USA > Michigan > Branch County > History of Branch county, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 49
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
Photos. by E. Kindmark, Coldwater.
PETER M. NEWBERRY.
MRS. PETER M. NEWBERRY.
PETER M. NEWBERRY.
Jonathan Newberry, the paternal grandfather of our sub- jeet, was a native of Orange Co., N. Y., and after several removals he finally settled in Saratoga Co., where he died at an advanced age. He reared a family of eleven children. Nathaniel, the father of Peter M., was born in 1783. Ile was reared and educated a farmer, and in 1810 married Miss Jane Mack, in Saratoga County. He became the owner of the old homestead in Saratoga, and reared a family of eight children, named Peter M., William, Mary A., Nathaniel, Jr., John, Nelson, Alzina, and Phebe Jane,- all now living except Mary aud Nathaniel.
Peter M., the eldest, was born at Northumberland, Sara- toga Co., Dec. 14, 1810. ITis youth was passed in attend- ing school and assisting on the home-farul. He remained at home with his father until he was twenty-six years of age. Ile was married at the age of twenty-four to Miss Hannah Seaberry, of the same place, Nov. 10, 1834. In 1836 he decided to go West. Ilis intention was to settle in Ohio, but their passage up Lake Erie was so rough and boisterous that they could not land at Toledo, and pro- eceded to Detroit. They decided to settle in the interior of Michigan, and located in Jonesville, where Mr. Newberry remained one year, working a farm on shares. The next year he purchased eighty acres of wild land, in the town- ship of Quiney, Branch Co., erected a log house, and com- meneed clearing off and improving it. He was ably assisted
by his noble and energetic wife, who, besides attending to her household duties, went out and helped pile and burn brush on their new land. She also, at the solicitation of her neighbors, taught school in her cabin for some time, until a school-house was erected. From this time Mr. New- berry was steadily engaged in farming up to 1869, when he sold his farm and moved into the village of Quiney, where he lived three years. Ile then repurchased his old farm and moved back. In 1870 he made a trip to the Pacific coast, with the intention of settling there if he liked the country, but he decided not to remain. On the 27th day of Janu- ary, 1879, Mrs. Newberry died, after a brief illness of four days, of an attack of pleuro-pneumonia.
They were the parents of three children,-Warren II., who was a soldier in the Rebellion and died in the Nash- ville hospital; Clarissa, the wife of A. M. Etheridge, of Quiney ; and Emma, the wife of R. B. Etheridge, residing at the old home with the old gentleman.
DR. ENOS G. BERRY.
The late Dr. Enos G. Berry has a prominent place in the history of the State of Michigan as well as Branch County.
Residents of the township of Quiney, who are but thirty years of age, know of Enos G. Berry comparatively nothing. The early settlers and pioneers knew his ability. worth, and influence in the prime of life.
196
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Jan. 10, 1877, the funeral services were held at his resi- dence, when an appropriate, calm, and unimpassioned dis- course was delivered by the Rev. G. L Height, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Jacob Kincaid, Esq., in charge. Lucas Joseph, Wm. P. Arnold, Alvarado Brown, Nicholas Dally, Cyrus Lusk, and William Tibbitts,-early settlers and old acquaintances,-were pall-bearers. These aged men gave a solemn impression as they so carefully and tenderly laid him to rest where he now "sleeps his last sleep." The attendance was large and the occasion most solemn.
Samuel 11. Berry, father of a number of children, among whom was E. G. Berry, born Sept. 5, 1814, moved in an early day from the State of New Hampshire to Pennsyl- vania ; thence to the State of New York, and in 1835 to Branch Co., Mich.
The deceased studied medicine in Chautauqua Co., N. Y., came to Quincy at the age of twenty-two, was admitted to practice as a physician and surgeon, and entered upon the duties of his profession with zeal and self-sacrificing devo- tion. He visited the poor and destitute without charge, and took no mortgages or other securities of those unable to pay, but gave them such time as their circumstances required ; and, with other duties, continned the practice of medicine for about thirty years.
When E. G. Berry came to Quincy there was but one log cabin on the prairie.
The prominent early settlers were intimate friends of Dr. Berry, knew his character, influence, and ability, and many of them understood that the value of their property here was greatly advanced by the influence of Mr. Berry, who, more than any other, moved the Senate, in 1849, to pass the Extension Bill, by which the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad, now Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, was built.
