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 21
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Edwinenichols
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dent; F. G. Shepard, vice president; C. C. Beach, treasurer; W. R. Wooden, secretary ; who, together with F. G. Shepard, H. C. Chatfield- Taylor, John T. Nichols, F. C. Stillson, F. J. Walbridge constitute the directorate of the company. The Nichols & Shepard plant is now located on Marshall street at the junction of the Michigan Central and Chicago & Grand Trunk Railways, and, including offices, buildings and grounds, covers about forty acres. Excellent shipping facilities are afforded as the yards are penetrated by sidings from both of these roads. The lumber yards and an immense dry kiln constitute a part of the plant, it being the rule of the company to keep on hand a two years supply of lumber. The employees of this extensive plant num- ber from five to six hundred men. while from twenty-five to thirty are employed in the office. The establishment has a capacity of about seven hundred and fifty traction engines, fifteen hundred separators and two hundred and fifty horse-powers, which find a market in all parts of the world, and the aim of the industry, which is rightly entitled to a place among the foremost manufacturing institutions of the United States, is to anticipate every possible requirement in the line of threshing machinery.
The Red River Special line of threshing machinery is manufactured by this company, and they produce the only grain thresher that beats the grain out of the straw just as would be done by hand with a pitch fork, and it is capable of threshing more grain than can be delivered to it. They also manufacture a traction steam engine of nearly one hundred and fifty horse power, and an oil-gas tractor which can do one hundred horse power work. The latter is a new product of the big factory, and is so economical of fuel that it will revolutionize agricul- tural methods. The machine burns kerosene, gasolene or distillate, is so well governed that it is steadier than most gas engines, has its wearing parts so located that they can all be easily reached, and has numberless other features that make it an invention that promises great things.
In addition to his connection with the company which bears his name, Mr. Nichols is president and director of the Old National Bank of Battle Creek, is a director of the Commonwealth Power Railway and Light Company, and is interested in the Union Steam Pump Company. He is also interested in the Duplex Printing Press Com- pany of Battle Creek, and in the Detroit Trust Company of Detroit, Michigan, of which he is a member of the directorate. He has other in- terests along these lines, too numerous to mention.
In politics, Mr. Nichols is a Republican and has taken more than a local interest in this important branch of American activity. He has been mayor of the city, serving one term, and has been alderman a number of terms. For many years he was president of the school board of Battle Creek and the city owes her good schools partly to his efforts. He was the first president of the Board of Public Works of this city, and in this capacity accomplished things that alone should win for him the undying gratitude of its citizens. He was a delegate to the national convention in 1884 that nominated James G. Blaine for president, and in 1907 was delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He has refused the nomination for congress several times and has twice refused the nomination for governor of the state of Michigan.
Being socially inclined and believing in the value of fraternal asso- ciations, Mr. Nichols is a member of a number of these. He is a Mason and a member of the Battle Creek Commandery of Knights Templar. He also belongs to the Athelstan Club and to the Country Club of Battle Creek. In Detroit he is a member of the Detroit Club, the De-
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troit Country Club and the Yondatega Detroit Club, while he also holds membership in the Chicago Club of Chicago, Illinois.
His religious affiliations are with no particular church, but he is a liberal supporter of any which need his aid and gives freely to all denominations in the city. Generosity is one of his marked character- istics, and his charity is extensive, much of it never being heard of and remaining unknown to all save the giver and the recipient. The Nichols Memorial Hospital is an institution in which Mr. Nichols is much inter- ested and one which feels the touch of his generous nature in a substan- tial manner.
In 1860 Edwin C. Nichols was married to Sarah J. Rowan, of Argyle, New York. She was a daughter of James Hyatt, and the marriage cere- mony was celebrated in Battle Creek. She died in 1897, leaving three children. These are Mrs. Helen N. Newberry, of Chicago, Illinois ; Mrs. Harriet Atterbury of Detroit, Michigan, and John T. Nichols, who is a prominent attorney in Detroit. All the children were born and parti- ally educated in Battle Creek. The son received his literary and arts course in Cornell University, and took his graduate work in law in the Harvard Law school. Both of the daughters completed their educations in a seminary for young ladies near Boston, Massachusetts. The hospital and many other less conspicuous but hardly less valuable features of the city's life have been the medium through which Mr. Nichols has mani- fested his public spirit and ideals of citizenship. He is one of the vital forces in the progress of this community, and as the director of large industrial affairs he has helped maintain the solid prosperity of his home city. A city is great, not in its number of population, but in the work it performs, and that Battle Creek in the past and present has an important share of the world's work to its credit has been due in no small measure to the broad capacity and ability of Mr. Nichols and his father.
