History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 28

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772

USA > Michigan > Eaton County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 28
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 28

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).

James Pinckney, the father of Judge Pinckney, was a farmer, and lived and died in the State of New York. He raised a family of nine sons and two daughters.

William H. Pinckney was born in West Chester Co., N. Y., March 18, 1824. His parents removed to the town of Aurelius, Cayuga Co., N. Y., in the same year. He obtained the better part of his education after he was eighteen years of age by traveling daily four miles and back to Auburn Academy. His earliest schooling was at the district school. He read law with Stephen Q. Goodwin (recently deceased in Chicago) during four years, at Auburn, N. Y., and was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court at Anburn in 1848. He visited Lansing in 1849, and removed to the place in 1850. His intentions were originally to settle at Madison, Wis. He has practiced his profession in Lansing since, with the exception of eight years from 1857 to 1865, during which period he held various official positions. He held the office of recorder

* From materials furnished hy his brother, Isaiah II. Corbin, of Caledonia, Kent Co., Mich.

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HISTORY OF INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

for the city in 1865, and was private secretary of Hon. Jacob M. Howard, while he was attorney-general of the State, for several years. He married, on the 17th of Jan- uary, 1849, Maria B. Comstock, of Cayuga Co., N. Y. His present residence and office are on Grand Street, in the city of Lansing. During the present year (1880) he was one of the enumerators for taking the census of the city.

J. P. THOMPSON, recently deceased, was one of the early attorneys of Lansing, and was horn near Ilartford, Conn., in 1826. Ile read law in his native State, and after his arrival in Lansing in 1848 was law partner of Hon. Wm. II. Chapman. Subsequently he became editor of the Lan- sing State Journal, which position he filled until 1856. IIe was afterwards editor of the Grand Rapids Herald and Enquirer. About 1861 he began to interest himself in the agrienlture of the State, and mainly through his influence the State Pomological Society was founded in 1869. He became its secretary, and labored in its behalf until 1876, when he was elected secretary of the State Agricultural Society. Hle soon after became assistant editor of the Michigan Farmer, and finally agricultural editor of the Detroit Post and Tribune. He died of Bright's disease on the 5th of July, 1880, at the age of fifty-four years.

HON. WM. II. CHAPMAN .- The Chapman family was originally from England and among the early settlers of Connecticut, various members locating at Stonington, Hart- ford, Fairfield, and other places. Wm. H. Chapman was born in Tolland Co., Conn., Jan. 20, 1820. He attended the district schools of his day, and was a student at the celebrated Wilbraham Academy, founded by Rev. Wilbur Fisk. Ile read law with Governor Toneey, of Connecticut, and attended two terms at the law school of Yale College. In 1847-48 he passed a year in Binghamton, N. Y., a con- siderable portion of which was in the office of Daniel S. Dickinson, was admitted to practice at Hartford, Conn., in 1847, and came to Lansing, Mich., in 1848. He was admitted to the Michigan bar, but never practiced very much in the State. In the spring of 1880 he removed to a farm in Meridian township, where he now resides.

Ile has filled the offices of county judge, judge of Pro- bate, and mayor of the city of Lansing. He married Julia, the daughter of John Stimpson, formerly of Italy, N. Y., subsequently an early settler in Washtenaw Co., Mich., and at a later date a citizen of Kalamazoo. Judge Chapman has been prominent in the business and political circles of Ingham County for many years.

GEORGE I. PARSONS was born in New Hartford, Oneida Co., N. Y., about 1822. He read law in Peterboro', N. Y., and was probably admitted to the bar in Oneida County. He came to Michigan abont 1836, and settled in Clinton, Lenawee Co., where he remained in the practice of his profession for some twelve or thirteen years. Ile removed to Lansing about 1850, and was clected prosecuting attorney for Ingham County in 1856, serving until 1860. He was also connected with the Lansing Republican in an editorial capacity for a considerable time. He was supervisor of the township of Lansing in 1852, and city attorney in 1861-62. Ile removed to Springfield, Mo., soon after the war of the Rebellion, and remained there nutil about 1869, when he removed to Winena, Minn., and is at the present

time engaged in farming about two miles above that city. He is a man of excellent legal attainments and a respected member of society.

MASON D. CHATTERTON was born in the town of Mount Ilolly, Rutland Co., Vt., Aug. 30, 1838. In 1851 he came to Michigan, and arrived in Meridian, Ingham Co., on the 23d of June in that year. He spent three years at the State Agricultural College, being the first student ex- amined and admitted to that institution. On the 1st of October, 1859, he entered the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor, and graduated on the 27th of March, 1861. On the 23d of March in the last-named year he was ad- mitted to the bar of Washtenaw County, and soon after opened an office.

