USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > History and biographical record of Lenawee County, Michigan, Volume I > Part 47
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
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ORACE J. SHELDON of Blissfield, was born in Kinder- hook, Columbia county, New York, October 23d, 1812. His father, Seneca Sheldon, was born in Dutchess county, New York, where he was a farmer. George Sheldon, father of Seneca, was an early settler of Rhode Island, and a pioneer of Dutchess county, New York. Seneca Sheldon married Miss Mary Peak, whose parents came from Holland and settled in Dutchess county, by whom he had eight children, three sons and five daugh- ters, all of whom lived to become men and women, Horace J. being the third child. Seneca Sheldon was drowned in Lake George, New York, in May 1822. Mrs. Mary Sheldon died in Washington county, New York, in 1814. Horace J. Sheldon was about ten years old when his father was drowned, and went to learn the tanner's and shoemaker's trade when he was eleven years old, at Queensbury, Warren county, New York, where he stayed three years. He afterwards went to Schenectady for three years, and then to Glen's Falls, where he lived until August, 1833, when he came to Michigan and landed in Detroit, about September 1st. He pros- pected for land through the counties of Wayne, Washtenaw and Jackson, but got homesick, and went back east as far as Cleveland,
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Ohio, where he had friends. He afterwards prospected a little in Ohio, until he got to Loraine county, where he went to work for a tanner, but soon after was attacked with typhoid fever, and lay sick six months. This sickness left him in a desperate state, with little ambition and no money. He finally went to Milan, Ohio, where he stayed until April, 1836, when he bought a pony and started for Michigan. The pony was a fine specimen of the diminutive equine, and having a new saddle and bridle, Mr. Sheldon considered himself, in his new suit of clothes, as good looking and as well mounted a young man as could then be found in " these parts," at least. All went went well with him and his pony, until he struck the Cottonwood swamp, below Blissfield. He went into the swamp proud, cheerful and clean, but came out the most distressed, discouraged and bewildered young man that could be found in the Territory of Michigan. He was covered with mud, his clothes were spoiled, his saddle and bridle worthless, and his pony utterly demoralized, with diving into the lakes of mud, and charging through the brush. He arrived in Blissfield a sorry sight, his pony tired, and himself hungry and disconsolate, on the evening of April 14th, 1836. After a few days rest, he opened a boot and shoe shop on the east side of the river, and remained there until the following November, when he again started on a pilgrimage, and landed at Grand Haven, Michigan, where he established a tan- nery. He lived in Grand Haven four years, and then returned to Blissfield, purchased a new farm, and partly cleared it. He final- ly sold his farm, and opened another boot and shoe shop in the village, where he has resided ever since. He was elected justice of the peace in 1846, and has since served in that capacity for twenty- eight years. He was a delegate to the State Constitutional Conven- tion, at Lansing, in 1867. He was formerly a democrat, but when Gen. Cass wrote his "Nicholson letter," he changed his politics, and of late years has been a Republican. April 2d, 1837, he mar- ried Miss Mary Bailey, daughter of Melvin Bailey, a pioneer of Blissfield, by whom he has had six children, three sons and three daughters, as follows: Lois A., born December 5th, 1842, wife of A. C. Bartholomew, of Blissfield ; Oscar F., born November 19th, 1845, a practicing lawyer of Blissfield; Horace, Jr., born October 2d, 1847, U. S. postal clerk ; Mary L., born August 30th, 1851, wife of J. W. Sanderson, of White Pigeon, Michigan ; George M., born January 28th, 1854, died August 13th, 1862; Florence E., born July 13th, 1857, at home. Mrs. Mary L. Sheldon was born in Canton, St. Lawrence county, New York, October 23d, 1819, and came to Michigan with her parents in 1834. . Her father, Melvin Bailey, was born in Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, New
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
York, in 1798, and died at Reading, Hillsdale county, Michigan, December 28th, 1852. Her mother, Marsena Bailey, was born in Canton, St. Lawrence county, New York, in 1798, and died there, October 17th, 1821.
