USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee county, Michigan. With illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 91
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The children of the three Atherton families, at the time of their settlement on the Thread River, were thirteen in number, varying in age from young men and women ap- proaching maturity to infants of three years. The children of Adonijah were then four sons, Elihu, Orville, Fisher, and Dudley ; and three daughters, Eleanor, Ortentia, and Betsey. An elder son, John, had died before, young in years but rich in Christian faith. The elder daughter, Eleanor, had previously married the Rev. Orson Parker, who subsequently purchased and improved the Parker homestead in the Atherton settlement. Orville, Fisher, and Betsey, all exemplary Christians, died in middle life. The daughter, Ortentia, some years later married Isaac N. Robinson, and they are now living in the city of Flint. The elder son, Elihu, married and remained for several years in Genesee County, but afterwards moved with his family to the north part of the State of Ohio, where he was a prominent agriculturist. Later, he moved farther west, and remained until about two years ago, when failing health and advancing years admonished him to return to his friends in the East, and he is now a welcome and hon- ored inmate of the home of his son, Fisher Atherton, in the city of Buffalo. Dudley Atherton, the youngest of his father's family, married, at the age of thirty, Miss Maria Bigelow, a teacher of experience. They have been exten- sive travelers through the Western States and Territories to the shores of the Pacific.
The family of Perus Atherton, at the time of his settle- ment in Genesee County, consisted of two sons, Gustavus and Shubacl, and two daughters, Emily and Lucretia,-all being at that time in the golden years of childhood. The eldest son married Miss Sallie Filkins, and remained with his parents until the homestead was sold, when he pur- chased and removed to his present home in Burton. The second son, Shubael, purchased, about 1850, a farm adjoin- ing his father's,-the same which is now owned by S. R. Atherton,-and to this he soon after brought his newly- married wife, Miss Maria Chambers. Their married life was a happy but a short one, as he died Dee. 25, 1854. His sister Emily married Gary Chambers, and is now living a widow. The daughter, Lucretia, died at the age of eigh- teen years, a sinecre Christian.
The children of Shubael Atherton were Israel C., born in Henderson, N. Y., and Samuel R., born in Oakland Co., Mich., as before mentioned. The elder (usually known among his friends and acquaintances as Childs Atherton) was married to Miss Susan C. Colvin, and they, with the widow and younger son of Shubacl Atherton, remained on the homestead after the death of the latter, until the sale of the property in 1854. Then he ( Israel C. Atherton), with his wife and two children,-Sarah and Alberta,-removed to Novi, in Oakland County. They afterwards returned to Genesce County, where he died in 1874. An obituary notice, written by a friend soon after, giving a truthful account of his life and death, and paying a just tribute to his many virtues, is here given :
"Died, at his residence in the township uf Atlas, Genesce Co., Mich , of cousumption, on the morning of July 4, 1874, Rev. I. C. Atherton, after a lingering illness of many mooths.
" The deceased was fifty years of age, and a son of Deacon Shubael Atherton, well known among the carly pioneers and standard-bearers of this county. At the early and tender age of fifteen years he made a public profession uf his love to Christ, and furnishel unmistakable evidence that the bright morning of his Christian life had dawned. lle at once exhibited more than ordinary interest in the spiritual welfare of others, laboring intently in private and in public. He was wont to tender encouragement and render real service in the maintenance of a young people's prayer-meeting ; and not unfre- quently was the solicitude an I anxiety uf his parents aroused on his account, as he lingered long and carnest in his sacred retreat, bearing in his arms of faith and prayer the case of some friend or acquaint- ance, pleading earnestly for their salvation. Such places about the parental home were made peenliarly sacred, and often have we re- mained spell-boun I while being deterrel from our course on hearing these sweet words of prayer. In the mean time he united with the Baptist Church, of which he has since remained an earnest and faith- ful member; and by his even aul consistent life, morally and re- ligiously, he soon secured for himself a large circle of friends, both in and out of the church. Early in bis Christian life was the gospel ministry impressed upon his mind ; yet his timid nature led him to entertain such impressions quite unfavorably.
" At the age of twenty-one be married, and with his wife remained upon the home-farm in the town of Burton, assisting in its manage- ment as far as his already frail health would permit. Four years later his loved an'l honored father died, after a brief illness, leaving a most sad and irreparable blank in the household. Consequently the main burden uf management and care was transferred unexpeete lly to the son's hands. And although his life was being made eminently useful, yet again and again was the duty of preaching the gospel uf Christ to a perishing world impressed with redouble.l force upon his mind. And not until the homestead had passed to other hands, and be had removed with his family to the town of Novi, Oakland Co., and had buried a fond Christian mother ( whose sainted remains rest quietly among the New England hills of her native town), did he re-
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D.W. RICHARDS.
