, low ground, and after he had one hundred acres cleared he has seen it nearly all under water. This would have been very discouraging to anybody but a pioneer, yet Mr. Harrison stayed by it, and he now has as good a farm as there is in that vicinity, having tiled and drained it completely. He has built a good frame house, set out a good orchard, and has commodious barns and sheds. During the years 1836-7-8 he col- lected taxes for Blissfield township, which then comprised the present townships of Palmyra, Ogden, and the fractional township which then extended to the Maumee river, but was afterwards ceded to Ohio, in settlement of the Toledo war. He was a soldier in the Toledo war. May 17th, 1831, he married Miss Mary C. Noble, daughter of Clark and Hulda Noble, of Winfield, Herki- mer county, New York, by whom he has had six children, three sons and three daughters, as follows : Helen, born in Catlin, New York, November 21st, 1832, and died in Palmyra, Michigan, in October, 1833; Elizabeth J., born in Palmyra, wife of John Gil- lam, of Ionia county, Michigan ; Luther C., born in Palmyra, November 29th, of Hubbardston, Ionia county, Michigan ; Mary C., born in Palmyra, died an infant ; Andrew J., born in Palmyra, December 3d. 1840, at home; Alfred C., born in Palmyra, May 12th, 1842, lives on part of the old homestead. Mrs. Mary C. Harrison was born in Winfield, Herkimer county, New York, November 21st, 1809. Her father and mother both died there when she was very young, and she knows very little of them. Mr. Harrison relates a little incident which we will record. Bears were quite plenty in an early day, and troubled the settlers considerably, by carrying off their hogs, and destroying their corn. One old black fellow had visited his hog pen and carried off a fine shoat, and he determined to catch him if possible. He set a trap-a dead fall-and one morning he visited it and found his bearship a pris- oner. He had his gun with him, and to make sure that the bear should not get away he shot him. The bear was dead in the trap, however, and harmless.
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
R. E. CONANT WINTER was born in Middlebury, Ver- mont, August 3d, 1802. His father, Asa Winter, was born in Connecticut in 1778, and moved to Middlebury, Ver- mont, when he was a young man. About 1800 he married Miss Amelia Conant, daughter of Eleazer Conant, of Middlebury, Ver- mont, by whom he had seven children, E. Conant being the oldest. Asa Winter died in Adrian, August 12th, 1847. Mrs. Asa Win- ter died in Adrian September 11th, 1864. E. Conant Winter was educated in Middlebury college, where he graduated about the year 1819. He afterwards studied medicine, and in 1824 came to Maumee City, Ohio, and formed a partnership with his uncle, Dr. Horatio Conant, and practiced medicine for about one year, when he formed a partnership with General John E. Hunt, of the same place, and entered into merchandizing. Their store was a large one, and a large business was done with the settlers and Indians. He remained there until the summer of 1 829, when he came to Adrian, and that fall opened the first store in Adrian. His store was in the front part of Dr. C. N. Ormsby's dwelling house, which then stood where Metcalf's large store now stands. He occupied this place until 1831, when he erected a block of three stores on Maumee street, opposite the Michigan Exchange. He occupied two of the three stores with his goods, the third one being rented to families as they came in, until they could find other quarters or build themselves houses. R. W. Ingalls occu- pied a part of the upper rooms for his printing office, until about 1836. Mr. Winter did a large business, until 1836, his store being headquarters for all the Indian tribes who then came to Adrian for supplies. He could speak the Indian language quite fluently, and was a well known and very successful Indian trader. The Indians named him "McIntosh," and always called him by that name. In 1833, at the time of the great Indian treaty at Chicago, he took a large stock of goods from Adrian, and sold the entire lot during the council. In 1838 he run the Michigan Ex- change, and in 1840 took in Lewis Follett as partner, and con- tinued one year. He was subsequently elected justice of the peace, in Adrian, for three terms. He was among the principal projectors of the Erie and Kalamazoo railroad, and assisted in its construction. He was very influential in securing the removal of the county seat from Tecumseh to Adrian. In 1852 he went to California and Oregon, remaining there one year. In 1854 he commenced the practice of electropathy, and continued until his death. He was very successful, both as a lecturer and practitioner. He died in Adrian, December 12th, 1867. March 23d, 1831, he married Miss Mary Ann Deane, daughter of Isaac and Abigail
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Deane, of Adrian, who still survives him. They had one son, William F., born in Adrian in 1837, and died in Portland, Ore- gon, January 9th, 1874.
