USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History of Ionia County, Michigan : her people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 13
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On July 16, 1885. a year after entering upon the practice of his pro- fession at Palo, Doctor Frank A. Hargrave was united in marriage to Amelia Ilamm, who was born at Omro, Wisconsin, daughter of Alfred and Elmira (Dulley) Hamm, the former a native of the state of New York and the latter of Ohio. Alfred Hamm was a young man when his parents moved from New York to Wisconsin and in the latter state he grew to manhood and married Elmira Dully, who was about nineteen years of age when her parents moved from Ohio to Illinois, later moving to Wisconsin. Mrs. Hamm died in Wisconsin and Mr. Hamm later moved to Alabama, where he spent the rest of his life. Their daughter Amelia grew to womanhood in Wisconsin and became a teacher. While attending the State Normal School at Oshkosh she and her future husband were classmates. She went to Alabama, expecting to teach school in that state, but presently returned to Wisconsin, where she was engaged in teaching until her marriage to Doctor Hargrave. To Doctor and Mrs. Hargrave three children have been born. namely: Don V., Lucile and James M. Doctor Don V. Hargrave, now a prosperous young physician at Carson City, in the neighboring county of Montcahn, is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he spent five years, the latter part of which time was devoted to the study of medicine. lle completed his medical course in the Detroit College of Medicine, from which he was graduated in 1913 and located at Carson City. He married Florence Tarbox, of Jackson, this state. Lucile Hargrave, who is at home.
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attended the college at Alma, Michigan, and spent one year at the Ferris Institute. James M. Hargrave, who also attended the Ferris Institute for two years, is now connected with an automobile manufacturing concern at Detroit.
Doctor Hargrave is a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight Templar, a member of Palo Lodge No. 203, Free and Accepted Masons, since 1884; member of Lyons Chapter No. 37, Royal Arch Masons, and of lonia Com- mandery No. 7, Knights Templar. He also is a noble of Saladin Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Grand Rapids, and of Palo Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, of which latter organiza- tion Mrs. Hargrave also is a member. The Doctor is also a member of the local lodge of the Knights of the Maccabees and of the Gleaners and in the affairs of all these organizations takes a warm interest.
'DARIUS HOLDEN.
Darius Holden, a well-known and well-to-do farmer of Ronald town- ship, this county, an honored veteran of the Civil War and one of the pioneers of lonia county, is a native of the state of New York, having been born in Chautauqua county, that state, June 24, 1832, son of Eben and Mary ( Woodruff ) Holden, the former a native of Connecticut and the lat- ter of Germany. Eben Holden was a tanner and not long after the birth of his son, Darius, moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he lived for some years, at the end of which time he went to Erie county, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1863. After Darius Holden had established his residence in lonia county, his widowed mother came here to make her home with him, but about 1870 returned to her old home in Erie county, where she died a year or two later.
Darius Hoklen was but a baby when his parents moved to Cleveland and there he spent his youth. The lake ever attracted him and one day when he was eight years of age he ran away from home and got a job as a dishwasher on a lake vessel. When he returned home at the end of the trip he got a "tanning" for his escapade, but that did not deter him from trying it over again and during his youth he spent much of his time on lake boats, becoming a very proficient sailor. He spent twenty summers on the lakes, usually as a sailor on three-masted sailing vessels plying between Chicago and Buffalo. On April 25, 1861, in response to President Lin- coln's first call for volunteers to put down the Rebellion, Mr. Holden enlisted
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in Company G, First Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served under MeClellan in the Army of the Potomac during the three- months service. On August 15, 1862, he re-enlisted, in Company C, Six- teenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and served in the army of General Grant until the close of the war, being mustered out on June 15, 1865. He was in a number of the bloodiest battles of the war and at the battle of White House Landing was severely wounded in the leg by a bursting shell, while at Har- risburg his shoulder was broken. For a time he served as sergeant in the ordnance department, but did not seek promotion. During Mr. Holden's service one officer wrote to another regarding him as follow: "I wish to recommend him to you as orderly or to attend to any work requiring strict attention, integrity and perfect sobriety. Darius Holden is perfectly reliable and one of the most trustworthy men I ever knew."