MRS. D.W. RICHARDS.
RESIDENCE OF D.W. RICHARDS, BURTON, GENESEE COUNTY, MICH.
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BURTON TOWNSHIP.
spond to the divine call and become willing to say', ' Here um I, send
" In entering upon his new work at this point in life, he went, as it were, direct, yet tremblingly, from the plow to the pulpit, feeling that his only reliance and hope of success was in a life shadowed and sheltered by the Cross of Christ. He was afterwards called to ordina- tion by the church in Grand Blanc, which he was then serving.
" In reviewing his pastoral werk in different localities, which has been somewhat familiar to us, we feel justified in remarking that the same has been made quite acceptable, and characterized by many evi- dent tekens of the Divine favor.
" While visiting his sick-room from time to time, and enjoying tho privilege of administering to some extent to his wants, we were led to place a much higher estimate upon the real worth of Christianity.
" And if we were to indulge in the envy of a real good, we would desire first of all that tho influence of his life and the spirit of his prayers, together with bis parting bles.ing, might live with us while we live, and that our last end might be like his.
" In view of a Christian life consummated in a triumphant death, may we not exclaim, ' Te live is Christ, to die is gain' ? Ile leaves a wife, son, and daughter, also a large cirelo of friends, to mourn his loss; but well may we regard our loss as his nnteld gain, and rejoice in the fact that an additional beacon-light beckens henvenward."
The younger son, Samuel R. Atherton, who was present with his mother in Massachusetts at the time of her death, in 1854, returned soon after to Genesee County, and in De- cember, 1855, was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Lloyd, with whom he commenced life on a farm which he had then recently purchased in the township of Burton, and the same on which he still resides, the only survivor of his father's family. He is one of the most exemplary and respected citizens of Genesee County, and is now filling the office of county treasurer, to which he was elected in 1876, and re-elected in 1878.
The records do not show that this family have ever been specially characterized for extensive accumulations of wealth, neither as personal actors in the busy whirl of po- litical strife; but rather that sterling worth and integrity of character have been among the more prominent features marking their career.
PLINY ATHERTON SKINNER
was among the earliest settlers in the town of Benton, and the first in the locality known as the Atherton settlement. Ile commeneed his pioneer life in this town on section 28, in July, 1835. To get his first log house raised, he was forced to get help from Flint,-Mr. Cronk, Rufus Stevens, and Oliver Wesson among others assisting him on that oc- casion.
He was born in the town of Henderson, Jefferson Co., N. Y., Dec. 30, 1808, and went with his parents to the Genesee country at an early age.
His father, Elias, was a native of Shelburne, Mass., and married Miss Abigail Atherton, a sister of Shubacl Atherton, subsequently of this town, by whom he had two children,- Eunice and Pliny A. After his removal to Western New York, Elias continued to reside in Genesee, Livingston Co., until his wife's death, in 1822, when he returned to Jeffer- son County, and died there some twenty years later. He was a physician, and carved the reputation of being a very successful and skillful practitioner. His daughter Eunice married Eli Lloyd, in Jefferson County, and about thirty years ago emigrated to Ohio, where the family settled at
Bradner, Wood Co., their present residence. She has six children,-Elias, Dwight, Albert, Dewitt, Hattie, and Mary. Dewitt is now living in Burton, and Mrs. Mary Atherton (wife of S. R. Atherton) in Flint, in this county.
After the death of his mother, Pliny A. went to live with his uncle, Shubael Atherton, in Jefferson County, and remained with him until he was twenty-one, coming to this State with him, and living in Pontiac.
For the four years succeeding his arrival at man's estate he was variously employed in farm-work, surveying, and in improving some land which he had purchased with his carnings. April 14, 1833, he espoused Delia Alvord, of Pontiac, a daughter of Thaddeus Alvord, formerly of Lock- port, Niagara Co., N. Y., and commenced housekeeping on his one-hundred-and-twenty-acre farm in Pontiac. Two years later he sold his place to a Mr. Wilder, and not long after purchased in Burton, where his uncle, Shubael Ather- ton, also located. He purchased of the government the northeast quarter of section 28, and Mr. Atherton the southeast quarter of section 21. Ilere he and his wife began their pioneer life in the woods, suffering the hard- ships and privations usual to the lot of first settlers in a timbered country, and laid the foundations for a pleasant home and a comfortable competence. Mr. Skinner has cleared, mostly with his own hands, about one hundred acres, and has brought his place into a fine state of cultiva- tion.
