History of Bay County, Michigan, and representative citizens, Part 61

Author: Gansser, Augustus H., 1872-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond & Arnold
Number of Pages: 738

USA > Michigan > Bay County > History of Bay County, Michigan, and representative citizens > Part 61

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The father of Dr. Snyder came to Michi- gan in 1862 and bought 120 acres of land in Attica township, Lapeer County, on which he lived until his death in July, 1902. A brother, also deceased, was a merchant at Geneva, New York. Of the family of 13 children born to Philip and Catherine (McLees) Snyder, two sons and five daughters survive. Our sub- ject's brother, Lewis, still resides on the old homestead.

John P. Snyder was 16 years of age when

he accompanied his father to Michigan, after which he spent two terms in the public schools at Attica, which completed his literary educa- tion. He then entered upon the study of medi- cine with Dr. J. W. Bryant, in Lapeer County, with whom he continued until the death of the latter, two years later, when he went to Cleve- land and studied for a year and a half in the Cleveland Hospital College.

In 1870, Dr. Snyder settled down to prac- tice in Williams township, Bay County. In 1896 he went to Chicago and was graduated from the National Medical College, where he later took a post-graduate course. When he first came to Williams township, he found that he would have to face many hardships, mainly on account of the unsettled condition of the country. Although his calls came from all di- rections, at that time there were only three passable roads, running north, between Mid- land and Bay City. He can remember when he could count 27 lumber, square timber, hoop and railroad camps, and five saloons within two and a half miles of Auburn. His practice at present is a very large one, requiring him to keep four horses and he covers a territory about 25 miles in extent, north and south. He has always kept abreast of the times in his profes- sion, and is a member of the Homeopathic State Medical Society, and a subscriber to all current medical literature.

In May, 1868, Dr. Snyder was married to Annetta Blodgett, who is a daughter of Charles and Laura (Groves) Blodgett. They have had these children : Charles, deceased at the age of five years; G. Roy, of Willard, Beaver town- ship; Helen, who is the wife of W. G. Hardy, of Hasseltine, Washington; and Earl J., a drug clerk at Sandwood, Michigan.

Dr. Snyder is an active supporter of the Re- publican party. In spite of his absorbing pro- fessional duties, he has found time to serve as a

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school director and township clerk (holding the former office for 12 years and the latter for nine) and to promote the various movements in the township looking to the public welfare. He is a charter member of the Independent Order of Foresters lodge of Williams township and belongs to the I. O. O. F. lodge at Kawkawlin.

SCAR F. MEISELBACH, chairman of the Bay City Sanitary Milk Com- pany, Ltd., and the owner of a fine dairy and fruit farm of 121/2 acres, situated in section 2, township 13, range 5, in Portsmouth township, is one of the county's prominent and progressive citizens. He was born at Bay City in 1865, and is a son of Henry and Sarah (Derlich) Meiselbach, who were born in Saxony, Germany, and came to Amer- ica with their respective parents.

Henry Meiselbach was killed in a railroad wreck in South Bay City in 1871, at the age of 36 years. His trade was that of millwright. His widow lives in Bay City. Their five chil- dren were: Oscar F., of this sketch; Charles, of Bay City ; Albert and Theodore (twins), the former of Bay City and the latter deceased; and Henrietta, born after her father's death, who resides with her mother.

The death of his father when he was only seven years old placed many responsibilities on the shoulders of Oscar F. Meiselbach at an early age and at the age of 13 years he became a wage earner. His first work was at the salt- wells where he continued several years. He then learned the cooper's trade, at which he worked until he located on his present farm in Portsmouth township. For II years he oper- ated a first-class dairy in connection with the growing of choice fruit, but since the organiza- tion of the Bay City Sanitary Milk Company,

Ltd., in May, 1902, his whole time has been given to this industry, aside from that re- quired for his official duties as justice of the peace, to which office he was elected in the spring of 1904.

On January 12, 1887, Mr. Meiselbach was united in marriage with Sophia Wispintner, who was born in Portsmouth township, Bay County, January 12, 1866, and is a daughter of Jacob and Henrietta Wispintner. Two bright, intelligent children have been born to our subject and wife, both sons,-Oswald, born November 13, 1889; and Walter, born August 17, 1896. The family enjoy the comforts of a very fine home. Other improvements here in- clude good barns and hay and cattle sheds; in fact all the accessories and conveniences needed in the successful carrying on of a dairy busi- ness are to be found on the place.

