USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun county, Michigan, With Illustrations descriptive of its scenery > Part 27
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In April, 1861, he was appointed United States marshal for the district of Michigan, by President Lincoln, and during his term the State was divided into two districts, Calhoun afterwards being a portion of the eastern one. At the close of his first term of four years he was re-appointed by President Lincoln, but was removed by President Johnson, by reason of his failing to " swing around the circle" with that president. At Mr. Lincoln's first and second inauguration Colonel Dickey was one of the president's body-guard of marshals, and at the dedication of the soldiers' cemetery at Gettysburg was in charge of the division of the procession of the governors of the different States present. The judge loves to linger over that occasion, when he heard the president utter the most famous speech of his life, and which, for conciseness and comprehensiveness, has never been equaled by an American statesman. In 1873 Colonel Dickey was appointed by Governor Bagley judge of probate of Calhoun County, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Eden F. Henderson ; and in November, 1876, the people elected
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
him as his own successor for a term of four years, which he is now filling, with satisfaction to all who come before him, as far as it is possible to satisfy conflicting and opposing interests. In 1867 he was interested with Messrs. Frink, Brewer, and Ingersoll, in the erection of Eagle block, one of the finest brick buildings in the city of Marshall. In October, 1836, he was commissioned by Governor Stevens as captain of militia, and charged with the enrollment of all persons sub- ject to military duty under the laws of the State at that time in Calhoun County, and in perfecting the military organization of the county and district was com- missioned lieutenant-colonel under Colonel Loren Maynard. He was afterwards appointed governor's aid, with the rank of colonel, by Governor J. Wright Gordon.
On the 6th day of September, 1836, Judge Dickey was united in marriage to Mary Ann, daughter of Joseph and Sylvia Wakeman, who was born in Columbia county, New York, and died in Marshall, of consumption, December 26, 1852, leaving five children, four sons and one daughter, three of the sons still surviving : Charles T., who is now in Racine, Wisconsin ; Franklin W., a resident of Mar- shall; and Harrison N., a citizen of Chicago, Illinois. Gilbert A., the other son, was killed in command of his company in the Twenty-fourth Michigan Infantry, at the battle of Gettysburg; Frank W. was promoted from the ranks to the posi- tion of major of the Second Cavalry. In March, 1854, Judge Dickey married Mary Elizabeth Moss, the widow of Chester Moss, a leading merchant and banker, of Albion, Michigan, who died in Sandusky, Ohio. She lived but a year, and again the judge was companionless. She left no living child. In May, 1857, Judge Dickey, to light up his desolate and lonely home, brought to it another mistress, as his wife, in the person of Mary Jane Pratt, a native of Orleans county, New York, who, at the time of her marriage, resigned her situation as the assistant principal of the Phipps Union Female Seminary, at Albion, New York, having under her charge as such assistant the French, German, and graduating classes of the institution. A period of little more than eight years of domestic happiness quickly fled, and death, which had been a frequent and unbidden guest at the judge's fireside, again invaded its precincts, and called hence Mrs. Dickey, in July, 1864 (she dying of bilious colic). She left three daughters, who still survive, and are members of the harmonious household in the old homestead in Marshall city. They are as follows, viz. : Mary E., Helen L., and Jennie C. After mourning his loss more than two years, Judge Dickey again brought a companion to his lonely home, Mrs. Angeline G. Moore, the widow of Rev. Ly- man H. Moore, late of Marshall, she being a native of Greenwich, Rhode Island. One child has blessed this last union, Ross Wilkins, a bright, active lad of ten years. Mrs. Dickey also has two sons by her former husband, who are members of her present household : Lewis C. and Asahel B. Moore.
Judge Dickey's parents were Scotch Presbyterians, and he was early indoctri- nated from the Westminster catechism, but he has never united with the church. He is rather liberal in his views, and takes the line of a good life for his rule of action. Mrs. Dickey, the three daughters, and one son, are members of the Pres- byterian church of Marshall.
Among her family Mrs. Dickey moves, winning from all their love and confi- dence, showing no difference in her care and affection for those of her own blood or for those who look to her as a mother, who stands in the place of those who have been before her. Happy in her disposition, she holds the bands that bind the household together with love and harmony with a gentle grasp, shedding a fragrance of affection upon all who give back to her their confidence and esteem.
