USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > History and biographical record of Lenawee County, Michigan, Volume I > Part 51
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
bellion, and member of Company C, 18th Michigan Infantry, died at Nashville, Tennessee, August 20th, 1864; Stillman W., born in Fairfield July 20th, 1842, a farmer of Fairfield ; Helen M., born in Fairfield, September 5th, 1847, wife of Amos C. Foote, of Niles, Michigan ; Ada E., born in Fairfield, January 1st, 1850, died in Fairfield, March 22d, 1877 ; Florence A., born in Fairfield, February 21st, 1852, wife of Collins W. Barns, of Palmyra, this county. Mrs. Melinda Bennett was born in Romulus, Seneca county, New York, February 28th, 1809, and died in Fairfield, December 30th, 1857. January 26th, 1860, he married Mrs. Re- becca Baker, widow of Aaron S. Baker, a pioneer of Lenawee county. Mrs. Rebecca Bennett was born in Elmira, Tioga county, New York, December 24th, 1810, and came to Michigan in 1836.
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R. WOODLAND OWEN was born in Woodchurch, Kent, England, February 28th, 1819. His father, Dive Owen, of Townland Farm, was born in Woodchurch in 1790. He was quite an extensive farmer, dealing largely in fine cattle, and his method of feeding stock made him notorious among the farmers of his neighborhood. He could trace his ancestors back to 1600, all of whom lived in Woodchurch. He was a prominent Metho- dist for fifty years, being a Steward in the church from the time of its organization, by John Wesley, until his (Mr. Owen's) death, which occurred in 1864. About 1812 Dive Owen married Miss Elizabeth Woodland, daughter of John and Esther Woodland, of Ruckinge, Kent. She was a descendant, in a direct line, of William-of-the-Woodlands, whose family had charge of the govern- ment wood lands on the coast of Kent, at the time of the Norman invasion. William and his descendants have had charge of the government timber lands from that time to this. Dive and Eliza- beth Owen had ten children, five sons and five daughters. Two sons came to America, Dr. W. of Adrian, and John G., of East Saginaw. Mrs. Elizabeth Owen was born at Ruckinge in 1792, and died at Woodchurch in 1875. Woodland Owen, the subject of this sketch, was educated at Smeeth's academy, in Woodchurch, and at the age of fifteen, was apprenticed to Thomas Barry, of Rye, Sussex, to learn the science of chemistry and pharmacy, where he remained five years, and now holds his diploma, bearing the seal of Great Britain. He subsequently went to Tunbridge Wells, a fashionable watering place in Kent, as medical dispenser to Dr. Hargraves. He afterwards went from Tunbridge Wells to the
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
city of Norwich, in Norfolk, where he acted as medical dispenser to the celebrated Dr. Dalrymple, who had then been physician and surgeon in the Norwich and Norfolk county Hospital for fifty years. He stayed there one year, and first began the study and practice of dentistry, under Dr. Woodcock, dental operator of that institution. This Hospital was among the largest and most cele- brated in the realm. From Norwich he went to Hawkhurst, in Kent, and took charge of the medical department of the Hawk- hurst Dispensary. In the spring of 1840 he opened a store as dispensing chemist and dentist, at Cranbrook, in Kent. His busi- ness card read: " Woodland Owen, Dispensing Chemist, High street, Cranbrook. Patent Family Medicines, &c. Cupping, Bleeding, Toothdrawing, &c." During his residence in Norwich, the great Chartist riot occurred, when the laboring classes became exasperated because their candidate for member of Parliament " sold them out." A mob of fifty thousand people held possession of the city for three days, or until they found the " traitor " and killed him. Several blocks of buildings were torn down, and the whole city was terrified. The mob was partially kept in subjection by government troops. After remaining about two years in Cran- brook, Dr. Owen sold his business and came to America, with his brother, John G. Owen, landing in New York May 24th, 1842. After leaving Cranbrook, he was appointed physician of the pas- senger ship Quebec, of the London and New York line, but having imbibed largely of the spirit of freedom, and having read of the liberty of the American Eagle, after a voyage of thirty-nine days, with two hundred and fifty passengers in a close ship, he gave up his commission, and has breathed American air ever since. After spending a week in New York city, he went to Rochester, New York, and opened a dental office. He remained there until 1844, when he came to Michigan, subsequently spending about two years in looking through the States of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, but finally, in September, 1848, he settled in Adrian, where he has resided ever since, enjoying a successful parctice of his profession. On the 4th of March, 1854, he, in company with his brother, John G., returned to their old home in England, to visit their parents, where they spent a few very pleasant weeks. Dr. Owen was one of the prominent anti-slavery men of Adrian during the eventful years of 1851-2-3. He gave shelter and pro- tection to Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Henry C. Wright, Stephen and Abby Foster, J. W. Walker, and many others of the then unpopu- lar and ostracised people, who were laboring for human freedom. The Michigan Anti-Slavery Society, auxiliary to the American Anti-Slavery Society, was organized at his house. In 1861 he
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
