USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions, Volume II > Part 62
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The elder Nicholas Murphy, who is now living retired in the village of Mt. Morris, was born on January 31. 1855, and his father's name also was Nicholas. The latter was a native of Ireland. He married in the old country and he and his wife emigrated to Canada, some years later coming over the line into Michigan and settling at Ann Arbor, whence they came to Genesee county and settled on a farm in section 2 of Mt. Morris township, where Grandfather Murphy died at the age of fifty-one years. Grand- mother Murphy lived many years after her husband's death, and died at the age of seventy-three years in the year 1889. Nicholas Murphy, Sr., was but a child when his parents came to this state from Canada and he received his first schooling at Ann Arbor, where his parents resided for two years after coming to this state. When they came to this county his schooling
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was continued in the schools at Mt. Morris and he also assisted in the labors of developing the home farm. There were seven children in the family and he was the fourth son, the other members of the family being James (deceased), Thomas (deceased), Patrick, Bridget (deceased), Miles and Mary. Bridget Murphy married Frank Dolan.
Nicholas Murphy, Sr., early hegan farming for himself, buying land in Mt. Morris township. He married when about thirty years of age and then established his home on a farm of eighty acres in section thirteen of Mt. Morris township and lived there for about three years. He then pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres in section 12 of Mt. Morris township and lived on the same about twenty years, at the end of which time he retired from the active labors of the farm and moved to the village of Mt. Morris, where he is now living. Mr. Murphy did well in his farming opera- tions and gradually added to his holdings until he became the owner of five hundred acres, in four farms, and has long been regarded as one of the most substantial citizens in that part of the county. In addition to his farm lands lie owns six pieces of rental property in Mt. Morris and for some years has been a member of the village board. His wife died on September 24, 1905. she then being thirty-seven years of age. She was born in Flint, her par- ents also of Irish descent, but was reared in Mt. Morris township, she hav- ing been but a child when her parents moved onto a farm in section 12 of that township. She was a member of the Catholic church, as is her hus- band, and their children were reared in that faith. There were nine of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being John D., James E., Charles Thomas, William (deceased), Mary Loretta, Miles Joseph, Ann Elizabeth and Francis Maurice (deceased).
Nicholas Murphy, Jr., received his elementary education in the district school in the neighborhood of his early home in Mt. Morris township, sup- plementing the same by a course in the high school at Mt. Morris, after which he entered Bliss Business College, from which he was graduated, hav- ing taken the commercial course. In 1910 he took over the farm on which he is now living, in section 12 of his home township and has ever since lived there, doing very well. In addition to his general farming, Mr. Murphy has given considerable attention to the raising of live stock and has been quite successful in that line. His farm is well improved, with modern and well- kept buildings, and he has adopted up-to-date methods in his farming pro- cesses. Mr. Murphy is a Democrat and takes a warm interest in local political affairs. In 1915 he was elected clerk of his home township and was re-elected in 1916 and is now serving his second term in that office. He
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is a member of St. Mary's Catholic church at Mt. Morris and for the past six years has been secretary of the same, ever displaying a warm interest in parish affairs.
WESSON G. SPRAGUE.
Wesson G. Sprague, well-known and veteran druggist at Flushing, was born in Jefferson county, New York, March 2, 1883, a son of Benjamin F. Sprague, who was born in Malden, Massachusetts, January 16, 1809, son of John Sprague. Benjamin F. Sprague was educated in Massachusetts and went to New York state, where he engaged in farming, which was his life occupation. He died on January 26, 1862. He was a Republican in poli- tics and in the agitation of the slavery question, prior to the Civil War, he took strong grounds in opposition to that institution and was identified with the Abolitionists. He was a member of and an active worker in the Meth- odist church and contributed liberally to every cause in which that church was interested. He was the father of seven children, of whom Wesson G., the subject of this sketch, is the only one now living. Those deceased were : Mrs. E. Hall, born on May 3, 1838, who died on May 3, 1909, and who lived in Flushing; Mrs. W. C. Wilcox, also of Flushing, born on June 28, 1845, who died on April 16, 1909; Mrs. Mary Kring, who died on January 6, 1873, in New York; George H., born on July 10, 1842, who enlisted as a soldier in the Thirty-fifth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, and died on July 28, 1862, in Virginia, from fever contracted in army service, and two children, who died in infancy.
