USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions, Volume II > Part 65
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85
Charles T. Moss had completed his schooling in Canada before coming to Genesee county with his adopted parents, having attended college at Hamilton, and upon moving to Flushing became interested in a drug com- pany, continuing business in that line until after his marriage in 1886, after which he engaged in business in partnership with his adopted father in the general farming and live-stock line, a partnership which continued for about two years, at the end of which time the elder Moss retired from the busi- ness and C. T. Moss continued the same on his own account. He also opened a lumber yard at Flushing and operated the same in connection with his other lines, until 1901, in which year he sold out and went to Colorado Springs, Colorado, but a year later returned to Flushing, bought a farm and again engaged in farming. A little later he embarked in the mercantile business at Flushing, opening a general store and has been thus engaged
650
GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
ever since. Mr. Moss is a Republican and has held a number of official positions in the township and village, for twenty years having been a mem- ber of the village council.
On December 28, 1886, Charles T. Moss was united in marriage to Elizabeth Amy Davie, who was born at Flushing on January 28, 1869, a daughter of Col. Lyman Ellis and Puella Lapersis ( Parsell) Davie, both natives of the state of New York and prominent residents of Genesee county. Lyman E. Davie was born near Seneca Lake, New York, April 10, 1841, and when about seventeen years of age, in 1858, came to Michigan with his parents, the family locating in Flint township, this county, where they estab- lished their home. When the Civil War broke out, Lyman E. Davie, then a young man of twenty, and his eldest brother, William, were among the first to respond to the call for volunteers to defend the flag. They walked to Flint and enlisted in Company I, Tenth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, which was organized and mustered into service in that city. The date of his enlistment was November 10, 1861, and during that winter the regiment rendezvoused in that city. The following April the regiment departed for the front and was assigned to duty in the Army of the Cum- berland, then under the command of Gen. Don Carlos Buell. Lyman E. Davie followed the fortunes of his regiment in the campaigns throughout Kentucky, Tennessee and other states, participating in the battle and skirm- ishes in which the regiment was engaged, and his service was recognized by promotion to the rank of first lieutenant.
While at home on a furlough, in the spring of 1864, Lieutenant Lyman E. Davie was united in marriage to Pnella Parsell, of Flushing village, and upon his return to Nashville was accompanied by his bride. In the mean- time he had received his commission as a colonel and was given command of a colored regiment stationed at Nashville. Colonel Davie continued in the service until the close of the war, after which he returned to Flushing, where he took up his residence and where nearly all of the remainder of his life was spent. He was engaged in various enterprises in the village and county and during all his active years was closely identified with the growth and prosperity of the village in which he made his home. He was ambitious and progressive and was almost constantly engaged in some enterprise that had for its object the upbuilding of the town and the welfare of the com- munity. Some of the first brick blocks, including the first opera house, and almost a score of pretty dwellings, are monuments to his public spirit, his efforts and his enterprise. A local newspaper in a biographical reference to Colonel Davie following his death on August 10, 1907, said of him:
651
GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
"He was a man possessed of a kindly and sunny temperament, a generous and hospitable host, a most agreeable companion and entertainer, who enjoyed the warm friendship of a host of acquaintances. He became one of the early members of Flushing lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and later the several successive degrees to the ranks of Knight Templar were conferred upon him. He was a Mystic Shriner and an Elk, becoming a member of the two latter orders during his residence at Colorado Springs"