On October 3. 1853, Darius Holdlen was united in marriage to Elzina E. Allen, who was born at Cherry Hill, Pennsylvania. December 2, 1832, daughter of Howard and Ruth ( Harris ) Allen, who had moved from the Lake George district of New York to Pennsylvania. Mr. Holden came to Michigan and settled in the woods in Ronald township, this county, arriv- ing in Muir on September 1, 1865. Hle bought a tract of one hundred and twenty acres in section 24, of that township and across the road in North I'lains township, and there established his home. remaining there sixteen years, at the end of which time he sold that place to advantage and bought one hundred and sixty acres in sections 35 and 36. in that same township. where he ever since has made his home. During the early years of his residence in this county Mr. Hollen formed valuable acquaintances with the Indians and for some time was profitably engaged as a fur trader, cover- ing a territory as far away as Traverse City, west to the lake, thence south fifty miles, back to Traverse and home. Mrs. Elzina E. Holden, first wife of Darius Holden, died at her home in Ronald township on November 20. 1868, leaving one son, Newel, who is living with his father on the old home place in Ronald township and looking after the management of the same. In February, 1870, Darius Holden married, secondly, Mary Warren, who was born near Sackett Harbor, New York, daughter of William and Sarah Warren, and who had come to Michigan with her father in 1853, after the death of her mother in the East, the family settling in Ronald township. this county. Mrs. Mary Hollen died on December 2, 1900, leaving one daughter, Sarah Louise, wife of Henry J. Cook, assistant hall master at the state reformatory at lonia.
Newel Holden, only son of Darius and Elzina E. (Allen) Holden,
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was born in Ronald township, this county, October 13, 1866, and has lived in that township all his life. Upon completing the course in the neighbor- hood school he took a course in Poncher's Business College and later resumed his place on the farm, having always been an assistant to his father in the operation of the place. In addition to supervising the operations of his father's farm he is the owner of a farm of eighty-one acres adjoining the same and is regarded as one of the most substantial and energetic farmers in that neighborhood.
On March 20, 1901. Newell Holden was united in marriage to Lois Adella Reasoner, who was born near the village of Saranac, in Boston town- ship, this county, daughter of Ezra and AAdelia ( Blass) Reasoner, both natives of the state of New York and pioneers of lonia county. Ezra Reasoner was born in Shelby township. Orleans county. New York, Janu- ary 15, 1835, and came to Michigan with his parents, James Reasoner and wife, the latter of whom was a Jenkins, in 1851, he then being sixteen years old. the family settling in Kalamazoo county. There, in 1856, he married Sarah Rhodes and shortly afterward moved to Missouri, where their first- born and only child died at the age of six months and the mother came near dying as a result of the insalubrious climate, after which he and his wife returned to Michigan, where his wife presently died and is buried near Charleston. On January 31, 1861, Ezra Reasoner married. secondly. Adelia Blass, who was born at Sharon, New York, May 10, 1835, daughter of Jacob and Hannah ( Hall) Blass, who came to Michigan in the early forties and settled at Kalamazoo.
In the spring of 1865 Ezra Reasoner and his family came to this county from Kalamazoo and settled on a farm in the Saranac neighborhood, where they lived for twenty-four years. In January, 1889, the family moved to North Plains township, where Mr. Reasoner died on March 12, 1911. His widow survived him not quite two years. her death occurring on January 4. 1913. They were earnest members of the Episcopal church, in which Mr. Reasoner for many years was an officer. They were the parents of four children, Edwin. of Emmet county, this state; Sarah A., wife of Samuel Little. of North Plains township: Lois A .. wife of Mr. Hoklen, and Charles, who is librarian at the state reformatory at lonia. Mrs. Holden received her education in the Saranac high school and was for several years before her marriage engaged as a school teacher. She is a member of the Meth- odist church and both she and Mr. Holden take an active interest in the various social activities of the neighborhood. Mr. Holden is a member of the Knights of the Maccabees and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.
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LEVI MARSHALL.
Levi Marshall, head of the Marshall-Wright Lumber Company, of lonia, this county, and one of the best-known and most successful lumbermen in this part of the state, is a native of Canada, having been born on a farm in Vic- toria county, Ontario, December 18, 1864, son of James and Sarah ( Cooper ) Marshall, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Canada, both now deceased.
