History of Calhoun County, Michigan, a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 47

Author: Gardner, Washington, 1845-1928
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 838

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 47

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winter's blasts and summer's heat to minister to those in affliction and distress, and encountering hardships that the physician of the present day would consider far too great to endure. It is needless to say that he became the friend and counselor of the pioneer families and that he gained the affectionate regard of those to whom he ministered with so much of ability and self-abnegation,-especially during the season of 1838, when much sickness prevailed throughout this section. He con- tinued in the active work of his profession until about 1858, when he retired, his removal to the village of Battle Creek having taken place in October, 1843. In the meanwhile he had effected the development of much of his land, which he had brought under effective cultivation. He wielded much influence in the community and was known as a man of sterling character, fine intellectual and professional attainments, and most progressive ideas. He gave his co-operation in the support of all things tending to advance the material and social welfare of the community and was identified with various industrial and business enterprises after establishing his home in Battle Creek, where he con- tinued to reside until his death, which occurred on the 29th of De- cember, 1879. His loved and devoted wife, a woman of singularly gentle and gracious personality, was summoned to the life eternal on the 1st of March of the same year, so that in death they were not long divided.

In politics Dr. Beach was originally an old-line Whig, but upon the organization of the Republican party he espoused its cause, and he ever afterward continued a stanch and influential advocate of its principles and policies.

On the 24th of October, 1826, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Beach to Miss Martha Ann Cady, who was born at Mendon, Monroe county, New York, on the 24th of October, 1809, and the date of whose death has already been noted. Her father, General Cholett Cady, was a pioneer of western New York and gained his military title through belonging to the home militia. Dr. and Mrs. Beach became the parents of four children, and of the number the only survivor is Cholett C. Beach, who is treasurer of the Nichols & Shepard Company, of Battle Creek, and concerning whom individual mention is made on other pages of this work. Concerning the other children the following brief data are given: Martha A. was born on the 20th of November, 1831, and died on the 1st of November, 1834, while the family were en route to the new home in Michigan; Mary became the wife of Frank N. Ben- nett and passed the closing years of her life in Battle Creek, Michigan, where her death occurred on the 24th of November, 1880; and Thomas S. was a resident of Dayton, in the state of Washington, at the time of his death, which there occurred on the 5th of December, 1893.

CHOLETT C. BEACH. On other pages of this publication is consist- ently entered a memoir to that honored pioneer, the late Dr. Asahel Beach, who was numbered among the earliest settlers of Calhoun county, and in the article mentioned is given adequate information con- cerning the family history, so that a reptition of the data is not de- manded in the present sketch,-that of the career of the only surviving · child of Dr. Asahel and Martha Ann (Cady) Beach. He whose name initiates this review is a native son of Calhoun county and here he has well upheld the prestige of the honored name which he bears. He has long been numbered among the representative citizens and influential business men of Battle Creek, where he is treasurer of the Nichols & Shepard Company, the great industrial concern which has done more than any other agency to further the commercial precedence of the

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metropolis of Calhoun county. Of this corporation due mention is made elsewhere in this publication.

Cholett Cady Beach was born on the old homestead farm, four miles east of Battle Creek, in Milton township, on the 24th of November, 1836, the year prior to the admission of Michigan as one of the sovereign states of the federal Union, and his memory thus forms an indissoluble link between the early pioneer epoch and the latter days of opulent progress and prosperity. He was reared under the benignant influences of the pioneer era and his early educational advantages were those af- forded in the schools of Battle Creek, which was then a mere village. In 1855-6 he was enabled to complete an effective course in a commercial college in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Beach was about seven years of age when, in October, 1843, the family removed from the farm to Battle Creek, where he has maintained his home during the major part of the long intervening years and where he has contributed his quota to the development and upbuilding of a thriving industrial and com- mercial city. As a youth he secured a position as clerk in the dry-goods store of Leicester Buckley, and in this capacity he continued about four years.

