USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > History and biographical record of Lenawee County, Michigan, Volume I > Part 42
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
from Tecumseh to the Chicago Turnpike. He was instrumental in building the first school house in the present town of Franklin, in the fall of 1833. He also was the prime mover in the erection of the methodist church at Franklin Centre. November 28th, 1818, he married Miss Roxenia Shadduck, daughter of Abram and Ruth Shadduck, of Palmyra, New York, by whom he had twelve chil- dren, as follows : George, born in Macedon, Wayne county, New York, April 5th, 1820, now a farmer of Franklin; Mary J., born in Macedon, New York, May 29th, 1822, now the wife of Orson Knight, of Adrian ; Joseph Jr., born in Macedon, New York, April 21st, 1824, now a miller of Adrian; Freelove, born in Mace- don, New York, September 10th, 1826, died March 27th, 1854; Margaret, born in Tecumseh, November 28th, 1829, died in Adrian in 1875; Sarah, born in Tecumseh, September 10th, 1832, now the wife of Henry Bowen, of Adrian ; Ruth, born in Frank- lin, August 6th, 1834, now the wife of George Smith, of Manches- ter, Washtenaw county ; Harriet, born in Franklin, May 12th, 1837, died May 24th, 1850; Thomas, born in Franklin, Novem- ber 29th, 1838 now of Ionia, Mich .; Emma, born in Franklin, January 8th, 1841, died April 9th, 1851; Viletta, born in Frank- lin, May 28th, 1843, at home; Eugene, born in Franklin, May 30th, 1847, now a farmer of Franklin. Mrs. Roxenia Camburn was born near Boston Massachusetts, November 28th, 1800. She died in Franklin, September, 24th, 1875.
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LANSON WOOLSEY was born in Austerlitz, Columbia county, New York, February 5th, 1813. His father, Richard Woolsey, was born in Delaware county, New York, October 11th, 1769, but went to Columbia county before he was twenty-one. He lived in Columbia county, and owned a farm there until 1826, when he moved to Perinton, Monroe county, where he died, in 1848. His ancestors were English. In 1794 he mar- ried Miss Mercy Mosher, daughter of Lemuel and Abigail Mosher, of Columbia county, New York, by whom he had thirteen chil- dren, Alanson being the eleventh child. Mrs. Mercy Woolsey was born in Hillsdale, Columbia county, New York, October 5th, 1777, and died March 4th, 1856. Alanson Woolsey lived with his parents until he was about thirteen years old, when he commenced working on a farm, by the month, and continued until he was twenty-one, his father collecting his wages until that time.
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
He never had much schooling, but learned to read and write, and solved the mathematical problem as far as the "rule of three," in Daboll. At the age of twenty-one-in 1834-he commenced for himself, and during the summer of 1834 he saved money enough to come to Michigan and locate eighty acres of land, in the present town of Dover, this county. He then returned to New York, and stayed until the fall of 1838, when he returned to Michigan, and settled on his land in Dover, but only remained there about three months. On the 24th of December, that year, he moved upon the farm where he now resides, having purchased one hundred and sixty acres, on the school section, in Madison, buying it at auction, in Tecumseh, on the 24th of October, 1838, paying $11.50 per acre. The land was entirely new at that time, being covered, mostly, with oak, black-walnut, basswood, and hickory, with the exception of about two acres of prairie, on the west line. When he purchased his land, he only paid ten per cent of the purchase money, and before he " settled up" for it, he had paid $1,450 in interest. Soon after he purchased his land, he sold sixty acres, but subsequently purchased one hundred and five acres more, and erect- ed a good brick house. He has also erected a good frame house, on his old farm, with good barns and out-buildings. R. J. Brad- ley, of Adrian, built the frame house in 1850, and the brick house in 1862, and built an addition to the frame house in 1874. Ralph Voorhees, of Adrian, did all the plastering. In 1838 Jere- miah D. Thompson lived on what is known as the Prairie Cottage farm, now owned by Elder Jacob Gander; John Hutchins lived on the farm adjoining on the west, now owned by David Gander ; Nicholas and George Torbron lived on the farm adjoining the Coun- ty Farm on the west, now owned by Chesselton Baker ; Brice W. Hoag lived on the farm adjoining Judge Thompson on the east, now owned by A. B. Spear. The County Farm was purchased in 1837, and in 1838, when Mr. Woolsey moved upon his farm, there was but one pauper, an old man. Levins Hutchins was the sup- erintendent and overseer of the County House, which then consisted of one small log house and one small frame house. Mr. Woolsey is the only man who now lives in the neighborhood that lived there in 1838, and thinks he is the only man, excepting George Livesay, that lives on land purchased of the government, in the town of Madison. November 29th, 1837, he married Miss Mahala Ladd, daughter of John and Betsey Ladd, of Victor, Ontario county, New York, by whom he has had five children, as follows : John Wellington, born August 24th, 1839, now a farmer, of Madison ; William C., born January 27th, 1842, and died September 18th, 1849 ; Calista T., born February 2d, 1845, now the wife of P. B. 53
