USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > History and biographical record of Lenawee County, Michigan, Volume I > Part 34
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LVIN C. OSBORN was born in Enfield, Tompkins county, New York, October 18th, 1818. His father, Jesse Osborn, was born in Newburgh, Orange county, New York, in 1784, where he lived with his parents, Abraham and Loretta Osborn, until he was a young man. His parents then moved to Cayuga
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
county and purchased a farm, and lived there several years, Jesse living with them during this time. In 1824 Jesse Osborn came to Michigan, and landed at Detroit with his family, bringing his own team and wagon. He was the first man to drive a team from Detroit to Monroe after the war of 1812. When he arrived at Monroe he could find no house to live in, and finally went up the Raisin river about five miles and occupied an old deserted house, where a woman and five children had been murdered by the Indi- ans, the blood-stains being on the floor at the time. They occu- pied this house until winter. The latter part of August he went to Tecumseh, but could not get a house up and make it sufficiently comfortable for the winter, and returned to Monroe and stayed until the spring of 1825. In June, 1824, he purchased eighty acres of land adjoining the present Judge Stacy farm, in Tecumseh, a part of it being now used for the cemetery. He raised the first wheat in the county on this farm. He lived there until 1832, when he sold out to William H. Hoag, and purchased one hun- dred and twenty acres on section nine, in Woodstock. He built a large log house, and kept a hotel on the Chicago turnpike until 1857. He then sold out and moved to Coffey county, Kansas, where he died in 1865. About 1809 he married Miss Rachel Chase, daughter of Isaac and Susan Chase, of Enfield, Tompkins county, New York, by whom he had eleven children, Alvin C. being the fifth child and third son. Mrs. Rachel Osborn was born in Coxsackie, New York, in 1794. She died in Woodstock, October 21st, 1851. Alvin C. Osborn came to Michigan with his parents in 1824, and has been a resident of Lenawee county ever since. He never received much education, there being no school in the county until the winter of 1825-6, when George Taylor opened a school in a small building in Tecumseh, on the north side of the road, nearly opposite where the court-house afterwards stood. Alvin lived with his father until he was twenty-one. Hc followed farming and clearing Jand until 1857, when he purchased his father's farm in Woodstock, where he has resided ever since Since that time he has followed farming, and kept a hotel. He now owns two hundred and twenty-six acres of land, nearly two hundred of which are under good improvement. He has erected one of the best residences in Woodstock, and has as handsome and productive a farm as can be found in the county. He is the oldest settler now living in the township. His father, Jesse Osborn, was the first man to purchase land in the township, and Cornelius Millspaugh was the first settler, pre-empting his land some years previous. Thomas Jowls and Mary Ann Millspaugh were the first couple to be married in the township. Jesse Osborn built the
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
first school house in 1834, and Alvin Chase taught the first school. Alvin C. Osborn came to Michigan before there was any settle- ment between Monroe and Chicago; in fact it was an unbroken wilderness ; but he has lived to see Michigan become one of the most important States in the union. He has assisted in making it one of the great grain-growing centers of the world, and with his strong and willing hands has done his share in making the pleas- ant homes and productive farms. December 29th, 1840, he mar- ried Miss Angeleck Every, daughter of Joseph and Margaret Every, of Columbia, Jackson county, Michigan, by whom he has had two children, as follows: Francelia, born in Woodstock, January 3d, 1842, now the wife of A. J. McCourtie, a farmer of Woodstock ; Nathaniel, born in Woodstock, September 7th, 1844, works the home farm in connection with his father. Mrs. Angel- eck Osborn was born in Middletown, Delaware county, New York, October 8th, 1819. Her ancestors came from Germany.