Politically, Mr. Meiselbach has always been a stanch Republican and has filled local offices at various times as his personal business affairs permitted. He has been connected with the school board of District No. 3 for the past nine years, and is serving at present in his third term.

OHN WILSON, JR., is a prosperous farmer of Mount Forest township, Bay County, Michigan, where he has lived for many years. He was born in the Province of Ontario, Canada, in 1840, and is a son of John and Polly ( Brooks) Wil- son.

John Wilson, the father, was born in South Carolina and was a soldier in the War of 1812. At an early date he moved to Ontario, Canada, where he was married, and there followed farming until his death. His wife, Polly Brooks, was born in Quebec, Canada. They became parents of 12 children, of whom our

WILLIAM G. ROECKER

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subject and a sister,-Caroline, widow of Gib- son Wilson,-are the sole survivors.

John Wilson, Jr., was born on the home farm in Canada and received his education in the public schools of his home district. On July 18, 1859, he came to the United States, locating at old Brockway, then known as Hardscrabble, Michigan. There he followed farming for a time, then purchased a farm of 80 acres at Fremont, Michigan, where he was a pioneer and lived for a period of 31 years. He disposed of this farm to his son James on September 18, 1892, and moved to his present farm, located in section 26, Mount Forest township, Bay County, which he had purchased the previous year. At that time there was not another settler in the neighborhood, and the country was undeveloped. He removed the stumps from the land and with them erected fences; he built a good dwelling, barns and other outbuildings, and made his farm a very valuable property. He originally had 120 acres in the tract, but has disposed of 40 acres. He is a man of high character and enjoys the friendship of many acquaintances.

In 1861, Mr. Wilson was united in mar- riage with Isabelle Rolls, who was born in Scotland and is a daughter of William and Isabelle (Hayes) Rolls, both of whom were born and died in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was 12 years of age when with her only brother she accompanied an uncle and aunt to Canada. She lived there four years, then came to Michigan alone. Her brother, James Rolls, was one of the pioneers of Freemont, Michi- gan, locating there just two years later than our subject. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson became parents of 14 children, as follows: James, born December 2, 1862; Ambrose, born February 4, 1865; Caroline, born May 27, 1867, de- ceased; Mary Ann, born November 7, 1869; Oscar, born October 12, 1872; Emma, born

January 5, 1874; Clarence, born November 4, 1877; one who died in infancy; Jennie, born February 22, 1880; Polly, born July 11, 1882; Ernest, born June 11, 1884; Ethel, born May 18, 1886; Agnes, born March 10, 1889; and Gladys, born March 19, 1891. Religiously, the family are members of the Christian church. Mr. Wilson is a Republican in politics, and has been a member of the Knights of the Macca- bees since July, 1890.

ILLIAM G. ROECKER, one of the prosperous farmers of Bay Coun- ty, Michigan, whose portrait ac- companies this sketch, owns a farm of 60 acres of valuable land in section 19, town- ship 14, range 6, in Hampton township. He was born in Winenden, Wurtemberg, Ger- many, December 28, 1830, and is a son of Godlob Roecker.

The father of our subject died in his native land in 1856, aged 65 years, and the mother, when her son William G., was quite young. The family consisted of three sons and two daughters, but our subject is the only one now living. The father, whose business it was to prepare cloth to be handled by tailors, had his own shop. He served in the war against France in 1814, and lived and died a loyal adherent of the German crown.

William G. Roecker came to America, with a sister, in 1852. From the age of 14 years he had worked as a turner and he found em- ployment in Philadelphia, where he lived for three years and then came to Michigan. He reached Bay City, or Lower Saginaw as the place was then known, in 1855 and was soon employed on the docks and in sawmills. In 1858 he purchased his first land-40 acres of his present farm-to which he later added IO

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acres more and still later another tract of 10 acres. He now owns a first-class, productive little farm on which he has made many sub- stantial improvements. When he came to this tract the first time, the timber was so dense and the underbrush so heavy that he and his companion, Joseph Shimer, had to cut a road in order to reach the place. He has lived to see wonderful changes and has done his part in advancing the development of his locality.

In 1855, Mr. Roecker was married to Ro- sanna Kurz, who was born in Winenden, Wur- temberg, Germany, and died on the home farm, in Hampton township, in 1899, aged 72 years They had four children : Carrie, who died aged 15 years; a babe which died in infancy; and Mary and William, both of whom live at home.

Mr. Roecker has always been a Democrat and has held township office, serving many years on the School Board and for seven years was township treasurer. He is well-known as one of Hampton township's honest and upright men and good and representative citizens.

