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 109
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It was the good fortune of William H. Perine, after serving his seven years apprenticeship as a turner, to marry Susan Wade Wooley of New York city on the 27th of February, 1830, and soon afterward to form the partnership of Bucklin and Perine, whose specialties of turning and blindmaking in mahogany, rosewood and lignum vitæ, found ready sale. Their establishment had become in the thirties one of the largest of its kind in New York, and there were the beginnings of an export trade, when Mr. Perine was compelled on account of his health to change his occupation. His physicians advised him that his system was becoming permeated by the fine dust that had been unavoidable in his constant oversight of work on hard woods only, and therefore, his thoughts turned to the northwest and to Michigan.
Mr. Perine's plans for removal were made with care. He made a trip through northern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois into Iowa, returning through southern Michigan. This trip was in the summer when the St. Joseph river at Niles was so dry that he crossed by stepping from stone to stone. By the spring of 1844 he had disposed of his business and his goods were packed, when suddenly his wife and his youngest son, John, were taken with varioloid. His former partner offered the use of his home and the patients recovered in due course. A quick and uneventful journey of two weeks to Michigan followed in November, their route being by way
* Note: Daniel Perrin, "The Huguenot" and his Descendants, 1665-1910; com- piled by Howland D. Perrine, A. B., LL. B., of the New York Bar.
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of Rochester, the Erie Canal and Detroit to Marshall. On his earlier trip Mr. Perine had visited his older sister, Clarissa, who with her hus- band, Thomas Warne, had settled about two miles north of Tekonsha, so that the family found ready welcome. Mr. Perine first bought eighty acres in section 24, about two miles northeast of Tekonsha, which had then a population of about one hundred. Of this first eighty, about thirty acres had been under the plow, while the rest was oak openings. The family found temporary quarters in a vacant log house kindly offered by Rutledge Enos, and later occupied another log house of Ira Burley, until their own was completed. A second adjoining tract of eighty acres was soon acquired on the south side of St. Joseph River. Their house being situated less than a mile from the Clarendon line, the family became iden- tified at once with the Methodists of Clarendon. Lewis Benham, Artemas Humiston and Mr. Perine were the main stays of the Clarendon church. Divine services were first held in a log school house across the river, but before long Lewis Benham donated for the purpose the log house formerly occupied by his family. Within a few years the need of a new church was felt and Mrs. Perine toured the neighborhood and adjoining villages, accepting any and everything that could be turned into cash for the pur- pose. She also wrote east soliciting funds and books. William Blash- field donated ground on one of the corners of his farm and the church was built. Later it was moved across from the cemetery, where it now stands.
The Perine home with that of Lewis Benham became headquarters for ministers. Among those who came most often was Manassah Hickey, who did a great work among the Indians. He seemed to be followed always, in the memory of Mr. Perine's eldest daughter, by a crowd of Indians with their squaws and papooses. Thirty or forty at a time often encamped across the road. Mr. Perine was a class leader for many years and his house became known as the Methodist Tavern, as distinguished from Burley's Tavern, a short distance east.
The work of subduing the wilderness was well accomplished after fifteen years, but not without cost, as the health of Mr. Perine and that of his youngest son, failed under the strain, and neither was able to respond to the call to arms in 1861. His second son, Jacob, however, who had attended the Albion Wesleyan Academy in 1858 and 1859, was ready for service, but held off a year in the hope that the farm could be sold first. No suitable purchaser appeared, but Jacob Perine enlisted in 1862 in Company E, Fourth Michigan Infantry. On the second day's fighting at Gettysburg he was wounded in the side and arm and reported dead. His father hastened east and there was a mutual surprise when he found his son in the hospital at Fort Schuyler, New York. Jacob Perine recov- ered and returned to the front in the fall of 1864, serving in Company K, First Michigan Infantry, and was at Appomattox at the close.
After selling his farm in 1863, Mr. Perine removed to Albion, where he had purchased a house on East Chestnut street. During the later period of his life he built and occupied several houses on the same street. He died May 20, 1893.
