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 108
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Mrs. Leverance received her education in the public and high school of Hanover. She married Lovell B. Leverance in 1879, and following his demise in 1887, she assumed entire charge of the farm, directing the labors of her hired help and managing every detail in connection with the work of the place. She has amply demonstrated her ability to manage successfully the affairs of such a business as she conducts, and has made splendid progress in a financial way in the years in which she has been dependent upon her own resources. In 1901 she erected her present fine residence at a cost of $2,200 and one of the finest country homes in the township. Mrs. Leverance is one of the brilliant and prominent women of the community, being not only well versed in matters pertain- ing to farming and stockraising, but is well versed on topics of the day, and an interesting conversationalist. She is known to possess excellent
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judgment, and her opinion on a business proposition within her ken is always accepted as sound and practical. As previously mentioned, Mrs. Leverance was married in 1879. Her husband, Lovell B. Leverance, was born in Jackson county, Michigan, in 1832. He was educated in the district school at Jonesville and then attended the Albion high school. Following the completion of his education he was engaged in teaching in the district schools for some time, after which he became associated with Dr. Saxton, of Concord, in the drug business, and for five years he was thus occupied. At the end of that time Mr. Leverance purchased the old Newton homestead where he was engaged in farming for a number of years, and in all his undertakings he enjoyed a generous measure of prosperity. The farm was a model one in every particular and was well kept up during the regime of Mr. Leverance, as it has been in later years under the supervision of his widow. Mr. Leverance was the son of Decaker and Sarah (Bullock) Leverance, both natives of New York state, born at Oswego, and they located in Pulaski township, Michigan, in their young life, purchasing a farm of 120 acres which the elder Leverance put in a fine state of cultivation in the years he gave to its care. Lovell Leverance was a member of the Masonic fraternity, affili- ating with Concord lodge.
AUGUST E. ARNDT has contributed a considerable, in a material way, to the growth of Albion in his capacity as contractor and builder in masonry, and in the years of his active business operations has built some of the most substantial dwellings and other buildings in the city. His work has a reputation for honesty and all around quality that has won him an enviable name in the city, and he is regarded everywhere as one of the reliable business men of the community.
Born in Germany in 1865, August E. Arndt is the son of William and Wilhelmina (Schumacher) Arndt. They also were German born, and came to America in 1881, locating in Albion, Michigan, almost im- mediately. The father was a mason by trade and he soon found employ- men, being still occupied at his trade, and living on Irwin avenue, one of the principal residence streets of the city.
August Arndt received his education in Germany. He entered school when he was in his sixth year, continuing until he was fourteen, and then went into the works with his father to learn the trade of a mason. He worked faithfully and learned every detail of the building business, after which he continued in the business on his own respon- sibility until the removal of the family to America. Following his arrival in Albion Mr. Arndt was employed by the Gale Manufacturing Company, and worked with this concern during fifteen winters, fol- lowing his trade during the summer months. He then began contract- ing and building on his own account, and since that time has been con- tinuously engaged in the business. He has done some of the best work in the city, in Marshall, Battle Creek, Jackson and surrounding cities, and his contract work is well known for its dependable quality, and his use of honest materials and general honest methods are everywhere acknowledged.
In 1891 Mr. Arndt married Miss Anna Schumacher, the daughter of Carl and Fredericka (Raether) Schumacher, and to them have been born four children,-Fred, Freda, Louisa and Olga.
Mr. Arndt and his family are attendants of the Salem church. He is an Independent in his political faith, and has never sought or held an office, having no taste for official life. He owns a comfortable resi- dence at No. 500 West Irwin avenue, while the home of his parents
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directly adjoins his place. He is also a member of the B. M. & P. O. U. of America.
