USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History of Ionia County, Michigan : her people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 11
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From Grand Rapids Abraham DeKwak moved to lonia with his family and there engaged in the brewing business. For two years he continued operating his brewery there and then gave up the business and engaged in the marketing business.
Speaking of his withdrawal from the brewing business, Uncle Abraham used to say : "People used to be after me all the time to go to church : so one Sunday I went to the Presbyterian church to hear Brother Pearson preach. Fle preached that morning on the text, 'In the wicked there is no peace.' I didn't know what peace was then. When I went home that noon a half dozen young fellows sat on the fence waiting for me to sell them some drinks. but I didn't do it. The next morning I broke in the heads of all my barrels
ABRAHAM DEKWAK.
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of beer and poured out the stuff. Then I sold the brewery and bought a ten- acre farm."
From that time on Uncle Abraham DeKwak gave his life to the service of his God and to humanity. He became well versed in the Bible and conld quote Scripture fluently. For years he was a licensed preacher in the Meth- odist church and carried with him his credentials, of which he was very proud. For many years he paid the men who worked for him every night, in order that he might live up to the scriptural injunction, "Owe no man anything."
"The Lord and I are partners," said Uncle DeKwak. "He sends the sim IQ warm and the rain to moisten the good black soil He gave. I plant the celery. He makes it grow, and I do the harvesting.'
lonians and the people of this county generally are so thoroughly famil- iar with the life history of Uncle Abraham DeKwak, his life here having been as an open book, that little more is necessary to say along that line. He died on March 16, 1915. leaving to survive him two children, a daughter. Mrs. George Danforth, and a son, John DeKwak.
DAVID AUSTIN McQUAID.
David Austin McQuaid, well-known fruit grower living north of Ionia in Ionia township, this county, is a native of Canada. having been born on a farm near Toronto. in the province of Ontario, December 11. 1854. son of Robert and Mary ( Bennett) McQuaid, both natives of Canada, the former of Irish descent and the latter of Scottish and English parentage.
In 1860 Robert McQuaid and his family left Canada and came to this state, settling in Albion county. David . McQuaid then was about one year old and he spent his boyhood in that county and there received his schooling. When he was fourteen or fifteen years old his parents moved to Coral, in Montcalm county, and in that neighborhood he worked at farm work during the summers and in the lumber woods during the winters. .At the age of twenty-two he married and for some years thereafter his work took him about quite a bit, especially in Montcalm and fonia counties. Ile farmed quite a little, on shares, in this county, and in the spring of 1907 bought the old Nichols fruit farm north of Ionia, where he has since made his home and where he and his family are quite comfortably and pleasantly situated. Mr. McQuaid raises quite a variety of fruit and berries, a large variety of excellent apples and has five or six acres in peaches, and has done
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well by his venture in the fruit line, being one of the best known fruit growers in the county.
On March 3, 1881, at Sheridan, Montcalm county, David A. McQuaid was united in marriage to Mary E. Bennett, who was born in Indiana, daughter of John and Martha ( Sheppard) Bennett, who came to this county when she was a little girl and located about eight miles southwest of Ionia. where the mother died when the danghter, Mary, was nine years okl, leaving also another daughter, Louisa. After her mother's death Mary E. Bennett lived with her aunt in Berlin township, this county, where she grew to womanhood. Her father married, secondly, Anna Cole, and remained in this county about fifteen years, after which he moved to near Vestaburg, in Montcalm county, where he died in 1905.
To David A. and Mary E. ( Bennett ) McQuaid two children have been born, a daughter. Janie, who married William Higgins, of Ronald town- ship, this county, and has two children, Beatrice and Frances, and Herbert, who died aged six years. Mr. and Mrs. McQuaid are members of the Dis- ciples church and Mr. McQuaid is a Mason. He is a Republican and takes a good citizen's interest in politics, but has never been an aspirant for public office.
. CAPT. DAVID C. CRAWFORD.