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Chase, of Dover ; Charles S., born November 1st, 1848, of Chica- go ; Rodolph A., born December 12th, 1850, runs the home farm. All of the children were born in Madison. Mrs. Mahala Woolsey was born in Victor, Ontario county, New York, August 7th, 1818. Her father was born in Cheshire, Massachusetts, July 13th, 1786. He was a farmer, and settled in Ontario county, New York, in 1816, where he died, November 12th, 1852. Her mother, was Miss Betsey Olney, and was born near Providence, Rhode Island, June 4th, 1790, and died in Victor, New York, December 13th, 1834.
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OHN MAXWELL MERRITT. If the career of a man can be marked out and his history traced by the hard work he wrought with the axe and the plow, in clearing the heavy timbered lands in the townships of Tecumseh and Franklin, in this county, then John Maxwell Merritt, of Tecumseh, deserves especial mention in this history as one of the early pioneers of the county. His father, Shubal Merritt, was of English ancestry, and was born in the town of Rye, Westchester county, New York, in the year 1765. While a young man he moved to the State of New Jersey, and afterwards located at Amboy, in that State. In Essex county, New Jersey, the subject of this brief sketch, was born August 1st, 1809, the youngest of a large family of children. While John was a very small child his father moved to Seneca county, New York, and in 1816 he moved into the township of Newfane, Niagara county, in that State. At that time Newfane was in the midst of the wilderness of the then far west, and in a region but lately overrun by the soldiers of the war of 1812. Here Shubal Merritt located and cleared up a large tract of land, which, up to this date, remains as the old homestead. In this new region of country, John received his early education. In the year 1828 Shubal Merritt was killed by being thrown from a wagon near his home in Newfane. On February 12th, 1835, John was married to Emeline Bickford, who was born February 1st, 1817, and he then located in the town of Somerset, in Niagara county. In the year 1837 Mr. Merritt moved into Franklin township, Lenawee county, Michigan, and located land on section twenty-three. Here he cleared up one of the large farms now owned by Andrew Wilson, of that township. The early settlers of the county still remember the frame hotel Mr. Merritt built about
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
the year 1840, on this farm, and run for a number of years. The house still stands, and is about one mile and a half east of Franklin Center, on the La Plaisance Bay turnpike. March 29th, 1845, Mrs. Merritt died. In the year 1847, May 18th, Mr. Mer- ritt was married at Newfane, Niagara county, New York, to Nancy Rebecca Albright, a daughter of Jacob and Submit Albright, who settled in Newfane before the war of 1812. Mr. Albright was a very extensive farmer. In 1859 Mr. Merritt's mother died at Newfane, Niagara county, New York, at the age of ninety-three years. In the year 1853 Mr. Merritt purchased the extensive "Avery farm," on section thirty, in Tecumseh. In the year 1865 he moved into the village of Tecumseh, where he resided until his death. June 10th, 1872, Mr. Merritt was thrown from his carriage, at Tecumseh, and received fatal injuries, remaining unconscious until June 19th, when he died in the sixty-third year of his age, the same age at which his father was killed. Mr. Merritt had five children, all of whom are living, as follows: George Merritt, of Tecumseh, tobacconist, born June 6th, 1836; Samuel Harvey Merritt, of Tecumseh, justice of the peace, born February 2d, 1840; Edward Henry Merritt. of Tecumseh, deputy sheriff, born June 26th, 1848; John Albright Merritt, of Lockport, New York, under sheriff of Niagara county, born November 24th, 1851; Willis Merritt, of Tecumseh, circuit court commissioner, of Lenawee county, and attorney-at-law, born March 10th, 1854. The widow of the deceased still lives at Tecumseh.