Lyman E. Davie was a son of Henry and Amy (Bump) Davie, natives of New York state, who made their home there until middle life, when they came to Michigan and settled on a farm in Flint township, this county, where Henry Davie engaged in farming. Later he sold his place and went to Grand Rapids, this state, where he spent the rest of his life. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, William, Lyman, Edward, Jefferson, Rastus, Martha, Lottie, Lowell and two who died in infancy. Mrs. Puella Davie, who died on December 31, 1886, also was a native of New York state, born on August 8, 1842, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Cronk) Parsell, the latter of whom was a daughter of Col. James Cronk, an officer of the United States army during the Mexican War and a grandson of his namesake, Col. James Cronk, an officer of the patriot army during the Revolutionary War. Members of the Cronk family also served in the army during the Civil War and during the Spanish-American War. Both Robert and Elizabeth Parsell were natives of New York state and were married there. Coming to this state they located in Flushing township, Genesee county, where for some time Robert Parsell engaged in farming, later engag- ing in the hotel business at Flushing, which business he continued until his death many years later, proprietor of the old Exchange hotel, which he had built. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, of whom Mrs. Davie was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow: Eugene, who married Roxana Brockway and had three children, Charles, deceased ; Mrs. Agnes Watson, who has three children, Eugene, Lucile and Pauline, and Jay, who has one daughter, Dorothy; Olive, who married Robert McGlinchey and has three children, George, who has one daughter, Edna; Mrs. Grance Porter, who has two children, Eugene and Mark, and Mrs. Mabel Pease, who has one son, Lester; Virginia, who married Albert Davis, following whose death she married Henry Marshall, now living at Hunt- ington Park, California, and has two children, Ned and Edith, the latter of whom married Bert Allen; Laura, widow of Charles Payson, now living in California, who has two children, Claire and Mrs. Lois Gump, of Arizona ; Robert, now deceased, who married Julia Heath and had two children,
652
GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Robert and May, the latter of whom married H. M. Starr, now of Portland, Oregon, and has two children, Dorothy and Twinkle; Ernest, who married Hattie Campbell and is now living at Flint, and Mary, who married M. C. Bowman, of Flint, and has three children, Ernest D., Jane, who married Howard Pidd, and Elsa.
To Colonel and Mrs. Lyman E. Davie four children were born, of whom Mrs. Moss is the third in order of birth, the others being William, a farmer living near Flushing, who married Gertrude Turner and has one child, a daughter, Mildred C., a teacher of music at Flint; Robert P., of Los Angeles, California, who married Martha Hays and has four children, Robert P., Marjorie, Lois and Martha, and Laura P., who married Ray Ellis, of Venice township, in the neighboring county of Shiawassee, and has two children, Robert Davie and Raymond Bert.
Mr. and Mrs. Moss are the parents of four children, Margery, deceased; Dorothy, who attended St. Mary's College at Monroe; Beatrice, who attended the same college and the Michigan Agricultural College, and Theodore Davie, who is a student of Michigan Agricultural College. The Mosses are attendants of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Moss is a Mason and both he and his wife are members of the Order of the Eastern Star, in the local chapter of which latter organization Mrs. Moss is a past officer.
JOSEPH HOBART.
Joseph Hobart, a well-known and substantial farmer of Atlas town- ship, this county, an honored veteran of the Civil War and the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and fifty acres at the edge of the village of Atlas, is a native of New York state, but has been a resident of Michigan since 1870. He was born on a farm in Harmony township, in Chatauqua county, New York, September 27, 1842, son of Lester and Mary Ann (Preston) Hobart, natives of that same state, who spent all their lives there.
Joseph Hobart was reared on the home farm in New York and in 1862, before he was twenty years of age, enlisted for service during the Civil War in Company F, One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, and served for two years and three months, or until he was honor- ably discharged on account of permanent disability, his left arm having been shattered during the battle of Cold Harbor. The greater part of Mr. Hobart's service was performed with his regiment in Virginia, South
653
GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Carolina and Florida, and he participated in a number of important battles, the last of which was the battle of Cold Harbor, where he received the wound which left him a cripple for life, his arm having been so badly shat- tered that it was necessary to remove about four inches of bone, this opera- tion leaving that arm shorter than the other. Upon receiving his honor- able discharge from the army, Mr. Hobart returned to his home in New York and resumed his place on the farm, where he remained until 1870, when he came to Michigan, stopping in Oakland county. A year later he came up into Genesee county and sixteen years later bought the farm of one hundred and fifty acres, which he now owns, at the east edge of the village of Atlas, just beyond the mill pond, and started in to further clear and improve the place, in due time having a very well improved and profit- ably cultivated farm. When he married he established his home on his farm and lived there until 1900, he and his wife now having a very pleasant and comfortable home in Atlas, where they have lived since that year. Mr. Hobart is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that patriotic organization.