Mr. Perine was a large man of reserve temperament and impressive demeanor, and in Albion, although respected by all, he was not given to forming an intimate friendship with many, and it was only to a few old friends like Jacob Anderson and Marsh Dickey that he disclosed his naturally kind and companionable nature. He was a member of the town board of Tekonsha for several years and was elected justice of the peace in 1860. The way in which he was regarded may be judged from the following incident. He was in a field on his farm one day in 1861, when a young man, Dayton Wright by name, came to him and said : "Mr. Perine I have enlisted. Will you look after my personal effects while I am gone?" As Wright was generally considered to possess only a small
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amount of goods, not exceeding $50 or $75 in value, Mr. Perine replied without hesitation : "Certainly I will, my boy, if you wish it." To his surprise, Wright took more than $800 from his pockets to be left without security. True to his word, Mr. Perine invested the money and handed it back with interest to Wright upon his return. He admonished the young man, however, never again to do such a thing, with him or any other man.
The first wife of Mr. Perine died suddenly of apoplexy at Tekonsha, June 8, 1867. The following year, in Newark, New Jersey, he was mar- ried on March 23d, to Miss Lucinda Vail Hamilton. Their married life together of nearly fourteen years duration was most ideal. Her activities were many, especially in all that pertained to Methodism, and it was while working in the church in the fall of 1876 that she contracted the cold from which pulmonary disease developed and resulted in her death, May 22, 1877. Her talents as an entertainer and conversationalist were remarkable and it is related that her last pastor, Rev. William Henry Perrine, D. D., said of her that he never knew a woman who made him more disposed to laugh and forget his many responsibilities. She was in advance of her time in many respects. Her last sentence before passing away was, "Lord Jesus, come quickly, if consistent with Thy will." Dr. Perrine, who was for ten years a professor in Albion College, was descended from Henry (1669-1765), the second son of Daniel Perrin, while the subject of this sketch was descended from Daniel (1672-1745), the fourth son of the American ancestor.
Mr. Perine's third marriage occurred June 11, 1878, at Marengo, to Mrs. Mary Blodgett Rowe, a daughter of Sardius Blodgett, formerly of Boston. Mrs. Perine resides in East Porter street, Albion. At the age of seventy-nine she continues her active interest in affairs, and is now president of the Albion Women's Relief Corps, E. W. Hollins- worth, No. 36.
Mr. Perine had six children, of whom one daughter, Harriet, died when two years old. The others were: Henry Augustus, born in 1831; married Sarah Reynolds Doolittle. He was blind for many years before his death in 1891 at Tekonsha, where his widow resides.
Mary Matilda, born in 1834; married (1) Letson Benham (1827- 1879) ; (2) William B. Blashfield, (1838-1896) of Clarendon. She now resides in Chicago.
Harriet Wooley, born 1836; she married William B. Blashfield of Clarendon, and died in 1888.
Jacob Harson, born in 1840; married Alice E. Parmalee. They reside in Burr Oak street, Albion, Michigan.
John Edward Perine, the sixth and youngest child of William Henry and Susan Wade (Wooley) Perine, was born December 11, 1841, in Union, New Jersey. When about three years old he came to Tekon- sha, Michigan, with his parents. He left the farm when twenty years old, and after working in Cary's general store in Tekonsha, removed to Albion in 1865, where he resided continuously with the exception of one year in St. Charles and Detroit.
After about three years as a clerk in the store of H. P. Graves, a short time with G. W. Maher and several years (1873-1877) with C. W. Boyce, he formed a partnership in March, 1877, with O. S. Chapman. In April, 1885, Mr. Perine purchased the interest of his senior partner in the grocery concern of Chapman and Perine and continued the business until he retired seventeen years later.
Mr. Perine was married at St. Louis, Michigan, August 28, 1873, to Cornelia Ann Aiken, a daughter of Samuel Aiken (Aken) of Sheri- den. Her mother's maiden name was Adaline Fox, and through her father, Roswell Fox, Jr., of Huron, New York, she was descended from
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that English family which gave to the cause of the American Colonies one of their staunchest champions in the long parliamentary struggle, Charles James Fox.