was elected alderman of the Third ward of Adrian. He has been a Republican in politics since 1854, and was made the candidate of his party for Mayor of Adrian in 1873. In 1868 he was elected a trustee of Adrian College, and in 1875 he was re-elected to the same position, which holds eight years. Although not a member of any church, he was trustee of Plymouth church, of Adrian, for eleven years, and was one of its most active managers until his resignation in 1877. He was one of the original thirteen organ- izers of the Michigan Dental Association at Detroit, January 9th, 1856, at the parlors of the Wales hotel. The doctor drove thirty- five miles when the thermometer was 28º below zero, to attend the meeting. He has been a member of the Adrian Horticultural Society since its organization in 1851, and has always been one of its active workers, filling many of the offices of the Society. Since the doctor took up his residence in Adrian, he has been a liberal, enter- prising citizen, and has done much to build up and beautify the city. His fine residence and grounds on the corner of Railroad and Winter streets, are models of beauty and taste, and add largely to the value and importance of that part of the city. August 28th, 1843, he married Miss Jane Parton Illenden, daughter of Richard and Sarah Illenden, of Shirk-oak farm, Woodchurch, Kent, England, by whom he has had four children as follows : Woodland E., born in Youngstown, Niagara county, New York, May 24th, 1844, died November 9th, 1844; Frank W., born in Rochester, Oakland county, Michigan, November 28th, 1845, now a resident of De- vall's Bluff, Arkansas, where he follows his profession of dentistry and is engaged in stock raising; Jane E., born in Rochester, Michigan, September 4th, 1848, died February 28th, 1851; Henry E., born in Adrian, August 21st, 1856, a graduate of the Michi- gan Agricultural College-class of 1878-and now assistant teacher in Horticulture in the College. Mrs. Jane P. Owen was born in Woodchurch, Kent, England, December 21st, 1822. [For her family connection see Richard Illenden's record. ]
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ANIEL MANN was born in Orford, Grafton county, New Hampshire, March 3d, 1812. His father, Capt. Ira Mann, was born in the same place, his father, John Mann, being the first settler of Orford township, in 1765. Capt. Ira Mann was a farmer of Orford, and lived there until 1824, when he mov- ed to Allegany county, New York, and purchased a new farm.
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
He lived there about twenty years, when he moved to Wisconsin, and settled near Madison. He afterwards sold out in Wisconsin, and came to Madison, this county, where he died in 1860. He was a captain of the New Hampshire State Militia, when he was a young man. About the year 1796 he married Miss Fanny Bailey, daughter of Solomon Bailey, of Piermont, Grafton county, New Hampshire, by whom he had eleven children, Daniel being the youngest. Mrs. Fanny Mann was born in Piermont, New Hampshire, in 1775, and died in Orford, New Hampshire, in June, 1812. Ira Mann was married to Miss Abigail Scott about the year 1816, by whom he had five children. Mrs. Abigail Mann died in Portage, Allegany county, New York, in 1846. Daniel Mann, the subject of this sketch, never lived with his parents after his mother's death, which occurred when he was but three months old. He was adopted by Joseph and Eunice Dutton of Orford, and liv- ed with them until he was twenty-one. He received a common school education, and was a school-mate of Gen. Marston, now a prominent man in his State, as well as in the Nation. In 1833 he went to Monroe county, New York, where he stayed until 1834, when he started west, on a prospecting tour. He finally came to Michigan, walking from Huron county, Ohio, to about ten miles west of Monroe, where he stayed over night. This was the 14th of May, and the fruit trees were in full bloom, and during that night it froze ice about one inch thick, of course killing the fruit. This so discouraged him that he started back to Ohio, and a few days after, when arriving in Geauga, he found that the frost had been just as bad there. Subsequently, on hearing from the East, he learned that snow had been six inches deep in New York, and eighteen inches deep in New Hampshire, during the same time. In the fall of 1835 he came to Michigan again, and finally pur- chased the e. ¿ of the n. w. 4 of section 9, in Rome, where he has resided ever since. This was a new farm, and Mr. Mann cleared it up himself, all the money he ever paid out for help being thirty- seven and one-half cents, for a half day's work. His only inher- itance was good health, and he has been as choice of that as if it was all the wealth in the world. He had no money when he came here, and worked by the month to pay for his first land. He now owns two hundred and fifteen acres, and has erected a good frame house, barns, sheds, and all other necessary conveniencies. Decem- 26th, 1839, he married Miss Anna Stoddard, daughter of Whit- man and Rhoda Stoddard, of Rome, by whom he has had six chil- dren, as follows : Loretta, born April 4th, 1842, now the wife of Dr. William Hammond, of Cahto, Mendocino county, California ; Charles, born May 7th, 1844, died February 26th, 1864, at
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Wabash, Indiana ; Daniel W., born July 24th, 1846, of Caljella, California ; George W,, born September 11th, 1848, a farmer of Scipio, Hillsdale county, Michigan ; Philip I., born February 13th, 1851, at home ; Leonard S., born September 7th, 1853, at home. Mrs. Anna Mann was born in Sheldon, Wyoming county, New York, April 8th, 1818. She came to Michigan with her parents, in 1834, and settled in Rome, this county.
