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 26
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November 11, 1909, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Sylvester to Miss Bertha A. Cowles, a daughter of Fred W. and Lovina Cowles, both of whom were born in Calhoun county, the former on the 2d of April, 1860, and the latter February 28, 1860. Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester have one child, Walter J., whose birth occurred on the 22d of September, 1910.
While Mr. Sylvester has never manifested aught of ambition for the honors and emoluments of public office he is ever on the alert to forward all measures and enterprises advanced for the good of the general wel- fare. In a fraternal way he is a valued member of the Knights of the Maccabees.
FRANK I. WETZEL, of Battle Creek, Michigan, is a horticulturist and landscape gardener of some renown. Mr. Wetzel is a member of a firm controlling a large nursery business in Battle Creek, and besides his duties in connection with this he does a great deal of designing for the laying out of individual estates. Both because of his artistic sense and his practical knowledge he has achieved a big success in this latter work,
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and is so eagerly sought that he could employ his whole time as a land- scape artist if he cared to.
John Wetzel, the father of Frank Wetzel, was born in Germany, in 1834 and came to America with his parents when he was between twelve and thirteen years of age. They settled in Albany, New York, and after John left school he entered the nursery business. With the breaking out of the Civil war he left his work and enlisted as a Zouave in Company B, 140th New York Regiment, serving for three years. After the war was over he migrated to Painesville, Ohio, and again took up the nursery business. Politically a Republican, and a member of the Catholic church he was an active citizen of Painesville until his death in June, 1910. He was married to Cynthia Margaret Leflet, a native of Germany, in Rochester, New York, and from their union were born twelve children. Every one of the seven sons, Joseph of Fremont, Ohio, John of Paines- ville, Frank I., George I., of Battle Creek, Edward of Painesville, Charles of Painesville, and Henry, followed in the footsteps of their father and entered the nursery business. Of the girls Cynthia is now Mrs. La Rue of Painesville; Maggie is Mrs. Beattle of Nashville, North Carolina; Barbara is Mrs. Hathaway of Madison, Ohio; Lizzie is Mrs. Jacobs of Painesville; Anna of St. Louis, Missouri. Mrs. Wetzel is still living in Painesville.
Frank I. Wetzel was born in Rochester, New York, December 13, 1875, but spent most of his childhood in Painesville, Ohio, as his father moved west soon after his birth. He attended the public schools there, but from the age of ten on, spent his vacations in learning his father's business, so that by the time he was ready to leave school he was already an expert nurseryman. A good testimonial to his skill in that direc- tion is given in the fact that he was employed for eighteen years by Storse and Harrison. . In 1901 he came to Battle Creek, Michigan, and formed the firm of the Battle Creek Nursery Company. This has been a highly successful concern and now consists of sixty acres of actual stock. Their specialties are ornamental shrubs, trees, grapes, apples, peaches, plums, currants, and strawberries. A great deal of their busi- ness has been secured through novel ways of advertising originated by Mr. Wetzel. At present the attention of nearly every passerby is at- tracted by a misspelled word in the large sign hung in front of the nursery. Three years ago Mr. W. A. Helmer became a partner and the firm is now known as the Helmer Farm Nursery.
Mr. Wetzel attends the Catholic church, and belongs to the Repub- .lican party.
JOHN V. WOOD of Battle Creek township, Calhoun county, Michigan, is a contradiction to the prevailing spirit of restlessness of the present generation. He was born and has lived the whole sixty-four years of his life on the same farm. His father Barnett Wood was born in Steuben county, New York, in 1813, but the desire to go west animated him as it did other young men of his time, and he became one of the earliest settlers of Calhoun county, Michigan. John V. Wood was born May 12, 1847, in Battle Creek township, and in 1867 he was married to Clara Reese, the daughter of Albert Reese. They have had four chil- dren, Mark T., who married Miss Lily Swailes and is living on the home farm; Nettie, who is now Mrs. Porter; Myrtle, now Mrs. Chris- tian ; and Nina, now Mrs. Griffin. Mr. Wood is a Republican and be- longs to the Maccabees.