Mrs. Perine attended Albion College in 1863, '64 and '65. She was a teacher for ten years, nearly all of which was in the public schools of Albion. At the time of her resignation in 1874 she had the distinction of having taught in each of the four ward schools, as well as in the central building. One of Mrs. Perine's brothers is Charles C. Aiken, who resides with his wife in North Mingo street, Albion. Mr. Aiken was First Sergeant of Company K, Ninth Michi- gan Cavalry. He was with General Sherman on the March to the Sea, and fought in the battle of the Wilderness.
Aside from his business and home interests, Mr. Perine's activities have been confined principally to duties connected with the Methodist church, of which he was a steward and treasurer for upwards of ten years. At the time of the erection of the present Methodist church, he built also on East Erie street, facing Huron, a large brick house, which is still one of the most attractive residences of Albion.
Mr. and Mrs. Perine, who now reside at 110 North Huron street, have four children,-two sons and two daughters, each of whom was graduated from Albion College, and two received degrees also from Harvard and Smith College respectively.
JOHN HARVEY KELLOGG, M. D., son of John Preston and Anne Jeanette Kellogg, was born at Tyrone, Michigan, February 26, 1852. Through his grandmother, whose name was Gardner, he was descended from Mr. Gardner, one of the Pilgrim Fathers who landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. His mother, whose name was Stanley, claimed descent from Lord Stanley. At the early age of twelve years he entered a printing office and followed the printer's trade until he was twenty, with the excep- tion of such time as was spent in completing his studies in the public schools of the city and the Michigan State Normal School at Ypsilanti, studies which were supplemented and extended by work of private tutors.
In 1872 he entered upon the study of medicine, taking a course at the medical department of the University of Michigan and gradu- ating from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, which later became a department of the University of New York, in the spring of 1875. His preceptor while an undergraduate was Dr. Edwin Lewis, an eminent New York physician. He was also a private pupil under the late Prof. Austin Flint, Sr., the late Prof. E. G. Janeway, and after graduating was pupil assistant of the eminent Dr. George N. Beard, a pioneer in this country in the application of electricity in the treat- ment of disease.
After graduating in 1875, Doctor Kellogg became connected with the Battle Creek Sanitarium and was appointed superintendent of the institution, which honor he declined. However, he accepted a year later at the solicitation of the board, on being informed by the board that the determination had been made to close the institution unless he would consent to take charge of it.
Doctor Kellogg was made editor of Good Health Magazine in the spring of 1873, a position which he has held continuously since that time, in addition to his work as superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
Five months were spent in Europe during the early part of the year 1883 in study in various hospitals and laboratories. Most of the time was devoted to the study of surgery under the famous Bilroth in Vienna, at the time the leading surgeon of the world. Special courses of in-
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struction were taken under Bilroth's first assistant, Doctor Wolfler, who shortly before had discovered the operation known as gastro-enter- ostomy. Special attention was given to the practice of this operation and other operations upon the stomach, together with plastic operations. upon the face and other parts, operations for which the clinic of Pro- fessor Bilroth was especially noted. Some time was also spent at the clinics of Politzer in Vienna, Charcot and Landolt in Paris, and at several London hospitals.
A second trip abroad was made in 1889, during which four months were spent as assistant to the famous Dr. Lawson Tait of Birmingham, England, at that time the leading abdominal surgeon of the world. This was a most profitable season, as a very exceptional opportunity was enjoyed for becoming thoroughly familiar with a department of sur- gical work which at that time was undertaken by comparatively few surgeons and in which the mortality still remained at a very high figure. During this visit to Europe, some time was also spent in watch- ing the work of Savage, Thornton, Bantock, Lister, and other eminent surgeons.
A third visit to Europe was made in 1900, on which occasion a short trip was made to Egypt, Palestine, Turkey and the Balkan countries, particularly for the purpose of studying the climate of these countries and also to obtain a little needed rest. This Oriental trip of two weeks was the only real vacation the doctor has ever taken during an active professional life of more than fifty years. During this trip a consid- erable number of surgical operations were performed in Switzerland and Denmark.
In 1902, after the fire and the laying of the cornerstone of the new building, the plans for the building having been completed, Doctor Kel- logg made an extended trip through Europe, visiting the leading hospi- tals and sanitariums for the purpose of securing for the new institution the most up-to-date equipment possible.