In the year 1858 Mr. Beach became associated with his brother-in-law, the late Frank N. Bennett, in the retail crockery business, which they conducted, under the firm name of Bennett & Beach, for a period of about three years, after which Mr. Beach was employed in turn as a clerk in the retail grocery of John Gowdy & Son and in the banking establishment of Alexander C. Hamblin. In 1864 he went to the city of Chicago, where he became associated with his uncle, David Cady, in the produce commission business, under the title of Cady & Beach. He remained in Chicago until 1866, when he responded to the overtures made by his former employer, Alexander C. Hamblin, with whom he be- came associated in the private banking business in Battle Creek, under the title of A. C. Hamblin & Company. This alliance continued about ten years and the enterprise proved most prosperous.

On the 1st of February, 1879, Mr. Beach initiated his connection with the Nichols & Shepard Company, and he has since continued to be identified with the same, the while he has been one of the influential factors in the development of its splendid industrial enterprise, that of manufacturing grain separators and other agricultural machinery,- in which line it is excelled in extent and importance by no concern in the world. In the early years Mr. Beach had charge for some time of the col- lection department of the business, and after a year's absence, on account of impaired health, he assumed the office of cashier for the company. This position he retained consecutively until the death of John Nichols, one of the founders of the business, when he was made treasurer of the com- pany, an office in which he has served continuously since 1891. Mr. Beach has made an enviable record as a conservative, reliable and pro- gressive business man, and no citizen of Battle Creek has more secure place in popular confidence and esteem. He is a stockholder and di- rector of the Nichols & Shepard Company and also of the Old National Bank of Battle Creek.

As a loyal and public-spirited citizen Mr. Beach has ever stood ready to lend his influence and tangible co-operation in the furtherance of measures and enterprises projected for the general good of his home city, county and state, and while he has had naught of desire for the honors or emoluments of political office and has refused to become a candidate for the same, he accords a stanch allegiance to the Republican party. With abiding filial faith and admiration he states that the only reason he is a Republican is because his father was. Both he and

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his wife are valued members of the Independent Congregational church of Battle Creek; he is affiliated with Battle Creek Lodge, No. 12, Free and Accepted Masons ; is a charter member of the Country Club, of which he was the first president; and is a charter member of the Athelstan Club, of which likewise he has served as president. He finds his most effective and inspiring source of recreation through his insistent devo- tion to the game of golf and to other outdoor sports, and his prowess on the links is of no uncertain order, reinforced as it is by his presence on the fine golf course of the Country Club on every pleasant afternoon during the golf season. The game has no more ardent devotee in Battle Creek, and the mention of its name in the presence of Mr. Beach is certain to call forth words of enthusiastic appreciation on his part. He was for many years an adept in the fine old sport of archery, in which connection he made some of the best scores tallied to those participating in the game, and on one occasion, at a meeting of representative archers in the city of Chicago, he had the enviable distinction of winning the American championship. He still retains his appreciation of and fond- ness for all normal outdoor sports and recreations. Mr. Beach resides at 23 Beach street, a thoroughfare named in honor of his father, and is the owner of other valuable realty in his native county. The home is a center of refined and gracious hospitality, under the regime of its popular chatelaine, Mrs. Beach, who is a leader in connection with the best social activities of the community.

At Jackson, Windham county, Vermont, on the 21st of April, 1861, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Beach to Miss Eva Luana Peebles. Mrs. Beach was born at Marathon, Cortland county, New York, and is a daughter of James and Nancy (Brown) Peebles, concerning whom, and the family history, due mention is made in the sketch of the career of her brother, Dr. James M. Peebles, on other pages of this work, so that further mention is not required at this juncture. Mrs. Beach was afforded the advantages of excellent schools in the state of Vermont and also attended school for a time in Battle Creek, Michigan. She is an active and appreciative member of the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and is one of the leading members of the Woman's Club, one of the most prominent literary organizations of Battle Creek, as well as of the Woman's League, another representative organization. She is specially active in church and club work and is a woman of fine intellectuality and most gracious personality, with a wide circle of friends in the city which has so long been her home and in which she and her husband celebrated their golden-wedding anniver- sary on the 21st of April, 1911. They became the parents of three children, of whom two are living: Martha B., who is the wife of Dr. Carl C. Warden, a representative physician and surgeon in the city of Los Angeles, California; and Nancy B., who is the wife of Frederick I. Griswold, a clerk in the city water office of Battle Creek. The daughters were born and reared in Battle Creek, to whose public schools they are indebted for their early education. Mrs. Warden completed her literary education in Helmuth College, at London, province of Ontario, Canada, in which institution she was graduated; and Mrs. Griswold is a graduate of the Misses Leggitt's school for young women, in the city of Detroit. Mrs. Warden has two children-Helen Luana, who is now (1912) a student of music under Madame Zigler, in New York city; and Cholett Beach, who was named in honor of his mater- nal grandfather and who is now a student at the Evans school, at Mesa, Arizona.