ENJAMIN P. EMERY was born in Walworth, Cattarau- gus county, New York, August 13th, 1828. His father, Jeshurum Emery, was born in Kennebec, Maine, February 2d, 1788, where he resided until he was about 30 years old. In 1818 he moved to Farmington, Ontario county, New York, and worked for some years for Darius Comstock. In 1826 he pur- chased a farm in Walworth, Cattaraugus county, New York, where he resided until the summer of 1830, when he came to Michigan and settled on the w. 2 of the s. w. ¿ of section 27, in Adrian, now owned by H. H. Tabor, where he lived about two and a half years,. when he sold out and purchased the s. e. ¿ of section 1, in Rome, now owned by Russell Whitney, where he lived about three years, when he sold to Loren Sherman, and purchased the w. } of the
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
s. e. 4, and the e { of the s. w. ¿ of section 10, in Adrian, where he resided until his death, which occurred May 6th, 1848. He was a very active man, and greatly assisted settlers in locating their lands. He was always ready to turn out and assist men in secur- ing a good location, and has often gone to Monroe to the Land Office to secure land for settlers. People often came to his house and stopped, after their long journey with teams from the State of New York, and while they were resting he would locate their land. He located several of the best farms in that way, that can now be found in Rome or Adrian. About 1821. he married Miss Eliza- beth Pierson, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Pierson, of Victor, Ontario county, New York, by whom he had six children, two sons and four daughters, Benjamin P. being the third child and oldest son. Mrs. Elizabeth Pierson was born in New Jersey, Sep- tember 10th, 1794, and died in Adrian, this county, June 14th, 1872. Benjamin P. Emery was but two years old when he came to Michigan with his parents. He lived at home until the death of his father, when at the age of twenty, all of the cares of the farm and the family fell upon him. He then assumed the man- agement of the farm, and subsequently purchased the interest of all the heirs to his father's estate, and now owns and lives upon the old home farm. He never received much education, a district school in the country comprising his entire advantages for learn- ing, with the exception of a few months in Adrian and at the Gra- ham school. Coming here when he did, in 1830, an infant, when Lenawee was also an infant, scarcely older than himself, he feels very closely identified with the growth and development of the county. Having seen it thrive and prosper, and witnessed its growing importance and prosperity, and assisted in making it the bright and beautiful dwelling-place that it now is, he recounts with pleasure and satisfaction all of the trials and hardships of pioneer life, and prefers to tell of the bright, rather than of the dark side of early times here. He feels that he has done his share of hard work in bringing about the great transformation from a dense wilderness, filled with wild beasts and peopled with roving bands of Indians, to the present productive fields, and villages and cities. May 12th, 1852, he married Miss Catharine Miles, daugh- ter of William and Lydia Miles, of Dover, this county, by whom he had five children, as follows: Lydia E., born February 26th, 1853, at home; William J., born February 2d, 1855, a farmer of .West Olive, Ottawa county, Michigan; Germain B., born January 4th, 1857, at home; Bertha E., born October 12th, 1858, at home; Ida May, born January 18th, 1862, at home. Mrs. Catharine Emery was born in Dover, this county, September 12th, 1834, and
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
died in Adrian, February 5th, 1864. Her parents were pioneers of Dover. July 27th, 1865, he married Miss Emily M. Miles, daughter of Ira L. and Catharine Miles, of Tompkins, Jackson county, Michigan, by whom he has had six children, as follows : Beaman, born January 21st, 1865; Benjamin P., born December 28th, 1866 ; Kittie M., born September 18th, 1868; Eleanor A., born February 8th, 1871; Gertrude M., born September 23d, 1873; Alice C., born March 1st, 1876. All of the children were born in Adrian. Mrs. Emily Emery was born in the city of Adrian, March 14th, 1836. Her father was born in Vermont, January 9th, 1809, and came to Adrian in 1833. He died in Tompkins, Jackson county, Michigan, May 27th, 1876. Her mother was born in Germany in 1810. She was a sister of Charles Kinster, one of the first brick-makers in Adrian. She died in Rives, Jackson county, Michigan, January 11th, 1845.