Capt. David C. Crawford, surveyor of lonia county since 1882, an honored veteran of the Civil War and an active and influential resident of this county since the year 1856, in which year he came here, a vigorous young man of eighteen, from Shiawasee county, is a native son of Mich- igan, having been born on a pioneer farm in Shiawasee county, October 29, 1838, son of Robert and Sallie A. (Crooks) Crawford, both natives of Massachusetts, the former a soldier in the War of 1812, who came to Mich- igan in 1825 and settled in Oakland county, where he lived until 1836, in which year he moved to Shiawasee county, where he settled in the wilderness and made his home there until 1857, when he came to lonia county and set- tled on a farm in Lyons township, where he spent the remainder of his life, living to the great age of ninety-one years. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, three of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch hav- ing two surviving sisters, Mrs. Martha A. Chamberlain, of Grand Rapids, and Mrs. Amelia Barnum, of Byron, this state.
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David C. Crawford was reared on a pioneer farm in his native county, obtaining his schooling in a little log school house in the neighborhood of his home, his playmates being chiefly Indians, of whom there were many more than there were of white persons in that region at that time. At the age of sixteen he began clerking in a store at Jackson and was this engaged until he came to this county with his parents in 1856. Upon his arrival here he was at once employed as a clerk in a store at Lyons and remained thus occupied until his enlistment. in April, 1861, as a private in Company E. Third Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, in which command he rapidly rose in rank until he became captain in 1863. Captain Crawford's service throughout was in the Army of the Potomac. In the summer of 1864 his regiment was consolidated with the Fifth Michigan and he served under this new disposition of forces until he was mustered out at the close of the war. He was wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia, in 1862, and in December, 1863. was taken prisoner by the enemy, but managed to escape four days later. while being taken to Richmond, and rejoined his regiment.
Upon the conclusion of his military service Captain Crawford returned to lonia county and engaged in mercantile pursuits, but later took up sur- veying and was engaged in this capacity in the railroad service until 1882, in which year he was elected surveyor of lonia county and has ever since served in that important public capacity, having been elected at each suc- cessive election since then, probably a record for continuous tenure in public office in the state of Michigan. Captain Crawford is a Republican and an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He and his wife make their home in lonia, but spend a good bit of their time visiting among their children. They have five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
On November 21, 1861, David C. Crawford, then a young soklier home on furlough, was united in marriage at Lyons, this county, to Flor- ence A. Blanchard, who was born in 1842, daughter of Dr. W. Z. and Eusebia ( Henry) Blanchard, the first permanent white residents of that immediate locality, and to this union five children have been born, as follow : Nellie, who died at the age of two years: Robert Z., a locomotive engineer of British Columbia: George G., a hardware merchant, of Belding, this county ; Daisy B., of New York city, and Mrs. Edna M. Gardner, of Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania. Captain and Mrs. Crawford celebrated their "golden wedding" anniversary in November, 1911, and are still spared to each other and to their children in the third generation. They have been witnesses to
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the wonderful development of this region since the days of their youth and have been no unimportant factors in that development; and in the genial "sunset time" of their lives enjoy the unbounded respect and esteem of this entire community.
RICHARD B. COWLES.
Richard B. Cowles, one of the best-known and most progressive farm- ers of lonia county, proprietor of "Oak Lawn Farm," a well-kept and profit- ably cultivated tract of one hundred and twenty acres, situated three miles south of Belding on rural route No. 1, out of that city. is a native of the British dominion across the border to the north, having been born in Can- ada on March 20, 1842, son of Solomon and Perses ( Shaw) Cowles, both natives of the United States, who later became pioneers of this county and here spent their last days.
Solomon Cowles was born in Vermont, where he grew to manhood. Ile married Perses Shaw, who was born in the neighboring state of New Hampshire, and immediately thereafter went to Canada, where he estab- lished his home on a farm and where he lived until 1859, in which year he and his family emigrated to Michigan and settled in lonia county. Mr. Cowles bought a farm in Keene township and was rapidly improving the same when death stopped his labors six years after his coming to this county, his death occurring in 1865. His widow survived him some years and her last days also were spent on the home farm. Both were earnest workers in the church and were useful members of the pioneer community. They were the parents of six children, of whom but two are now living, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Louisa, wife of C. S. Cowles, living in the neighboring county of Montcalm.