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JAMES M. PEEBLES, M. D., M. A., Ph. D. Distinguished as a physician and surgeon, as an extensive traveler and as a man of high intellectual attainments, Dr. Peebles, who has attained to the patriarchial age of ninety years, has left a definite and benignant impress upon his day and generation, and his multifarious contributions along literary lines of the higher order are certain to perpetuate his name and talents long after he shall have passed from the scene of life's mortal endeavors. He has spent a very appreciable portion of his later years in Battle Creek, and it is most consonant that in this history of Calhoun county be entered a brief review of his particularly interesting career.

Dr. Peebles was born at Whitingham, Windham county, Vermont, on the 22d of March, 1822, and is the eldest son in a family of eight children born to James and Nancy (Brown) Peebles. More than a cen- tury ago the father served as captain of a company of militia in southern Vermont, and there he was familiarly known as "Captain Jim Peebles." He was long numbered among the representative agriculturalists of Wind- ham county and was a man of prominence and influence in his com- munity. He was called upon to serve in various town and county offices and he ever commanded secure vantage ground in the confidence and esteem of his fellow men.

The Peebles family was founded in New England in the early colonial epoch and the name was most closely and worthily linked with the in- dustrial and civic development of that section, which was the cradle of much of our national history. The lineage is traced back to the staunchest of Scottish origin, the ancestral records of authentic order date from the seventh century. In the eleventh century the Peebles family was one of the most distinguished and influential in the north of Europe. The county of Peebleshire, Scotland, was named in honor of this family, and the old town of Peebles, of that county, is the ancestral home, the same being situated on the river Tweed, twenty-two miles south of the city of Edinburgh. This ancient town was at a very early period a favorite resort of Scottish kings, who found diversion in hunt- ing game in the neighboring forests of Ettrick. John Peebles attained to an earldom and in the works of Sir Walter Scott is made mention of this impetuous scion of a family whose name has been one of marked prominence in the history of Scotland and one of close connection with Scottish royalty.

James and Nancy (Brown) Peebles, parents of him whose name initiates this review, passed the closing years of their lives at Shelburne Falls, Franklin county, Massachusetts, and in the cemetery at that place their remains were laid to rest. Patrick Peebles, grandfather of the Doctor, came to America in company with two of his brothers and they made settlement in one of the Massachusetts colonies, whence represen- tatives of the name later removed to Vermont. Josiah Brown, great- grandfather of Dr. Peebles on the' maternal side, was a valiant soldier with the Continental forces in the war of the Revolution, in which he participated in the battle of Bunker Hill, his company having been the last to retreat before the onslaught of the British regulars. He was born January 30, 1742, at Concord, Massachusetts, and his death oc- curred at New Ipswich, New Hampshire, on the 18th of March, 1831. He enlisted for service in the Revolutionary war on the 10th of May, 1775, and was mustered out on the 11th of the following July. He was first lieutenant of his company, of which Ezra Towne was captain, and the regiment was commanded by Colonel James Reed.