About a year previous to his leaving Pontiac he expe- rienced religion, and united with the Methodist Church, of which denomination he has since been a faithful and zealous member. lle was largely instrumental in the establishing and sustaining of the Burton church, of which he was class-leader for several years after its organization. In March, 1879, he left his farm and moved into the city of Flint, at the same time transferring his membership to the First Methodist Episcopal, or " Brick," Church in that city. Ilaving now reached the declining side of the hill of life, he has retired from active business pursuits, and while, with his faithful and worthy companion, awaiting the sumumons to his eternal home, can look back with proud satisfaction upon a life well spent,-its labor well performed, and its duties faithfully discharged.
His children are two in number,-Martha Jane, born May 24, 1836, and Alfred L., born Aug. 25, 1848. Martha J. is married to Morris .1. Putnam, and lives in the city of Flint. Alfred L. married Ettie Ketchum, of Newfane, Niagara Co., N. Y., and lives on the homestead in Burton.
DANIEL W. RICHARDS.
William Richards, the father of Daniel W., was a native of Massachusetts, born in the neighborhood of Boston. Ile was married at about twenty years of age to Dolly Thayer, a young lady of about his own age, who was a member of the Christian Church, and had already developed marked ability as a speaker and exhorter. They lived in a number of different places in Massachusetts, and finally re- moved to the town of Parish, Oswego Co., N. Y., where Mr. Richards worked at his trade of cloth-dressing for about
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IIISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
four years, when he bought and located upon a farm. Sev- cral years later he traded his thirty acres of improved land for one hundred and sixty acres in the town of Scioto, Shia- wassee Co., Mich. Ile emigrated in the early fall of 1844, and arrived at his land only to find it in possession of another man, who refused to leave it. It was then ascertained that the title held by the person with whom he had traded was only a tax-title, and eventually proved utterly worthless. Having no place to go into, Mr. Richards obtained permis- sion to move into a vacant school-house, where the family tried to make themselves comfortable. Soon after, his son, Daniel W., was taken sick, and before he was sufficiently recovered to allow of his removal three months had elapsed. They then moved in with the family of John Cross, and lived with them a year and a half, during which time they all had a serious time with the fever and ague, then very prevalent there. They then moved four miles west of Laingsburg, on the Pontiac and Grand River road, where they kept tavern for two years, their nearest neighbors being a mile and a half distant. For two years they had several Indian neighbors, which suited the boys, who learned many tricks of woodcraft, and joined heartily in the sports of their dusky companions, whose language they also acquired to a considerable extent. From there they moved to Independ- ence, Oakland Co., and bought forty acres of land, at least half of which was swamp, and sold cheap on that account. Four years later they formed the acquaintance of James Allen, who owned eighty acres in the town of Burton, and who desired to dispose of it, because of its low situation and the execrable roads leading to it. Mr. Richards was desirous to get more land, in order to furnish home-work for his sons, one of whom had been compelled to work out; both parties being of a willing mind, a trade was speedily effected.
They moved on to this place-the north half of the north- west quarter of section 24-in 1852, and continued to re- side there until they purchased forty acres on section 23, upon which he located, leaving his son Henry on the old farm. Two years after, Mr. Richards and his wife removed to IIolly, where she is still living, and where he died about nine years since. Their lives have both been exemplary ones, and their care and guiding example is well shown in the characters of their somewhat numerous family of chil- dren. Mrs. Richards continued to employ her talent as a preacher of the gospel until the infirmities of age prohibited the labor it involved.
Their children were Minerva, Mary, Melzer, Lucy, Dolly, Abigail, Daniel W., Henry, Chloe, Nancy A., and two others who died in infancy. Melzer remained in New York when his parents came to Michigan ; entered the Union service as a captain, served faithfully, and was promoted to major ; was mortally wounded in a skirmish during Lee's retreat from Richmond to Appomattox. Dolly also died in New York, and Abigail in Michigan. Of the others, Mrs. Minerva Edick lives in Parish, Jefferson Co., N. Y. ; Mrs. Mary Norton, at Bridgeport, Mich. ; Henry, at Midland City, Mich. ; Mrs. Lucy Johnson, Mrs. Chloe Burgess, Mrs. Nancy A. Hill, and Daniel W., in Burton.
