USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History of Ionia County, Michigan : her people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
210
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
marriage to Evaline Severcool, who had grown up in fonia county, daugh- ter of Henry and Ruth Severcool, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of this state, William Cutler was the father of four children, three sons and one daughter. In the latter sixties he moved from Smyrna to Orleans township, this county, where he bought a farm three miles east of Belding, and there he died in 1872. His widow remained on that farm the rest of her life.
Fred Cutler was seven years old when his father died and when he was ten years old he left home and began working "for his keep," until such a time as his services on a farm should be regarded as worthy of a definite wage. His first wage was at the rate of four dollars a month, and he gradually progressed in value to his employers until he was receiving seventeen dollars a month. When nineteen years old he rented a farm and began working on his own account, doing so well in that line that after his marriage in the fall of 1888 he was able to buy an eighty-acre farm in Orleans township, where he established his home and where he remained for ten years, at the end of which time he sold that place to advantage and bought a farm of one hundred acres in Clinton county. Not quite a year later he accepted a good offer for that farm and then bought a farm of eighty-seven acres in Gratiot county. Three years later he sold that place, returned to fonia county and bought the farm on which he is now living in the Muir neighborhood and where he and his family are very well situated, their hospitable home being one of the most comfortable thereabout.
On November 14, 1888, in Orleans township, this county, Fred Cutler was united in marriage to Nellie Smith, who was born at Homer, in Cal- houn county, this state, daughter of Marcus and Sarah A. (Carmichael) Smith, early settlers of that county, who came from New Jersey. In 1852 the Smiths came from Calhoun county to fonia county and settled in Mather- ton, where they lived until 1869, when they moved onto a farm in Orleans township. where Marcus Smith died in 1880. His widow survived him eight years, her death occurring in 1888. Marcus Smith was a blacksmith during his early life, but during his residence in Matherton kept a hotel and was thus engaged until he moved to the farm in 1869.
To Fred and Nellie (Smith) Cutler one child has been born, a son, Elmer D., born on September 15, 1893, who is an able assistant to his father in the work of operating the home farm. On his twenty-first birthday. September 15, 1914, Elmer D. Cutler was united in marriage to Myrtle . Bacon and to that union one child has been born, a son. Raymond Cecil.
220
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
born on January 24, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Cutler and their son are mem- bers of the Methodist church and the latter's wife is a member of the Presbyterian church, all taking an earnest interest in neighborhood good works. Both Mr. and Mrs. Cutler are members of the Gleaners and take a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.
CHARLES F. DURKEE.
Charles F. Durkee, prosperous farmer and stockman, proprietor of the "Lythewood Farm" located about five miles north of Lake Odessa in Ber- lin township, Jonia county. Michigan, was born in the township where he has passed his entire life, on December 21, 1856. He is a son of Charles M. and Jane E. ( Hubbard) Durkee, the former a native of New York state who came with his parents to Ohio and in his young manhood located in this county.
Charles F. Durkee is one of a family of seven children, five of whom are living. L. H. Durkee, a brother, is a farmer in Odessa township. this county: L. M. farms near Sebawa: D. D. is in Odessa township and E. W. farms in Berlin township. Charles F. received such education as was obtainable in the district schools of this section when he was a boy and remained with his father on the farm until after he had attained his majority. He united in marriage with Lizzie Lodisa Brown and their daughter, Wava Arlene, was born February 19, 1906. Mrs. Charles F. Durkee is a daughter of the Rev. Henry A. Brown and Lois Ellen Hubbard. his first wife. and the sole surviving child of their family of three. Chloe Viola died in infaney and Charles Henry died at Sandpoint, Idaho. September 18. 1913. The Rev. Henry Almon Brown was the youngest child of the family of thirteen children of Hosea and Chloe Brown and was born at Concord. Lake county, Ohio, November 6, 1833, where his early life was spent. He was his mother's favorite child and she was his first teacher, using the Bible as a text book from which he learned to spell and read. Ile attended the public schools and later the preparatory school at Hiram. Ohio, after which he engaged in teaching and other educational work for several years. While first a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. he later united with the Baptist church and began preparing himself for the ministry. In 1869 he accepted a pastorate at Toledo, Iowa, where he was ordained into the ministry and then followed many years of active work in teaching and
221
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
preaching as well as other helpful service. The Rev. Henry A. Brown was a professor of language at Des Moines, lowa, and was one of the founders of the University of Des Moines. He was of Puritan stock and was a descendant of one of General Washington's guards. His first wife died March 31, 1894, and in November of 1896 he was united in marriage with Mrs. Emily Waugh of Albia, lowa, who died on July 31, 1900. The Rev. Henry .A. Brown died April 2, 1914, having filled his years with helpful work for all mankind.
