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 84
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HANNAH W. BRYANT
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
MRS. HANNAH WILLIS BRYANT. Stephen Healy Willis was for many years a resident of Calhoun county and was in his time classed with the leading agriculturist of the state. He entered business life some- what handicapped by physical infirmity, yet he achieved a success that many a more able-bodied man might have envied. He was a man of unusual force of character, which, together with his ambition, enabled him to win a degree of success and prosperity of a pleasing nature. He reached the age of eighty-four years, and his name will long be re- membered kindly in the community where he made his home for many years.
Born on the 5th of January, 1805, in Greene, Chenango county, New York, Stephen Healy Willis was the third child of his parents, Matthew and Sarah (Lyon) Willis, both of whom were natives of Con- necticut. At an early period in his life Matthew Willis made his home in Tompkins county, New York, and later resided in Clyde, that state. He kept a tavern in Tompkins county and was at one time quite a wealthy man, but an unfortunate turn of fortune's wheel lost his en- tire property to him, and with his family. was practically turned out of their home, when their youngest child was but an infant in arms. This unfortunate event took place when Stephen Willis was a lad of ten, and he was soon thereafter bound out, as a means of easing the fam- ily burden. His crippled condition made life unduly hard for him and when he was about seventeen he returned to his parents, who were then located in Clyde, New York. He remained with them till he was well on in his twenties, and his assistance proved valuable in enabling his father to become the owner of a farm. This accomplished, the young man started out for himself and secured employment in a glass factory. He was later employed on the Erie canal and afterward went to Rochester, thence to East Bloomfield, New York.
It was in the springtime of 1835 that Mr. Willis first came to Cal- houn county. He came in company with the man who later became his brother-in-law, and for a time he was in the employ of Judge Olin. The country then was in a wild, unsettled state, but Mr. Willis, with his natural insight into the future, recognized the splendid opportunities which the virgin country presented, and in the autumn of 1837 en- tered two hundred and eight acres of land from the government, his deed to the land being signed by President Van Buren,-a paper which is still in the possession of his daughter, Mrs. Bryant. In May, 1838, he returned to East Bloomfield, New York, and there the young man married Miss Thankful Case, a native daughter of Rhode Island, and the child of Jesse and Tabitha (Hopkins) Case who removed to On- tario county, New York, during the girlhood of their daughter. Mr. Willis returned with his young bride and the pair established their home upon the land he had secured from the government. They met with all those trying experiences common to the pioneer in a new land, incident to short means and the usual primitive conditions, and it is a fact of which they often spoke that there were times when they found it difficult to secure the cash to pay the postage rate, then twenty-five cents, upon letters to their friends in the home state. Two children came to them, but one died in infancy, and lies buried with the parents in Riverside cemetery. The other, Hannah M., is the only living rep- resentative of the family in this section of the state, and now lives at the old homestead.
Mr. Willis was more or less closely connected with the public af- fairs of his community through the years he passed in this vicinity, and his name figures somewhat conspicuously in relation to the history of Albion. The city of Albion was in the early days known as The Forks, and it was upon the petition of Mr. Willis and Amos Babcock that the
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
legislature granted a charter for changing the name. The name Al- bion was chosen, because it was the name of a town near to Mr. Willis' old New York home. The personal activities of Mr. Willis in a busi- ness way were resultant in a continuous upbuilding of his fortunes, and he gradually accumulated a valuable property, including the home farm of four hundred acres. This land was in a wild and uncultivated state when it came into his hands, but the passing years saw a won- drous transformation in his property, and it eventually came to yield him splendid crops as the result of his applied industry and enthu- siasm.
Mr. Willis was always known for a man of the most scrupulous honor and integrity, and his success was the result of unremitting labor, wisely guided by common sense and sound business judgment.