It was in 1886 that Joseph Hobart was united in marriage to Clarinda Perry, who was born in Grand Blanc township, this county, daughter of Edmund and Clarissa (Wilson) Perry, the former a native of the state of New York and the latter of Vermont, who for many years were among the best-known and most influential residents of the southern part of Genesee county. Edmund Perry was born in Columbia county, New York, in 1814, son of Edmund and Mercy (Martin) Perry, who came to Michigan in territorial days with their family, being the second family to settle within the borders of Genesee county, and were for years actively identified with the work of developing the interests of the southern part of this county.
The senior Edmund Perry was a native of Rhode Island, an educated Quaker and a man of much quiet force of character and energy, both of mind and body. He was the first person in New York to card wool by machinery and was well established at his home in Columbia county, that state, when, in 1825, he decided to dispose of his place there and come West. In October of that year he and his nephew, Rowland B. Perry, came to Mich- igan and entered a claim to a tract of "Congress land" in sections II and 14 in Grand Blanc township, this county. They then returned to New York and in the following February, Rowland B. Perry, the nephew, started on the return trip out here to the Michigan wilds, driving through, accompanied by Mr. Perry's eldest son, Simon, and his daughter, Eliza, the journey requir-
654
GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
ing twenty-five days. In September of that same year, 1826, the other members of the Perry family joined those here, a home meanwhile having been prepared in the wilderness, and were thus the second family to settle in this county. By the very nature of things, the senior Edmund Perry became one of the dominant figures in pioneer days in the southern part of this county and his influence ever was for the good, ever being exerted in behalf of the right. At his own expense he built the first school house ever erected in Genesee county and was for years active in pushing. the work of the early schools hereabout. In general civic affairs he also took an active part and did much toward getting local government organized on a proper basis in the formative period of the community, among his services in this connection having been that of highway commissioner, in which capacity he laid out roads hereabout in the days when Grand Blanc township extended to Sag- inaw. He ever was a prominent figure at "log rollings" and house raisings throughout this region and would assist at such neighborly functions miles away from his home. He and his wife were the parents of twelve children, two of whom died before the family came to Michigan and one daughter died shortly after the family came here, at the age of sixteen years, but most of the children lived to ripe old ages, though all are now long dead, Edmund Perry, Jr., father of Mrs. Hobart, lacking but three months of being ninety years of age at the time of his death.
The junior Edmund Perry was twelve years old when he came to Mich- igan with his parents and he grew to manhood on the home farm in Grand Blanc township, becoming a practical farmer and following that vocation all his life He married Clarissa Wilson, who was born at Marshfield, nine miles from the city of Montpelier, Vermont, in 1822, daughter of Samuel and Keziah (Green) Wilson, the latter of whom was the daughter of a soldier of the Revolution, whose ancestry dated from the landing of the "Mayflower" in this country. Samuel. Wilson and his wife moved from Washington county, Vermont, to western New York, where Mrs. Wilson died, after which Samuel Wilson and his children, in 1837, the year in which Michigan was admitted to statehood, came to this state and entered a tract of land from the government in Atlas township, this county, the farm on which Martin Wilson now makes his home. The junior Edmund Perry also was a man of much force of character and a force for good in his community. He helped bring to Genesee county the first printing press ever set up in this county, the press on which was printed the first number of the Flint River Gasette, January 26, 1839, that ancient press having been shipped from Buffalo to Detroit and thence hauled through the woods to its
655
GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
destination in this county. He died in March, 1903, being then, as noted above, almost ninety years of age, and his widow survived him for more than a year, her death occurring in December, 1904, she then being eighty- two years of age.
ALBERT FLETCHER.
Another of the native sons of Genesee county who has found that the life of a general farmer in his native locality is a profitable and pleasant one is Albert Fletcher, now living in retirement in the village of Linden. He was born in this county, September 9, 1849, and is a son of George .A. and Elizabeth (Jewett) Fletcher. The father was born in Lowell, Massachu- setts, January 22, 1812, and died in 1881. The mother was born in York- shire, England, May 31, 1823, and died on March 7, 1882. When six years old her parents brought her to America, locating in Detroit, Michigan. George Fletcher came to Michigan when a young man and worked in the machine shops in Detroit, later locating in Argentine township, Genesee county, sixty years ago, among the pioneers, and here he spent the rest of his life engaged in farming, owning one hundred and sixty acres. He was a strong Republican, and he belonged to the Presbyterian church. He had but two children, Albert and Belle, the latter of whom died when thir- teen years old. His father, Jonathan Fletcher, was a native of Lowell, Massachusetts, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. He married Mary Varnum.