Five years later a fifth visit was made to the leading medical centers of Europe, special attention being given to the surgery of the stomach and intestines. A visit was also made to St. Petersburg for the purpose of studying the work of the famous Doctor Pawlow, whose researches on the physiology of digestion have placed him foremost among the physiologists of the world and secured to him the Nobel prize.
A sixth European trip, made in 1911, was spent in Dresden study- ing the great International Hygiene Exhibition, and in study with the leading specialists of Berlin, Vienna and London. During this trip a special study was made of the new remedy, radium, and of various remarkable new appliances for the study and cure of disease recently perfected by European experts.
Doctor Kellogg has also made numerous trips to Mexico, where a mission was for years conducted under his general supervision, as president of the International Medical Missionary Board. A trip was made to Cuba in 1888, and to Porto Rico in 1909. During all these trips, every spare moment, whether traveling on shipboard or on the cars, was occupied in writing. The doctor rarely failed to return from a long trip without bringing home the manuscript of a new book.
While devoting full time to his duties as superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, Doctor Kellogg has found time to take part in numerous additional enterprises. In 1895 he joined with others in the organization of the International Medical Missionary and Benevo- lent Association, as president of which he spent half his time for ten or twelve years in the interest of the work of the board, which resulted
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in the establishment of numerous small sanitariums and homes in dif- ferent parts of the United States and other countries.
In 1894 Doctor Kellogg, with others, organized the American Medical Missionary College as a training school for young men and women who desired to devote their lives to medical work in missionary lands. After existing for fourteen years, during which time over two hundred students were graduated, it was in 1910 merged with the medical de- partment of the University of Illinois. In 1902 Doctor Kellogg, with others, organized the Haskell Home for orphans, and in 1891 the James White Memorial Home for aged persons. More than $100,000 was raised for the complete equipment and maintenance of these institu- tions. Other philanthropic work has also been undertaken, including the establishment of the City Mission in Chicago, to which weekly visits were made for more than- seven years. The work, which was established more than twenty years ago, is still being carried on under the charge of doctors and nurses who have been trained for this work.
Among other enterprises in which Doctor Kellogg has taken a special interest as superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, are the following :
Battle Creek Sanitarium and Hospital Training School for Nurses, established in 1883. The first training school the students of which received instruction in sanitary methods; and at present one of the oldest, and for many years recognized as the largest, training school in the United States.
Battle Creek Sanitarium School of Health and Household Economics, an institution which undertakes to give to women interested in scien- tific housekeeping the broader training which the large practical experience of the Battle Creek Sanitarium renders possible.
Normal School of Physical Education, another of the educational departments of the institution. Organized for the purpose of preparing young men and women to act as physical directors in colleges, seminaries, normal schools, Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Asso- ciations, and playgrounds.
Besides being a member of the American Medical Association and Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine of Great Britain, Doctor Kellogg is also a life member of the British Gynecological Society, cor- responding member of the Societe d'Hygiene de Francais, and member of the following organizations: British and American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Microscopists, Mis- sissippi Valley Medical Association, Tri-State Medical Society, Michigan State Medical Society, and the American Geographical Society.
Doctor Kellogg has served for fourteen years as a member of the State Board of Health, having received appointment from four dif- ferent governors.
Doctor Kellogg began his literary activities at an early date. At a rather early age, when placed in the editorial charge of Good Health Magazine, he had already had several years' preparation as a proof- reader and editorial assistant in the Review and Herald printing office, where he acquired a knowledge of printing and publishing. Although the editorship of Good Health Magazine has occupied most of his time which could be spared from his professional duties, time has been found for the preparation of a considerable number of books, as well as the publication for five years of a monthly medical journal, Modern Medicine., Among the leading books which he has written or pub- lished are the following: "Rational Hydrotherapy," a work of 1,237 pages, especially designed for the medical profession. This work, pub- lished by the F. A. Davis Company, medical book publishers of Phila-
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delphia, has had a circulation of nearly 15,000, mostly among the phy- sicians of the United States. The work is sold to some extent in other countries. The "Art of Massage," a book for physicians and nurses, has enjoyed a very considerable degree of popularity, having reached its fifth edition. The "Home Hand Book of Modern Medicine," "Plain Facts," "Man the Masterpiece," "Ladies' Guide," and "The Miracle of Life," are works prepared for the hygienic and sanitary in- struction of the laity which have had a circulation amounting to several hundred thousand copies, and have been sold extensively in England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and to some extent in India, as well as in this country. Two text-books on physiology, written by. request of the Harper Bros., first published by them, later by the Ameri- can Book Company, have had an extensive sale as school text-books. Some dozens of medical papers have been prepared and read before medical societies and have been published in various medical journals. Some of these have attracted considerable attention. A paper entitled "Tendencies Toward Race Degeneracy" was published as a senate document, and has been very widely circulated.