In 1881 the faithful wife of Mr. Willis died at the age of seventy- nine, and it was about seven years later that he passed on. Following the death of his wife he made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Hannah M. Bryant, who cared for him most faithfully and tenderly during his declining years. About three years previous to his death he fell and broke his hip, and though he recovered sufficiently to be able to get about with the aid of crutches, he was almost an invalid as a result of the accident, and he died on the 13th of October, 1888, at the venerable age of eighty-three years, nine and a half months. He was cognizant that the end was near, but his faith in the love of the All-Father was sufficient for him and he died calmly and peacefully. He was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church and was a member of that de- nomination, but he was ever deeply interested in the Baptist church of Albion and gave most generously to its support. His friends of the Baptist church, in appreciation of his unfailing generosity, presented their friend and benefactor with a gift of an easy chair on his eightieth birthday, which afforded him much comfort during the last three years of his life. He was a kind hearted, generous Christian gentleman and none ever came to him in vain for sympathy or aid, and when he finally passed away, he was deeply mourned by many who had loved him and who had reason to feel they had lost a friend. A local publication said of him at the time of his death: "He was a man of strict integrity, true to what he believed to be right, energetic and persevering, doing well whatever he undertook. He was known to everybody as a good man and we have yet to hear the first word against his character. He was a great reader and possessed more than ordinary mentality. His presence will be greatly missed, but his good example and wise counsels will not soon be forgotten. Thus has passed away another of our old settlers and a man whose memory will be cherished by a large circle of friends."
Mrs. Hannah M. Bryant, the sole surviving member of the Willis family, was born and reared in Calhoun county, and she was married on the 27th day of February, 1867, to Mr. Squire Calhoun Bryant, who was born on November 8, 1838, near Dansville, New York. After his death his widow made her home for six years in Rochester, New York, and in 1878 returned to her father's home, where she remained until his death. She is now the owner of the old farmstead which he en- tered from the government nearly eighty years ago, and is busily en- gaged in its operation. To the four hundred which her father left her Mrs. Bryant has added three hundred acres and is now the owner of at least seven hundred acres of fine land in Calhoun county, together with other valuable property. Mrs. Bryant has exercised the same keenness of discernment in the manipulation of her affairs which char- acterized her father's operations, and she is regarded as one of the most
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
successful women of the county today. Thoroughly understanding farm- ing from the most improved and modern view points, she has amply demonstrated her ability to farm scientifically and with profit. In 1899 she erected a handsome residence on her farm at a cost of about five thousand dollars, acknowledged to be one of the fine country homes of Calhoun county, and hospitality abounds in her pleasant home. . Mrs. Bryant has endeared a large circle of friends to herself with the pass- ing years, and is one of the most beloved women of the county.
FRED D. COTTON. Noteworthy among the energetic farmers who ma- terially assist in maintaining the reputation of Calhoun county as a superior agricultural and stockraising region is Fred D. Cotton, who has made his own way through life, every dollar that he possesses having come to him through his own efforts. A son of John Cotton, he was born January 9, 1872, in Marshall county, Kansas. His paternal grand- father, Dudley Cotton, was born in Vermont, of English lineage. Com- ing to Michigan many years ago, he took up government land in Le Roy township, Calhoun county, and on the farm which he hewed from the wilderness spent his remaining days, dying at the venerable age of four score and four years.
Born and brought up in Le Roy township, John Cotton assisted his father in the pioneer labor of clearing and improving a farm, remain- ing at home until after the breaking out of the Civil war, when he volun- teered his services, and served for three years as a soldier, taking part in many engagements of importance. He made farming his chief oc- cupation, and is now living in Battle Creek. He married De Ette Rider, who was born in Calhoun county, Michigan, on the farm where her father, Benjamin Rider, settled on coming to Michigan from New York.
Selecting for his life occupation the free and independent calling of a farmer, Fred D. Cotton has been engaged in agricultural pursuits for many years. He has displayed marked ability and intelligence in his labors, and in his work has been quite prosperous. In 1909 he bought his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and is meeting with very satisfactory results as a general farmer and stock-raiser, each year adding to the improvements and value of his estate. Politically Mr. Cotton is a steadfast Republican, and fraternally he is a member of Climax Lodge, No. 59, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.