Of the judge himself, little need be said more than is already shown by the sketch we have given. The frequency with which he has been called to official positions, by the people of Calhoun and State of Michigan, testifies in stronger language than any we can use as to the confidence his fellow-citizens repose in his ability and integrity. Affable, courteous, and kindly dispositioned, he has won the admiration of his neighbors; and, by the prompt, efficient, and faithful dis- charge of his official duties, he has gained their best confidence and trust. His old pioneer friends, among whom he is an ever-welcome guest, at all of their gatherings delight to do him honor, and he delights to serve them. Of him it shall be said by and by, when the inevitable change shall come, " He served his people well."
It is with a great deal of pleasure that we present to our readers the portrait of Judge Dickey, which adorns the preceding page.
BENJAMIN F. CURTIS.
Among the substantial farmers of Calhoun County Benjamin F. Curtis, of Marshall township, is justly accorded a place. He was born in Newcastle, New Hampshire, September 26, 1808, and in early life engaged in mercantile business,
but in 1835 turned his steps westward, and in the grand old parks of Calhoun selected a location, to which he brought his family the year following, and turned his attention to the tilling of the soil, transforming his oak-forest covered lands, after many hardships and privations, into one of the finest farms of Marshall township. He built a small frame house at first, which he and his family occupied until 1849, at which time he erected the present elegant and substantial dwelling of "cobble" stone on the old homestead.
On the 10th day of September, 1833, Mr. Curtis was united in marriage to Mary Tredick, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by whom were born to him the following-named children : Margaret A., Martha T., Onas F., and Joshua W., all of whom are now living except Martha, who died July 4, 1870. Mr. Curtis also passed to his rest January 1, 1869, leaving his fine estate of three hundred and ... sixty acres to be divided between his widow and three surviving children, the former and the daughter occupying the homestead proper as their portion. Mr. ; Curtis was highly esteemed by those who had the pleasure of his acquaintance, by whom his loss was sincerely mourned and regretted.
CHARLES P. DIBBLE.
A busy mercantile life, beginning in 1832, and spanning a lapse of forty-five years, must needs have been checkered with many vexations and attendant losses, though in the main pleasant and prosperous. Such a career has embraced within the arc of its circle the disastrous crash of 1837, its scarcely less ruinous suc- cessor of 1857, and the great depression of 1873-76, as well as the corresponding prosperous eras intervening between those noted years of mercantile and business prostration. Such a life has been that of Charles P. Dibble, who, for many years prior to the spring of 1877, was the oldest merchant, in point of continuous trade, in the State of Michigan. He was born in Skaneateles, Onondaga county, New . York, August 28, 1815, where he resided until fourteen years old, with his pa- rents, Philo and Susan (Lawson) Dibble, natives of Massachusetts and New York, respectively. He was educated at the district and select schools and the Homer academy. When fourteen years of age he left home and entered a store as a clerk, where he remained three years, and then began business for himself, first in the firm of his father and a partner, in Kelloggsville, for about a year, when the partner retired, and Charles managed the business alone for another twelve months, at the end of which he closed out the same, and came west to Marshall in the fall of 1835 and bought property, after looking about the country, going as far west as Chicago. In the spring of 1836 he brought in a stock of goods and began trading, which line of business he steadily followed, successfully in the main, until the spring of 1877, when he retired therefrom on account of ill health, surrendering the business to his son, Charles A. Dibble, who now conducts it.
Mr. Dibble was married, September 14, 1842, to Miss Hettie Johnson, daughter of Benj. and Jane (Dey) Johnson, natives of New Hampshire and New Jersey, but who were then living at Ithaca, New York, where Mrs. Dibble was born. The fruits of this happy union have been-Charles A., now a leading and prosperous merchant of Marshall, and successor to his father's extensive trade; Ben Johnson, deceased; Emily, now Mrs. Bostwick, of Ithaca, New York; Eveline, at home with her parents ; William, now of Ithaca; Louisa, now deceased; and Henry and Walter, at home in Marshall. The present most elegant and charming homestead of Mr. Dibble (of which we present a view on another page of our work) was erected by him in 1859, on the site of the original location of Sidney Ketchum, who built his residence thereon in 1838. The grounds comprise one-half or more of an entire square; and, shaded by the old trees of the original oak openings, it is a most lovely and inviting spot at any time, more especially in its full summer foliage and beauty, when it outranks for loveliness and charm any other homestead in the beautiful city, replete though it is with elegant residences and well-kept lawns.