James Marshall was the eldest of the three sons born to his parents, residents of County Fermanagh, Ireland. When little more than a boy he emigrated to Canada and in Cavan county, Ontario, began farming. He married Sarah Cooper, who was born in that neighborhood, daughter of Simon Cooper and wife, natives of Ireland, who had emigrated to Canada and who were the parents of seven children, Fanny, Joseph, Sarah, Anna, Robert, Eliza and Jane. Following his marriage James Marshall established his home on a farm in Fenelon township. Victoria county, Ontario, where he reared his family and where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, his death occurring in 1880, he then being sixty-four years of age. His widow survived for many years, her death occurring in 1914, she then being eighty-five years of age. James Marshall was a man of considerable substance and was an influential figure in his community, having held various township offices and for years a member of the school board. He and his wife were active church workers, earnest members of the Methodist church and their children were reared in that faith. There were twelve of these children, namely : William, deceased ; Ann, wife of William Brown, of Vic- toria county, Ontario: Robert, of Lindsay, Canada; Isabel, wife of Charles Darley, of Toronto; James VIbert, of Isabella county, this state ; Sarah Jane, wife of Robert Nugent, of Lindsay, Canada; John M., of lonia, this county ; Levi, the subject of this sketch ; Lavina, wife of Alfred Barriball, of Toronto; George, of Cadillac, this state; Edward, of lonia, and Herbert, of Flint. Michigan.
Levi Marshall was reared on the paternal farm in the province of Ontario, Canada, near the town of Fenelon Falls, receiving his education in the neigh- borhood schools, and when eighteen years of age came to Michigan, locating in this section of the state, and was engaged in working in the humber woods four miles east of MeBrides for one and one-half years, at the end of which time. in 1885, he located in lonia, which has been his place of residence ever since. Upon locating in lonia he continued his connection with the lumber
LEVE MAARSHALI ..
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industry and in 1890 formed a partnership with S. B. Gorham in the general lumber business and has ever since then been regarded as one of the leaders in the lumber trade hereabout. Since March, 1914, he has been engaged as head of the Marshall-Wright Lumber Company, of Ionia, an incorporated com- pany, of which he is the president. Mr. Marshall ever has taken a proper part in the general public affairs of this community and for several terms served the people of the city of Ionia as an alderman.
On August 18, 1898, Levi Marshall was united in marriage to Addie lleald, who was born in this county, daughter of James lleald and wife, the latter was Sarah Jane Rowley, both natives of New York state and for years well-known residents of lonia county, both now dead. Of the children born to James Heald and wife but two are now living. Mrs. Marshall and Claud Heald. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mr. Marshall is a member of the official board and treasurer of the church, and both take an earnest interest in the general advancement of all good causes hereabout, being held in high esteem by their many friends. Mrs. Marshall is a member of the local chapter of the Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution. in the affairs of which she takes a warm interest, and Mr. Marshall is an active member of Ionia Lodge No. 36, Free and Accepted Masons and of the Elks.
JAMES CHUBB.
James Chubb, a well-known and well-to-do farmer of Lyons township. this county, is a native son of lonia county and has lived here all his life, having thus been a witness to the development of this region from pioneer days. He was born on the east plains in Lyons township, May 7, 1841, son of Franklin and Maria ( Welch) Chubb, both natives of New York state, who were married in that state and came here in territorial times, before 1835. settling on a tract of government land north of the present site of the village of Pewamo, at that time there being only two or three families in that neighborhood. There their first daughter, Antoinette, was born, in 1835. the first white girl born in Lyons township and perhaps the first in the county. The house which Franklin Chubb built on his first farm, near Pewamo, is still standing. In 1815 he left that place, having sold it to advantage, and moved over into the Maple River valley. east of Lyons, where he established another home in the wilderness and there he spent the
(10a)
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rest of his life, his death occurring in 1859, he then being fifty-two years of age. His widow survived him for nearly twenty years, her death occurring in the late seventies. They were the parents of six children, three sons, James, Henry and Hector and three daughters, AAntoinette, Henriette and Lorette. Ilector Chubb enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil War and went to the front as a member of the Twenty-first Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, dying at Louisville. Kentucky, from illness contracted in service.
