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 57
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Frank Ponto began his education in the district schools of Clarence township and concluded it in the public schools of Albion. When his student days were over he returned to the farm and assisted his aged father in its management while the latter was still living, and after the father's death, or in 1908, he bought out the other heirs and in the short period since then has so intelligently managed his farming interests that he has paid this indebtedness and is now the owner of the old homestead. Besides general farming he gives especial attention to the raising of beans and has twenty-six acres devoted to that crop this year (1912). In political views he is a Republican.
HENRY GOLDUP. A fine representative, not only of the prosperous and well-to-do agriculturists of Calhoun county, but of the self-made men of the state, Henry Goldup, of Homer township, is especially worthy of more than passing mention in a work of this kind and value. Like many other of Michigan's more prosperous citizens, he is of foreign birth and breeding, having been born, January 15, 1844, in England. His parents, Thomas and Caroline (Harington) Goldup, were life-long residents of England, the father having been overseer on a large farming estate, and both having been members of the Church of England.
. At the age of twenty-one years, deciding that a change of scenes and country might prove beneficial to his finances, at least, Henry Goldup, un- accompanied by either friends or relatives, crossed the Atlantic to New York, and for two years worked by the month at Hoosick Falls, that state. Being economical and frugal, he saved one hundred dollars the first year. In 1868 he came to Michigan where land was cheaper than in the eastern states, locating in Calhoun county, where he worked by the month for three years, after which he rented land for two years, and farmed on his own account. In 1875 Mr. Goldup first became a land- holder, paying part cash down for eighty acres of land, which was in its primitive wildness. Clearing a space, he erected a house and the nec- essary farm buildings, fenced the land, and continued his agricultural operations. As his means increased, he invested in other tracts of land, and is now the owner of four hundred acres of as rich farming land as can be found in his neighborhood. A broad-minded, liberal man, enter- prising and progressive, he has spared neither time nor expense in adding to the improvements of his property, and in addition to carrying on general farming breeds Durham cattle, a branch of industry that he finds quite profitable.
Mr. Goldup married, in 1868, Jane Hannah Peal, and to them twelve children have been born, namely: Thomas, who bought the Cook farm, which he is now managing successfully : James, working on his father's farm; Clara, wife of Will Riechow, of Homer: Charley, twin brother of Clara, lives in Albion ; Susan, wife of John Mathias, of Homer ; Florence, lives with her parents; Willie, living at home: and Bessie, attending the Homer high school, and four that died in youth. Politically Mr. Goldup is a Democrat, and religiously he and his wife are members of the Pres- byterian church.
HENRY E. WHITBECK. A Convis township agriculturalist of broad interests is Henry E. Whitbeck, who for more than forty years has been a resident of Michigan and for forty or more a citizen of the community where he now resides. Mr. Whitbeck is a New Yorker by birth, the Em- pire state having been the life-long home of both his father and his grandfather. The last-named progenitor, Albert Whitbeck, was living in Columbia county of the eastern commonwealth when his son, James Whitbeck, was born, in the year 1795. The latter became a farmer of
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notable success, owning one hundred acres and living in the village of Newark in his later years. He married Miss Elsie Statts, also of that county, where she was born in 1824. James Whitbeck and his wife reared a family of seven children of whom Henry was the youngest. His brothers and sisters who are yet living include the following: Cath- erine, who is Mrs. John L. Van Auken, now a widow, nearly eighty years of age, living in Iowa; Albert Whitbeck, of Missouri; John Whitbeck, of Florida; and Lena, who is Mrs. B. D. Doane, of Ohio. This group of sons and daughters were brought up in the faith of the Presbyterian church, of which both the parents were members. The father was a Republican in politics.
At the home of James and Elsie Whitbeck, in Wayne county, New York, occurred on April 6, 1848, the birth of the son named Henry. In the rural schools of his home locality and in the high school at Newark he received his life's educational equipment. This he turned to imme- diate account by teaching a few terms of school, after which he devoted his attention to his inherited vocation of farming. After a valuable variety of experience in assisting others in farm enterprises, he came in the year 1870 to Michigan, where he bought land in Penfield town- ship. After ten years of agricultural activity in that place he made a permanent location in Convis township, where he has become a well- known and influential citizen. His farm, which embraces a quarter- section, is one on which all the pursuits of general farming are carried on, dairy and fruit being special features of the same.