Benjamin F. Sprague was married to Rhoda A. Rulison, who was born in New York in 1813. She died on May 1, 1880. Her father was Herman Rulison, who was born on August 19, 1770, and who died on February II, 1836. Her mother was Sallie (Jones) Rulison, born on June 3, 1780, who died on November 14, 1861. There were eight children born to these par- ents: Parker, born in 1798, who died in 1878: Mary P., born in 1801, who died in 1887: Nelson J., born in 1802, who died in 1876; Cornelius, born in 1804, who died in 1835; Charles, born in 1806, who died in 1850; Rhoda, mother of the subject of this sketch; Minerva, born in 1814, who died in 1894, and Hiram M .. born in 1822, who died in 1901.
Wesson G. Sprague was reared and educated in New York and came to Michigan at the age of twenty-one years, presently locating at Flushing, which has since been his home. He attended the Keokuk, Iowa, medical
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school and was graduated from that institution in 1880. In November of that year he established a drug store in Flushing and is still engaged in that business, having the distinction of being the oldest active merchant in Flushing.
On April 4. 1883, Wesson G. Sprague and Aristeen Briggs were united in marriage. Mrs. Sprague was born on February 23, 1856, the daughter of Jackson Briggs, who was born in New York, October 12, 1833. His occupation was that of brick mason, and he followed that vocation for the greater part of his life. He died on July 5, 1912. The maiden name of Mrs. Sprague's mother was Mary E. Spalsbury. She was born on August 18, 1832, and is still living in New York. She was the mother of two chil- dren : Mina, born in New York, August 16, 1869, now living in New York, and Aristeen, who married Mr. Sprague. The parents of Mrs. Sprague were both members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Her father was a Republican and held a few minor township offices.
Wesson G. Sprague is independent in politics. He has served as town- ship clerk and treasurer, and as school supervisor. He is a member of the Masonic order and is an official in the local lodge. To Mr. and Mrs. Sprague two children have been born, Ross E., born on July 30. 1885, who was graduated from the Orchard Lake Military Academy (now extinct) and is now employed in his father's drug store in Flushing, and Mrs. Nellie M. Moore, born on March 30, 1889, whose husband is a general farmer in Flushing township.
ROBERT H. WOLCOTT.
Robert H. Wolcott, one of the best-known and most progressive young farmers of Mt. Morris township, this county, is a native son of Genesee county and has lived here all his life. He was born in the city of Flint on January 29, 1884, son of Hiram and Martha M. (Patrick) Wolcott, the former a native of the state of New York and the latter of Michigan, born in Flint, a member of one of the first families that settled at that place, both of whom spent their last days on the farm in Mt. Morris township, where their only surviving son is now living.
Hiram Wolcott was born at Shelby, New York, January 18, 1837, and was but a child when his parents came to Michigan and settled at Flint, thus having been pioneers in that even then flourishing village. There Hiram Wolcott grew to manhood and became an expert in the lumber business, for
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years being superintendent of the Crapo mills at Flint. There he married Martha M. Patrick, who was born in Flint on February 26, 1846, daughter of Robert Patrick and wife, who were among the earliest settlers in Flint, their eldest daughter, Sarah Anna Patrick, born in 1836 and who died on December 5, 1912, having been the first white child born in Flint. In 1885, five or six years after his marriage, Hiram Wolcott gave up the lumber business and bought a farm of eighty acres in section 22 of Mt. Morris town- ship, established his home there and there spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on June 14, 1896, he then being fifty-nine years of age. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, a Republican and a strong party man. His widow survived him for nearly thirteen years, her death occurring on March 10. 1909, she then being sixty-two years of age. They were the parents of two children, sons both, Charles D., born on August 10, 1881, who died on January 22, 1882, and Robert H., the subject of this sketch.
Robert H. Wolcott was but fifteen months old when his parents moved to the farm in Mt. Morris township and there he grew to manhood, receiv- ing his schooling in the district school at Mt. Morris. He was but twelve years old when his father died, but he quickly assumed a man's responsibility and early assumed the management of the home farm in behalf of his wid- owed mother. Upon the death of the latter he inherited the farm and has since then added to the same by the purchase of an adjoining "eighty," now being the proprietor of a well-kept and profitably operated farm of one hun- dred and sixty acres. His place is well improved and his operations are conducted in accordance with modern methods. Mr. Wolcott is a Repub- lican and in 1913-14 served as township treasurer. He is a Mason, a mem- ber of Flint Lodge No. 23, and takes a warm interest in Masonic affairs.