Albert Fletcher was educated in the common schools of Linden. On May 7, 1885, he married Carrie Miller, a native of Chili, Monroe county, New York, where her birth occurred on March 21, 1862. She is a daughter of Joseph and Fidelia ( Resseguie ) Miller, both natives of the state of New York, where they grew up and married. They made their home in Monroe county until 1872, when they came to Michigan, locating in Argentine town- ship, this county, buying a farm, and there they spent the rest of their lives, his death occurring in May, 1909, and hers in 1898. To these parents five children were born, three of whom are now living, namely: Charles, of Detroit ; William, of Bay City, and Carrie, wife of Mr. Fletcher. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher, a daughter, Grace, who married William Langworthy, who has been engaged in the drug business in Fen- ton the past six years. Mr. and Mrs. Langworthy are the parents of three children, Fletcher, Harold and Dorothy.
656
GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Mr. Fletcher owns a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Argentine township, where he carried on general farming and stock raising successfully for many years, finally retiring from active life and buying property in the village of Linden, where he now lives, moving there seven- teen years ago, after spending fifty years on the farm. He is one of the best-known men in that part of the county and has always borne an excel- lent reputation. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and politically is a Prohibitionist.
DANIEL KURTZ.
Daniel Kurtz, a well-known and substantial farmer of Genesee town- ship, and the proprietor of a fine farm of one hundred and forty-seven acres on rural route No. 7, out of Flint, is a native of the state of New York, but has been a resident of this county for about thirty-five years. He was born on a farm in Clarence township, Erie county, New York, July 16, 1855, son of Jacob and Anna ( Lieb) Kurtz, both natives of Pennsylvania.
Jacob Kurtz was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, March 21, 1813, and was the youngest of the three children born to his parents, the others hav- ing been Mrs. Sturkie, who died in Indiana, and Michael Kurtz, of Wooster, Ohio. His father died when he was two years old and his mother later moved to Ohio, settling near Massilon, where he grew to manhood and where he bought forty acres of land. When twenty-four years of age he walked to Clarence, New York, there met Anna Lieb and, in February, 1839, at Williamsville, New York, they were married, the ceremony being performed in the oldest house in Erie county. Anna Lieb was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, February 17, 1818, third in order of birth of the nine children born to her parents, who were married on March 31, 1812. Her mother, before her marriage, was Elizabeth Shue. Her father was a son of Abraham and Barbara ( Miller) Lieb, who were married on August 27, 1782, and who were the parents of nine children. When she was nine years of age Anna Lieb moved with her parents from Pennsylvania to Clarence, New York, and there she grew to womanhood. After his marriage, Jacob Kurtz sold his farm in Ohio and bought a sixty-acre farm in Clarence township, Erie county, New York, and later bought an adjoining tract of seventy acres. There he lived until the spring of 1856, when he moved to a nearby farm that belonged to his grandfather and worked both places until his death, about five years later, he then being forty-eight years of age. He and his
Daniel Kurtz.
657
GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
wife were the parents of nine children, of whom seven grew to maturity, namely : Mrs. Mary A. Freeman, of Mt. Pleasant, this state; Jacob, of Flint, and Elizabeth, Henry, David, Daniel and Abram. The mother of these children died at Mt. Pleasant, this state, October 30. 1888, she then being seventy-one years of age.
Daniel Kurtz grew to manhood on the home farm in Erie county, New York, and from boyhood has been a practical farmer. He completed his schooling in the old academy at Clarence and thereafter taught seven terms of school in his home township, continuing farming during the summers. Early in 1882 he married one of the girls in the neighborhood of his home and on April 7 of that same year he and his bride came to Michigan and settled on the farm in section 20 of Genesee township, this county, where he is still living. He bought the farm from George N. Chittenden, whose father, Nelson Chittenden, one of Genesee county's pioneers, had bought it from the government. Mr. Kurtz brought progressive ideas to bear in the cultivation of his farm and has long been regarded as one of the most sub- stantial farmers in that part of the county. In addition to his general farming, he has given considerable attention to the raising of cattle for dairy purposes and has done very well. Mr. Kurtz is a Republican and ever since taking up his residence in this county has given his thoughtful attention to local political affairs and has served his township in the capacity of justice of the peace and as overseer of highways. He is a deacon in the Baptist church at Mt. Morris, clerk of the congregation, and has also served as a member of the board of trustees of the same, long having been one of the leaders in church circles thereabout. He also is a member of Genesee Grange No. 808 and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.