GEORGE W. SWEENEY, one of the prosperous farmers of Albion town- ship, in Calhoun county, Michigan, was born on section 7, Albion township, his birth occurring on the old Sweeney homestead on May 14, 1869, and in this county he has passed his entire life in active farm- ing operations of considerable importance. He is the son of John C. and Elizabeth (Walkins) Sweeney, who were among the early pioneers of Albion township. The father was a native of Pennsylvania, and he moved to Michigan in 1837, there locating those lands which have ever since constituted the old Sweeney homestead. He was a good judge of land, as many will affirm today, when looking over the tracts chosen by him in that early period. In his day the land was covered with burr oak timber, which is indicative of a deep, rich soil, especially productive for grain, wheat, corn and beans. He improved his farm, erecting sub- stantial buildings and bringing the wilderness into a state of complete subjection to his will. His place comprised three hundred and nine acres, and he was able to interest himself largely in cattle and sheep, through having so large an acreage, and he prospered all the days of his life. He was known as one of the most intelligent and successful farming men of the community, and lived on this farm until his death, his wife following him shortly after. She was a most devoted wife and mother, possessed of all those splendid qualities so necessary in the woman who is destined to endure the privations and hardships attendant upon the invasion of a new country.
George W. Sweeney was one of the two sons of his parents. He was reared to farm life, and knew all the rigors incident to his time and station. He attended the district school, and later spent two years in Albion College. That period was exceedingly profitable to him, for it was then he acquired the knowledge which fitted him for a business career. He continued on the farm until he was twenty-one, and in 1892 he married Miss Agnes H. Sheely, a daughter of Jacob Sheely, an old resident of Concord, Calhoun county. After his marriage Mr. Sweeney rented a farm in Homer, and there he resided for two years. Following the passing of his father he returned to the home place, and took charge of the business there until the death of his mother, which occurred in February, 1912. He then engaged actively in general farming, stock raising, and in the feeding of cattle and lambs, which he found to be a most profitable business. Since the death of his mother, Mr. Sweeney has purchased the interest of his brother in the place, and is now the sole owner and proprietor of the old homestead, his operations placing him among the big stock and farming men of the county. Mr. Sweeney has one brother, William A., who is a large contractor in painting and paper-hanging, and is a man of considerable means. The Sweeney farm is supplied with a substantial residence, two large barns, sheds and out-buildings of every description, all in first class condition. The place taken as a unit, is a model one in every respect and is maintained in a state of high cultiva- tion. In addition to his stock-growing and feeding operations, Mr. Sweeney is known to be one of the largest growers of corn and white beans in the township, and has a wide reputation for practical methods in the conduct of his business.
Mr. and Mrs. Sweeney are the parents of six children, as follows : Jonathan C., Don C., Helen C., Lucy J., Mary F., and Katherine L. In 1912 Mr. Sweeney was elected justice of the peace, and he has been a member of the Grange for a number of years, as well as the Benevolent
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Protective Order of Elks, with affiliation in lodge No. 113, at Jackson, Michigan. His reputation in his community is of the highest order, where he is known to be energetic, broad-minded and public spirited.
GEORGE HOWARD is a stock dealer and shipper, and operates two of the principal meat markets in Albion. He was born in Albion township, Calhoun county, just south of the city of Albion, upon the farm of his father, on January 1, 1850, and is the son of James and Martha (Green- field) Howard, natives of England. The father, upon his arrival in America in 1828 went direct to Port Byron, and thence to Auburn, New York. In 1835 he moved with his family from the latter place to Michi- gan, making the trip in wagons. The family located in the city of Albion, remaining there until the elder Howard might make suitable arrange- ments, and then moved to a farm two miles south of the city. He was a harness and trunk maker, and he did such work as he could find to do in the line of his trade for several years-about seven in all. He then bought a farm of one hundred and thirty acres, and cultivated it in conjunction with his other business. He was a man of considerable force of character, widely known in and about the community where he resided, and of some importance in affairs of a public nature. He died in 1863 during the Civil war, his wife having preceded him in 1857.
George Howard was left an orphan at an early age, and such oppor- tunities as he has found in life have been for the most part, of his own making. He remained on the farm with his father, and received some education in the district schools. He gradually worked into stock- dealing and shipping in connection with the regular tilling of the soil. He married early, and afterward engaged in buying and shipping, also in feeding cattle and lambs by the carload, which he shipped to the eastern markets. He occupies the farm of his father and the place is in a fine state of cultivation. In addition to his buying and shipping business, Mr. Howard operates two of the leading meat markets in Albion, being the owner of a slaughter house, where most of the meat for his shops is prepared for the market. He has prospered from the beginning of his independent career, and his success in life may be said to be the direct result of his splendid energy, enthusiasm and sobriety, it being a fact that he has never indulged in intoxicating liquor, tobacco, or in gambling. As a business man his integrity is of the most unequivocal order, and his reputation is a most enviable one.
