USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun County, Michigan, a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 101
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Mr. Gilbert has made his home in Albion for many long years, and has been occupied during his life time as a glazier. On November 2, 1870, he was married to Ada L. Cogswell, a daughter of Myron and Bet- sey, nee Hart, Cogswell, both of whom are deceased. Four children have been born to them ;- Myron B., Merritt C., John F. and Laura A.
Mr. Gilbert is a loyal member of Hollingsworth Post No. 210, and
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his wife is a member of the Women's Relief Corps, No. 136, of Albion. Mr. Gilbert is on the pension list of the United States, and receives quarterly the remuneration accorded to soldiers of his class by a grate- ful nation.
Mr. Gilbert is a member of the Calhoun County Soldiers' Relief Commission. Served the city as alderman for two terms. Is secretary and treasurer of the First Michigan Infantry Association.
CHARLES A. FAILING, a general farmer and stock raiser, and highly respected citizen of Tekonsha township, Calhoun county, Michigan, is a native of this township, and was born April 21, 1871, son of Joseph M. and Esther (Lowry) Failing, the former a native of New York and the latter of Ohio. His maternal grandfather, Laban Lowry, lived and died in Ohio. John Failing, the father of Joseph M., was born in New York state, and lived there until 1833, when he came west to Michigan and took claim to a tract of government land. His death occurred at Albion, Michigan, about ten years after his removal to this state.
Joseph M. Failing was born in New York, February 10, 1833, and was an infant at the time he was brought by his parents to Michigan. When he was ten years of age his father died. A portion of his boyhood days were spent in Ohio, where he attended the Academy at Milan, and in his youth he worked at the trade of ship-building. Also for a time he was engaged in the milling business. In 1859, he went to California, and subsequently he crossed the Isthmus of Panama. Returning to Michigan, he bought out the interests of the other heirs to his father's farm of one hundred sixty acres in Calhoun county ; here he established his home and lived for a number of years, until his removal to Tekon- sha, where he now resides. He has been a Republican all his life, and has served officially in various capacities, having filled all the town- ship offices and served twelve years as postmaster of Tekonsha. For many years he has been identified with the Masonic Order, with mem- bership in Washington Lodge, No. 7, F. and A. M., at Tekonsha, in which he has served as Master. His wife, Esther (Lowry) Failing, whom he married in Ohio, was born in Ohio, November 6, 1834, and died Novem- ber 10, 1893. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in her life exemplified the teachings of the faith she professed.
Charles A. Failing received his early training in the schools of Tekonsha. He took a business course at Ypsilanti and attended normal school at Trenton, after which he taught school one year. He had a brief experience in a railroad office, where he did clerical work; and in Chicago he was for a time in the employ of Swift & Co., and Libby, Mc- Neil & Libby. The farm, held its attractions, and he returned to the scenes of his boyhood and settled down to agricultural pursuits.
In 1893, Mr. Failing married Miss Pearl M. Perine, daughter of Henry and Sarah (Doolittle) Perine. Mr. Perine was a native of New York who came to Michigan at an early day, lived here for a time, and then moved to Missouri, where he settled on a farm. He returned to Michigan, however, and passed his last days and died here. Mr. and Mrs. Failing have two children: Esther and Joe, both attending school at Tekonsha. Like his father, Mr. Failing votes the Republican ticket and affiliates with the Masonic Order. He has served as Junior Deacon and Secretary of Washington Lodge, No. 7, F. and A. M., and he has filled the township office of Road Commissioner. Mrs. Failing is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
ISAAC L. WILLIAMS. The scion of old English families and the son of English parents, yet himself a native of this country and the state
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of Michigan, in which he was also reared and educated, Isaac L. Wil- liams, one of the enterprising and progressive, and therefore successful and prosperous farmers of Convis township, began the struggle for ad- vancement among men with two valuable assets acquired from heredity and association. He was born with the sturdiness and balance of the English people, and he was trained under the stimulating influence of the strident and all-conquering enterprise characteristic of the United States, and especially that which distinguishes the Middle West, or great Mississippi valley. He had therefore within himself the elements of suc- cess in whatever he might undertake, and, having adhered to the calling for which he felt himself best fitted, he has achieved success. Mr. Wil- liams' life began in Marshall, this county, on December 31, 1860. His parents, John and Sarah (Langridge) Williams, were born in England, the former in 1812 and the latter in 1830. The father came to the United States in his young manhood and was married in this country, the mother having been brought to America in her childhood. They became the parents of twelve children, of whom their son Isaac was the sixth in the order of birth, and six of whom are living, five of them in Michigan.