W. KNAGGS, senior member of the firm of Knaggs & Plum, general in- surance agents at Bay City, Michigan, has resided here since 1865, and is the oldest insurance man in the city. Mr. Knaggs was born in Monroe County, Michigan, August 28, 1840, and is a son of Johnson and Sarah Louisa (Woods ) Knaggs.

There is probably no family which has. been more closely identified with the early his- tory of Michigan and also of Ohio, than that to which our subject belongs. The remarkable records of the family have been preserved, more or less intact, from 1760. A history of this numerous and notable family was issued by R. B. Ross, and from this reliable authority

we are permitted to make selections and to place before the readers of this work records of the men and women of a past generation, whose strong characters and gentle virtues, whose noble lives and self-sacrificing deeds have caused their names to still be remembered when others of their day have been forgotten.

"The record of the Knaggs family of Ohio and Michigan is a part of the history of the Northwest. Springing from English and Dutch forebears, its descendants represent the best traits of both races, and as patroits in war and good citizens in peace, they are the peers of any contemporary family in the States."

In 1760 George Knaggs, son of an English father and a Welsh mother, probably a sea-far- ing man and possibly an English officer, mar- ried Rachel Sly, a lady born in the Mohawk Valley, New York, then apparently living in Philadelphia. From there they removed to the Maumee Valley in Ohio, and settled near the site of Fort Miami, which is about nine miles from the new Court House at Toledo. At this time trading with the Indians was the only gainful occupation in that locality, and in this commerce he and his wife engaged. In 1768 he visited Detroit and was one of a syndicate of four, who purchased a lot of land on what is now Jefferson avenue, but there is no evidence that he remained in Detroit, and every indica- tion that he returned to the Maumee Valley. He prospered financially and between 1763 and 1784 he and his wife had eight children born to them. The records tell that this lady was accomplished far beyond her sex in that day and even understood Latin. As she was a devout Catholic. it is possible that her education was acquired in some cloister school.

Until the destruction of their trading post, in the battle of Fallen Timbers, on August 20, 1794, the Knaggs family seem to have gained a footing in the Maumee Valley, but the venge-

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ful savages had been so aroused that it became evident that no business could be again done for a long period in the valley, and the old pio- neer turned to Detroit, whither his son George had already gone. The elder Knaggs did not profit by the change, his failure to again re- sume his old relations with the Indians being probably due to his age, as he was then past 60. His health gave way as his energies werg lessened, and, although the date of his death is in doubt, it probably was early in 1797 as in that year his will was probated. In 1800 his wife Rachel preferred her claim before the Uni- ted States Land Board as owner of 275 "ar- pents," which claim was allowed. Our subject has still in his possession a parchment bearing the signatures of James Madison, President, and James Monroe, Secretary of State, under date of May 30, 1811, granting to her 259 acres on the north side of the Raisin River. This is probably a patent of the same property as 275 arpents are about equal to 259 acres.

This remarkable lady had many cruel hard- ships to bear and some harrowing experiences. After the battle of the Raisin. on January 22, 1813, in which General Proctor defeated the American force under General Winchester and permitted the Indians to massacre the Kentucky and other troops whom he had taken prisoners, she was brave enough to shelter an escaping soldier under a hogshead. General Proctor learned of this act of humanity and ordered her to leave Frenchtown. It was a bitter cold day and she was 80 years of age. The British gen- eral knew that she was the mother of sons who were enemies of his cause and vented his un- manly spite against them on her defenceless head. He commanded her to leave for Detroit.

The historian Lossing speaks thus of this historic incident, this blot upon General Proc- tor's fame: "Thinly clad, having been robbed by the Indians, she proceeded to Detroit in an

open traineau, where she found several friends and relatives. When asked how it happened that she did not freeze, she replied, 'my spunk kept me warm.'"

Mrs. Knaggs subsequently returned to her home in Frenchtown and later moved to her farm on the Raisin, seven miles above Monroe. For several years she kept a store at Green Bay, Wisconsin, to which she paid periodical visits. She dealt in furs principally and also largely in bear oil. It is certain that she died in 1815 as her will was admitted to probate on July Ist of that year. Her death occurred in all prob- ability at Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Maj. James Knaggs, the sixth child of George and Rachel Knaggs, was born at Roche de Boeuf, a small hamlet on the Maumee River, some three miles above the site of Fort Miami. No record of his birth or baptism has been dis- covered, but it is known that it must have been in 1780. From childhood until early manhood he was surrounded by war's alarms and wit- nessed many scenes not fitted for youthful eyes. Warfare was continual, Indian massacres num- erous, until peace was declared between Great Britain and the United States and the evacua- tion of Detroit in 1796. Reared upon this theater of blood and carnage, it is not remark- able that he should have developed the courage and acuteness, which made him a trusted scout and spy at the early age of 14 yeras.