Charles F. Durkee is one of the prosperous farmers of his section, own- ing three hundred and sixty acres of excellent land, all of which he has earned himself. His entire life has been spent in the one locality and he stands high in the estimation of those among whom his life has been been spent. Politically, he is a Democrat, although giving no special attention to this phase of citizenship. Mrs. Durkee is a member of the Baptist church.
JOHN WRIGHT FORTUNE.
John Wright Fortune, one of the best-known retired farmers of this county, now living comfortably retired at his pleasant home in Muir, is a native of the great Empire state, having been born in Yates township, Orleans county, New York, November 9, 1847, son of George and Susan (Wright) Fortune, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of the state of New York, who later became pioneer residents of lonia county, where their last days were spent.
George Fortune was born near the city of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1809, and was but seven years old when he came to this country with his parents, John and Susan Fortune, in 1816. The family settled in St. Lawrence county, New York, and there George Fortune lived until he was twenty-four years of age. There he became engaged to marry Susan Wright, who was born in Herkimer county. New York, daughter of Timothy and Sarah ( Brown) Wright, and in 1833 decided to come West and take a homestead in the Territory of Michigan, preparatory to marrying and setting up a home of his own. With that end in view he came to lonia county and joined his uncle, George Younger, who had settled here some little time previously. and who is said to have been the first white man to settle in lonia county, he having located on a homestead in the south part of Ronald township, where the county infirmary was later located. George Fortune walked all
222
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
the way from Detroit to lonia county, following Indian trails and camping with Indians on the way. Upon arriving here he found employment in a saw-mill, which was located on the site of the present Nickel Plate mill, and presently entered a claim to a quarter of a section of Congress land, the northeast quarter of section 28, North Plains township. On this pioneer tract he built a log house, cleared twenty acres, planted the same to wheat. established his residence and then went back home to claim his bride. Though he had never written to her during the three years he was absent, she remained true to her troth and kept other suitors at a distance. They were married immediately after his arrival at the old home, but in the meantime word of the Glass tragedy-the burning to death of the Glass family in their cabin home in the northeastern part of this county, presumably by Indians, had reached the East and the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wright, interposed such strenuous objections to their daughter's departure for the home that had been prepared for her in the wilderness, that Mr. Fortune remained in New York and set up his first home there instead of on the homestead farm he had prepared in this county. His father, who remained in New York, became the owner of four hundred acres of land there. He reared a family of nine children and lived to be ninety-five years of age, the last twenty-five years of which time he was compelled to use crutches.
Upon settling down in New York, George Fortune sold his lonia county homestead, but in 1854, when the subject of this sketch was not quite seven years old, he returned to this county, bringing his family with him, and located near the Nickel Plate mill. presently buying a home in section 3. lonia township, where he lived until the death of his wife in March, 1868, after which he made his home with his son, John W., the remainder of his days, his death occurring on December 31, 1887.
John W. Fortune grew up on the home place at the north edge of lonia township and farmed there until his recent retirement from the farm and removal to Muir. At the age of eighteen he began to work for himself, his first earnings being applied to the payment of a mortgage on his father's place. For seven years he worked at farm labor. "by the month," and then bargained for a farm, incurring an indebtedness of two thousand three hun- dred dollars. This he paid off in due time and presently became the owner of fifty-six acres in lonia township, where he made his home, and eighty acres across the line in Ronald township. At the time of his marriage in 1870 he began keeping house in a log cabin, but in 1884 erected on his place a fine brick house and five years later a barn that was regarded as one of the finest in the county. In 1906 Mr. Fortime sold that farm to advantage
223
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
and bought eighty acres in section 7. Lyons township, the place where Lester Ross now lives, and there he made his home until 19to, in which year he retired from the active labors of the farm and moved to Muir, where he now resides and where he is very comfortably situated. For twelve years Mr. Fortune was director of his school district and upon moving to Lyons township was elected road overseer, a position he has held ever since.