ERNEST C. HAMPTON. During practically his entire active career thus far Ernest C. Hampton has been engaged in diversified agriculture and the raising of high-grade stock in Athens township, Calhoun county, Michigan, where he was born, reared and educated. The date of his nativity is the 19th of April, 1867, and he is a son of Charles S. and Josephine (Debow) Hampton, both of whom were born in New York, the former May 20, 1837, and the latter May 7, 1838. The parents were married in Athens township, Calhoun county, this state, in De- cember, 1863, and they became the parents of two children, namely,- May E., who is now the wife of R. B. Richards; and Ernest C., the im- mediate subject of this review. Charles S. Hampton came to Michigan, with his parents, in 1856 and his wife came hither with her parents in 1855. He was a son of Robert and Eliza (Stone) Hampton, who lo- cated in Athens township on a farm of eighty acres shortly after their arrival in Michigan. One half of this old farm is still in the Hamp- ton family. Robert Hampton died in 1862, and at that time his son Charles was a soldier in Company H, Second Missouri Cavalry, under command of General Fremont. Charles Hampton served in the Civil war for a period of years and during that time figured in some of the important battles marking the progress of the conflict. After the close of hostilities and when peace had again been established he re- turned to Athens township, where he followed farming for the re- mainder of his life time. He entered a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land in Minnesota but later traded the same for land in Michi- gan. At the time of his demise, May 14, 1907, he was the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and nineteen acres and his cherished and
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devoted wife, who still survives him, is now living on that estate. In politics Mr. Hampton was aligned as a stalwart supporter of the prin- ciples and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and in a fraternal way he was affiliated with the Grange and the Grand Army of the Republic. He was a man of liberal ideas and broad human sympathy and he was ever ready to lend a helping hand to those less fortunately situated in life than himself. He was a devout member of the Baptist church in his religious faith and his wife is still con- nected with that denomination.
Ernest C. Hampton, whose name forms the caption for this re- view, was reared and educated in Athens township and as a youth he became associated with his father in the work and management of the old home farm. In 1905 he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, the same being located five miles distant from Athens, and he continued to operate that estate until 1912, when he sold the place. He has since resided on the old homestead with his mother and devotes his entire time and attention to the management of that beautiful old farm. In his political convictions he is a Republican and in the time- honored Masonic order he is affiliated with Lodge, No. 220, Free and Accepted Masons, at Athens.
August 8, 1897, Mr. Hampton married Miss Cora Olds, a daughter of Orlando and Emmeline (Vreeland) Olds, the former of whom died January 4, 1912, at the age of seventy-seven years, and the latter of whom is now living in Tekonsha township, Branch county, where she and her husband were old pioneers. Mr. and Mrs. Hampton have no children.
ELBERT J. RADFORD. Conspicuous among the leading citizens in Athens township, Calhoun county, Michigan, Elbert J. Radford is most successfully engaged in general farming and the raising of high- grade stock on his fine estate of eighty acres, the same being eligibly located two and one-half miles distant from Athens. He is a man of excellent business judgment and is broad-minded in connection with all matters forwarded for progress and improvement.
A native son of Michigan, Elbert J. Radford was born in LeRoy township, Calhoun county, this state, the date of his birth being the 29th of March, 1870. He is a son of Charles F. and Martha (Scott) Radford, the former of whom is mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mr. Radford was educated in the district schools of LeRoy township and in the Battle Creek high school. As a boy he worked on his father's farm and after completing his educational training he returned home and remained under the parental roof until he had reached his twenty- fifth year. In 1895 he rented a farm in LeRoy township and launched into business on his own account. Four years later he purchased a farm in that township, the same comprising sixty acres, and he operated that estate for the ensuing eight years. In 1909 he bought the farm ยท on which he now resides, this one being eighty acres in area and lying in Athens township. He started life with practically nothing but energy and a determination to forge ahead and through his own well directed endeavors he has made of success not an accident but a logical result. Substantial buildings beautifully located in the midst of well cultivated fields are the best indication of his ability as a good manager and well versed agriculturist.
