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 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110
In politics Dr. Kingsley is aligned as a staunch advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and in his home city he is affiliated with A. T. Metcalf Lodge, No. 419, Free & Accepted Masons; Battle Creek Chapter, No. 19, Royal Arch Masons; Bryant Chapter, No. 153, Order of the Eastern Star, of which Mrs. Kingsley likewise is a popular member; and with the local lodge No. 29, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Both he and his wife hold mem- bership in the Maple Street Methodist Episcopal church.
At Mendon, St. Joseph county, on the 15th of May, 1901, was sol- emnized the marriage of Dr. Kingsley to Miss Rozie L. Leland, who was born in Park township, that county, and who is a daughter of William P. Leland, long one of the representative agriculturists of that
773
HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY .
section of the state. Mrs. Kingsley was afforded the advantages of the Mendon high school and also of the Michigan State Normal College at Ypsilanti. She was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of her native county prior to her marriage and is a woman of culture and gracious personality. Dr. and Mrs. Kingsley have four children, the three eldest of whom were born at Centerville and the youngest in Battle Creek, their names, in order of birth, being as follows: Lucy Œ., Sarah L., Fred L. and Paul C. The attractive family home, at 223 Cal- houn street, is pervaded by an atmosphere of cordial hospitality and Dr. and Mrs. Kingsley have a wide circle of friends in the community.
ERASTUS S. MARSH. The Calhoun county citizenship is fortunate in the possession of such estimable members of society as Erastus S. Marsh, one of the most admirable representatives of the county's agricultural industry. Daniel Webster has said: "Let us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. Man may be civilized in some degree without great progress in manufacture and with little commerce with his distant neighbors. But without the cultivation of the earth, he is, in all countries, a savage. Until he gives up the chase and seeks a living from the earth, he is a roaming bar- barian. When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization." There is no gainsaying the truth of this and the farmers constitute as everywhere, one of Calhoun county's most independent and wholesome classes. In addition to other distinc- tions Mr. Marsh is a veteran of the Civil war and probably one of the youngest of that gallant company, now, alas, growing so rapidly smaller. He was born at Victor, Ontario county, New York, on March 9, 1847, the son of William W. Marsh, whose birth occurred in the year 1811, also in the Empire state. About 1852, in the manner of so many East- erners at about that time, he sought the newly opening northwest and located in Michigan. He taught school at Flint for some time and then returned to the Empire state where he engaged in farming. He mar- ried Sylvia C. Sharpe, of Woodstock county, Vermont, and of the seven children born to their union, the subject was the third in order of birth. The father departed this earth in 1862. He was a graduate of Middleton College, New York, and early in his career he engaged in surveying, his later years being divided between farming and school teaching. He was a man of high principles and wide information; Republican in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
The scene of the early life of Erastus S. Marsh was his father's farm in New York and in the neighboring district schools he obtained his education. His youth was shadowed by the lowering Civil war cloud and being patriotic and high spirited it was a grievous matter to him that he could not enlist at the beginning of the great conflict on account of his extreme youth. In January, 1864 he donned the Union blue as a member of Company L, of the Twenty-fourth New York Cavalry. He was plunged at once into the thickest of the conflict, being in the campaign of the Wilderness and on June 1, 1864, being wounded at Bethesda Church. He was placed in a hospital at Washington, D. C. and there remained for some time, then returning to the service and being mustered out May 29, 1865, at the termination of the war.
The young man returned to New York and exchanged the musket for the plowshare. He engaged in farming for several years, but in 1869 determined to come west and on March 24 of that year he arrived in South Bend, Indiana, where he secured a position with the Studebaker Manufacturing Company. He remained there, however, but a few months and then went to Iroquois county, Illinois, where he took pos-
774
. HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
session of a farm. He went thence to Bureau county, Illinois, where he farmed for two years and he subsequently went overland to Kansas, where he remained for ten years and then came to Battle Creek in 1883. He resided in that city for about two years, engaged in teaming, but he was not content away from the farm and he purchased a property south of the city. This well situated and valuable property consists of seventy-two and one-half acres.