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ONATHAN HALL was born in Lyme, New London county, Connecticut, April 17th, 1801. His father, Jonathan Hall, Sr., was born in the same place, April 16th, 1775. He was a farmer, and owned five hundred acres of land in that county. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He lived in New London county all of his life, was a prominent man in his township, and held several offices of trust and honor. He died there August 8th 1859. April 5th, 1800, he married Miss Betsey Lord, of Lyme, by whom he had seven children, six sons and one daughter, Jonathan being the oldest. Mrs. Betsey Hall was born in Lyme, January 17th, 1779, and died there April 26th, 1854. Jonathan Hall, the subject of this sketch, was brought up a farmer, and re- ceived a common school education. He lived at home until he was about twenty-five, and in the fall of 1826 went to North Caro- lina, and during that winter he taught school ncar Wilmington. In the spring of 1827 he came to Michigan to "look land," but went back east as far as Huron county, Ohio, where he taught school during the winter. In the spring of 1828 he returned to Connecticut, got some money of his father, and came back to Michigan in the fall of 1828, and located two hundred and forty acres of land in Lenawee county, it being the e. } of the w. 4 and the w. ¿ of the n. e. 4 of section 6, and the w. } of the n. w. ¿ of section 5, all in Ridgeway -- a part of the village of Ridgeway
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
standing on this property. He has cleared off and cultivated one hundred and thirty acres of the land himself, and now has a fine and highly productive farm, with a large brick house, good barns, &c. In 1830 he returned to Connecticut on foot, being about two weeks making the trip. It was in the month of March when he went, going from Tecumseh to Detroit, and through Canada to Niagara Falls, where he crossed and went on to Troy. His great- est trouble during the trip was a package of five hundred dollars in money which he was carrying to Troy for Judge Blanchard, of Tecumseh ; but he delivered it safely. On his way through Can- ada he was greatly annoyed by ice and mud. At one place the ice was thin, the water was over his boots, and he pulled them off and waded the water and ice barefooted for fifty or sixty rods. A few years afterwards he made the same trip again on foot, but this time he went through Ohio to Buffalo. December 2d, 1835, he married Miss Lydia Raymond, daughter of Daniel and Lucy Raymond, of Raisin, this county, by whom he has had six children, as follows : Sarah M., born October 24th, 1836, wife of R. T. Bush, of Brook- lyn, New York ; Velina L., born August 25th, 1839, at home; Mary E., born November 12th, 1842, at home; Melvin E., born April 11th, 1845, died June 23d, 1850. Two children died in infancy. Mrs. Lydia Hall was born in Cohocton, Steuben county, New York, August 24th, 1817. [For her family connection, see Hiram Raymond's record.]
ILLIAM D. PAGE was born in Paris, Oneida county, New York, December 26th, 1808. His father, Marcus Page, was born in Connecticut, where he owned a farm. He afterwards settled in Oneida county, New York, where he died, about the year 1813. His ancestors came from Scotland. About the year 1806 he married Miss Lovina Wade, daughter of Alver- son Wade, of Rose, Monroe county, New York, by whom he had two children, William D. being the oldest. Mrs. Lovina Page was born in the State of New York, and died in Pittsfield, Wash- tenaw county, Michigan, in 1848. William D. Page lived with his grandfather, Abel Page, after the death of his father, which occurred when William was five years old. Hereceived a good com- mon school education, and in early life, went on the Erie canal, and at the age of nineteen, he was captain of a canal packet. In 1830
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
he came to Michigan, and located government land, in Plymouth, Wayne county, where he resided four years-until 1834-when he traded with Augustus Randolph, for eighty acres, on section seven, in Fairfield, this county, being the land upon which the Horton cheese factory now stands. He afterwards took up eighty acres from the government, adjoining, on section twelve, in Seneca. He cut a road through the woods, for two miles, to get to his land. He resided on this farm until 1861, when he removed to Morenci village, and in 1865, traded for the old Raymond farm, in the vil - lage of Morenci, where he lived at the time of his death, which occurred in Toledo, December 19th, 1873. He was stricken with paralysis, while walking in the streets of Toledo, and died in about fifty-four