In politics Mr. Radford maintains an independent attitude, pre- ferring to give his support to men and measures meeting with the ap- proval of his judgment rather than to vote along strictly partisan lines. He served for three years as a member of the board of trustees at East LeRoy and he is now a member of the Athens school board.
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In 1897 Mr. Radford was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Morgan, a daughter of Jabez Morgan, who came to Michigan from New York in the old pioneer days and who settled in Calhoun county, where he passed the residue of his lifetime and where he died at the venerable age of eighty-four years. A history of the Morgan family is given in a sketch of William Morgan, brother of Jabez, the same appearing on other pages of this edition. Mr. and Mrs. Radford are the parents of three children, whose names are here in respective order of birth,- Amy, Elmer, and Anna. In religious matters the Radford family are devout members of the First Methodist Episcopal church at Athens.
ALONZO D. STARK, the cheery and obliging druggist of Burlington, was born at South Lansing, in Thompson county, New York, on July 14, 1849. He was the son of George D. Stark, whose birth occurred in Plains, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, February 18, 1804, and who located in New York in his early youth. His first wife was Elizabeth Page and during their life together five children came to them. But their mother's life was cut short in its prime, after which George Stark was again married. The second mistress of his home was a New York lady, who in her girlhood was Miss Catherine Sarverschool. After her marriage with Mr. Stark ten children were born, of whom Alonzo was the sixth, and among whom only one other is now living. The family removed to Michigan in the year 1866, locating on a farm on 103 acres, which was George Stark's home until his death in 1885. Mrs. Stark is also now deceased.
At the time when his father took up his residence in Michigan, Alonzo Stark was about seventeen years of age. His education which had thus far been profitably pursued in the excellent school system of New York, was now continued in the Burlington schools until the young man was 21 years of age, being then well equipped for a life not only of usefulness but also of intelligent enjoyment of all beneficent oppor- tunities. Mr. Stark began farming, which vocation he pursued suc- cessfully for a number of years. On October 22, 1875, he won as his wife Miss Elizabeth M. Keville; her birthplace was on the Isle of Guern- sey, her parents being the Reverend Edward and Lucy (La Page) Keville. To Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo Stark no children have been born. The only brother of the former. Charles Stark. resides on the old home- stead which was the first home of both when they came to Michigan.
The agricultural life did not quite satisfy all the demands of Mr. Stark's commercially talented nature. He therefore turned, in 1883, to the drug business. Opening a pharmacy in Burlington, he has ever since catered successfully and satisfactorily to the needs of the people of this place. Mr. Stark is, as was his father, a Democrat of sturdy type. He is not, however, a politician of the type whose allegiance prin- ciples are merely hereditary. He is a rational, loyal citizen and one who has a deep interest in questions touching the public good. Although somewhat retiring in his attitude toward office-holding, he has been induced to accept the office of Township Treasurer, the duties of which he has ably discharged for two years. Mr. Stark is a popular member of the K. O. T. M.
CHARLES J. MILLER is a decidedly progressive farmer and stock- raiser in Burlington township, Calhoun county, Michigan, where he is the owner of a well cultivated estate of two hundred acres. His loyalty and public-spirited interest in local affairs have ever been of the most insistent order and he is now serving his community as justice of the peace.