Dr. James Peebles passed the days of his boyhood and youth in the states of Vermont and New York and was afforded excellent educational advantages of a preliminary order. His academic or collegiate course was completed in the Oxford Academy, in the latter state, and in the

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same he was graduated as a member of the class of 1841, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Later the degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by the same institution. In preparation for the work of his chosen profession, Dr. Peebles was matriculated in the Philadelphia University of Medicine & Surgery, in the city of Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, and in this excellent institution he was grad- uated in 1876, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Later he re- ceived honorary diplomas from several leading medical colleges, in recognition of his distinguished attainments and service in his profes- sion. The Doctor initiated the practice of medicine in Philadelphia but during the greater part of his active professional career he maintained his home at Battle Creek, Michigan. In addition to other notable literary work he has made many and valuable contributions to standard and periodical publications devoted to medical and surgical science. For several years he was a member of the faculty of the Eclectic Medical College in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, and later he served as president of the College of Science in the city of Los Angeles, California. Resid- ing in Battle Creek for a period of about half a century, he was here engaged in the successful practice of his profession, in connection with the work of which he founded the Peebles Institute of Medicine, in which he had as his effective coadjutor Dr. W. Thompson Bobo, under whose management the institute is still maintained as a beneficent and flourish- ing institution, Dr. Peebles being its president.

Dr. Peebles has received distinguished recognition on the part of many learned societies, and it may be noted that he is a member of the New Orleans Academy of Science; the Anthropological Society of Lon- don, England; a fellow and honorary member of the Psychological As- sociation of the same city; a fellow of the Academy of Arts and Sci- ences at Naples, Italy ; a fellow of the American Society of Science; a member of the International Climatological Association, the American Institute of Christian Philosophy and the Victoria Institute and Philo- sophical Society of Great Britain.

Dr. Peebles has owned and edited six different newspapers and is the author of many volumes upon professional scientific, hygienic and general literary subjects, besides those giving record of his extensive travels, together with innumerable tracts, pamphlets and other bro- chures. Admirably preserved in mental and physical powers, notwith- standing his venerable age, he exemplified in his wonderful vitality the principles of living which he has ever striven to inculcate and he is at the present time writing for thirty or more magazines and other periodi- cals in this and foreign countries. Some of his works were published in London and Australia, and many of his books have gained extensive circulation. An edition of fully twenty thousand copies was required to meet the demand for his interesting and valuable work entitled "How to Live a Century and Grow Old Gracefully."

Few Americans have traveled more widely over the habitable globe or have gained from such source more than has Dr. Peebles. He has circumnavigated the globe five times and has made prolonged sojourns in India, Egypt and Palestine, with especially extensive research and study in the Babylonian regions. He has visited Mexico and has writ- ten comprehensively concerning the ruins of Uxmal, Palanque and other prehistoric and buried cities of Yucatan. In connection with his travels he has lectured in many leading foreign cities and in every state of the American Union except South Carolina.

In the climateric period leading up to and culminating in the Civil was Mr. Peebles was one of the most implacable opponents of the in- stitution of human slavery, and he was known as one of the most ardent

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of abolitionists, his residence at this time having been in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. He espoused the cause of the Republican party at the time of its organization and has since continued a stalwart advo- cate of its principles and policies. In 1869 President Grant appointed him to the important post of United States consul in Trebizonde, a city .of one hundred and seventy thousand population, in Asiatic Turkey, and he held this position about two years. In 1868 he had been ap- pointed a member of the Northwestern Congressional Indian Peace Com- mission, in the deliberations of which body he took an active part, his associate members being Generals Harney, Sheridan, Sherman and Sanborn and Colonel Tappan. In 1881 the Doctor was appointed rep- resentative of the United States as a delegate to the meeting of the In- ternational Arbitration League, in the city of Paris, France. He has been for many years affiliated with various Masonic bodies, including the Knights Templar, and also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Sons of Temperance and the Independent Order of Good Templars, of which last named organization he was one of the founders and in which he was the first incumbent of the office of right worthy grand chaplain of the national grand lodge.