hours afterwards. For about twenty years Mr. Page was largely interested in cattle, and brought the first thoroughbred short-horns to Lenawee county, bringing several fine animals from the choicest Kentucky herds. In 1845 he commenced the cattle droving business, and for several years, drove cattle to the Detroit market, and after the Great Western railroad was built through Canada, he was one of the first to ship cattle over it. He then shipped, for many years, to Buffalo, Montreal, and New York. He was the first man in Lenawee county, to engage in the general droving business. He was the first man to stock the township of Fairfield, with sheep. He several times went to Ohio, and pur- chased droves, and brought them in, and disposed of them to the settlers. He was an active, energetic, honorable man, and for many years was as well and favorably known among the farmers, as any man in the county. He was an Episcopal Methodist, and was among the first to organize a church in his neighborhood, and his house was a preaching and stopping place for all itinerant ministers. February 22d, 1831, he married Miss Fanny Morris, daughter of Lewis and Lois Morris, of Nankin, Wayne county, Michigan, by whom he had nine children, as follows : Charles M., born in Plymouth Wayne county, Michigan, June 30th, 1832, a farmer, of Ogden, this county ; Mary L., born in Fairfield, June 2d, 1835, now the wife of Morris F. Fuller, of Seneca; James M., born in Fairfield, August 15th, 1837, died at Vicksburg, Mississ- ippi, while on his way to Texas, after cattle, March 8th, 1866 ; Alverson W., born in Fairfield, July 25th, 1839, a farmer, and resides on the old farm, in Morenci ; Marshal E., born in Fair- field, January 10th, 1842, of Pleasanton, California ; Lyman L., born in Fairfield, March 9th, 1844, died in Morenci, August 6th. 1861; Susan E., born in Fairfield, March 19th, 1846, now the wife of George B. Cadwell, of Morenci; Henry D., born in Fair- field, February 19th, 1848, of Petaluma, California ; one daughter
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
died in infancy. Mrs. Fanny Page was born in Benton, Yates county, New York, February 2d, 1813, and came to Michigan with her mother, in 1830. Her father, Lewis Morris, was of Scotch extraction, and was a lineal descendant of Robert Morris, of Revolutionary fame. He was born in New Jersey, and died near Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1820. Her mother was a daughter of Ezra and Sabra Cole, of Connecticut. She was born of English parents, in 1779, and died in Detroit, in July, 1871.
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ILLIAM KNIGHT was born in Northampton, Hamp- shire county, Massachusetts, January 17th, 1806. His father, Erastus Knight, was born in Chesterfield, Hamp- shire county, Massachusetts, and always lived in that county and State, and died there in the seventieth year of his age. About the year 1800 he married Miss Polly Little, of Williamsburg, Massa- chusetts, by whom he had three children, William being the youngest. Mrs. Polly Knight was born in Hampshire county, Massachusetts, and died there in 1808. He was married three times after the death of his first wife, and raised ten children in all. William Knight lived with his father until he was twenty-one, and received only a common school education. He was brought up a farmer, and has always followed that occupation. In 1831 he purchased some land in Greenfield, Franklin county, Massachu- setts, where he farmed it until 1834, when he came to Michigan and located government land in Rome, this county, on sections thirty-five and thirty-six. He was a young man at that time, and applied for board to several of the settlers, but could get no accom- modation in that neighborhood, and finally traded with David Hathaway for land on section eighteen, in Adrian, where he has resided ever since. He has made a large amount of maple sugar since he first began on this farm, having manufactured every season during the past forty-five years. He now has a fine "sugar bush" of three hundred trees, and has tapped as many as five hundred trees in a season. About 1837 he assisted largely in organizing district school number nine, of Adrian, and a fine brick school house now stands on a part of his farm which he sold to the dis- trict. He assisted liberally in the erection of the Adrian township Congregational church, a fine brick structure, standing nearly opposite his residence. He came from Toledo to Adrian, in 1834, with Rufus Smead and family, consisting of his wife, one son and
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