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OSEPH SLATER was born in New Jersey, October 2d, 1804. His father, William Slater, was born in New Jersey. About the year 1795 he married Miss Nancy Forrester, of New Jersey, by whom he had five children, Joseph being the youngest. Mrs. Nancy Slater was born in New Jersey, of English and German parents. She died in Adrian. Joseph Slater never saw his father, as he left his home and family when Joseph was very young, and was never seen again. When Joseph was eight years old, he was bound out to a farmer until he was twenty-one. He says bound boys in those days were treated about the same as slaves, and were compelled to work early and late, good weather and bad, and under all circumstances. No attention was paid to his education, he being sent to school only enough to learn to write his name and read a little. He was there thirteen years, during which time he never received one cent of money, except when he gather- ed chestnuts in the fall of the year, and sold them. When he was twenty-one he commened work on the Morris canal, in New Jer- sey, and remained there until September, the following year. In the fall of 1826 he went to Seneca county, New York, where he followed farming until the fall of 1831, when he came to Michi- gan, and located the s. w. ¿ of section 25, in Franklin, this county, where he has resided ever since. Since that time he has added to it, until he now owns three hundred and twenty acres, in one body. He has erected a large brick house, with sufficient out-buildings. He has always been a useful, honorable, hard-working man in the township, and has done a great deal towards transforming Frank- lin into the productive and beautiful township that it now is. In 1828 he married Miss Elizabeth Mckinstry, daughter of John and Catharine Mckinstry, of Romulus, Seneca county, New York, by whom he had eight children, as follows : John M., born in Ovid, Seneca county, New York, May 3d, 1830, a farmer of Shiawassee county, Michigan ; Delocia, born in Ovid, New York, September 16th, 1831; George W., died in infancy ; Catharine, born in Franklin, January 7th, 1834, now the wife of John Hen-
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
dershot, of Jackson county, Michigan ; Nancy, born in Franklin, October 15th, 1836, widow of Henry Mathews, of Franklin ; Hiram, born September 26th, 1837, was a member of Company B, 9th Michigan Infantry, in the war of the Rebellion, and died at Chattanooga, Tennessee, April 10th, 1865 ; Mary, born in Frank- lin, May 7th, 1841, now the wife of James Hendershot, of Gratiot county, Michigan ; Lucy J., born in Franklin, May 17th, 1846, now the wife of T. C. Payne, of Franklin. Mrs. Elizabeth Slater was born in Vermont, August 4th, 1801, and died in Franklin, September 23d, 1858. January 14th, 1859, he married Sarah A. Wilson, by whom he had three children, as follows : Nellie M , born in Franklin, April 5th, 1860 ; Arthur J., born September 18th, 1862; Grant E., born May 4th, 1865. All born in Frank- lin. Mrs. Sarah A. Slater was born in England, April 26th, 1822, and died in Franklin, November 3d, 1878.