- APHETH CROSS was born in the town of Rutland, Jeffer- son county, New York, July 7th, 1810. His father, Jedu- than Cross, is supposed to have been born in the town of Tolan, Tolan county, Connecticut, October 15th, 1764. His father, Abel Cross, was born in the same State, May 28th, 1738, his wife's name being Mary Lindsley. They had six children, four sons and two daughters. Abel was the oldest of six brothers, all of whom were engaged in the Revolutionary war, fighting for the defense of their country. Their names were as follows: Abel, Noah, Joel, Uriah, Joseph and Solomon. Abel was also engaged all through the French and English (so called) wars, serving in all fourteen years. Jeduthan Cross moved, at an early age, with his parents to Shelburne Falls, Buckland township, Franklin county, Massachusetts, where he resided for several years, and where he married his first wife, Miss Phebe Ware, by whom he had a family of eleven children. She died December 2d, 1803. Jeduthan Cross was married the second time to Miss Mehitable Ellis, May 30th, 1804. By this marriage ten children were born, all of whom are now deceased except Japheth Cross, the subject of this sketch, and his brothers, Aviral J., a watch-maker, of Adrian, Julius C., en- gaged in the same business at Blissfield, who has two children, as follows: Julius C. Jr., who lives at Savanna, Carroll county, Illinois, and Frances, a daughter. She married Charles McLaugh- lin, and resides at the same place. The parents of Japheth Cross came to Michigan in the year 1836. His mother died March 20th, 1837, and his father died August 21st, 1839, both being buried in Oakwood cemetery. Japheth Cross lived with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age, working on a farm at Antwerp, New York. At the age of twelve years he com- menced repairing watches, and at the age of fifteen he commenced the study of medicine, which he continued about one year, be- came disgusted with the business and gave it up, going back to farming and watch and clock repairing. At the age of twenty-one he went to Canada, where he stayed about two-thirds of his time trapping, hunting, purchasing furs, and working at his trade,
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Norris M. Woodruff, Stephen White, and a Mr. Marvin, of Jeffer- son county, New York, being his backers. In the spring of 1834, he left Jefferson county and came to Cleveland, Ohio, where he purchased a farm eight miles from the city, near Stony Creek hotel, on the Columbus pike, and built a house for his father and mother. He owned this farm for about one and a half years, when he sold it and came to Detroit, and from there he went to Perrys- burgh, Ohio, and then came to Adrian, arriving on the 10th of September, 1834, and stayed a short time, and returned to Cleve- land. Here he worked for N. E. Crittenden, at watch-making. In the year 1836 he moved to Adrian and opened a stock of jewel- ry and other goods over the furniture store of R. & G. W. Mer- rick, near where his present store now stands, and in the same store with Dr. P. J. Spalding. The same spring he purchased a lot on North Main street where he erected a two-story brick house and moved into it that year, which he believes to be the first brick dwelling built in this county. May 14th, 1837, he married Miss Sarah Ann Bartlett, oldest daughter of Perkins and Clarissa Bart- lett, of Adrian. She died July 3d, 1871. In the year 1836 he located the land where Osseo now stands, in Hillsdale county ; also a large farm in Seneca, this county. In the fall of 1837 he traded his brick house, on Main street, with Isaac French, for an undivided one-half interest in the American hotel, which stood on the corner of Winter and Front streets, where the new jail is now located. That hotel he kept for several years, acting as agent for the stage lines running into Adrian from all directions. At a later date he purchased the other half of the hotel. Since the year 1836, Mr. Cross has been an active business man in Adrian, and is believed to be the oldest resident watch-maker and jeweler in the State of Michigan. Notwithstanding he has been robbed four times, and his places of business burned three times, his courage is still good, and he has sufficient means to carry on a successful busi- ness. Mr. Cross has no family, and since the death of his wife he has remained a widower. In 1868 Mr. Cross purchased the Adrian Weekly Journal, and has been the publisher and proprietor of that paper since that time.
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1770.