- ICHARD CLEGG was born in Orton in Lancashire, Eng- land, April 23d, 1818. His father, William Clegg, was born in Lancashire, in 1770, and died there May 5th, 1833. October 21st, 1811, William Clegg was married to Miss Mary Farrah, by whom he had five sons, Richard being the third. Mrs. Mary Clegg died in Lancashire, February 7th, 1840, in her sixty- fourth year. She was a Quaker. Richard Clegg lived in England until his twenty-fifth year. His father was a butcher, and Richard assisted him for several years, but during the last few years of his residence in England, he went to Cumberland, and engaged in wool-combing. He came to America in 1843, and remained in New York.a short time. He then went to St. Louis, and followed gardening one summer, and in the fall of that year-1844-he came to Adrian. He soon found employment with Thomas Tabor, who then run an ashery, and manufactured potash. He afterwards went to Sandusky, Ohio, and worked a rented farm one year. He then returned to Adrian, and soon after engaged in the butchering business, which, together with dealing quite largely in live stock, he followed up to the time of his death, which occurred at Adrian, November 22d, 1873. Six months previous to his death, he was stricken with paralysis, and suffered greatly from the disease. March 6th, 1845, Richard Clegg married Miss Sarah Mills, daugh- ter of John and Charlotte Mills, of Adrian, by whom he had four daughters, as follows : Maria Charlotte, born in Adrian, March 26th, 1846, now the wife of Earl T. Strong, of Adrian ; Clara Elizabeth, born in Adrian, September 25th, 1849, now the wife of Robert Campsie, of Adrian; Mary Ann, born in Adrian, May 4th, 1850, was the wife of D. W. C. Davis, of Chetopa, Kansas. She died November 1st, 1871 ; Sarah Jane, born in Adrian, Octo ber 20th, 1851, at home. Mrs. Sarah Clegg was born in Maccles- field, Cheshire, England, February 27th, 1819, and came to Amer- ica with her parents in 1832. She died in Adrian, August 5th,
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
1853. March 7th, 1854, Richard Clegg married Miss Elizabeth M. Case, of Woodstock, Vermont. They had no children. Mrs. Elizabeth M. Clegg was born in Woodstock, Windsor county, Vermont, June 6th, 1817, and came to Michigan in 1854. Her father, Beriah Case, was born in Connecticut, November 26th, 1781, but was taken to Woodstock, Vermont, when an infant, where he lived until his death, January 3d, 1828. Her mother was Miss Margaret Mckenzie, who was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire, March 23d, 1782, and died at Woodstock, Ver- mont, March 8th, 1848. Her parents came from Scotland. Mr. Clegg was an honest, hard-working, thrifty man, and did a large amount of business, accumulating a nice property. In 1856, he, with his partner, erected a three story brick building on North Main street, Adrian, and put down the first flag stone sidewalk in the city. In 1857 he erected a fine brick residence on West Mau- mee street, which is still occupied by his family. He also owned a farm in the town of Rome, which he used for stock purposes, be- sides other valuable city property. He erected the first marble monument in Oakwood cemetery, and he now lies beneath its shadow.