On the 8th of November, 1864, he was elected Circuit Court commissioner of Ingham County, and removed to Mason, March 20, 1865, where he has since resided. Nov. 5, 1872, he was elected judge of Probate Court for Ing- ham County, which office he now holds. In 1873 he was president of the Mason village board, and on the 2d of September, 1874, was admitted to. practice in the Supreme Court of the United States.

ATTORNEYS.

The following list comprises the attorneys who have practiced in Ingham County since 1859 .* Most of them were admitted in the county, but a few were admitted in other parts of the State.

Residence.

Il. P. Henderson, Masun.

William W. Osborne, Lansing.

M. D. Chatterton,

William 11. Pinckney,

Lucien Recd,

James B. Judson,

George F. Day,

Jason E. Nichols,

George W. Bristol,

Charles S. Alten,

H. L. Henderson,

Lucius D. Johnson,

V. J. Tefft, =

Emmett A. Osborne,

I. B. Woodhouse,

Albert F. Rouse, 16

A. B. Haines,

Russell A. Clark,

+0. M. Barnes, Lansing.

Charles F. Hammond,

Rollin C. Dart,

+William 11. Chapman, Meridian.

F. D. Barker,

Ralph N. Marble, now of Harris-

M. V. Montgomery,

ville, Alconn Co., Mich.

R. A. Montgomery, Edwin II. Ashley, now of Ithicu,' Gratiot Co., Mich.

J. C. Shields,

Isune M. Crane,

Dougal Mckenzie, now of Pe-

Frank L. Dodge,

tosky.

S. F. Seager,

M. M. Atwood, Dansville.

A. E. Cowles, +Griffin Paddock, White Oak.

Edward Cahill, C. P. Newkirk, Webberville.

Samuel L. Kilbonrne,

E. D. Lewis, Williamston.

11. B. Carpenter,

Quincy A. Smith, "

S. S. Olds,

B. D. York, 66

Edward C. Chapin,

O. B. Williams, formerly of Wil- linmston.

N. F. Ilandy,

Russell C. Ostrander,

Jay Calkins, Leslie.

J. E. Tenney,

F. C. Woodworth, 44

Frank A. Cahill.

Champ Green,

EARLY PHYSICIANS OF INGHAM COUNTY .; LANSING.

DR. HULBERT BARTOW SHANK Was born on the 31st of May, 1820, in Springport, Cayuga Co., N. Y. He studied

* Some of these practiced much earlier. + Not in practice.

# Sec nlso the history of various townships and villages in Ingham County, more particularly Williamstown, Meridian, and Delhi.

+Stephen D. Bingham, Lansing.

George F. Gillam,

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THE PROFESSIONS.

medicine in Geneva, N. Y., and graduated at the Geneva Medical College.

He practiced for a short time in Aurelius, Cayuga Co., where he married, in 1848, Miss Frances P., daughter of Dr. Daniel Johnson, of Lansing, Tompkins Co., N. Y., who also settled at Lansing, Mich., in 1848.

Dr. Shank came to Michigan and settled in Lansing in the fall of 1848. He was a particular friend of Dr. David E. McClure, then about giving up the active practice of medicine, and who gave Dr. Shank the benefit of his ex- perience and assisted him into practice. From that day to the present time Dr. Shank has been a prominent prac- titioner in Ingham and the surrounding countics of Central Michigan. He was first physician to the State Reform School for Boys, was a member of the House of Represen- tatives in the State Legislature in 1861-62, and went out as surgeon of the Eighth Michigan Infantry in the war of the Rebellion. He was a member of the old State Medical So- ciety, and served as its president one term.

Dr. Shank has for many years been a leading member of the medical profession, and his practice has been exten- sive, covering a radius of thirty miles around Lansing. He has also been actively interested in political and re- ligious matters, and is a prominent member of the First Universalist Church of Lansing.

His son, Rush J. Shank, graduated at the State Uni- versity in 1871, and is now engaged in practice with him. A second son, Charles, died in 1855.

DR. HOSEA STANTON BURR was born in the town of Darien, Genesce Co., N. Y., about 1820. When about sixteen years of age he visited Kentucky, in company with a cousin, and remained there for a considerable time, in the mean time pursuing the study of medicine. He subse- quently removed to Wooster, Ohio, where he read medi- cine with Dr. Coulter, and possibly practiced his profession with him. He afterwards returned to Darien and opened an office. He attended medical schools at Louisville, Ky., and Cincinnati, Ohio. His practice in Genesee County grew to large proportions, and he was a popular and suc- cessful physician.