Dr. Berry was the first supervisor in Quincy ; was also justice of the peace in the town twelve years, and assisted the magistrates in the surrounding towns in making forms for conveyances and contraets, warrants, and writs of all kinds, and was the first to give form to legal proceedings in this part of the county. The constables, township, school, and road district officers, depended upon him for advice and direction, which was always freely given, and in this man- ner he became familiar with the Territorial laws, and also with the statutes afterwards passed. He was a member of the House of Representatives in 1842, and of the Senate in 1848, and well prepared in 1849 to act with a knowl- edge of the rules of the House and Senate.
He was appointed, in 1849, chairman of the Senate com- mittee on education.
In 1849 he accomplished that which was the crowning glory of his life, viz., the passage of the Michigan Sonthern and Northern Indiana Railroad Bill, he being the leader of that measure in the Senate by common consent.
In 1849, Branch County had a representation in the State Legislature creditable to itself, one that came conspic- uously to the front at the commencement of the session, -- Enos G. Berry in the Senate; Geo. A. Coe and O. C. Comstock in the House.
When this bill came to its passage in the Senate, Mr.
Berry was much affected ; when the veto message came he was almost paralyzed ; when, on the 15th, the bill passed the Senate over the veto, he was unable for several days to leave his room ; and when the act finally became a law, he was completely overwhelmed. He appeared like a man in a trance for two days, and was confined to his room for some time. llis temperament proved to be so nervous and sanguine, and he did not know himself till this event, which not only surprised but alarmed him. Says the Hon. John W. Turner, member of the House at the same time, " I have listened to his appeals in the Senate in behalf of his constituents with much interest ; not that he was eloquent, for he did not aspire to be ; but in a deliberative assembly his address was impressive. Tall and commanding, with a clear, soft voice, a sparkling eye that fairly glowed ; and as he became nervous and more excited, his features grew full of expression, while he gave to his plain monosyllables a strong force, with his long and trembling forefinger that seemed to understand what he said, and came sweeping down upon the desk in support of every sentence."
But the great object was accomplished, and proved of inestimable value to Southern Michigan. There is no doubt but what its snecess was due to the indomitable will, perseverance, and impressive eloquence of Dr. Berry. Says Mr. Turner, " The appeal of Mr. Berry in behalf of this measure was one of the most intensely interesting and soul-stirring speeches I ever listened to in a deliberative assembly."
Now comes " the winter of his discontent." In 1858 his only daughter, Serena, fourteen years of age, affectionate, beautiful, and promising, was taken sick, and in July died. If a father can love too dearly his own child, that fault was his. Ile was at that period fifty years of age, and from that time until the day of his death, thirteen long years, he declined steadily.
By this shock his nervous system became permanently disordered, and there was no recovery from the gloom and despondeney that constantly enshrouded him. "The bright sun was extinguished, and the moon did wander darkly in the eternal space, rayless and pathless. Morn came and went, and came and went and brought no day." He had no further ambition, desired no further promotion, had no wish to appear in public, gradually lost his taste for social and public gatherings, and became more retired as he neared the grave.
" His woes no tongue can tell ; Within whose bosom, save despair, No kindlier spirits dwell."
He occupied many other public positions, and was many times sent to the Legislature. He was at one time ten- dered and urged to accept the position of " Manager of Internal Affairs of Michigan," but this being in his later years, and the position being one of great responsibility, he thought best not to accept.
He was also appointed, by President Lincoln, as Allot- ment Commissioner in the army, and entered upon the dis- charge of his duties; but being soon after taken severely ill in Washington, was compelled to abandon the enterprise and seek rest and quiet at home.
197
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
He was an earnest worker for General Fremont, when the latter ran for President ; and in case of Fremont's elec- tion, was to be appointed Governor of Nebraska.
Dr. Berry was a man of very uncommon intellect, which, aided by his great energy and sleepless perseverance, woukl, without doubt, have elevated him to a position among the foremost men of the nation. He was an intimate friend and associate of "Zachariah Chandler, Jacob M. Howard, Governor Ransom, Chas. G. Hammond, and the various Governors of Michigan during his active days. Among his many intimate friends were, also, Gen. Cass, Governor Blair, Hon. Benjamin F. Wade, United States Senator from Ohio. These were among the many friends of Mr. Berry, by whom he was highly respected for his acknowledged superior ability and elevated character.
