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 88
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Mr. Hart has always been closely associated with his father in busi- ness, as father and son usually are, and he has assisted materially in the good fortunes of his father's concern. His previously mentioned stock farm is in Fulton county of the Hoosier state and upon its broad acres the subject raises the best kind of beef cattle, namely : Black Poll Angus and Durham cattle.
Mr. Hart is one of the state's most prominent members of the Knights of Pythias. He has passed all the chairs and has been twice elected to Grand Lodge. In 1911 he was elected Grand Outer Guard of the Grand Lodge, which is the stepping stone toward the highest honors in that body.
On August 25, 1896, Mr. Hart was happily married to Miss Bertha M. Miller, daughter of Charles Miller of Battle Creek, Michigan. Mrs. Hart was born in Three Rivers, Michigan and received her education in that place and in Battle Creek, her parents removing here in her girl- hood. Into their attractive household has been born two children, as follows: Ruby Marie and Russell E. Their residence is situated at 108 Manchester street, this modern and substantial abode having been
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built by Mr. Hart in the summer of 1896, he and his wife having re- moved to it three months after their marriage. The father, Russell A. Hart and his estimable wife, Buena Vista, make their home at 42 Lincoln street. The elder gentleman's residence here dates from 1883 and that of his family from 1884.
CHARLES D. HYATT. A prominent and successful business man of Tekonsha, Charles D. Haytt is widely known not only as an extensive dealer in real estate, but as a botanist, and as expert grower of mush- rooms, for which he has large and ready sale. He was born, December 7. 1872, at Eaton Rapids, Michigan, a son of C. C. Hyatt.
His grandfather, Daniel Hyatt, was born in Ovid, New York, and while yet in his teens took an active part in the War of 1812. In 1835 he followed the emigrant's trail to Michigan, but at that time did not stay very long. Returning eastward, he spent several years in Ohio, being engaged in agricultural pursuits. About 1849 he came again to Michigan, bringing his family with him, and settling in Eaton county, where he carried on general farming until his death, in 1882.
Born in Clyde, Ohio, in 1847, C. C. Hyatt was but two years of age when his parents located in Eaton county, Michigan, where he grew to man's estate. During the Civil war, he enlisted in Company A, First Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and while fighting for his country re- ceived injuries from the effects of which he never recovered. He sub- sequently settled in Burlington, Michigan, and there built up a lucra- tive business as a stock buyer Going to Battle Creek for the benefit of his health, he died in the Sanitarium of that city, May 8, 1902. He was a sound Republican in politics, and belonged to the Methodist Epis- copal church, of which his wife was likewise a member. He married Elizabeth Howland, who was born, in 1850, in Burlington, Michigan, of English ancestry. Her father, William Howland, was born in 1824, in Lisle, New York, but in early life came to Michigan and was here pros- perously engaged in business until his death.
Having completed his early education in the district schools, Charles D. Hyatt began life for himself as a clerk, and later was for four years engaged in the hardware business on his own account. Embarking in the real estate trade in 1909, Mr. Hyatt has since been identified with the exchange of realty in all parts of the county, being one of the heavi- est dealers in real estate in this part of the state. Always interested in botany, he has made a special study of mushrooms, and having at- tained success as a grower of the plants has built an extensive and lucrative trade in that edible fungus, which he proposes to cultivate on a much larger scale, having recently purchased four or five other tracts of land suitable for that purpose.
Politically Mr. Hyatt is a Democrat, and fraternally he belongs to Washington Lodge, No. 7. Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; to Lodge, No. 1023, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Coldwater; and both he and his wife are members of Tekonsha Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star.
On July 10, 1901, Mr. Hyatt was united in marriage with Daisy Eberhardt, a daughter of George Eberhardt, who came from Indiana, his native state, to Michigan in 1874, settling in Union City, his present home, where for thirty years he had charge of the local express office. Mr. and Mrs. Hyatt have two children, Margaret and Ella Louise, both of whom are now in school.