On the 10th of June, 1846, he married, at Darien, Miss Laura Montgomery, daughter of Martin Montgomery, Esq., a prominent farmer of Genesee County. She was born in Pembroke, Feb. 28, 1828.

In August, 1847, he removed to Lansing, Mich., where he purchased property, and continued his practice with great success. He superintended the building of his first dwelling, which was on River Street, and one of the first erected in that part of the town, doing a large amount of the work with his own hands.

On their first arrival in Lansing, Dr. Burr and wife boarded at the hotel known as the Michigan Exchange, where they became acquainted with the prominent families then living in the place.

For a number of weeks he and his wife lived in a shanty hastily constructed on his lot while his dwelling was in progress. The doctor had quite a valuable library, which was in great danger of being spoiled by the rain which came into the cabin. The whole site of Lansing was then a dense wilderness, excepting a few small clearings here and

there, and Mrs. Burr remembers well of getting lost in the woods on the west side while returning from North Lan- sing. The paths were almost impassable.

But the doctor did not live long to enjoy and profit by the reputation which he was fast building up in Lansing. A destructive epidemic, in the nature of a congestive or spinal fever, visited the place in the spring of 1849 and numbered among its victims Dr. Burr, who died on the 15th of April in that year. It was so alarming that the Legislature adjourned on account of it. Many of the people died of the disease.

Dr. Burr was a pleasant, affable, and cultivated gentle- man, and a favorite with his patients and the people gen- erally. His bearing was polite, and he was physically a finely-modeled man, though only of medium size.

Mrs. Burr was a well-educated woman, and to aid in building up a home opened a school soon after their arrival. Among her pupils were three children of Dr. Goucher, two sons of Mr. Dearin, two children of Mrs. Thompson, who was living at the National Hotel, and two of Mr. Hunt, who built the Michigan Exchange.

Their house was partially completed, so that they occu- pied it at Christmas, 1847.

Mrs. Burr has seen a varied life since the decease of her husband. Her occupation has been mainly that of an artist, and she has taught in many of the principal cities and towns of the country, beginning at Ann Arbor. Her proficiency in the art of landscape-painting for many years kept her talents in constant demand, and her profession has introduced her into very much of the best society in the Union. Her education was mainly obtained at Attica and Le Roy, N. Y. Her earnings as a teacher were more con- siderable for some time after they settled in Lansing than those of the doctor, for, while he only had running accounts, Mrs. Burr received ready money for her services, and when she had accumulated twenty or thirty dollars it seemed like a very large sum.

Her home has been only occasionally in Lansing since Dr. Burr's death, though she has owned property and is still pecuniarily interested in the place. She has no chil- dren. Her intellectual accomplishments are of a high order, and her familiarity with the scientific writers of the past and present is somewhat remarkable.

DR. WILLIAM L. WELLS was one of the early physicians of Lansing, to which place he removed from Howell, Liv- ingston Co., in 1847. He remained only for a short time and returned to Livingston County. We have not been able to learn any particulars of his former or subsequent life.

DR. JOHN GOUCHER came from Ohio to Lansing about the 1st of September, 1847. He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He purchased the lots where the Lansing House now stands and erected a dwell- ing and office. The dwelling is still standing on Capitol Avenue. He belonged to the eclectic school, and built up a considerable practice in this vicinity. He was also well versed in surgery, and was a man who possessed a good opinion of himself and great confidence in the school of medicine to which he adhered. His family was composed of a wife and four children. About 1865 he sold bis prop-

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HISTORY OF INGHAM COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

erty to La Fayette C. Baker* for $5000, and 'soon after removed to Pennsylvania, settling at first in Monongahela City, but subsequently removing to Pittsburgh, and after- wards to Ohio. Ilis son, Elijah, was also educated for a physician.

DR. JAMES WATTS HOLMES was born on Pompey Hill, Onondaga Co., N. Y., May 27, 1810. He read medicine with Drs. Ilanford and Dimiek, of Monticello, Sullivan Co., N. Y., attended lectures at Little Falls, and took a second course at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, in which the celebrated Dr. Valentine Mott filled a professorship. Ile began practice in Lansing, Tompkins Co., N. Y. ; removed to Blissfield, Lenawee Co., Mich., in 1836, and remained until January, 1848, when, on the removal of the capital, he settled in Lansing, Mich., where he continued until his death, which occurred on the 8th of May, 1872. After his removal to Lansing he con- tinued the practice of his profession for about five years, when he gave it up and engaged in mercantile pursuits, which he conducted under various branches for about twenty years. He erected a block of frame stores on the southwest corner of Michigan and Washington Avenues, which were afterwards removed or destroyed to make way for brick structures. One of the buildings is still standing, next west of the Chapman House, on Michigan Avenue.