Mr. Cotton married, in 1896, Mabelle Hayes, a daughter of Leonard Jerome Hayes, who was born in New York state. was for some time engaged in farming in Michigan, and later removed to South Bend, Indiana, where he carried on a prosperous business as a baker. Mrs. Cotton's paternal grandfather, Captain Hayes, who served in the Civil war from 1861 until 1863, was born, lived, and died in Hebron, Wash- ington county, New York. On July 19, 1874, Leonard Jerome Hayes married Ellen Blackett, a remarkably capable young woman, who was an expert dressmaker, and an accomplished musician, having for a number of years given instruction on the piano, and to them three children were born, Mabelle, Carrie and Jesse. Mrs. Cotton's ma- ternal grandfather, William Blackett, was born in Warwickshire, England, in 1825, and came to America in 1844, landing in New York, from there walking, with his brother, Robert, to Detroit, Michi- gan. For five years thereafter he followed his trade of a blacksmith, and then, in 1850, bought two hundred acres of land lying south and west of Battle Creek. He subsequently lived in Kalamazoo a few years, and while there developed his great artistic talent, creating from fifty to sixty large and valuable oil paintings, some of which won either first or second premiums at the Chicago and Detroit fairs. He was widely
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
known as the "farmer artist." William Blackett married, in 1846, Lucy Chamberlain, who was born in Berkshire, England, in 1826, and came to America with her parents in 1837. In 1838 her father took his family back to Old England, and in 1840, with his wife and six children, re- turned to the United States, being three months in crossing the ocean. Mrs .. William Blackett died in 1900, two years before her husband, leaving six children, as follows: Sidney, William, Charles, Frank, Henry, Ellen and Libbie.
Mr. and Mrs. Cotton are the parents of four children, namely : Bes- sie, Walter, Aulean, and Wallace.
OTIS F. KIMBALL. Although badly handicapped as a young man by the loss of his right arm while fighting for his country, Otis F. Kimball, now a prosperous and wealthy agriculturist of Newton township, bravely began his active career without means, but without a doubt of ultimate success, and by dint of industry, thrift, and superior business manage- ment has attained a position of affluence and influence among the lead- ing men of his community. A son of Jesse R. Kimball, he was born, February 8, 1845, in Burlington township, Calhoun county, of sub- stantial New England stock. His grandfather, Wills was of Scotch- Irish ancestry, and came from a family noted for its military spirit and service, several of his kinsmen having been officers in the Standing Army, while he himself served in the Revolutionary war.
Jesse R. Kimball was born, in 1798, in New Hampshire, and among its rocks and rills grew to manhood. Following the march of civiliza- tion westward, he came to Michigan with the pioneers of 1835, and for thirty years thereafter was engaged in tilling the soil in Burlington township, Calhoun county. Selling that farm about 1865, he purchased land in Newton township, and was there employed in general farming until his death, in 1882. He was a man of sterling integrity and worth, and a consistent Christian. His wife, whose maiden name was Sallie Rood, survived him, passing away in 1885. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He inherited the patriotic spirit that characterized his ancestors, and during the War of 1812, when but four- teen years old, served in the army as a drummer boy.
In 1862, while yet in his teens, Otis F. Kimball, enthused with patri- otic zeal, enlisted in Company A, First Regiment Michigan Sharpshoot- ers, and with his command was sent to Indiana to look after Morgan and his raiders, pursuing the band to North Vernon and to Pierceville. He was subsequently at the front in the Battle of the Wilderness, and again at Spottsylvania, where he was so severely wounded that after the engagement he was forced to have his right arm amputated. He re- mained in the Columbia hospital until December, 1864, when he was discharged from the service, and returned home. With only one arm, Mr. Kimball sought some comparatively light work, for a time serving as a book agent, and later becoming a dealer in stock. In course of time he accumulated some means, which he invested in land. In 1882 he purchased his present home farm in Newton township, and has since placed the larger part of his one hundred and sixty acres under a high state of cultivation, and has erected a commodious residence and sub- stantial barns and outbuildings, his improvements being of a practical and substantial character. He is Independent in politics, voting for the best men and measures without regard to party prejudice.
On April 19, 1881, Mr. Kimball was united in marriage with Florence Stolp, who was born in New York state, a daughter of William Stolp, who came to Michigan in 1850, bought land in Calhoun county, and was subsequently engaged in farming the remainder of his life. Mr. and
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
'Mrs. Kimball have two children, namely: Courtland V., living on the home farm; and Leonia, a student at the Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
JOHN P. CLOUGH, a well known and substantial farmer of Sheridan township, is the son of English parents. Born in New York, March 23, 1851, he came with them to Calhoun county, Michigan, in 1856 and for fifty-six years has been a continuous resident of the township in which they settled. Here he grew up a farmer boy, attended the country schools, and when he came to responsible years took up carpentering as his occupation. After seven years in this line of employment he took up farming, the first five years on the shares. In 1882 he bought his present farm of 219 acres in Sheridan township and went in debt for the whole of it. Energetic, ambitious and self-reliant and not afraid of work, he set about with courage and vigor to make it truly his and today he is its owner free of all indebtedness. A man of unquestioned force and probity of character, he has thus from a small beginning made his way to the very first rank of Sheridan township's successful and in- fluential agriculturists through an unconquerable determination to suc- ceed. It is through the efforts of such men that so much has been ac- complished in the development of Calhoun county and upon such citizens depends the future progress and standing of the county. Besides gen- eral farming Mr. Clough is also interested in dairying and has twenty- one cows.