RALPH WEEKS, a prosperous farmer of Athens township, was born and reared in the community in which he now lives, and which has
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represented the center of his activities from his earliest recollections up to the present time. A son of Darwin J. Weeks, he was born De- cember 1, 1873, on the farm of his parents, of whom a more complete account appears elsewhere in this volume, in connection with the bio- graphical sketch of Burr L. Weeks, a brother of the subject.
Educated in the district schools, Ralph Weeks commenced as a boy to do chores on the home farm, obtaining in his boyhood a practical ex- perience in the art of tilling the soil, and early deciding to follow the vocation of his father. He began life for himself poor in pocket, but rich in energy and courage. In 1909 another forty acres were added to their home.
Mr. Weeks has shown himself a good citizen, displaying an interest in all affairs pertaining to the welfare of his township and county, and does his share towards the support of all beneficial enterprises. He is a member of the local Grange and has served his town as constable, being elected to the office on the Republican ticket.
In 1896 Mr. Weeks married Anna Doubleday, daughter of George C. Doubleday and his wife, Ella (Cole) Doubleday. Mr. Doubleday was a lineal descendant of the emigrant ancestor, Elisha Doubleday, who, with his two sons, Elisha and Elijah, settled in Boston, Massa- chusetts, in 1676, whence they came from Yorkshire, England. Mrs. Week's paternal grandfather, a son of Elisha and Mercy (Bement) Doubleday, was educated in Yates county, New York, where his par- ents settled soon after his birth which occurred in Westfield, Washing- ton county, New York, February 20, 1802. In 1825 he married Bet- sey Wallace, a daughter of Samuel Wallace, of Steuben county, New York, where she was born in 1802. In 1832 he with his wife and chil- dren came to Branch county, Michigan, becoming pioneers of Sher- wood township, and there they improved a tract of wild land, gradually evolving a pleasant home, where Mrs. Doubleday died in 1852 and Mr. Doubleday spent most of the remainder of his life with his daughter Harriet, but died with his oldest son Harvey W., in 1890. They were the parents of six children, none of whom are now living. They were : Harvey M .; Harriet, who married D. D. Riley; Myron; John M .; Frances and George C. George C. Doubleday was born on the Sher- wood township farm of his parents, in 1840, and there grew to man- hood. He spent some time in the western states, during the "gold craze." After his marriage he bought land in Branch county, and was there occupied in agricultural activities for many years, but later bought a farm in LeRoy township. On retiring from active life, he removed to Pine Creek, LeRoy township, where his death occurred, November 19, 1907. To him and his wife were born four children : William; Anna, now Mrs. Ralph Weeks; and Lee and Dee, twins, Dee dying in infancy. No children have come to Mr. and Mrs. Weeks.
WILLIAM S. HOAG, a prosperous and practical farmer and a repre- sentative citizen of Clarence township, is a New York man by nativity, born in Ontario county of the Old Empire State on January 1, 1870, but was reared from early childhood in Calhoun county, Michigan. His father was the late William W. Hoag, born in New York in 1834, who died in Clarence township on June 2, 1909. Charlotte Bennett Hoag, the mother of our subject, was born in New York in 1844 and was a daughter of William Bennett, a native and a life long resident of New York. William W. Hoag brought his family from New York to Michi- gan in 1874 and located in Calhoun county, where he bought a farm. This he sold shortly afterward and in 1884 bought another farm of forty acres in Clarence township, on which he resided until his death.
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As an agriculturist he was successful and as a citizen he received the cordial respect of all who knew him. A member of the time-honored Masonic order, he affiliated with Springport Lodge No. 284 Free and Accepted Masons, and in political affairs he gave his allegiance to the Republican party. The union of William W. Hoag and Charlotte Ben- nett was blessed by the birth of three children, of whom William S. is the youngest. Daniel J. Hoag, the father of William W., removed from his native state of New York to Michigan in 1885 and died here.
Educated first in the district schools of Clarence township and later in the city schools of Eaton Rapids, William S. Hoag took up farming after his school days were over and has proved an excellent representative of this noble and honest occupation, for the labors of which he was well fitted by his practical qualities of character. He bought his first farm about 1894, a tract of twenty acres; in 1896 he bought ten acres more, and has so continued to add to his holdings until he now owns 170 acres. Untiring industry and good business acu- men have been the means by which he has progressed steadily toward prosperity, for in a financial way Mr. Hoag is distinctly a self-made man. Besides giving his attention to his farming interests he also con- ducts the boat house and store at Ducklake, a popular pleasure resort of Calhoun county.