Mr. Howard married in 1871, Sarah J. Whitney, the daughter of Mrs. Hannah (Harmon Wills) Whitney, once of New York, but later of Michi- gan. Two sons and a daughter were born to Mr. and Mrs. Howard,- Fred G. and Frank S., both operating the meat markets which their father established in Albion some years ago and Bertha E., now Mrs. J. B. Smith. Mr. Howard employs one clerk, Frank Doolittle, who has been in his employ for nearly thirty years, and is known as "Trusty." Mr. Howard is a Progressive in his politics, though not especially active in party affairs. He is a citizen of the most worthy instincts, public-spirited and enterprising, and he built the Albion City Hospital, a substantial brick affair costing about eight thousand dollars, which he rents to the city, thus supplying a long felt want. He and his family are attendants of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are popular and prominent in the social activities of the city.
H. B. PARKER. The leading citizens of any community are those men who are in control of important business and industrial operations of that community, and it is always a promising sign when the younger
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men of a town or city are found forging their way to the front in any of the commercial or industrial circles as leaders. H. B. Parker takes a prominent place among men of this class in the city of Albion, where he is occupied as vice-president of the Malleable Iron Company of Albion.
Born in Chicago, August 21, 1871, Mr. Parker is yet a young man, and the son of E. A. and Almira L. Parker. His paternal grandfather was a clergyman of the Congregational church at Galesburg, Illinois, and his father was general passenger agent of the Chicago & North- western Railroad for some time, and afterward occupied a similar position with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, being connected with the latter named corporation when he died in 1875. The mother of the subject was a daughter of Calvin T. Beebe, an early pioneer settler of Jackson, Michigan, who died there at the age of eighty-five years. Following the death of her husband, Mrs. Parker married W. S. Kessler, and she passed away on March 20, 1896.
Mr. Parker acquired his early education in the schools of Chicago, and came to Albion with his mother and stepfather. It was at that time that the Malleable Iron Company was organized and the young man became connected with the new company straightway. He began work in the factory and from there advanced steadily, becoming famililar with every detail of the business in all its various departments. In 1892 he had so far advanced that he was made a director and vice-presi- dent of the concern, in which offices he has continued ever since. In 1899 he was made assistant general manager and in that important capacity bears an active part in the responsibility and operations of the business, which ranks as the largest of its kind in the state of Michigan. The plant is located adjacent to the Michigan Central Railroad tracks and covers 8 acres. More than 700 men are employed, a fact which renders the plant a most valuable adjunct to the assets of the city, furnishing as it does the means of maintenance to a large number of families.
In addition to his interest in the iron business, Mr. Parker has been connected with Mr. Kessler in real estate matters, and in 1900 they erected the fine new post-office block. Mr. Parker is further secretary and treasurer of the Marion Gas and Oil Company, with wells at Findlay, Ohio. The oil lands of this company are excellent producers and that business is proving as profitable as are the other concerns with which he is connected.
On November 28, 1895, Mr. Parker was united in marriage with Miss Theo Gardner, a daughter of Hon. Washington Gardner, of Albion, Michigan. They attend the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mrs. Parker is a member, and toward the support of which Mr. Parker is a generous contributor. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is affiliated with Murat Lodge No. 14, A. F. & A. M., Albion chapter Royal Arch Masons, and Marshall commandery Knights Templar. His political support is with the Republican party, but he is not active in its ranks as a politician. Mr. Parker has already attained an enviable position in the business world, and great financial prosperity and influence are predicted for him in circles where he is best known.