MYRON YOUNG belongs to one of the old and substantial families of Battle Creek township, Calhoun county, Michigan. He and his father
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before him have occupied the one farm since 1861. David Young, Myron's father, was born in New York December 12, 1816, the son of Joseph Young, a man with a strong religious interest, and who after serving for many years as a deacon in the Presbyterian church finally joined the Adventists. Joseph Young retired from active life in 1861, and died November 22, 1878, at the age of eighty-five years, ten months, and twenty-one days. David Young left New York in May, 1832, and settled on the farm in Battle Creek township where his son is now living. Be- sides his work on the farm he acted for many years as a justice of the peace. A Republican and a Presbyterian he also took an active interest in politics and his church. On October 23, 1845, he was married to Delila Hilmer of Battle Creek township, and from their union five chil- dren were born, of whom only two are now living, Myron, and Edward, at present in Battle Creek. Mr. Young died in 1898 at the age of seventy-two years, two months and twenty-one days, and on August 23, 1909, Mr. Young followed her.
Myron Young, who was born on the farm in Battle Creek township, October 9, 1852, has spent his whole life on the old homestead. His first marriage took place with Josephine Dewey, April 26, 1879, and they became the parents of two children, Jennie and Burr, who died in in- fancy. Mrs. Young died in 1894 at the age of thirty-eight, and in 1898 Mr. Young was married again, this time to Mrs. Eugenia Murdock. a widow and the daughter of Edward and Triphena Goodenough. Mrs. Young was born August 4, 1858. They have had no children. Their present house, on their farm of one hundred and sixty acres, is a large and imposing one, built by Mr. Young to replace the stone one built by his grandfather in 1841 and which was destroyed by fire July 10, 1910. Mr. Young is a Republican.
HARRY MAPES is a substantial and prosperous farmer of Calhoun county, Michigan. Born in Kalamazoo county, May 14, 1877, he was the third child in a family of nine children of whom George W. and Prudence Jane (Eggleston) Mapes were the parents. George W. Mapes was born in Battle Creek township, April 17, 1848, the son of Anson Mapes, who came to Michigan in 1836 and settled in Calhoun county. Mr. and Mrs. George Mapes were married December 29, 1870, and Mr. Mapes, who is retired from active life, is now living in Battle Creek. He belongs to the Democratic party.
Harry Mapes spent his early life on the farm, receiving his educa- tion in the country schools. He was married October 15, 1905, to Loriah N. Fox, the daughter of William A. Fox, of Barry county. They have had two children, George and Wilma G. Mr. Mapes owns 160 acres of land. He is a Democrat.
ALBERT EMANUEL PETERS. An enterprising and thriving agricul- turist, Albert Emanuel Peters is a fine representative of the native- born citizens of Homer township, Calhoun county, his birth having occurred on the farm where he now resides, February 15, 1874, being an industrious and perservering farmer, and the worthy son of a worthy sire.
His father, Andrew Peters, son of Henry and Elizabeth (Bressler) Peters, was born, February 23, 1832, in Union county, Pennsylvania, of German ancestry. Coming to Michigan in the fifties, he spent sev- eral years at Colon, St. Joseph county. In 1865 he moved with his family to Calhoun county, locating in Homer township, on the farm now occupied by his son Albert, and embarked in agricultural pur- suits, as a general farmer meeting with satisfactory pecuniary results.
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In 1893 he took up his residence in the village of Homer, and there lived retired from active business until his death, November 10, 1907. Identified with the Republican party, he held various township offices, serving as commissioner of highways, and as drainage commissioner. He was a member of the local Grange, and both he and his wife be- longed to the Presbyterian church. He married Rebecca Wagner, who was born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, April 4, 1836, a daughter of Daniel and Susanna (Yeatter) Wagner, who were likewise of Ger- man descent, their marriage being celebrated in 1854. Six children were born of their union, and all are now living, as follows: William, Daniel H., Joseph Franklin, Rosa Ellen, Edward Jacob, and Albert E.
Brought up in Homer township, Albert E. Peters acquired his early education in the Boutin district school, and on the home farm was well drilled in the art of agriculture. His parents gave up farming when he was eighteen years old, and he accompanied them to Homer, where he learned how to make good butter, working at that trade for two years in a creamery. The ensuing two years he was engaged in the grocery business with his brother, after which he spent two years in Eckford. Turning back to the soil in 1901, Mr. Peters assumed charge of the farm of one hundred acres, and in its management has found a great deal of pleasure and much profit.