James Chubb was about four years old when his parents moved from the homestead farm on which he was born over into the valley of Maple river and he grew to manhood there, east of Lyons village, obtaining his schooling in the village schools and proving a valuable aid to his father in the task of developing the home farm. AAfter his marriage in 1868 he moved onto an eighty-acre tract of school land, which he received from his mother, one-fourth of which had been paid for, and there he established his home. Hle gradually paid off the obligation on that place and presently bought a tract of one hundred and twenty acres adjoining and still later added to his holdings until now he is the owner of a fine farm of two hun- derd and fifty acres, well improved and profitably cultivated, and has long been regarded as one of the most substantial farmers in that neighborhood.
On December 23, 1868, James Chubb was united in marriage to Agnes Trefry, who was born at Arcadia, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Decem- ber 6. 1847, daughter of Gabriel II. and Mary ( Brown) Trefry, both natives of Nova Scotia, who later became pioneers of lonia county and the former of whom is still living at Lyons, actively engaged in business in the ninety- first year of his age. Gabriel HI. Trefry was born in the county of Yar- mouth, Nova Scotia, May 13, 1824, son of Benjamin and Deborah ( Hat- field) Trefry, both natives of that same county. He grew to manhood there, becoming a shoemaker, which trade he followed for some time after coming to this state in 1853. Upon coming to Michigan he located in Ing- ham county near Eaton Rapids, where he worked in a shoe shop and also bought eighty acres of land. There he lived until 1868, in which year he came with his family to fonia county and located at Lyons, where he erected a good store building and engaged in the general merchandise business and has ever since been thus engaged. The store building erected by Mr. Tre- fry upon locating at Lyons is now occupied by the public library. Mr. Tre- fry has occupied several different store rooms during the long course of his business career at Lyons, but has remained continously in business and
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though now nearly ninety-two years of age is still actively engaged in mer- chandising. declining to "retire," declaring that he is not yet ready to "rust out." Ile has done plenty of hard work, but has always taken excellent care of himself and despite his great age is still active and vigorous. Gabriel H. Trefry was married at the age of twenty-two to Mary Brown, daughter of Charles and Abigail ( Churchill) Brown, and to this union eight children were born, four sons and four daughters, of whom seven are still living, those besides Mrs. Chubb being Dexter Trefry, Mrs. Deborah Hanchett, Charles Trefry, Mrs. Ellen Vance, Benjamin Trefry and Mrs. Abigail Webber. The mother of these children died twenty-five years ago.
To Alr. and Mrs. Chubb one daughter was born, Cora, who married Edward Pfeiffer, of Portland, this county, and died at the age of thirty- eight years, leaving one child, a son, Royal Ned, born in 1903.
LOREN PHILIP BROCK. ยท
Loren Philip Brock, well known shoe merchant, and former newspaper editor and county official of lonia, this county, is a native of the Empire state, having been born at Union Springs, Cayuga county, New York. January 20, 1854, son of Benjamin H. and Christina (Oliver) Brock, who came to Michigan in 1864 and located on a farm north of Ann Arbor, later moving to Muir, in this county, thence to Ionia, where both spent the remainder of their lives, Benjamin H. Brock dying in March, 1891, at the age of eighty-four and his widow on July 5 of the same year, at the age of eighty-two. both passing away at the home of their son, L. P. Brock, on Union street.
Benjamin H. Brock was a grocer at Muir and was well known in the eastern part of the county. Hle was a member of the Masonic fraternity and he and his wife were members of the Methodist church. Henry, their eldest son, was head bookkeeper for A. T. Stewart (the old-time merchant of New York city ) when Lincoln made his first call for volunteers, and immediately gave up his position and marched to the front with the Thirteenth Regiment, New York State Militia. He died at Newbern, North Carolina, and General Burnside issued a special permit for his body to be brought back to Union Springs, New York, for burial. David and George were drowned in a terrible storm on Cayuga lake in 1855. during their
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Christmas holiday vacation from Poughkeepsie Academy. Of their daugh- ters, Laura died as a child. Mary died in 1880, in lonia. Christina, who married Richard Vosper, of Saranac, died in 1911. John and Charles, of Grand Rapids, and L. P., of lonia, are the children now living. Benjamin H. Brock was own cousin to Reuben E. Fenton, ex-governor and ex-senator of New York. His brothers were Gardiner and Fenton Brock-the last named being the father of the wife of ex-governor ITorace Boies, of lowa. The grandfather of B. H. Brock. with several sons. fought with . Wolfe at Quebec, and for service was granted large tracts of land in Canada. Mrs. Brock was next to the youngest of eleven children born to Ichabod and Christiana (Cool or Kuhl) Oliver, the former born on June 15. 1756, the latter on March 17, 1770. who were married April 17. 1791.