Mr. Marsh has been twice married. In 1874, Lydia Russell, of South Bend, Indiana, became his wife. She passed away in June, 1900 and in 1902, he took as his wife Leila Knapp, of South Bend. There were no children by either marriage.
Mr. Marsh is Republican in politics and has served for several years on the school board, being a stanch champion of good education. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
BENJAMIN F. MORGAN, known throughout Calhoun county as one of its most prosperous and progressive farmers, as well as for his con- nection with numerous industrial enterprises which have had an im- portant bearing upon the development of this section of the county, is a native born American, though of full English parentage. His British blood, coupled with his American breeding, have united to produce a strong and powerful character, and Benjamin Morgan, like others of the same name and family, has lived a life of fullest activity, produc- tive of much of good to the community in which he has passed so many years.
Mr. Morgan was born in Chautauqua county, New York, on May 5, 1829, and he is the son of William Morgan and Mary (Crook) Morgan, both natives of county Kent, England, their emigration to the United States occurring in 1829. The father was a son of William Morgan and further reference to his life and family will be found in the sketch dealing with the life of William Morgan III, of Battle Creek, a brother of Benjamin F. Morgan of this review, in other pages of this historical work.
The young life of Mr. Morgan was passed on the farm of his father in New York state. As to education, his advantages were of a limited nature, and such success as Mr. Morgan has attained has been the direct result of his own ability, inherent and invincible, and will go far to disprove the assertions frequently made that success is dependent upon the accident of education. When Mr. Morgan was yet a minor he left home and went to Erie, Pennsylvania, where he became occupied in mill industries, at a time when there were but two mills in the city, his being one of them. He was twenty-one years old when he sold out in Erie and went on a trip of inspection or sight seeing. He traveled on foot through Wisconsin and Illinois, and eventually found himself back in New York. In 1870 Mr. Morgan came to Michigan and located in LeRoy township, remaining there forty-two years. He bought eight farms in LeRoy and joined the entire properties, making an acreage in this one farm of seven hundred and seventy acres. In Emmett town- ship he controls an additional tract of four hundred and sixty-seven acres, all of which he farms extensively and with most excellent re- sults. He is a farmer of acknowledged ability, and his operations are always on a generous scale, and altogether consistent with his usual methods of doing business. Mr. Morgan has been identified with numer- ous industrial enterprises of a worthy nature in the years that he has been a resident of this section of the state, all of which, with a single exception, have resulted favorably from a financial and industrial standpoint, the case in point being a company organized for the manu-
775
HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
facture of a breakfast food in Battle Creek, and which proved a failure after a few years of consistent efforts to place it upon a paying basis. He is connected with a buggy factory in a financial way. He is now engaged in promoting the Michigan & Indiana Railroad Company, and he with others interested in the project, are at present buying up the right-of-way for the proposed road, which will extend from Coldwater to Battle Creek. Mr. Morgan is a citizen of the most admirable type, and is never too busy to serve his township in any capacity his fellow voters choose to place him in. He has been township commissioner for several years, and has in various other ways given of his time and ability in the cause of good citizenship. He is a Republican, stanch and true, but is without political ambition. Mr. Morgan is well known as a man with detective ability, particularly so in tracing horse thieves.
When Mr. Morgan was twenty-three years old he married Harriet Tracy in Pennsylvania. She was a daughter of John Tracy. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan became the parents of five children, named as follows : Lucy, the wife of Gilbert Johnson; John, a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; William, engaged on his father's farm in LeRoy, as is also Frank B .; Edwin, the youngest son, is his father's assistant. Mr. Morgan has brought his children up to know the value of money, to know hard work from actual acquaintance with it, and to be honest and honorable in all the relations of life. He has given them but com- mon school educations, believing that with a fair stock of book knowl- edge and a reasonable quantity of energy and persistence, they will be sufficiently equipped for the battles of life, and it would seem, from observation of his own case, that his reasoning is good. Certain it is that all are doing well in the various lines of enterprise with which they are connected.
VICTOR H. JOSLYN. An essentially representative farmer of Battle Creek township, Calhoun county, Michigan, is Victor H. Joslyn, who resides on his well cultivated estate of one hundred and sixty acres, located just eight miles distant from the city of Battle Creek. He is engaged in general farming and the raising of high-grade stock and he takes an active interest in all matters affecting the general welfare of his home community.