two daughters. It was on the 7th of May, and there had been heavy rains. The water in the Cottonwood swamp covered almost the entire surface, and while the wagon was passing through a small lake, it became disabled. Night was at hand, and there seemed to be no prospect of getting the wagon out, and Mrs. Smead and her daughters became alarmed at the situation. Mr. Knight finally proposed to carry them to dry land, many rods dis- tant, on his back. After some hesitation Mrs. Smead finally de- cided to make the attempt, and she was landed safe and sound on dry land. The young ladies were afterwards landed in the same way. Mr. Knight says this was an incident in his life, for it was a difficult and laborious feat to perform, but one of the young ladies became his wife afterwards, and he has nothing to regret for his gallantry on that occasion. December 24th, 1834, he married Miss Anna Smead, daughter of Rufus and Anna Smead, of Adrian, by whom he has had eight children, as follows: Mary S., born October 5th, 1836, now the wife of A. J. Hood, of Adrian; Myra A., born December 11th, 1840, wife of J. S. Lane, died February 12th, 1874; William H., born October 30th, 1842, a fariner of Adrian; Julia E., born January 2d, 1845, wife of Alfred Edwards, a farmer of Adrian; Margaret H., born December 30th, 1847, died May 13th, 1865; Charles A., born September 8th, 1849, died in Lincoln, Nebraska, December 3d, 1872; Herbert E., born May 30th, 1852, at home ; one son died in infancy. All the chil- dren were born in Adrian. Mrs. Anna Knight was born in Bolton, Warren county, New York, September 14th, 1810, and came to Michigan with her parents in 1834. Her father was born in Montague, Franklin county, Massachusetts, in 1757, and died in Adrian, in February, 1840. Her mother was the daughter of Moses and Rhoda Hawks, of Shelburne, Franklin county, Mass- achusetts. She died in Adrian, August 30th, 1868, in her 94th year. Mrs. Knight was a school teacher in Massachusetts for several years previous to her coming to Michigan.
UGUSTUS W. BRADISH was born in Macedon, Wayne county, New York, January 24th, 1815. His father, Cal- vin Bradish, was born in Cummington, Massachusetts, De- cember 26th, 1773, where he lived until he was twenty years old, . when, in 1793, he moved to Palmyra, Wayne county, New York, and soon after purchased three hundred acres of land in the wilder-
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ness. He was one of the first settlers of Wayne county, and during the month of March, 1795, had the measles. He "enjoyed" this fit of sickness entirely alone, as his shanty was situated in the woods, three miles from any human being, and was well protected from any intrusion by three feet of snow. He lived on this farm until the spring of 1831, clearing up nearly two hundred and forty acres and erecting good buildings. In the spring of 1831 he sold out and came to Michigan, arriving in Adrian on the 18th day of June. He came from Buffalo to Detroit on a steamboat, but the trip from Detroit to Adrian was made with ox teams, being five days on the road. During the summer of 1828 he came to Logan (now Adrian) and located two hundred and forty acres of land on section twenty-three in Logan (now Madison,) and returned to New York to dispose of his property there. He at once settled on this land, when he arrived with his family in 1831. That year he purchased nine hundred and sixty acres more land, in this county, besides one hundred and sixty acres in Hillsdale county. In 1834 he erected one of the best farm houses in the county, it being the same now owned and occupied by his son Augustus W. He was one of the original projectors and stock-holders in the Erie and Kal- amazoo railroad, and was active and energetic in its construction and completion. He was prominent in his township, and well known as an honest, liberal and public-spirited man, a good neigh- bor and warnı friend. He died September 17th, 1851. About the year 1799 he married Miss Nancy Post, of Palmyra, New York, by whom he had twelve children, Augustus W. being the ninth child. Mrs. Nancy Bradish was born on Long Island, New York, in April, 1781. She died in Madison, this county, in Sep- tember, 1839. Augustus W. Bradish lived with his father until he was twenty-one. He came to Michigan with his parents in 1831, and never received much schooling. About 1840 he com- menced business for himself by working his father's farm on shares, and has followed farming ever since. He now resides on and owns his father's homestead. In 1844 he was elected township clerk, of Madison, and held the office until 1861. In 1846 he was elected justice of the peace, and still holds the same position. In 1861-2 he was elected supervisor of Madison, and was again elected in 1872, and held the office until 1877. He was superin- tendent of the poor for four years. April 13th, 1847, he married Miss Elsie M. Appleby daughter of Jacob and Mary Appleby, of Erie county, Pennsylvania, by whom he has had eight children, as follows: Caroline A., born May 12th, 1848, died September 7th, 1851; Clarence M., born April 28th, 1850, died September 11th, 1851; Herbert H., born September 14th, 1852, now a farmer