This position he filled with General Wayne's army at the battle of Fallen Timbers. In 1805 he was appointed by Governor Hull, ensign in the Second Michigan Regiment of militia. In that year he acquired a farm on the Raisin, about a mile above Frenchtown, and married Jemima Griffith. Like his mother, his wife was of Dutch descent and was born also in the Mo- hawk Valley in New York She bore one child, in 1806, but died shortly after.

So remarkable was the personal appearance

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of Major Knagg's that a description of it has been carefully preserved. He was a Hercules, six feet in height, weighing 180 pounds, lithe and active as the wild creatures of the woods with whom he had become well acquainted ; his hair was brown, and his dark blue eyes were full of intelligence and showed mental force. His teeth were all double and he never lost one, as they remained perfect to the day of his death. He possessed many of the traits of the Indian, was a swift and untiring runner, a champion wrestler, and excelled every Indian in his knowledge of woodcraft. In war he was crafty, acute, courageous and resourceful and in civil life he was a man of untiring energy and industry. Like many men of his rearing, remarkable as it may appear, he was kind and courteous in manner, frank and outspoken in intercourse with others, and possessed a vast fund of anecdote which he gave in his own ini- mitable, humorous way.

In politics, Major Knaggs was a Democrat, and at all times an outspoken patriot. In re- ligion he was a Presbyterian. In 1806 he left his farm and operated a ferry on the Huron River, on the road to Detroit, about 12 miles north of Monroe. He also kept an inn near his ferry, which was in charge of his second wife, Pelagia ("Polly") Roberts, who was a daugh- ter of Anthony and Theresa (Drouillard) Rob- erts. She was a woman of undaunted courage, which found many opportunities for exhibition in her dealings with the Indians.

Major Knaggs' experiences read like the chapters in Cooper's "Leatherstocking Tales," or in the later work "The Crossing," in fact he might have been the real hero of the fanciful adventures of this romance. At one time he was captured by the Indians, who to revenge the death of several of their tribe, whom he had killed in self-denfense, condemned him to be burned at the stake. They bound him to the

trunk of a tree and piled resinous wood around him, when one of the old squaws drew near and looked at him earnestly with a pitying expres- sion. She was the mother of a young brave he had slain not long before. When the Indian drew near with his blazing torch to light the fire, the old squaw pushed him aside and held up a belt of wampum in her hand, put it around the victim's neck and with a caress said: "You are my son." This, according to Indian cus- tom and ethics, was equivalent to an adoption and always saved a victim's life.

Major Knaggs served the American Army efficiently as scout and spy during the War of 1812. He was one of the eight selected by the Americans in Detroit, after the receipt of the news of the defeat of the British at Put-in-Bay by Commodore Perry, to go to the victorious officer and ask him to bring his ships to Detroit. In the campaign which commenced with the re- treat of Proctor from Amherstburg to Detroit, James Knaggs was always in the front as scout and spy, under the command of Col. Richard M. Johnson, afterward Vice-President of the United States. In the political campaign of 1840, when the Democrats were led by Van Buren and Colonel Johnson, for a second term, James Knaggs and Medward Labadie, his re- lative and comrade, were political quantities, were always seated on the speaker's platform and were introduced as the brave men who had carried Colonel Johnson off the field of battle at the time Tecumseh was slain. In his latter days he removed from his farm to the city of Monroe, where he lived until his death, which occurred December 23, 1860, at the age of 80 years. He was married three times and our subject's father was the fourth child of the sec- ond marriage.

Johnson Knaggs, father of our subject, was born in Raisinville township in 1816. A num- ber of Indians lived in that vicinity and when a

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boy he played peacefully with the Indian chil- dren and learned to speak their language. He was fairly well educated for those days and al- ways lived and worked on the farm. He was one of the first in Monroe County to make lime and he furnished it in large quantities to the builders of Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and other cities. In his latter years he attended to his farm exclusively and accumulated a handsome competence. He was a cheerful, clean-cut gen- tleman, with a sunny, optimistic disposition, and was capable and clear-headed to the end of his 84th year. He was christened Johnson, but was always known as John Knaggs, being, named for Col. Richard M. Johnson, the re- puted slayer of Tecumseh. He married Sarah Louisa Woods, who was born in Rushford, Allegany County, New York. At the time they became acquainted, she was visiting relatives in Monroe County, Michigan. She died in 1889 and he survived but one year.