ARON R. TUFTS was born in Stafford, Genesee county, New York, April 21st, 1825. His father, Aaron Tufts, was born in Massachusetts, November 5th, 1803, where he lived until he was about eighteen years old. He then moved to Stafford, Genesee county, New York, and purchased a farm, on which he now lives. He commenced cutting the trees sixty-two years ago, and has lived to make as good a farm as there is in his neighborhood. He has always been a prominent man in his town- ship, and has filled many places of honor and trust. About 1822 he married Miss Mehitable Persons, daughter of Eli Persons, of Genesee county, by whom he had six children, Aaron R. being the first son and fourth child. Mrs. Mehitable Tufts was born in Con- necticut, and died in Genesee county, New York, in her 29th year. Aaron R. Tufts lived with his father until he was twenty-one years old. He then commenced working on a farm, by the month, and followed it until the fall of 1850, when he came to Michigan, with about $500 he had saved from his earnings. In November, 1850, he purchased, of Sumner W. Rice, one hundred and sixty acres of land, on section three, in Seneca, where he has resided ever since. In 1855 he purchased eighty acres more land adjoining. Since his residence in Seneca he has attended exclusively to his own affairs, and has made farming, in its most profitable and successful methods, his aim and study. He has followed mixed farming, believing from experience, that it is the most lucrative and pleasant system.
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Mr. Tufts has studied farming, and skillfully avoided many of the obstacles that beset the hap-hazard way of doing business, and is, perhaps, one of the most successful tillers of the soil in his town- ship. He is now building one of the finest houses in the county ; large, commodious, and modern in all its appointments, and is a home equal to the position or wants of the most refined and intel- ligent person. The general appearance and character of the struct- ure evinces a rare taste and judgment, and it would be an ornament on the corner of any street, and compare most favorably with any residence in Adrian. He is located thirteen miles from Adrian, and seven miles from the village of Morenci. January 17th, 1850, he married Miss Margaret Ann Perry, daughter of Roswell and Dolly Perry, of Bethany, Genesee county, New York, by whom he has had four children, as follows : Florence V., born December 25th, 1851, at home ; Eva A., born January 1st, 1855, now the wife of Harvey Upton, of Medina; Mary Ann, born December 27th, 1859, now the wife of Thomas Clarkson, of Seneca ; Charles L., born March 8th, 1865, at home. Mrs. Margaret Ann Tufts was born in Pavilion, Genesee county, New York, March 5th, 1830. Her father was a native of the State of New York, and died in Erie county, in 1840. Her mother was born in Vermont, and died in Seneca, this county, October 24th, 1866. Her ances- tors were English.