In his political affiliations Mr. Dibble is a Republican, having been formerly a Whig partisan. He has been the treasurer of almost every association formed in the city and county, and also of the township and corporation, and for twenty years served the Agricultural Society of Calhoun County in that position, or that of president, continuously. He was elected the first mayor of the city of Marshall, in 1859, and was treasurer of the Marshall and Bellevue Plank Road Company, and also of the Coldwater, Mansfield, and Mackinac railroad. In everything pertaining to the advancement and prosperity of Marshall he has been deeply interested, and has been largely instrumental in placing the city in its pres- ent commanding position among the interior cities of the State. Mr. and Mrs. Dibble are members of the Episcopal church of Marshall, and have been for several years past.
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
DAVID H. MILLER.
DAVID H. MILLER.
The subject of our sketch comes of a long line of ancestry of the family names of either side of his house. His father, David Miller, was of Scotch-Irish descent, from the north of Ireland, whose father adhered to his government and fought against the rebellion, and was killed in the army, his property confiscated, and a family of ten children scattered and thrown penniless upon the world, to rely solely upon their own resources for their maintenance. David Miller, the father, learned the trade of a tailor, enlisted and served in the " whisky rebellion," and in the pursuit of his occupation found and married Mehitable Horton, in the State of New Jersey, where David Horton Miller was born, in Morris county, December 30, 1799. His mother's ancestors came from England in an early era of the settlement of America, and settled in Southhold, Long Island, in 1640, as the Horton genealogy shows. They embarked in the Revolution, and helped to es- tablish American independence. His maternal grandfather was a pensioner of that war. Mr. Miller's parents emigrated to Cayuga county, in the State of New York, in 1804, then almost a wilderness, and settled on a wild tract of land, and his father's name is mentioned in the history of that county as one of the pioneer settlers thereof. He-David H .- says his first recollection of a school-house is of one that was built of hewed and split basswood logs, without a sawed board in either roof, floor, or desk, and situate a half-mile, through dense forest, from the nearest inhabitant, and how greatly alarmed were the teacher and children at the occurrence of the total eclipse of the sun in 1806. David H. Miller received his education at the common schools in this new country, working on the farm summers, and attending school winters, until nineteen years of age, when he began to teach school for an occupation, and pursued this vocation for nine or ten years. At about the age of twenty-four years he was married to Polly Carrier, and began the business of farming, which has been his main occupation through life. In the year 1837 he emigrated with his family, consisting of his wife and two children, a daughter and a son, to Michigan, and settled on a wild tract of land in Sheridan township, Calhoun County, again undergoing the privations of pioneer life, being mainly occupied in clearing up and improving a new farm for about twenty years, but in the mean time doing a large amount of land-surveying, having been county surveyor four years. He also served his township almost constantly in some of the various township offices, such as assessor, supervisor, and justice of the peace, the most of which offices he had also filled in New York. At the age of nearly sixty years he retired from the farming business and purchased some lots, and erected a comfortable and modest home thereon in the city of Marshall, where he prepared to spend the remainder of his days, and where he at present resides at the ripe age of seventy-eight years. He was regularly ordained as a minister of the gospel, of the Methodist persuasion, and preached whenever occasion offered, without pecuniary compensation, until his voice failed and he felt com- pelled to cease public speaking.
Mrs. Miller was the daughter of Amaziah Carrier, who also was a pioneer in western New York, and settled on wild, unimproved land, and by dint of hard labor succeeded in making a good and valuable farm, and died from the epidemic which prevailed in 1815. She was born in 1802, nurtured in a farm life, educated at the country schools, and taught some few terms before her marriage, and in
MRS. DAVID H. MILLER.
more mature life was widely known and much appreciated as a nurse and midwife, and by the bedside of the sick administered comfort, in which she found much pleasure and made herself extremely useful. And now these worthy pioneers and life-long companions, whose wedded life is nearing a point bounded by nearly threescore years, are still journeying together near the confines of the eternal rest, whose gates shall open ere long to receive them into heavenly mansions prepared from of old.