In Dr. Berry we find a man of strong passions and of the keenest perceptions of right and wrong. He was a life-
long member and supporter of the Methodist and Episcopal Churches, always kind and affectionate in his family, and a man revered and beloved by all. He left a large property, wife, and one son, the pride and idol of his later years, whom he lived just long enough to see a graduate from the Michigan University and a lawyer before the Supreme bar of his State, and just budding into bright and promising manhood.
Dr. Berry died happily, with a full and enduring faith in Jesus. An upright man has passed away. The All-Wise Father has seen fit to call him home to his haven of eternal rest. A life of usefulness is closed ; the places that once knew him will know him no more.
" No more for him the rising sun Salutes the waking morn."
ITis was, indeed, a character worthy of emulation.
Photos, by E. Kindmark, Coldwater.
JOIN S. BELOTE.
MRS. LOIS M. BELOTE.
JOIIN S. BELOTE.
The ancestors of John S. Belote were of French origin. John Belote, the paternal grandfather, was a sailor, and settled in Western New York, and when a young man married Doreas Mack. He reared a large family of chil- dren, of whom Harris was the eldest. He became a machinist, and when a young man went to the city of Albany and was engaged in a machine-shop. Here he was married to Rebecca Spencer, and after a few years he re- moved to Connecticut and then back to the State of New York, settling in Penfield, Monroe Co., and subsequently in Orleans County. In 1838 they migrated to Oakland Co., Mich., where, in 1847, at the age of sixty-four years, he died. His widow died in 1863, at the age of seventy years. They were the parents of fifteen children, named as follows : Eliza, John S., Caroline, Juliette, James, Asa, Dorcas, Ruth, Charles, George, Adelia, Elnora, Matilda,
and two infants not named. Of this large family nine are still living.
John S., the second child, was born in the city of Albany, N. Y., Nov. 24, 1813. His boyhood was spent in assisting his father, with whom he remained until five months before he was twenty-one, when he bought his time, paying his father thirty dollars. He then went to work for himself by the month. In 1835 he came to Michigan, and went to work on the Erie and Kalamazo Railroad. He con- tinned at that labor five months, when he went to Branch County and selected and bought a government lot in the township of Quincy. He then worked at various places for two years, when he commenced clearing his land and built a log house, and on the 29th day of August, 1841, he was united in marriage to Miss Lois M. Burleson, the daughter of Alva Burleson, an old settler of Quiney. After his marriage he moved to his new farm, where he has
198
IIISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICIIIGAN.
ever since resided. By industry and economy Mr. Belote has acquired a handsome property, and is regarded as one of the solid and reliable farmers of Branch County. Ile lives in a fine, commodious house, and has comfortable and convenient barns and out-buildings for grain and stock. They are the parents of James W., Julia M., Alva J., Sarah R., Mary J., Martha G., and Amanda M., who are all living except James and Julia, who died in infancy. His son Alva owns and resides on a farm adjoining his father's.
JOHN R. MOREY.
Wm. P. Morey, the father of John R., was a native of Onondaga Co., N. Y. He was born in the town of Camil- lus, and reared a farmer. In 1840 he eame to Michigan, and bought and settled on a farm in Reading, Hillsdale Co., on which now stands the village of Reading, then known as Basswood Corners. In 1842 he was married to Miss Luey Rising, of the same place. He bought and sold several farms in Branch County, and in 1865 he died at his residence in the town of Quiney, at the age of fifty years. His wife died at the age of thirty-four, in 1856.
They were the parents of three children, named John R., Lucinda, and William H.
John R. was born in Reading on the 17th day of March, 1844. He obtained a good education in the common schools and at the Albion College. He was reared a farmer, and when not in school assisted in the farm labors until
eighteen years of age, when, at the call for volunteers to fight the battles for the Union, he enlisted in Co. M, 5th Michigan Cavalry, and served with honor all through the great struggle. Ile became sergeant of his company, and was at various times successively under the command of those celebrated generals, Custer, Kilpatrick, and Sheridan. He participated in many of the hard-fought battles and in nu- merous skirmishes and raids, such as the Wilderness, Get- tysburg, Boonsborough, Fredericksburg, Winchester, etc. He was taken prisoner near Richmond, under Dahlgren, and was an inmate of Libby prison for four months, until ex- changed. At the close of the war he returned to Reading and engaged in farming.