On January 25, 1882, Daniel Kurtz was united in marriage to Nellie A. Lapp, who was born on a farm in Clarence township, Erie county, New York. August 28, 1860, and who died at her home in this county on April 4. 1892. She was a daughter of Isaac and Martha (Hopkins) Lapp, old . settlers of that neighborhood ( the latter of whom is still living at the age of eighty-three years, in Williamsville, New York), and who were the par- ents of eleven children, nine of whom are still living. Isaac Lapp, who died in June, 1885, was a son of Abraham and Anna Lapp. To Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz six children were born, namely: Grace B., born on November 10, 1882, who, in May, 1905, married Frank Drake, a well-known young farmer of Genesee township, this county; Raymond L., January 11, 1884, who was graduated from the Michigan Agricultural College in 1909 and is
(42a)
658
GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
now an engineer at Flint; Loren G., July 28, 1885, who was graduated from the Michigan Agricultural College in 1911 and is also an engineer at Flint; John J., August 7, 1887, who was graduated from the Northwestern Med- ical Institute at Chicago and is now a practicing physician at Otisville, this county, and Clayton, February 9, 1890, who remains on the home farm, a valuable assistant to his father in the management and operation of the same.
CHARLES B. SELLECK.
Charles B. Selleck, justice of the peace in and for Davison township, member of the Davison village council, a well-to-do retired farmer of that township and for years actively identified with the development of that sec- tion of the county, is a native son of Michigan and has lived in this state all his life. He was born at Springfield, in Oakland county, September 14, 1860, son of Charles N. and Maria (Brainard) Selleck, both natives of the state of New York, for many years well-known and prominent residents of this county, who are now living retired at Davison.
Charles N. Selleck was born on a farm in Onandaga county, New York, July 25, 1832, son of James H. and Minerva (Hubbard) Selleck, who had moved there from the neighborhood of Salisbury, Connecticut, and who came to Michigan in territorial days, back in 1836, and settled on a homestead farm about four miles north of Clarkston, in Independence town- ship. Oakland county, where they made their home for many years, later coming to Genesee county, moving thence, after awhile, to Lapeer county, where they remained until about 1850, when they returned to Genesee county, locating on a farm north of Flint, where James H. Selleck died in 1872. His widow died the next year, 1873, at Hawley. Until he was fifteen years of age Charles N. Selleck, who was about four years old when his parents came to Michigan, remained with his parents and then he began working on his own account as a farmer. In 1859 he married Maria Brainard, of Lapeer, who was born at Wales, New York, and who, when but a child, had come to this state with her parents, Philo and Parmelia (Roberts) Brainard, who first located near Almont, but later moved to Lapeer, where Philo Brainard was for years thereafter engaged in the jewelry business. Following their marriage, Charles N. Selleck and his wife moved to Spring- field from Lapeer and lived there until 1861, when they moved to Flint, where Mr. Selleck was for about ten years engaged in draying. He then
659
GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
engaged in contract work for the city and it was he who put in the first gas mains laid in the city of Flint. He also fitted the first two houses that were piped for gas in that city. In 1873 he was appointed superintendent of the farm of the state institute for the deaf and was thus engaged for eleven years, at the end of which time he located in Richfield township, this county, and engaged in farming on his own behalf. About eleven years later he retired and moved to the village of Mt. Morris, where he lived for five years, at the end of which time, in 1910, he moved to Davison, where he since has made his home. While at Mt. Morris, Mr. Selleck served as trustee of that village for two terms and has also served one term as trustee at Davison. He and his wife are the parents of six children, two sons and four daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch is the first-born, the others being as follow: Mrs. Flora Hill, who lives in the southeast corner of Genesee township; Robert W., of Flint; Mrs. Lillian Branch, of Bay City; Mrs. Estella Johnson, of Spokane, Washington, and Mrs. Gertrude Parmerter, of Flint.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.