Richard B. Cowles was about seventeen years old when he came with his parents from Canada to this county and his young manhood was spent in assisting in the work of developing the home farm. On September 26. 1864, he married Eliza P. Philbrick, who was born in the state of New York on March 10, 1845, and who had come to this county with her par- ents when six years of age and had been reared and educated in lonia county. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cowles made their home on the farm on which they now live, then occupied by Mrs. Cowles's parents. and after the death of the latter bought the interests of the other heirs in the estate and have since then been the owners of "Oak Lawn Farm," which has been well improved and brought to a high state of productivity. Mr.
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Cowles has taken a good citizen's part in the civic affairs of his neighbor- hood and has served the public in various minor official capacities. In his political beliefs he is a Socialist and is an ardent advocate of the principles of that party. For years Mr. Cowles was the local correspondent of one of the Belding newspapers and by that means exerted an excellent influence in his community, having been particularly active in promoting the move- ment which led to the general custom of naming farms. He is a member of the Knights of the Maccabees.
To Richard B. and Eliza P. ( Philbrick) Cowles two children have been born, daughters both, Cora B., who married Seward Blackmer. By this marriage one child, a son, Glenn C., was born. She married, secondly, Leroy Witt. By this union five children were born: Audrey E., deceased, who left one daughter, Geneva O. Sixbury; Pearl E., Ellis P., Lyle R. and Vivian S. She married. third, Ben Hawkins. Pearl L., the other daughter of Richard and Eliza Cowles, married, first, Vern E. Doris and had one child, Ina R. She later married C. B. Johnston, and they have one child, Lucile M.
FREDERICK AA. WASHBURN.
Success in the varied vocations of men is won practically along the same lines-by industry, persistency of effort, the exercise of sound judg- ment and correct ideals properly applied-as they have evidently been in the case of Frederick A. Washburn, superintendent of the Richardson Silk Company, of Bekling, Michigan.
Mr. Washburn was born in South Coventry, Connecticut, March 25. 1855, and is a son of Alanson and Laura ( White ) Washburn. The father was born at Stafford. Connecticut. December 11, 1811. The subject of this sketch grew to manhood in his native town and there received a common school education, later attending an academy at Willimantic, Connecticut. His father's people were engaged in the iron and steel business, while his mother's family were engaged in farming. Young Frederick spent six summers on the farm of an uncle. His father was a machine builder, and at about this period was compelled to take over some silk machinery on a debt. His mother, who was of Puritan stock, decided it best that the young man should go into the silk mill, and he acceded to his mother's wishes in the matter, and was placed in charge of the mill and continued in business with his father for ten years and helped buikl up a good business in this line. On October 24, 1881, he secured a position with Belling Brothers &
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Company at Rockville, Connecticut, and remained there five years in charge of various departments. then was sent to Belding, Michigan, to oversee the building of a silk mill there for Belding Brothers, which plant was later taken over by the Richardson Silk Company, and from that time to the present he has filled the position of general superintendent of this modernly equipped and excellent plant, having come here November 8. 1886. He thoroughly understands every department of the work and his ability, in- dustry and close application have been very largely responsible for the pro- nounced success of the local firm.
Upon the organization of the Building and Loan Association, in 1888. Mr. Washburn was elected vice-president, and soon thereafter was made president, which position he has held continuously ever since. The organi- zation which, under his able management, has been very successful, was the first of its kind in this section of the country. It has been the means of many poor people enjoying good, comfortable homes. Not one dollar has ever been misused, although many thousands of dollars have been disbursed.
Mr. Washburn was married on July 29, 1880, at South Coventry, Con- necticut, to Ella M. Wood, a daughter of William and Elizabeth ( Mills) Wood, both natives of England, from which country they came to Con- neetient and established their future home. Their family consisted of ten children. To Mr. and Mrs. Washburn four children have been born, namely: Carlton W., born on November 22, 1881, received an excellent education, including the literary course in the University of Michigan and two years in the law department, he was admitted to the bar, but is now sales assistant in a large business house in Chicago; Florence E., the second child, who was graduated from the Belding schools and the Milwaukee Downer school for girls, is now at home; Harold O., who attended the Belding schools, Ferris Institute and the University of Michigan, graduating from the engineering department of the latter, is now with the American Hoist and Derrick Company, of St. Paul, traveling for the firm out of Dallas, Texas; Frederick Sidney, who was educated in the Belding schools, Ferris Institute and the Detroit Business College, is employed in the factory of the Richardson Silk Company.
