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 64
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In 1896 he bought a farm of forty acres, which he still owns, and he has since purchased an additional tract of forty acres more. His land is nearly all tillable and under cultivation, and every acre is made to yield good returns for the labor and skill bestowed upon it. The dwelling house on the land needed enlargement and Mr. Carus made an important addition to it. The farm needed many improvements, and he has made them. In every way he has shown his public spirit and progressiveness, and by so doing has augmented and strengthened the large hold he has on the confidence and esteem of the people among whom he lives and labors.
On March 6, 1906, he was united in marriage with Miss Myrtle Van Nocker, a daughter of Andrew Van Nocker, Jr., whose history is given at some length in a sketch of George Whitbeck to be found elsewhere in this volume. One child has been born of the union, a son named Ovid, who is now (1912) five years old. The mother is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church and the father takes an active part in the fra- ternal life of the community as a member of the Modern Samaritans. In political affairs he is independent. In all parts of Calhoun county he is well and favorably known and held in high esteem and good will.
JOHN PAXTON. Struggling forward from his youth in gloom and through difficulties toward success in life and determined to win it; confronting all the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" with a resolute heart and an unyielding spirit; making steady progress by industry, frugality and good management, and now established in worldly comfort and public esteem, John Paxton, one of the enterprising and progressive farmers of Convis township, is a product of native firm- ness of purpose, self-knowledge and self-reliance, and diligence and good judgment in the use of these qualities and the opportunities they brought him.
Mr. Paxton's life began in Marshall township, Calhoun county, on March 27, 1845. His parents, William and Susan (Neilson) Paxton, were natives of Scotland, whence the father came to this country about the year 1833. He was born on May 14, 1810, and the mother on May 9, 1818. They were married in the United States on July 4, 1836, and became the parents of nine children, of whom four of the sons are living, John being the fifth child born in the family, and he and all the others
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being born in the same house, which is still standing in Marshall, this county.
Of the deceased children, one was Robert H., who was killed in the battle of Murfreesborough during the Civil war. James, who was born in 1842, now lives in California. Charles, whose life began on October 27, 1851, is a resident of Nebraska, and William Neilson, whose time of birth was July 27, 1854, has his home in the state of Washington.
The father came to Marshall in 1836, the year of his marriage, to build the Marshall House. He was a good carpenter and builder, and found all the work he could do in this part of the country during the remainder of his life. And he made all his efforts tell to his advantage, accumulat- ing a comfortable estate and rising to a position of general esteem among the people. His political affiliation was with the Republican party, and he and the mother were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He died in February 28, 1875, and she on May 1, 1897.
The paternal grandparents passed the whole of their lives in Scot- land, as did generations of their ancestors, the families being domesticated in that country for a very long period. The grandfather on the mother's side, - Neilson, however, came to the United States and passed the greater part of his remaining years in this state, dying in Pontiac, Oakland county. All were sturdy people in their activity and stability and sterling in their character and fidelity to duty.
John Paxton obtained a common school education in Marshall and began life for himself as a farmer soon after leaving school. He strug- gled along with slow progress at first, saving his earnings and looking forward to the time when he could own a farm of his own. This did not come until 1892, when he bought a tract of eighty acres of land, for which he put himself in debt $500. He is now out of debt and has his farm well improved and highly cultivated, and he owns other property in addition. On this farm he erected the dwelling house and out build- ings, and made all the other improvements, and he has transformed a wholly unimproved tract of land into a fine country home devoted to general farming.
Mr. Paxton has been married four times. His first matrimonial union was in 1882, and with Mrs. Matilda Labteaux, a daughter of Edward Shumway Labteaux, one of the early settlers in Eaton county and an educator of note. She died in 1884, and in 1892 occurred his second mar- riage, which united him with Miss Louise L. Phine. Her demise took place in 1897. One year later he married Mrs. Eliza Arnold as his third wife, who abode with him until 1910, then she too passed away .. His latest venture in the field of wedlock united him with Mrs. Ella Commings on April 10, 1911. She is a Christian Scientist, and one of the devout and ardent champions of the sect and its claims and teach- ings according to its most advanced beliefs.