Henry married Harriet Bentley, and lived on the home- stead until September, 1878, when he sold it and removed
to Midland City. IIe has proved himself a worthy scion of the religious and temperate stock from which he sprang, and possesses in a high degree the confidence and esteem of his large circle of acquaintances.
Daniel W., who was born at Amherst, Mass., July 14, 1829, had saved up some money, which he had earned by hunting, trapping, and tanning deer-skins while living at home, with which small capital, at the age of twenty-three years, he began life on his own responsibility. He pur- chased of Martin Rose the southeast quarter of section 14 in Burton, and let his brother-in-law, Simeon Burgess, have the west half of it. Oct. 9, 1853, he was married to Miss Sarah Vodden, daughter of Henry and Mary (Delbridge) Vodden, natives of England, but residents of Batavia, N. Y., where she was born April 19, 1837. They came to Mich- igan, and settled on the west half of the northwest quarter of section 14 in Burton, in 1844. Her father lived there until 1861, when he died. Her mother now resides in Flint. From this union have sprang eight children, whose names and dates of birth were as follows: Effie, April 3, 1856; Cora, Oct. 19, 1858; Susan, Feb. 19, 1861 ; Phæbe, April 2, 1864; Eben, Dec. 13, 1866 ; Mary, July 4, 1869, died when two years old ; Bertha, Ang. 22, 1874 ; Daniel, W., Jr., June 24, 1876.
During his life in Burton, D. W. Richards has devoted his energies to the improvement and tilling of the farm, which he has enlarged to two hundred acres, and brought to a fine degree of cultivation. For a time he paid partie- ular attention to the raising of sheep, but on account of the low price of wool he changed to a dairy business, which finally culminated in cheese-making and the building of a cheese-factory in 1875. During the eight years that he has engaged in cheese-making he has been a successful exhibitor of cheese at the Genesee County fairs, invariably carrying off the first premium. Mr. Richards is in no sense a politician, and has escaped the cares of office thereby. Being more than usually interested in the temperance re- form (having given up the use of tobacco, tea, and coffee seventeen years ago), he has engaged in the Red-Ribbon movement, and in July, 1879, was a delegate to the Mass Temperance Convention held at Lansing. Being descended from parents of strong religious predilections, he is naturally of a religious turn of mind, but his conservative character prevents him becoming in any sense bigoted in his religious views. Believing that there should be but one universal Church of Christ, he has held aloof from every sect, aiming to live an exemplary life, and thereby exemplify the beauty and truth of his Master's gospel.
IRA CHASE.
This gentleman was born in the town of Parrish, Oneida Co., N. Y., Sept. 9, 1805. Ile was an only child, and, his father dying when he was but nine months old, lived with his maternal grandfather until he was about nine years old, when his mother married a Mr. Curtis. He made his home with them until he reached his majority, when he leased his step-father's farm. Some years later, desiring an edu- cation, he attended the Belleville Academy. While pur- suing his studies his health failed him, and he took a trip
BURTON TOWNSHIP.
353
to the coast of Labrador, by which he was so much benefited as to be able, upon his return, to resume his studies at the academy. In 1835 (October 10th) he married Mrs. Sarah M. Beebe, and, three years later, they eame West and set- tled in the Atherton settlement, in the town of Burton, where they have sinee resided. They have had three chil-
YLI
IRA CHASE.
dren, Charles, George A., and Edward R., none of whom are now living. The youngest son, Edward R., served four years in the war of the Rebellion, enlisting as a private in August, 1861, and rising to the rank of captain. Upon his return from the army he entered Oberlin College, where he remained one year, when he went to the Theological
REA
MRS. IRA CHASE.
Seminary, in Chicago, where he pursued his studies for two years more. At the close of his course of study he received a call to the pastorate of a church in Clyde, Ohio, which he accepted, and served till the time of his death, three years later.
Mrs. Chase has two children by her former marriage,
one of whom resides at Swartz Creek, in the town of Flint, and the other lives in the State of California.
For upwards of forty years Ira Chase has been a deacon in the Congregational Church ; he has always been a most liberal and zealous supporter of the Church, and an ex- emplary Christian.
JOIIN C. WOLVERTON.