Doctor Kellogg has been quite active as an inventor, besides devising several surgical procedures, some of which have been recognized and adopted by surgeons in both this country and Europe. He has in- vented many medical appliances, especially for the application of passive exercises, as well as numerous modes of applying water and other therapeutic means. He first observed and described what was after- wards described and named by d'Arsonval of Paris as the sinusoidal electrical current. The electric light bath and numerous appliances for making use of light as a remedial agent was invented by Doctor Kellogg for use in the Battle Creek Sanitarium and has now become one of the most popular of all methods of applying heat in the leading hospi- tals of the world. Many thousands of these baths have been installed in European countries, although they have only within the last few years begun to be appreciated in the United States.
The Universal Dynamometer, a device for determining the total strength of the human body and the strength of each individual group of muscles, which was perfected by Doctor Kellogg more than twenty years ago after nearly ten years of experimentation, was several years ago adopted by the United States government and has been in constant use in all its military and naval schools. One of these devices was recently shipped to the Philippine Islands for the equipment of the military academy there.
Another line of inventive activity in which Doctor Kellogg has been conspicuous is the preparation of ready-to-eat foods and foods especially designed for the use of invalids. Having been from his fourteenth year a flesh abstainer, the doctor has been especially interested in improv- ing the quality and increasing the variety of vegetable foods and food preparations. Having given considerable attention to the study of the chemistry of foods, he began, soon after he took charge of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, a series of experiments, the result of which was the development of a thoroughly dextrinized food ready for immediate use, and, so far as is known, the first of its sort. Cereal coffee was the next product, and then came the invention of flaked cereals prepared from different grains, out of which grew the large business in flaked foods which has been developed in Battle Creek and in various other places. Doctor Kellogg's purpose in the preparation of foods has always been to meet some need recognized in the work of the sanitarium. His arduous duties as superintendent and surgeon of the Battle Creek Sanitarium have led him to leave to others the commercial development of many of his original ideas.
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On February 22, 1879, Doctor Kellogg was married to Miss Ella E. Eaton, of Alfred Center, New York, herself an author of note and a prominent W. C. T. U. worker. In lieu of no children of their own, Doctor and Mrs. Kellogg have taken into their home and educated more than a score of little ones, many of whom are now grown up and married and have families of their own. All of these children, and the children's children as well, have been reared in harmony with the health principles which are promulgated at the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
MRS. ELLA EATON KELLOGG was born in Alfred Center, New York, of Puritan ancestry, Joseph Eaton, her father, being a direct descendant of John Eaton, who with his wife, Abigail, came to America in 1635 and settled in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Mrs. Kellogg was educated in Alfred University, receiving her Laure- ate of Arts degree at the age of nineteen. During her college career she took an active interest in the literary life of the University, being an active member of the Alfredian Lyceum, and one of the editors of the Alfred Student. After a short time spent in teaching and post-graduate work in languages, Mrs. Kellogg received from her Alma Mater, in 1875, her master's degree. In 1875 Mrs. Kellogg visited the Battle Creek Sani- tarium, became interested in the subjects of sanitation and hygiene, and a year later enrolled in the Sanitarium School of Hygiene, which covered among others the subjects of anatomy, physiology, hygiene, and practical nursing. Later on she joined the editorial staff of Good Health Magazine, and in 1879 was married to Dr. J. H. Kellogg, superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
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