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A native of Calhoun county, Michigan, Charles J. Miller was born in Tekonsha township August 24, 1870. He is a son of Charles H. Mil- ler, whose birth occurred in Ohio, January 29, 1840. The father spent his early life in the Buckeye state and there was educated in the com- mon schools. At the time of the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted as a soldier in Company I, Ninety-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served in the war for a period of thirty-four months and during that time participated in a number of the most important engagements marking the progress of the war. In 1866 he married Sarah A. Davis, a daughter of James and Sarah Davis, residents of Ohio. To this union ten children were born, as follows,-James D. is engaged in farming in Calhoun county, Michigan; William L. is a resident of Kalamazoo coun- ty ; Frank D. maintains his home at Marshall, Michigan; Charles J. is the immediate subject of this review; Ralph Rose resides in Cal- houn county ; Mary L. makes her home in Battle Creek, as does also Anna M .; Pearl lives near Pattersonville, Ohio; George B. resides at Aberdeen, Washington; and Earl is deceased. After his marriage Charles H. Miller came to Calhoun county and located in Burling- ton township on a farm. Two years later he purchased a farm of eighty acres in Tekonsha township and resided thereon until 1884, when he removed to the village of Tekonsha, where he is still living in retirement. He was unusually successful in his various business ven- tures during his active career and before retirement had gained a com- petency. In politics he is a stalwart Republican and his religious faith is in harmony with the tenets of the Methodist Episcopal church. He retains interest in his old comrades in arms and signifies the same by membership in Worth Post, Grand Army of the Republic.
Mr. Miller, of this notice, passed his boyhood and youth in Tekon- sha township and he was graduated in the Tekonsha high school. He remained at the parental home until he had reached his legal majority and after his marriage, in 1892, he rented a farm north of Tekonsha, where he resided for five years, at the expiration of which he located on a dairy farm in Battle Creek township. Subsequently he resided for one year in Athens township and there was the owner of an estate of one hundred and sixty acres. In 1905 he purchased the Lilly Farm, which was formerly known as the MeNeal Farm and which comprises two hundred acres. In addition to diversified agriculture Mr. Miller raises a great deal of thoroughbred stock. He is breeding Guernsey cattle, Ramble A. Sheep and Duroc Jersey hogs and as a stock raiser has met with remarkable success.
In his political convictions Mr. Miller is aligned as a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party, in the local councils of which he has taken an active part. He was highway commissioner in Battle Creek township for two years and is now, in 1912, serving his second term as justice of the peace of Burlington township. For six years he has been a member of the board of school directors and he ranks as an energetic and progressive citizen, to whom the advance of the general welfare is as important as his own personal aggrandizement. He is affiliated with the Grange and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
In the year 1892, at Tekonsha, Michigan, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Miller to Miss Ruth Thayer, a daughter of A. E. and Carrie (Kyes) Thayer, the former of whom is engaged in the rug business in the city of Battle Creek. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have one son, Leo E., whose birth occurred in 1898 and who is now a pupil in the district schools of Burlington township. The Miller home is one of generous hospitality and is the scene of many social gatherings.
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FRED KATZ ranks as one of the prominent and successful farmers of Newton township, Calhoun county, Michigan, where he is the owner of a finely improved estate of two hundred and ten acres, the same being eligibly located eleven miles distant from the city of Battle Creek.
In Newton township, Calhoun county, Michigan, February 9, 1869, occurred the birth of Fred Katz, whose father, Fred Katz, Sr., was born in Fredonia township, this county, in 1834. Peter Katz, paternal grandfather of the subject of this review, was the original progenitor of the Katz family in America. He came hither from Germany, where he was born, he located on a farm in Fredonia township, where he was engaged in agricultural operations until his demise, in 1876. Fred Katz, Sr., married Addie Finney, of Burlington township, and to this union were born five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Katz married Elmer E. Ingles, of Burlington; she passed to eternal rest in 1912.
Fred Katz spent the early years of his life in Fredonia township and after his father's demise he was sent to live with an uncle, Peter Katz, in Newton township. He was a member of his uncle's household for a period of five years and at the age of twelve years he began to care for himself. He received but very meagre educational advantages and his first manual labor was at a farm hand in Fredonia township, where he worked for a period of eight months. He then came to Newton township and remained here for about five years, when he returned to Fredonia, remaining there four months. Later he was again em- ployed in Newton township, working for Jesse Underwood for two
years. After his marriage, in 1890, he was engaged in farming on a rented estate in Newton township for one year and at the end of that period he rented another farm in the same township. Subsequently he went to East LeRoy, where he farmed for one year and whence he went to Fredonia township. In 1908 he decided to settle down perman- ently and in that year purchased the Rapp Farm, which comprises two hundred and ten acres and which is located in Newton township. He devotes his attention to general farming and has a large and well cared for estate. In politics he is an unswerving supporter of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor and while he does not take an active part in local politics he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all measures and enterprises forwarded for progress and improvement.