Mr. Paxton's political faith and allegiance are given zealously to the Republican party, and he is always true to its principles and candi- dates. He is practically a self-made man in the most acceptable sense of the expression, and knowing his own struggles he is sympathetic with those of other men in the same straits. He has also learned from his own experience the value of industry, foresight and the exercise of judgment, and he applies these forces to all matters of public improvement and all undertakings for the promotion of the good of his locality and the welfare of its residents. They, one and all, look upon him as an upright and capable man of genuine worth and a citizen of great usefulness, and give him their cordial respect in accordance with this estimate.
WILLIAM R. HOFFMAN. From the beginning of the postal service the representative men of each community have been chosen to fill the im-
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portant office of postmaster, it being necessary for them to be men of strict honesty, reliability and solidity, as so much responsibility rests in their hands. William R. Hoffman, postmaster at Eckford, Michigan, is one of the most popular officials in the state, and is discharging his duties in a way that awakens admiration and commendation on every side. Mr. Hoffman was born in Eckford township, Calhoun county, November 7, 1877, and is a son of George and Clara (Rapsher) Hoff- man, natives of New York, where the father was born in 1851 and the mother two years later. They were married in Eckford township in 1874, and had a family of six children, all of whom are still living: Walter, of Clarendon township; William R .; Solon, of Clarendon; Olive, who married R. E. Pemberton, of Spokane, Washington ; and George and Roy, residents of Clarendon. George Hoffman was brought as a lad to Eck- ford township by his parents, Henry and Mary Hoffman, who were born and married in Germany, and who spent their last years in agricultural pursuits in Eckford township, Mr. Hoffman owning a farm of eighty acres. His death occurred in 1900 and that of his wife several years earlier. In young manhood, George Hoffman chose carpentering as his life work, and this he had continued to follow throughout his career until 1906, at which time he devoted himself to farming in Clarendon town- ship, where he now owns a valuable tract of 200 acres. Mrs. Hoffman passed away in 1911, in the faith of the Baptist church, of which she was a devoted member. Her husband is a Democrat in political matters, and while a resident of Eckford township served one term as treasurer.
The early education of William R. Hoffman was secured in the public schools of Eckford, and his first employment was in a grocery store in that city, where he acted as a clerk. He subsequently held a' like posi- tion in a store in Albion for two years, and spent four years in the estab- lishment of Mr. McConnell, in Homer, in which city he embarked in business for himself as a grocer and remained two years, meeting with a fair measure of success. In 1909 Mr. Hoffman came to Eckford and opened a general store and through industry and progressive methods has succeeded in building up an excellent business. He carries a full line of up-to-date goods, shows good judgment in their display, and through fair dealing and a desire to be courteous to his customers, has won a wide-spread popularity. In February, 1909, he was appointed postmaster of Eckford, a fourth-class office, and still acts in that ca- pacity.
On January 15, 1903, Mr. Hoffman was married to Miss Mary Hanna, daughter of Frank and Mary Hanna, residents of Homer, the former a retired railroad man. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman have one daughter, Rena, a student in the Eckford schools.