In his religious views Dr. Peebles is broad and liberal, and his in- vestigations and study along these lines have been carried far and ap- preciatively. He has the deepest reverence for spiritual verities, as rep- resented in the various religions of the world, and he has written exten- sively upon the doctrines and general religious history of the Brahmins, the Buddhists and the Parsees. He is unalterably opposed to warfare, which he considers but a relic of barbarism and as aggregate murder as little justified as that of individual order. Under these conditions it has been but natural and consistent that he should have taken for many years an active and influential part in the affairs of the Universal Peace Union. The doctor has been a close student of sanitary and hygienic matters and to the same has brought the broad scientific knowledge and wide and varied experience gained in connection with the work of his profession. He is a rigid vegetarian and has been for nearly three- fourths of a century a staunch advocate of temperance, woman suffrage and other reforms, being a bitter opponent of the practice of vaccina- tion and of vivisection. Though now ninety years of age (1912), he is vigorous in mind and body and has the appearance of a man many years his junior. He has obeyed the laws of nature, and right living and right thinking have made him a patriarch whose course challenges admiration and emulation. In the gracious evening of a long and use- ful life he finds himself compassed by those benignant influences which make for serene content and happiness, and he has not in the least abated his lively interest in the questions and issues of the hour or the welfare and progress of the race. He maintains his home in the city of Los Angeles, California, during the greater part of each year, but makes regular visits to the home of his sister, Mrs. Cholett C. Beach, of Battle Creek, so that he continues to be well known in Calhoun county, Michigan, where he has a wide circle of loyal and valued friends.

On the 23d of May, 1852, Dr. Peebles was united in marriage to Miss Mary M. Conkey, daughter of Thomas H. Conkey, of St. Lawrence county, New York. Prior to her marriage Mrs. Peebles was a teacher in the Clinton Liberal Institute, at Clinton, New York. She was an accomplished artist and was a devout communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, in which she was an ardent worker. She passed away, at Hammonton. Atlantic county, New Jersey, in April, 1909.

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WILLIAM C. HUNT. For nearly a half century Mr. Hunt has been identified with Calhoun county, where he began his career on a little farm, and where he has won prosperity and has lived with honor for many years. He is one of the Grand Army men still living in this county, and he is now retired and has a pleasant home in the city of Marshall.

William C. Hunt was born in New York, March 17, 1842, on a farm where his father, William Hunt, then lived. The mother's name was Jane (French) Hunt. Five years later the family moved to Ohio, where the father died, the mother having died in New York. When William was a mere lad he was left an orphan, he was then bound out to a farmer until he was fourteen years old. This home and its surroundings were not very pleasing, and the boy later returned to New York and made his home with a sister. He had a meagre schooling, and most of his youth was spent in the labor of earning his living, so that he has been dependent on his own resources practically all his life, and all his pros- perity has been the result of his own efforts.

Up to the time he was twenty-one he worked as a farm hand, and with the savings from this employment he came to Calhoun county and bought a little place of twenty acres, where he began his practical career as a farmer. In the spring of 1865 he volunteered for the service of his country and was taken into the Twenty-fourth Michigan Infantry, of which Colonel Monroe was commander. The first camp was at Union- ville, and then three months were spent in drill and preparation at Camp Butler, in Springfield, Illinois. After several months service during the closing scenes of the great war, the regiment was returned to Michigan, and after a brief confinement in hospital Mr. Hunt was dis- charged in June. The little farm then became the scene of his labors, and with increasing prosperity he soon afterward bought a hundred acres in the same neighborhood. For thirty odd years he was known as one of the successful farmers and stock raisers of Calhoun county, and his name is still associated with one of the distinctive country places of the county. In 1897 he retired from the steady pursuits of the farm, and has since resided in a fine home at 311 South Marshall avenue. He still has his farm and other interests to employ his time, and as a good citizen takes considerable part in local politics. For about half a century his influence has been on the side of progress and worthy achievement in his own community, and honor and esteem have accompanied his advance to the age of threescore and ten. In politics he is a Republican

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History of Calhoun County, Michigan, a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume II, Part 47

Author: Gardner, Washington, 1845-1928 Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago New York, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 838

Author: Gardner, Washington, 1845-1928
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 838