When the father arrived in this country he first took up his residence in Schenectady county, New York. From there he came to Michigan and located on a farm which he cultivated for awhile, then went to Wis- consin for a short time. When he returned to this state he located in Marshall, but soon afterward bought a farm in Eaton county compris- ing forty acres of good land. This did not entirely suit him, however, and he moved to Sheridan township, Calhoun county. During his sub- sequent years he lived on several different farms in Calhoun county and always farmed the land under his control with industry and the best intelligence available to him.
The father was fairly successful in his undertakings, but as he had a large family to support, his accumulations in a worldly way were not particularly extensive. In the regard and good will of all who knew him, however, they were considerable, and he was worthy of the full measure of the general esteem bestowed upon him. For many years he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and true in his daily life to its teachings. He died in 1887, but the mother is still living. His political faith attached him warmly and serviceably to the Repub- lican party.
Isaac L. Williams obtained his education in the district schools of Calhoun county. He began making his own way in the world at an early age as a farmer, and to this occupation he has steadfastly adhered ever since. For some years he owned land in partnership with his father- in-law, but in 1892 bought and located on the farm of eighty acres which he now occupies and cultivates with commendable enterprise and skill. He also owns a farm of ninety-four acres in partnership with J. Huggett.
Mr. Williams was married on October 8, 1890, to Miss Libby Stroup, a daughter of Moses and Lelia (King) Stroup, of Olivet in the adjoin- ing county of Eaton on the north, where they were pioneer farmers and where they died, the father in 1908 and the mother some years be- fore. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have six children: Wesley, who is a stu- dent of mechanical engineering at the State University of Michigan; Lawrence, who is attending the Bellevue high school; and Grace, Norris and Rupert and Luther (twins), who are pupils in the district school. The father is a Republican in his political relations, and as such has served two years as township treasurer and four as school director. He is widely known and highly esteemed.
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FRANK J. DIBBLE. Having begun his active career on a low rung of the ladder of attainments, Frank J. Dibble, cashier of the Homer State Bank, has, by close application, untiring energy, and a diligent use of his faculties and opportunities, made steady progress upward, achieving success through his own efforts. A son of Wallace Dibble, he was born, November 6, 1862, in Marengo township, Calhoun county, coming from pioneer stock.
His grandfather, Ralph Dibble, married Mary Osborn, who bore him ten children. In 1836 he came from New York state to Michigan, took up land in Eckford township, and on the farm which he redeemed from the wilderness was prosperously engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, in 1880. As a young man he was identified with the Whigs, but was later a supporter of the principles promulgated by the Repub- lican party.
Wallace Dibble was born in Ontario county, New York, February 3, 1834, and when but two years old was brought by his parents to Cal- houn county, Michigan, where he was reared and educated. During his early life he spent a year in Kansas, but was not enough impressed with the country to locate there. Returning to Michigan, he lived a short time in Marengo township, where he bought land, and carried on general farming. He subsequently bought ninety acres of land in Clar- endon township, and on the homestead which he improved remained until his death, in 1906. He was a Republican in politics, and both he and his wife belonged to the Baptist church. He married Eliza Silver- thorn, who was born in Hope, New Jersey, December 8, 1836, a daugh- ter of Joseph Silverthorn, who came with his family to Michigan many years ago, and died a short time later. Six children blessed their union, five of whom are now living.
Educated in the common schools of Calhoun county, and at the Normal School, Frank J. Dibble subsequently taught school for twenty years, becoming well and favorably known as an educator. He has acquired through his own exertions property of much value, owning a good seventy-acre farm in Clarendon township, and a handsome resi- dence in the city of Marshall. He is now connected with the Homer State Bank as its cashier, a capacity which he is filling most ably and satisfactorily. This bank has a capital of $20,000.00, with a surplus of $4,000.00, and deposits amounting to about $30,000.00, it being one of the most flourishing institutions of the kind in the county.