DEL A. SHAFFER. After considerable experience as to vocations and locations Del A. Shaffer chose farming as his permanent line of en- deavor and Calhoun county as the place, and both he and the county have profited by his decision. Like a remarkable number of his fellow citizens he claims New York as the state of his nativity. Born April 4. 1844 in Orleans, then Niagara, county of the Old Empire state, he there grew to manhood and acquired his education in the district schools of his locality and in Yates Academy, Yates, New York. After coming to Michigan he also took a business course at Mayhew's Business College, Albion, Michigan. The second year after leaving New York he spent as a teller in a bank at Janesville, Wisconsin, returning after that to Michigan, where for nine years he taught school during the winters and worked on his father's farm during the summers. At Vol. II-28
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the age of twenty-seven he took up telegraphy and was stationed at Michigan Center, Mich., but as he did not like the work he continued but two years and then returned to the farm. About this time, or at the age of twenty-nine, he was united in marriage to Sarah Robertson, whose parents, Theodore and Christina (Houtz) Robertson, had come to Mich- igan in the '50s and had located first in Branch county but about 1860 had removed to Calhoun county, where both passed to rest. Mr. and Mrs. Shaffer began life together on a rented farm and continued thus until 1880 when Mr. Shaffer purchased 320 acres in Kansas, on which they resided four years. Not liking their location, however, they then returned to Michigan but continued to hold their Kansas property for ten years afterward. After working the farm on which he now resides for five years he bought it of his father-in-law and has since made it his home. Besides this property he also owns 160 acres in Sheridan and Eckford townships. In politics he is independent, reserving to himself the right to judge of men and issues and to cast his ballot in accord with his convictions. While he has no political aspirations, he has been chosen for office nevertheless and has served as a justice of the peace and is now a member of the Calhoun county board of reviews.
Mr. Shaffer is a son of John Shaffer, born in New York, who died in 1892. His mother's maiden name was Susan M. Kenyon and she also was a native of New York, born in Kenyonville, Orleans county, which town was founded by one of her ancestors. The parents were married in New York and resided there until 1863, when they removed to Parma township, Jackson county, Michigan, where they had 120 acres of land and where they remained five years. This was not their first experience in Michigan, however, for they had come to Oakland county of this state in 1841 but remained only one year before returning to New York. They suffered considerably from ague on this first sojourn. From Jackson county they removed to Albion township, Calhoun county, where the father purchased 162 acres, which he held five years and then ex- changed for a farm of eighty acres adjoining the one on which our subject now resides. Later he removed to Eckford township and from thence to Branch county, Michigan, where he died. He was quite successful in a financial way and became a man of competence. To John and Susan M. (Kenyon) Shaffer were born eleven children, of whom Del A. was second in order of birth and is one of six now living (1912). John Shaffer was first a Whig and later a Republican in politics and while he took a keen interest in his party's affairs he never entered actively into party work or sought official preferment. Quiet in disposition and unassuming in manner, he found his greatest pleasure in his home circle and in his business operations. In each of his locations he became well known and respected as an honest and upright man. Both he and his wife were communicants of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. and Mrs. Del A. Shaffer have three children living, their eldest, son, George E., having died in his sixth year. Their eldest daughter, Susie E., is the wife of Frederick E. Clark, of Eckford township; Lillie married Emil Oderkirk, a teacher in a business college at Aberdeen, South Dakota; and Clara Belle, the youngest daughter, is at home with her parents.
I. N. MOORE. One of the men who by originative and inventive genius and by business ability have laid the permanent foundation of Battle Creek's important manufacturing and industrial enterprise is Mr. I. N. Moore, the vice president of the Union Steam Pump Company and promi- nent in other lines of business in the city.
Mr. Moore, who has spent most of his life in this county, was born
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in Chester county, Pennsylvania, twenty-eight miles from Philadelphia, December 23, 1850. The family have been well known residents of this county for about half a century. His parents were George W. and Lavinia P. (Newbre) Moore. His father died on the old homestead in Emmett township, Calhoun county. The mother, who was a daughter of Ila and Irine (Gibson) Newbre, pioneers of this part of Michigan, still lives on the old home farm in Emmett township and is now eighty- three years of age. The Newbre family came west from Genesee county, New York, and made the journey from Detroit to Sandstone in Jackson county by stage, and their first crop of wheat was hauled in wagon clear to Detroit market. George W. Moore, the father, was a carpenter by trade, which he followed during his residence in Pennsylvania, but was always a farmer in this county. Of the six children, all but the subject of this article were born in Emmett township, and all are still living :- J. W. lives on the home farm in Emmett township; Gainer P. is a resi- dent of North Dakota; Mrs. Nellie Woodward has her home in Battle Creek; Charles Elmer lives at Darington, Washington, and Owen in New Mexico.