Mr. Fortune has been married twice. On December 5. 1870, he was united in marriage to Corlie E. Pike, who was born in Hartland township. Niagara county, New York, daughter of Emory and Elvira ( Wright ) Pike. She taught school five terms in her native state. To this union eight chil- (Iren were born, as follow : One who died in infancy. unnamed ; Augustus E .. unmarried, who is living with his sister, Mrs. Sarah Eckley, in Ronald township. this county: Susan Elvira, who married Bernard Dalzell, a farmer living in the northwest part of Lyons township, and has one son, Stoughton J. : Victor Frederick, of Jackson, a railway mail clerk, who married Adelaide Rothermel. who died in August. 1913: George, of Medina, New York, who married Ada Ives and has two children, Claire and Dorris; Sarah Adelaide. who married Herbert Eckley, a farmer of Ronald township, and has three children, Howard Eugene, John Henry and Donald Herbert ; Earl, who died at the age of six months, and an infant that died unnamed. The mother of these children died on February 11, 1900, and on August 6, 1901, Mr. Fortune married Mrs. Mary A. ( Raymond ) Eckley, widow of William Henry Eckley. a farmer of Grand Blanc, this state, who died on September 22. 1892. Mrs. Fortune is also a native of the Empire state, born at Johns- burg. Warren county. New York, daughter of James Madison and Rachel ( Hewitt ) Raymond. She was given an academic education and began teaching school, having been thus engaged in her home state for one term before her marriage to Mr. Eckley, who was born near Grand Blanc, this state. and lived there all his life. To that union eight children were born. namely: Charles, who died at the age of twenty-two months; Amy, who married Theodore Ridgeway, of Flint. this state, and died on March 17. 1911, leaving six children, Mary, Bessie, Cora, Myrtle, Harold and Letha ; Lulu, who married Levi Cline, who died leaving two children, Lois and LaVerne, after which she married Bert Hill, to which second union three children have been born, John. Ethel and Ruth; Delbert H., a member of the Flint fire department, who married Ella Ross and has one daughter. Grace, who married Ray Larrabee, of Flint, and has a son, Frank Delbert ; Frank Raymond. of Penn Yan, New York, who married Mand Moon and has a daughter. Irene Mary: Herbert, a farmer of Ronald township. who
224
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
married Sarah Adelaide Fortune, daughter of John W. Fortune, as noted above; Mark, who died in infancy, and Goldie May, who died when about two years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Fortune are earnest members of the Pres- byterian church and take a warm interest in the general beneficences of the same, as well as in all neighborhood good works.
JAMES RENWICK.
An honored veteran of the Civil War and a successful farmer of Keene township, lonia county, is James Renwick of near the village of Saranac. He was born in Scotland, June 30, 1842, and is a son of John and Jennette ( Henderson ) Renwick, who were born, reared, educated and married in Scotland and lived there until 1854, when they came to the United States, locating in Ontario county, New York, remaining there two years, removing to Michigan in 1856, locating in Keene township, lonia county, developing a good farm. The father was active in bettering the conditions of his com- munity. He and his wife belonged to the Presbyterian church. They were the parents of seven children, two of whom are deceased. Agnes is the widow of Charles Dickinson of Illinois: James, the subject of this sketch ; Archibald lives in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan ; Moses is a lumber man at Green Bay, Wisconsin : George lives in Keene township, fonia county.
James Renwick was past ten years of age when he came to the United States. He had attended the public schools in Scotland. He remained on his father's farm until he was nineteen years ofl, when he enlisted in Com- pany D. Third Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, in February, 1862. and was sent to the Army of the Potomac under Gen. George B. Mcclellan. Hle was wounded at the battle of Groveton, which permanently disabled him, and remained in the hospital until 1864, and was honorably discharged in the same year. As soon as he was able he returned home and has since devoted his attention to general farming, and owns a good place of one hundred acres.
Mr. Renwick was married to Ellen J. Renwick (no relation ). She was born in Canada, April 11. 1852, and her parents brought her to Mich- igan when she was two and one-half years old, and here she grew to woman- hood and was educated in the public schools. Her parents, John T. and Mary (Laing ) Renwick, were both natives of the state of New York, but her grandparents were natives of Scotland, from which country they came
MR. AND MRS. JAMES RENWICK.