On July 26, 1906, Robert H. Wolcott was united in marriage to Mabel C. Fleming, who was born in Mt. Morris township, this county, August 18. 1887, daughter of Elmer and Cora F. ( Utley) Fleming, both natives of this county, the former of whom has for years been a well-known mail carrier at Flint. Elmer Fleming was born on a farm in Mt. Morris township. January 5, 1863, and grew to manhood there. He married Cora F. Utley, of Flint township. born on June 27, 1864, and made his home on the farm in Mt. Morris township until 1899, when he sold the farm and moved to Flint, where he since has made his home and where he has been employed as a mail carrier since 1902. Mr. Fleming is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, a Republican, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of the Maccabees. His wife died in Flint
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on March 27, 1915. They were the parents of two children, daughters both, Mabel, who married Mr. Wolcott, and Caroline L., deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Wolcott five children have been born, namely: Francis Robert, born on July 9, 1907; Marchie Louise, April 5, 1909; Paul H., January 14, 1911 ; Kathleen Cora, October 9, 1912, and Virginia M., August 14, 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Wolcott are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and take a warm interest in the general beneficences of the same, as well as in all local good works.
PHILIP A. RAUBINGER.
One of the farmers of Mundy township, Genesee county, who not only knows how to make his land produce well, but how to find ready markets for his varied products, is Philip A. Raubinger. He was born in Flint, Michigan, October 6, 1868, and is a son of Charles and Mary (Lynchi) Raubinger. The father was born in Baden, Germany, in 1837. He immi- grated to the United States when eighteen years of age, spending a short time in Pennsylvania, then came on to Flint, Michigan, where he established his future home. During the Civil War he enlisted in Company A, Tenth Michigan Volunteer Infanty, in which he served until the close of the war. He was in the First Brigade, Second Division, Fourteenth Army Corps, under General Sherman. He was always on duty and was a faithful and gallant soldier for his adopted country. He was afterward a member of the Grand Army of the Republic at Flint. After he had been honorably dis- charged and mustered out he returned to Flint and, although he had learned the shoemaker's trade in the old country, he did not chose to follow it here and worked ten years in the lumber yards of Fox. Begole & Company. He was married on October 8, 1866, to Mary Lynch, who was born in County Cavan, Ireland, August 16, 1847. When she was four years old, her par- ents brought her to the United States, the family locating in Flint, Michigan, but later moved near Swartz Creek. this county, where the parents spent the rest of their lives. She grew to womanhood in Genesee county and attended school here. To Charles Raubinger and wife seven children were born, namely : Philip A., of this review; Charles L. lives in Flint; Fred M. is farming just cross the road from the subject of this sketch; Mary E. is sin- gle and lives at home : John F. is deceased; William H. is a traveling sales- man; Edward J. is married and lives in Gaines township.
Philip. A. Raubinger was reared in Genesee county and received a public
-
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school education, including terms in the Flint schools. Since his father's death, in June 1912, he has had charge of the homestead, which he has suc- cessfully managed, carrying on general farming and stock raising. Although he handles all kinds of live stock, he makes more of a specialty of hogs, cat- tle and sheep, some of his excellent stock being registered. The home place, consisting of three hundred and ten acres, is well improved and productive. The family are Republicans and belong to the Catholic church.
MILO SWEERS.
Early in 1862, the Civil War then having been in progress long enough to demonstrate that the suppression of the rebellion of the Southern states was going to be a long, difficult job, three young men of Genesee county, Milo Sweers, Marvin Barney and Riley Kipp, enlisted for service in Com- pany C, Tenth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and on April 22 of that same year left Flint for the front. They enlisted on the same day, served throughout the war in the same company, mess-mates and tent-mates, often sleeping beneath the same blanket, came home together at the close of the war, settled down to the peaceful pursuits of a farming community, each marrying about two years later and fifty years later, accompanied by their respective wives, these three comrades revisited the scenes of some of the most hotly contested battles in which they had been engaged during the service. During all the bitter service in which they were engaged but one of the notable trio was ever hit by a bullet, and that was Riley Kipp, who was keeled over, but not seriously wounded, at the battle of Jonesboro. Of the brave company of eleven hundred men who left Flint on that April day in 1862, but ten or twelve are now living and it is to a brief record of the interesting life of one of these that the biographer here asks the attention of the reader.