Victor H. Joslyn was born at Charleston, Kalamazoo county, Mich- igan, the date of his nativity being the 9th of January, 1869. He is a son of James L. and Samantha M. (Gould) Joslyn. James L. Joslyn was the fourth in order of birth in a family of nine children born to James and Lavina (Andrews) Joslyn and he was born at Darien, Gen- esee county, New York, February 12, 1843. He received a good educa- tional training in his home state and came to Michigan in 1864, at the age of twenty-one years, to visit his brother Joel. Being favorably impressed with the opportunities of the west he decided to stay in Michigan and for a number of winters after his advent in this state was engaged in teaching school. Eventually he entered the employ of Fayette Gould and worked on the latter's farm for a number of years. February 12, 1867, he married Samantha Maria Gould, daughter of his employer, whose wife's maiden name was Betsy Olmsted. Mrs. Joslyn was born in New York December 12, 1843. Mr. and Mrs. Joslyn became the parents of three children, of whom Victor H. is the immediate subject of this review; Grace L. is the wife of Henry Peterson and resides in Battle Creek township; and Hattie Sophronia is deceased. James L. Joslyn was a Republican in politics and he was a delegate to a number of county Republican conventions. He was possessed of considerable talent as a musician and his two surviving children are also talented
776
HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
musicians. His demise occurred January 14, 1910, and his brother Joel, mentioned above, died on the 21st of January, 1910. Mrs. Joslyn sur- vives her honored husband and resides with her son Victor H. She is a devout member of the Christian church and is a woman of most gracious and winning personality.
To the district schools of Battle Creek township Victor H. Joslyn is indebted for his educational training. He has resided on the farm, which he now owns and operates, since he was a child of but four years of age. When large enough he began to assist his father in the work and management thereof and as his father advanced in years he took over the entire responsibility of the estate. He devotes his attention to general farming and his finely kept place is indicative of thrift and good business judgment on the part of the owner. The farm consists of one hundred and sixty acres, all of which is under cultivation. In a fraternal way Mr. Joslyn is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Grange or Patrons of Husbandry. His political allegiance is accorded to the Republican party.
March 25, 1896, Mr. Joslyn married Miss Edith P. Eggleston, a daughter of Samuel and Jemima (Wood) Eggleston, the former of whom was born in New York and the latter in Calhoun county, Mich- igan. For many years Mr. Eggleston has been a prominent and in- fluential farmer in Battle Creek township. Mrs. Joslyn was born near Battle Creek, August 30, 1867, and she was the first in order of birth in a family of four children. Mr. and Mrs. Joslyn are the parents ot one son, Leo E., whose birth occurred on the 13th of February, 1898. Mrs. Joslyn is a member of the Congregational church.
ORLOW A. MINGES. Among the prominent and influential citizens of Battle Creek township, Calhoun county, Michigan, Orlow A. Minges holds prestige as one who has achieved remarkable success as a farmer. He is the owner of a fine estate in the close vicinity of Battle Creek and in addition to running his farm he takes an active interest in town- ship politics, having at one time been incumbent of the responsible posi- tion of township treasurer.
On the old homestead farm in Battle Creek township, Calhoun county, Michigan, Orlow Amidon Minges was born, the date of his nativity being the 29th of May, 1867. His rudimentary educational training consisted of such advantages as were offered in the neighboring district schools, which he attended up to the eighth grade, and he also pursued a commercial course in the Krugs Business College, at Battle Creek. After leaving school he returned to the farm, in the work and management of which he assisted his father, Abram Minges, data con- cerning whose career appears in the sketch dedicated to Erwin G. Minges, brother of the subject of this article. Orlow A. resided at home until his marriage, in 1900, when he and his bride settled on a fine little estate of forty acres just across the road from the old Minges homestead. Mr. Minges is engaged in farming and stock-raising and he ranks as one of the foremost citizens of Battle Creek township. In politics he is an uncompromising Republican and he takes an active and interested part in township politics. He was elected township treasurer and he held that office for a period of two years.