CHARLES K. BLISS, one of the best known men in Albion, represents one of the old pioneer families of Calhoun county, Michigan. He was born in the city which now represents his home, and is the son of Sam- uel Bliss and his wife, Isabelle K. Kellogg, both of whom were natives of New York. In 1836 Samuel Bliss came to Albion, Michigan. He was a carpenter by trade, and in that industry was occupied more or
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less for many years. After locating in Albion he purchased two lots on Eaton street, on which he erected a two-story building. This he divided into several apartments and rented out. The building was most crude in construction, the frame work being of huge timbers, and the studding of slabs with two straight sides but it sufficed as a shelter, and in that early day people were able to content themselves with fewer conveniences than at the present time. He was a skillful workman himself, and as his means accumulated he was able to build houses, until he has some ten or twelve which he rented out. He continued to work at his trade of carpenter until about forty years old, his death occurring in October, 1893, when he was over eighty-one years old, his birth having occurred on March 28, 1812. His wife, who was born in 1824, died on November 19, 1874. They were the parents of four children, Jerome, Viola, Charles K. of this review, and Kitrenah, the latter of whom lives in Ionia county, Michigan.
As a lad at home, Charles K. Bliss acquired his early education in the common schools of his native district, after which he entered Albion College, where he studied for three years. After leaving school he learned the trade of a mason, and engaged in contracting, confining his labors to plastering. As his means accumulated with the passing years, he placed his capital in first mortgages, and he is today the possessor of some valuable real estate in the county, among the various pieces being a hotel at Homer.
Mr. Bliss is unmarried. He has a cottage and hunting "shack" at Long Lake, in Iosco county, Michigan, and his chief delights are found in rod and gun. Here in the wilds of Iosco county he passes con- siderable time during every summer and autumn in hunting and fish- ing, and his outfit of guns and fishing tackle is one of the most complete to be found in much traveling. He is a member of the Albion Club, and a man well liked and possessing a host of good friends in the county which has known him all his life.
LEONARD J. SHIELDS has for three years been engaged as a dealer and shipper in all kinds of poultry, eggs, hay and produce in Albion, and has come to be firmly established in that business through his careful attention to details and his understanding of market conditions. Previous to his connection with this business he was engaged as a retailer of milk, and in that way gained a wide acquaintance in and about Albion.
Mr. Shields is a native son of Calhoun county, born in Eckford town- ship, on August 11, 1872. He is the son of Charles J. Elizabeth (Wig- more) Shields, both natives of England and born in Gloucestershire. In 1870 the Shields family migrated to the United States, and upon reach- American shores they made their way direct to Calhoun county, Michi- gan, where the father purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres and immediately engaged in farming and stock raising. He became one of the prosperous farmers of this section, and died on March 19, 1897, one of the highly esteemed men of his community, and well established in a business way. His widow still survives him and makes her home in Albion, where she enjoys a modicum of health and strength.
Leonard J. Shields acquired his education in the district schools of Eckford township and later was so fortunate as to be able to pursue a commercial course in the Albion College, after which he returned to the farm where he remained until he was twenty-six years old. In 1898 he located in the city of Albion, and there he bought and retailed milk to a wide circle of customers, continuing in the business about eight years. In 1909 he began to deal in poultry of all kinds, and in
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the buying and shipping of hay and feed and he is today well estab- lished in this business, his place being conducted near the farmer sheds and also near to the Michigan Central Railroad tracks. He has a wide acquaintance in the county and the business is in a constantly expand- ing state, which is bringing him in a considerable revenue and winning him a sure place among the successful men of the city.
In 1897 Mr. Shields married Miss Pearl Simpson, a daughter of John Simpson, one of the old residents of Calhoun county. To their union two sons were born,-Harold La Verne and Warren Emerson. Mr. Shields has two brothers,-Fred L., of Albion, engaged in the dray and transfer business, and Frank H., a graduate of Albion College, who is the founder and proprietor of the New Briton (Conn.) Com- mercial College. He had five sisters, named as follows: Florence A .; Edna May (deceased) ; Lillian E; Maud and Cora M. Mr. and Mrs. Shields and family are attendants of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the home of the family is maintained at No. 310 Irwin avenue.