Mrs. Whitbeck was in her girlhood Miss Flora A. Shipman, a daugh- ter of Albert and Rachael (Burch) Shipman. The Shipman family were among the early settlers of Michigan. Their farm of one hundred and sixty acres was well known as that of a successful agriculturist. Flora Shipman was the only child of her parents and her marriage to Mr. Whit- beck occurred March 16, 1870. They became the parents of six children, named and located as follows: Albert Whitbeck, in St. Paul; Lucius located in the West; Flora, Mrs. C. C. Day, in Marshall, Michigan; George, in Convis township, where he is a capable farmer; Charles, in the parental home; Lena, who is a trained nurse, in Ann Arbor. The members of this estimable family are connected with the Methodist Episcopal church. The political affiliation of Mr. Whitbeck is Repub- lican.
GEORGE S. WHITBECK and his worthy wife are typical exponents of the faithfully industrious and unpretentious citizens who contribute the most staple elements, both of material production and of character, to the sustaining of our great country. Mr. Whitbeck, the son of Henry Whitbeck, one of Michigan's representative agriculturists, was born on January 1, 1878, in Penfield township. His early mental development was accomplished under the public school system of Marshall township, and as he neared the years of maturity he turned his attention and en- ergies to the purposive pursuits of the farm which the family at that time occupied in Convis township.
The useful activities pertaining to the landed property on which he lives and the serene comforts of domestic life have ever been to George Whitbeck the chief pleasures of existence. At the age of twenty-two he fortunately won a life companion of high quality, since when his voca- tional progress has been steadily increasing in spite of occasional unto- ward circumstances. A brief period he spent in a business enterprise of a nature related logically to the enterprises of the farm. Leaving for a time the mingled and ever numerous agricultural duties to which he had been reared, he removed to Battle Creek, where for one year he conducted Vol I-25
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a meat market. At the end of that time he purchased a property of eighty acres adjoining the parental farm and returned to the freedom of rural life. Not only does he pursue successfully the varied activities of gen- eral farming, but makes a notable specialty of dairying. He possesses a very fine herd of registered Jerseys, which he is from time to time increasing. Aside from the occupation of a part of his property by his stock, he has sixty acres under an excellent state of cultivation.
Mrs. George Whitbeck was formerly Miss Agnes Van Nocker, a daugh- ter of Andrew Van Nocker, regarding whose parents-representatives of a New York family-information is given in the sketch of James Van Nocker, in these volumes. Andrew Van Nocker was reared and edu- cated among the rural scenes of Convis township, learning the various phases of farm work from his father, with whom he remained until the age of sixteen, at which time he began to gather a wider experience by working by the month for neighboring farmers. In 1874 he married Maggie Skillen, a daughter of David and Margaret Skillen; she was a na- tive of New York state, the date of her birth being July 7, 1853. Mr. and Mrs. Skillen never came to the state of their daughter's adoption. Her marriage to Mr. Van Nocker occurred in 1878; their residence was es- tablished on a fine fruit farm; and their family was five times succes- sively brightened by the coming of a daughter, of whom Agnes Adell- later Mrs. Whitbeck-was the second. Her elder sister was named Ida May and her residence is still with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Van Nocker. The three younger sisters were as follows: Ella Myrtle Van Nocker, now Mrs. Arthur Carus of Penfield township and the mother of one child, Ovid Merle Carus; Bessie Ethel Van Nocker, who is now Mrs. Frank Van Laudagent of Kalamazoo city; and Celia Caroline, who is Mrs. Ellery House of Battle Creek and the mother of two children, Duane and Mildred Elois House. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Van Nocker and Miss Van Nocker is one of the attractive places of Convis township. Mr. Van Nocker is notable for his independent political views, which are some- what socialistic.