He is a son of Henry and Ellen (Blackhurst) Clough, who as pre- viously mentioned became settlers in Sheridan township in 1856. Both were natives of England, where he was born in 1828 and she in 1830. Henry Clough came to America in 1848 and settled in New York, where he was married and from whence he came to Michigan. He was a resi- dent of Sheridan township forty-four years, or until his death in 1900, and was accounted one of its sterling men. He worked a farm near Hillsdale one year and so successfully managed it that he made $1,000, and with this as his capital purchased the farm of seventy acres which formed his homestead. It will thus be seen that both father and son have been self-made men. Henry Clough was a Republican in politics. Ellen Blackhurst Clough was the daughter of Stephen and Fannie (Tay- lor) Blackhurst, who were English settlers in New York but finally made their home in Michigan and passed away in this state. To the par- ents of our subject were born five children, of whom two besides John P. reside in Calhoun county, namely : Kara, now Mrs. Wallace Abbott, of Albion township, and William Clough, of Sheridan township. The mother was a communicant of the Episcopal church.
In 1879 John P. Clough took as his wife Miss Eliza Kimmer, daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Mathias Kimmer, old residents of Sheridan town- ship. To this union have been born four children, viz: Kara D., the wife of Charles Schroyer and a resident of Michigan; Charles, who operates a farm in Sheridan township; Clara, now Mrs. Max Roots, of Sheridan township; and Laura, at home. Mr. Clough is a member of the Ancient Order of Gleaners, and in politics is a Republican.
CHARLES R. LAMB. Calhoun county is well favored in the number of its intelligent and enterprising farmer citizens, one of whom is Charles R. Lamb, a native of Marengo township who has continuously resided on his present homestead in Clarence township since 1844. Removed to Clarence in 1845. This homestead is one which his father, Andrew Lamb, bought in 1844, on October 9 of which year Charles R. was born. Andrew Lamb, born in 1800, and his wife Susan (Lincoln) Lamb were
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
both natives of New York, in which state they were married and from whence they removed to Calhoun county, Michigan. They were among the very early settlers in this county and located in Clarence town- ship, where they bought a farm on which they spent the remainder of their lives and which their son Charles R. now owns. Andrew Lamb had no capital to assist him in making his way in life save the will and willingness to do, and all that he accumulated was the result of his own labor. He died in 1862. To these parents were born ten children but five of whom survive at this date (1912), namely: Sanford Lamb, now a resident of Eaton county, Michigan; Emery Lamb, who resides in Albion, Michigan and was a Union soldier in the Civil war; Mrs. Martha Olds, whose home is in California; Sarah A., who first married John Wise and after his death became the wife of Charles Square, now also deceased ; and Charles R. Lamb, the subject of this review. Andrew Lamb was a son of Isaac Lamb. In political affairs he was first aligned with the Whigs and then later with the Republicans.
Charles R. Lamb grew to manhood on the parental Clarence township farm and in the meantime received the usual common school education. He was yet in his teens when his father died but he continued to work on the home place and later bought it. At the time of his purchase it was encumbered. By untiring industry and steady perseverance he acquired the means to remove the mortgage; he built up the farm, and in recent years erected an attractive and comfortable brick residence on the west side of Duck Lake. Today he owes no man, is the owner of a good farm of eighty-four acres, and has acquired that competence which so far as finances are concerned insures him a comfortable old age.
In 1868 he was united in marriage to M. J. Gribble, daughter of John and Susan (Clark) Gribble, the former of whom was born in Penn- sylvania in 1812 and the latter in Ohio in 1820. Mr. and Mrs. Gribble came to Calhoun county, Maryland in the early '50s and settled on a farm of eighty acres in Clarence township, where the former passed away in 1862. He was a Democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Lamb have two chil- dren. Their son Wilkes is a resident of Jackson county, Michigan, and their daughter Cecelia is the wife of Frank Abbey and resides in Albion, Michigan.