When I. N. Moore was sixteen years old he got his first introduc- tion to the responsible duties of life by farming the old home place in Emmett township for one season, during which time his father was assisting an uncle in the building of a barn. His early education was obtained in the Spaulding neighborhood of Emmett township, and he early manifested a strong taste and genius for things mechanical. An uncle who lived in Ohio had a machine shop, and there during one year he got the rudiments of the trade. Returning home he finished his apprenticeship with Merritt & Kellogg, in the old Nichols & Shepard shops. Merritt & Kellogg built a traction engine before the large cor- poration took up the manufacture of that class of machinery.
On finishing his apprentice term, he spent a year at Saginaw with the Wicks Brothers, manufacturers of sawmill machinery. He then became identified with Mr. Burnham of Battle Creek in the factory which has since become the American Steam Pump Company. While there an Adventist named Tripp was having a knitting machine made in the shop, and Mr. Moore was assigned to the work. It was a machine too complicated for its small capacity, as he soon saw, and he soon designed a machine of his own which was a great improvement. This invention was the beginning of his independent career, and in associa- tion with James Gridley and Eugene Steward he founded the Wau- pakisco Knitting Company, which had a very successful career for some years. The late William Andrus was president of the company and Warren Noble its secretary and treasurer. They made a specialty of striped mittens, an imitation of hand knit, with two colors of thread. Alonzo Noble, father of Warren, built a factory for them on South Jefferson avenue, and the site is now occupied by part of the plant of the Union Steam Pump Company. After about four years what were known as the "full mittens" came in and made the further manufacture of the striped mittens unprofitable.
During the next three years Mr. Moore had charge of the knitting machinery for the Pembroke Knitting Company, on Champion street, and then engaged with the old Battle Creek Machine Company, now the American Steam Pump Company. While working there he invented the Moore Steam Pump, which is now one of the principle outputs of the Union Steam Pump Company and is used extensively on traction and threshing engines. After he had perfected his design of this pump, he induced Emery Upton to build a few of them in the little job machine shop that he then had here. Having demonstrated the success of the
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pump, he turned the patent over to the Union Manufacturing Company (now the Union Steam Pump Company), and in exchange took stock and has since been identified with this successful manufacturing con- cern. This company manufactures both the Burnham and Moore Steam pumps, air compressors, condensers and power pumps. The present officers of the company are :- C. E. Kolb, president; I. N. Moore, vice president; C. W. Brainard, secretary and treasurer; and John Heyser, general superintendent.
Mr. Moore has also taken out a patent on a steam valve used on the Burnham pumps, and now manufactured by this company, these valves being of larger size than those used on the Moore pump. When Mr. Frost perfected the pump which the Union Manufacturing Company undertook to make, the company was enjoined from using the Frost valve by parties who claimed an infringement on the Marsh steam valve. Within twenty-four hours after the decision, Mr. Moore had perfected a valve which was superior to the other in every way, and which received the name of the Union steam valve. In all, Mr. Moore has taken about ten different patents, in connection with knitting machinery valves and other improvements.
Mr. Moore was one of the organizers and founders of the Advance Pump & Compressor Company of this city, and is now vice president of the company. His valve is also used in the Duplex pump made by this company. He is also a stockholder in the Old National Bank. He is Re- publican in politics, belongs to the Athelstan Club, the leading business and social organization of the city, and is president of the board of trustees of the Maple Street M. E. church.
The residence of the Moore family is at 28 Garrison avenue. Mr. Moore's first wife was Miss Amelia Root. Her father, Alonzo Root, of Newton township, was one of the early settlers in this county and helped in the construction of the Michigan Central Railroad between here and Detroit. Her death occurred in Battle Creek, and her three children, who were born and educated in Battle Creek, are Mrs. C. H. Murry, of Hammond, Indiana, and Earnest and George, of Los Angeles, California.
In Battle Creek Mr. Moore married second Miss Clara Johnson. Mrs. Moore is a native of Pennsylvania, but was reared and educated near Hastings, Barry county, this state. They are the parents of five children, namely: Hazel, who is now Mrs. Henry Edwards, of Los Angeles; Avis, Rhue, Raymond and Irma, all at home. They were all born in this city and attended the local schools.