In 1891 Mr. Hoag was happily married to Miss Emma I. Straight. Daniel Straight, the father of Mrs. Hoag, came to Michigan from his native state of New York in an early day and became a well known and substantial farmer of Gratiot county, where he was the owner of a section of land and where he died. In political affairs he was an ad- herent of the Democratic party. Two sons, Gerald V. and Alonzo W., have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hoag and both are at the paren- tal home. Mr. Hoag is a staunch and representative Republican and has held the office of justice of the peace and has served as a member of the Clarence township school board nine years and also as a member of the Calhoun county board of review. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Ancient Order of Gleaners and with the Mystic Workers of the World. Mr. Hoag has recently removed to Albion to educate his chil- dren and resides at 1012 South Eaton street.
ELSWORTH H. PUFFER is most sucessfully engaged in farming opera- tions on his finely improved estate of eighty acres in Pennfield town- ship, Calhoun county, Michigan. He is possessed of ambition and de- termination and his energy, courage and business judgment have brought him to a position of esteem and influence among the citizens of his home community, where he is a man of mark in all the relations of life. He has been a member of the township board of supervisors for the past eight years and is filling that position with the utmost efficiency at the present time, in 1912.
In Steuben county, New York, June 30, 1862, occurred the birth of Elsworth H. Puffer, who is a son of Tisdale and Mary J. (Gifford) Puffer, the former of whom was born in the state of Vermont and the latter in Massachusetts. Tisdale Puffer removed to New York as a young man and thence came to Michigan in 1865. He enlisted for ser- vice in the Civil war as a member of a New York company and was a soldier in the Union ranks from 1864 until the close of hostilities. After his advent in Michigan he settled on a farm in Bedford township, Cal- houn county and subsequently he removed to Pennfield township, where his death occurred in 1874. He was a Republican in his political affi- liations and was decidedly successful as a business man and farmer. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his
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wife, who still survives him and who maintains her home at Battle Creek, is now a member. Tisdale Puffer was a son of Tisdale Puffer, Sr., who was likewise born and reared in Vermont and who came to Michigan and there resided until his death. The maternal grandfather of him to whom this sketch is dedicated was Levi Gifford, born in Mas- sachusetts. He removed to Michigan in 1863 and here was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death.
To the public schools of Calhoun county Elsworth H. Puffer is in- debted for his educational training, the same including one year's at- tendance in the schools at Battle Creek. As a youth he helped clear his father's land and he is now the owner of that estate, the same com- prising eighty acres. Mr. Puffer devotes his attention to general farm- ing and he is a member of the board of directors of the Hail Storm In- surance Company. He is a Republican in politics and has held prac- tically all the township offices. For eight terms he has been township supervisor and in all his public offices he has acquitted himself with honor and distinction, ever doing his duty most conscientiously.
On September 14, 1884, Mr. Puffer married Miss Georgiana Merrill, who was born in Michigan. She is a daughter of Horace Merrill, who is a resident of Batavia, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Puffer are the par- ents of thirteen children, as follows,-Mrs. Earles Kresge was grad- uated in the Battle Creek high school; Raymond is associated with his father in the work and management of the home farm; Francis was graduated in the Battle Creek schools; Eva is the wife of Ernest Fore- man and they reside at Detroit; Richard was graduated in the business college at Battle Creek and is now engaged with the Michigan Central Railroad at Detroit; Harry is at home; Helen is attending high school at Battle Creek; and Georgia, Leona, Marion, Elsworth, Mildred and Jeanette, all are at home. The Puffer family are members of the Meth- odist Protestant church and Mr. Puffer is affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees.
C. W. Post was born October 26, 1854, at Springfield, Illinois, at that time a little town with muddy streets, where Abraham Lincoln, citizen, was known among the boys as "Uncle Abe."