On the 17th day of March, 1868, he was united in mar- riage to Miss Amanda Biekford, daughter of Charles Bick- ford, of Algansee, Branch Co., one of the old pioneer fami- lies in that locality. After his marriage he settled on the old homestead of his father, in the town of Qniney, where he has sinee resided. He has made purchases, so that his farm now consists of one hundred and twenty acres of fine, fertile land, well adapted for grain, grass, and fruit growing, with good, comfortable farm-buildings. Mr. Morey and his wife are the parents of one child, a bright little boy of four years of age. Mr. Morey is a man of energy and ae- tivity, and is highly esteemed by all his acquaintances for his integrity and social qualities. On another page of this work may be found a view of the beautiful farm-home of Mr. Morey, and the portraits of this worthy young couple.
UNION.
THE township of Union, which comprises Congressional township number 5 south, of range 7 west, of the principal meridian, was organized from a part of Sherwood by an aet of the Legislature approved March 11, 1837. It lies on the northern boundary of the county, being surrounded by the towns of Girard, Batavia, and Sherwood on the east, south, and west, respectively, and Burlington on the north, in Calhoun County.
This township was originally very heavily timbered, and was consequently not settled in the interior until after the prairie and oak-opening lands in other localities had all been taken ; for although the idea long held by settlers was rather in favor of timbered lands and against the prairies and openings for agricultural purposes, it was in time com- pletely overthrown by actual experience. By far the greater proportion of the timber in Union has been cut away, even though much still remains. The surface is usually quite level, the only depressions of importance being the valleys of the various streams. A judicious system of drainage has reclaimed some lands which were at one time of a marshy nature, and but very little waste land is now found in the township.
The St. Joseph River crosses the northwest corner of
the town, flowing in a southwesterly direction, and uniting at Union City with the Coldwater River, the outlet of numerous lakes to the south. Both these streams, above their junetion, were called St. Joseph at one time, the name having been given by the Jesuits, in honor of the husband of the Virgin Mary, whom they regard as the patron saint of " New France," as the northwestern region was then known. This river, also, to distinguish it from the " Miami of the Lakes" (now the Manmee) and the " Miami of the Ohio," was called for a greater or less period the " Miami of the North." The name Coldwater is also of French origin, the stream bearing that name being represented upon an old map under the title L'Eau Froid," or " Cold Water."
In the immediate vicinity of Union City are many mounds, by many supposed to be the work of that mys- terious people, the "mound-builders," whose existence is briefly discussed in the general history of the county. On the banks of the Coldwater River are occasional circular mounds, whose origin was not known to the later Indians, and which, from their similarity to others which have been examined in various parts of the country, are supposed to be burial-places. On the right (or north) bank of the St.
199
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Joseph, something over a mile above Union City, and in Calhoun County, is an ancient earthwork, semicircular in Form, located upon a bluff which juts upon the stream, and the highest point in the immediate vicinity. Its position for defense is admirable, and testifies to the correct calcula- tion of those by whom it was constructed. It covers an area of perhaps an acre, is about four feet in height, and has quite heavy timber growing upon it. It is well known that these fortresses and mounds are invariably found near to a prominent stream or large body of water, and as the St. Joseph is among the principal rivers of the southern peninsula of Michigan, it is easy to see why it was chosen as a highway for the eanoes or other eraft of the carly in- habitants, whoever they may have been. In other locali- ties are found extensive gardens, regularly laid out in beds and walks. Various plats of these gardens have been made, and printed copies are inserted in several interesting works pertaining to this region. They were occasionally hundreds of aeres in extent.
The student of history learns that early French explorers and missionaries traversed the peninsula forming the south- ern part of Michigan many years ere its settlement was begun by the descendants of the Anglo-Saxon race. It is stated-with what show of truth cannot be learned, but in all sineerity as far as known-that a French trading-post existed on the present site of Union City very early, on the north side of the St. Joseph River, below its union with the Coldwater ; and immediately preceding the settle- ment of the place it is known that a small trading-post was established here by an American, who stayed but a short time.