CHAUNCEY M. BREWER.
The oldest merchant in point of continuous trade in the city of Marshall is Chauncey M. Brewer, his business life therein dating from June, 1836, and the lapse of forty-one years still finding him busy with the best-kept ledger in the State. He was born in Oneonta, Otsego county, New York, October 11, 1814, where he resided with his parents, Peter and Emma (Marble) Brewer, natives of New York and Massachusetts respectively, until the death of his father, which occurred when he was but nine years of age. For three years longer the lad con- tinued to reside on the old homestead with his mother and five brothers and sisters, four younger than himself, and attending the district school during the winters of each year. On the 1st day of March, 1827, he began his business education in a country store, with one Jacob Deitz, remaining in a little village where the same was located, with Deitz and his successors, until November 1, 1835, when, being at his majority, he came west to seek a location, but with no particular point in view, St. Louis, however, having a preference in his mind. He stopped in Len- awee county, Michigan, the winter of 1835-36, engaged in a store, and, in the spring of the latter year, in company with Charles T. Gorham, per arrangement made between them prior to Mr. Brewer's departure from Oneonta, he traveled over the southern and western portion of Michigan for a few weeks, but found no place that suited their joint ideas so well as Marshall, then a small but promising village, and consequently they formed a business connection and opened a mer- cantile trade in that place in June, 1836, which continued until 1840, when Mr. Gorham withdrew and engaged in banking, Dusenbury and Butler coming into the business, which partnership was dissolved in 1845, since which time Mr. Brewer has managed his constantly increasing business interests alone. His sons, Charles D. and Edgar G., now conduct the mercantile trade exclusively, while Mr. Brewer looks after his other financial interests and investments, which are exceed- ingly extensive.
Mr. Brewer was married in October, 1840, to Emily L., daughter of Samuel and Tamar (Brush) Butler, natives of New York and Connecticut respectively. Mrs. Brewer was born in Deposit, Delaware county, New York, in February, 1819. The children of this marriage have been George and Emma, who died in infancy ; Mary Eliza, now Mrs. Wheeler, who resides in the beautiful homestead of her parents in Marshall; Charles D. and Edgar G., leading merchants in Marshall ; and Mark B., now at home with his parents.
The present elegant mansion of Mr. Brewer, of which we present our readers
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
a view on another page of our work, was erected by him in 1858. In politics Mr. Brewer is a Democrat. He has filled various offices in the gift of the people of his township and city, all of which, it is needless to add, were unsolicited and unsought by himself. He has been intimately connected with the rise, progress, and prosperity of Marshall for more than forty years, and closely identified with its material interests, and is, in himself, an illustrious example of the success that attends close attention to business and the judicious management thereof.
JAMES A. MINER.
Among the rising members of the Calhoun bar James Alvin Miner stands in the front rank. Thrown at an early age upon his own resources, by industry, close application, and economy he has won his way to a prominent position before the courts of the county and State, where his constantly-increasing practice as a lawyer brings him in competition with others of his profession older and more ex- perienced. He was born in Marshall township, Calhoun County, September 9, 1842, and at the common schools of the township and city obtained his education, and assisted his father on the farm, to which the latter, Allen G. Miner, and his wife, Betsey L. Latham, both natives of Connecticut, came in 1835-36, and on which both of these pioneers died. At the age of seventeen years James A. left home to attend school at Lyons, Ionia county, Michigan, dependent upon his own resources. For eighteen months he attended the school, working nights and mornings outside of school hours to pay his way, thereby gaining not only an in- dependence of spirit and self-reliance, but acquiring also a good physique and consequent increased mental vigor. After closing his school term he went to Clinton, Iowa, and read law nine months in the office of Governor Baker, of that State, when, the rebellion breaking out, he returned to Lyons and assisted to raise a company of volunteers for service in the Ninth Michigan Infantry, and with the company went to Detroit, where, while in camp, and just before being ordered to the field, the news came to him of his father's death, and that his presence was needed at home, upon which he resigned his position in the regiment and returned to Marshall, and entered the law-office of J. C. Fitzgerald, where he recommenced his legal studies, and continued them with Mr. Fitzgerald, Judge H. A. Noyes, and L. G. Noyes until the spring of 1873, when he was admitted to the bar in the circuit court of Calhoun County, and began the practice of law, which he has since continued, having his office in Marshall city. In the spring of 1864 he was elected city recorder of Marshall, and in the fall of 1866 he was elected one of the circuit court commissioners of the county, and held the position four years, at the close of which term he was elected prosecuting attorney, and also held that po- sition two terms of two years each. He has been for some years also the United States commissioner for the federal courts of the eastern district of Michigan, and still occupies the position. Two years ago he formed a law partnership with F. A. Stace, Esq., which still continues, and has a fine and constantly-increasing practice.