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YMAN W. BAKER was born in Manchester, Ontario county, New York, January 15th, 1806. His father, Jo- seph M. Baker, was born in Adams, Massachusetts, Febru- ary 19th, 1780. His parents moved to Ira, Rutland county, Ver- mont, when he was a small boy. He lived in Vermont until 1800, when he went to Manchester, Ontario county, New York, and purchased a farm in the woods. He cleared this farm, and raised a family of eleven children. He resided there until the spring of 1833, when he emigrated to Michigan, bringing his family with him. He came from Buffalo to Port Lawrence, (now Toledo,) Ohio, in June. There he purchased ox teams, and came by the way of Petersburg and Blissfield to Adrian. He immedi- ately took up seven hundred and thirty-six acres of government land on sections twelve, in Rome, five, six and seven, in Adrian, and thirty, in Franklin. He built his house on section twelve, in Rome, where he lived until a few years before his death. He died May 27th, 1872 December 27th, 1801, he married Miss Sally Cruthers, daughter of John and Betsey Cruthers, of Phelps, Outa- rio county, New York, by whom he had eleven children, Lyman W. being the third child. Mrs. Sally Baker was born in Half Moon, New York, of Irish parents, in 1778, and died in Rome, Septem- ber 15th, 1851. Lyman W. Baker lived with his parents until he was about sixteen years old. He then went to learn the cooper's trade in Macedon, New York, and after an apprenticeship of
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
two years he went to Palmyra. He followed the business until he was twenty-four years old. In 1830 he rented a farm in Man- chester, Ontario county, and carried it on until 1833, when he sold his effects and came to Michigan and took up the s. } of the n. e. 4, and the s. e. ¿ of the n. w. ¿ of section 12, in Rome. He afterwards added to his first purchase until he owned two hundred and fifteen acres. He has improved one hundred and eighty acres, built a good frame house, large barns, &c. From the time of his first settlement he has always been an active man in the township. During the summer of 1834 the settlers began to talk about organ- izing a township, and it was finally decided to petition the legisla- tive council. One day, at a logging-bee, a meeting was held and Mr. Baker was made the secretary, and instructed to to write to the president of the council and ask, if the proper steps were taken whether an organization could be had. He soon received a reply in the affirmative, and a meeting was held at the house of J. B. Schureman, when all the voters in the township-twenty-seven- were present. Mr. Baker proposed the new township be called Rome, and David Smith, Jr., proposed the name of Junius. It was put to vote by ballot, and Rome had three majority. J. B. Schureman was chairman, and L. W. Baker secretary of the meet- ing. The chairman declared the town should be called Rome, and the secretary so informed the legislative council. In 1837 he was elected justice of the peace, and in 1841 was re-elected to the same office. In 1847 he was again elected. In 1851 he was elected supervisor of Rome. He was postmaster at Wolf Creek for thirty years. He served three years as school inspector, and has been commissioned twenty times as notary public. In 1840 he was made deputy U. S. Marshal, to take the census of the town- ships of Rome, Rollin, Cambridge and Woodstock. Febru- ary 11th, 1830, he married Miss Asenath S. Warner, daughter of Russell and Orra Warner, of Manchester, Ontario county, New York, by whom he had seven children, as follows: Orra C., born in Manchester, Ontario county, New York, June 4th, 1833, now the wife of B. C. Knowles, of Adrian; Lydia J., born in Rome, July 12th, 1835, now the wife of George H. Lane, of Rome ; Ralph P., born in Rome, August 30th, 1837, a farmer of Rome ; four children died in infancy. Mrs. Asenath Baker was born in Phelps, Ontario county, New York, July 12th, 1813, and died in Rome, April 12th, 1856. October 22d, 1856, he married Miss Jerusha T. Hinckley, daughter of Benjamin and Lydia Hinckley, of Johnstown, Michigan, by whom he has had five children, as follows: Lyman W., Jr., born September 4th, 1857; Sam H., born September 18th, 1859 ; Douglas S., born January 5th, 1863;
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Grace A., born April 30th, 1866, died August 20th, 1866 ; Lee H., born November 27th, 1870 ; all born in Rome. Mrs. Jerusha T. Baker was born in Batavia, Genesee county, New York, June 1st, 1831, and came to Michigan with her parents in 1845, and settled in Rome, this county.