Ile married, in 1838, Miss Harriet B. Wright, daughter of Ebenezer Wright, of Rome, N. Y. Mr. Wright erected the first grist-mill at Potsdam, N. Y., and was a distant relative of Hon. Silas Wright. He was the father of three children, two sons and a daughter, all living. The eldest son, Theodore S., is in business in Lansing, and his mother, who survives her husband, makes her home with him. The second son was named Roscius Judson, after Gen. Roscius Judson, of Ogdensburg, N. Y., and the daughter was named Caroline.

Dr. IIolmes was a member of the State Medical Society, also of the board for locating the State Reform School.

DR. DAVID E. MCCLURE was also an early settler in Lansing. Ile was born in Middletown, Rutland Co., Vt., about 1785. The family is of Scotch-Irish extraction, and originally settled at an early date in Massachusetts. The father of Dr. McClure removed to Middletown, Vt., and settled on the highest land in the township, probably before or during the Revolutionary war. Dr. McClure studied medicine with Dr. Clark in Middletown. When he had obtained sufficient knowledge of his profession to commence practice for himself, he purchased a horse and a pair of the old-fashioned saddle-bags, then common but now nearly un- known, and made his way on horseback to Swanton, Frauk- lin Co., Vt., near the Canada line, where he settled, and subsequently married a lady whose family resided in Bakers- field.

He practiced in Swanton about ten years, when he re- turned to Middletown and bought Dr. Clark's residence, and remained in his native town some ten years, when he re- moved to Granville, Washington Co., N. Y.

" The property was really purchased by subscriptions among a few prominent citizens of Lansing, who donated it to Mr. Baker in con- sideration of his agreement to ercel a first-class hotel on the ground.

After a residence in the last-named place of four or five years he removed to Bennington, Vt., but not being satis- fied with the location, he soon after removed to Brockport, Monroe Co., N. Y., then an active and growing business point. Here he continued his practice until 1837 or 1838, when he removed to Jackson, Mich., and remained for about ten years.

In August or September, 1848, he removed to Lansing, where he had purchased property soon after the town was laid out. For a time after his arrival he boarded at the National Hotel. He had been an active, energetic man, and performed an amount of physical labor, especially after he settled at Jackson, which had at length produced its effect, and when he came to Lansing he had lost much of the vigor of his earlier years, and consequently did not engage in the active duties of his profession, but surrendered them to younger men. Dr. II. B. Shank was then a young practitioner, and to him Dr. McClure resigned active practice and gave valuable information and assistance.

He erected a frame store, one of the first in the central part of the town, on the northwest corner of Washington Avenue and Allegan Street. It was a wide building, and occupied by himself-for a drug- and grocery-store-and a tenant. Ile subsequently erected several business buildings, and about 1851 built a two-story frame dwelling, which is still standing, on the northeast corner of Washington Avenue and Ionia Street. In 1849 he was reduced very low by a disease which had probably been induced by years of severe labor; but, contrary to the opinion of all the medical men who visited him, he recovered sufficiently to attend to his business affairs, and even made a journey to New York City for goods. Ilis death occurred Nov. 21, 1858, and his re- mains were interred in the old cemetery, but subsequently reinterred in the new one. He was a man of robust phys- ique and commanding presence, and of a very energetic and persevering nature, well calculated to accomplish a vast amount of both physical and mental labor.

Dr. McClure was three times married. His first wife was a Brigham, of Bakersfield, Vt., and his last two were from Windsor, Vt. He had two children, both by his first wife,-Henry B. and a daughter who died quite young. Ilis son, lIenry B. McClure, settled at Jacksonville, Ill., in November, 1836. IIe was educated for the profession of law, which he studied in Monroe Co., N. Y. He was ad- mitted to practice before the Supreme Court at Albany, N. Y., in 1835. From 1836 to about 1874 he was engaged in practice at Jacksonville, Ill. He succeeded to his father's estate, and for many years has passed a consider- able portion of his time in Lansing.

DR. DANIEL JOHNSON .- Among the physicians who settled in Lansing at an early day, though he never prac- ticed his profession here, was Dr. Daniel Johnson, a native of Canterbury, Conn., where he was born Oct. 1, 1795. He read medicine with Dr. Hezekiah Hibbard, a well-known medical gentleman of the same town, and with his father, who was also a physician. In the fall of 1818 or 1819 he removed to Lansing, Tompkins Co., N. Y., where he prac- ticed for about two years, and married in the mean time.