225
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
to the United States on their wedding trip. Mr. and Mrs. Renwick have adopted one daughter- Olive M. Arnold, born March 16, 1884, a graduate of the Saranac high school, who is single and lives at home.
Mr. Renwick is a member of the Iliat P. Clark Post No. 153, Grand Army of the Republic, being the present commander, while his wife is a member of the Relief Corps, of which she was formerly treasurer and secretary. He is a member of Boston Lodge No. 146, Free and Accepted Masons, having been made a Mason March 27. 1865; and a demitted mem- ber of Hooker Chapter. Both he and his wife are charter members of Valley Chapter No. 276, Order of Eastern Star, of which their daughter is a member, and she has held many of the offices in the same.
Politically, he is a Republican, and he has served as justice of the peace in his township.
JOHN G. CHAPPLE.
Chief among the older and highly esteemed citizens of Berlin town- ship. Ionia county, Michigan, is John G. Chapple, who was born in England in 1831 and is, therefore, in his eighty-fifth year. He was thirteen years of age when he came with his parents to the United States and had pre- viously received excellent schooling. The family located in New York state, where young John also attended school for a time. When he reached young manhood. the call of the West came to him and he followed it, remaining however but a short time, when he turned his face eastward and stopped in Michigan on his return. He was in this state at the beginning of the Civil War, when he enlisted as a private in Company I. Twenty-first Michigan Volunteer Infantry, serving faithfully to the close of that con- flict.
After the close of the war. John G. Chapple returned to Michigan and took up farming in lonia county, meeting with success commensurate with his efforts. He owns a fine farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Ber- lin township a short distance from Berlin Center. Mr. Chapple was mar- ried in 1872 to Lydia M. Aldrich, a daughter of Rufus and Hannah ( Spear) Aldrich. Mr. Aldrich was in the same regiment as Mr. Chapple during the war. To Mr. and Mrs. Chapple four children were born: Alice, who married Walter Lee, lives on subject's place; William W., deceased; Orman J., deceased ; and Franklin W., deceased.
(15a)
226
IONI\ COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Mr. and Mrs. Chapple both aim for success in life, but of the highest kind, dollars being a secondary consideration. Mrs. Chapple is a woman of rare and pleasing traits, who has throughout the years been a helpful companion. Both are devont members of the Methodist Episcopal church and for a number of years he was superintendent of the Sunday school at Berlin Center, a member also on the official board, serving now in like capacity in the South Berlin township Sunday school, and despite the handi- caps which age must impose on him, is always prompt in attendance, rarely missing a Sunday. Politically Mr. Chapple is a strong adherent of such principles of Republicanism as were advocated by Lincoln, Grant, Garfield and Taft, and has always been more or less active in political affairs ds relates, especially, to local matters. He holds no fraternal affiliation other than with the Grand Army of the Republic and has served as commander of his post. He receives a pension in return for services rendered the nation at the crisis of its existence.
For the past few years Mr. Chapple has practically retired from the active affairs of life, living quietly on the fruits of his early years of rigorous labor. Both Mr. and Mrs. Chapple look on the bright side of life, spreading their happy optimism to all with whom they come in contact. They are generous in their sympathy and no one in need passes from their door empty-handed or hungry-hearted.
CLINTON J. RUDD.
One of the most worthy citizens of lonia county, Michigan, is Clinton J. Rudd. a farmer and stock raiser, living in section 21, Berlin township, on his farm of forty acres, on rural route No. 9. out of Saranac. Mr. Rudd is a native of Ohio, born on August 7. 1855. in Medina county, that state, about twenty-four miles south of the city of Cleveland. Clinton J. Rudd was the eldest child of John and wife, and the only one of the family to be born in Medina county. John Rudd, the father, was an Englishman by birth, born in Hampshire and grew to young manhood on a farm in his native land. When twenty-two years of age he emigrated to America and settled in Jefferson county, Ohio, where he was employed at farm labor and where he also married. When Clinton J. Rudd was six years of age (in 1861) his mother died and the father kept the young family together. When ('linton was twelve years of age he was hired out to farmers in the home
227
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
neighborhood and was employed in that manner until he was twenty-three years of age, during which time he contributed very largely to the support of a younger sister and also his father, who was in poor health.