RAY H. COOK. Calhoun county is fortunate in that it numbers among its most progressive and energetic men those who are yet in the very prime of vigorous manhood, for from them much can be expected. Those of the younger generation, profiting by the experience of those who have gone before them, and thus being able to avoid the mistakes which have frequently been made, are constantly adding to the county's prestige in the various vocations, but this is probably more apparent in agricultural work, in which such great advances have been made during the last few years. Prominent among the farmers of Eckford township stands Ray H. Cook, who in addition to cultivating his own tract of land is managing the large farm of his mother, and who is recognized as one of the most able and progressive young agriculturists of this section. Mr. Cook was born April 7, 1889, at Petersburg, Michigan, and is the adopted son of Theodore Cook. The latter was born March 8, 1839, on the property on which Ray H. Cook is now carrying on operations. a son of Henry Cook. one of the earliest settlers of Calhoun county. Theodore Cook was edu- cated in the district schools of Calhoun county, and at the age of twenty
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years began to follow the vocation of farming, carrying on general farming, but giving special attention to the raising of wheat and to wool growing. He died March 12, 1896, in the faith of the Baptist church, of which he had been a life-long member. In political matters he was a Republican, and at one time served Eckford township as treasurer. In 1873 he was married to Miss Julia Hafer, of St. Joseph county, Michigan.
Ray H. Cook was adopted into the home of Theodore Cook when he was five days old, and was given excellent educational advantages, at- tending the district schools, the high school at Homer, Michigan, and a business college at Battle Creek, Michigan. On completing his course at the latter institution, he returned to the farm, and in 1908 took charge of the operations thereon, superintending them until the estate was settled in 1910. At the present time he owns eighty acres of his own, and also manages the farm of his mother, a tract of 187 acres which is one of the finest properties of its size in the county. In addition to carrying on general farming, Mr. Cook specializes in stock raising, buying and fattening from one to two carloads of cattle and sheep for the market yearly and giving special attention to Chester White hogs. At this time he contemplates entering the business of poultry raising. He is the most progressive of farmers and an excellent business man, holds the full confidence of the community, and may take a pardonable pride in what he has accomplished in so short a space of time.
In 1909 Mr. Cook was married to Iva A. Shultz, daughter of Jasper and Roby (Thompkins) Shultz, for many years prominent farming peo- ple of Eckford township, and now residents of Battle Creek. Two children have been born to this union: Theodore Warren and Clinton Clifford. In his political views Mr. Cook is a Democrat, while his fra- ternal connection is the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of the Macca- bees and the Modern Woodmen of America, all of Homer.
WILLIAM KIDNEY has spent the most of his life in Fredonia and other nearby townships, although he was born in London, Ontario, Canada, on September 15, 1843. He is the son of James and Jane (Sutton) Kidney. The father was born in Conquest, New York, in 1813, January 8th being his natal day, and the mother in Chatters, England, in 1819. She came to America with her parents when she was but fourteen years of age, and with them settled in New York, later removing to Pennsylvania. In the year 1832 Mr. Kidney came to Michigan for the first time. He was unaccompanied by friends or family, and after looking about for a time, settled in Eckford township, and for several years he worked about the mill at Marshall, and it was not until 1854 that he bought the fine farm which later represented his home and which is now the property of William Kidney of this review. In 1840 James Kidney married Jane Sutton, and to them five children were born, William being the second born. After his marriage he moved to Canada and located in London, Ontario, where he became interested in the window blind business and was thus engaged for a number of years. He was in earlier life allied with the Democratic party, but later embraced Republican principles and was active in behalf of the party until he died in 1884. His re- ligious belief was that of the Friends. The wife and mother died in 1872.
William Kidney as a boy at home attended the district schools of Fredonia and of Marshall until he was about eighteen years old, helping with the regular farm work between seasons. At that age he enlisted in the Union army, as a member of Company M of the second Michigan Cavalry, serving about four years. He saw much active service in that time and gave gallant aid to the cause of the Union. He was at Gettys-
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