Mr. Post descended from Yankee stock-Puritans. His mother was a Lathrop from Connecticut, and his father, Charles R. Post, was born in Vermont and moved to the west when a boy about eight years old and located south of Springfield on a farm with his father. When the gold fever of 1849 spread, the elder Post went with a party of "Forty Niners" to the mining camps of California.
At the time the subject of this sketch was born, his father was a merchant at Springfield. The boy was in due time placed in the pub- lic schools and gained what education he could up until 1868, when he was placed in the University of Illinois at Champaign an dtook a mili- tary course, inasmuch as his youthful mind had become attracted by military affairs, he having been among the camps of the soldiers from 1861 to 1865. After about two years of hard training for a military life, he decided that was not what he wanted, therefore he left college and went back to Springfield to work for his father.
In 1871, during the Chicago fire, he served under General Phil Sheri- dan when Chicago was under martial law. Shortly after that he went to the frontier when buffalo herds roamed the plains and when Indians were frequent marauders along the outpost, and made his start in the hardware business at the age of seventeen. In this enterprise the young man made some money, but found it profitable to sell out his interests the succeeding year and return to what was then known as "the states."
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Shortly thereafter he accepted a position to travel for an agricul- tural implement concern and after spending seven or eight years in a commercial way, covering a number of western states, he finally became manager at Kansas City for a large implement factory. Later on he returned to Springfield and with local capitalists started the Spring- field Plow Works. This concern under his management built quite a large factory which, with later additions, is still in existence and suc- cessfully conducting a business under the name of The Satley Plow Works. Severing his connection with the plow company, he went to California with a corporation made up of railroad managers interested in exploiting and selling land. He made money at this, although dur- ing the operations at Springfield, he had broken down physically from overwork, and still remained more or less of an invalid. This condi- tion continued for seven or eight years and finally drifted him to Bat- tle Creek, Michigan, for treatment at a sanitarium. After about nine months he was given up to die and was taken out of the sanitarium, to be healed under an entirely different method of procedure.
Being then out of business he purchased an old home place in Bat- tle Creek with about twenty-seven acres of orchards and lawns. Here for about four years Mr. Post conducted a small sanitarium, chartered under the laws of Michigan, further pursuing his studies in medicine, dietetics, hygiene, and particularly what might be termed "suggestive therapeutics." He attended some of the clinics in Paris for five or six successive years and made a very careful study of the organs of diges- tion and assimilation, and particularly of the effect of the mind upon the functioning of those organs.
While he was in practice at this small sanitarium his attention was attracted to the fact that nervous patients were very seriously handi- capped if they used coffee. Therefore, he proceeded to devise a bever- age that would give them a morning drink, warm and nourishing, but free from the drug effects of coffee. It took about a year to perfect this article, and when perfected it was furnished free to patients, and sold in ordinary brown paper bags to a few interested outsiders. Later on the demand grew, and in 1895 he started the manufacture of the product, calling it "Postum." This was the beginning of the pure food business which has now attained a position, the largest in the world in that particular line.
At the present time there are over ten acres covered with factory buildings making the pure foods, for which the Postum Cereal Com- pany, Limited, has become famous. These foods, Postum, Grape-Nuts, Post Toasties and Post Tavern Special, go to every country in the world.
Some years ago, Mr. Post bought a ranch in Texas of 204,000 acres, situated in Garza and Lynn counties, about 250 miles west of Fort Worth. Later, when Garza county was organized one of the sections of Mr. Post's ranch was selected for the county seat and a little town started, named Post City. Thereupon he decided to build a good com- fortable western town and proceeded to erect houses, some big stores, a hotel, cotton gin, planing mill, machine shop, garage, water works, and later on a cotton mill. Twenty-six miles of streets were laid out, all lined with trees. There are now something over sixty miles of trees in and about Post City, an improvement very unique for a western town.
Mr. Post served several years as President of the National Citizens' Industrial Association, and four years as President of the National As- sociation of American Advertisers. He has an international reputa-
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tion as an expert in labor questions and his articles on this subject are very widely read and quoted.
He helped to organize the National Trades and Workers' Associa- tion and presented it with a home for indigent and decrepit members. The association is a non-strike labor organization, having branches in many of the larger cities of the United States.