J. W. Knaggs, of Bay City, was educated in the common schools and in the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he was graduated in 1860. During the ensuing winter he taught school, but on the first call to arms he enlisted as a private in the Smith Guards at Monroe. They were sent to Adrian, where they became Company A, Fourth Reg., Mich- igan Volunteer Inf., and were sent to the front. At about five o'clock in the afternoon on the day of the battle at Malvern Hill, in July, 1862, Mr. Knaggs was wounded in the arm, but, with others wounded, he had to bear his sufferings until the close of the battle without attention. He was then carried to the old brick Malvern House, where his arm was amputated after dark and there he remained seven days. Dur- ing this time the Union troops withdrew and the Confederate pickets were advanced until the old house was within their line. Mr. Knaggs and other sick and wounded soldiers, thus made

prisoners, were bundled off to Libby Prison. During his month there he experienced every. hardship and suffering, to which his terrible condition particularly exposed him. At last the time came when the prisoners were sent through the lines to Petersburg, comnig out at Harri- son's Landing, on the James River, where they were exchanged and taken aboard transports for New York, our subject at last coming under real medical attention at Bellevue Hospital, New York. From neglect, his arm was by that time in a terrible condition, gangrene hav- ing set in. He was placed in a tent and was given the personal care of the head physician of the staff, who by unremitting labors saved his life. After his discharge, he returned to Mon- roe, where he became a bookkeeper in the Mc- Laren machine shops and continued there un- til 1865, when he established himself in Bay City.

At Bay City, Mr. Knaggs entered the em- ploy of John Drake, the pioneer fire insurance agent of Bay City, with whom he remained one year and then entered into partnership with C. H. Dennison, an attorney, who also handled the insurance business of Henry W. Sage, the well- known lumberman of West Bay City. He has been in business under the firm styles of Knaggs & Dennison; Knaggs, Whittemore & Dennison, then Knaggs & Whittemore. Later the business was consolidated with the insur- ance business of Daniel Shannon, the firm name becoming Knaggs, Whittemore & Shannon, and continued thus until Mr. Whittemore's death, when the firm became Knaggs & Shannon. Later this partnership was dissolved and Mr. Knaggs engaged in business alone for about two years and then the firm of Knaggs & Clark was established, which continued two years more. A. G. Plum then purchased an interest and the firm became Knaggs, Clark & Plum. Two years later, Mr. Clark withdrew and since

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that time the business has been conducted by the firm of Knaggs & Plum. They represent the following companies: American Fire, of Philadelphia ; American, of New Jersey ; Con- tinental Fire, of New York; Fire Association, of Philadelphia; Michigan Fire & Marine, of Detroit; Milwaukee Mechanics', of Wisconsin ; North British & Mercantile, of England; St. Paul Fire & Marine; Williamsburg City, of New York; Westchester Fire, of New York; Lloyd's Plate Glass, of New York; Hartford Steam Boiler; Standard Life & Accident, of Detroit; Preferred Accident, of New York; and National Surety Company, of New York.

Mr. Knaggs was married June 9, 1869, to Mariette Stocking, who was born December 14, 1847, and is a daughter of Dr. Charles G. Stocking, of Spring Lake, New York. Their children are: Walter W., of Detroit; Roy S., of New York City; Camilla, wife of Dr. H. McLennan, of Petoskey, Michigan; and Mary, wife of Allen H. Stone, of Chicago.

The Stocking ancestry reaches back to the early settlement of New England, even to George Stocking, who was born in Suffolk, England, in 1582 and crossed the ocean to America with his wife and four children on the ship Griffin in 1633. He settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where, in 1635, he built a house at the corner of the present Holy- oke and Winthrop streets. He was made a freeman May 6, 1635. He joined the company of Rev. Thomas Hooker and traveled on foot through the wilderness to Connecticut in 1636, and was one of the original founders and a prominent proprietor of Hartford, Connecticut. In the general distribution of land, he received 20 acres and later was given other grants. After the death of his wife, Anna, whom he had mar- ried in England, an authority says he married Agnes (Shotwell) Webster, the widow of John Webster, governor of the colony. From the

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History of Bay County, Michigan, and representative citizens, Part 61

Author: Gansser, Augustus H., 1872- Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago : Richmond & Arnold Number of Pages: 738

Author: Gansser, Augustus H., 1872-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond & Arnold
Number of Pages: 738