WILLIAM HENRY PERINE. Representatives of that class of citizens which Calhoun county attracted in the early forties from the vicinity of New York City as the country slowly but surely recovered from the panic of 1837, a class well equipped for the struggles and triumphs in new fields, men of exceptional strength both physically and men- tally, and already thoroughly Americanized by heredity and environ- ment,- was William H. Perine, who settled near Tekonsha, with his wife and five children, in 1844. He was born May 17, 1808, at South- field, Staten Island, being the youngest but one of the ten children of Abraham Perine, (1766-1831) who is buried at old St. John's Episcopal church in New York City. The latter had spent his boy- hood days amid stirring scenes, for his father, Henry Perine, born in 1730, was the patriot supervisor of the town of Westfield, Staten Island, from 1774 to 1783. Henry Perine took an active part as a member of the Whig County Committee and sided in the organization of the patriots of his neighborhood into militia companies, thus risking life and property, especially during the period when the British troops seized and endeavored to keep the island under martial law. After their departure he lived a respected and beloved citizen of Westfield until his death in 1788. These activities were inherent, as his father, Peter Perine (1701-1756) was Captain of "The Troop" of the Rich- mond County Militia as early as 1739, and his older brother, Peter, was a New Jersey soldier of the French and Indian War. The father, Peter, just mentioned, was the first of the four sons of Daniel Perine (1672-1745) who, in turn, was the fourth son of the ancestor of the American branch of the family, Daniel Perrin.
Daniel Perrin, "The Huguenot," son of Pierre Perrin, was one of the eighteen male passengers, or emigres, a portion of whom were French, from the Isle of Jersey, that were brought over in the ship "Philip" by Governor Philip Carteret. They landed in New York, July 29, 1665, preparatory to taking up their abode in the Elizabethtown Plantations, the first of the "New Caesarea" or New Jersey settlements, under the grant to Sir George Carteret, John, Lord Berkley and Lord Stratton, by the Duke of York, afterwards James II of England. In the "Philip" also came Maria Thorel, the fiance of Daniel Perrin. She also was of French lineage, her family having resided near the ancient city of Rouen. The Perrins, or Perines, appeared to have come originally from Nayers (Noyers-Bacage) in Normandy, about one hundred and fifty miles west of Paris.
The arms on the ring worn by Daniel Perrin, according to copies of a
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sketch or impression preserved for his descendants, bore, in addition to the three pilgrim's escallops, a chevron with three crosses pattee, emblem- atic of the period of the crusades in which the common ancestors of the Carterets and the Perrins had gained an enviable distinction, the most important being Sir Roger de Barneville, whose praises have been sung by Tasso in his account of the First Crusade. Roger, Seigneur de Barne- ville, and his son, Hugh, Seigneur de Rosel, were among the Norman knights who accompanied William the Conquerer to England in 1066-67. (Battle Abbey Roll, by Duchess of Cleveland.) In Domesday (1086) Sir Hugh's hereditary title is mentioned, and a charter of the time of Stephen (1135-1154) mentions his son, Robert, and in 1165 his grandson, another Robert de Rosel, is given official record. The early maps of the Isle of Jersey show not only a "Rosel Harbour" and "Rosel Manor House, " but also a short distance from the latter an ancient watch tower marked "Tour Perin or Rosel." The ancient pedigree or chart of the family of the Cartarets states that in the time of Edward IV (1461-1483) Rawlin Tampier, Lord of Roselle, married the daughter of Richard Weston, and their daughter married Dominique Perrin. A son of the latter, Edmund, became Lord of Rozel, and, according to a chart of 1564, Edmund Perrin's daughter, Isabel, married John Dumaresq, a Seigneur of the Isle of Jersey. This chart, moreover, shows that Anne Dumaresq, a lineal descendant of John and Isabel (Perrin) Dumaresq, was, subse- quent to 1644, married to Philip de Cartaret, who thus became Lord of Rosel, in right of his wife.
Many other official and hereditary documents show that the families of Cartaret and Perrin had long been connected through blood or mar- riage, and on this account, the marriage on February 18, 1666, of Daniel Perrin and Maria Thorel, as the first one was solemnized under the new government, seems to have been especially fitting. The original marriage license is still in existence. After the marriage, they removed across to Staten Island and established their home on a tract of land granted to Daniel Perrin in 1695 by the English Governor, Benjamin Fletcher. After 1700 the spelling "Perine" appears to have been generally used by those of the family who remained on Staten Island, while "Perrine" was used by those living in New Jersey. *
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