Loren Philip Brock was ten years old when he came to Michigan with his parents and he completed his schooling at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. When the family moved to this county, locating at Muir. he was engaged as a clerk in his father's store until 1878, in which year he moved to lonia, the county seat, and started the Ionia National, a news- paper which he published for several years in the interests of the Greenback party. While thus engaged, in 1884, he was elected register of deeds for Ionia county on a fusion ticket and was the first official to enter upon his duties in the new court house. He had married in 1883 and his wife was appointed deputy register and in that capacity she received for register the first document that was officially entered in the new court house and she marked it accordingly, that it might always show on the records when seen.
It was while thus engaged that Mrs. Brock became interested in the historical aspects of Ionia county, which has resulted in the preservation of much data relating to pioneer days which otherwise would inevitably have been lost. Upon the completion of his term of office, having sold his news- paper, Mr. Brock became for several years a shoe merchant of Ionia, after- ward entering the employ of a Boston wholesale shoe house as a traveling salesman, and was thus engaged until the present year, when he again became a shoe merchant in lonia. He has a fine home at 309 North Union street, Ionia, which he built in 1885, and he and his wife are living there in quiet comfort.
On April 17. 1883. Loren P. Brock was united in marriage to Bertha E. Milligan, who was born at lonia on August 18. 1860, daughter of Will- iam and Minerva ( Murray) Milligan, the former a native of New York state, the latter a native of Oakland county, Michigan, and who were the
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parents of four children, of whom Mrs. Brock was the eldest, she having a sister Edith L. ( now Mrs. G. L. Tunison, of Los Angeles, California) and two brothers who died as children
William Milligan was a contractor who came to lonia county under contract to get out the ties for the Detroit & Milwaukee railroad in 1857-58. He thus met Miss Minerva Murray whom he married in 1857. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted for service in behalf of the Union cause in Company E. Michigan Engineer and Mechanics Corps, and was at the front for almost three years, being discharged by order at Washington, D. C., June 6, 1865. He died in Ionia at his home in 1910 in his eighty- second year. Mr. Milligan was one of the six children of his parents. William B. and Elizabeth ( Stout) Milligan, the latter of whom died at her son's home in lonia when past eighty years of age. His widow, who still survives him is the daughter of Eleazer and Julia ( Doty) Murray, who came to Berlin. lonia county from Oakland county in 1844, bringing with them their six children, Edward, Emily, Minerva. Julia, Susan and Vira. Mrs. Murray's father and mother had come to Berlin several years before from Oakland county. Their names were Elisha and Rachael ( Allen) Doty, and Mr. Doty erected the first framed house in Berlin before 1837. They were residents of Troy. New York, in the early part of the century, as their daughter, Julia, was born in that city in 1800 and they moved to Oakland county, Michigan, in 1825. later coming to lonia county. The father of Rachael ( Allen) Doty was James Allen, a soldier in the Revolu- tionary War who was taken prisoner by the British in the last battle of that war and was not released for seven years.
Mr. and Mrs. William Milligan were very early members of the Church of Christ, and at their home, which is still standing, was entertained James .1. Garfield, afterward President of the United States, he being here to assist Rev. Isaac Errett in evangelistic service. Mrs. L. P. Brock was born in this home. Mrs. Brock graduated from the lonia high school in 1870, has been and is again president of its Alumni Association; has been president of the Woman's Literary Club, and was also soprano in the choir of the Presbyterian church for nearly twenty-five years, most of the time being also leader.
To Loren Philip and Bertha E. (Milligan) Brock two children have been born: Stuart Murray Brock, born on March 25. 1891. is now travel- ing salesman for a wholesale shoe house, and Gertrude Edith, born on May 2. 1804. is a student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
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