In 1890 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Katz to Miss Della B. Kirkland, who was born in Newton township, this county, and who is a daughter of Thomas and Naomi (Colbert) Kirkland. Mr. Kirkland was long a prominent farmer in Newton township and both his parents were natives of England. Mr. and Mrs. Katz are the proud parents of eight children, as follows,-Victor is engaged in farming on his own account in Fredonia township; Grover likewise lives in Fredonia town- ship; and Edwin, Newman, Fred, Zeno, Delbert and Lola all remain at the parental home.
JESSE PUFF. On a finely improved estate of one hundred and twenty acres in Newton township, Calhoun county, Michigan, Jesse Puff is most successfully engaged in diversified agriculture and the raising of high- grade stock. He has resided in Newton township during the entire period of his life time thus far and here he commands the confidence and esteem of all who have known him from earliest youth.
Jesse Puff was born in Newton township February 7, 1880, and he is a son of Paul Puff, a sketch of whose career appears elsewhere in
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this work, so that further data at this point regarding the family his- tory is not deemed necessary. Mr. Puff was educated in the Francisco school in Newton township and he passed his boyhood and youth on the old homestead farm, in the work and management of which he early began to assist his father. Mr. Puff inherited a farm of eighty acres, adjoining his present estate, and there he resided for a number of years after his marriage, in 1902. Eventually disposing of that place, he bought his present farm, which comprises a hundred and twenty acres of some of the most arable land in Calhoun county. He settled on this farm in 1908 and through careful methods he has gained a reputation as one of the most expert farmers in his community. In politics he is a stanch Republican and he is a man of progressive ideas and unusual energy. He is a great believer in higher education, is exceedingly well read and devotes all his spare time to study and reading. He is a man of broad human hympathy and his innate kindliness of spirit has won to him the friendship of all with whom he has come in contact.
In 1902 Mr. Puff married Miss Ella Boynton, a daughter of Fred and Lyda Boynton, of Calhoun county. Mrs. Puff was born in Mattawan, Michigan, May 30, 1886, and she was the only child by the first mar- riage of her father. By his second marriage Mr. Boynton has two sons and three daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Puff became the parents of three children, one of whom, Florence, is deceased. Those living are Robert and Lyda, who are attending school in Newton township.
CHAUNCEY H. AVERY. One of the best known and most successful farmers in Calhoun county is Chauncey H. Avery, whose farm is located in Newton township. Mr. Avery is a natural farmer, one of the kind that is born, not made, and he feels that if he were to be taken away from his farm, he would be utterly lost, and would find it im- possible to adjust himself to new surroundings, so firmly is the love of the soil and the life of the farm ingrained in his nature. Such a man is a valuable acquisition to any community for no man who has not something innately fine and big in his nature can care for the smell of fresh earth just turned up by the plow, or love the birds and the little wild things of the woods. Recognizing therefore, the fineness of Mr. Avery's character, his neighbors have accorded him the fullest measure of respect and admiration.
Scadekuk, on the Hudson river, in New York state was the scene of Mr. Avery's birth, the date being the 5th of May, 1848. He was the son of William Avery, who was born at Mattewan, New York. Here he was employed in a cotton factory, and here he spent his en- tire life, dying in 1852. He married Sarah Waite of Norwedge, New York. The Avery family dates back to the early part of the sixteenth century, and since coming to America, have lived for the most part in the state of New York. William and Sarah Avery were the parents of three children, namely: William Louis, Chauncey and Margaret, who is now Mrs. Franklin. After the death of the father and husband Mrs. Avery moved back to the home of her girlhood. Norwedge, New York, and after a time she was re-married to Benjamin Franklin, who was a prominent farmer of the section.
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