The Wolverton family in America sprang from a good old Quaker of that name, who emigrated from England with Penn's colony, and settled where the city of Philadel- phia now stands. After a few generations the family began to spread abroad, some going to Canada and others to the State of New York. Among the latter, or among their im- mediate descendants, was Asher V. Wolverton, grandfather to the subject of this sketch. fle was educated as a physi- cian, and served as surgeon in the American army during the war of 1812, at the close of which he settled in Tioga ('o., N. Y., and from there moved to Rochester, N. Y., where he practiced his profession very successfully for many years until his death, which occurred some thirty years ago. Ilis wife survived him about two years. They had seven children,-Dennis, Stephen, Orpha, Thomas, Samantha, Asher, and Almira. Thomas died at Enterprise, Miss .; Stephen, in Little Falls, N. Y .; and Samantha, in Brook- lyn, N. Y. The others are living,-Dennis, in Grand Blane; Orpha Wolcott, in Batavia, N. Y. ; Asher, a phy- sician, at Enterprise, Miss. ; Almira Van Zandt, at Roch- ester, N. Y.
Dennis, the father of John C., was born about 1809-10, and at the age of twenty-one was married to Susan Dun- ham, a daughter of William and Isabel Dunham, who were refugees from Canada during the war of 1812. They after- wards removed to West Bloomfield, Ontario Co., N. Y., and there spent the remainder of their lives. After his (Den- nis') marriage, which occurred in Saratoga County, he re- moved to Tioga County, and from thenee to Rochester in 1844. He lived there nine years, when he came to Mich- igan and settled on the north part of section 4 in the town of Grand Blanc, where he still resides. He lost his wife by a very painful accident. On the evening of Dec. 22, 1873, her clothes caught fire from a candle while per- forming some household duty, and she was fatally burned. She lingered in an unconscious state until about five o'clock the next morning. when death relieved her sufferings. Their family consisted of eleven children,-Margaretta ; Jane Eliza, born June 19, 1836; William C., born Aug. 5, 1838; John C., born July 22, 1840 ; Joseph M .; Sarah S., born in October, 1844 ; Asher ; Thomas O., born in Jan- uary, 1848; Susan G., born in October, 1850; Orpha Isabel ; and Asher (2d). Margaretta, Joseph M., Orpha I., and the
45
4
354
IHISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
two Ashers all died in childhood of the same disease, - searlet fever. Mrs. Jane E. Dayton and Mrs. Susan G. Jenny live in Flint ; William C. is practicing law at Mus- kegon ; Thomas O. lives with his father on the homestead in Grand Blane, and John C. and Sarah S. reside in Bur- ton.
John C. Wolverton lived with his parents until he was nearly of age, taking advantage of all his school opportuni- ties, and thus secured a good education. In 1861, while attending school at Ann Arbor, he was aroused by the echoes of the first guns fired upon the flag at Sumter; he left the school and, June 12th, enlisted in the Fenton Light Guard, under command of Capt. William M. Fenton. He was, with his company, mustered into the 7th Regiment and transferred to the 8th, of which Fenton was made colonel. He served with the regiment until April, 1862, when he was transferred to the Signal Corps, with which he served until October, 1865, when he was mustered out as a second lientenant, the commission having been issued to him the previous April. During the siege of Fort Sumter, and the other forts about Charleston, he was constantly called upon to serve in dangerous positions, and acquitted himself with such credit as to win encomiums from his superiors in office. Ile was thrice wounded,-first, at Bluffton, S. C., where he
received two buekshot in his leg; second, at Black Creek, Fla., where he received a carbine-bullet in his neek ; and third, at St. Mary's Ford, near Olustee, where, while riding at full speed, his horse was shot under him and, falling, threw him against a tree with such violence as to break his arm. At the time of Gen. Sherman's arrival at the sea- coast, Mr. Wolverton was sergeant in charge of the signal- station, and conducted the correspondence that resulted. He now has in his possession a treasured memento and val- uable relic in the shape of the flag with which the first dis- patch was-signaled to the victorious army and its gallant commander.
Returning to Grand Blanc, he purchased a small farm in Burton, on seetion 32, to which he has made additions until he now owns one hundred and fifty acres. He was married Nov. 21, 1867, to Miss Frances E. Mason, daughter of Daniel and Anna M. (Best) Mason, of the town of Mundy, by whom he has two children,-Irving Mason, born Jan. 29, 1869, and Charles Howard, born July 1, 1871.
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