Milo Sweers, deputy sheriff of Genesee county, was born in this county in the year in which Michigan was admitted to statehood and has spent. his whole life in the county, with the exception of the four years spent in the Union army during the trying days of his country's need in the sixties. He was born on a pioneer farm in Atlas township, June 19, 1837, son of Manly and Lydia (Van Cleaf) Sweers, early settlers of Genesee county, ·who spent their last days here, both living to ripe old ages, and who were
(40a)
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the parents of twelve children, namely: Spencer, who is spending his declin- ing years among his brothers and sisters; Rachel, who is the widow of Riley Van Tyne and who is now spending her declining years with her children; Milo, the immediate subject of this biographical sketch; Josephine, who is the wife of Nelson Confer, of Maple Grove, Saginaw county, this state ; Nelson, who died at Louisville, Kentucky, while serving as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War; Ellen, deceased, who was the wife of John Brown; Louisa, now living at Ortonville, widow of George P. Eaton; Oscar, who is now making his home with a married daughter in Goodrich; Free- man, who lives at Davison, this county; Lewis, who is president of a bank at Ortonville; Mary, who married Corwin Skidmore and lives at Fenton, this county, and Daniel, who lives on a farm in Flushing township, this county.
Manly Sweers was the eldest of the three children born to his parents, Manly Sweers and wife, the others having been Daniel and Mrs. Cummings. The elder Manly Sweers and wife were natives of the state of Vermont, who became pioneers in Erie county, New York, and later came to Michigan Territory and were pioneers of Genesee county, where they spent the remainder of their lives and were buried on their home farm. The younger Manly Sweers married Lydia Van Cleaf, whose parents, also natives of Vermont, came to Michigan in territorial days and became pioneers in Gen- esee county, making their home near Goodrich, where they died and were buried. They had three children, of whom Mrs. Sweers was the eldest, the others being Lewis and Adeline. It was in 1836 that the younger Manly Sweers and his wife came to Michigan from New York and settled in Genesee county. Manly Sweers pre-empted a tract of eighty acres of "Con- gress land" in Atlas township and established his home there in the forest wilderness, his nearest neighbors at that time having been the family of Ezra K. Parsells, seven miles away. Manly Sweers cleared his forest land and gradually added to the same until he was the owner of one hundred and forty acres and was regarded as one of the most substantial farmers in that pioneer community. He built three houses on his place and his last days were spent in comfort. He lived to the advanced age of eighty-nine years and his wife was seventy-five years of age at the time of her death ahout six years prior to the time of his death.
Milo Sweers grew to manhood on the pioneer home farm in Atlas town- ship, a valuable assistant to his father in the work of clearing and developing the same. He received his schooling in the primitive subscription schools of his boyhood days and when twenty-one years of age left home and began
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to work on his own account, working for fifty cents a day on the farm of the father of John T. Rich, afterward governor of the state of Michigan. As noted above, Mr. Sweers enlisted in Company C, Tenth Regiment, Mich- igan Volunteer Infantry, for service during the Civil War, and with that command went to the front. Upon the completion of his term of service of two years and six months he re-enlisted for three years, or during the war, and served until the close of the war, a total period of four years. During this period of service Mr. Sweers participated in thirty-three battles and engagements, three of which were desperate hand-to-hand battles and marched with Sherman to the sea, but through it all he apparently bore a charmed life, as he never received a wound. He was promoted to the post of orderly sergeant and later was offered a commission, but declined the same.
After the close of the war Mr. Sweers returned home and resumed his work on the farm, presently buying a farm of eighty acres of partly cleared and improved land in Burton township, where, after his marriage in the fall of 1866, he established his home and there lived until his appointment in 1906 to his present position of deputy sheriff of Genesee county, which posi- tion he ever since has occupied, having been reappointed by each successive sheriff since that time. Mr. Sweers is a Republican and during his resi- dence in Burton township served in several official capacities, including that of highway commissioner and justice of the peace. He is a member of Crapo Post No. 45, Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Michigan, and has served as commander of that post as well as commander of the Henry H. Knapp Post at Davison. He also has served as colonel of Mckinley Camp, Veterans and Sons of Veterans, and for many years has been active in the general affairs of the Grand Army.