The Van Nocker-Whitbeck marriage took place in 1900 and has been blessed with one son, Sheldon Laverne, who was born January 14, 1903, and who is now attending the Cleveland school in Marshall township. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Whitbeck is one of the most interesting and pro- gressive households of the younger agriculturists in Convis township. Their house was unfortunately destroyed by fire in April, 1912, but the business of constructing a new edifice was at once put into operation. Mr. Whitbeck's outside interests include his political affiliation with the Republican party and his fraternal connection with the order of the Modern Woodmen of America. Both he and Mrs. Whitbeck enjoy social activity.
CHARLES LAWRENCE ELLIS. To devote one's life to the betterment of the conditions of the rising generation and to inspire the youth of the land to equip themselves for more useful lives is a work that will abide. We who are now bearing the burdens of civil and moral life must depend upon the oncoming generation to take our places in a few short years, and we expect of them greater things than we have accomplished, to do our work better than we have done it. The person who contributes his energies and genius to this work will confer endur- ing benefits upon society, and those who come after us will be better qualified than we are to make this old world a better place in which to live.
To a remarkable degree has the life work of Charles Lawrence Ellis been felt by the young men and young women of our land. He is
CHARLES L. ELLIS
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enshrined in the hearts of the people not because he promulgated a new code of morals, nor because of the discovery of an enlightened religious dogma, nor for his advocacy of some amazing political creed, but because he worked out in a practical manner the means by which the oncoming generation can secure an education that will not only make it easier for them to earn a livelihood, but will encourage them to become better and more useful citizens. To this one idea he devoted his life. His work has endured, and has influenced for good thousands of young lives.
Briefly, Mr. Ellis, after years of thought and study devised a system of business instruction for use in public and private schools that has revolutionized the methods of teaching commercial subjects. The practicability of this plan of instruction has been amply demonstrated. The author believed that the prevalent method of teaching commercial subjects was wrong in theory and ineffective in practice, and said so boldly. Mr. Ellis' ideas aroused the hostility of those who were wedded to the old educational regime. The conservative wise man is liable to resent new ideas as a challenge to his own wisdom. So the criticisms came. The leading educational journals all over the country teemed with articles pro and con, and the venerable and conservative dignita- ries of the educational world declared that it was a fad and a fraud and a scheme to delude the unwary. And so the war waged, until finally the child of Mr. Ellis' brain, the idea of learning to do by doing won the victory, simply because it was founded on the eternal principle of progress and right thinking. The author had the satisfaction of seeing to some extent the splendid results of his work before his death. The promulgation of this great idea brought about a discussion that has had no parallel in the history of education. Now that it has come to be accepted and adopted it is acknowledged that it has done more than all else combined to revive the popularity of business education. And so Mr. Ellis' work lives, and more and more as the years go by do men and women realize what he did for them and for the cause of sound and sane educational methods. He builded better than he knew.
Charles 'Lawrence Ellis was born near Hubbardston, Michigan, in Ionia County, on the 17th of April, 1856. He was reared on the farm, receiving the hardy and practical training that falls to the lot of the American country boy. He was sent to the village school, and when he was yet a boy he became much interested in penmanship, in which art he soon became an adept. He began his career as a teacher of writing in Central Michigan, and it was not long before he became known as a penman of great artistic ability. He particularly excelled as an orna- mental penman, and his fine productions in this line marked him as one of the best pen artists in the United States. He had no intention, however, of adopting this profession as a vocation, so he studied accounting and was soon prepared to accept a position as head book- keeper for a business concern. He felt that he had not as yet acquired sufficient education, so he resigned his position and entered Valparaiso University at Valparaiso, Indiana. At the conclusion of his course in this institution he accepted a position as teacher of penmanship and bookkeeping in the Cleary Business College at Ypsilanti, Michigan.
The principalship of the Commercial Department of the Eureka Academy and Business College at Eureka, California, was offered him in 1885, and he resigned his former position to accept this. In 1886, in conjunction with N. S. Phelps, principal of this school, Mr. Ellis founded the San Francisco Business College. It was while he was connected with these schools that he developed the method of commercial teaching that has made his name honored and revered wherever the subject is
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taught. The system was so successful and it brought pupils in such increasing numbers to the school, that the partners determined to pub- lish the method. To facilitate this work they organized the Ellis Pub- lishing Company. They later disposed of their interest in the San Francisco Business College, in order to give all of their time to the demands of the growing publishing business. In 1893 they located the business at Battle Creek, Michigan, and here it has grown with the years to its present large proportions.