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
of Fairfield; Carroll E., born December 21st, 1854, a farmer of Madison; William R., born May 2d, 1857, at home; Emma J., born November 29th, 1859, at home; Mary E., born February 6th, 1863, died October 21st, 1865; Frank A., born December 6th, 1866, at home. Mrs. Elsie M. Bradish was born in Ve- nango, Erie county, Pennsylvania, December 18th, 1825. Her father was born in New Jersey, in May, 1794, and died in Penn- sylvania, in 1872. Her mother was born in Massachusetts, in 1795, and is still living in Pennsylvania.
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ARVEY S. BOWEN was born in Marcellus, Onondaga county, New York, February 7th, 1814. His father, Syl- vanus Bowen, was born at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, in 1780, where he lived until he was a young man, and learned the carpenter and builder's trade. He went from Massachusetts to Rhode Island. About the year 1812, he moved to Poughkeepsie, New York, and finally settled in Marcellus, Onondaga county. He resided in Marcellus for several years, and was engaged in a milling, lumbering, and wool-carding business. In 1825 he sold out, and moved to Senate, Cayuga county, and purchased a farm, where he died, in January, 1860. In 1807 he married Miss Susannah C. Rice, daughter of Anthony and Martha Rice, of Natick, Rhode Island, by whom he had eight children, Harvey S. being the third child and oldest son. Mrs. Susannah C. Bowen was born in Natick, Rhode Island, in 1791. Her father's ances- tors came from France, and her mother's came from England. Mrs. Bowen died July 15th, 1878. Harvey S. Bowen lived with his parents until he was about sixteen years old, when he went to Auburn, New York, and learned the miller's trade. He served an apprenticeship of three years, and afterwards served two years at manufacturing mill-stones, in the same place. In 1836 he came to Michigan, to look after some mill-stones that he had made and sold to Edward and Thomas B. Hook, for their mill, three miles west of Adrian, now known as Hook's mill. He put the mill in order, and run it one year. He returned to New York the next year, and followed milling until 1842, when he came back to Adrian, and formed a partnership with Amos Bigelow, under the firm name of H. S. Bowen & Co., renting the old Red mill, and running it about three years. During this time, H. S. Bowen & Co. purchased what was afterwards known as the White mill priv-
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ilege, erected a mill, and built the dam. The race was dug by Pat- rick McAdam, now a resident of Adrian. They built a house near the mill, and erected a cooper shop, and Elijah Vandergrift made the barrels. The first wheat was ground in the mill in May, 1843. In 1844 Mr. Bowen sold his interest to William O. How- ard. He then leased the old Red mill again, and run it until the spring of 1846, when he went to farming. In the fall of 1859 he went to Toledo, and engaged in the commission business, and re- mained there two years. In 1862 he went to Philo, Illinois, where he operated as a grain dealer, for three years. He erected a large elevator at Tolono, Illinois. In 1866 he returned to Adrian, and that year purchased the Rollin mills, and has resided in the village of Rollin, this county, ever since. December 26th, 1837, he married Miss Lodoiska Proctor, daughter of Isaac and Amelia Proctor, of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, by whom he has had seven children, as follows : Charles H., born in Ludlowville, Tompkins county, New York, October 15th, 1839, now a farmer, of Rollin ; John A., born in the same place, July 13th, 1841, now a farmer, of Chesterfield, Fulton county, Ohio ; Edward, born in Adrian, March 29th, 1844, died June 9th, 1845 ; Mary A., born in Adri- an, January 14th, 1846, died September 9th, 1846; Daniel W., born in Dover, November 30th, 1847, at home; Lodoiska, born in Dover, March 17th, 1850, at home ; Frank W., born in Dover, October 24th, 1854, at home. Mrs. Lodoiska Bowen was born at Weathersfield, Vermont, March 1st, 1818, and moved to Pennsyl- vania with her parents in 1825. Her father and mother died at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, when she was twelve years old.