Politically Mr. Dibble is a Republican, and influential in local affairs, having held all of the offices of Clarendon township, including that of supervisor, and in 1906 was elected treasurer of Calhoun county, and was re-elected to the same responsible position in 1908, serving in all four years. Fraternally he is a member of Lodge No. 5, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Marshall, and religiously both he and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Dibble married, in 1884, Carrie M. Blashfield, a daughter of Alvin and Elizabeth. (Marshall) Blashfield, who came from New York to Michigan, and settled on a farm in Clarendon township, where they spent their remaining years. Mr. and Mrs. Dibble have one child, Calla C., who was graduated from the Marshall high school in 1911.
GEORGE BURKLEY. At this point in a volume dedicated to the careers of prominent and successful citizens of Calhoun county, Michigan, it is a pleasure to direct attention to the life of George Burkley, who is en- gaged in general farming and stock-raising on his beautiful estate of one hundred and sixty acres in Newton township. Mr. Burkley is deeply and sincerely interested in community affairs and is intrinsically loyal
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and public-spirited in connection with all matters affecting the general welfare of Calhoun county.
George Burkley was born at Wurtemburg, Germany, February 17, 1849, and he is a son of Christian and Christina (Smith) Burkley, both of whom were likewise born in Wurtemburg, Germany, where they were married. They became the parents of eleven children, of which number the subject of this brief review was the youngest born. In 1851 the Burkley family came to America and located in Barry county, Michigan, where the father purchased a small farm, on which he resided until his demise at the age of seventy-six years. After his arrival in America Mr. Christian Burkley became a stalwart Democrat in his poli- tical allegiance and in religious matters he and his wife were devout Lutherans. Mrs. Burkley survived her honored husband for several years and was eighty-eight years of age when she died. She was a very intelligent woman and retained her mental and physical faculties in much of their pristine vigor until death called her home.
In Barry county, Michigan, whither he had been brought by his parents when but a child of two years, George Burkley was reared to maturity. In 1866 he purchased a farm of eighty acres in Fredonia township, residing thereon for the ensuing thirty years. In 1906 he removed to his wife's old home,-the Ulrich Farm, in Newton township, a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, one of the finest farms in Cal- houn county. Mr. Burkley is an intelligent farmer and an excellent manager, he is independent in politics and a supporter of all matters projected for the betterment of educational conditions. In their reli- gious faith they are Lutherans.
In the year 1877 Mr. Burkley was united in marriage with Miss Anne Carrie Ulrich, a daughter of John and Louise (Schray) Ulrich, who were early settlers in Newton township, whither they came from Wur- temburg, Germany, in 1852. Two daughters have been born into the Burkley home, who are still living.
THE NEALE FAMILY. The Neales of Battle Creek, to whom this statement applies came from Chipping Sodbudy, Gloucestershire, Eng- land, a place which, in 1848, of about eighteen hundred inhabitants and is situated on a main turnpike between that city and London, ten miles east of Bristol, as Bristol then was. The Neale family was an old one, having authentically traced lineage dating from the time of the Norman conquest of England, as recorded in a work published in 1906, by John Alexander Neale, D. C. L., a graduate of Queens College, Oxford, en- titled "Charters and Records of Neales of Berkeley, Yate and Cor- sham," of two hundred and sixty-three folio pages.
For more than three hundred and fifty years the immediate an- cestors of the Neales of Battle Creek had been a conspicuous family in the parish of Yate, a bucolic and grassy place of fine dairy farms in the valley of the Severn,-of local fame for its fine old church and bell tower, and the picturesque, ivy-covered ruins of its moated court, of which its rustic population was very proud. This review was prepared by William F. Neale, of Battle Creek, and the text of his original manu- script concerning the family of which he is now the only representative of the older generation in Calhoun county, is given with slight varia- tion.