In the fall of 1848 he removed to Lansing, Mich., which had been named after the town of his residence in New

117

THE PROFESSIONS.

York. He was accompanied by his son, Daniel B., and Dr. H. B. Shank, who married his daughter. He never practiced his profession after his settlement in Michigan, though he was occasionally called in consultation cases. He built a somewhat pretentious dwelling for those days on block 157, faeing Washington Avenue, now owned by Dr. Shauk, and also owned the farm property in the southern part of the city now occupied by his son. Dr. Johnson died in Lansing on the 2d day of December, 1865.

DR. S. W. WRIGHT was born in Rome, Oneida Co., N. Y., June 22, 1817. His father's family was originally from Massachusetts, from thence removing to Connecticut, and subsequently to the " Wright settlement," near Rome, N. Y. He studied medicine with a cousin, Dr. Potter, of Oswego, N. Y., and also at Blissfield, Mich., with Drs. Holmes and Wyman. Ile came to Blissfield in 1843, and remained for about two years, in the mean time attending medical lectures at Cleveland, Ohio. In 1845 he removed from Blissfield to Dundee, Monroe Co., Mich., where he commenced practice, and continued for five years. He re- moved to Lansing in the spring of 1850, and has since made the place his residence. He continued his practice until about 1853, when he embarked in the mercantile business. From 1857 to 1859 he was again in practice, and once more from 1863 to 1866. He is at present in the mercantile business on Washington Avenue. IIe studied and practiced surgery, also, to a limited extent. Dr. Wright in May, 1855, married Flora L., a daughter of C. D. Bartholomew, a farmer of Waddington, then a part of Madrid township, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. They have two danghters.

DR. ORANGE B. WEBSTER was born in Clarkson, Mon- roe Co., N. Y., Sept. 10, 1828. His father, Levi Webster, who was a farmer by occupation, removed to Madison, Lenawee Co., Mich., in 1836. Dr. Webster was educated at Adrian, and read medicine with Dr. Erasmus D. Post of that place. He attended the medical branch of the State University at Ann Arbor and the medical college at Buffalo, N. Y. In May, 1851, he settled in Lansing, Mich., and commenced practice. From May to November in that year he was in the office of Dr. H. B. Shank, since which he has been in practice by himself at North Lansing, where he has a fine residence at No. 231 Larch Street. In Sep- tember, 1850, he married Emily S. Ilath, a daughter of Sanborn Ilath, of Wayne Co., Mich. Ilis medical prac- tice has been quite extensive in city and country.

In 1869 and 1870 he held the office of deputy sheriff, and is at the present time a member of the school board of the eity of Lansing.

DR. IRA HAWLEY BARTHOLOMEW was born in the town of Waddington, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., in January, 1828. His education was obtained in the common schools of his native town, and at the academies of Ogdensburg and Canton, in the same county. He studied medicine in Ogdensburg with the well-known physicians, S. N. and B. F. Sherman, and graduated at the Michigan State Univer- sity in the spring of 1853.

He returned to New York, and commenced the practice of medicine in his native town. In the fall of 1854, at the solicitation of Dr. H. B. Shank, whose sister he mar-

ried Nov. 19, 1856, he came to Michigan, and settled in Lansing in the fall of 1854. For the first three years of his residence he was in partnership with Dr. Shank, but since 1857 has practiced by himself. He was for a time engaged, in company with his brother, in the drug business in Lansing, but continued practice during that period.

Il is professional business soon grew to large proportions and his ride extended over a wide region in all directions, he being frequently called as far away as Jackson and Ionia. His education included a knowledge of surgery, which he has also practiced as circumstances demanded.

Ile has held many official positions, both professional and civil; is a member of the State Medical Association, of which he was president in 1870-71 ; and was the second president of the Central Michigan Agricultural Society, which position he held for two years. He was principally instrumental in getting a law passed authorizing the forma- tion of district agricultural societies. He also, as chair- man of the committee on public health, drew up and intro- duccd in the Legislature the bill for the organization of the State Board of IIealth, an institution which deservedly stands at the head of similar organizations in the Union. Ile vigorously supported the measure, and urged it upon its final passage.

The doctor is a member of the American Public Health Association, and was present in 1879 at its annual meeting at Nashville, Tenn. Ile filled the office of mayor of Lan- sing for three consecutive terms, an honor conferred upon no other person, and has for years been prominently con- nected with the orders of Masonry and Odd-Fellowship. He has also been connected with the State University, and is at the present time president of the Alumni Association, before which he recently delivered an address.

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History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 28

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co. Number of Pages: 772

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772