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AMES MORELAND, 3d, was born in Dromara, county Down, Ireland, February 14th, 1819. His father, James Moreland, 2d, was born in the same place, where he was a farmer, and owned the farm where he was born, and upon which his father-James Moreland, 1st,-lived and died. The wife of James Moreland, 1st, was Ann Scott, who was born in the same county. The ancestors of the Moreland family came from Scot- land during the time of the religious persecution, and the name was taken from the moor lands in the Lowlands of Scotland. James Moreland, 2d, married Miss Margaret Curry, about the year 1788, by whom he had six children, the youngest of whom, Sam- uel Moreland, is now living in Somerset, Hillsdale county, Michi- gan. His first wife died about the year 1804, and about two years subsequently, he married Miss Fanny Magee, by whom he had six children, four sons and two daughters, James, the subject of this sketch, being the third son and fifth child. Mrs. Fanny Moreland was born in Antrim county in 1780. Her father, John Magee, was of Scotch extraction. Her ancestors were among the first to flee from persecution in Scotland, and they settled upon an island on the coast of Ireland, called Island Magee, and it is not now known whether the family named the island or the island named the family. Her mother was Miss Annabella Calton, also of Scotch ancestry. James Moreland, 2d, died on his farm where he was born, in 1828. His wife, Fanny Moreland, died there in 1842. Our subject, James Moreland, 3d, lived at home until he was about fourteen years old, when he was bound out to learn the linen weavers' trade, with a relative and namesake, in the town of Dramiller, in county Down. He followed weaving about three years, when, in 1837, he went to the historical town of Port Pat- rick, on the coast of Scotland, and worked upon the improvements the government was then making in the harbor, for nearly two years. During this time an accident occurred, when two men were killed and nine were seriously injured. In the fall of 1839 he re-
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
turned to Ireland and remained until the following spring, when he went back to Dalry, Scotland, and worked in a large iror. foundry where they manufactured smelting machinery. That fall he returned to Ireland, and in the spring of 1841 he came to America, landing at Quebec, July 1st. After traveling about, as long as his money lasted, he finally commenced chopping cord- wood near Kingston, Canada, and November 23d, 1843, he came to Michigan, and passed the winter with his brother William, in Hillsdale county. In the spring of 1844 he came to Adrian and worked at wagon making for Nathan Corey. He afterwards
worked for Abiram Smith, Howard, Smith & Co., and French & White, in building threshing machines and steam engines. In 1849 he formed a partnership with William Nixon in the wagon and carriage business, which continued four years, during which time he invented and patented Moreland's mortising-machine. The patent was dated February 22d, 1852. After the expiration of his partnership with Mr. Nixon, he, for several years, followed the machinist's business, being for some time in the employ of the Michigan Southern railroad. He put a large steam engine, with all the attendant machinery, into the old white mill for W. H. Stone & Co., which was a model of perfection. In December, 1845, he joined the Adrian fire department, and was a member of Alert Engine Company No. 1, from that time until 1863, when he left Adrian. In the fall of 1863 he formed a partnership with Samuel Stephenson, and purchased a foundry and machine shop in Hudson, this county, where he has resided ever since. In the spring of 1878 they transformed their machine shop into a grist- mill, and are now doing a large milling business. May 30th, 1849, he married Miss Ann Stephenson, daughter of William Stephenson and Martha Small, of county Monaghan, Ireland, by whom he had four children, as follows: Fannie Jane, born in Adrian, April 21st, 1850, at home ; Robert S., born in Adrian, February 8th, 1854, now book-keeper and cashier with M. E. Chittenden & Co., of Adrian ; James H., born in Adrian, Febru- ary 19th, 1857, now traveling salesman for M. E. Chittenden & Co., of Adrian ; William T., born in Hudson, July 7th, 1864, at home. Mrs. Ann Moreland was born in county Monaghan, Ire- land, in 1829, and died in Hudson, this county, January 1st, 1871. She was a sister of Dr. R. and John Stephenson, of Adrian, and came to America with her brother John in 1847. She was a good wife and kind mother, and her children cherish her memory. Her good counsel and watchful, tender care, are still remembered by them all. May 14th, 1873, Mr. Moreland married Mrs. Eliza- beth Yund, of Moscow, Hillsdale county, Michigan. She is the
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
daughter of Robert and Olive Strong, of Lansingburg, New York. She came to Michigan with her parents in 1832, and settled in Washtenaw county.