As I first remember my father's family at Yate, he was carrying on the business of boot and shoe-making, being, it was said, the first to en- gage in mechanical business of all their long line. They had been uni- formly connected with the land, as owners or lessees. Father was a man of good mentality and a communicant of the Church of England, was
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six feet in height. Transcripts of parochial records of baptisms, mar- riages and funerals, and floating legends, regarding ancestral persons and common events, in our home at Yate, were matters of frequent and interested talk, which had its effect on our personal consciousness, as family connections had upon our place among the people of the parish. Our home at Yate occasionally was a meeting place of local musicians. Father Gabriel Neale played the flute or sang baritone, but he was not, however, a member of the church choir. The music generally practiced was sentences and anthems to be used in the services of the church. Occasionally the instrumentalists would "show off" by taking up some simple form of sonata, or the singers would exploit a three-part glee. There were five boys at home,-three older and one younger than my- self,-and to all of us these musical meetings were just delectable. To Maurice, my younger brother, and myself they were fascinating to such an extent that music became the dominating enjoyment of our lives, and we always lived near to each other until his death, in May, 1904. Father died at Yate, in July, 1837, and the family moved to Sodbury, I believe, in 1841. Mother was fourteen years younger than father, who was sixty- three years of age at the time of his sudden death. She was born at Sodbury and her maiden name was Mary Iles. Mother was fond of poetry and flowers, and had almost a phenomenal memory for poetical quotations. Of her family, beyond her parents, I never knew anything. She died at Sodbury, the year before Michael and Maurice left there for Battle Creek, Michigan, her death being the result of pulmonary con- sumption.
Michael and his newly wedded wife, whose maiden name was Mary Louise Worlock, of Codrington Court, a nearby parish, and Maurice H. eighteen years of age, February 28, 1848, came to Battle Creek in June, 1848. They were followed by William F., of Sodbury, and Gabriel, of Bristol, in April, 1849. Battle Creek in 1848 had passed the pioneer stage and was a bustling, ambitious and rapidly growing village, having a noticeable unity of faith in its future, upon the ground of its sense of common interest and fraternal helpfulness. It had its mill-race, con- veying water power to its three flouring mills,-Titus's, Hart's and Cush- man's; Mason & Ward's and Wallace's factories; Nichols & Shepard's foundry and saw-mill engine establishment; and other industries of less note. It had its dry-goods stores, groceries, drug stores, churches, mechanic's shops, saloons and a weekly newspaper. Supplementing all these, it had the transportation facilities of the Michigan Central Rail- road, bringing commodities from the great outside world to this as to all other places along its stimulating line.
From the first our strangers were met with a generous, helpful cordiality, which had the effect of making them feel as if they had ar- rived at home again, and through all the intervening years they have been identified and identified themselves with the interests of the place as inseparable from their own. In its music, its enjoyment of litera- ture, its public order and its social fellowship and good will, they have tried to be at one with the most harmonizing movements of the place. What these same have been and their success, Battle Creek, in Calhoun county, must tell in its own unimpeachable way.
Socially there was probably nothing that specialized the first genera- tion of the Neales of Battle Creek more than their family Christmas gatherings. In the early 50's Christmas was only very exceptionally ob- served here, but for them it had always been the day from which and for which the other days had been counted. They could not abandon it. It raised pleasant memories of their own earlier lives and the still older lives and usages of their ancestors, who brightened the short and cloudy English days of the season with its historic merriments and hospitali-
:
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ties. At first these family parties of the Christmastide in Battle Creek were held at the home of Michael Neale, the only brother then married, but as time went on, and Maurice and myself were married, and chil- dren came to all of us, the Christmas family gatherings became to the larger circle the red-letter day of all the year, and went the round of our separate homes. In later years a few congenial friends were invited to join us, and to all the occasions represented the high tides of social life,-occasions it was good to experience and is pleasant to remember, as a foretaste of that blessed time when "Man to man, the world o'er. shall brithers be, an' a' that."
In July, 1850, Michael and Maurice H. Neale, as partners under the firm name of M. & M. H. Neale, commenced the manufacture of boots and shoes, in a one-story wooden building on North Jefferson street. Since then-now over sixty years-it has remained in the family and has been devoted substantially to the same line of business. Changes of partners have been made among the brothers, and in March, 1906, George F. Neale became sole proprietor, by purchasing the interest of William F., the writer of this article. It has never been other than the Neale shoe store, and represents one of the oldest, if not the very oldest, con- tinuous mercantile enterprises now to be found in Battle Creek. From the beginning the establishment received liberal patronage, and at its best development it gave employment to more than twenty workmen. It is now entirely commercialized, in the handling of general lines of footwear and such accessories as usually go with shoes. About 1860 Michael and Maurice H. Neale erected the present store building, at 11 North Jefferson street. Further than this it would seem enough to say that from first to last the several managements of this business have held an unchallenged record for commercial responsibility and honest dealing.