On February 19th, 1896, Mr. Peters was united in marriage with Clara Mae Cook, a daughter of John D. Cook, a prominent farmer of Clarendon township, and they have one child, Dorothy Mae Peters. Politically Mr. Peters is a Republican, and fraternally he belongs to the Knights of the Maccabees.
WILLIAM E. CORNELL. Probably no educational institution in Bat- tle Creek has a more practical relation to the business community, and the individual welfare of many young men and women than the Gra- ham School of Shorthand, which with the completion of its tenth year in September, 1912, was opened in its new home, in the Arcade, West Main Street, and it has been the aim of its owner to make it as thor- oughly equipped and as complete in every detail as any Shorthand School in the State.
The founder and proprietor has had excellent success as an edu- cator, this success being based on a very extended experience in prac- tical work for which he trains his pupils, and few shorthand school proprietors have had a more interesting and varied career than his has been.
The school was given the name of the system which is taught, the system most generally employed for business and general reporting. This is first of all a shorthand school, aiming to thoroughly fit young men and women as competent stenographers, but in connection with it, . maintains a thoroughly up-to-date bookkeeping and penmanship de- partment, Mr. Cornell being a past-master in the latter branch.
Associated with Mr. Cornell in the conduct of the school is his wife, who is an experienced bookkeeper, and has charge of that branch of the work; and together, with the help of additional instructors, they have built the school up from a small beginning to its present size, the past year there being an attendance of 175 pupils.
After graduating from the public school of his home town in North- ern Michigan, Mr. Cornell began the study of shorthand in 1875, coming to Battle Creek the following year, and entering the old Battle Creek College, where he remained for three years. At that time he was one of the few young men to choose the art of stenography as the basis of his business career, and received but little encouragement in
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his effort from his friends; but he stuck to it and became very profi- cient. He claims the distinction of being the first regularly employed stenographer in Battle Creek, and for over a year acted as Dr. Kel- logg's first stenographer. He has always maintained a very keen in- terest in the stenographic art, and were he to undertake it, he could write a very interesting story of the many changes that have taken place in the art during his experience.
In 1883, after his marriage, he removed to Des Moines, Iowa, where he lived for fifteen years, during which time he was continuously em- ployed in shorthand work, acting as private stenographer for the Gov- ernor of the State, also for various committees during several sittings of the legislature, and in office and newspaper work.
A unique and interesting experience of his career was his service for three years as private stenographer for a gentleman who spent that period abroad.
Since establishing his school in 1902, he has continued to do con- siderable reporting which requires special skill, at conventions, lec- tures, court work, etc., and has been relied upon to report the speeches of noted visitors to the city, like Taft, Roosevelt, Bryan and others. His notes have the appearance of copper-plate, so perfectly are the characters formed, even when reporting a rapid speaker.
Mr. Cornell was married at Jefferson, Iowa, December 24, 1882, to Miss Irene L. Colcord, who was a native of Illinois, being born at Sterling, where she spent the greater part of her early life. For five years she was engaged in public school teaching, after which she took a thorough commercial school training and for fourteen years since her marriage has been engaged in practical bookkeeping work, an experi- ence which has proved of exceptional value in her work of teaching that branch.
Mr. and Mrs. Cornell's home is at 81 Howland Street. Their only child died at the age of six years, but they have been greatly interested in young people, quite a number of whom they have taken into their home and educated, several of whom they have adopted.
CHRISTIAN HORNBERGER. Another of Marshall's German born citi- zens, who has reared his family and gained a plentitude of this world's goods during his residence in this city is Christian Hornberger. His birthplace was Wurtemberg, Germany, and his parents were George and Christina (Schaible) Hornberger, who emigrated in 1866 to Fredonia township, Calhoun county, Michigan. His brothers and sisters all reside in this state. Mathias is a prosperous farmer of Fredonia township; George is a painter, residing in Lansing; Christina is the wife of Louis Younghind of Lansing, and John is also a resident of Lansing.