It was on September 1, 1866, that Milo Sweers was united in marriage to Locelia Barnum, who was born at Bloomfield Center on October 1, 1845, daughter of Richard and Rachel (Gillett) Barnum, early settlers in Genesee county, who died here and were buried at Goodrich, and who were the par- ents of seven children, six daughters and one son, Sarah, Harriet, Mary, Locelia, Eva, Francis and Judson. To Mr. and Mrs. Sweers seven children have been born, namely : Riley, a traveling salesman, living at Toledo, Ohio, who married Josephine Shaddock, who died leaving one child, a daughter, Josephine, after which he married Hattie Lamb; Emil, living on the old home farm in Burton township, who married Minnie Rhoades and has four children, Kenneth, Clarence, Harold and Reva; Mertie, who married Walter Green, a farmer of Atlas township, and has four daughters, Hildah, Elva, Anna and Catherine; Lottie, who married F. O. Tanner and, with her hus-
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band, lives with her father and mother in Flint; Lewis, a commercial traveler, of Flint, who married Vilda White, who died, leaving two children, Riley and Harry, after which he married Mabel Powell, to which second union three children have been born, Oneta, Leslie and Lewis; Milo A., who mar- ried Minerva Parsons and lives on the home farm in Burton township, and Harry G., who died when about fifteen years of age.
HERBERT A. STEWART.
Herbert A. Stewart, a prominent business man of Flushing, was born in- Kent county, Ontario, Canada, on January 28, 1858, son of Alexander and Katherine (Clark) Stewart.
Alexander Stewart was born in Kent county, Canada, and died in the winter of 1872, having lived his life in that country. He was a general farmer and was successful. In politics he was a Liberalist. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and was a steward in the same. Alexander Stewart was married to Katherine Clark, also a native of Kent county, and to that union were born seven children, Anna, George E., Her- bert, Theresa, Sarah, Robert and one who died in infancy. Anna, George E. and Theresa are now deceased. Sarah is the wife of George W. Giddings, a real-estate dealer, and Robert is a resident of Detroit. Katherine Clark Stewart died in 1867 and some years later Alexander Stewart married Eliza- beth Marshall, a native of Canada. To that union two children were born, James, an insurance inspector of Saginaw, and William J., a theatrical and amusement manager, of London, Canada.
The paternal grandparents of Herbert A. Stewart, Alexander Stewart and wife, were natives of Scotland, and emigrated to Canada with the colony of the Earl of Selkirk. There Alexander Stewart, the grandfather, became the shepherd of the flocks of the settlement. He remained in the service of the Earl of Selkirk for a number of years and later took a claim for him- self in the Dominion, and there he and his wife spent the rest of their lives. To them were born nine children, James, William, John, Daniel, Alexander, Elizabeth, Isabelle, Jane and Lionel, all long since deceased. The parents of .. Katherine Clark Stewart also were natives of Scotland and settled in Prince Edward Island, where they remained for a few years, after which they located in the interior of Canada, where they spent the rest of their lives, the mother dying when she was about thirty-eight years of age. They
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were the parents of nine children; Marie, Mary J., Lucinda, Sarah, Hannah, Hellen, Isabelle, Katherine and Robert. all now deceased.
Herbert A. Stewart was educated in the common schools, which he attended during the winter, while working on the farm in the summer. At the death of his father he went to Wallaceburg, Ontario, where he was engaged by a physician and while there added much to his education. He worked for two years in a drug store, owned by the doctor, and in 1874 came to Michigan. He worked in a saw-mill at Charlevoix and later at Oxford, where he spent three years as a molder's apprentice. He then went to Romeo, where he was engaged for thirteen years at his trade. The work being too heavy for him, he learned the carpenter's trade at which he worked for ten years. As a carpenter he worked at Detroit and later at Chicago, prior to the World's Fair. In 1904, he engaged in the furniture and under- taking business at Romeo, where he remained for one year before engaging in business at Flushing. In Flushing he purchased the furniture business of W. R. Ackland and some time later he and A. S. Perry, the other furni- ture dealer at Flushing, formed a partnership which lasted for six years, at the end of which time W. F. Minard purchased the interests of Mr. Perry and the new firm has since been known as Stewart & Minard, dealers in furniture, general house furnishings and undertakers.
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