Mr. Lamb is an advocate of prohibition. In religious faith he is a Christian Scientist, with the merits of which teachings he first became acquainted some twenty years ago while seeking relief from sickness. He had been in ill health several years and all attempts to secure benefi- cial help had thus far failed when he came under the influence of Chris- tian Science teachings and found the long sought relief, for he has not had a sick day since. He firmly believes in God and His good works. Mr. Lamb is one of the most influential men of Clarence township, a position he has attained through long years of worthy living during which his honor and integrity have ever been his first consideration. He is therefore deservedly mentioned among the representative men of Calhoun county.
JOHN M. THOM. "Talent alone cannot make a book; there must be a man behind the book," writes Emerson, and, had the American philosopher been discussing matters which had to do with the making of monuments as well as those pertaining to literature, he might have added: "Stone cutting alone cannot make a monument; there must be a man behind the instruments," a man, too, possessed of the neces- sary qualifications; a man of brain, training and talents that are bound to lead to success and comfortable competence, as in the case of the subject of these lines. John M. Thom, widely and favorably known
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
as a sculptor of ability, and manufacturer of granite and marble monu- ments, statuary, etc., located at No. 60 Virginia avenue, Battle Creek, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, April 28, 1881, and is a son of George and Jessie (McDonald) Thom, both of whom are now living retired in Aberdeen. The father was for a long period a granite manufacturer in Scotland, but during the last ten years has not been engaged in active business. He has visited this country on two occasions, but his wife has never left the land of her birth. They had a family of seven children, two sons and five daughters, and all are now married except one sister, who resides with her parents. Two boys and one sister now reside in the United States: John M .; Mrs. R. J. Cummings, residing in Omaha, Nebraska; and Alexander, second engineer in one of the big manufacturing plants of Cleveland, Ohio.
John M. Thom was educated at Aberdeen in the Robert Gordon's College and also attended the Gray School of Art. Following this he enlisted as a volunteer in the British army, becoming a member of the First Batallion, Gordon Highlanders, a famous, hard-fighting regi- ment, with which he was connected five years. For eighteen months he served in South Africa, under Gen. Kitchener, in the Boer War, during which he had an uncle, William R. McGregor, who was killed, and a cousin wounded. Mr. Thom received his honorable discharge in 1902, and during the following year set sail for the United States. He landed first at Montreal, Canada, where he remained only a short time, then going to Barre, Vermont, where he worked in the granite quarries for five years. Subsequently, he spent a short time in Ottawa, Canada, and in 1909 came to Battle Creek, Michigan, and engaged in business with William McDonald, under the firm name of McDonald & Thom. Two years later, however, his health failing, Mr. McDonald was forced to go to California, and accordingly went to Los Angeles, where he has since resided, Mr. Thom being sole owner of the business. He has erected some of the first monuments in Oak Hill and the Cath- olic Cemetery, and makes a specialty of carving and designing. He is a man of sterling enterprise as well as artistic ability, which is mani- fested in every detail of his business, and during his long experience has made a special study of each branch of his profession; all of which, combined with the strictest integrity and honorable dealing, leading characteristics of those of Scotch birth, have won for him innumerable friends and a wide business connection. The monuments in our ceme- teries are evidence of the respect and affection the living entertain for their dead, and honoring the dead has been the inspiration of sculp- tors in all ages, a desire to execute those wonderful creations that have filled the world with monuments of beauty. The designing and execu- tion of memorial work is not a trade, but an art, and furnishes a wide range for men possessed of such artistic attainments as have been be- stowed upon Mr. Thom. One of the best known specimens of his work is to be found in Oak Hill cemetery, marking the grave of Dr. A. E. McBeth, a former old and honored physician of this city. On rough granite is a perfectly executed representation of the Doctor's horse, above which is a Masonic emblem, a symbol of his long and honored connection with that great fraternity. The whole work is graceful in its symmetry and strikingly impressive, a beautiful ornament to that city of the dead. Another beautiful monument is that of the late Mrs. W. H. Staley, erected by her daughter, Mrs. C. L. Post, of Battle Creek. Both these works were executed by Mr. Thom and are ad- mirable specimens of his talent, his handicraft and his sympathetic understanding of his art. His establishment, situated at No. 60 Vir- ginia avenue, within three minutes' walk of Oak Hill and Mt. Olivet
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