Politically, Mr. Washburn is a Republican and is active in party affairs, but has never held office, although he has been honored by being selected as one of the presidential electors from the state of Michigan in 1908. He also served six years as a trustee of the state asylum at lonia. He has kept well informed on political matters and has given his support to all worthy meas- ures for the general good. In 1904 he was chosen a member of the Interna- tional Silk Jurors' representatives at the world's fair in St. Louis, Missouri,
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and he was also selected in the same capacity at the Paris Exposition in 1900, the Richardson Silk Company receiving the Grand Prix, which was the highest honor in this line. Mr. Washburn was given special medals at the same time. Fraternally, Mr. Washburn is a member of Belding Lodge No. 355. Free and Accepted Masons. He has been connected with the Congrega- tional church since boyhood.
PAUL LEIK.
There are a large number of German farmers in lonia county, who, by their industry and economy, have established good homes here. Paul Leik, of Portland township, is among this number. He was born on the River Rhine, Germany, January 17, 1868, and is a son of Martin and Margaret Leik. He grew up in his native land and received his education there. Hle hired out by the day for a number of years, and in 1894, when twenty-six years old, he came to the United States, with his uncle, Henry Leik, who had previously settled in America and was at that time in Germany on a visit, having first come to the new world in 1866. They sailed from Ant- werp, Belgium, for New York, and then came on to Westphalia, Clinton county, Michigan, where Paul Leik worked awhile for John Drustee, then worked awhile near Grand Ledge, then with his cousin, Tony Leik, who accompanied him and their uncle from Germany, he settled on two hundred and seventy-five acres in Portland township, which they worked for five years. Then Paul Leik bought one hundred and twenty acres in Riley town- ship, Clinton county, where he lived for five years, when he sold out and bought his present place six miles north of Portland, lonia county, which consists of one hundred and sixty acres, and on which he is raising general crops and various kinds of live stock. He located on this farm in 1907. lle has made extensive improvements here and has been successful, although starting out with practically nothing. In 1914 he erected the modern home in which he now lives.
Paul Leik was married on October 12. 1897, to Louise Martin, a daugh- ter of Anthony and Mary Martin, both natives of the Rhine country, Ger- many. They came to America when children and were married in Clinton county, Michigan. To Mr. and Mrs. Leik the following children were born : Peter, seventeen years old, is assisting his father on the farm; Annie, six- teen years old. is attending the district schools; Johnnie died when two years old: Lena is in school, as are also George and Margaret.
Mr. Leik and family belong to St. Joseph's Catholic church, in West- phalia. Politically, he is a Democrat.
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W. F. SELLECK.
W. F. Selleck, well-known citizen of Portland, Ionia county, Michigan, justice of the peace and for the past thirty-eight years engaged in the insur- ance and collection business, also a notary public, came to this county front Oneida county, New York, where in the town of Paris he was born on May 29. 1844. He is a son of Augustus and Sophronia ( Freeman ) Selleck, the former born in the same place as his son, where for several generations his family had lived. They were of English origin and the first American Sel- leck came to this country early in the history of the land. Sophronia Freeman was also of English stock, born in the same county.
Augustus Selleck was reared on a farm and in the spring of 1836 he came to this state and in Barry county entered a tract of land from the gov- ernment, a short distance from where Gull Prairie now is. In the fall of that year he returned to his native state and in 1837 was married. He remained there until 1848, when he brought his family to Norwalk, Huron county, Ohio, where he purchased a farm and remained until the fall of 1863. In the fall of that year Augustus brought his family to Hillsdale county, this state, and purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres. He remained here but a year, however, when he returned to Ohio and started up a saw mill in Henry county. The mill was later moved to Fayette, Fulton county. that state and in 1878 was brought to Ionia county and set up in Portland. W. F. was associated with his father in this enterprise until 1896 or 1897. at which time his father retired from active life and passed away in Portland on February 6, 1912, at the advanced age of ninety-six years. His wife had preceded him in 1880. Augustus Selleck and wife were the parents of four children, W. F. being the second of the family in order of birth. Josephine, the eldest, is the wife of Alfred P. Derby, of Portland. Freeman died in Ohio in 1872 and Frederick died when but four years of age, at Norwalk, Ohio.