EORGE W. MOORE was born in Peterborough, New Hampshire, April 3d, 1814. His father, Nathaniel Moore, was born in the same place, on the same farm, March 28th, William Moore, father of Nathaniel Moore, was one of the 42
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
early settlers of Peterborough. John Moore, father of William Moore, was one of the early settlers of Londonderry, New Hamp- shire, and came from Ireland to this country in 1720. His father, John Moore, was killed at the massacre of Glencoe, Scotland, March 13th, 1692. John was born a few hours after the death of his father. A few days after his birth, his mother fled to Ireland, where she had friends. John lived in Ireland until 1720, when he came to this country. The vessel in which he came was captur- ed by pirates. On board the vessel were the ancestors of Horace Greeley, a Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, a Scotch-Irish couple. Shortly after the pirates had captured the vessel, Mrs. Wilson gave birth to her first babe, a female. This event so affected the pirates, and especially the captain of the crew, that the vessel was finally given its liberty, and the pirate chief presented Mrs. Wilson with an ele- gant silk dress, under promise that she would name the child after his wife-Mary. [George W. Moore now has in his posses- sion a piece of the dress.] Nathaniel Moore always lived on the farm where he was born, and died there, October 27th, 1853. March 14th, 1800, he married Miss Sarah Ferguson, daughter of Henry and Martha Ferguson, of Peterborough, by whom he had ten children, George W. being the eighth child and sixth son. Mrs. Sarah Moore was born in Peterborough, New Hampshire, August 4th, 1775. Her father was born in Lunenburgh, Massa- chusetts, September 18th, 1736, and died in Peterborough, April 1st, 1812. Her mother was born in Dearing, New Hampshire, in 1739, and was the daughter of James Wilson. She died in Peterborough, October 30th, 1815. George W. Moore, the subject of this sketch, lived with his parents until his eighteenth year, when he commenced to learn the machinist's trade, with an older brother, in Peterborough, and followed it until 1836, when he came to Michigan. In the spring of 1834, having earned money enough at his trade, he came to Michigan, and purchased two hun - dred and ten acres of land, on section three, in Medina. He then returned to New Hampshire, where he stayed until 1836, when he came back to Michigan, settled on his land, and has resided there ever since. The land was covered with a very heavy growth of timber, and aside from about five acres which Mr. Moore hired chopped off, in 1835, he has cleared the whole of it himself. He has erected a large house, and has a splendid lot of barns. In the winter of 1837 he assisted in organizing the township of Medina. The town was named by Asahel Finch, then of Adrian, and a member of the Legislature. He owned property in the village of Medina, and therefore took an active interest in the matter. Mr. Moore was elected, in April, 1837, one of the first assessors of the
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
township, and was afterwards re-elected to the same office. He has been chosen a director of the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Com- pany for thirteen years in succession. He has almost yearly rep- resented his township, in State and county political conventions since 1837, and has several times been the choice of his party for Legislative and other honorable and responsible positions, but be- ing a Democrat, and his party being in the minority in the county, he was never elected. In 1849 he went to California, where he re- mained until 1851, when he returned home, and has followed farming ever since. He is one of the leading " mixed " farmers in the township, has three hundred and six acres of highly culti- vated land, and is largely interested in wool growing, and stock raising. He introduced the first reaper and mower in the west half of Lenawee county, and was once president of the Union Agricultural Society, of Lenawee and Hillsdale counties. He was one of the founders of Oak Grove Academy, of Medina, and for many years, one its trustees. During the late Rebellion, he was what was called a war Democrat, and spent time and money in raising recruits for the army; he went twice to Kentucky and Tennessee, at his own expense, to carry supplies to our soldiers in the field, and to the sick and wounded in the hospitals. He has been an active member of the Congregational church of Medina, for nearly thirty years. He was nine years a notary public in Lenawee county. August 29th, 1837, he married Miss Caroline Morrison, daughter of Capt. Nathaniel and Mary Ann Morrison, of Peterborough, New Hampshire, by whom he had three children, as follows: William C., born November 1st, 1841, died May 7th, 1866. He was a student in the Michigan University, and enlist- ed in Company K, 1st Michigan Infantry, in May, 1861, was wounded and taken prisoner at the first battle of Bull Run, and was released from Libby prison in May, 1862. He immediately enlisted again, and was made captain in the 18th Michigan Infan- try. He served until the close of the war, and was drowned, while crossing a stream in the Indian Territory, while taking a drove of cattle from Texas to Kansas. He served under Gen. Custer, in Texas, during the winter of 1865-6, in his campaign against the Comanche Indians; Nathaniel M., born April 18th, 1843, died April 5th, 1850; Emily C., born November 20th, 1845, now the wife of George F. Phelps, of Ionia, Michigan. Mrs. Caroline Moore was born in Peterborough, New Hampshire, June 20th, 1813, and died in Medina, this county, March 17th, 1849. March 4th, 1852, he married Miss Harriet P. Bigelow, daughter of Major Daniel P. and Betsey Bigelow, of Barre, Orleans county, New York, by whom he has had two children, as follows : George D.,
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born February 27th, 1853, a graduate of Michigan Agricultural College, class of '71, a farmer of Medina ; Harriet L., born March 10th, 1860, at home. Mrs. Harriet P. Moore was born in Barre, New York, December 28th, 1821.