Christian Hornberger began this life's activities in the German fatherland on the 25th day of January, 1846, and was twenty years of age when the voyage of the family to America was undertaken. After the landing in New York the young man came directly to Mar- shall, and then to Kalamazoo, where he remained for one year. At the end of that time he made a journey to the far west, where he con- tinued to occupy his time in various occupations for two years. Dur- ing this time he was located chiefly in Kansas. Eventually, however, the homelike atmosphere of Marshall again attracted him, with the result that in 1873 he returned to his first American home. Here he began in a small way to build up a brewery business. He met with success, his commercial operations gradually growing in extent and in pecuniary importance, and he continued in the business until the Vol. II-12
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year 1881, when he disposed of his brewery interests. Mr. Hornberger then engaged in the wholesale beer business, supplying Marshall and many of the neighboring towns in Calhoun and adjoining counties.
During the second year after his return to Marshall, Mr. Horn- berger was united in marriage with Miss Mary Roller. She is a native of Saginaw and the daughter of Peter Roller, who was among Sag- inaw's earliest settlers but later moved to Marshall and was for many years a merchant in that city. Four daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hornberger, concerning whom the following brief mention is made: Anna is the wife of Henry Spees, of Marshall, Michigan; Lil- lian lives at home; Laura, a graduate in music, is the wife of Earl R. Page, also in Marshall, and Louisa makes her home with her parents.
The residence of the Hornberger family is a commodious and com- fortable one, well looked after by its owner, who since his retirement from business, has occupied his time chiefly in the oversight of this and his other extensive properties, all of which are located in the city of Marshall. He enjoys excellent health and looks back with satis- faction upon his steady rise from financial dependence to affluence, through the exercise of industry and close attention to business. His political interests are those of the Democratic party. His chief enjoy- ments are domestic rather than social or fraternal, his only affiliation with organizations of a fraternal nature being with the State Arbeiter Society and the Order of Maccabees.
HENRY V. SNYDER. As general contractors the firm of H. V. Snyder & Son, of Battle Creek, control a business that far transcends local limitations, with the result that the concern holds prestige as one of the most important of its kind in southern Michigan. The operations of the firm have extended into the most diverse sections of Michigan and also in to the states of Illinois and Indiana, and no better commercial asset could be asked than that afforded in the high reputation enjoyed by this progressive and substantial business firm of Battle Creek. In the control of his extensive business Henry V. Snyder has an effective coadjutor in the person of his only son, Leon R., who is junior member of the firm. Mr. Snyder has shown splendid initiative and executive ability during his exceptionally active and successful business career, and is a man whose broad and liberal views, wide experience and abid- ing public spirit make him a valuable citizen of the city in which his interests are centered and in which he commands secure vantage ground in popular confidence and esteem.
Henry Vandling Snyder claims the fine old Keystone state of the Union as the place of his nativity and is a scion of sterling pioneer families of that commonwealth. He was born at Danville, Montour county, Pennsylvania, on the 4th of July, 1856, and in his career he has fully manifested that independence which his natal day implies. He is a son of William H. and Mary E. (Artley) Snyder, both of whom were born and reared in Pennsylvania, where their marriage was sol- emnized and where the father learned the mason's trade in his youth. At the time of the Civil war William H. Snyder enlisted for a term of ninety days, and he took part in the memorable and sanguinary battle of Gettysburg, as well as other engagements. He was a member of a Pennsylvania regiment and received his honorable discharge at the close of his term of enlistment. In the spring of 1865 he came with his family to Michigan and located in Lockport township, St. Joseph county, whence he removed to Park township, that county, in the following year. There he continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until his removal to the village of Mendon, in the same county, and he
Henry U. Snyder
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continued to maintain his home there until his death, which occurred in 1907, his loved and devoted wife having there been summoned to the life eternal in May, 1893. Mr. Snyder continued to be actively and successfully engaged in business as a mason contractor until 1878, when he was succeeded by his son Henry V., of this review, and thereafter he lived virtually retired until his death, at the venerable age of 76 years. He was a staunch Republican in politics and both he and his wife were members of the Methodist church. They became the parents of eleven children of whom seven are now living, the subject of this sketch having been the third in order of birth and three of the children having been born after the family removed to Michigan. John W. is a resident of the city of Chicago; Daniel M. resides at Gladwin, Michigan ; Sarah is the wife of John W. Miller of Mendon, this state; Margaret is the wife of George A. Ingersoll, of that place; Mary E. is the wife of Andrew O. Weinberg, of Three Rivers, Michigan; and Matilda, is the wife of Otto W. Seeb, of La Grange, Indiana.