Realizing that the West offered better opportunities to an ambitious young man, Clinton J. Rudd came to Michigan when twenty-three years old, found a location in Berlin township, Jonia county, hiring out by the month for work in the timber and on farms of the township. He reached this state absolutely without funds and then began his struggle to win a competence for himself. He early married and found in the woman of his choice an excellent helpmate. Mrs. Rudd before her marriage was Eliza Liverton, daughter of William and Jane (Chapple) Liverton, both natives of England, who were married in that country and became pioneer citizens of this county. The Rudds were married on July 4, 1880, and for two years thereafter Clinton J. continued to work out. In 1884 he rented a farm of eighty acres, where he started farming for himself, and continued on that land for thirteen years. The first land he purchased was a forty-acre tract directly across the road from where he now resides, buying this in 1896 and moving on it the following year, when he also bought the forty where he now lives. In fairly quick succession, he then bought another tract of forty acres, one of twenty, another of forty and a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, altogether making his holdings considerable. Much credit is due Mr. Rudd for the manner in which he has succeeded, and not alone has material success come to him, but he also holds an enviable position in the estimation of friends and neighbors, to which his excellent characteristics fully entitle him. On account of being unable to personally care for his entire holdings, he has disposed of all his land but the forty acres where he now lives, which he cares for in a most business-like manner.
Mr. Rudd is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Berlin Center and has in the past served that society as trustee at different times. Politically, he gives ardent support to the Republican party, served as high- way commissioner for one term and was treasurer of his school district for two years. Altogether. he is one of the representative men of the county. and as such is eminently entitled to representation in a work of the character of the present one.
Mr. and Mrs. Rudd have two children, the elder being their son, George, a graduate of the eighth grade of Saranac schools. George married Julia Nash and has one child living and one dead. The ckler, George Liverton, dying at fourteen months. the remaining chill being Clarence Nash Rudd. Cassie J., younger child of the Rudd family, is the wife of Leroy Stewart.
228
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
and the mother of one child, Mary Lucille. Cassie J. is a graduate of the Saranac common and high schools and also of the Ferris Institute. She taught music four years and taught school for five years in the public schools. She taught in Ionia county for five years previous to her marriage to Mr. Stewart. Leroy Stewart is a graduate of Albion College, where he received his Master of Arts degree. He was first superintendent of the schools at Pewamo, later went to Lake Odessa and is now at Gwinn in the Upper Peninsula, where he has charge of six schools.
ELBRIDGE E. SLYE.
Elbridge E. Slye was born in Wellington, Prince Edward county, Ontario, Canada, on June 22, 1875. He is the son of Philander and Cath- erine (De Grono) Slye, bothi natives of Canada. They were the parents of the following children: William, who lives at lonia; Herbert, who lives at Ventura, California: Alice, who is the wife of Bert Decatur, of Hudson- ville, Michigan: Frankie, who is the widow of T. H. Adams, of Oakland, California: Elbridge E., who is the subject of this sketch, and Bertha, who is the wife of Conrad Soderestrem, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Philander Slye was raised in Canada, and was a contractor and builder. He died in Kingston, Canada, in 1900, at the age of sixty-five years. His wife is still living and resides with her son Elbridge E. in lonia, Michigan. They were both members of the Methodist church. The father of Philander Slye was Loren Slye, who was a native of Canada. He was a preacher in the Methodist church and was one of the old circuit riders who traveled on horseback with the saddle bags. He and his wife died at a ripe age. Among their children were, Philander, the father of the subject of this sketch; Chester ; Fred ; Henry and Lester.
Elbridge E. Slye, the subject of this sketch, was raised in Wellington. Canada, and attended the district schools there. He afterwards worked on a farm by the month, and came to the United States in 1802. at the age of eighteen and located in fonia county, and did farm work. On March 27, 1895, he married Lillie Minier, who is a daughter of Henry and Eliza- beth ( Schmidt ) Minier. Elbridge and Lillie ( Minier ) Slye are the parents of the following children : Bertha Elizabeth, Henry, who died in infancy; Ronald Stanley, Lyle E., and Catherine lone. Mr. and Mrs. Slye are members of the Methodist church, and Mr. Slye belongs to lonia Lodge
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.