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DJUTANT WILLIS MERRITT, of Tecumseh, in this county, is the youngest of the five sons of John M. Merritt, who settled in this county in the year 1837. [See the his- tory of John Maxwell Merritt, on page 414.] Willis Merritt was born in the township of Tecumseh, in this county, March 10th, 1854. His father being a farmer, Willis acquired his early edu- cation in the country district school. In the year 1865 his parents moved into the village of Tecumseh, but his father continued to carry on his farm until his death, June 19th, 1872. On the 29th day of June, 1871, Willis graduated at the high school in Tecum- seh. Arrangements were then made for him to enter the literary department of the Michigan University, in the class to graduate in the year 1876, but his father being killed by being thrown from his carriage at the time Willis was to enter college, he was com- pelled to abandon his collegiate course. During the summer of 1872, Willis worked on the streets in the village of Tecumseh, and during the fall of the same year, commenced reading law in the office of F. B. Wood, Esq., in Tecumseh. In January, 1873, he entered the law department of the Michigan University. During
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
the vacation in the year 1873, he again worked on the streets in the village of Tecumseh, and returned to the Michigan University in October, 1873, where he graduated from the law department on the 25th day of March, 1874, and during the same month, he was admitted to the bar. In April, of the same year, he commenced work on a salary, in the law office of Stacy & Underwood, in the city of Adrian, where he remained until April, 1875, when he be- gan the practice of the law, at Tecumseh. In 1874 he was secre- tary of the district convention in which Col. R. B. Robbins was first nominated for the Legislature. In 1876 he was elected circuit court commissioner of this county, and was re-elected to the same office in the year 1878. In 1877 he joined the State troops, at Tecumseh, and in Company "C," at that place, served respectively as private, sergeant, second lieutenant and first lieutenant. On the 2d, of August, 1879, he was appointed by Gov. C. M. Croswell, as Adjutant of the First Regiment of the State Troops. In 1878 he was secretary of the convention in which Hon. Edwin Willitts was re-nominated for Congress. For the past two years he has been chairman of the township Republican committee, at Tecumseh. Mr. Merritt is still practicing law at Tecumseh.
ON. GEORGE CRANE was born in Norton, Bristol county Massachusetts, March 30th, 1783, where he lived until the year 1804, when he moved with his wife and one child, (driving their own team and being twenty-two days on the way,) to Ontario county, New York. He purchased a farm in Palmyra, (now Macedon, Wayne county,) and lived there until the year 1833. Mr. Crane had received a good common school education in Massa- chusetts, but after going to the State of New York, he saw the necessity of a surveyor, as there was none in that part of the country. He purchased an outfit, with all the information then to be obtained, and spent every spare moment in the study and prac- tice of surveying. He soon became a competent and reliable surveyor and engineer, and did a large amount of business in that line. He lived in Palmyra until the spring of 1833, when he sold his farm and came to Michigan, arriving in Palmyra the 26th day of May. In the year, 1831 he purchased of Benjamin I. Mather, four hundred acres of land on section eighteen in Palmyra, and afterwards took up land from the government until he owned about twenty-five hundred acres. During the first year of his settlement
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
he built a frame house, it being the first frame building erected in the township. In the year 1835 he built a large brick house, it being also the first brick building in the township, manufacturing the brick on his own farm. In 1834, when the Erie and Kala- mazoo Railroad Company was organized, for the construction of that road from Toledo to Adrian, Mr. Crane took an active part in the same, having the confidence of all who were engaged in that then great enterprise. He was a stockholder and director, and was eleeted one of the three commissioners who had charge of locating, constructing and equipping the same, which position he held for several years. At a later date he was made president of the road, and held that position for several years, during which time he executed a lease (in behalf of the railroad company) of the road for ninety-nine years, to the Michigan Southern Railroad Company. For his striet. integrity and capability, Mr. Crane was highly esteemed by all those interested in the prosperity of the road, and his advice and good judgment were generally received in preferenee to all others, in any difference of opinion which arose in the man- agement of the same. He had charge of the surveying and engineering between Adrian and Ottawa Lake. He was a director and stockholder of the road at the time of his death, and was really one of the most prominent men in Lenawee county, no man being better or more favorably known than " uncle George Crane." He was elected the first supervisor of Palmyra, and was also re-elected several terms. He was also elected and served for several years as one of the county commissioners, and was active and prominent in building the court house and jail. About the year 1850 he was elected a representative to the Michigan Legis- lature, and served a term of two years. He was generous, honest, pure and unselfish in all his aets and dealings with men, earrying with him the respect, confidence and esteem of all classes of people. Mr. Crane was an earnest member of the Society of Friends, and when the Friends' meeting house was projected, he gave three acres of land upon which to ereet the building and for a burial ground, and assisted otherwise more than any other person towards the construction of the church. He was a Quaker, and his ancestors came from England. About the year 1803 Mr. Crane married, at Taunton, Mass., Miss Charity Lineoln, by whom he had seven children, as follows: Phila P., born in Taunton, December 6th, 1804, died at the age of four years; Elizabeth W., born in Macedon, Wayne county, New York, February 5th, 1807, married Isaae A. Colvin, and died at Hudson, Michigan, in 1845; Rowena C., born February 2d, 1809, married John T. Comstock, and died about the year 1849. George L., born November 20th, 1810, now
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OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
lives in the township of Madison; Benjamin L., born October 29th, 1812., married Ann Eliza Hoag, and died in Adrian, in 1867; Calvin, born December 25th, 1816, married Miss Deborah Power and resides in the city of Adrian; Clarissa P., born Feb- ruary 22d, 1824, married George W. Freeman, and died in Palmyra, March 1st, 1857. George Crane, the subject of this sketch, died at his home in Palmyra, April 17th, 1856, and Mrs. Crane, his wife, died at the same place, September 21st, 1863. The early settlers of Lenawee county, and Toledo, Ohio, still cherish the memory and valuable services of " uncle George Crane."