Henry V. Snyder was about nine years of age at the time of the family removal from Pennsylvania to Michigan and was reared to adult age in Park township, St. Joseph county. He made good use of the advantages afforded him in the public schools of the locality and period, as is indicated by the fact that he was a successful and popular teacher in the district schools for eleven winter terms,-in St. Joseph and Kala- mazoo counties. As a youth he learned the mason's trade under the able direction of his honored father and he was associated with the latter in the contracting business at Menden until the spring of 1875, when he initiated independent operations in this line, with which he has been continuously identified and along which he has achieved marked success and wide reputation. In the meanwhile he has been identified with the agricultural industry in a subsidiary way, as he has owned several farms in southern Michigan. At the present time he has a well improved and valuable farm of three hundred and twenty acres, in Assyria township, Barry county, near the Calhoun county line, besides which he is the owner of a considerable amount of excellent realty in Battle Creek.
Mr. Snyder continued to maintain his home in St. Joseph county until the autumn of 1887, when he removed to a small farm in Van Buren county, two miles east of the village of Lawton. He continued to give his attention to contracting, however, and did not personally supervise the work of his farm. In the fall of 1889 he removed to the city of Chicago, and he became one of the most extensive and success- ful contractors of the great western metropolis. From 1891 to 1899 he confined his business principally to mason contracting. and since the lat- ter years he has been a general contractor. In Chicago he was asso- ciated in business with his brother, John W., under the firm name of Snyder Brothers, and they handled many important contracts in and about that city. In the spring of 1908, Mr. Snyder came to Battle Creek. where he has since maintained his residence and business head- quarters and, as already stated, the firm of H. V. Snyder & Son, general contractors, is one of the most important of its kind in southern Michi- gan. The firm has recently completed the erection of a large and mod- ern plant for the Uncle Sam Macaroni Company, at Tecumseh, Michi- gan, and more than two thousand barrels of cement were used in the construction of the fine building. The firm has had also seven different contracts with the Michigan Central Railroad Company, on construc- tion work in Chicago and at other points. In a sketch of this order it is, of course, impossible to note in detail the important contracts executed by H. V. Snyder, but a brief list of buildings constructed may con-
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sistently be given: High school, Three Rivers, Michigan; Baptist Col- lege, Kalamazoo, Michigan; Post Tavern, Battle Creek; Crawford Hotel, Crawfordsville, Indiana; Illinois Hotel, Bloomington, Illinois; Hackley Library, Muskegon, Michigan, and public library at Three Rivers; Plan of Constantine Hydraulic Company, Constantine, Michigan; two build- ings for the firm of Deere & Company, Moline, Illinois; malt house of American Malting Company, Chicago; Michigan Central freight house in Chicago, paint shop in Jackson, Michigan and depots at Hammond, Indiana, and Oxford, Michigan; reinforced concrete dam at Center- ville, Michigan; Elks temples at Battle Creek and Dowagiac, Michigan. and a number of fine buildings for the Union Steam Pump Company, among which are the main machine shops and an office building. This firm has also constructed a number of large additions for the Advance & Rumley Company, and is at present engaged in the building of a one hundred and fifty foot addition to the present foundry of that com- pany. Mr. Snyder is the contractor and supervisor in charge of the erection of the ten story addition to the Post Tavern in Battle Creek, and has had many of the most important contracts in connection with building construction in Battle Creek.
In politics Mr. Snyder is a stalwart in the camp of the Republican party, but he has no predilection for political office. In the city of Chicago he holds membership in the Builders' & Traders' Exchange, of which he is a director, and there also he is a member of the Mason Build- ers' Association. In his home city he is affiliated with Battle Creek Lodge, No. 12, Free & Accepted Masons; Battle Creek Chapter, Royal Arch Masons Commandery, and with the local organization of the Knights of Pythias, the Royal Arcanum and the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, besides which he is identified with the Athelstan Club.
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