E PHRAIM HALL was born in Sudbury, Rutland county, Vermont, January 20th, 1810. His father, Capt. Abner Hall, was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, about 1755, and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and afterwards a captain in the Vermont militia. He was a farmer, and owned a farm in Sudbury, Vermont, where he died in 1841. About 1775 he married Miss Mary Jackson, of Newtown, Massachusetts, by whom he had twelve children, seven sons and five daughters, only two of whom are now living, Ephraim being the eleventh child and sixth son. Mrs. Mary Hall was born in Newtown, Massa- chusetts, about 1825. Ephraim Hall lived with his father until he was twenty-three, when he emigrated to Michigan and landed in Detroit in May, 1833. He was sick there during the most of that summer, but in the fall went to Battle Creek, where he worked through the winter. In the spring of 1834 he went to Monroe, where he engaged as a clerk in the general store of Clark & Phelps, and afterwards became a partner in the store. In 1836 he came
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
to Lenawee county and settled at "Kedzie's Grove," now the village of Deerfield, where he engaged in the lumber business, and became one of the members of the mill company of Clark & Hall, and built and owned the first dam and saw-mill at Deerfield, it being the property now owned by Jason Hemenway. He re- mained in the lumber business about three years, when he closed out and went to farming on section twelve, on the east side of the river-the old Fowl farm-afterwards purchasing a part of the Kedzie farm on the west side of the river, on the sanie section, where he now resides. He erected the first frame house in the village of Deerfield. In 1836 he run three thousand white-wood logs down the river, some from above Blissfield and some of them coming down Black creek into the Raisin ; the first logs run to the Deerfield mill. When Mr. Hall came to Deerfield the post-office was called "Kedzie's Grove." One evening, upon agreement, Anthony McKey, then postmaster, Walter P. Clark, and Ephraim Hall, three of the five heads of families in the neighborhood at that time, met at the post-office for the purpose of changing the name of the hamlet, and finally deciding upon the suggestion of Mr. Hall, a petition was sent in to change the name to Deerfield. September 12th, 1837, he married Miss Mary A. Smith, daughter of Daniel and Sarah Smith, of Royalton, Niagara county, New York, by whom he has had six children, as follows: Mary E.,
born December 27th, 1838, died in infancy; Walter G., born August 9th, 1840, died in infancy; Helen J., born September 16th, 1841, now the wife of A. B. Burnham, of Louisville, Ken- tucky ; Ada A. born October 27th, 1845, wife of Neal McQuarie, of Deerfield, died December 12th, 1869; Hervey G., born Decem- ber 27th, 1854, of Louisville, Kentucky; Florence A., born August 19th, 1858, at home. Mrs. Mary A. Hall was born in Sudbury, Vermont, Deceniber 30th, 1818, and came to Michigan, in 1837, with her husband. Her father was born in Sudbury, Vermont, in 1792, and died in Royalton, Niagara county, New York, in 1871. Her mother, daughter of Enos and Mary West- over, was born in Troy, New York, in 1792, and is still living.
APT. HERMON R. CASE was born in Simsbury (now Broomfield), Hartford county, Connecticut, April 10th, 1818. His father, Aaron N. Case, was born in the same place, in 1785, where he lived, and owned a farm, until 1832. £ He then moved to Windsor, Ashtabula county, Ohio, and purchased a new
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
farm. He lived there on his farm until 1867, when he came to Cambridge, this county, where he died, in February, 1869. About 1813 he married Miss Laura Roberts, daughter of Lemuel and Roxey Roberts, of Windsor (now Broomfield), Hartford county, Connecticut, by whom he had five children, Hermon R. being the third child and second son. Mrs. Laura Case was born in Broom- field, Connecticut, in 1793, and died there in 1829. Her mother's name was Roxey Goodwin, and her ancestors were English. Capt. Hermon R. Case lived with his father until he was fourteen years old, and received but very little education. In 1833 he, with his brother Galusha, started from Broomfield, Connecticut, with packs on their backs, and walked to Ashtabula, Ohio. Hermon had seventeen dollars, and Galusha had about twenty-five