Mr. Miner is a Republican in politics, and always has been since he attained
his majority. On the 16th of September, 1859, he was united in marriage with Miss Hattie L. Baker. Two children have blessed this union, Mabel L. and Hattie Eliza.
Mr. Miner is an attendant on the services of the Episcopal church of Marshall, of which Mrs. Miner is a communicant.
ASA B. COOK.
Among the noted and prominent citizens of Calhoun, none are more widely known, or more highly esteemed for their works' sake, within the limits of the county, than is Asa Briggs Cook, the subject of our present sketch. An enter- prising, energetic, enthusiastic man, he made his power felt in the community, and always in the right direction. Intent upon the building up of the county, and more particularly Marshall, to which he came in 1832, he was foremost in every good work that gave promise of prosperity and advancement to the village and its inhabitants, sparing neither time, talents, energy, or money in the accom- plishment of his purposes to that end. He was born in Jay, Essex county, New York, May 30, 1809. His parents, Samuel and Nancy (Brown) Cook, were natives of Massachusetts, but removed to Vermont, and subsequently to New York, in 1808. Mr. Cook resided in Jay until 1826, when he went to Keesville and learned the wagon-maker's trade, and from thence, in October, 1832, removed to Calhoun County, Michigan, locating in the village of Marshall, then but a small hamlet of log cabins, and began business in the spring of 1833, when he made the first wagon built in Calhoun County, and sold it to S. Campbell, who drove it as a stage on the road between Marshall and Jackson the same year. His shop was near the mills on Rice creek. He followed this business one and a half years, and then, in company with Sidney Ketchum and Arza C. Robinson, built the first stone flouring-mill in the county, and which also was the first mer- chant mill erected therein, in 1837, on the Kalamazoo river, in what is now known as Perrinville. The company operated the mill until 1842, when they sold it, and Mr. Cook some two years afterwards engaged in mercantile business, and con- tinued therein about twenty-seven years, renting and operating the mill one and a half years, in 1843-44, when he gave his interest to his son Joseph, who, in company with his cousins, continued the business until 1875. Mr .. Cook is at present residing on his farm, adjoining the city, of one hundred and twenty acres, which he bought twenty-five years ago, and which, with all his other and various interests unneglected, he has brought from a state of nature to its present excel- lent condition and state of improvement, a view of which may be seen on another page. He was married, February 25, 1830, to Jerusha P. Beach, a daughter of Ahira Beach, of Jay, New York, who came to Calhoun County in 1837, and set- tled in Pennfield township, where he died. Mr. and Mrs. Cook have had born to them thirteen children,-seven sons and six daughters,-of whom five are now living, viz .: Asa Brown Cook, the oldest son, now in Erie, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of Dartmouth College, published the Erie Dispatch for a time, and is now engaged in manufacturing; Joseph, in the mercantile line, in San José, Cali- fornia; Almeda, now at home; Eliza, now Mrs. H. S. Babcock, of Iowa; and Katharine, now at home. Mrs. Cook died August 19, 1867.
Politically, Mr. Cook was originally a Whig, and is now a Republican, having joined that party at the organization of the same. He served one term in the State legislature of Michigan, in the years 1857-58, but has had no inclination for further official honors.
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