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ENRY BOURNS was born in Sligo, Ireland, May 18th, 1817. His father, William Bourns, was born in the same county, at Castle Connor, where he was a farmer and stock- raiser. His ancestors were Scotch, and went from Scotland in Cromwell's time, and came into possession of three large confis- cated Irish estates, through Cromwell, which estates are now in possession of their descendants. Elias Bourns, father of William Bourns, and grandfather of Henry, the subject of this sketch, in . . herited one of these estates-Castle Connor-and always lived there. William was the youngest of four sons, all of whom grew to manhood and became wealthy men. About 1798 William Bourns married Miss Jane Bourns, of Roscommon, Ireland, by
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
whom he had one son and six daughters. Mrs. Jane Bourns died at Sligo, in 1810. In 1814 he married Miss Catharine Donagan, of Sligo, by whom he had one son, Henry. William Bourns died . on his farm in Sligo, January 21st, 1841. Mrs. Catharine Bourns came to America in 1842, and resided with her son Henry, until her death, which occurred September 8th, 1865. Henry Bourns lived with his parents until he was twenty-one years old, and spent six years at Killglass academy. This academy was established and conducted by the Hibernian Bible Society, of Dublin. In 1840 he emigrated to America, arriving in New York on the 18th day of May, his twenty-second birthday. Up to this time he had never done a day's work in his life, but shortly after his arrival here, his young wife was taken sick, and as she had a brother in Huron county, Ohio, he immediately went there. He soon after got employment on the Wabash and Erie canal, on what was then known as "section 75," under contract of Gen. James B. Stead- man, of Toledo. He was installed as "foreman" over about forty men, at a salary of forty dollars per month. He remained there for nearly two years, when he was attacked with the "Maumee fever," and came near losing his life, but finally recovered, being left entirely destitute, having used up all his earnings during his ill- ness. In January, 1843, he came to Adrian with his family, con- sisting of his wife, mother and two children, possessing not over two dollars in money, besides a team and wagon. He immedi- ately went to work with his team, making some money in trans- porting emigrants to different parts of the county, who came in on the Erie and Kalamazoo railroad. During the latter part of 1846 he started a livery stable, with two horses, in the barns then attached to Sammons' hotel. His business prospered, and in the spring of 1848 he owned twelve good horses, which he took east, to Springfield, Massachusetts, and sold. During the summer of 1848 he built Bourns' hotel, just below Sammons' hotel, now owned by George Hillabrant. He opened his hotel on the day of the opening of the first county fair. He kept this hotel until October, 1856, when he traded with Benjamin Hathaway for a farm in Dover township, on section sixteen. He lived there one year, when he traded a part of his farm for the Rome Centre hotel. He remained there about three years, when he sold his hotel to George Garey. In the meantime he had purchased a farm, two and one- half miles west and south of Rome Centre. In 1863 he sold his farm in Rome and purchased the farm on sections two and three, in Dover, consisting of one hundred and eighty-five acres, where he now resides. November 30th, 1837, he married Miss Jane A. Bourns, daughter of David and Eliza Bourns, of Ardglass, county
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