dollars, which they had saved from their work the previous year. Hermon worked by the month until the spring of 1834, when he engaged as a sailor, on the schooner " Morning Star," and sailed the great lakes until 1849. In 1838 he was promoted to captain, and com- manded the schooner " Hiram " during that season. In 1841 he was mate of the steamer " Eagle," on the Mississippi and confluent rivers. In 1835, while lying in the port of Milwaukee, unload- ing a cargo of provisions for the settlers, he, with his shipmates, assisted in raising the first frame building erected in Milwaukee. The last vessel he commanded was the schooner " General Hous- ton," which sailed between Toledo and Oswego for about three years. In 1848 he purchased a new farm, in Cambridge, this county, on section nine, and moved his family upon it. He fol- lowed the lakes until the fall of 1849, since which time he has resided in Cambridge, on his farm. He now owns three hundred and twenty acres, on sections eight, nine, sixteen and seventeen and one hundred and sixty acres, on section twenty-five. He has erected two good frame houses, and five large barns, and has four hundred and thirty acres under cultivation. Where his present fine residence stands, was formerly a Shawnee Indian camping ground, it being between two beautiful little lakes, on an elevated spot. It was afterwards used as a camping ground by the pioneers, who traveled over the La Plaisance Bay turnpike, en route for their new homes. It was also used as a camping place by the men who constructed the turnpike. December 28th, 1841, he married Miss Mary Doty, daughter of Asa Doty, of Euclid, (now East Cleve- land,) Ohio, by whom he had one child, Laura, born in East Cleveland, Ohio, January 17th, 1845, now the wife of Frank Gray, of Franklin. Mrs. Mary Case died in East Cleveland, March 16th, 1845. March 5th, 1848, he married Miss Paulina Minor, daughter of William and Naomi Minor, of Cleveland,
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Ohio, by whom he has had four children, as follows : Marion, born 1 in Cambridge, June 10th, 1851, a farmer, of Cambridge; Elona N., born in Cambridge, July 7th, 1853, now the wife of William Raven, a farmer, of Cambridge; two children died in infancy. Mrs. Paulina Case was born in Mendon, Monroe county, New York, April 2d, 1822. She came to Ohio with her parents in 1831, and settled near Cleveland. Her father was born in New London, Connecticut, May, 25th, 1788. He died in 1856. His ancestors were English. His father commanded a vessel in the American navy, and took part in seven naval conflicts, during the Revolutionary war. Her mother, Naomi Reniff, was born in Massachusetts, December 6th, 1790, and died in August, 1871. Her parents were natives of Massachusetts, and, in 1811, settled in Western New York, in what was then known as the Genesee Valley.
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EORGE W. KETCHAM was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, March 10th, 1811. He came to Michigan with his parents in 1824, and lived in Monroe one year. In 1825 he came to Tecumseh, where he lived until his death, January 31st, 1875. He was a man of good business abilities, prompt, accurate, and honorable, and when a young man, commenced the mercantile business. He was at one time in business in Toledo, and in 1854 sold his stock of goods in Tecumseh. In 1854 he was elected sheriff of Lenawee county, and held the office two years, during which time he resided in Adrian. In 1857 he returned to Tecum- seh, and again embarked in business, opening a dry goods store, continuing until 1862, when, owing to failing health, he sold out to R. C. Moore. He afterwards went into the grocery business in Tecumseh, but in 1868 he sold out to Mr. Brewer, and went to Florida for his health, where he resided for six consecutive winters. October 29th, 1837, he married Miss Sarah M. King, of Tecumseh, by whom he had one daughter, Anna, who died March 20th, 1865, aged twenty years. Mrs. Sarah M. Ketcham died February 1st, 1850. April 6th, 1853, he married Miss Arminda Conkling, daughter of Deacon S. G. Conkling, of Tecumseh. She died in Tecumseh, October 20th, 1872. November 11th, 1873, he married Miss Louisa F. Webb, daughter of Dr. Ezekiel Webb, of Raisin. She was born in Farmington, Oakland county, Michigan, March 9th, 1830, and now resides in Tecumseh.
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