His industrial city, Postumville, adjoining the works at Battle Creek, is regarded, both in Europe and America, as perhaps the most prac- tical example of home building for working people.
OWEN L. HUBBARD. Conspicuous among the foremost citizens of Marshall is Owen L. Hubbard, an extensive landholder, and a retired capitalist, now occupying a palatial residence at the corner of Kala- mazoo and Brewer avenues, the estate being named "Pine Knot." The house is picturesquely situated on a rising knoll, and is surrounded by beautiful pines, oaks and elms, giving charm and variety to the scenery, and commands an extensive view of the surrounding country. The only son of the late Deville Hubbard, Owen L. Hubbard was born on a farm adjoining the city of Marshall, February 26, 1866. His grand- parents, Cyrus and Clarissa Hubbard, came from New York state to Michigan in 1835, locating just north of Marshall, where they improved a farm of eighty acres, which now forms a part of the Deville Hubbard estate.
Deville Hubbard was born, February 7, 1829, in Sangerfield, Oneida county, New York, being one of a family of three children. He succeeded to the ownership of his father's farm, and through wise investment and superior management added to its area until he had title, at the time of his death, February 27, 1884, to two thousand acres of rich and fertile land. He married Alice Moore, who was of pioneer stock. A brief biographical sketch of Deville Hubbard appears elsewhere in this vol- ume, and will be of interest to many of the readers of this work.
Until seventeen years of age Owen L. Hubbard attended the winter terms of the public schools of his district, in the meantime studying at home under the tuition of his mother, who was a woman of culture and education. He remained on the parental homestead until twenty-six years of age, superintending a large part of the work after the death of his father. Continuing then as an agriculturist on his own account, Mr. Hubbard formed a partnership with J. C. Beckwith, and as head of the firm of Hubbard & Beckwith built up an extensive business, buy- ing and shipping hay, grain and wool, dealing for a number of years with prominent eastern firms. Having accumulated considerable wealth, Mr. Hubbard sold out to Mr. Beckwith, who is still conducting the business with characteristic success. Since selling out, Mr. Hubbard has devoted himself to his farms, which consists of three different tracts of land, aggregating one thousand acres, the greater part of it being leased to parties on shares. His farms contain some of the richest and most fertile land, of which Calhoun county can boast, being of a rich loam mixed with clay, a combination most desirable for the rais- ing of crops of good quantity and quality. In addition to his large land holdings, Mr. Hubbard is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Marshall. He is a Democrat in politics, and with his family, attends the Episcopal church.
Mr. Hubbard married, in 1893, Miss Rose Kast, a daughter of John Kast, an old and much respected citizen of Marshall, and into their home three children have been born, namely: Irma L. and Alice M., attending school in Kenosha, Wisconsin; and Deville H., at home.
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EDWARD F. WILLIS is an enterprising and prosperous agriculturist and dairyman in Bedford township, Calhoun county, Michigan, where he has resided during practically his entire life time thus far and where he is honored and esteemed by all with whom he has come in contact. His fine farm of 119 acres is located five and one-half miles distant from the city of Battle Creek and is one of the best improved estates in the entire county.
A native of Calhoun county, Michigan, Edward F. Willis was born on the 20th of December, 1867. He is a son of Isaac C. and Margaret (Traut) Willis, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania, the former in Chester county, September 13, 1827, and the latter in Lancaster county, July 27, 1827. Isaac C. Willis was a son of Henry Willis, who was born on the ocean while his parents were en route from England to America. He passed his childhood days in Pennsylvania and came to Michigan in 1837, taking charge of the building of the Michigan Central Railway at Kalamazoo. In 1843 Henry Willis started the first nursery in Calhoun county and subsequently he erected a pottery plant at Battle Creek. He was always interested in the various railroad en- terprises and in the spring of 1885 he became acquainted with Sir Henry Tyler, in whose company he made a trip to England. He died December 20, 1886. Jacob Traut, maternal grandfather of the sub- ject of this review, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. As a young man he removed to western Pennsylvania and later came to Michigan, locating on a farm in the vicinity of Assyria and eventually settling in Pennfield township, Calhoun county, where he resided dur- ing the remainder of his life time.
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