February 26, 1900, Mr. Minges married Miss Sada Hamlin, a daugh- ter of Cyprian and Louisa Hamlin, the former of whom was engaged in farming near Battle Creek during the greater portion of his active career. He died in 1904 and Mrs. Hamlin passed away in 1867. They were both natives of the state of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Minges are the fond parents of two children,-Ruth and Meda, aged, respectively, 20 and 14 years.
777
HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
Mr. Minges is a man of fine mentality and broad human sympathy. He thoroughly enjoys home life and takes great pleasure in the society of his family and friends. He is always courteous, kindly and affable, and those who know him personally accord him the highest esteem. Mr. and Mrs. Minges' lives have been exemplary in all respects and they have ever supported those interests which are calculated to uplift and benefit humanity, while their own high moral worth is deserving of the highest commendation.
FRANK MINGES. At this juncture in a volume devoted to the careers of representative citizens of Calhoun county, Michigan, it is a pleasure to insert a brief history of Frank Minges, who has ever been on the alert to forward all measures and enterprises projected for the good of the general welfare and who has served his community in various official positions of trust and responsibility. He has been township treasurer of Battle Creek township, has served as delegate to various Republican county conventions and at the present time, in 1912, is in- cumbent of the office of highway commissioner. He owns and operates a fine farm in Battle Creek township and is recognized as one of the prominent citizens of this section of the county.
Frank Minges was born on the old homestead farm, in Battle Creek township, April 22, 1873, and he is a son of Abram and Eugenia (Amidon) Minges, the former of whom is deceased and the latter of whom is now living in Battle Creek township. On other pages of this work appears a sketch dedicated to the career of Erwin G. Minges and therein will be found a summary of the life of Abram Minges, so that further details in that connection are not deemed necessary at this point, as easy reference can be made to the sketch mentioned.
Frank Minges was educated in the public schools of Battle Creek township and in 1891 he was graduated in the Battle Creek high school. He has always lived on the old home farm and is operating it at the present time. It consists of 200 acres and is located 4 miles distant from Battle Creek. In his political proclivities Mr. Minges is a stanch adherent of the principles upheld by the Republican party, in the local councils of which he is an active factor. He was elected to the office of township treasurer and he held that responsible position for a period of two years. On various occasions he has been delegate to county conventions and he is regarded as a man of good judgment and well weighs all affairs affecting the welfare of the township and county, and is a public spirited citizen. In 1909 he was elected high- way commissioner and he is incumbent of that office at present. For the past twenty-two years he has been a valued member of the Grange.
September 1, 1910, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Minges to Miss Laura Adams, who was born and reared in Battle Creek town- ship and who is a daughter of Jasper and Ella Adams. Mr. Adams is an agriculturist in this township, whither he came from Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Minges have no children. They are popular factors in connection with the social affairs in their home community and their residence is a center of genial hospitality.
ERWIN G. MINGES. Many of the ablest men in America are ardent devotees of the great basic industry of agriculture and it is well that this is so because the various learned professions are rapidly becoming so crowded with inefficient practitioners that in a few years it will be practically impossible for any but the exceptionally talented man to make good or even gain a competing living therein. The independent farmer, who, in addition to tilling the soil, cultivates his mind and
778
HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
retains his health, is a man much to be envied in these days of strenuous bustle and nervous energy. He lives his life as he chooses and is always safe from financial ravages and other troubles of the so-called "cliff-dweller." An able and representative agriculturist, who has done much to advance progress and conserve prosperity in Calhoun county, Michigan, is Erwin G. Minges, who owns and operates a finely improved farm in Battle Creek township.