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AVID B. OLDER was born in Shelby. Orleans county, New York, July 13th, 1823. His father, William Older, was born in the State of New York, in 1786. He settled in Orleans county previous to the war of 1812, and was drafted into the service, and served about three months. [For further particulars, see William Older's record on another page.] David B. Older lived with his father until his twenty-fourth year, and came to Michigan with his parents in 1833. In 1846 he came into possession of sixty acres of his father's homestead, on section twenty-eight, in Adrian. There were only about fifteen acres clear- ed, when he moved upon it, but he has cleared it up, and purchased thirty acres adjoining, on section twenty-nine, which he has also cleared up. He has erected a good frame house, built good barns, sheds, etc., and has a productive, well fenced, and desirable farm. Mr. Older never had much school advantages, as compared with our present splendid system, as the country where he lived, in New York, was quite new, and good schools and comfortable school houses were secondary matters there, and coming to Michigan in an early day, and settling in the wilderness, of course schools were little thought of until after he was old enough to work. He re- ceived a good education, however, for those days. He knows but very little of his ancestry. His father's parents came from Now England, and his mother's from New Jersey ; her ancestors prob- ably originally came from Holland. October 24th, 1847, David B. Older married Miss Lydia A. Gouldsberry, of Adrian, by whom he has had three children, as follows : Jennie, born January 16th, 1853, and died April 19th, 1876; the second child died in infancy; Franklin, born Deceniber 28th, 1858, a farmer, of Adrian. All of the children were born in Adrian. Mrs. Lydia A. Older was born in the township of Logan, (now Adrian,) September 8th, 1832. Her father, Benjamin F. Gouldsberry, was born in Shelby, Orleans county, New York, in December, 1808. He lived in Orleans county until 1831, when he came to Michigan and settled on section nineteen, in Adrian township. He is now a resident of
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Grand Rapids. Mrs. Older's mother was Miss Eliza Thurston, daughter of Daniel and Lydia Thurston, of Orleans county, New York. She was married to Benjamin F. Gouldsberry December 30th, 1830, and is still living with her husband, in Grand Rapids.
- HELDON WYMAN was born Bufort, Bennington county, Vermont, March 20th, 1814. His father, Thomas Wyman, was born in New Hampshire, in 1799, and when a young man, went to Vermont, where he purchased a farm, and lived until 1819. He then moved to Shelby, Orleans county, New York, where he bought a farm and resided nine years. In 1828 he mov- ed to Loraine county, Ohio, where he again purchased a new farm. He owned this farm only about two years, when he sold it, and moved to Black River, and engaged in boating stone, to be used in building the harbor and pier, at the mouth of Black river. In 1832 he purchased a farm in Medina county, Ohio, but only lived there about two years, and in May, 1834, he came to Michigan, and took up one hundred and sixty acres, on section tbirty-three, in Fairfield. He lived in Fairfield about two years, when he went to Illinois, and finally settled in Galena, and died in Eliza- beth, Jo Daviess county, Illinois, in July, 1874. At the time of his death he was living with his fourth wife, and had raised seven children. Sheldon Wyman lived with his father until his twenty- first year, and had but very little school advantages, as his father was continually moving into new countries, where schools were little thought of. He came to Michigan, and arrived in Adrian in May, 1834, and soon after purchased eighty acres, on section twen- ty-eight in Fairfield. After holding it about two years, he sold it and purchased the w. } of the s. e. } of section 20. Since that time he has cleared all of his first purchase, besides having purchas- ed ninety acres more, and now has one hundred and fifty acres under good cultivation. He has erected a good frame house and three barns, and all other necessary improvements. In 1877 he purchased a few acres of land adjoining the village of Weston, upon which he built a very nice house, where he has resided ever since. He still owns his farm, but his son Alonzo is managing it. A few years after his settlement here, he engaged in trapping and hunting one winter. Wolves, at that time, were quite plenty, and the bounties offered by the State, county and town, amounted to
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