Mr. Ellis was only forty-one years of age at the time of his death, which came with a suddenness that was a great shock to everyone. He had always been in perfect health and was a man of powerful physique. His death was due to embolism of the pulmonary artery. He died in Battle Creek on the 25th of September, 1897.
The Ellis Publishing Company publish the well known Ellis Cabinet- Card System of Actual Business, Ellis Industrial Bookkeeping and the Tablet Method of Teaching Bookkeeping and Business Training, as well as numerous commercial text-books. They also print school sta- tionery, and other supplies, and they do a great variety of other print- ing. Their publications are not only popular as to subject matter, but are attractive in mechanical appearance. The officers of the company are W. B. Phillips, president; Mrs. Bertha L. Corpening, vice president; and Mrs. Henrietta Ellis, secretary and treasurer. The company is located at 15-17 East State Street. Their publications are used widely by public and private schools throughout the United States and Canada.
On the 9th of February, 1889, Mr. Ellis was married to Miss Henrietta Freeman, in San Francisco, California. Mrs. Ellis' girlhood home was Detroit, and she had been a student of her husband's at the Cleary Business College in Ypsilanti, Michigan. One daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Ellis. This daughter, Myrtle C., was born in San Francisco. She attended the Battle Creek schools and is now a student in La Salle Seminary at Auburndale, Massachusettes. After Mr. Ellis' death Mrs. Ellis, herself a trained business woman, took up the duties of administering the estate and continuing her husband's work. In this she has been unusually successful. Her tenacity of purpose, good judgment, and integrity of character has brought her recognition from the best business intterests of the city in which this thriving business is located. She is actively associated in the management of the business and is an important contributor to its success. Mrs. Ellis is a member of the Independent Congregational Church, and also a member of the Woman's League of Battle Creek.
Charles Lawrence Ellis was a man of strong personality. He was remarkably alert and possessed a mind of originality and of extreme inventive tendencies. He utilized this inventive talent not only in his chosen profession but also in other matters requiring mechanical skill. He was strong and true in his affections, and was greatly devoted to his family. His geniality won him a large circle of friends especially among the young people, for he was a delightful companion. It is difficult to understand why such a man should be lost to the world so young in life, but the work which he did lives after him.
DWIGHT C. DICKEY. It is impossible to write of the enterprising farmer and poultryman, Dwight C. Dickey, without first giving space to the main facts of the life of his father, Franklin W. Dickey. The latter was the son of Judge Charles and Mary (Wakeman) Dickey, who are remembered by old residents of Marshall as being very prominent in the city's earlier activities. Franklin Dickey was born in Marshall on the eighteenth day of August, 1838. His education was that ob-
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tainable in the public and high school system of the city and his earliest practical enterprises were those connected with his father's store and farm. He was wide awake and ambitious, however, and soon began to undertake independent business. He was twenty years of age when he began farming on his own account and also commenced the wool buying which he made so successful. He dealt largely in fleeces for eastern dealers, whom he represented as a buyer. He bought and shipped by carloads, becoming in a comparatively short time one of the principal wool-dealers in this section of Michigan. Not only this line, but that of handling horses of superior breed engaged his ability. He erected large barns and stables, bought horses such as his unusual judgment enabled him to buy to great advantage, handled them with exceptional skill and shipped them at fancy prices His farm property he fitted up with a modern and spacious home, in addition to the numerous large barns and stables erected for his horses Seven Oaks Farm is included within the corporate limits of Marshall and since Franklin Dickey's retirement from business the buildings formerly devoted to that purpose have been taken down and converted into other structures on odd lots. He still retains a lively interest in all af- fairs of personal and public nature. Formerly township assessor for four years, member of the school board for seven years, secretary of the Calhoun County Agricultural Society for several years and its president for four years, he has given worthy assistance to the official responsibili- ties of the community. As a Republican he has been always definitely active, having often represented his county in state and congressional convention. His is also the distinction of having been promoted from the private ranks to that of Major in the Second Michigan Cavalry, during the Civil war.