In 1896, at the time W. F. Selleck and his father disposed of the saw- mill, he became bookkeeper for the Ramsey-AAton Manufacturing Company. remaining with them for four years and in 1904 he entered exclusively into the lines to which he now gives his attention. He has traveled over this section of the country and purchased standing timber and is said to be an expert in his line of timber measuring.
WV. F. Selleck was married on November 17, 1864, in Hillsdale, this state, to Alvira Way, daughter of William Way.
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AUGUSTE'S SELLECK.
W. F. SELLECK.
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There are two children in the Selleck family: Murvin A., a graduate of the Portland schools and now with the Portland Milling Company, and Charlie A., superintendent of the water company of Portland, for the past fourteen years. William F. is a member of the order of Free and Accepted Masons through Portland Lodge No. 31, and has passed through all the chairs of the blue lodge. In his Masonic work he has attained to the chapter and council degrees and is also past master of the Royal Arch degree. He is also a member of Council No. 23. Royal and Select Masters, serving as secretary of both lodges.
W. F. Selleck holds his religious membership in the Universalist church, although the society at this place has now disbanded. He is a Democrat in politics. but not radical and always more interested in the success of the best man, rather than the carrying of the ticket. He was supervisor of Portland township for the year 1885 and for one term was president of the village of Portland, also serving for eleven consecutive years as a member of the town council. For the past ten years Mr. Selleck has been justice of the peace and in his official capacity has acted as executor and administrator of many estates. In his particular line he has rendered a great service to the people of this com- munity, by all of whom he is held in high repute. Mr. Selleck represents fourteen of the leading fire insurance companies of this and foreign countries.
LEVI M. GREENWOOD.
Levi M. Greenwood, the well-known clothing merchant at Muir, this county, who has been a resident of that town probably longer than any other person now living there, is a native son of Michigan and has been a resident of Muir since the fall of 1857, having located there with his parents the year following the founding of the village. He was born in Greenbush township. Clinton county, this state, June 21, 1850, son of Marvin and Amanda ( Holcomb) Greenwood, both natives of the state of New York, who became early residents of this section of Michigan.
The Greenwoods were an old colonial family in New England and the family descent is traced back in England to the thirteenth century. Marvin Greenwood was born at Lebanon, New York, July 1, 1804, a son of Paul and Betsy Greenwood, the former born on October 5. 1767, and the latter August 26. 1777. Marvin Greenwood grew to manhood in his native state
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and on June 7. 1827, was united in marriage to Amanda Holcomb, who was born on June 7, 1807. About the year 1836 Marvin Greenwood and his family came to Michigan, settling in Oakland county, but shortly thereafter moved to Clinton county, where they established a home in the wilderness. being among the very first settlers in that section of the state, and there, in a cabin home in the heart of the forest the subject of this sketch was born. Mrs. Amanda Greenwood died there on September 1, 1856, leaving five children. In August, 1857, Marvin Greenwood married Catherine Cranell, to which union one child was born, a son, Adelbert, born in Muir, October 14, 1860, who died on May 16, 1915. It was in September. 1857. that Mar- vin Greenwood left his homestead farm in Clinton county and came over into lonia county, locating at Muir, then a promising lumber village, founded the year previously. He established a grocery store at Muir and was thus engaged in business for several years, or until failing health compelled his retirement. He was an active man of affairs and during his residence in Clinton county had served for years as justice of the peace in and for his home township.
Levi M. Greenwood was about seven years old when his father located at Muir and he entered the schools there, completing his schooling when he was thirteen years of age, when he began working in the saw-mills. After a year of this form of employment he entered the office of the Wagar Lum- ber Company and was engaged there for four years, at the end of which time, in 1869. he became a clerk in the Probasco hardware store and was thus engaged for nearly twenty years. Ile then, about 1888, became a partner in the store and that mutually agreeable arrangement continued until he withdrew from the firm in 1895 and started his present business. It was in September, 1895, that Mr. Greenwood opened his clothing store at Muir and he ever since has been actively and successfully engaged in that business. long having been regarded as one of the most active and enterprising mer- chants of that town.
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