ILLIAM H. H. VAN AKIN was born in Phelps, On- tario county, New York, July 2d, 1816. His father, John Van Akin, was born in Upper Smithfield (now Westfall), Pike county, Pennsylvania, in 1768, where he lived until 1796, when he moved to Phelps, Ontario county, New York, and purchased six hundred acres of land. This tract of land was an unbroken wilderness when he purchased it, but, with the help of his sons, he improved about five hundred acres, and three hun- dred acres of it is still owned by one of his sons. He died there, March 19th, 1854. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. In June, 1788, John Van Akin and Margaret Westfall, were mar- ried, in Upper Smithfield, Pennsylvania. They had ten children, nine sons and one daughter. He used to tell the story, when peo- ple asked him how many children he had, that he " had nine sons, and every one of them had a sister." Mrs. Margaret Van Akin was born in Upper Smithfield, Pennsylvania, March 11th, 1773, and died in Nankin, Wayne county, February 21st, 1861. She is buried in Hudson. Her father, Simeon Westfall, was born in Deer Park, Orange county, New York, February 2d, 1749, and died there in 1812. Her mother was Miss Sally Cole, who was born in Deer Park, Orange county, New York, January 10th, 1745, and died there in 1832. She was the mother of five children. William H. H. Van Akin lived with his parents until his eight- eenth year, when he came to Michigan, in company with his mother, and his brother Simeon Van Akin, and settled on section nineteen, in the present town of Hudson. The south part of the village of Hudson now stands upon this land, and Simeon now re- sides only about one hundred rods from where he first erected his log shanty, in the fall of 1834. This was was the second shanty erected in the present village. Beriah H. Lane erected the first framne building in the village in 1836. The first child born in the village was Simeon Davenport, who was born in the spring of 1835. His parents settled on the east side of Bean creek, in the fall of 1834. In the fall of 1835 Miss Abbie Dickenson came to the village, from Massachusetts, as a missionary, and immediately commenced looking after the spiritual welfare of the settlers. Dur- ing the winter of 1835-6 the first school was opened, and either
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Miss Dickenson or Miss Sarah Pratt was the teacher. But Miss Dickenson's labors were soon brought to an end, as George Sauls- bury, of Adrian, had but little difficulty in convincing her that it was not good for young ladies to be alone, especially in a wilder- ness, and they were married in 1836, and "went west" to Illinois, and finally to California. This was the first wedding in Lanes- ville (now Hudson). Mr. Saulsbury was also the first merchant in the village. He erected a slab shanty and sold goods about one year. The Rev. William Wolcott was the first minister to visit the village, and organized the first church. When William H. H. Van Akin became twenty-one, he owned two hundred acres of land, on the east side of Bean creek, and south of the east and west road. In 1848 he moved into the town of Pittsford, where he owned a farm, and in 1849 he was elected justice of the peace of that township. He resided in Pittsford until 1859, when he re- turned to Hudson, and has resided in the village ever since. Dur- ing his residence in Hudson he has held the offices of township treasurer and highway commissioner. He, with his brother Sim- eon, has cleared and caused to be cleared, five hundred acres of heavy timbered land, in and about Hudson village. In 1848 William H. H. erected a saw and grist-mill in Pittsford, and run it ten years. At this saw-mill, most of the lumber for the build- ings in Hudson at that time, was manufactured. Mr. Van Akin now has five brothers living in Michigan, two of whom settled in Nankin, Wayne county, in 1831-2. There are four brothers now living in or near Hudson, all early settlers. September 19th, 1839, William H. H. Van Akin married Miss Julia Ann Feath- erly, daughter of Frederick and Sarah Featherly, of Galon, Wayne county, New York, by whom he has had nine children, as follows : Charlotte F. and Sarah A., (twins) born July 9th, 1840 ; Sarah died in infancy ; Charlotte is now the wife of Dr. H. Welch, of Hudson ; Olive V., born December 2d, 1841, was the wife of John Wirts, of Hudson, and died January 30th, 1870; Lydia M., born May 22d, 1844, died at the age of six years ; Cornelia Ann, born November 3d, 1849, now the wife of E. J. Smith, of Union City, Michigan ; William H. and Charles H., (twins) born March 20th, 1852; William H. is a farmer of Hudson; Charles is a resident of Wright, Hillsdale county ; Lillie, born July 2d, 1854, a resi- dent of Union City, Michigan ; Stephen A., born July 10th, 1860, died April 1st, 1861. Mrs. Julia Ann Van Akin was born in Galon, Wayne county, New York, January 10th, 1816. Her par- ents were natives of Wayne county, New York, where they always lived. Her grandfather, John Featherly, was one of three men who first settled in Wayne county, New York, in 1789.