Mrs. Franklin Dickey was formerly Miss Mary A. Perry, of Te- cumseh, Lenawee county, Michigan. She and Mr. Dickey became the parents of one daughter and two sons. They are well known in Marshall as Miss Donna L., Harry P. and Dwight C. Dickey, the last of whom is the special subject of this sketch.
Dwight C. Dickey was born in the same city that was his father's birthplace and is still his home, the son's natal day being June 1, 1883. He too was educated in the graded schools and the high school of Marshall; and he too learned practical activities on his father's farm. On the Dickey farm three miles southwest of the city, and comprising one hundred and sixty acres, he spent much of his time until he had reached the years of his majority. The farm which he now occupies is one of the best improved properties in the township. Here Mr. Dickey conducts various agricultural enterprises, chief among which are the extensive raising of grain and hay and of fine poultry products. He owns five hundred hens and plans increasing the number to fifteen hundred, while establishing a convenient and successful hennery. The chief specialty with which he is experimenting is that of Leghorn hens, the greatest of egg producers, though not prolific breeders. Mr. Dickey is testing the various makes of brooders, with the intention of bringing chicken-raising to a scientific and successful stage. His incubators are the latest and best improved on the market.
Mr. Dickey was married in 1904 to Miss Bertha E. Dobbins, a daughter of J. L. and Emma (Tiffany) Dobbins. Mr. Dobbins is widely known as one of the old residents of Calhoun county, where his land holdings are extensive. The children of the Dwight-Dobbins marriage are two sons named John Wakeman and Lawrence Dwight.
ROBERT E. DULLAM, M. D. Holding high position among his pro- fessional brethren in Calhoun county, Michigan, is Dr. Robert E. Dul-
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lam. Acute in his perceptions, widely read in his profession and skill- ful in applying his acquirements to practical use, his value as a phy- sician and surgeon is of the highest character, and it is by such as he that the famous couplet of Pope was inspired,
"A wise physician, skill'd our wounds to heal, Is more than armies to the public weal."
. Dr. Dullam was born in Flint, Michigan, June 22, 1874, the son of Dr. William and Ida (Bump) Dullam, both natives of Genesee county, Michigan. The father was of English descent and the mother traces her origin to Scotch forbears. The former received his education at Albion College in the early '50s and for his life work adopted the pro- fession of a physician and druggist. He was a druggist at Flint for many years and was a man of influence and one who commanded re- spect, both for ability and character. His parents had crossed the At- lantic in early days to become Michigan pioneers and all his life he was one of the most loyal of Wolverine sons. In course of time he abandoned the drug business and devoted his entire attention to the practice of medicine, his career as a medical practitioner covering a period of thirty years. The death of this gentleman occurred in Flint, Novem- ber 24, 1905. His admirable wife was educated in a convent at Mon- roe, Michigan, and she and her husband became the parents of three sons, the immediate subject of these lines being the eldest in order of birth.
Dr. Dullam was graduated from the Flint high school, as a member of the class of 1886 and subsequently matriculated in the Battle Creek Adventist College where he studied for five years. To prepare for his professional career he became a student in the Detroit College of Medi- cine, receiving his degree from this famous institution. Well fortified theoretically, he went to Flint to begin his practice with his honored father and he remained in this association for some three years, or until the elder gentleman was summoned from a sphere of signal use- fulness to the Undiscovered Country. In that same year, 1905, Dr. Dullam came to Battle Creek and here his career has been of the most satisfactory character, his training and attainments, combined with personality of prepossessing sort having won for him the confidence and regard of the community. Fraternally, Dr. Dullam is a member of the Elks and the Knights of Pythias and he was a charter member of the Country Club. He takes the interest of the intelligent and altruistic citizen in all matters of public import, and his hand and heart are ex- tended towards the support of all measures calculated for the better- ment of the whole of society.
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