twenty dollars. He used all kinds of traps, besides a novel one of his own conception, which was simply an iron hook. He drove the hook into a tree, between four and five feet from the ground, and baited it with meat. The very first morning he went to his traps, after his new idea, he found a wolf hung up by his under jaw, dead. He had jumped after the bait and was caught. This was the only one he caught on this hook, although he kept it bait- ed all winter. November 3d, 1836, he married Miss Lydia Carpenter, daughter of Elder James and Catharine Carpenter, of Fairfield, by whom he has had nine children, as follows : James and Thomas, (twins,) born June 26th, 1837, both farmers, of Fair- field, Thomas being a minister, and preaching in Fairfield ; Sheldon P., born June 23d, 1839, a farmer, of Fairfield; Candace A., born October 6th, 1841, now wife of David W. Hickman, of Cow- an, Delaware county, Indiana ; John P., born January 31st, 1844, died February 17th, 1847 ; Sarah C., born September 25th, 1846, wife of John E. Mason, of Fairfield ; Alonzo P., born July 1st, 1849, lives on the home farm; Mary E., born April 2d, 1855, wife of I. E. Reynolds, of Fairfield ; Milo H., died in infancy. Mrs. Lydia Wyman was born in Shelby, Orleans county, New York, November 4th, 1817, and came to Michigan with her par- ents in 1833, and settled in Fairfield. Her father was born in Orange county, New York, in 1784, and died in Fairfield, Novem- ber 23d, 1857. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was a Baptist preacher of some note, and for many years preached in Fairfield. Her mother was born in Orange county, New York, August 28th, 1785, and died in Fairfield, August 9th, 1873.
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EMUEL VAN AUKEN was born in Phelps, Ontario county, New York, March 9th, 1812. His father, Lode- wick Van Auken, was born in New Jersey, October 11th, 1786, and was a farmer. He went from New Jersey, when a small boy, with his parents to Wayne county, New York, and settled in the town of Lyons. He lived in Wayne county until 1826, when he moved to the town of Parma, Monroe county, New York, and lived there until he emigrated to Michigan in the fall of 1835. He settled in the town of Superior, Washtenaw county. Septem- ber 15th, 1805, he married Miss Jane Westfall, daughter of James Westfall, of Phelps, Ontario county, New York. James Westfall also came from New Jersey to Ontario county. By this marriage
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
there were sixteen children, eight sons and eight daughters, eight with black eyes and eight with blue eyes, fifteen living to be over twenty-one years old. Mrs. Van Auken was born in New Jersey, June 23d, 1789, and died in Rome, Lenawee county, Michigan, July 6th, 1869, after living with her husband over sixty years. Mr. Van Auken is still living near the village of Newburg, in Shiawassee county. Lemuel Van Auken first came to Michigan and stopped in Logan (now Adrian) on a prospecting tour, in 1833, and in 1835 took up land in Madison (now Dover,) situ- ated on the town line of Dover and Rome. In the spring of 1839 he moved his family to Michigan and settled on his land. When he took up his land he borrowed twenty dollars, intending to have one hundred and sixty acres, but when he got to the land office, in Monroe, he found there was a fraction attached to the land he wanted, and to secure the one hundred and sixty acres he was obliged to buy the fraction, which took all his money except six cents, and that he paid for toll over the bridge at Monroe. He did not have money enough left to buy his breakfast, and walked thirty-six miles that day without anything to eat. This was pio- neering. November 19th, 1835, he married Miss Eleanor Moore, daughter of Adam Moore, a prominent farmer of Clarkston, Mon- roe county, New York. She was born October 28th, 1817. By this marriage there were two children, Mary and Jane, both dead. Mrs. Eleanor Van Auken died August 28th, 1843. February 21st, 1844, he married Miss Sally A. Howell, daughter of Anson Howell, of Adrian township, this county, who came here in 1828. By this marriage there were five children, three sons and two daughters, as follows: Anson L., a farmer in Rome, this county ; Jared A., mining in Colorado; Eleanor J., dead; Laura A., at home with her father; Lewis W., dead. Mrs. Sally Van Auken was born in Ontario county, New York, September 25th, 1815, and died July 2d, 1878, at her home in Adrian, Michigan. Mr. Van Auken sold his farm in Dover in 1865, and moved to Adrian and built his present residence, on the corner of Madison street and Michigan avenue.
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