Hlon. William HI. Cross, of Centreville, St. Joseph Co., is authority for the statement that one John Clawson, from near Mongoquinong Prairie, in what is now La Grange Co., Ind., was the first white man who made his home at the mouth of the Coldwater River. Clawson would therefore be entitled to the credit of having been
THE FIRST SETTLER
in what at present constitutes Union township. Judge Cross came into Branch County in 1829, and made his home in it in 1830, at Coldwater. It is stated on other authority that Clawson was the proprietor of a small store or trading-post, where he bartered with the Indians, this being the establishment mentioned above. The site of the carly French trading-post which is said to have been located here is fixed at a point south of the present union school building in Union City, and north of the St. Joseph River.
The survey of this township was made for the govern- ment in 1826, by Robert Clark, under instructions from Edward Tiffin, then United States surveyor-general.
Settlements were made at Union City in 1833, of which more will be said farther on, and for a few years nearly all who came into the township located there. Mention of them will be found in the sketch of the place a little later. The year 1836, however, witnessed the arrival of several families, who located in the dense wilderness to the south and east, a few of whom have continued their residence in the township until the present time. The majority of the
first settlers in this township were very probably from Ni- agara and Chenango Counties, in the State of New York. From the former, in the spring of 1836, there came the following persons : Alpheus Saunders, Lewis Hawley, David Kilbourn, Archibald Mitchell, and W. M. Mitchell, who took up government land in the southwest part of town and returned for their families, bringing them to their new homes in the forest the following September. The families were all large, yet, as the weather was mild, but two temporary habitations were creeted for their accommoda- tion. These were construeted out of lumber split out of basswood logs,-very simple and uninviting, yet they an- swered all purposes for the time being, and who shall say that their occupants were not as happy as in more preten- tious edifices, with all that wealth could furnish for their enjoyment ? More than one of the great army of pioneers has expressed, in later years, the fact that he was even hap- pier in his rude cabin of logs or slabs, with its bark-roof and simple accompaniments, than in the elegant dwelling which his accumulated means from years of toil had enabled him to build and furnish. There was something in a free and unrestrained life in the vast and almost unpeopled wil- derness which possessed great charms for these builders of a nation, and the delight they feel in relating seenes and inci- dents of other days is manifest in the sparkling eye, the always ready tongue, and the elastic step which even the most aged possess on occasions calling forth from the store- houses of their memory the recollections of the past.
Alpheus Saunders, one of the above party, was born in Tolland Co., Conn., March 1, 1793, and had lived in both Monroe and Niagara Cos., N. Y., coming to Michigan from the latter, as stated. The place upon which he set- tled in Union is now owned by Daniel Groesbeek and David 1. Buell. A line of blazed trees was followed by him to his farmi when he returned with his family after first lo- eating his claim, and the same was the experience of the others. Mr. Saunders was one of the original members of the First Congregational Church at Union City, and long a deacon in that organization. His death occurred in Jan- uary, 1879.
Henry Blazer and Lloyd H. Sims located early in the castern part of the township,-probably in the beginning of 1836, as they had shanties built and clearings begun in May of that year. Two of Mr. Blazer's sons, Jacob M. and Peter Blazer, yet reside in town.
Charles A. Lincoln and Justus Buell, from Chenango Co., N. Y., came together to this town in May, 1836. Neither of them was married,-both being young men,- but Buell went back to New York the same season, mar- ried, and returned with his wife in the fall. Mr. Lincoln located at Union City, and for several years worked there at his trade,-that of carpenter and joiner,-aiding in building many of the early structures in the village, among them the " Union City House," the " Red School- House," ete. He entered considerable land southwest of the village, and is now residing on section 17, whither he removed after several years' residence in the village.
Mr. Lincoln's brother, Caleb Lincoln, came on in June, 1837, and stopped at Union City until fall, when he re- moved to land which his brother Charles had entered. HIe
200
HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
is now residing in Union City, which has been his home for many years.
Darius Buell, brother of Justus Buell, came to Union late in the fall of 1836, leaving his family in New York. Two other brothers, Thomas B. and Chauncey Buell, fol- lowed him later in the season. All were single men except Darius.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.