Erwin G. Minges was born in Battle Creek township, Calhoun county, Michigan, May 27, 1865, and is a son of Abram and Eugenia (Amidon) Minges, the former of whom was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, in 1818, and the latter was born in New York, in 1845. Abram Minges came to Michigan at the age of eighteen years. He learned the trade of mill wright. In 1849 he joined the gold-seekers on their way to the new "Eldorado" in California and remained in that commonwealth for two years, at the expiration of which he returned to Michigan, settling in Battle Creek township, where he cultivated a fine farm, on which he resided until his demise, April 1, 1908, at the patriarchal age of ninety years. He erected a grist mill near his home farm and ran the same for two years. He also built a number of other mills, among them being the old Hart Mill in the city of Battle Creek. He was twice married, his first union having been to Miss Elsie Cowlam, of St. Joseph county, Michigan. Two children were born to this union but both are deceased. Mrs. Minges died and December 24, 1863, Mr. Minges was united in marriage to Miss Eugenia Amidon, a native of New York, whence she accompanied her parents to Michigan in 1860, at the age of fifteen years. Mr. and Mrs. Minges became the parents of four children, three of whom are living, in 1912, namely,-Erwin G., of this notice; Orlow and Frank. Mrs. Minges is still living, her home being in Battle Creek township. Mr. Minges was a stanch Republican in his political convictions and for five years he was township supervisor. He was a man of splendid business ability and he was always ready to do all in his power to advance the general welfare of the community in which he lived.
Erwin G. Minges was reared to maturity on the old homestead farm, in the work and management of which he early began to assist his father, and he was educated in the district schools of Battle Creek township. He also completed a commercial course in the Battle Creek Business College. Since reaching man's estate he has been engaged in farming and October 4, 1888, he settled on his fine estate of forty acres, located 4 miles distant from Battle Creek. He is engaged in di- versified agriculture and stock-raising and has been decidedly suc- cessful in his farming operations. In politics he is a Republican and at one time he was the popular and efficient incumbent of the office of township clerk.
October 3, 1888, Mr. Minges married Miss Cora B. Cummings, a daughter of Enoch and Mary Cummings, of Battle Creek township. The Cummings family traces its ancestry back to old English stock, the emigrant ancestor in America having come hither in the Mayflower. Enoch Cummings was born in New York, in 1821, and he died in 1886. He came to Michigan in April, 1845, and here married Mary Barlow, also of New York. Mrs. Cummings is still living and of her six chil- dren Mrs. Minges was the second in order of birth. Mr. and Mrs. Minges are the parents of two children,-Elsie M., who is now Mrs. Victor Scramlin, of Climax; and Clayton C., who remains at the parental home. At the present time, in 1912, there are five generations of the Minges family living.
779
HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
WILLIAM J. SYLVESTER. Calhoun county, Michigan, figures as one of the most attractive, progressive and prosperous divisions of the state, justly claiming a high order of citizenship and a spirit of enterprise which is certain to conserve consecutive development and marked ad- vancement in the material upbuilding of this section. The county has been and is signally favored in the class of men who has contributed to its development along commercial and agricultural lines, and in the latter connection the subject of this review demands recognition as he is engaged in agricultural pursuits, in connection with his father-in- law, Fred W. Cowles, on a fine estate of 275 acres, in Battle Creek township.
William J. Sylvester was born in Barry county, Michigan, January 20, 1881, and he is a son of the late Joseph Henry Sylvester, who was born in Pennsylvania, January 8, 1854. As a young man the father came to Michigan and here married Addie S. Fry, a daughter of Benja- min Fry, of Pennsylvania. The wedding ceremony was performed in 1878. Joseph Henry Sylvester was engaged in farming in Assyria town- ship, Barry county, Michigan, during the greater part of his active career and he was summoned to the life eternal September 13, 1903. Mrs. Sylvester subsequently married John Frank Wright and they re- side in Barry county. In his religious faith Joseph H. Sylvester was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He and his wife were the parents of four children, namely,-Charles, Elmer, William J., and John H. Charles and Elmer are deceased.
To the public schools of Barry county William J. Sylvester is in- debted for his early educational training, which was supplemented with one year's attendance in high school at Assyria Center. After reaching years of maturity he came to Battle Creek, where for a period of eight months he was engaged in the livery business. In 1906 he began to work for the Duplex Printing Company and he was in the employ of that concern for a period of three years. After his marriage, in 1909, he became associated with his father-in-law, Fred W. Cowles, in run- ning the old Cowles homestead, a fine estate of 106 acres, eligibly located four and one-fourth miles distant from Battle Creek. Mr. Cowles and Mr. Sylvester are engaged in diversified agriculture and in the raising of high-grade stock. Fine buildings located in the midst of well culti- vated fields are the best indication of the prosperity and thrift of the owners of the estate and the same is equipped with every possible mod- ern convenience.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.