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
OBERT J. STREET was born in New York city, July 23d, 1805. His father, Alfred Street, was probably born in Pennsylvania. He was a shoe-maker, and worked in Philadelphia and New York city, and nothing is known of him since 1805. He married Miss Ann Johnson, daughter of William Johnson, of Poughkeepsie, New York, by whom he had one child, Robert J. Mrs. Ann Street was born in Poughkeepsie, and died in New York city. Robert J. Street only received a limited edu- cation, as his mother was left entirely alone, and when he was ten years old he was put to work in a woolen factory in Stanford, New York, where he lived about five years. About the year 1820 he went back to the city of New York where he learned the wicker- worker's trade, which he followed until the fall of 1832, when he emigrated to Michigan, and arrived in Adrian on the 14th of Sep- tember of that year. He at once engaged to work with Jonathan Harnard, and remained there one year. He then purchased a new farm near the south-west corner of the town of Raisin, where he lived for five years, when he sold out and purchased the n. e. 4 of the n. e. ¿ of section 10, in Palmyra, where he now resides. This was a new farm, which he has cleared, and has built two dwelling- houses, and good barns, sheds, &c. April 22d, 1829, he married Miss Almira Clark, daughter of George and Ann Clark, of Prince- ton, New Jersey, by whom he had eight children, as follows : Catharine Ann, born February 16th, 1830, and died September 8th, 1831; Oswell W., born September 12th, 1831, and died in the fourth year of his age ; Sarah A. K., born in Raisin, Novem- ber 15th, 1833, now of Clarinda, Page county, Iowa ; William C., born in Raisin, September 23d, 1835, a farmer, and lives on the old homestead in Palmyra; George O., born in Raisin, November 18th, 1837, and died in infancy ; Eliza C., born in Palmyra, July 30th, 1840, wife of Arnold Pope, of Palmyra; Christina H., born in Palmyra, July 6th, 1842, wife of Warren Camp, of Palmyra ; Alfred N., born in Palmyra, May 30th, 1853, now of Colorado. Mrs. Almira Street was born in Rahway, New Jersey, September 9th, 1809, and came to Michigan with her husband, and died in Palmyra, July 8th, 1853. Her father, George D. Clark, was born in New Jersey, May 5th, 1774, and died there, November 26th, 1812. Her mother, Ann Clark, was born in New Jersey, October 21st, 1773, and died there, January 21st, 1820. They were both Quakers. November 1st, 1868, he married Mrs. Eliza M. Rogers, widow of Jesse Rogers, of Palmyra, and daughter of Samuel and Barbara Chamberlain, of Petersham, Massachusetts. Mrs. Eliza M. Street was born October 12th, 1809, in Petersham, Massachu- setts, and came to Michigan with her husband, Jesse Rogers, and
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
settled in Palmyra in 1858. Jesse Rogers was born in Dana, Massachusetts, January 30th, 1808, and died in Palmyra, October 30th, 1867. He had four children, as follows : Joseph A., born in Petersham, Massachusetts, March 23d, 1831, now lives in Barre, Massachusetts. Maria Jane, born in Petersham, Massachusetts, March 27th, 1836, and died January 29th, 1839; Edward T., born in Petersham, Massachusetts, August 21st, 1845, now of Granby, Missouri ; Chris. W., born in Petersham, Massachusetts, August 3d, 1847, now of Granby, Missouri.
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