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ARTIN POUCHER was born in Claverick, Columbia county, New York, November 12th, 1818. His father, Andrew Poucher, was born in the same place, where he was brought up a farmer, and owned a large farm until 1846, when he sold out, and came to Michigan, arriving in Adrian in the spring. He re- sided in the city for several years, during which time he purchased six acres of ground on the corner of West Maumee and Scott streets, besides forty acres west of the present college buildings. He after- wards sold this property, and purchased a farm in Madison. He resided in Madison several years, and finally purchased a farm in Seneca. He lived in Seneca only a few years, when he disposed of his farm there, and purchased another, in Chesterfield, Fulton county, Ohio. He lived in Chesterfield six years, during which time his house burned. He immediately rebuilt, and soon after sold out, and since that time has resided in the village of Morenci. About the year 1810 he married Miss Elizabeth Miller, of Columbia county, New York, by whom he had six sons, Martin being the fourth child. Mrs. Elizabeth Poucher was born in Columbia county, New York, in 1791, and died in Morenci, this county, January 21st, 1878. Martin Poucher lived with his parents until he was about twenty-three years old. He was educated in a coun- try district school, and was brought up a farmer. In 1842 he went to Sodus, Wayne county, New York, where he lived four years. In 1846 he rented a farm and carried it on one year. In 1847 he came to Michigan, and arrived in Adrian in May. He immedi- ately rented the Dr. Case farm, in Rome, for six years. At the expiration of this time he purchased a farm on section thirty-six, in Woodstock, and lived there six years. He then sold out, and moved back to Rome, and in the spring of 1860 he purchased the Ripley farm, on section seventeen, containing eighty acres. Since
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
that time he has purchased eighty acres adjoining, where he now re- sides. January 16th, 1844, he married Miss Matilda A. Pulver, daughter of Levi and Christina Pulver, of Sodus, Wayne county, New York, by whom he has had four children, as follows: Aaron H., born in Sodus, Wayne county, New York, June 6th, 1845, at home; Leiza, born in Rome, December 26th, 1848, died October 22d, 1851 ; Elma, born in Rome, December 22d, 1852, at home ; Frank, born in Rome, December 5th, 1859, at home. Mrs. Matilda A. Poucher was born in Chatham, Columbia county, New York, September 17th, 1823. Her father died some years ago, and her mother is still living in Newark, Wayne county New York.
EORGE T. MCKENZIE was born in Woodstock, Ver- mont, September 12th, 1808. His father, Joseph McKen- zie, was born in New London, Connecticut, of Scotch parents, in 1774. When he was a small boy, his parents moved to Hartland, Vermont, where they purchased a farm, and where Joseph lived until he was a young man, when he went to Wood- stock, with an older brother, and learned the blacksmith's trade. He purchased a farm, and always owned one, besides carrying on a blacksmith shop. He died there in 1869. About 1804 he mar- ried Miss Marcy Thomas, daughter of George Thomas, of Wood- stock, Vermont, by whom he had nine children, George T. being the second child and oldest son. Mrs. Marcy Mckenzie, was born at Woodstock. Vermont, in 1790, and died there in 1854. George T. Mckenzie lived with his parents until he was about twenty-two years old, and only received what little education he could get at a district school, during the winter months. He worked by the month on a farm, for two years, to raise means to come West, and in the fall of 1831 he came to Michigan, arriving at Adrian in October, and for two years, worked by the month for David Bixby and Augustus Stout, until he earned money enough to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of land, when he located the n. e. ¿ of section 14, in Dover, where he still resides. Upon this land was situated an Indian camping ground, on the bank of the river, and the family of old Chief Me-te-aw was encamped there when he took it up, and while he was clearing it, until finally, he tore down the wigwams, and burned them up with the brush heaps. Straggling bands of Indians often camped there after he had got considerable land cleared. Mr. Mckenzie's experience as a pioneer
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