Of the personal occupation and public service of Michael, Maurice H. and William F. Neale it may be said that at first they all worked at shoemaking, all having been craftsmen of that order in England. Ga- briel had been in the service of the Great Western Railway Company at Bristol, England. He died, in August of the same year in which he came to Battle Creek, his death having been caused by pneumonia. He had made good progress in scholarly preparation for educational service, and was a young man of fine character and physical presence, as he stood six feet in height. He was a member of the Baptist church and was zealous in the work of its Sunday school.
Michael, from the time of father's death, had conducted the busi- ness at Yate,-from 1837 to 1841,-and continued to be the head of the family at Chipping Sodbury, in the larger business of that place, until May, 1848, when he started for America, his arrival in Battle Creek having occurred in June of that year, as has already been noted. Here he was senior partner of the business founded in 1850, and he retained this position until his death, in August, 1894. The one exception was his being elected justice of the peace, for the term beginning in 1885. He was a man of sterling integrity, of social habits and gracious per- sonality, and he was extremely attached to his home. He built his home, at the corner of Champion and West streets, and also the residence at 157 Van Buren street west, the present family abode of George F. Neale.
Regarding Maurice H., it should be understood that above all else he was a natural-born musician. Music was in the very attractiveness of his personality. He was a handsome boy of eighteen and one-half years when he came to Battle Creek, and was as brilliant an amateur flute-player as I have ever known. He also played on the violin and
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violoncello, and as a little boy he was a village celebrity at Yate,-as a performer on a piccolo, and accordion and a six-hole tin whistle. Music was inseparable from him during his whole life. One might as well separate a skylark from its upward flight and its song heralding of the sunrise. With all sorts and conditions of men and women he was a great favorite as a salesman in the shoe store, and its early success was en- hanced more than a little by his influence. He was elected city treas- urer in 1875-6-7, and city recorder in 1878. The latter office included the recorder's court at that time, this tribunal having charge of en- forcing the city ordinances. In later life Maurice learned to make and repair violins, and in manufacturing the same he modeled them after a fine Cremona instrument that came into his possession in his long con- tinued practice of buying and selling violins. In his business he was intelligent and deeply interested. He passed to the life eternal on the 7th of May, 1904. He married Emily M. Campbell, of Battle Creek, on the 15th of August, 1858, and she died on the 14th of February, 1896. They owned an attractive home that stood on the site of the present Ward fountain, on the depot grounds of the Michigan Central Railroad.
William F. Neale, the writer of this statement, after giving up his shoemaking, which was principally the making of men's hand-sewed boots in the establishment founded by his brothers, assumed charge of the telegraph office maintained in the law office of Campbell & Stewart, this change having been made in 1852. Here he read law books, between the calls for his service as telegraph operator, and he thus continued to apply himself until January, 1857, when he was appointed deputy register of deeds for Calhoun county. His new office necessitated his removal to Marshall, but after passing about one year in the register's office he re- signed his position and returned to Battle Creek, where he resumed the study of law but not his work as a telegraph operator. In 1858-9 he was elected clerk of the village board, and in 1860 and 1861 he was elected city recorder, in connection with which there was no recorder's court at that time. In 1864 he was appointed commissioner to take sol- diers' votes in Arkansas. In 1867-8 he was elected supervisor of Battle Creek. From 1869 to 1872 he served as register of deeds of the county, with residence at Marshall. From 1877 to 1879, inclusive, he was a member of the board of education of Battle Creek, and from 1881 to 1884 he served as county clerk. By appointment, he was deputy county clerk from 1865 until 1902,' and he was the incumbent of the office of notary public continuously from 1869 until 1908. From 1885 until March, 1906, he continued as junior partner in the firm of M. & W. F. Neale, in conducting the shoe business in Battle Creek.
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